judging him very capable of writing the "History of Louis XIV." recommended him to that monarch; who however, upon being informed that Perrot was a protestant, said, that "he would not have an historian of a religion different from his own." Perrot was a man of great talents in conversation, and said so many good things that Pelisson regretted there was not some one present to write down all he spoke.1

. PERRY (JOHN), captain, a celebrated engineer, the second son of Samuel Perry, of Rodborough in Gloucestershire, gent. and Sarah his wife, daughter of sir Thomas Nott, knt. was, in or before 1693, lieutenant of the Montague; which about that year coming into Portsmouth dock to be refitted, he exerted his skill in the improvement of an engine for throwing out a large quantity of water from deep sluices in a short space of time. In 1695, he published "A Regulation for Seamen; wherein a method is humbly proposed, whereby their Majesties fleet may at all times be speedily and effectually manned, and the Merchants be more readily and cheaper served, without having their men at any time pressed or taken away; setting forth the great advantages that will accrue thereby to the king, merchant, and subject in general, whereby these islands will be more secure and happy, the king's revenue considerably be eased, trade in general be quickened and encouraged, and every individual subject receive benefit thereby, in lessening the price of all naval commodities; wherein is also proposed, a method or nursery for training up of Seamen to supply the loss and decay of them in time of War: as also, the giving hereby equal liberty and advantage to all seamen, removing many hardships that they now suffer under, and giving them many encouragements that they do not, now enjoy. By John Perry, late Captain of the Signet Fire-ship, now a prisoner in the Marshalsea, according to sentence of a late CourtMartial. To which is added, a short Narrative of his Case relating to his loss of the said ship in company of the Diamond Frigate, in September 1693," 4to. By this pamphlet it appears that he had been sentenced to a fine of 1000l. and to ten years' imprisonment. In 1698, when the Czar Peter was in this country, being desirous of engaging some eminent artists, Mr. Perry was introduced to his

1 Moreri.-Dict. Hist.-Life by Patru.

notice by the marquis of Carmarthen, and by Mr. Dummer, surveyor of the Navy, as a person capable of serving him on several occasions, relating to his new design of establishing a fleet, making his rivers navigable, &c.; and he was taken into the service of the Czar as comptroller of the marine works, at a salary of 300l. per annum, with travelling charges, and subsistence-money, on whatever service he should be employed; besides a further reward to his satisfaction, at the conclusion of any work he should finish. After some conversation with the Czar himself, particularly respecting a communication between the rivers Volga and Don, he was employed on this work three successive summers; but not being properly supplied with men, partly on account of the ill-success of the Czar against the Swedes at the battle of Narva, and partly by the discouragement of the governor of Astracan, he was ordered at the end of 1707 to stop, and next year employed in refitting the ships at Veronise, and in 1709 in making the river of that name navigable. After repeated disappointments, and fruitless applications for his salary, he at last quitted the kingdom, under the protection of Mr. Whitworth, the English ambassador, in 1712.

After his return he published "The State of Russia under the present Czar; in relation to the several great and remarkable things he has done, as to his naval preparations, the regulating his army, the reforming his people, and improvement of his country; particularly those works on which the author was employed; with the reasons of his quitting the Czar's service, after having been fourteen years in that country. Also, an Account of those Tartars, and other people, who border on the Eastern and extreme Northern parts of the Czar's dominions; their religion and manner of life. With many other observations. To which is annexed a more accurate Map of the Czar's do- ́ minions than has hitherto been extant," 1716, 8vo.

In 1721 he was employed in stopping the breach at Dagenham, made in the bank of the river Thames, near the village of that name in Essex, and about three miles below Woolwich, in which he happily succeeded, after several other persons had failed in that undertaking. He was also employed, the same year, about the harbour at Dublin, and published at that time an answer to the objections raised against it. A publication by Capt. Perry on these subjects is thus entitled, "An Account of the

Stopping of Dagenham Breach; with the accidents that have attended the same from the first undertaking: containing also proper Rules for performing any the like work, and Proposals for rendering the ports of Dover and Dublin (which the author has been employed to survey) commodious for entertaining large ships. To which is prefixed a plan of the levels which were overflowed by the Breach," 1721, 8vo. Upon this project 1600l. had been spent by the author of "An impartial Account of the frauds and abuses at Dagenham Breach, and of the hardships sustained by Mr. William Boswell, late undertaker of the works there: in a Letter to a Member of Parliament," London, 1717, 8vo.

Capt. Perry was elected a Member of the Gentlemen's Society at Spalding, April 16, 1730, to which Society was communicated his original Map or Chart of the Sea Coasts. He died Feb. 11, 1733, and was buried in Spalding church, where an inscription on a slab erected by his kinsman and heir William Perry, of Penshurst in Kent, preserves his memory.1

PERSIUS (AULUS FLACCUS), one of the three great Roman satirists, was born at Volterra, in Tuscany, in the 22d year of Tiberius's reign, or A. D. 34. At the age of 12 he was removed to Rome, where he pursued his studies under Palamon the grammarian, and Virginius Flaccus the rhetorician. He afterwards, at sixteen, applied himself to philosophy under Cornutus, a Stoic, who entertained so great a love for him, that there was ever after a most intimate friendship between them. Persius has immortalized that friendship in his fifth satire, and his gratitude for the good offices of his friend. This he shewed still farther by his will, in which he left him his library, and a great deal of money but Cornutus, like a true philosopher, who knew how to practise what he taught, accepted only the books, and gave the money to the heirs of the testator. We have nothing deserving the name of a life of Persius, but his character appears to have been excellent. He had a

strong sense of virtue, and lived in an age when such a sense would naturally produce a great abhorrence of the reigning vices. His moral and religious sentiments were formed on the best systems which the philosophy of his age afforded; and so valuable is his matter, that Mr. Harris, of

Nichols's Bowyer.-Hutton's Dictionary.-Preface to his State of Russia

Salisbury, justly said, "he was the only difficult Latin author that would reward the reader for the pains which he must take to understand him."

Persius is said to have been of a weak constitution, and troubled with indigestion, of which he died in his 30th year. Of his satires, six are extant, and have procured him to be named with Horace and Juvenal as the third great Latin satirist. With regard to his obscurity, critics have varied in their opinions of the cause of it: some attribute it as an original defect in his style; while others assert, that what we call obscurities and difficulties arise from allusions to persons, events, and practices, with which we are now unacquainted. There are, undoubtedly, such allusions in all the Roman poets; but Persius cannot be altogether acquitted of harshness and obscurity of style, independent of such. He has more of the force and fire of Juvenal, than of the politeness of Horace; but as a moral writer he excels both.

The best editions of this poet are that of London, 1647, 8vo, with Casaubon's "Commentary ;" and that of Wedderburn, Amst. 1664, 12mo; but he is generally printed along with Juvenal; and has had the same editors. We have several English metrical translations: the first by Dryden; the second, and a very valuable one, by a Dr. Brewster, in 1751, 8vo; and, more recently, an elegant and spirited version by Mr. Drummond.'

PERUGINO (PIETRO), a celebrated Italian painter, the master of Raphael, was born in 1446, at Perugia, whence he took the name that has totally obliterated his family appellation, which was Vanucci. His parents were poor; but, being desirous to put him in a way of supporting himself, placed him with a painter, under whom he imbibed at least a strong enthusiasm for his art, and desire to excel in it. His application to study was intense; and when he had made a sufficient progress, he went to Florence, and became a disciple of Andrea Verocchio. From this painter he acquired a graceful mode of designing heads, particularly those of his female figures. He rose by degrees to considerable eminence, and was employed by Sixtus IV. to paint several pieces for his chapel at Rome. Great as his talents were, he was unfortunately infected with the vice of covetousness. It was from this cause that, when he

1 Vossius de Poet. Lat.-Crusius's Lives of the Roman Poets, Saxii Onomast. -Drummond's Preface.

returned to Florence, he quarrelled with Michael Angelo, and behaved so ill, that the Florentines, being enraged against him, drove him from their city: on which he returned to his native Perugia. The same foible proved accidentally the cause of his death; for, having accumulated some money, which he was very anxious not to lose, he always carried it about him. He continued this practice till some thief robbed him of his treasure; and, the grief for his loss being too severe for his strength, he died in 1524, at the age of 78.

His touch was light, and his pictures highly finished; but his manner was stiff and dry, and his outline was frequently incorrect. His most capital painting is in the church of St. Peter at Perugia. It is an altar-piece, the subject of which is the Ascension of Christ. The disciples are there represented in various attitudes, but all directing their eyes to heaven, and looking after the Lord, who is supposed to have ascended. '

PERUZZI (BALDASSARE), a painter of history and architecture, was born in 1481, at Accajano, in the diocese of Volterra, but in the territory and a citizen of Siena. He commenced his studies as a painter at Siena; and when he had gained a competent degree of knowledge, he copied the works of the best masters, with a diligence and success that were equally extraordinary. From Siena he went to Rome, where he was employed by the pope Alexander VI. Julius II. and Leo X. in their palaces, and in several chapels and convents. He was particularly successful in painting architecture; and so completely understood the principles of chiaro-oscuro, and of perspective, that even Titian is said to have seen the effects with surprize, being hardly able to believe that what he saw was the work of the pencil, and not real architecture. His usual subjects were streets, palaces, corridors, porticoes, and the insides of magnificent apartments, which he represented with a truth that produced an absolute deception *. He received some instructions from Bramante, the architect of St. Peter's,

ever, was architecture: Lomazzo calls him Architetto universale;' and as such he superintended, for some time, the fabrick of St. Peter, unrewarded and pitifully paid. With regard to his origin, see Lettere Senesi,' tom. III. page 178."

4 Pilkington.