Chapter Peelers to Pelican Island of P by Brewer's Readers Handbook

Peggy, the laundry-maid of colonel Mannering at Woodburne.—Sir W. Scott: Guy Mannering (time, George II.).

Peggy [Thrift], the orphan daughter of sir Thomas Thrift of Hampshire, and the ward of Moody, who brings her up in perfect seclusion in the country. (For the rest of the tale, see Moody)—The Country Girl (Garrick, altered from Wycherly’s Country Wife, 1675).

Mrs. Jordan [1762–1816] made her first appearance in London at Drury Lane in 1785. The character she selected was “Peggy,” her success was immediate, her salary doubled, and she was allowed two benefits.—W.C. Russell: Representative Actors.

Pegler (Mrs.), mother of Josiah Bounderby, Esq., banker and mill-owner, called “The Bully of Humility.” The son allows the old woman £30 a year to keep out of sight.—Dickens: Hard Times (1854).

Pekuah, the attendant of princess Nekayah, of the “happy valley.” She accompanied the princess in her wanderings, but refused to enter the great pyramid. While the princess was exploring the chambers, Pekuah was carried off by some Arabs; but was afterwards ransomed for 200 ounces of gold.—Dr. Johnson: Rasselas (1759).

Pelayo (Prince), son of Favil’a, founder of the Spanish monarchy after the overthrow of Roderick last of the Gothic kings. Prince Pelayo united, in his own person, the royal lines of Spain and of the Goths.

In him the old Iberian blood,
Of royal and remotest ancestry
From undisputed source, flowed undefiled…
He, too, of Chindasuintho’s regal line
Sole remnant now, drew after him the love
Of all true Goths.
   —Southey: Roderick, etc., viii. (1814).

Pelham, the hero of a novel by lord Lytton, entitled Pelham or The Adventures of a Gentleman (1828).

Pelham (M.), one of the many aliases of sir R. Phillips, under which he published The Parent’s and Tutor’s First Catechism. In the preface he calls the writer authoress. Some of his other names are Rev. David Blair, Rev. C. C. Clarke, Rev. J. Goldsmith.

Pelian Spear (The), the lance of Achillês which wou nded and cured Telephos. So called from Peleus the father of Achillés.

Such was the cure the Arcadian hero found—
The Pelian spear that wounded, made him sound.
   —Ovid: Remedy of Love.

Pelican Island (The), a poem in blank verse, extending over nine cantos, by James Montgomery (1827).

Canto i. Disembodied soul, with vital imagination, longing for companionship.

Canto ii. The first era of creation, the period of fishes, when the coral built reefs which became dry lands.

Canto iii. The third period of creation saw the reefs made fertile with all the variety of the vegetable world; then came insects innumerable, reptiles, and lastly monsters. A cataplasm swept over the earth, and every plant and animal was destroyed.

Canto iv. Surviving germs of the preceding world resuscitate and fill the earth with vegetables of smaller growth, flowers, insects, reptiles; and pelicans dominate both seas and land.

Canto v. Coral reefs increase in number and in size. The period was the Age of Birds, chiefly amphibious, but still the pelican ruled supreme, and lived out its hundred years.