The Nuttall Encyclopaedia Part 357

PORPHYRY, a Neo-Platonic philosopher of Alexandria, born at Tyre; resorted to Rome and became a disciple of PLOTINUS (q. v.), whose works he edited; he wrote a work against Christianity, known only from the replies (233-305).

PORSENA, a king of Etruria, famous in the early history of Rome, who took up arms to restore Tarquin, the last king, but was reconciled to the Roman people from the brave feats he saw, certain of them accomplished, as well as the formidable power of endurance they displayed.

PORSON, RICHARD, eminent Greek scholar, born in Norfolk; was a prodigy of learning and critical ac.u.men; edited the plays of aeschylus and four of Euripides, but achieved little in certification to posterity of his ability and attainments; was a man of slovenly and intemperate habits, and died of apoplexy (1759-1808).

PORT ARTHUR, a naval station on the peninsula extending S. into the Gulf of Pechili; conceded to Russia on a lease of 99 years.

PORT DARWIN, one of the finest harbours in Australia; is on the N.

coast opposite Bathurst Island; on its sh.o.r.es stands Palmerston, terminus of the overland telegraph, the cable to Java, and a railway to the gold mines 150 m. inland.

PORT ELIZABETH (25), the third largest town and chief trading centre of Cape Colony; stands on Algoa Bay, 85 m. SW. of Grahamstown; it has magnificent public buildings, parks, and squares, a college, library, and museum. It is the chief port in the E. of the colony and for Natal, the princ.i.p.al exports being wools, hides, and ostrich feathers.

PORT GLASGOW (15), a Renfrews.h.i.+re seaport on the S. sh.o.r.e of the Firth of Clyde, 3 m. E. of Greenock and 20 W. of Glasgow; was founded by the magistrates of Glasgow in 1668 as a port for that city before the deepening of the river was projected. In the beginning of the 18th century it was the chief port on the Clyde, but has since been surpa.s.sed by Greenock and Glasgow itself. There are s.h.i.+pbuilding, iron and bra.s.s founding industries, and extensive timber ponds.

PORT LOUIS (62), capital of Mauritius, on the NW. coast; is the chief port of the colony, with an excellent harbour, and contains the British government buildings, a Protestant and a Roman Catholic cathedral, barracks, and military store-houses. It is a naval coaling-station.

PORT ROYAL, a convent founded in 1204, 8 m. SW. of Versailles, and which in the 17th century became the head-quarters of JANSENISM (q. v.), and the abode of Antoine Lemaitre, Antoine Arnauld, and others, known as the "Solitaires of the Port Royal." They were distinguished for their austerity, their piety, and their learning, in evidence of which last they established a school of instruction, in connection with which they prepared a series of widely famous educational works.

PORT-AU-PRINCE (20), on the W. coast of Hayti, on Port-au-Prince Bay, is the capital; a squalid town; exports coffee, cocoa, logwood, hides, and mahogany.

PORTCULLIS, a strong grating resembling a harrow hanging over the gateway of a fortress, let down in a groove of the wall in the case of a surprise.

PORTE, SUBLIME, or simply the Porte, is a name given to the Turkish Government.

PORTEOUS MOB, the name given a mob that collected in the city of Edinburgh on the night of the 7th September 1736, broke open the Tolbooth jail, and dragged to execution in the Gra.s.smarket one Captain Porteous, captain of the City Guard, who on the occasion of a certain riot had ordered his men to fire on the crowd to the death of some and the wounding of others, and had been tried and sentenced to death, but, to the indignation of the citizens, had been respited. The act was one for which the authorities in the city were held responsible by the Government, and the city had to pay to Porteous' widow 1500.

PORTER, JANE, English novelist, born in Durham; her most famous novels were "Thaddeus of Warsaw" (1803) and "The Scottish Chiefs" (1810), both highly popular in their day, the latter particularly; it induced Scott to go on with Waverley; died at Bristol (1776-1850).

PORTER, NOAH, American philosophical writer, born at Farmington, Connecticut, educated at Yale; was a Congregationalist minister 1836-46, then professor of Moral Philosophy at Yale, and afterwards President of the college; Edinburgh University granted him the degree of D.D. in 1886; among his works are "The Human Intellect" and "Books and Reading"; _b_. 1811.

PORTEUS, BEILBY, English churchman, born at York, of American parentage; graduated and became Fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge, and took orders in 1757; from the rectory of Hunton, Kent, he was preferred to that of Lambeth in 1767, thence to the bishopric of Chester in 1776, and to that of London 1787; a poor scholar, he yet wrote some popular books, especially a "Summary of Christian Evidences," and "Lectures on St. Matthew's Gospel"; he posed as a Sabbatarian and an advocate of the abolition of slavery (1731-1809).

PORTIA, the rich heiress in the "Merchant of Venice," whose destiny in marriage depended, as ordained by her father, on the discretion of the wooer to choose the one of the three caskets that contained her portrait.

PORTLAND, 1, the largest city (50) and princ.i.p.al seaport of Maine, stands on a peninsula in Cas...o...b..y, 108 in. NE. of Boston by rail. It has extensive wharfs, dry-docks, and grain-elevators, engineer shops, shoe-factories, and sugar-refineries. Settled as an English colony in 1632, it was ravaged by fire in 1866. Longfellow was born here. 2, largest city (90) in Oregon, on the Willamette River, nearly 800 m. N. of San Francisco; is a handsome city, with numerous churches and schools; there are iron-foundries, mechanics' shops, canneries, and flour-mills; railway communication connects it with St. Paul and Council Bluffs, and the river being navigable for deep-sea steamers, it is a thriving port of entry.

PORTLAND, ISLE OF, a rocky peninsula in the SW. of Dorsets.h.i.+re, connected by Chesil Bank and the Mainland; is famous as the source of great quant.i.ties of fine building limestone; here is also a convict-prison opened 1848, accommodating 1500 prisoners.

PORTLAND VASE, an ancient cinerary urn of dark blue gla.s.s ornamented with Greek mythological figures carved in a layer of white enamel found near Rome about 1640, and which came into the possession of the Portland family in 1787, and is now in the British Museum. It is ten inches high and seven inches round.

PORTO RICO (814), a West Indian island, half the size of Wales, 75 m. E. of Hayti, is well watered and very fertile. Ranges of hills run from E. to W., and are covered with valuable timber. Sugar, coffee, and rice are the princ.i.p.al crops; tobacco and tropical fruits are grown; cattle and horses are reared. Textile goods, hardware, and provisions are imported; the exports are sugar, coffee, tobacco, and cattle. The capital is St. John's (24), Mayaguez (27), and Ponce (40), the other towns. The island was discovered by Columbus, who called it Hispaniola, in 1493.

Colonised by Spain in 1510, it attempted unsuccessfully to gain independence in 1820-23. The abolition of slavery in 1873, and the growth of population, marked the remainder of its history as a Spanish colony.

It was seized by the United States in the war of 1898.

PORTOBELLO (8), a Midlothian watering-place on the Firth of Forth, 3 m. E. of Edinburgh, with which it is now incorporated for munic.i.p.al purposes; has a fine esplanade and promenade pier, and manufactures of pottery, bricks, and bottles.

PORTSMOUTH, 1, largest city (10) of New Hamps.h.i.+re, and only seaport in the State, on the Piscataqua River, 3 m. from the ocean; is by rail 57 m. NE. of Boston, a handsome old town and favourite watering-place; near it is a U.S. navy-yard. 2, (12), On the Ohio River, in Ohio; is the centre of an extensive iron industry. 3, (13), Seaport and naval station on the Elizabeth River, Virginia.

PORTSMOUTH (159), the most important British naval station, a seaport and market-town, is situated on Portsea Island, on the coast of Hants, 15 m. SE. of Southampton. It is an unimposing town, but strongly fortified. St. Thomas's and Garrison Chapel are old churches with historical a.s.sociations. The naval dockyards contain 12 docks lined with masonry, vast store-houses, wood-mills, anchor-forges, and building-slips. Some of the docks are roofed over, as also is a large building-slip on which four vessels may be constructed at once. The harbour can receive the largest war-vessels, and in Spithead roadstead 1000 s.h.i.+ps can anchor at once. The trade of Portsmouth is dependent on the dockyards. It owes its defences to Edward IV. Elizabeth, and William III. It was the scene of Buckingham's a.s.sa.s.sination and of the loss of the _Royal George_. Three novelists were born here--d.i.c.kens, Meredith, and Besant.

PORTUGAL (5,000), a country as large as Ireland, bounded on the S.

and W. by the Atlantic, on the N. and E. by Spain, from which at different places it is separated by the rivers Minho, Douro, Tagus, and Guadiana; consists of the Atlantic slopes of the great peninsular tableland, and has a moist, warm atmosphere, heavy rains, and frequent fogs. The above rivers and the Mondego traverse it; their valleys are fertile, the mountain slopes covered with forests. In the N. the oak abounds, in the centre the chestnut, in the S. cork-trees and palms.

Agriculture, carried on with primitive implements, is the chief industry.

Indian corn, wheat, and in the S. rice, are extensively grown; the vine yields the most valuable crops, but in the N. it is giving place to tobacco. There are a few textile factories. The largest export is wine; the others, cork, copper ore, and onions, which are sent to Great Britain, Brazil, and France. The princ.i.p.al imports, iron, textiles, and grain. The capital is Lisbon, on the Tagus, one of the finest towns in the world. Oporto, the chief manufacturing centre, and second city for commerce, is at the mouth of the Douro. Braga was once the capital.

Coimbra, on the Mondego, is the rainiest place in Europe. There are good roads between the chief towns, 1200 m. of railway and 3000 m. of telegraph. The people are a mixed race, showing traces of Arab, Berber, and Negro blood, with a predominance of northern strains. They are courteous and gentle; the peasantry hard-working and thrifty. Roman Catholic is the national faith, but they are tolerant of other religions.

The language is closely akin to Spanish. Education is backward. The Government is a limited monarchy, there being two houses of Parliament--Peers and Deputies. The Azores and Madeira are part of the kingdom; there are colonies in Africa and Asia, in which slavery was abolished only in 1878. The 14th and 15th centuries saw the zenith of Portugal's fortunes. At that time, in strict alliance with England, she raised herself by her enterprise to the foremost maritime and commercial power of Europe; her navigators founded Brazil, and colonised India. Diaz in 1487 discovered and Vasco da Gama in 1497 doubled the Cape of Good Hope. In 1520 Magellan sailed round the world; but in the 16th century the extensive emigration, the expulsion of the Jews, the introduction of the Inquisition, and the spread of Jesuit oppression, led to a speedy downfall. For a time she was annexed to Spain. Regaining her independence, she threw herself under the protection of England, her traditional friend, during the Napoleonic struggle. She is now an inconsiderable power, commercially thriving, politically restless, financially unsound.

POSEIDON, in the Greek mythology the G.o.d of the sea, a son of Kronos and Rhea, and brother of Zeus, Pluto, Hera, Hestia, and Demeter; had his home in the sea depths, on the surface of which he appeared with a long beard, seated in a chariot drawn by brazen-hoofed horses with golden manes, and wielding a trident, which was the symbol of his power, exercised in production of earthquake and storms. See PLUTO.

POSEN (1,752), a province of Prussia on the Russian frontier, surrounded by West Prussia, Brandenburg, and Silesia; belongs to the great North German plain; has several lakes, and is traversed by the navigable Warthe, Netze, and Vistula. The prevailing industry is agriculture; the crops are grain, potatoes, and hops; there are some manufactures of machinery and cloth. Originally part of Poland, half the population are Poles; except the Jews, most of the people are Catholics.

The capital is POSEN (70), on the Warthe, by rail 185 m. E. of Berlin. It is a pleasant town, with a cathedral, museum, and library, manufactures of manure and agricultural implements, breweries and distilleries. It is now a fortress of the first rank. Gnesen and Bromberg are the other chief towns.

POSIDONIUS, an eminent Stoic philosopher, born in Syria; established himself in Rhodes, where he rose to eminence; was visited by Cicero and Pompey, both of whom became his pupils; maintained that pain was no evil; "in vain, O Pain," he exclaimed one day under the pangs of it, "in vain thou subjectest me to torture; it is not in thee to extort from me the reproach that thou art an evil" (135-34 B.C.).

POSITIVISM, the philosophy so called of AUGUSTE COMTE (q. v.), the aim of which is to propound a new arrangement of the sciences and a new theory of the evolution of science; the sciences he cla.s.ses under the categories of abstract and concrete, and his law of evolution is that every department of knowledge pa.s.ses in the history of it through three successive stages, and only in the last of which it is ent.i.tled to the name of science--the Theological stage, in which everything is referred to the intervention of the G.o.ds; the Metaphysical, in which everything is referred to an abstract idea; and the Positive, which, discarding at once theology and philosophy, contents itself with the study of phenomena and their sequence, and regards that as science proper. Thus is positivism essentially definable, in Dr. Stirling's words, as "a method which replaces all outlying agencies, whether Theological deities or Metaphysical ent.i.ties, by Positive laws; which laws, and in their phenomenal relativity, as alone what can be known, ought alone to const.i.tute what is sought to be known." See Dr. Stirling's "SCHWEGLER."

POSSE COMITATUS, a Latin expression, signifies the whole coercive power of a county called out in the case of a riot, and embraces all males over 15 except peers, ecclesiastics, and infirm persons. These may be summoned by the sheriff to a.s.sist in maintaining the public peace, enforcing a writ, or capturing a felon; but usually the constabulary is sufficient for these duties.