his own by right. It turns out that
Peregrine is the eldest brother of Sir Simon Rochdale, J. P., and when
Sir Simon refuses justice to the old brazier Peregrine asserts his right
to the estate, etc. At the same time, he hears that the ship he thought
was wrecked has come safe into port, and has thus brought him
[pounds]100,000.--G. Colman, junior, _John Bull_ (1805).

=Peregrine Pickle=, the hero and title of a novel by Smollett (1751).
Peregrine Pickle is a savage, ungrateful spendthrift, fond of practical
jokes, and suffering with evil temper the misfortunes brought on himself
by his own wilfulness.

=Peregri'nus Proteus=, a cynic philosopher, born at Parium, on the
Hellespont. After a youth spent in debauchery and crimes, he turned
Christian, and, to obliterate the memory of his youthful ill practices,
divided his inheritance among the people. Ultimately he burned himself
to death in public at the Olympic games, A.D. 165. Lucan has held up
this immolation to ridicule in his _Death of Peregrinus_; and C. M.
Wieland has an historic romance in German entitled _Peregrinus Proteus_
(1733-1813).

=Per'es= (_Gil_), a canon, and the eldest brother of Gil Blas' mother. Gil
was a little punchy man, three feet and a half high, with his head sunk
between his shoulders. He lived well, and brought up his nephew and
godchild, Gil Blas. "In so doing, Per[^e]s taught himself also to read his
breviary without stumbling." He was the most illiterate canon of the
whole chapter.--Lesage, _Gil Blas_, i. (1715).

=Perez= (_Michael_), the "copper captain," a brave Spanish soldier, duped
into marrying Estifania, a servant of intrigue, who passed herself off
as a lady of property. Being reduced to great extremities, Estifania
pawned the clothes and valuables of her husband; but these "valuables"
were but of little worth--a jewel which sparkled as the "light of a dark
lanthorn," a "chain of whitings' eyes" for pearls, and as for his
clothes, she tauntingly says to her husband:

Put these and them [_his jewels_] on, and you're a man of copper,
A copper, copper captain.

Beaumont and Fletcher, _Rule a Wife and Have a Wife_ (1640).

=Peri=, (plu., =Peris=), gentle, fairy-like beings of Eastern mythology,
offspring of the fallen angels, and constituting a race of beings
between angels and men. They direct with a wand the pure-minded the way
to heaven, and dwell in Shadu'kiam' and Am'bre-abad, two cities subject
to Ebl