Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 18.djvu/561

 P E R P E R 535 of the fortified enceinte; the highest tower is of the 10th century; and the part now inhabited is of the llth or 12th century, and was formerly used as a burial chapel. The bulk of the chateau is of the 12th, and some of the windows of the 16th century. Lastly, there are still to be traced the two tiers of wall of the enceinte, built round the city in the 5th century ; but these are partly hidden by restorations of a later date. Numerous courses of stone are also to be seen, shafts of columns, and marbles of various shapes and sizes. Of the mediaeval town the feature most worthy of notice is the cathedral of St Front, which is indeed (or rather was) one of the most interesting of sacred buildings. It bears a striking resemblance to the Byzantine churches and to St Mark s at Venice, and was built from 984 to 1047, contemporaneously with the latter (977-1085). It consists of five great cupolas, arranged in the form of a Greek cross, and conspicuous from the outside. The arms of the cross are 69 feet in width, and the whole is 184 feet long. These cupolas, 89 feet high from the keystone to the ground, and supported on a vaulted roof with pointed arches after the manner charac teristic of Byzantine architecture, served as models for many other churches in Aquitania ; thus St Front is entitled to a prominent place in the history of art. The pointed arches imitated from it prepared the way for the introduction of the Gothic style. The restoration of the edifice, begun in 1865, resulted, unfortunately, in an almost complete reconstruction, in which the old features have been largely lost. The belfry of St Front is the only one in the Byzantine style now extant ; it dates from the llth century, and is composed of two massive cubes, placed the one above the other in retreat, with a circular colonnade surmounted by a dome. The interior of the church has a fine altar-screen of carved oak. Near St Front are the ruins of the old basilica built in the 6th century. The bishop s palace, in the grounds of the ancient abbey, has a curious subterranean cloister of the 12th, 13th, and 14th centuries. Perigueux has several old and curious houses of the mediaeval and Renaissance periods ; a large prefecture of some architectural merit, built at great expense a few years ago in the style of the Renaissance and of the 1 8th century ; a museum which is singularly rich in Roman, Frank, Egyptian, and pre-Celtic antiquities ; and a library of 30,000 volumes. In the squares are statues of Montaigne, Fenelon, General Daumesnil, the defender of Vincennes (1814-15), and Marshal Bugeaud. The town has iron and copper foundries, serge and bom- basin factories, tanneries, and dye-works. It does a large trade in flour, wine, brandy, hides, poultry, and in the celebrated pates du Perigord. It is the junction of the railway from Paris to Agen with that from Bordeaux to Lyons via Clermont. The population in 1881 was 25,036. - Vesunna, as has already been said, was the capital of the Petrocorii, allies of Vercingetorix when Caesar invaded Gaul. The country was afterwards occupied by the Romans, who built a second city of Vesunna on the right bank of the Isle opposite the site of the Gallic oppidum. It contained public buildings, and Roman roads led from it to Limoges, Agen, Bordeaux, and Saintes. The barbarian invasion brought this prosperity to a close. In the 6th century St Front preached Christianity here, and over his tomb there was raised in the 10th century an abbey, which became the centre of the new town, called Puy St Front. The latter soon began to rival the old city in importance, and it was not until 1269 that they were united by a solemn treaty. After the time of Charlemagne Perigord was governed by a line of counts. During the Hundred Years War Perigueux was twice attacked by the English, who took the forti fied town in 1356 ; and the town was ceded to them by the treaty of Bretigny, but returned to the French crown in the reign of Charles V. The county passed by marriage into the hands of Anthony of Bourbon, father of Henry IV., and was converted by the latter into royal domain. During the Huguenot wars Perigueux was frequently a Calvinist stronghold, and it also suffered during the troubles of the Fronde. PERINTHUS, a town of Thrace, on the Propontis, 22 miles to the west of Selymbria, strongly situated on a small peninsula on the Bay of Perinthus, on the site of the modern Eski Eregli. It is said to have been a Samian colony, and to have been founded about 599 B.C. Accord ing to Tzetzes, its original name was Mygdonia ; later it was called Heraclea (Heraclea Thracice, Heraclea Perinthus). It figures in history chiefly by its stubborn and success ful resistance to Philip of Macedon in 340, at which period it seems to have been even more important than Byzantium itself. A number of extant coins of Perinthus show that it was the seat of large and celebrated festivals. PERIODICALS PERIODICALS may be broadly divided into two classes, the one chiefly devoted to general literature, apart from political and social news (a subject dealt with under the heading of NEWSPAPERS), and the other more exclusively to science and art, or to particular branches of knowledge or trade. The former class, and those of general interest only, will be principally dealt with in this article, where an endeavour is made to trace briefly the history of the rise and progress of that vast and increasing body of printed matter which, under the different names of re views, magazines, &c., forms so large a part of current literature. BRITISH. 7th and The first literary periodical in English was the Mercurius 8th cen- Librarius, or a Faithful Account of all Books and Pamphlets (1680), a mere catalogue, followed by Weekly Memorials for the Ingenious (16th January 1681/82 to loth January 1683), which was more of the type of the Journal des Savants, whence it borrowed many contributions, and by the Bibliothcque Universelle et Historique (January 1686-93), begun by Jean Leclerc, continued with the assistance of J. de la Grose, and carried on during the last six years of its existence by J. Bernard. Of the History of Learning (1691 ; another with the same title in 1694) only a few numbers appeared, as the conductor, De la Grose, started the Works of the Learned (August 1691 to April 1692), devoted principally to Continental scholarship. The Corn- pleat Library (1692 to Decemberl693)wasaventureof John Dunton ; the Memoirs for the Ingenious (1693) ran to six monthly numbers, and another with the same title appeared in the following year, only to enjoy an equally brief career. The first periodical of merit and influence was the History of the Works of the Learned (1699 -1712), largely consisting of descriptions of foreign books. The Memoirs of Litera ture, the first English review consisting entirely of original matter, published in London from 1710 to 1714, had for editor Michel de la Roche, a French Protestant refugee, who also edited at Amsterdam the BiUiotheque Angloise (1717-19), and subsequently Memoires Litteraires de la Grande Bretagne (1 720-24). Returning to England in 1 725, he recommenced his Neio Memoirs of Literature (1725-28), and in 1730 a Literary Journal. Dr Samuel Jebb started Bibliotheca Literaria (1722-24), which dealt with medals and antiquities as well as with literature, but only ten numbers appeared. The Present State of the Republick of Letters was commenced by Andrew Reid in January 1728, and completed in December 1736. It contained not only excellent reviews of English books but papers from the works of foreigners, and, as well as the Historia Literaria