=Peelers=, the constabulary of Ireland, appointed under the Peace Preservation Act of 1814, proposed by Sir Robert Peel. The name was subsequently given to the new police of England, who are also called “Bobbies” from Sir Robert Peel. =Peep-o’-Day Boys=, Irish insurgents of 1784, who prowled about at day-break, searching for arms. =Peeping Tom of Coventry.= Lady Godiva earnestly besought her husband (Leofric, earl of Mercia) to relieve the men of Coventry of their grievous oppressions. Leofric, annoyed at her importunity, told her he would do so when she had ridden on horseback, naked, through the town. The countess took him at his word, rode naked through the town, and Leofric was obliged to grant the men of Coventry a charter of freedom.--Dugdale. Rapin says that the countess commanded all persons to keep within doors and away from windows during her ride. One man, named Tom of Coventry, took a peep of the lady on horseback, but it cost him his life. ⁂ Tennyson, in his _Godiva_, has reproduced this story. =Peerage of the Saints.= In the preamble of the statutes instituting the Order of St. Michael, founded by Louis XI in 1469, the archangel is styled “my lord,” and created a knight. The apostles had been already ennobled and knighted. We read of “the Earl Peter,” “Count Paul,” “the Baron Stephen,” and so on. Thus, in the introduction of a sermon upon St. Stephen’s Day, we have these lines: Entendes toutes a chest sermon, Et clair et lai tules environ; Contes vous vueille la pation De St. Estieul le baron. =Peerce= (1 _syl._), a generic name for a farmer or ploughman. Piers the plowman is the name assumed by Robert or William Langland, in a historico-satirical poem so called. And yet, my priests, pray you to God for Peerce ... And if you have a “pater noster” spare, Then you shal pray for saylers. G. Gascoigne, _The Steele Glas_ (died 1577). =Peery= (_Paul_), landlord of the Ship, Dover. _Mrs. Peery_, Paul’s wife.--G. Colman, _Ways and Means_ (1788). =Peerybingle= (_John_), a carrier, “lumbering, slow, and honest; heavy, but light of spirit; rough upon the surface, but gentle at the core; dull without, but quick within; stolid, but so good. O, Mother Nature, give thy children the true poetry of heart that hid itself in this poor carrier’s breast, and we can bear to have them talking prose all their life long!” _Mrs. [Mary] Peerybingle_, called by her husband “Dot.” She was a little chubby, cheery, young wife, very fond of her husband, and very proud of her baby; a good housewife, who delighted in making the house snug and cozy for John, when he came home after his day’s work. She called him “a dear old darling of a dunce,” or “her little goosie.” She sheltered Edward Plummer in her cottage for a time, and got into trouble; but the marriage of Edward with May Fielding cleared up the mystery, and John loved his little Dot more fondly than ever.--C. Dickens, _The Cricket on the Hearth_ (1845).