Chapter Plornish to Pocket of P by Brewer's Readers Handbook

Plornish to Pocket

Plornish, plasterer, Bleeding-heart Yard. He was smooth-cheeked, fresh-coloured, sandy-whiskered man of 30. Long in the legs, yielding at the knees, foolish in the face, flannel-jacketed and lime-whitened. He generally chimed in conversation by echoing the words of the person speaking. Thus, if Mrs. Plornish said to a visitor, “Miss Dorrit dursn’t let him know;” he would chime in, “Dursn’t let him know.” “Me and Plornish says, ‘Ho! Miss Dorrit;” Plornish repeated after his wife, “Ho! Miss Dorrit.” “Can you employ Miss Dorrit?” Plornish repeated as an echo, “Employ Miss Dorrit?” (See Peter, p…831.)

Mrs.Plornish, the plasterer’s wife. A young woman, somewhat slatternly in herself and her belongings, and dragged by care and poverty already into wrinkles. She generally began her sentences with, “Well, not to deceive you.” Thus: “Is Mr. Plornish at home?” “Well, sir, not to deceive you, he’s gone to look for a job.” “Well, not to deceive you, maam, I’ll take it kindly of you.”—Dickens: Little Dorrit (1857).

Plotting Parlour (The). At Whittington, near Scarsdale, in Derbyshire, is a farm-house where the earl of Devonshire (Cavendish), the earl of Danby (Osborne), and Baron Delamer (Booth) Concerted the Revolution. The room in which they met is called “The Plotting Parlour.”

Where Scarsdale’s cliffs the swelling pastures bound,
…there let the farmer hail
The sacred orchard which embowers his gate,
And shew to strangers, passing down the vale,
Where Cav’ndish, Booth, and Osborne sate
When, bursting from their country’s chain,…
They planned for freedom this her noblest reign.

Akenside: Ode XVIII. V. 3 (1767).

Plotwell (Mrs.), in Mrs. Centlivre’s drama The Beau’s Duel (1703).

Plousina, called Hebê, endowed by the fairy Anguilletta with the gifts of wit, beauty, and wealth. Hebê still felt she lacked something, and the fairy told her it was love. Presently came to her father’s court a young prince named Atimir. The two fell in love with each other, and the day of their marriage was fixed. In the interval Atimir fell in love with Hebê’s elder sister Iberia; and Hebê, in her grief, was sent to the Peaceable Island, where she fell in love with the ruling prince, and married him. After a time, Atimir and Iberia, with Hebê and her husband, met at the palace of the ladies’ father, when the love between Atimir and Hebê revived. A duel was fought between the young princes, in which Atimir was slain, and the prince of the Peaceable Islands was severely wounded. Hebê, coming up, threw herself on Atimir’s sword, and the dead bodies of Atimir and Hebê were transformed into two trees called “charms.”—Comtesse D’Aulnoy: Fairy Tales (“Anguilletta,” 1682).

Plowman (Piers), the dreamer, who, falling asleep on the Malvern. Hills, Worcestershire, saw in a vision pictures of the corruptions of society, and particularly of the avarice and wantonness of the clergy. This supposed vision is formed into a poetical satire of great vigour, fancy, and humour. It is divided into twenty parts, each part being called a passus or separate vision.—William [or Robert] Langland: The Vision of Piers Plowman (1362).

Plumdamas (Mr. Peter), grocer.—Sir W. Scott: Heart of Midlothian (time, George II.).

Plume (Captain), a gentleman and an officer. He is in love with Sylvia a wealthy heiress; and, when he marries her, gives up his commission.—Farquhar: The Recruiting Officer (1705).

Plume (Sir), in Pope’s Rape of the Lock, is the photograph of Thomas Coke, vice-chamberlain in the reign of queen Anne (1712).

Sir Plume of amber snuff-box justly vain,
And the nice conduct of a clouded cane.
   —Rape of the Lock.

Plummer (Caleb), a little old toymaker, in the employ of Gruff and Tackleton, toy merchants. He was spare, grey-haired, and very poor. It was his pride “to go as close to Natur’ in his toys as he could for the money.” Caleb Plummer had a blind daughter, who assisted him in toy-making, and whom he brought up under the belief that he himself was young, handsome, and well off and that the house they lived