Chapter P to Pagan Works of Art of P by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Pactolus The golden sands of the Pactolus. The gold found in the Pactolian sands was from the mines of Mount Tmolus; but the supply ceased at the commencement of the Christian era. (See Midas. ) Now called Bagouly.

Padding The filling-up stuff of serials. The padding of coats and gowns is the wool, etc., put in to make the figure of the wearer more shapely. Figuratively, stuff in books or speeches to spin them out.

Paddington Fair A public execution. Tyburn, where executions formerly took place, is in the parish of Paddington. Public executions were abolished in 1868.

Paddle Your Own Canoe Mind your own business. The caution was given by President Lincoln, of North America.

Paddock Cold as a paddock. A paddock is a toad or frog; and we have the corresponding phrases “cold as a toad,” and “cold as a frog.” Both are cold-blooded. “Paddock calls.” (Macbeth, i. 1.)

Paddi-whack means an Irish wag, wag being from the Saxon wág-ian.

Paddy An Irishman. A corruption of St. Patrick, Irish Padhrig.

Padua was long supposed by the Scotch to be the chief school of necromancy; hence Sir Walter Scott says of the Earl of Gowrie -

“He learned the art that none may name
In Padua, far beyond the sea.”
Lay of the Last Minstrel.

Paduasoy or Padësoy. A silk stuff originally made at Padua.

Paean The physician of the celestial gods; the deliverer from any evil or calamity. (Greek, pauo, to make to cease.)

Paean A hymn to Apollo, and applied to the god himself. We are told in Dr. Smith's Classical Dictionary, that this word is from Paean, the physician of the Olympian gods; but surely it could be no honour to the Sun-god to be called by the name of his own vassal. Hermsterhuis suggests pauo, to make to cease, meaning to make diseases to cease; but why supply diseases rather than any other noun? The more likely derivation, me judice, is the Greek verb paio, to dart; Apollo being called the “far-darter.” The hymn began with “Io Paean.” Homer applies it to a triumphal song in general.

Pagan properly means “belonging to a village” (Latin, pagus). The Christian Church fixed itself first in cities, the centres of intelligence. Long after it had been established in towns, idolatrous practices continued to be observed in rural districts and villages, so pagan and villager came to mean the same thing. (See Heathen. )

Pagan Works of Art In Rome there are numerous works of art intended for Pagan deities and Roman emperors perverted into Christian notabilities.
   ANGELS, in St. Peter's of Rome, are old Pagan statues of Cupids and winged genii.
   GABRIEL in St. Peter's of Rome, is an old Pagan statue of the god Mercury.
   JOHN THE BAPTIST, in St. Peter's of Rome, is made out of a statue of Hercules.
   ST. CATHERINE, in St. Peter's of Rome, is made out of a statue of the goddess Fortuna.
   ST. GILES (or EGIDIUS), in St. Peter's of Rome, is a statue of Vulcan.
   ST. PAUL. Sixtus V. perverted the original statue of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus into that of St. Paul. This beautiful marble column, 170 feet in height, contains a spiral of bas-reliefs of the wars of the Roman emperor, wholly out of character with the statue which surmounts it.
   ST. PETER. The same Pope (Sixtus V.) converted the original statue of Trajan, on Trajan's column, into a statue of St. Peter. This exquisite column, like that of Antoninus, contains a spiral of bas-reliefs, representing the wars of Trajan. Surmounted by St. Peter, the perversion is absolutely, ludicrous. In St. Peter's of Rome the statue of St. Peter was meant for the old Roman god Jupiter.
   VIRGIN MARY. This statue,