published at Leipsic (Teubner), under the editorship of Adolphus Kirchhoff, in which the arrangement of Porphyry is departed from, and a chronological order of the "Enneads" attempted in its room. Of translations, an excellent French one, by M. N. Bouillet, with ample commentaries, has been recently published at Paris. The English version, by Taylor, of several of the "Enneads" is utterly execrable. For the history generally of the Alexandrian philosophy, Matter, Simon, and Vacherot (Histoire Critique de l'Ecole d'Alexandrie), may be referred to.—J. F. F.
PLOWDEN, Edmund, a celebrated English lawyer who flourished in the reigns of Mary and Elizabeth, was born in 1517, and was descended from an ancient Shropshire family. He was educated first at Cambridge, and afterwards at Oxford, where he studied medicine and surgery, and in 1552 was admitted to the practice of these arts. He finally determined, however, to follow the legal profession, and entered the Middle temple, where he was twice a reader, and was finally called to the degree of serjeant-at-law. After the accession of Elizabeth, however, his name was omitted from the list, it is supposed on account of his adherence to the Romish faith. He died in 1584, and was buried in the Temple church, where a monument, which still remains, was erected to his memory. Plowden's high reputation as a lawyer rests mainly on his "Commentaries or Reports," which contain a collection of the important cases argued and determined from the reign of Edward VI. to the middle of the reign of Elizabeth. The first complete edition of the Commentaries is in Norman-French, folio, 1684. An English translation of the work appeared in 1761, folio, with original notes and references. Plowden's "Commentaries" bear a deservedly high reputation for the fidelity and care with which they have been prepared.—J. T.
PLUKENET, Leonard, an English botanist, was born in 1642, and he died within the first decade of the eighteenth century. He appears to have been of French extraction. He prosecuted his studies at Cambridge. He is supposed to have practised as a physician in Westminster. He was fond of botany, and assisted Ray in the second volume of his History of Plants. He had a quarrel with Sloane and Petiver, and he censures their writings with considerable asperity. He was made superintendent of Hampton Court gardens, and was honoured with the title of royal professor of botany. His herbarium consisted of eight thousand plants. He published "Phytographia, or drawings of the rarer and less known Plants." This was followed by his "Almagestum," "Mantissa," and "Amaltheum," which contains catalogues of all the plants in his herbarium. Plunkenet's work contains upwards of two thousand seven hundred and forty figures. His herbarium came into the hands of Sir Hans Sloane, and is now in the British museum.—J. H. B.
PLUMIER, Charles, a French botanist, was born at Marseilles in 1646, and died near Cadiz in 1704. After acquiring a knowledge of classics he entered a monastery. He studied mathematics at Toulouse, and showed a great taste for mechanics. He went to Rome, and there he began the study of botany. Subsequently he was recalled and placed in a convent at Hyères, and he was allowed to prosecute the study of plants on the coasts of the Hyères and on the mountains of the neighbouring part of France. His success in botanical pursuits led to his being appointed to explore the French settlements in the West Indies. He was afterwards sent to the Antilles, and was appointed botanist to the king, with a pension. He resided for some time in St. Domingo. He published a description of American plants, and subsequently "Nova Plantarum Genera." In 1704, at the age of fifty-eight, he undertook a voyage to Peru, to discover the Peruvian bark tree. While he was waiting for the ship to embark with a new viceroy at Port St. Mary, near Cadiz, he was seized with pleurisy and died. After his death his work on "American Ferns" was published. He wrote articles for journals, among others an account of the cochineal insect. In 1701 he published at Lyons a work on the art of turning. A genus Plumiera is named after him.—J. H. B.
PLUMPTRE, James, a divine, remarkable for his attachment to the drama, was born in 1770. He went to school at Hackney, near London, from whence he removed to Queen's college, Cambridge, emigrating shortly to Clare Hall, B.A., in 1792; elected fellow, 1793; presented to the college living of Great Grausden, Huntingdon, 1812. He published "The Coventry Act," a comedy, in 1793; "Osway," a tragedy, in 1795; "Observations on Hamlet," intended to prove that Shakspeare censured therein Mary Queen of Scots; a Collection of Songs, set to music by Dr. Hague, mus. prof.; four discourses relating to the amusements of the stage, 1810; an expurgated English drama, and several minor works. He died in 1832.—T. J.
PLUNKET, William Conyngham, first lord, a celebrated lawyer and statesman, was the younger son of the Rev. Thomas Plunket, a presbyterian minister in the town of Enniskillen, where his illustrious son was born in 1764. When still a boy he had the misfortune to lose his father, who had removed to Dublin; but his congregation generously took upon themselves the expense of educating his sons, who ultimately repaid with liberal interest the amount of their contributions. In 1779 William Plunket became a student of Trinity college, Dublin, where he obtained a scholarship and graduated with considerable credit. His principal reputation at the university, however, was acquired in the Historical Society, the well known debating club of Trinity college. He was called to the bar in 1787, and though his progress at first was not rapid, it was steady. He became known as a powerful and successful advocate, as well as a painstaking and sound lawyer, and at length he attained in 1798 the rank of king's counsel. He had meanwhile obtained a seat in the Irish house of commons through the influence of Lord Charlemont, one of the leaders of the Irish liberal party, and though not a frequent speaker, was one of the most logical, witty, and popular orators in the house. He opposed the legislative union with peculiar vehemence and eloquence, but his speeches were disfigured by their bitterness and personal invectives. Although his efforts failed to arrest the progress of the dreaded union with England, they tended greatly to advance his own reputation and to increase his professional income. He was not only raised to the front rank of his party, but what was of more importance, he became at once the leader of the equity bar. Plunket's political opinions were believed to have been at one time exceedingly liberal; and when the Irish rebellion of 1798 broke out he was even accused, though most unjustly, of sympathizing with the objects of the insurgents. It was probably with the view of clearing himself from such suspicions that, upon the trial of Emmet in 1803, he assisted the crown lawyers in the prosecution, and delivered a speech against that unfortunate enthusiast which exposed him to much unmerited obloquy. Three months after this trial Mr. Plunket was appointed solicitor-general, and in 1805 was advanced to the office of attorney-general for Ireland. In the following year the ministry of "all the Talents" came into office, and Plunket retained his post and attached himself to the premier, Lord Grenville. On the dismissal of the whig government in 1807 Plunket resigned his attorney-generalship and returned to the practice of his profession, which during the succeeding twenty years yielded him an average income of £6000 per annum. He obtained a seat in the British house of commons in 1807 as member for Midhurst, and by his first speech at once secured for himself a place in the front rank of parliamentary debaters. In 1812 he was elected to represent the university of Dublin, mainly through the influence of his old college companion and stanch friend. Dr. Magee, and was reelected in 1818 after a keen contest with Mr. J. W. Croker, who was supported by the whole influence of the government. Like his political chief. Lord Grenville, Plunket defended the conduct of the ministry in regard to the Peterloo massacre; and after the death of the marquis of Londonderry in 1822, he became once more attorney-general for Ireland, and in that capacity was required to prosecute both the orangemen of Dublin and the insurgents of the south. In 1827 Canning wished to make him master of the rolls in England, but was obliged to abandon this intention in consequence of the opposition of the English bar; but he soon after created him a British peer, and at the same time nominated him chief-justice of the common pleas in Ireland. On the downfall of the Wellington administration in 1830, and the accession of the whigs, Lord Plunket was appointed lord chancellor of Ireland, and held that office, with the exception of only five months in 1834-35, until 1841, when he finally retired from public life. He survived, however, till 1854, and died on the 5th January, in his ninetieth year. In his political opinions Lord Plunket was moderate but firm, and on the whole consistent, though he did not always act with one party. He was a zealous and most able, though temperate supporter, of Roman catholic emancipation and of parliamentary reform. He was an accomplished and sound lawyer, and his judicial qualities were of a very high order; but his fame rests mainly on his oratory. His
