=Peace of Antal´cidas=, the peace concluded by Antalcidas, the Spartan, and Artaxerxes (B.C. 387). =Peace of God=, a peace enforced by the clergy on the barons of Christendom, to prevent the perpetual feuds between baron and baron (1035). =Peach´um=, a pimp, patron of a gang of thieves, and receiver of their stolen goods. His house is the resort of thieves, pickpockets, and villains of all sorts. He betrays his comrades when it is for his own benefit, and even procures the arrest of Captain Macheath. _Mrs. Peachum_, wife of Peachum. She recommends her daughter Polly to be “somewhat nice in her deviations from virtue.” _Polly Peachum_, daughter of Peachum. (See POLLY.)--J. Gay, _The Beggar’s Opera_ (1727). =Pearl= (_Little_), illegitimate child of Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale. A piquant, tricksy sprite, as naughty as she is bewitching--a creature of fire and air, more elfish than human, at once her mother’s torment and her treasure.--Nathaniel Hawthorne, _The Scarlet Letter_ (1850). =Pearl.= It is said that Cleopatra swallowed a pearl of more value than the whole of the banquet she had provided in honor of Antony. This she did when she drank to his health. The same sort of extravagant folly is told of Æsopus, son of Clodius Æsopus, the actor (Horace, _Satire_, ii. 3). A similar act of vanity and folly is ascribed to Sir Thomas Gresham, when Queen Elizabeth dined at the City banquet, after her visit to the Royal Exchange. Here £15,000 at one clap goes Instead of sugar; Gresham drinks the pearl Unto his queen and mistress. Thomas Heywood. =Pearson= (_Captain Gilbert_), officer in attendance on Cromwell.--Sir W. Scott, _Woodstock_ (time, Commonwealth). =Peasant-Bard= (_The_), Robert Burns (1859-1796). =Peasant-Painter of Sweden=, Hörberg. His chief paintings are altar-pieces. The altar-piece painted by Hörberg. Longfellow, _The Children of the Lord’s Supper_. =Peasant Poet of Northamptonshire=, John Clare (1793-1864). =Peasant of the Danube= (_The_), Louis Legendre, a member of the French National Convention (1755-1797); called in French _Le Paysan du Danube_, from his “éloquence sauvage.” =Peau de Chagrin=, a story by Balzac. The hero becomes possessed of a magical wild ass’s skin, which yields him the means of gratifying every wish; but for every wish thus gratified, the skin shrank somewhat, and at last vanished, having been wished entirely away. Life is a _peau d’ane_,[TN-74] for every vital act diminishes its force, and when all its force is gone, life is gone (1834). =Peckhams= (_The_), _Silas Peckham_, “a thorough Yankee, born on a windy part of the coast, and reared chiefly on salt-fish; keeps a young ladies’ school exactly as he would have kept a hundred head of cattle--for the simple, unadorned purpose of making just as much money in just as few years as can be safely done.”