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* PYLE. 570 PYNCHON. and seafaring men. He sometimes writes the text for his illustrations, being author and illustrator of the Merry Adventures of Uohin Hood (1883) ; Pepper and Salt (1885) ; The l{ose of Paradise (1887); -i Modern Aladdin, and Men of Iron (1891): Jack BaUister's Fortunes (1804); Tuilioht Land; and The Garden Behind the Moon. PY'LTJS, or PYLOS (Lat., from Gk. UiXos). An ancient town of Messenia, in the Peloponnesus, on the promontory of Coryphasiuni at the nortli- ern entrance to the Bay of Pylus (Xavarino). Strabo says that it was originally inland at the foot of Mount .-Egaleum, and that Coryphasium was only settled by part of the population on the destruction of the old city. However this may be, after the conquest of !Messenia by tlie Spar- tans, the place seems to have been abandoned, until in B.C. 425 it was occupied by the Athenian general • Demosthenes, who fortified the high and precipitous ]>romontory. and successfully re- pelled assaults of tbe Spartans by sea and land. The Athenian fleet, which arrived after the first assault, forced an entrance into the bay at both ends of the long island of Sphacteria, defeated the Spartan fleet, and block- aded 420 Spartans on the island, where they were subsequently forced to surrender to an Athenian force under Demosthenes and C'leon. The Athenians held Pylus for fifteen years, when it was recaptured by the Spartans, and again fell into obscurity, though after the restoration of the Jlessenians it became the port of the country. At the end of the thirteenth century it was fortified with a strong Venetian castle, and an- other was built at the southern entrance to the bay, near the town of Xavarino, now called Pylos. The medieval name is probably due to the settlement here in 1381 of Xavarrese mer- cenaries, though some derive it from Avarino and trace it to an Avar settlement 800 years earlier. In the bay was fought, on October 20, 1827, the great naval battle of Xavarino, in -which the Turkish-Egyptian fleet was destroyed by the united English. French, and Russian fleets under Admiral Codrington. PYM, .John (1584-1643). An Engli.sh Parlia- mentary leader, born at Brymore, in Somerset- shire. In 1599 he entered what is now Pembroke College. Oxford, but did not graduate, and in 1602 entered the Jliddle Temple, though he was never admitted to the bar. There is some doubt whether Pym sat in the Parliament of 1614, but in any case he was not prominent until the Parliament of 1G21. He was a Puritan, and his interests during this period were chiefly religious, his first speeches in Parliament being directed against the Catholics. He became so obnoxious to the Court that he was imprisoned for three months in his home in London. In the first three Parliaments of Cliarles I. he was the leader in the impeachment of ilontagu and Manwaring. two clergymen who had attacked Calvinistic doctrines and treated the Parliament ■with scant respect, and he was prominent in the impeachment of Buckingham. He was also prominent in the agitation which preceded the Petition of Right (q.v.). X^^othing is heard of him in the intervals between Parliaments. Dur- ing the eleven years of Charles's personal gov- ernment he was intimatelv connected with various schemes for the settlement of the Con- necticut Valley. In 1640, on the meeting of the Short Parliament. Pym l^came its real leader, though no formal leadership was recognized in those days, and his influence over the Puritan party continued undiminished until his death. He opened the Short Parliament with a speech two hours in length, setting forth the grievances of the nation, and persuaded the Parliament to postpone the supplies until these grievances were redressed. On the opening of the Long Parlia- ment, which met likewi. e in 1640, Pym was re- solved to jnoceed to extremities. He introduced and conducted the impeachment of Strafl'ord for high treason in attempting to subvert the Con- stitution, but he resisted in vain the dropping of the impeachment and tiie introduction of the bill of attainder, though it was due to his efl'orts that, notwithstanding the bill of attainder. Straf- ford was heard in his own defense. The Trien- nial Act (q.v.) was largely his measure. The adherence of the bishops to the cause of Charles I. led to the demand for their abolition, and Pym supported the 'Root and Branch' bill which was introduced for this purpose, though it was not his intention to introduce Pre-sbyterianism. He naturally took a prominent part in draw- ing up and passing the Grand Remonstrance (q.v.) in 1041. and he even proposed at this time to hold the King in check by making his ministers " responsible to Parliament. On the unsatisfactory outcome of the campaigns in 1642 Pym favored and carried out, though reluctantly, the union with the Scots, with the unwelcome condition of the acceptance of the Covenant and the intro- duction of a Presbyterian form of Church govern- ment. Even before the meeting of the Long Parliament, Pym may have had communication with the Scots, and he was the leader of the five members whom Charles on January 4, 1642, at- tempted in vain to arrest in person on the floor of the House of Commons on the charge of treasonable conspiracy with that nation. He in turn suspected Charles of treasonable designs, and was ever on guard, in order to prevent the King from using force successfully against Par- liament. Pym, like Hampden, favored a vigorous prosecution of the war. and. like Hampden, died soon after its beginning, December 8, 1643. Con- sult: Gardiner, Great Civil War (4 vols., Lon- don, 1893) : Forstcr, fitatesmen of the Common- uealth of England (5 vols., London, 1841-44); Goldwin Smith. Three English Statesmen (Lon- don, 1867). PYNCHEON. pin'chon, Clifford. A broken- down elderlj' man in Hawthorne's House of the Seven Gables, imprisoned many years on a false charge of murder. His sister, Hepzibah. keeps a little shop in the ill-fated house, and both inherit Judge Pyncheon's property on his tragic death. PYNCHON, .John (1621-1703). An American colonist, born in Springfield. Esse.x County, England. He was brought to ^lassachusetts when a child by his father, William Pra- chon (q.v.). By inheritance and by purchase from the Indians, he obtained large tracts of land in the Connecticut Valley, on which he established Xorthampton. Hadley, and other towns. His diplomacy in treating with the Indians was of great service to the colonv. He held many important public offices, including that of councilor under Sir Edmund Andros in 1688-89. and a<?ain under the new charter from 1693 until his death.