Parker (Theodore), American rationalist, b. Lexington, Mass., 24 Aug. 1810. From his father--a Unitarian--he inherited independence of mind, courage, and love of speculation. Brought up in poverty he studied hard, and acquired a University education while laboring on the farm. In March, '31, he became an assistant teacher at Boston. In June, '37, he was ordained Unitarian minister. Parker gradually became known as an iconoclast, and study of the German critics made him a complete rationalist, so that even the Unitarian body rejected him. A society was established to give him a hearing in Boston, and soon his fame was established. His Discourse on Matters Pertaining to Religion, '47, exhibited his fundamental views. He translated and enlarged De Wette's Critical Introduction to the Old Testament. A fearless opponent of the Fugitive Slave Law, he sheltered slaves in his own house. Early in '59 failing health compelled him to relinquish his duties. Died at Florence, 10 May, 1860. He bequeathed his library of 13,000 volumes to the Boston Public Library. Parmenides, a Greek philosopher, b. Elea, Italy, 518 B.C. Is said to have been a disciple of Xenophanes. He developed his philosophy about 470 B.C. in a didactic poem On Nature, fragments of which are preserved by Sextus Empiricus. He held to Reason as our guide, and considered nature eternal. Parny (Évariste Désiré de Forges de), Viscount. French poet, b. St. Paul, Isle of Bourbon, 6 Feb. 1753. Educated in France, he chose the military profession. A disappointed passion for a creole inspired his "Amatory Poems," and he afterwards wrote the audacious War of the Gods, Paradise Lost, and The Gallantries of the Bible. His poems, though erotic, are full of elegant charm, and he has been named the French Tibullus. He was admitted into the French Academy in 1803. Died at Paris, 5 Dec. 1814. Parton (James), author, b. Canterbury, England, 9 Feb. 1822. Was taken to the United States when a child and educated at New York. He married Miss Willis, "Fannie Fern," and has written many biographies, including Lives of Thomas Jefferson, '74, and of Voltaire, '81. He has also written on Topics of the Time, '71, and Church Taxation. He resided in New York till '75 when he removed to Newburyport, Massachusetts. Parvish (Samuel), Deistic author of An Inquiry into the Jewish and Christian Revelation (London, 1739), of which a second edition was issued in 1746. Pasquier (Étienne). French journalist, b. 7 April, 1529, at Paris. Brought up to the bar he became a successful pleader. He defended the Universities against the Jesuits, whom he also attacked in a bitter satire, Catéchisme des Jésuites. Died Paris, 30 Aug. 1615.