Page:Imperialdictiona03eadi Brandeis Vol3a.pdf/709

PET  of devoting his fortune and life to the work of their deliverance. Having first consulted the king and St. Raymond of Pennafort, he established his new order for this purpose at Barcelona in 1223. After toiling for many years as the first general of the order, his increasing infirmities obliged him to retire, and he died in 1256, at the age of sixty-seven.—T. A.  PETERBOROUGH,, Earl of, a famous English general and statesman, was the son of John, Viscount Avalon, and was born in 1662. He was brought up at the court of Charles II.; but sated with its profligacy, and longing for adventure, he entered the navy in his seventeenth year, served under Admirals Torrington and Narborough in the Mediterranean, and fought gallantly against the pirates who infested that sea. On the death of his father in 1677, he succeeded to the family estates and titles. He exerted all his influence in parliament to thwart the unconstitutional measures of the court, and on the first occasion on which he addressed the house of lords spoke with characteristic eloquence and intrepidity against a standing army, and the violation of the test act by the employment of popish officers. He became an enthusiastic partisan of Lord William Russell and the whig patriots, and accompanied Sydney to the scaffold. As his income was limited and his generosity lavish, his affairs soon became embarrassed; and knowing the hostile feeling entertained towards him by the court, he retired to Holland in 1686, and remained there until the Revolution. He was one of the first of the English nobles who espoused the cause of the prince of Orange, whom he accompanied to England in his memorable expedition of 1688. After the accession of William to the throne Mordaunt was rewarded for his services by being appointed a member of the privy council, and one of the gentlemen of the bedchamber. In the following year he was placed at the head of the treasury, though he was utterly unfit for such an office, and was created Earl of Monmouth, a title which had been borne by his maternal grandfather. He soon resigned this post, however, but was solaced with a pension which his profuse habits made necessary to him; and in 1690 was appointed one of the council of nine, who were to assist Queen Mary with advice during the king's absence on his Irish campaign. In the following year he served with distinction in Flanders, and on his return home spent some time in retirement, enjoying the society of eminent men of letters and boasting of his infidelity and his immoralities. He soon became tired of this obscurity; and apparently with no higher motive than the desire of making a great sensation, he took an active part in the proceedings against Sir John Fenwick, of whom he attempted to make a tool for the purpose of injuring Marlborough, Shrewsbury, and the other whigs, who had held treasonable intercourse with James. On Fen wick's refusal to follow his advice, he turned round and became one of the most zealous advocates for his attainder and execution. The double and dishonourable part he had acted in this matter was discovered, and in spite of his solemn denial he was found guilty, sent to the Tower, turned out of all his offices, and had his name struck out of the council book. In a short time he regained his liberty, and though now a dishonoured and a ruined man, he set himself with characteristic energy and intrepidity to retrieve his fallen fortunes, and was successful beyond what he could have hoped. On the death of William, Mordaunt, now become earl of Peterborough through the influence of the duchess of Marlborough, whom he had captivated by his graceful flattery and brilliant wit, was received into favour. During the war of the succession in Spain he was appointed in 1705 commander of the expedition sent to support the pretensions of the Archduke Charles to the Spanish throne. On reaching the coast of Spain the troops landed at Altea in Valencia, where they were eagerly welcomed by the inhabitants. In the operations which followed the genius of Peterborough shone with peculiar splendour. In spite of almost insuperable difficulties he captured the strong fortress of Monjuich and the town of Barcelona, reduced stronghold after stronghold, repeatedly defeated large bodies of the enemy with greatly inferior forces, and at length drove the duke of Anjou out of Spain with twenty-five thousand Frenchmen at his back. If his allies had acted with equal vigour and skill the archduke would in all probability have made good his claims to the Spanish crown. But his cause was ruined by the sluggishness, stupidity, and wrongheadedness of the archduke himself, and his trusted councillors. The indomitable courage of Peterborough, his courtly spirit, and gallantry to the fair sex, made him a great favourite among the Spanish people; but his brilliant successes and immoderate vanity caused him to be heartily hated by his dull, mean, and incompetent colleagues, and his plans to be rejected. His patience was soon worn out; and having demanded and obtained permission to leave the army, he was sent to Genoa to raise a loan for the archduke. From the moment of his departure the tide of fortune ran strongly against the allied cause, and disaster followed disaster in rapid succession. He returned to Valencia in 1707 merely as a volunteer, and gave excellent advice to the Austrian generals respecting the management of the war, which they of course rejected, and by following their own plans soon utterly ruined their cause. The earl meanwhile had received letters of recall, and returned to England, where he triumphantly defended himself against the charges which the archduke had sent against him to the English court. In 1710 he was despatched to Italy, for the purpose of conducting certain negotiations with the duke of Savoy. Three years later he was created a knight of the garter, and a second time sent to Italy as ambassador extraordinary to the king of the Two Sicilies. On the accession of George I. the earl was appointed commander-in-chief of the naval forces of Great Britain, a post which he retained under that monarch's successor, but was not again sent on active service. In 1717, while travelling in Italy for the restoration of his health, he was arrested at Bologna by the order of Pope Clement XI., his papers seized, and himself imprisoned for a month in Fort Urbain, an outrage for which the pontiff was fain to make an ample apology. The earl survived till 1735, and died at Lisbon in the seventy-third year of his age. By his first wife, the daughter of Sir Alexander Eraser, he left two sons and a daughter. His second wife was the celebrated actress, Anastasia Robinson. Earl Peterborough was probably the most extraordinary man of his age. He was possessed of splendid abilities, romantic energy, and almost incredible fertility and activity of mind. He was constantly in motion, and was said to have seen more kings and postilions than any man in Europe. His kindness and generosity were as conspicuous as his daring and originality. But his great talents and virtues "were rendered almost useless to the country," says Macaulay, "by his levity, his restlessness, his irritability, his morbid craving for novelty and excitement. He was, in truth, the last of the knights-errant, brave to temerity, liberal to profusion, courteous in his dealings with enemies, the protector of the oppressed, the adorer of woman." He was a free-thinker in religion, and had indeed no fixed principles of any kind. The character of this romantic vainglorious hero has been drawn in very pleasing terms by Swift, who tells some excellent stories illustrative of his spirit and wit. He was the intimate friend of Pope, Prior, and other leading wits of the day.—J. T.  * PETERMANN,, a distinguished German geographer, was born at Bleicherode, near Nordhausen, 18th April, 1822. In 1839 he was entered a pupil of the geographical academy established at Potsdam by Professor Berghaus.—(See .) Here he made such progress, and displayed so much talent, that he soon became the assistant of Professor Berghaus in the preparation of his Atlas of Physical Geography. It was in order to co-operate also in the English edition of this work that he went to Edinburgh (1845). Two years later he removed to London, where he was appointed geographer to the queen, and took a lively interest in the African discoveries of Dr. Barth, Overweg, and Vogel, as well as in the arctic expeditions in search of Franklin. From the MSS. left by Overweg he edited an Account of the Expeditions to Central Africa, and published numerous maps and contributions to the Athenæum and other papers. In 1854 he returned to Germany and settled at Gotha, where he has since edited the excellent Mittheilungen aus J.  Perthes Geographischer Anstalt, a monthly register of geographical discovery. Amongst others he has also constructed the maps for Dr. Barth's African Travels.—K. E.  PETERS,, an eminent Flemish marine painter, was born at Antwerp in 1614. During his life he had the reputation of being the best painter of storms, shipwrecks, and the like, and his works were consequently much sought after. His pictures display much poetic feeling; he painted the sea with great truth and vigour; his touch is light and spirited, and his colour clear and bright; but he has a great deal of mannerism. His works are not common in the public galleries: that of Vienna is perhaps richest in them. He died in 1653.—His brother, —born at Antwerp, 1625; died in 1677—painted similar subjects, but with much less success.—J. T—e.  PETERS,, was born in Cornwall, and took his 