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 226 PEET PEI-HO second title, and their other sons by the term lord prefixed to their family names. These titles are called titles of courtesy, their bear- ers having no legal right to them. The sons of a viscount are called honorable. In the Brit- ish empire there are five classes of peerage : of England, of Great Britain, of the United King- dom, of Scotland, and of Ireland. Members of the first three classes, called peers of the realm, hold seats in the house of lords by he- reditary right ; those of the last two only by election as representatives of their order. (See PARLIAMENT.) A peeress is a woman who is noble by descent, by creation, or by marriage. A peeress by descent or by creation retains her title and nobility in law, although she marries a commoner ; but a peeress by marriage loses her nobility by her marriage with a common- er, though she commonly retains her title in society as a title of courtesy. It is one of the privileges of the peerage of the realm not to be liable to arrest for debt. This rule applies equally to peeresses, who are peers of the realm, and can only be tried by their peers, although they cannot sit in parliament or on trials. In France, as a kingdom and an empire, the word pair remained in use through all the governments from feudal times ; but the func- tions and privileges of the peerage varied very much at different times, the term being desti- tute of the definite meaning which it has at- tained in England. Louis XVIII. in 1814 es- tablished a house of lords (pairs), or more ac- curately a peerage, in some degree resembling the English system ; but Villele, the minister of Charles X., created at one time 76 new peers, when he wanted them for a political purpose. PEET, Harvey Prindle, an American instruc- tor of the deaf and dumb, born in Bethlehem, Litchfield co., Conn., Nov. 19, 1794, died in New York, Jan. 1, 1873. He graduated at Yale college in 1822, and became an instructor in the asylum for the deaf and dumb at Hartford, of which he was soon appointed steward. In 1831 he was appointed principal of the insti- tution for the deaf and dumb in New York: For some years he acted as principal, superin- tendent or steward, teacher and chaplain, as well as secretary of the board of directors, and managed all the details of the institution. The want of suitable elementary books led him to prepare a series which are now in general use. In 1868 he resigned, and was succeeded by his Bon, Isaac Lewis Peet. PEGASUS, in Grecian mythology, a winged horse which sprang from Medusa when Per- seus killed her for having intercourse with Neptune. His place, according to the most ancient writers, was in the palace of Jupiter, whose thunderbolts he carried; but others place him among the stars as the horse of Au- rora, or represent him as the horse of the Muses, who with his hoof produced the in- spiring fountain Hippocrene on Mt. Helicon. He plays a part in the myth of Bellerophon and Chimfera, having been bridled by the for- mer with a golden bridle received from Miner- va, or according to some by the goddess herself. PEGU. L A division of British Burmah, in- cluding the districts of Rangoon, Bassein, Mya- noung, Prome, and Toungoo, bounded N. by the Burmese empire and the division of Ara- can, E. by Tenasserim, S. by the gulf of Marta- ban, and W. by Aracan and the bay of Bengal ; area, 36,454 sq. m. ; pop. in 1871, 1,533,505. The most important towns are Rangoon, Mar- taban, Pegu, and Prome. The whole province is intersected by branches of the Irrawaddy. The Sittoung waters the eastern parts; and both these rivers are navigable by vessels of considerable size to distances far beyond the limits of Pegu. The Aracan- Yoma mountains, along the W. frontier, attain a height of from 3,000 to 6,000 ft. The minerals include iron, tin, lead, and precious stones. The climate is warm and moist, but is not unhealthy. The soil is fertile, and vegetation is luxuriant. Much of the surface is covered with valuable forests, and the agricultural districts of the Irrawaddy are the most productive and populous in the country. The principal productions consist of rice, timber, particularly teak, gums, ivory, and various woods used in dyeing. Pegu was formerly an independent kingdom, but after a series of contests, extending over many ages, it was conquered by the Burmese assisted by the Portuguese. The Peguans revolted about the middle of the 18th century, subdued the Burmese, and made their king prisoner. A long series of wars followed, in which the Bur- mese were assisted by the English and the Pe- guans by the French ; and the former at length became masters of the country. In 1824 war broke out between the British and Burmese, and among other provinces Pegu was conquer- ed, but restored at the conclusion of hostilities in 1826. The imprisonment of the master of a ship, and some other British subjects, by the governor of Rangoon, led to a second war in 1852, which resulted in Pegu being annexed to the English possessions in India, and with Aracan and Tenasserim it was constituted the province of British Burmah in 1862. (See BURMAH, BRITISH.) II. A town in the above described division, on a river of the same name, which falls into a branch of the Irra- waddy, 58 m. N. of Rangoon ; pop. about 15,- 000. The streets are broad and regular, and paved with bricks, and the houses are built of wood and elevated on posts. There is a re- markable pyramidal pagoda, built of brick, octagonal at the base, each side measuring 162 ft. Pegu, said to have formerly contained 150,000 inhabitants, was destroyed by the Bur- mese in 1757. It was captured by the British in June, 1852. The population is increasing. PEHLEVI LANGUAGE. See IRANIC RACES AND LANGUAGES, and ZEND-AVESTA. PEI-HO, or North River, a river of China, which rises near the Mongolian frontier, about lat. 41 N., Ion. 115 30' E., and after a gen- eral S. E. course of about 350 m. flows into