seem to have been attached to any particular sect, but culled from each whatever he thought excellent. He disliked the paradoxes of the Stoics, but was still more averse from the impiety of the Epicureans: in many things he followed Aristotle; but his favorites were Socrates and Plato, whose memory he revered so highly that he annually celebrated their birth-days with much solemnity. He applied himself with extreme diligence to collect, not only all books, but also all the sayings and observations of wise men, which he had heard in conversation, or had received from others by tradition; and likewise to consult the records and public instruments preserved in cities which he had visited in his travels. He took a journey to Sparta in order to search the archives of that famous kingdoin, to understand their ancient government, with the history of their legislators, kings, and ephori. Few circumstances of Plutarch's life are known. According to the learned Fabricius, he was born under Claudius, fifty years after the Christian era. He was married to a most amiable woman of his own native town, whose name was Timoxena. He had several children, and among them two sons; one called Plutarch after himself, the other Lamprias in memory of his grandfather. Lamprias seems to have inherited his father's philosophy; and to him we owe the table or catalogue of Plutarch's writings, and perhaps also his apophthegms. He had a nephew, Sextus Charoneus, who taught the emperor Marcus Aurelius the Greek tongue, and was much honored by him. Some think that the critic Longinus was of his family; and Apuleius, in the first book of his Metamorphoses, affirms himself to be descended from him. Plutarch was several times in Rome, and contracted an intimacy with Sossius Senecio, who had been four times consul, and to whom Plutarch has dedicated many of his lives. But his chief object in these journeys was to search the records of the capitol, and the public libraries. Suidas says he was entrusted also with the management of public affairs in the empire, during his residence in the metropolis. Plutarch,' says he, lived in the, time of Trajan, who bestowed on him the consular ornaments, and caused an edict to be passed that the magistrates or officers of Illyria should do nothing in that province without his knowledge and approbation.' It is generally supposed that Trajan, a private man when Plutarch first came to Rome, was, among other nobility, one of his auditors; and that, therefore, this emperor afterwards made use of him in his councils. Fabricius asserts that he was Trajan's preceptor, and that he was raised to the consular dignity by him, and made procurator of Greece in his old age by Adrian. The desire of visiting his native country prevailed with him at length to leave Italy; and at his return he was unanimously chosen archon of Charonea, and soon after admitted into the number of the Delphic Apollo's priests. Fabricius says he died in the fifth year of Adrian, aged seventy. His works have been divided into Lives and Morals, PLUTEOUS, a defensive machine, much used by the ancient Romans. It was composed of wicker hurdles laid like a roof on the top of

posts, which the soldiers, who went under it fo: shelter, bore up with their hands. Kennet, in page 238 of his Roman Antiquities, observes that some will have them, as well as the vineæ, to have been contrived with a double roof; the first and lower roof of planks, and the upper roof of hurdles, to break the force of any blow, without disordering the machine. They were put much to the same use as the musculi. Father Daniel, the jesuit, in his history of the French militia, quotes a passage out of a poem by Abbon the Monk, entitled the Siege of Paris; the neaning of which is that the Normans brought up a large quantity of machines, that were called plutei by the Romans, and that they thus preserved their soldiers from the arrows and javelins.

PLUTO, in Pagan worship, the king of the inferual regions, was the son of Saturn and Ops, and the brother of Jupiter and Neptune. This deity, being childless and unmarried, mounted his chariot to visit the world; and, arriving in Sicily, became enamoured of Proserpine, whom he saw gathering flowers with her companions in the valley of Enna, near mount Etna; when, forcing her into his chariot, he drove her to the river Chemarus, through which he opened himself a passage back to the realms of night. See CERES and PROSERPINE. Pluto is usually represented in an ebony chariot drawn by four black horses; sometimes holding a sceptre, to denote his power; at others a ward, with which he drives away the ghosts; and at others keys, to signify that he had the keys of death. Homer observes that his helmet had the quality of rendering the wearer invisible, and that Minerva borrowed it in order to be concealed from Mars when she fought against the Trojans. Pluto was greatly revered both by the Greeks and Romans, who erected temples and altars to him. To this god sacrifices were offered in the night, and it was not lawful to offer them by day. In a piece of painting discovered about the end of the last century, in an old burial place of the Nassonian family, Pluto and Proserpine are sitting or thrones, whilst Mercury is introducing the ghost of a young woman, who seems intimidated at Pluto's stern look. Behind stands her mother, waiting to conduct her back to some grove in Elysium. Pluto holds .a sceptre in his hand, and has a veil over his head.

PLUTUS, in Pagan worship, the god of riches. He was represented as appearing lame when he approached, and with wings at his departure; to show the difficulty of amassing wealth, and the uncertainty of its enjoyment. He was also frequently represented blind, to show that he often bestowed his favors on the most unworthy, and left in necessity those who had the greatest merit.

PLUVIAL, adj. Į Lat. pluvia. Rainy; rePLUVIOUS. Slating to rain.

The fungous parcels about the wicks of candles only signifieth a moist and pluvious air about them. Browne.

PLUVIUS, a surname of Jupiter. He was invoked by that name among the Romans whenever the earth was parched up by continued heat, and want of rain. He had an altar in the temple on the capitol.

He was forced to ply in the streets as a porter for his livelihood. Addison's Spectator.

Still at his oar the industrious Libys plies; But as he plies, each busy arm shrinks in, And by degrees is fashioned to a fin. Id. Ovid. He who exerts all the faculties of his soul, and plies all means and opportunities in the search of truth, may rest upon the judgment of his conscience so informed, as a warrantable guide.

South.

Whosoever has any thing of David's piety will be perpetually plying the throne of grace with such like acknowledgments; as, blessed be that providence which delivered me from such a lewd company. Id. It is not his (by manlier virtues graced) To pore upon the noon-tide brook, and sigh, And weep for age o'er sorrow uneffaced, Him social duties call the tear to dry, And wake the nobler powers of usefulness to ply. Kirke White.

PLY, v. n. & n. s. Fr. plier. To bend: bent; turn; bias; plait; fold.

The late learners cannot so well take the ply ex cept it be in some minds that have not suffered themselves to fix, but have kept themselves open, and prepared to receive continual amendment.

Bacon.

The willow plied, and gave way to the gust, and still recovered itself again, but the oak was stubborn, and chose rather to break than bend.

L'Estrange. The rug or plies of the inward coat of the stomach detain the aliment in the stomach.

Arbuthnot.

PLYERS, in fortification, a kind of balance used in raising or letting down a draw-bridge. They consist of two timber levers, twice as long as the bridge they lift, joined together by other timbers formed together in the form of a St. Andrew's cross to counterpoise them. They are

supported by two upright jambs, on which they swing; and the bridge is raised or let down by means of chains joining the ends of the plyers and bridge.

PLYING, in the sea-language, the act of making, or endeavouring to make, a progress against the direction of the wind. Hence a ship that advances well in her course in this manner of sailing, is said to be a good plyer.

PLYMOUTH, a sea-port town, near the extreme western point of the Devonshire coast, is a place of considerable antiquity, and was principally inhabited by fishermen till the reign of Henry II., since which time it has gradually increased in importance. Its distance from London is 218 miles. Many of the streets are narrow and irregular, but great improvements are daily taking place; and elegant edifices both public and private springing up in every direction. The town contains two parish churches, St. Andrew and Charles, and eleven Dissenting places of worship. The public charities and religious societies are numerous. Its literary institutions are the Athenæum, which owes its origin to the efforts of Henry Woollcombe, esq., and a few other public-spirited gentleman; and the public library, which contains several thousand valuable books. The inns are numerous and commodious. The theatre and royal hotel form one magnificent building 275 feet in length, with noble porticoes, &c., being erected on the model of a Greek temple on the Ilyssus. Plymouth is supplied with water by a fine stream which was brought from Dartmoor, in the reign of Elizabeth, through the exertions of Sir Francis Drake, the celebrated circumnavigator. The marketplace is remarkably large, and abundantly supplied with the necessaries of life at a cheap rate. The corporation consists of a mayor, twelve aldermen, twenty-four common councilmen, recorder, and town clerk. Plymouth carries on a considerable coasting trade, and it has some foreign commerce, but its manufactures of coarse woollens, serges, &c., which were formerly very extensive, have totally disappeared. Its sound affords fine anchorage for ships, particularly since the erection of its magnificent breakwater.

This noble mole stretches across the entrance of the sound, and is 1700 yards long. It was begun in 1812, and is formed of immense blocks of marble heaped one upon another; and which, having been shaken together by the storms of succeeding winters, have acquired amazing strength and solidity. From the breakwater may be seen, in fine weather, the Eddystone lighthouse. See EDDYSTONE ROCKS. Inside the Breakwater, and about a mile from the main land, is St. Nicholas's Island, comprising an area of seven acres, and strongly fortified.

The celebrated M. Dupin saw this great work in progress, in September 1816, and his accurate description of the mode in which the operations were carried on both at the works and on shore cannot fail to be interesting to our readers.

ticular order, but within the lines fixed for the boundaries of the work. The points for deposit ing the stone, so as to diminish the width, and thereby form the internal and external slopes, are determined by means of sounding. When the work at any part rises high enough to be visible at low water, the largest blocks of stone are employed. They are laid together in such a way as to produce the greatest possible resistance to any derangement which might be occasioned by the waves of the sea. They are not, however, so combined as to form a smooth surface externally; on the contrary, they present great irregularities, and thus form a break-water, in the true sense of the word. The external plane or slope, from the level of low water to the summit, as well as the horizontal part of the summit, have a smooth and uniform surface: but the stones, though smoothed on the external surface, are not squared on the other sides. They are laid one into another; and in form, bulk, and mode of connexion, perfectly represent those ancient structures, celebrated for solidity, and known by the name of Cyclopean Structures.

'We may now describe the means employed in extracting the stone from the quarries, placing it on board vessels, and disembarking it at the necessary point. These methods are, generally speaking, as simple as ingenious, and are well worthy the attention of the mechanician. The hills, from which the stone is extracted, extend to the bank of the Plym; and a quay is constructed on the bank of the river, to afford conveniences for the loading of several vessels at the same time. The hills are every where covered with strata of vegetable earth, more or less thick. This earth is gradually removed before the stone can be got out. The hills are cut from the top downwards, by sections nearly vertical. The vegetable earth which has been removed, together with the small pieces of stone procured in course of the excavation, are piled up, and form an artificial hill, which rises beside those which are gradually disappearing. By means of iron chains, flying bridges are thrown from the summit of the new hill to the summit of the primitive hill; and the workmen, with wheel-barrows and handbarrows, remove the vegetable earth along these bridges.

"There appeared to be nothing peculiar in the process by which the quarries are worked; only that it is much more easy when the stone is found in vertical strata than when it lies horizontally. It sometimes happens that, in the same hill, there are strata nearly horizontal, contiguous to others nearly vertical; a geological fact, which, though not without example, is nevertheless very remarkable. The largest blocks of stone, which are reserved for the external and upper parts of the work, are extracted from the latter strata. At the foot of each section of the hill a file of cranes is established, on an extremely simple principle. The feet of these cranes rest on a sole fixed into the earth; and the heads turn in an iron collar provided with rings, to which chains are fastened; these chains, four or five in number, extend some from the top downwards, and have their point of attachment in the ground-and others from the bottom upwards,

and have their point of attachment on the summit of the hill. In proportion as the excavation advances, the points of attachment of the chains are altered, and the range of cranes is extended, so that the pieces of stone detached by the gunpowder, and thrown down by the workmen, are always caught by some one of the cranes. They are each moved by means of a double handle, the axis of which has a pinion attached to it; this pinion sets in motion a toothed wheel, which acts upon the pinion attached to the cylinder, round which the chain, by which the weight is raised, rolls and unrolls. Two men are sufficient to work each crane one links together the two ends of the chain round the piece of stone to be raised, and the other turns the handle. As soon as the stone is disengaged from those which surround it, the workman, who fixed it in the chain, pushes it with his hands, and makes the crane turn on itself, until the stone comes on a level with a flat carriage, with four small cast iron wheels, of nearly equal diameter.

The block of stone being deposited on this carriage, the two workmen at the crane proceed to raise another piece of stone, and to place it on another carriage. These little carriages are provided at both ends with two strong iron hooks, for fastening to the traces of a horse, either before or behind, according as it may be found necessary to make the carriage advance or retrograde; for it is not made to turn upon its wheels. The wheels are placed in the grooves of an iron railway, prepared for that purpose. These iron railways meet at the different points of embarkation, and branch out to each of the cranes above described. When a carriage arrives to be loaded at the cranes, a driver is in readiness with his horse, and he fastens the traces to the hooks in front of the carriage. He drives off, proceeding a little before his horse, in order to turn the little pieces of iron, which form edges for the grooves of the rail-way, at places where two roads, crossing each other, render it necessary that the edges of the rail-way should be capable of taking two different directions. The rail-ways lead to the point of embarkation, parallel with the quay, and the carriage which runs in this direction must turn at right angles, in order that it may be embarked on board the vessel which is waiting at the quay to receive it. For this purpose, a eircular plate of cast-iron is laid down, with edges which appear to be a prolongation of the rail-way. This plate, the centre of which is in the middle of the road, turns on rollers fixed circularly beneath it. It is moreover enchased in a cast-iron hoop, and fixed into the ground, to prevent it from inclining either to one side or the other. The driver having brought his carriage to the iron plate, which prolongs the iron rail-way, unfastens the horse, and turns with his hands the iron plate, with the carriage upon it, until the rail-way on the plate is brought in a line with the turn of the road leading to the vessel, perpendicular to the quay.

'A strong beam is fixed into the front of the quays. Two beams perpendicular to this, on a line with the grooves of the latter part of the railway, are fixed, with strong hinges, in front of the immoveable beam. The iron grooves of the rail

way are carried along these two beams, which may be either raised or lowered by turning upon the fixed beam. The free extremities of the two beams rest on the edge of a port-hole, at the stern of the vessel that is to be loaded. According as the tide is either high or low, the slope of the beams changes, though the ends still rest on the port-hole. The vessels employed to convey the blocks of stone have only one deck, along which run two iron rail-ways extending from stem to stern, one on the starboard, and the other on the larboard side. Two similar rail-ways take the same direction into the bottom of the hold. A horizontal capstan in the middle of the vessel, moved by iron wheel-work, makes the carriage advance from the circular iron plate, before mentioned, to the deck of the vessel, where the carriages are ranged, so that the front of the one comes in contact with the back of the other.

'It will naturally be supposed that in order to keep the vessels steady during the loading, it is necessary, in depositing the carriages in the hold, to begin by introducing them alternately on the starboard and larboard sides. Thus the vessel is prevented from heeling either on one side or the other, which would render the operations difficult and even dangerous. In this manner sixteen or twenty carriages are put on board each vessel; six or seven on each side of the hold, and two or three on each side of the deck. With one horse for drawing the carriages to the circular iron plates on which they are turned to the point of embarkation, the driver of the horse, and six or eight men for working the capstan and pulleys, a vessel bearing sixty tons is loaded in the space of fifty minutes.

The great works which I have here attempted to describe, the enormous masses of stone which the workmen strike with huge hammers, or precipitate from the summit of the hills; the suspended roads for conveying away the earth; the lines of cranes and their simultaneous machinery; the movement of the carriages; the arrival, loading, and departure of the vessels, pre sent altogether, to an admirer of the great works of art, one of the most imposing spectacles that can be imagined. At certain hours the ringing of a bell announces the explosion of the quarries. The works instantly cease, the workmen retire; all becomes silence and solitude; and this silence is rendered still more imposing by the report of the gunpowder, the breaking of the rocks, the crash occasioned by their fall, and the prolonged echoes. Near the quarries there are several workshops for repairing the tools, carriages, vessels, &c. A little square building serves as an office for the engineer and a few agents, who are sufficient for the direction and completion of an undertaking the annual expenses of which amount to £100,000. The works are entrusted to two contractors: one superintends the transport of the stone, and the other the explosion of the quarries and the construction of the breakwater. The vessels employed in conveying the stone are previously gauged, and each vessel has its burden marked on scales fixed up at the stem and stern. In proportion as the vessel is loaded, the scale descends in the water, and thus the burden is VOL. XVII.

ascertained. This serves for the rule by which all the works are paid. A certain sum is paid for the extraction of every ton of stone, and so much for placing it on board the vessels and conveying it to the breakwater.'

Plymouth is defended by a fortification called the citadel, which completely overlooks the entrance to Catwater, its harbour; the ramparts occupying a circuit of nearly three-quarters of a mile. West of the citadel is the Hoe, a fine grassy spot which commands most delightful land and sea views; and forms a charming promenade for the inhabitants. Beneath the citadel on the east is the government victualling establishment for supplying the royal navy with bread, and other provisions. The dock yard is situated at Devonport formerly known by the name of Plymouth Dock, which is two miles from Plymouth. This establishment commenced in the reign of William III., and is now allowed to be equal, at least, to any arsenal in the world. It is seated on the eastern bank of the river Tamar, and includes within its walls an area of seventy acres. It contains many spacious docks, and slips, covered with vast and expensive roofs, under which ships of all classes are now built and repaired. See DOCK-YARDS. The eye of the visitor is also struck with the view of magnificent store-houses, of workshops on an immense scale; and indeed of all that is necessary to the rapid equipment of large fleets.

The harbour, called Hamoaze, is a remarkably fine one, being four miles in length, on an average breadth of one mile. In this capacious bay, which is completely sheltered on all sides, a large number of ships, not wanted for active service, are laid up in ordinary, moored to vast chains which stretch across the bed of the harbour. North of the dock yard lies the gunwharf, which was completed in 1726. This establishment contains vast quantities of cannon, shot, &c., belonging to the vessels in ordinary; and connected with it is a large powder magazine, situated at Morice Town.

The town of Devonport owes its origin to the establishment of the dock yard, and is both extensive and well built, enclosed by fortifications which have for some years remained in an unfinished state.

It is connected with the suburbs of Stoke, Morice Town, &c. From its having long been termed Plymouth Dock, it was generally confounded with Plymouth, and this occasioned, a few years since, the change of its name. The streets are built, generally, at right angles; the foot-paths are paved with slabs of Devonshire marble, obtained from quarries in the neighbourhood; and when washed by showers nothing can be conceived more beautiful than the appearance of most of the pavements. The parish church is at Stoke, about a mile distant, but the town contains two chapels of ease, and numerous dissenting meeting houses. Among several other handsome buildings are the town hall, and the public library. The column which was erected to commemorate the change of the name of the town is a prominent and interesting object. Devonport is abundantly supplied with water by a fine stream, similar to that of Plymouth, which flows a distance of thirty miles, from nearly

z L

the centre of Dartmoor, the mother of rivers.' On the south of the town is Mount Wise, a gravelled plain, used as a military parade, and which commands fine views of Plymouth Sound, the Breakwater, Mount Edgecumbe, &c. Midway between Plymouth and Devonport is the town of Stonehouse, in which are situated the royal marine barracks, and the royal naval hospital, capable of receiving, at once, 1200 patients. Divided from this establishment by a narrow seawater creek is the military hospital, a large and handsome building. At Devil's Point, the western extremity of Stonehouse, the new victualling buildings are erecting at a vast expense; but which, from their fine situation at the foot of Hamoaze, and their proximity to the waters of the Sound, must hereafter be of the utmost service in provisioning the fleets. It would not be consistent, however, with the limits of this work to enter into a detailed description of all the government establishments, military and civil, included within the limits of the port of Plymouth; those which have already been mentioned will give a sufficient idea of the importance of the place. The population, from the cheapness of the markets, and the almost unrivalled beauty of the surrounding scenery, is constantly increasing.

PLYMOUTH, formerly Saltash, a post town of Windsor county, Vermont, eighteen miles west of Windsor. A remarkable cavern was discovered in this town in 1818. It is situated at the foot of a mountain, near the head of Black River, and has five apartments, the largest of which is thirty feet long, twenty broad, and twenty high. Two of the others are nearly as large. The rocks which form the cavern are wholly of .imestone. Numerous petrifactions are found here, most of which resemble icicles hanging from the rocks.

PLYMOUTH, a post town of Grafton county, New Hampshire, on the west side of the Merrimack; thirty-one miles S. S. E. of Haverhill, forty-three north of Concord, seventy north-west of Portsmouth. In the north part of the town there is a pleasant village containing a courthouse, a Congregational meeting-house, and about twenty-five dwelling-houses. The courts for the county are held alternately here and at Haverhill.

PLYMOUTH, a county of the east part of Massachusetts, bounded north by Norfolk county, east by the Atlantic, south by Barnstable county and Buzzard's Bay, and west by Bristol county. Population 35,169.

The capital, of the same name, contains a court-house, jail, bank, and four houses of public worship; three for Congregationalists, and one for Baptists. The harbour is spacious, but shallow. Vessels drawing more than ten or eleven feet of water must unload in part at a distance from the wharfs. The compact part of the town is pleasantly situated, and well built, chiefly of wood. The shipping belonging to this port in 1816 amounted to 18,875 tons, and is employed in the fisheries, West India and European trade. A rivulet passes through the town which affords a valuable alewive fishery, and also furnishes seats for a number of mills and important manufactories; among which are considerable iron-works, and cotton and woollen manufactories. A fort for the defence of the town, and a light-house, are built nine miles east by north of Plymouth.

The township is extensive, containing more than eighty square miles. It is sixteen miles long, and more than five broad. The soil near the coast is generally good; the rest of the township is barren, and, notwithstanding its antiquity, is still a forest, consisting mostly of pine, though there are some tracts covered with oak. than two-thirds of the inhabitants reside in the village. There is another village at Monument Ponds, seven miles south of the town.

More

Plymouth is the oldest town in New England. The first settlers landed here on the 22d of December, 1620; this anniversary is still observed. The rock on which they landed was conveyed, in 1774, to the centre of the town. Thirty-six miles E. S. E. of Boston.

PLYMPTON, a post town of Plymouth county, Massachusetts, ten miles north-west of Plymouth, thirty-two south of Boston, west 459. Population 900. It contains a cotton manufactory, a cotton and woollen manufactory, and a forge.

PLYNTERIA, a Grecian festival in honor of Aglauros, or rather of Minerva, who received from the daughter of Cecrops the name of Aglauros. The word is derived from πλʊvav, lavare, because during the solemnity they undressed the statue of the goddess, and washed it. The day on which it was observed was looked upon as unfortunate and inauspicious; and therefore no person was permitted to appear in the temples, as they were purposely surrounded with ropes. It was customary at this festival to bear in procession a cluster of figs; which intimated the progress of civilisation among the first inhabitants of the earth, as figs served them for food after they had begun to dislike acorns.

Greek πνευματικός,

That the air near the surface of the earth will ex

PNEUMATICAL.

air. Moved by wind; relative to wind.

The race of all things here is, to extenuate and turn things to be more pneumatical and rare; and not to retrograde, from pneumatical to that which is dense. Bacon's Natural History. I fell upon the making of pneumatical trials, whereof I gave an account in a book about the air. Boyle.

sphere is taken off, may be seen in the experiments made by Boyle in his pneumatick engine.

Locke's Elements of Natural Philosophy. The lemon uncorrupt with voyage long, To vinous spirits added,

They with pneumatick engine ceaseless draw. Philips