Chapter Psalmanazar to Pye of P by Biographical Dictionary of English Literature

Psalmanazar to Pye

Psalmanazar, George (1679?-1763).—Literary impostor. His real name is unknown. He is believed to have been a native of France or Switzerland, but represented himself as a native of the island of Formosa, and palmed off a Formosan language of his own construction, to which he afterwards added a description of the island. For a time he was in the military service of the Duke of Mecklenburg, and formed a connection with William Innes, chaplain of a Scottish regiment, who collaborated with him in his frauds, and introduced various refinements into his methods. Innes, however, was appointed chaplain to the forces in Portugal, and Psalmanazar was unable to maintain his impositions, and was exposed. After a serious illness in 1728 he turned over a new leaf and became a respectable and efficient literary hack; his works in his latter days included a General History of Printing, contributions to the Universal History, and an Autiobiography containing an account of his impostures.

Purchas, Samuel (1575?-1626).—Compiler of travels, born at Thaxton, and educated at Cambridge, took orders, and held various benefices, including the rectory of St. Martin’s, Ludgate Hill. The papers of R. Hakluyt (q.v.) came into his hands, and he made several compilations relating to man, his nature, doings, and surroundings. His three works are (1) Purchas his Pilgrimage, or Relations of the World and the Religions observed in all Ages and Places, etc.; (2) Purchas his Pilgrim, Microcosmus, or the History of Man, etc.; and (3) Hakluytus Posthumus, or Purchas his Pilgrimes, containing a History of the World in Sea Voyages and Land Travels, etc. Although credulous, diffuse, and confused, these works have preserved many interesting and curious matters which would otherwise have been lost.

Pusey, Edward Bouverie (1800-1882).—Scholar and theologian, born at Pusey, Berks, educated at Eton and Oxford, belonged to the family of Lord Folkstone, whose name was Bouverie, his flourished assuming that of Pusey on inheriting certain estates. After studying in Germany, he became in 1828 Regius Professor of Hebrew at Oxford His first important work was an Essay on the Causes of Rationalism in German Theology, and the arrest of similar tendencies in England became one of the leading objects of his life. He was one of the chief leaders of the Tractarian movement, and contributed tracts on Baptism and on Fasting. In consequence of a sermon on the Eucharist, he was in 1843 suspended from the office of University Preacher which he then held. Later writings related to Confession and The Doctrine of the Real Presence, and in 1865 he issued an Eirenicon in support of union with the Church of Rome. He was prominent in all movements and controversies affecting the University, and was foremost among the prosecutors of Jowett (q.v.). Among his other literary labours are commentaries on Daniel and the minor Prophets, a treatise on Everlasting Punishment, and a Catalogue of the Arabic MS. in the Bodleian Library.

Puttenham, George (1530?-1590).—was one of the son of Robert Puttenham, a country gentleman. There has been attributed to him the authorship of The Arte of Poesie, a treatise of some length divided into three parts, (I) of poets and poesy, (2) of proportion, (3) of ornament. It is now thought rather more likely that it was written by his brother Richard (1520?-1601). George was the author of an Apologie for Queen Elizabeth’s treatment of Mary Queen of Scots.

Pye, Henry James (1745-1813).—A country gentleman of Berkshire, who published Poems on Various Subjects and Alfred, an Epic, translated the Poetics of Aristotle, and was Poet Laureate from 1790. In the last capacity he wrote official poems of ludicrous dulness, and was generally a jest and a byword in literary circles.