=Patch=, the clever, intriguing waiting-woman of Isabinda, daughter of Sir Jealous Traffick. As she was handing a love-letter in cipher to her mistress, she let it fall, and Sir Jealous picked it up. He could not read it, but insisted on knowing what it meant. “O,” cried the ready wit, “it is a charm for the toothache!” and the suspicions of Sir Jealous were diverted (act iv. 2).--Mrs. Centlivre, _The Busy Body_ (1709). _Patch_ (_Clause_), king of the beggars. He died in 1730, and was succeeded by Bampfylde Moore Carew. =Patche= (1 _syl._), Cardinal Wolsey’s jester. When the cardinal felt his favor giving way, he sent Patche as a gift to the king, and Henry VIII. considered the gift a most acceptable one. We call one Patche or Cowlson, whom we see to do a thing foolishly, because these two in their time were notable fools.--Wilson, _Art of Rhetorique_ (1553). =Patelin= (2 _syl._), the hero of an ancient French comedy. He contrives to obtain on credit six ells of cloth from William Josseaume, by artfully praising the tradesman’s father. Any subtle, crafty fellow, who entices by flattery and insinuating arts, is called a Patelin.--P. Blanchet, _L’Avocat Patelin_ (1459-1519). On lui attribue, mais à tort, la farce de _L’Avocat Patelin_, qui est plus ancienne que lui.--Bouillet, _Dictionary Universel d’Histoire, etc._, art. “Blanchet.” Consider, sir, I pray you, how the noble Patelin, having a mind to extol to the third heavens, the father of William Josseaume, said no more than this: he did lend his goods freely to those who were desirous of them.--Rabelais, _Pantagruel_, iii. 4 (1545). =Pater Patrum.= St. Gregory, of Nyssa is so called by the council of Nice (332-395). =Paterson= (_Pate_), serving-boy to Bryce Snailsfoot, the pedlar.--Sir W. Scott, _The Pirate_ (time, William III.). =Pathfinder= (_The_), Natty Bumpo; also called “The Deerslayer”[TN-67] “The Hawk-eye,” and “The Trapper.”--Fenimore Cooper, (five novels called _The Pathfinder_, _The Pioneers_, _The Deerslayer_, _The Last of the Mohicans_, and _The Prairie_). =Pathfinder of the Rocky Mountains.=[TN-68] (_The_), Major-General John Charles Fremont, who conducted four exploring expeditions across the Rocky Mountains in 1842. =Patient Griselda= or =Grisildis=, the wife of Wautier, marquis of Salucês. Boccaccio says she was a poor country lass, who became the wife of Gualtiere, marquis of Saluzzo. She was robbed of her children by her husband, reduced to abject poverty, divorced, and commanded to assist in the marriage of her husband with another woman; but she bore every affront patiently, and without complaint.--Chaucer, _Canterbury Tales_ (“The Clerk’s Tale,” 1388); Boccaccio, _Decameron_, x. 10 (1352). =Patience Strong.= Delightful old maid, who, after passing most of her life in a quiet New England township, goes abroad and tells her experiences in _Sights and Insights_.--A. D. T. Whitney (1860).