Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 12.djvu/372

 POTHINUS

322

poussm

Fotbinus, Saint. See Gaul, Christian.

POUget, jEAN-FRANgOIS-ALBERT DU, MaRQUIS

DE Nad.ullac, b. in 1S17; d. at Rougemont, Cloves, 1 October, 1904; the scion of an old French familj-, and one of the most distinguished among modern men of anthropologic science. He devoted his earlier years to pubUe affairs, and served in 1S71 and 1877 respectively as prefect of the Departments of Basses- PjTenees and Indre-et-Loire, proving himself an able and sj-mpathetic administrator. On completing his term of office he retired into private life and devoted himself to scientific research, chiefly in the lines of palaeontology and anthropology, giving particular at- tention to American questions, upon which he was a leading authority. He had much to do with the ex- ploration of the caves of southern France, being es- pecially interested in the evidence of artistic develop- ment in the primitive occupants. He was probably the foremost authority on cave drawings. He studied deeply the relation of science to faith, and was one of the first to warn the French nation of the impending danger of race suicide. To a dignified presence he united an exquisite politeness which sprang from a kind heart. Of a spiritual temperament, he was an earnest CathoUc. He died at his ancestral chateau of Rougemont, near Cloyes, Department of Eure-et-Loir, in his S7th year, and, as officially announced, "fortified by the sacraments of the Church", combining in himseK the highest tjT^e of Cliristian gentleman and profound scientist. He was a member of learned societies in every part of the world, including several in the United States, and he held decorations from half a dozen Governments, besides being a chevalier of the Legion of Honour. He was also a correspond- ent of the Institute of France.

His published volumes and shorter papers cover a remarkably wide range of interest. In this country he is probably best known for his great work on Prehistoric America (in French), published in Paris in 1883, and in English at New York in 1884. Among other important papers may be noted those on "Tertiar\' Man" (1SS5); "Decline of the Birthrate in France" (1886); "The Glacial Epoch" (1886); "Maimers and Monuments of Prehistoric Peoples" (Paris, 1888); "Origin and De- velopment of Life upon the Globe" (1888); "Pre- historic Discoveries and Christian Beliefs" (1889); "Most Ancient Traces of Man in America" (1890); "The First Population of Europe" (1890); "The National Peril" (1890); "The Progress of Anthro- pology" (1891); "Intelligence and Instinct" (1892); "The Depopulation of France" (1892); "The Lacustrine Population of Europe" (1894); "Faith and Science" (1895); "Evolution and Dogma" (1896); "Unity of the Human Species" (1897); "Man and the Ape" (1898); "Painted or Incised Figures ... of Prehistoric Caverns" (1904). Most of these appeared first, either in the journal of the Institute or in the RevTie des Questions Scientifiques of Louvain and Brussels.

Gacdrt, in L'AnlhTopologie, XV, No. 5 (Paris, Sept., 1904); Mc^clHE. in Am, Anthropologist, N, S., VII, No. I (Lancaster, Jfin., 1905).

James Moonet.

Pounde, Thomas, lay brother, b. at Beaumond (or Belmont), Farlington, Hampshire, 29 Maj', 1538 or 15.39; d. there, 26 Feb., 1612-13; eldest son of Wil- liam Pounde and Helen, sister or half-sister to Thomas Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton. He is reported to have been educated at Winchester College. He w.is admitted to Lincoln's Inn 16 Feb., 1559-60, and his father dying in the same month, he then succeeded to Beaumonfl, and soon after was appointed esquire of the body to Queen Elizabeth. He acted the part of Mercury in Gascoigne's Masque, performed before the queen at Kenilworth in 1565. During the revelries of

Christmastide, 1569, after dancing before the queen, he received a public affront from her, which induced

him to retire from the court.

Shorth' afterwards he was reconciled to the Church, probably by Father Henry Alway, and after some time of seclusion at Beaumond, began an active career as proselytizer. He was in the Marshalsea for six months in 1574; in Winchester Gaol for some months in 1575-6; and in the IMarshalsea again from 9 March, 1575-76, to 18 Sept., 15S0, being made a Jesuit lay-brother by a letter dated 1 Dec., 1578, from the Father-General Mercurian, sent at the instance of Father Thomas Stevens, S.J., the first Englishman to go to India. From the iNIarshalsea Pounde was re- moved to Bishop's Stortford Castle, and thence to Wisbech. Then he was in the Tower of London 13 Aug., 1581, to 7 Dec, 1585. He was in the White Lion, Southwark, from 1 Sept., 1586, till he was sent back to Wisbech in 1587, where he remained nearly ten years. He was again in the Tower of London from Feb., 1.596-7, to the autumn of 1.598, when he was again committed to Wisbech. From Wisbech he was relegated to the Wood Street Counter, where he re- mained for six weeks from 19 Dec, 1598. After that he was in the Tower again until 7 July, 1601. He was then in FramUngham Castle for a year. In 1602 he was in Newgate, and in the following year he was indicted at York. Afterwards he was in the Gate- house, Westminster, for some time, then in the Tower (for the fourth time) for four months, and lastly in the Fleet for three months. He was finally liberated late in 1604 or early in 1005, having spent nearly thirty years in prison. These facts are but the dry bones of the career of an heroic man, whose real biography has yet to be written. The "life" by Father Matthias Tanner, S.J., is full of inaccuracies.

T.\NNER, Societas Jesu Apostolorum Imitairix (Prague, 1694), 450; Foley. Records English Province S.J. (London, 1877-83); Notes and Queries, 10th series, IV and V (London. 1905-06); Cal- endars of Domestic State Papers; Dasent. Acts of the Privy Coun- cil; Catholic Record Society's Publications; MoKRis, Troubles of our Catholic Forefathers (London, 1872-77) ; Simpson in The Rambler, VIII, 25-38, 94-106.

John B. Wainewright.

Poussin, Nicolas, French painter, b. at Lea Andelys near Rouen in 1594 ; d. at Rome, 19 Novem- ber, 1666. His early history is obscure; his father had been a soldier, his mother was a peasant. In 1612, Varin, a wandering painter, brought him to Paris, where he experienced great distress. In despair he tried his fortune in the provinces but nothing re- mains of what he did at that time in Poitou and later with the Capuchins at Blois, as well as the six pictures he painted in eight days for the Jesuit college at Paris. He studied under Varin, Lallemand, and Ferdinand Elle, but they had no share in his development. The French school was then in a languid condition. The religious wars of the time rendered abortive the at- tempt of Francis I to inaugurate the Renaissance, and Henry IV had other things to engross his attention besides the arts. His successor sought rather such foreign artists as John of Bologna, Pourbus, and Rubens. At this juncture Poussin learned of some engra\'ings by Marc Antonio after Giulio Romano and Raphael. This was his road to Damascus. Antique beauty was revealed to him through the works of these sons of Italy and thenceforth he lived in the past. All modern civilization .seemed barbarous to him. His experience was an illumination, a veritable con- version. Henceforth he had no rest until he found the fatherland of his heart and his ideas. Three at- tempts he made to reach Rome. Compelled to return to Paris he there encountered Marini, the famous author of the "Adonis", who contracted a warm friendship for the enthusiastic boy: "Che ha", said he, "una furia di diavolo". With him he finally reached Home in 1624; but Marini died within a few months and Poussin was alone in a strange city, help-