Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 18.djvu/343

 P A R P A R 321 learned man, and almost every unlearned man since the beginning of tliu world.&quot; Lveii amid lae terrors of the French Revolution lie adhered to Whiggism, and his correspondence included every man of eminence, either literary or political, who adopted the same creed. There are two memoirs of his life, one by the Rev. William Field (1828, 2 vols.), the other, with his works and his letters, by John Johnstone (1828, 8 vols.); and E. H. Barker published in 1828-29 two volumes of Parriana, a confused mass of information on Parr and his friends. An essay on his life is included in De Quincey s works, vol. v., and a little volume of the Aphorisms, Opinions, and Reflections of the late Dr Parr appeared in 1826. PARRAMATTA, a town of New South Wales, at the head of the navigation of the Parramatta river, and 14 miles to the west of Sydney, with w r hich it is connected by railway, was one of the earliest inland settlements, and the seat of many of the public establishments connected with the working of the convict system. Many of these still remain in another form (the district hospital, the lunatic asylum, the gaol, two asylums for the infirm and destitute, the Protestant and Catholic orphan schools), involving a Government expenditure which partly sustains the business of the town. Parramatta was one of the earliest seats of the tweed manufacture, but its principal industrial dependence has been on the fruit trade. With the exception of Prospect and Pennant Hills, where there is an outburst of trap rock, the surface soil is the disinte gration of the Wainamatta shale, which is well suited for orangeries and orchards. The value of the annual fruit crop is estimated at 100,000. The earlier governors had their country residence near the town, but the domain is now a public park in the hands of the municipality. Close by was an early observatory where, in 1822, were made the observations for the Parramatta Catalogue, numbering 7385 stars, but it has long been abandoned. The Church of England grammar school (King s School), which accommodates ninety boarders, is on the north side of the river. The population in 1881 was 8453. PARRHASIUS, of Ephesus, was one of the greatest painters of Greece. He settled in Athens, and may be ranked among the Attic artists. The period of his activity is fixed by the anecdote which Xenophon records of the conversation between him and Socrates on the subject of art ; he was therefore distinguished as a painter before 399 B.C. Seneca relates a tale that Parrhasius bought one of the Olynthians whom Philip sold into slavery, 346 B.C. (see OLYNTHUS), and tortured him in order to have a model for his picture of Prometheus; but the story, which is similar to one told of Michelangelo, is chronologically impossible. Another tale recorded of him describes his contest with Zeuxis. The latter painted some grapes so perfectly that birds came to peck at them. He then called on Parrhasius to draw aside the curtain and show his picture, but, finding that his rival s picture was the curtain itself, he acknowledged himself to be surpassed, for Zeuxis had deceived birds, but Parrhasius had deceived Zeuxis. The arrogance and vanity of Parrhasius are the subject of many other anecdotes. He dressed himself in the purple robe, golden crown, and staff of a king, called himself the prince, and boasted his descent from Apollo. As to his artistic position, it is impossible for us in the entire absence of direct evidence to do more than repeat the opinion of ancient critics, as retailed by Pliny. He was universally placed in the very first rank among painters. His skilful drawing of outlines is especially praised, and many of his drawings on wood and parchment were preserved and highly valued by later painters for purposes of study. He first attained skill in making his figures appear to stand out from the background. His picture of Theseus adorned the Capitol in Rome. His other works, besides the obscene subjects with which he is said to have amused his leisure, are chiefly mythological groups. A picture of the Demos, the personified People of Athens, is famous ; according to the story, the twelve pro minent characteristics of the people, though apparently quite inconsistent with each other, were distinctly expressed in this figure. The way in which this was accomplished is an insoluble riddle. PARROT, according to Prof. Skeat (Etymol. Dictionary, p. 422), from the French Perrot or Pierrot, a proper name and the diminutive of Pierre, 1 the name given generally to a large and very natural group of Birds, which for more than a score of centuries have attracted attention, not only from their gaudy plumage, but, at first and chiefly, it would seem, from the readiness with which many of them learn to imitate the sounds they hear, repeating the words and even phrases of human speech with a fidelity that is often astonishing. It is said that no representation of any Parrot appears in Egyptian art, nor does any reference to a bird of the kind occur in the Bible, whence it has been concluded that neither painters nor writers had any know ledge of it. Aristotle is commonly supposed to be the first author who mentions a Parrot ; but this is an error, for nearly a century earlier Ctesias in his Indica (cap. 3), 2 under the name of /^ TTCIKOS (Bittacus), so neatly described a bird w r hich could speak an &quot; Indian &quot; language natur ally, as he seems to have thought or Greek if it had been taught so to do about as big as a Sparrow-Hawk (Hierax), with a purple face and a black beard, otherwise blue green (cyaneus} and vermilion in colour, so that there cannot be much risk in declaring that he must have had before him a male example of what is now commonly kmnvn as the Blossom-headed Parakeet, and to ornitho logists as Pdlseomis cyanocephalus, an inhabitant of many parts of India. Much ingenuity has been exercised in the endeavour to find the word whence this, and the later form of the Greek name, was derived, but to little or no purpose. After Ctesias comes Aristotle s i/arTa/o; (Psittace), which Sundevall supposes him to have described only from hearsay, a view that the present writer is inclined to think insufficiently supported. But this matters little, for there can be no doubt that the Indian conquests of Alexander were the means of making the Parrot better known in Europe, and it is in reference to this fact that another Eastern species of Palxornis now bears the name of P. alexandri, though from the localities it inhabits it could hardly have had anything to do with the Macedonian hero. That Africa had Parrots does not seem to have been discovered by the ancients till long after, as Pliny tells us (vi. 29) that they were first met with beyond the limits of Upper Egypt by explorers employed by Nero. These birds, highly prized from the first, reprobated by the moralist, and celebrated by more than one classical poet, in the course of time were brought in great numbers to Rome, and ministered in various ways to the luxury of the age. Not only were they lodged in cages of tortoise-shell 1 &quot;Parakeet&quot; (in Shakespeare, 1 Hen. IV., ii. 3, 88, &quot;Paraquito&quot;) is said by the same authority to be from the Spanish Periquito or Perroquelo, a small Parrot, diminutive of Perico, a Parrot, which again may be a diminutive from Pedro, the proper name. Parakeet (spelt in various ways in English) is usually applied to the smaller kinds of Parrots, especially those which have long tails, not as Perroquet in French, which is used as a general term for all Parrots, Perruche, or sometimes Perriche, being the ordinary name for what we call Parakeet. The old English &quot; Popinjay &quot; and the old French Papegaut have almost passed out of use, but the German Papagei and Italian Papagaio still continue in vogue. These names can be traced to the Arabic Babaghd ; but the source of that word is unknown. The Anglo-Saxon name of the Parret, a river in Somerset, is Pedreda or Pedrida, which at first sight looks as if it had to do with the proper name, Petrus ; but Prof. Skeat believes there is no con nexion between them the latter portion of the word being riff, a stream. 2 The passage seems to have escaped the notice of all naturalists except Broderip, who mentioned it in his article &quot; Psittacidae, &quot; in, the Penny Cyclopaedia (vol. xix. p. 83). XVIII. 41