and has no sooner completed them than Master Simon re-appears, with
witnesses to prove his identity; but it is too late, and Colonel
Feignwell freely acknowledges the "bold stroke he has made for a
wife."--Mrs. Centlivre, _A Bold Stroke for a Wife_ (1717).

=Purefoy= (_Master_), former tutor of Dr. Anthony Rochecliffe, the
plotting royalist.--Sir W. Scott, _Woodstock_ (time, Commonwealth).

=Purgatory=, by Dant[^e], in thirty-three cantos (1308). Having emerged
from Hell, Dant[^e] saw in the southern hemisphere four stars, "ne'er
seen before, save by our first parents." The stars were symbolical of
the four cardinal virtues (prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance).
Turning round, he observed old Cato, who said that a dame from Heaven
had sent him to prepare the Tuscan poet for passing through Purgatory.
Accordingly, with a slender reed, old Cato girded him, and from his face
he washed "all sordid stain," restoring to his face "that hue which the
dun shades of Hell had covered and concealed" (canto i.). Dant[^e] then
followed his guide, Virgil, to a huge mountain in mid-ocean antipodal to
Judea, and began the ascent. A party of spirits were ferried over at the
same time by an angel, amongst whom was Casella, a musician, one of
Dant[^e]'s friends. The mountain, he tells us, is divided into
terraces, and terminates in Earthly Paradise, which is separated from it
by two rivers--Leth[^e] and Eu'noe (3 _syl._). The first eight cantos
are occupied by the ascent, and then they come to the gate of Purgatory.
This gate is approached by three stairs (faith, penitence and piety);
the first stair is transparent white marble, as clear as crystal; the
second is black and cracked; and the third is of blood-red porphyry
(canto ix.). The porter marked on Dant[^e]'s forehead seven P's
(_peccata_, "sins"), and told him he would lose one at every stage, till
he reached the river which divided Purgatory from Paradise. Virgil
continued his guide till they came to Leth[^e], when he left him during
sleep (canto xxx.). Dant[^e] was then dragged through the river
Leth[^e], drank of the waters of Eun[)o]e, and met Beatrice, who
conducted him till he arrived at the "sphere of unbodied light," when
she resigned her office to St. Bernard.

=Purgon=, one of the doctors in Moli[`e]re's comedy of _Le Malade
Imaginaire_. When the patient's brother interfered, and sent the
apothecary away with his clysters, Dr. Purgon got into a towering rage,