Chapter Perker to Pétaud of P by Brewer's Readers Handbook

Perseus’s Horse, a ship. Perseus, having cut off Medusa’s head, made the ship Pegasê, the swiftest ship hitherto known, and generally called “Perseus’s flying horse.”

The thick-ribbed bark thro’ liquid mountains cut …
Like Perseus’ horse.

Shakespeare: Troilus and Cressida, act i. sc.3 (1602).

Persian Creed (The). Zoroaster supposes there are two gods or spirit-principles—one good and the other evil. The good is Yezad, and the evil Ahriman.

Les mages reconnaissaient deux principes, un bon et un mauvais: le premier, auteur de tout bien; et I’autre, auteur de tout mal.… Ils nommaient le bon principe “Yezad” ou “Yezdam,” ce que les Grecs, ont traduit par Oromazes; et le mauvais “Ahriman,” en Grec Arimannis.—Noël: Dict. de la Fable, article “Arimane.”

And that same…doctrine of the Persian
Of the two principles, but leaves behind
As many doubts as any other doctrine.

Byron: Don Juan, xiii. 41 (1824).

Persian Letters, or, according to the proper title, “Letters from a Persian in England to his Friend in Ispahan,” by lord Lyttelton (1735).

Persian Tales, translated from the French by Ambrose Philips (1709).

Perth (The Fair Maid of), Catharine or Katie Glover, “universally acknowledged to be the most beautiful young woman of the city or its vicinity.” Catharine was the daughter of Simon Glover (the glover of Perth), and married Henry Smith the armourer.—Sir W. Scott: Fair Maid of Perth (time, Henry IV.).

(For the plot of the novel, see Fair Maid, p. 352.)

Pertinax (Sir). (See MacSycophant.)

Pertolope (Sir), the Green Knight. One of the four brothers who kept the passages to Castle Perilous. He was overthrown by sir Gareth. Tennyson calls him “Evening Star” or “Hesperus.”—Sir T. Malory: History of Prince Arthur, i. 127 (1470); Tennyson: Idylls (“Gareth and Lynette”).

It is evidently a blunder to call the Green Knight “Evening Star” and the Blue Knight “Morning Star.” In the original tale the combat with the “Green Knight” was at dawn, and with the “Blue Knight” at sunset. The error arose from not recollecting that day began in olden times with the preceding eve, and ended at sunset.

Perviz (Prince), son of the sultan Khrosrou-schar of Persia. At birth he was taken away by the sultana’s sisters, and set adrift on a canal, but was rescued and brought up by the superintendent of the sultan’s gardens. When grown to manhood, “the talking bird” told the sultan that Perviz was his son, and the young prince, with his brother and sister, were restored to their rank and position in the empire of Persia.—Arabian Nights (“The Two Sisters,” the last tale).

Prince Perviz’s String of Pearls. Wh en prince Perviz went on his exploits, he gave his sister Parizadê a string of pearls, saying, “So long as these pearls move readily on the string, you will know that I am alive and well; but if they stick fast and will not move, it will signify that I am dead.”—Arabian Nights (“The Two Sisters,” the last tale).

Birtha’s emerald ring, and prince Bahman’s knife gave similar warnings. (See Birtha and Bahman.)