Rica. He has been engaged in negotiations with the U. S. government regarding the interoceanic canal and the boundary question between Costa Rica and Nicaragua, which, in 1887, was submitted to President Cleveland. He was delegate to the international canal congress at Paris in 1879, and in 1881 was vice-president of the congress of Americanists at Madrid. In addition to verses and essays in periodicals, he has published " La repu- blique de Costa Rica " (Geneva, 1871) ; " Costa Rica : its Climate, Constitution, and Resources " (London, 1873) ; " El Rio San Juan de Nicaragua " (Madrid, 1882) ; " Costa Rica, Nicaragua v Panama en el Siglo XVL" (1883) ; " Costa Rica y Colombia de 1573 a 1881 " (1886) ; and " El Canal interoceanico de Nica- ragua y Costa Rica en 1030 y en 1887 " (Brussels, 1887).
PERALTA-BARNUEVO, Pedro (pay-ral-tah),
Peruvian author, b. in Lima in 1063 ; d. there in
1743. He studied in the University of San Marcos,
where he was graduated as doctor of laws, became
professor of mathematics, and in 1715-'17 was rec-
tor of that nistitution. Prom 1718 till 1743 he
held the office of cosraographer, publishing the
" Conocimientos de los Tiempos," which had been
begun in 1080 by his predecessor, Juan Ramon
Koenig {q. v.). He was also chief engineer of Peru,
and comptroller of the audiencia of Lima and
other tribunals. When the ancient wall of Callao
was destroyed by the earthquake of 20 Oct., 1687,
Peralta furnished the plans on which it was rebuilt.
He spoke six languages fluently, and was even able
to write poetry in them. Among his works are
" Defensa politica y militar de Lima " (Lima, 1708) ;
" Geometria especulativa y aritmetica " (1714) ;
" Nuevo sisteraa astrologico demostrativo" (1717) ;
" Tratado fisico-medico-teologico " (1718); "Tra-
tado fisico-matematico " (1719) ; " Lima triunfante "
(1720) ; " Templo de la Fama " (1721) ; " Jiibilos de
Lima " (1723) : " La Gloria de Luis el Grande "
(1725) ; " Historia de Espafia vindicada " (1730) ;
" Lima fundada 6 Conquista del Peru " (1732) : and
"Obras poeticas, liricas y comicas" (2 vols., 1730).
PERCE, Elbert, author, b. in New York city,
17 Aug., 1831; d. in Brooklyn, N. Y., 18 Jan..
1869. He devoted himself to literary pursuits in
New York and to inventing. The most valuable
of his devices is a terrestrial magnetic globe, which
bears his name. He translated several novels from
the Swedish, and published " Gulliver Joe " (New
York, 1851) ; " Old Carl, the Cooper, and his Won-
derful Book " (1854) ; " The Last of His Name "
(1854) ; and " The Battle Roll, and Encyclopaedia
of Battles and Sieges" (1857-'8).
PERCEVAL. John, Earl of Egmont, colonist,
b. in County Cork, 12 July, 1683 ; d. in London,
May, 1748. He succeeded to a baronetcy in 1691.
subsequently became a privy councillor of Ireland,
and, after sitting several years in the Irish house
of commons, was elevated to the peerage of that
kingdom in April, 1715. as Baron Perceval of Bur-
ton, County Cork. In 1722 he was created Vis-
count Perceval of Kantruk. He obtained a charter
to colonize the province of Georgia in America in
1732, was nominated its president, and was made
Earl of Egmont the next year. He published a
large number of pamphlets on Georgia, among
which is a tract entitled " A Brief Account of the
Causes that have Retarded the Progress of the
Colony of Georgia in America" (London, 1743).
PERCHE, Napoleon Joseph, archbishop, b. in
Angers, France, 10 Jan., 1805 ; d. in New Orleans.
La., 27 Dec, 1883. He gave evidence of remarka-
ble precocity in his childhood, and at eighteen years
of age was appointed a professor of philosophy.
The treatises on that subject written at this period
are said to be masterpieces of pure Latinity. About
two years later he entered the Seminary of Beau-
preau, and on the completion of his theological
studies was ordained priest, 19 Sept., 1829. After
holding several pastorates ho asked permission in
1830 to accompany Bishop Flaget to Kentucky,
and arrived in the United States in the following
year. His life during the next four years was that
of a pioneer. He built a church in Portland, Ky.,
and went to Louisiana in 1841 to collect money to
free it from debt. The people of New Orleans were
so impressed by his eloquence that Archbishop
Blanc asked him to return to that city, and he was
appointed almoner to the Ursuline convent there.
His preaching gave him great influence, and the
young Creole poet, Adrian Roquette (q. v.), was so
moved by it that he became a priest. There was a
schism in New Orleans at the time, owing to an
attempt to force the archbishop to appoint certain
priests. The Abbe Perche, in order to support the
archbishop, established " Le propagateur Catho-
lique." Although it was stated at the head of its
columns that it was " published by a society of
literary men," it was for several years edited by the
abbe without aid of any kind. Peace was restored
by its influence, and it is still the chief organ of
the Frencii population of the south. He also
founded a Roman Catholic society for mutual sup-
port. He was nominated coadjutor to Archbishop
Odin in 1870, and consecrated bishop of Abdera in
partibus, on 1 May, in the cathedral of St. Louis.
He succeeded to the archbishopric on 25 May.
The same difficulties that he had struggled with as
a priest encountered him on his accession to the
episcopate. Questions as to the management of
church property and cemeteries led to frequent
litigation, but Archbishop Perche finally triumphed
witbout exciting the ill-will of his opponents, and
after a time the wardens of the cathedral consented
to invest its ownership and that of other ecclesias-
tical property in him and his successors. He estab-
lished a community of Carmelite nuns in his arch-
diocese. During his administration twenty new
churches and chapels were built, and the number
of priests was largely increased. Thibodeaux college
and St. Mary's commercial college were founded,
four academies for girls and thirteen parochial
schools were opened, and an asylum for aged colored
women was established and placed vmder the care
of the Little Sisters of the Poor. Archbishop Perche
was styled by Pope Leo XIII. the " Bossuet of the
American church."
PERCHERON, Etienne, French missionary,
b. in Dreux in 1613 ; d. in Lorette, Canada, in
1675. He became a Jesuit, and was a missionary to
the Neutral Indians in Canada from 1039 till 1055,
when he was attached to the missions of the Onon-
dagas. He was also one of the founders of the
mission of Notre Dame de Foye near Quebec in
1658, and of the Lorette mission in 1670, and re-
mained in the latter place till his death. His pa-
pers, preserved in the navy department in Paris, in-
clude a series of instructions in theOnondaga dialect,
and " Menioire d'un serviteur de Jesus Christ et ses
tribulations parmi les sauvages dans les etablisse-
ments de la foi de la Nouvelle France du Nord."
PERCIVAL, James Gates, poet, b. in Kensington. Conn., 15 Sept., 1795; d. in Hazel Green, Wis., 2 May, 1856. He was a morbid and sensitive child, preferring books to sports or companions,
and inclined to melancholy. When he was five years old and had begun to spell, but not to read, a book on elementary astronomy was brought to his home one Saturday from the district school to
