The city had its origin in a great Benedictine monastery, founded in 655 by Oswy, king of Northumbria, and Peada, son of Penda, king of Mercia. This monastery, which became one of the wealthiest and most important in England, was reared in honour of St Peter; but it was not until after being destroyed by the Danes in 807, and rebuilt about 966, that the town was called Peterborough. On the dissolution of the monasteries, this magnificent edifice was spared, owing, it is supposed, to its containing the remains of Queen Catharine of Aragon.-Murray's Handbook to the English Cathedrals.

PETERBOROUGH, LORD. See MORDAUNT. PETERHEA'D, a seaport and municipal and parliamentary borough, Aberdeenshire, stands on a peninsula, the most eastern point of land in Scotland, 44 miles north-north-east of Aberdeen, by the Great North of Scotland Railway. It is irregularly built, is clean, and is paved in many cases with the reddish granite, which receives its name from the town. A large portion of the parish, and the superiority of the town of P. formerly belonged to the Marischal family, 1715. This valuable possession became, in process of time, by purchase the property of the Merchant Maiden Hospital of Edinburgh, the governors of which have latterly done much in the way of improvement both for the town and port. P. contains no very striking edifices. Its parish church has a granite spire, 118 feet in height, and a granite pillar of the Tuscan order stands on the market-cross. There are Episcopal, Free Church, Roman Catholic, and other chapels; an academy and other schools, and two libraries. Recently, cloth and wincey manufactures have been introduced; ship-building is carried on to a considerable extent; herrings, cod-fish, butter, grain, and granite are exported, and lime, wool, and general merchandise are imported. P. was long famous as the chief dépôt of the seal and whale-fisheries in chief dépôt of the seal and whale-fisheries in Britain; but within recent years the fisheries have been generally unprofitable, and this interest has declined. In 1864 about 20 vessels, a larger number than that sent out by any other British port, were employed in the different branches of this trade. The coast-fisheries are still vigorously prosecuted, and in the season a fleet of 300 herring-boats put out from the harbours in the evening. P. is the second fishing-station in Scotland. In 1863, upwards of 27,000 barrels of cured herrings were exported to the Continent. In 1863, 1064 vessels of 68,550 tons entered and cleared the port. The two harbours are respectively on the north and south side of the isthmus of the peninsula on which the town is built, and a passage connecting them has been cut across the isthmus, so that vessels can leave harbour in any state of the wind. This town has often been proposed as a Harbour of Refuge. On the south side of the bay of P., and about 2 miles from the town, is Buchanness, and near it are the picturesque ruins of Boddam Castle. Inverugie and Ravenscraig castles, now mere ruins, are finely situated on the banks of the Ugie, which enters the sea a mile north of the town. P. unites with the Elgin (q. v.) boroughs in sending a member to parliament. Pop. of parliamentary borough (1851) 4762; (1861), 7541.

PETERLOO MASSACRE, the name popularly given to the dispersal of a large meeting by armed force in St Peter's Field, Manchester, Monday, July 16, 1819. The assemblage, consisting chiefly of bodies of operatives from different parts of Lancashire, was called to consider the question of parliamentary reform, and the chair, on open hustings, was occupied by Mr Henry Hunt. The dispersal

took place by order of the magistrates; several troops of horse, including the Manchester Yeomanry, being concerned in the affair, of which an account will be found in History of the Peace, by Harriet Martineau, edition of 1858, p. 107. Five or six persons were killed and many wounded. St Peter's Field is now covered by buildings. Peterloo was a fanciful term, suggested by Waterloo.

died.

PETER'S, ST, CHURCH, at Rome, is the largest cathedral in Christendom. It stands on the site of a much older basilica, founded by Constantine, A. D, 306, over the reputed grave of St Peter, and ucar the spot where he is said to have suffered martyrdom. This basilica was of great size and magnificence; but 1450, resolved to erect a new cathedral, worthy of had fallen into decay, when Pope Nicholas V., in the dignity and importance of the Roman pontificate, then in the zenith of its power. A design was accordingly prepared by Rosselini on a very grand scale, and the tribune was begun, when the pope about half a century, when Julius II. resolved to The new building remained neglected for carry out the building, and employed Bramanté, then celebrated as an architect, to make a new design. This design still exists. The foundation stone was laid, in 1406; and the works carried in 1513. Bramanté, who died the following year, on with great activity till the death of the pope was succeeded by Baldassare Peruzzi. Almost long course of time required for the erection every architect who was employed during the of this great edifice, proposed a new design. That of San Gallo, who succeeded Peruzzi, is one of the best, and is still preserved. It was not till his death in 1546, when the superintendence devolved on Michael Angelo, then seventy-two years of age, that much progress was made. He designed the dome; and had the satisfaction, before his death in his ninetieth year (1564), of seeing the most arduous part of the task completed; and he left such complete models of the remainder that it was carried out exactly in conformity with his design by his successors, Vignola and Giacomo della Porta, and successfully terminated by the latter in 1590 in the pontificate of Sixtus V. The design of Michael Angelo was in the form of a Greek cross, but the building was actually completed as originally designed by Bramanté as a Latin cross, under Paul V., by the architect Carlo Maderno. The portico and façade were also by him. He is much blamed for altering Michael Angelo's plan, because the result is that the projecting nave prevents the dome (the great part of the work) from being well much cut up into small pieces. The façade is considered paltry, and too It is observable that this entrance façade is at the east end of the church, not the west, as it would certainly have been north of the Alps. But in Italy the principle of orientation was little regarded.

seen.

Maderno's nave was finished in 1612, and the

façade in 1614, and the church dedicated by Urban VIII. in 1626. In the front of the portico is a magnificent atrium in the form of a piazza, enclosed This was erected under Alexander VII. by the on two sides by grand semicircular colonnades.

architect Bernini.

The façade of the cathedral is 368 feet long and 145 feet high. As already mentioned, the design is not generally approved, but some allowance must be made for the necessities of the case. The balconies in the front were required, as the pope, at Easter, always bestows his blessing on the people from them. Five open arches lead into a magnificent vestibule, 439 feet long, 47 feet wide, and 65 feet high, and adorned with statues and mosaics. Here is preserved a celebrated mosaic of St Peter

Terrorists, P.'s popularity declined, and he joined the Girondists. On the king's trial, he voted for death, but with delay of execution and appeal to the people, upon which he became suspected of being a royalist, and of partaking in the treason of Dumouriez. He was thrown into prison, 2d June 1793, on the fall of the Gironde, but escaped from prison, and joined the other Girondists at Caen. Upon the defeat of their army by that of the Convention, he fled, in July 1793, into Bretagne, and in company with Buzot reached the neighbourhood of Bourdeaux, which, however, had already submitted. A short time after, P.'s and Buzot's corpses were found in a corn-field near St Emilion, partly devoured by wolves. They were supposed to have died by their own hands. P.'s character has been defended by Madame de Genlis It appears that he was extremely virtuous in all his domestic relations; but, on the other hand, his public career shews him to have been weak, shallow, ostentatious, and vain. Les Euvres de Pétion, containing his speeches, and some small political treatises, were published

and Madame Roland.

in 1793.

PETITIO PRINCIPII ('a begging of the principle or question') is the name given in Logic to that species of vicious reasoning in which the proposition to be proved is assumed in the premises of the syllogism.

PETITION (Lat. peto, I ask), a supplication preferred to one capable of granting it. The right of the British subject to petition the sovereign or either House of Parliament for the redress of grievances is a fundamental principle of the British constitution, and has been exercised from very early times. The earliest petitions were generally for the redress of private wrongs, and the mode of trying them was judicial rather than legislative. Receivers and triers of petitions were appointed, and proclamation was made inviting all persons to resort to the receivers. The receivers, who were clerks or masters in Chancery, transmitted the petitions to the triers, who were committees of prelates, peers, and judges, who examined into the alleged wrong, sometimes leaving the matter to the remedy of the ordinary courts, and sometimes transmitting the petition to the chancellor or the judges, or, if the common law afforded no redress, to parliament. Receivers and triers of petitions are still appointed by the House of Lords at the opening of every parliament, though their functions have long since been transferred to parliament itself. The earlier petitions were generally addressed to the House of Lords; the practice of petitioning the House of Commons first became frequent in the reign of Henry IV.

Since the Revolution of 1688, the practice has been gradually introduced of petitioning parliament, not so much for the redress of specific grievances, as regarding general questions of public policy. Petitions must be in proper form and respectful in language; and there are cases where petitions to the House of Commons will only be received if recommended by the crown, as where an advance of public money, the relinquishment of debts due to the crown, the remission of duties payable by any person, or a charge on the revenues of India have been prayed for. The same is the case with petitions praying for compensation for losses out of the public funds. A petition must, in ordinary cases, be presented by a member of the House to which it is addressed; but petitions from the corporation of London may be presented by the sheriffs or lord mayor. Petitions from the corporation of Dublin have also been allowed to be presented by the lord mayor of that city, and it is believed that

a similar privilege would be acceded to the lord provost of Edinburgh.

The practice of the House of Lords is to allow a petition to be made the subject of a debate when it is presented; and unless a debate has arisen on it, no public record is kept of its substance, or the parties by whom it is signed. In the House of Commons, petitions not relating to matters of urgency are referred to the Committee on Public Petitions, and in certain cases ordered to be printed. In 1837, there were presented to parliament 10,831 petitions with 2,905,905 signatures; in 1859, 24,386 petitions, with 2,290,579 signatures.

It

PETITION OF RIGHTS, a declaration of certain rights and privileges of the subject obtaine from King Charles I. in his first parliament. was so called because the Commons stated their grievances in the form of a petition, refusing to accord the supplies till its prayer was granted. The petition professes to be a mere corroboration and explanation of the ancient constitution of the kingdom; and after reciting various statutes, recognising the rights contended for, prays that no man be compelled to make or yield any gift, loan, benevolence, tax, or such like charge, without common consent by act of parliament; that none be called upon to make answer for refusal so to do ; that freemen be imprisoned or detained only by the law of the land, or by due process of law, and not by the king's special command, without any charge; and mariners into their houses against the laws and that persons be not compelled to receive soldiers customs of the realm; that commissions for proceeding by martial law be revoked.' The king at his wish that right should be done according to the first eluded the petition, expressing in general terms laws, and that his subjects should have no reason to complain of wrongs or oppressions; but at length, answer, he pronounced an unqualified assent in the on both Houses of Parliament insisting on a fuller usual form of words, 'Soit fait comme il est désiré,

on the 26th of June 1628.

PETRA (Heb. SELA, both names signify 'Rock') was anciently the capital of the Nabathæans, and was situated in the desert of Edom' in Northern Arabia, about 72 miles north-east of Akabah—a town at the head of the Gulf of Akabah, an arm of the Red Sea. It occupied a narrow rocky valley overhung by mountains, the highest and most celebrated of which is Mount Hor, where Aaron, the first Hebrew high-priest, died, and was thus in the very heart of the region hallowed by the forty years' wanderings of the Israelites. The aboriginal inhabitants were called Horim (dwellers in caves'). It was then conquered by the Edomites or Idumeans (but it never became their capital); and, in the 3d or 4th c. B. C., it fell into the hands of the Nabatha ans, an Arab tribe, who carried on a great transit-trade between the eastern and western parts of the world. It was finally subdued by the Romans in 105 A. D., and afterwards became the seat of a metropolitan; but was destroyed by the Moham medans, and for 1200 years its very site remained unknown to Europeans. In 1812, Burckhardt first entered the valley of ruins, and suggested that they were the remains of ancient Petra. Six years later, it was visited by Messrs Irby, Mangles, Banks, and Leigh, and in 1828 by M.M. Laborde and Linant, and since then by numerous travellers and tourists to the East, as Bartlett, Porter, and Dean Stanley. Laborde's drawings give us a more vivid impres sion of the ruins of P. than any descriptions, however picturesque. These ruins stand in a small open irregular basin, about half a mile square, through which runs a brook, and are best approached

emperor (Charles IV.) beg to be introduced to her, and to be allowed to kiss her forehead; but she seems to have kept the too-passionate poet at a proper distance. Only once did he dare to make an avowal of his love in her presence, and then he was sternly reproved. In 1338, P. withdrew from Avignon to the romantic valley of Vaucluse, where he lived for some years, spending his time almost solely in literary pursuits. A most brilliant honour awaited him at Rome, in 1341, where, on Easterday, he was crowned in the Capitol with the laurelwreath of the poet. The ceremonies which marked this coronation were a grotesque medley of pagan and Christian representations. P. was, however, as ardent a scholar as he was a poet; and throughout his whole life, he was occupied in the collection of Latin MSS., even copying some with his own hand. To obtain these, he travelled frequently throughout France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. His own Latin works were the first in modern times in which the language was classically written. The principal are his Epistola, consisting of letters to his numerous friends and acquaintances, and which rank as the best of his prose works; De Vitis Virorum Illustrium; De Remediis utriusque Fortunæ; De Vita Solitaria; Rerum Memorandarum Libri IV.; De Contemptu Mundi, &c. Besides his prose-epistles, P. wrote numerous epistles in Latin verse, eclogues, and an epic poem called Africa, on the subject of the second Punic War. It was this last production which obtained for him the laurel-wreath at Rome. P., it may be mentioned, displayed little solicitude about the fate of his beautiful Italian verse, but built his hope of his name being remembered on his Latin poems, which, it has been said, are now only remembered by his name. In 1353 he finally left Avignon, and passed the remainder of his life in Italy-partly at Milan, where he spent nearly ten years, and partly at Parma, Mantua, Padua, Verona, Venice, and Rome. At last, in 1370, he removed to Arquà, a little village prettily situated among the Euganean Hills, where he spent his closing years in hard scholarly work, much annoyed by visitors, troubled with epileptic fits, not overly rich, but serene in heart, and displaying in his life and correspondence a rational and beautiful piety. He was found dead in his library on the morning of the 18th July 1374, his head dropped on a book!-P. was not only far beyond his age in learning, but had risen above many of its prejudices and superstitions. He despised astrology, and the childish medicine of his times; but, on the other hand, he had no liking for the conceited scepticism of the medieval savants; and, in his De sui Ipsius et multorum aliorum Ignorantia, he sharply attacked the irreligious speculations of those who had acquired a shallow free-thinking habit from the study of the Arabico-Aristotelian school of writers, such as Averrhoes. P. became an ecclesiastic, but was contented with one or two inconsiderable benefices, and refused all offers of higher ecclesiastical appointment.-The Italian lyrics of P.-the chief of which are the Rime, or Canzoniere, in honour of Laura-have done far more to perpetuate his fame than all his other works. Of Italian prose, he has at left a line. The Rime, consisting of sonnets, canzonets, madrigals, were composed during a period of more than forty years; and the later ones-in which P.'s love for Laura, long since laid in her grave, appears purified from all earthly taint, and beautiful with something of a beatitic grace-have done as much to refine the Italian language as the Divina Commedia of Dante. Of his Rime, there have been probably more than 300 editions. The first is that of Venice, 1470; the most accurate is that by Marsand (2 vols., Padua,

1819). Collective editions of his whole works have also been published (Basel, 1495, 1554, and 1581, et seq.) His life has employed many writers, among whom may be mentioned Bellutello, Beccadelli, Tomasini, De la Bastie, De Sades, Tiraboschi Baldelli, and Ugo Foscolo.

PETREL (Procellaria), a genus of birds, some. times ranked among Larida (q. v.), and sometimes constituted into a separate family, Procellarida which is now subdivided into several genera, and distinguished by having the bill hooked at the tip, the extremity of the upper mandible being a hard nail, which appears as if it were articulated to the rest, the nostrils united into a tube which lies along the back of the upper mandible, and the hind-toe merely rudimentary. They possess great power of wing, and are among the most strictly oceanic of birds, being often seen at great distances from land. Among the Procellarida are reckoned the Fulmars (q. v.), Shearwaters (q. v.), &c., and the small birds MOTHER CAREY'S CHICKENS. These form the genus designated STORM PETRELS, STORM BIRDS, and Thalassidroma of recent ornithological systems, the name (Gr. sea-runner) being given to them in allusion to their apparent running along the surface of the waves, which they do in a remarkable manner, and with great rapidity, particularly when the sea is stormy, and the molluscs and other animals forming their food are brought in abundance to the surface-now descending into the very depth of the hollow between two waves, now touching their highest foamy crests, and flitting about with perfect Petrel, a diminutive of Peter, from the apostle safety and apparent delight. Hence also their name Peter's walking on the water. From the frequency with which flocks of these birds are seen in stormy weather, or as heralds of a storm, they are very unfavourably regarded by sailors. They have very long and pointed wings, passing beyond the point of the tail; and the tail is square in some, slightly forked in others. Their flight much resembles that of a swallow. They are to be seen in the seas of all parts of the world, but are more abundant in the southern than in the northern hemisphere. The names Storm P. and Mother Carey's Chicken are sometimes more particularly appropriated to Thalassidroma pelagica, a bird scarcely larger than a lark, and the smallest web-footed bird known, of a sooty black colour, with a little white on the wings and some near the tail. Two or three other species are occasionally found on the British shores; but this is the most common, breeding in crevices of the rocks of the Scilly Isles, St Kilda, the Orkneys, Shetland Isles, &c. Like many others of the family. it generally has a quantity of oil in its stomach, which, when wounded or seized, it discharges by the mouth or nostrils; and of this the people of St Kilda take advantage, by seizing the birds during incubation, when they sit so closely as to allow themselves to be taken with the hand, and collecting the oil in a vessel.

PETRIFA'CTION, a name given to organic remains found in the strata of the earth, because they are generally more or less mineralised or made into stone. The word has fallen very much into disuse, having given place to the terms Fossil (q. v.) and Organic Remains.

PETROICA, a genus of birds of the family Sylviada, natives of Australia, nearly allied to the Redbreast, and to which its familiar name Robin has been given by the colonists. The song, callnote, and manners of P. multicolor, a species abundant in all the southern parts of Australia, very much resemble those of the European bird, but its plumage is very different: the male having the