Chapter Perceforest to Peregrine of P by Brewer's Readers Handbook

Perdita, the daughter of the queen Hermionê, born in prison. Her father, king Leontês, comma nded the infant to be cast on a desert shore, and left to perish there. Being put to sea, the vessel was dri ven by a storm to the “coast” of Bohemia, and the infant child was brought up by a shepherd, who call ed its name Perdita. Florizel, the son of the Bohemian king, fell in love with Perdita, and courted her under the assumed name of Doriclês; but the king, having tracked his son to the shepherd’s hut, told Perdita that if she did not at once discontinue this foolery, he would command her and the shepherd too to be put to death. Florizel and Perdita now fled from Bohemia to Sicily, and being introduced to the king, it was soon discovered that Perdita was Leontêes’s daughter. The Bohemian king, having tracked his son to Sicily, arrived just in time to hear the news, and gave his joyful consent to the union which he had before forbidden.—Shakespeare: The Winter’s Tale (1604).

Perdita, Mrs. Mary Robinson (born Darby), the victim of George IV. while prince of Wales. She first attracted his notice while acting the part of “Perdita,” and the prince called himself “Florizel.” George prince of wales settled a pension for life on her, £500 a year for herself, and £200 a year for her daughter. She caught cold one winter, and, losing the use of her limbs, could neither walk nor stand (1758–1799, not 1800 as is given usually).

She was unquestionably very beautiful, but more so in the face than in the figure; and she had a remarkable facility in adapting her deportment to dress… To-day she was a paysanne with a straw hat tied at the back of her head… yesterday she had been the dressed belle of Hyde Park, trimmed, powdered, patched, painted to the utmost power of rouge and white lead; to-morrow she would be the cravated Amazon of the riding-house; but be she what she might, the hats of the fashionable promenaders swept the ground as she passed. When she rode forth in her high phaeton, three candidates and her husband were outriders.—Mrs. Hawkins: Memoirs (1800).

Perdrix, toujours Perdrix! Walpole tells us that the confessor of one of the French kings, having reproved the monarch for his conjugal infidelities, was asked what dish he liked best. The confessor replied, “Partridges;” and the king had partridges served to him every day, till the confessor got quite sick of them. “Perdrix, toujours perdrix!” he would exclaim, as the dish was set before him. After a time, the king visited him, and hoped his favourite dish had been supplied him. “Mais oui,” he replied, “toujours perdrix, toujours perdrix!” “Ah, ah!” said the amorous monarch, “and one mistress is all very well, but not perdrix, toujours perdrix!” (See Notes and Queries, 337, October 23, 1869.)

The story is at least as old as the Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles, compiled between 1450–1461, for the amusement of the dauphin of France, afterwards Louis XI. (Notes and Queries, November 27, 1869.)

Farquhar parodies the French expression into, “Soup for breakfast, soup for dinner, soup for supper, and soup for breakfast again.”—Farquhar: The Inconstant, iv. 2 (1702).

Père Duchesne (Le), Jacques René Hébert; so called from the Père Duchesne, a newspaper of which he was the editor (1755–1794).

Peread (Sir), the Black Knight of the Black Lands. Called by Tennyson, “Night” or “Nox.” He was one of the four brothers who kept the passages to Castle Perilous, and was overthrown by sir Gareth.—Sir T. Malory: History of Prince Arthur, i. 126 (1470); Tennyson: Idylls (“Gareth and Lynette”).

Peredur (Sir), son of Evrawe, called “sir Peredur of the Long Spear,” one of the knights of the Round Table. He was for many years called “The Dumb Youth,” from a vow he made to speak to no Christian till Angharad of the Golden Hand loved him better than she loved any other man. His great achievements were: (1) the conquest of the Black Oppressor, who oppressed every one and did justice to no one; (2) killing the Addanc of the Lake, a monster that devoured daily some of the sons of the king of Tortures: this exploit he was enabled to achieve by means of a stone which kept him invisible; (3) slaying the three hundred heroes privileged to sit round the countess of the Achievements: on the death of these men, the seat next the countess was freely given to him; (4) the achievement of the Mount of Mourning, where was a serpent with a stone in its tail which would give inexhaustible wealth to its possessor: sir Peredur