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

Pescecola, the famous swimmer drowned in the pool of Charybdis. The tale tells us how Pescecola dived once into the pool and came up safe; but king Frederick then threw into the pool a golden cup, which Pescecola dived for, and was never seen again.—Schiller: The Diver (1781).

Pest (Mr.), a barrister.—Sir W. Scott: Redgauntlet (time, George III.).

Pet, a fair girl with rich brown hair hanging free in natural ringlets. A lovely girl, with a free, frank face, and most wonderful eyes—so large, so soft, so bright, and set to perfection in her kind, good face. She was round, and fresh, and dimpled, and spoilt, most charmingly timid, most bewitchingly self-willed. She was the daughter of Mr. Meagles, and married Henry Gowan.—Dickens: Little Dorrit (1857).

Petaud (King), a king whose subjects are all his equals; all talkers and no hearers, all masters and no subjects.

Pétaud (King), king of the beggars, (Latin, peto, “I beg.”)

“It is an old saying,” replied the abbé Huet, “Pétaud being derived from the Latin peto, ‘I beg.”’—Asylum Christi, ii.

The court of king Pétaud, a disorderly assembly, a place of utter confusion, a bear-garden.

On n’y respecte rien, chacun y parle haut,
Et c’est tout justement la cour du roi Pétaud.

Molière: Tartuffe, i. 1 (1664).

La cour du roi Pétaud, où chacun est maitre.—French Proverb.