probably not allowed, but on either side of the entrance door of a mansion, porticoes set back behind the line of frontage were provided, according to F. Mazois, as shelters from sun and rain for those who paid early visits before the doors were opened. In front of the early Christian basilicas was a long arcaded porch called "narthex" (q.v.) In later times porches assume two forms—one the projecting erection covering the entrance at the west front of cathedrals, and divided into three or more doorways, &c., and the other a kind of covered chamber open at the ends, and having small windows at the sides as a protection from rain. These generally stand on the north or south sides of churches, though in Kent there are a few instances (as Snodland and Boxley) where they are at the west ends. Those of the Norman period generally have little projection, and are sometimes so flat as to be little more than outer dressings and hoodmoulds to the inner door. They are often richly ornamented, and, as at Southwell in England and Kelso in Scotland, have rooms over, which have been erroneously called parvises. Early English porches are much longer, and in larger buildings frequently have rooms above; the gables are generally bold and high pitched. In larger buildings also, as at Wells, St Albans, &c., the interiors are as rich in design as the exteriors. Decorated and Perpendicular porches partake of much the same characteristics, the pitch of roof, mouldings, copings, battlements, &c., being, of course, influenced by the taste of the time. The later porches have rooms over them more frequently than in earlier times; these are often approached from the lower storey by small winding stairs, and sometimes have fire-places, and are supposed to have served as vestries; and sometimes there are the remains of a piscina, and relics of altars, as if they had been used as chantry Chapels. It is probable there were wooden porches at all periods, particularly in those places where stone was scarce; but, as may be expected from their exposed position, the earliest have decayed. At Cobham, Surrey, there was one that had ranges of semicircular arches in oak at the sides, of strong Norman character. It is said there are several in which portions of Early English work are traceable, as at Chevington in Suffolk. In the Decorated and later periods, however, wooden porches are common, some plain, others with rich tracery and large boards; these frequently stand on a sort of half storey of stone work or bahut. The entrance porches at the west end of cathedrals are generally called portals, and where they assume the character of separate buildings, are designated galilees; e.g. the porticoes on the west side of the south transept of Lincoln Cathedral, and at the west end of the nave of Ely Cathedral, and the chapel at the west end of Durham Cathedral. The finest example in England of an open projected porch is that of Peterborough Cathedral, attached to the Early Norman nave.
The term "porch" is also given to the magnificent portals of the French cathedrals, where the doors are so deeply recessed as to become porches, such as those of Reims, Amiens, Chartres, Troyes, Rouen, Bourges, Paris, and Beauvais cathedrals, St Ouen, Rouen, and earlier Romanesque churches, as in St Trophime, Arles and St Gilles. Many, however, have detached porches in front of the portals, as in Notre Dame at Avigon, Chartres (north and south), Noyon, Bourges (north and south), St Vincent at Rouen, Notre Dame de Louviers, the cathedrals of Albi and Le Puy, and in Germany those of Spires and Regensburg, and the churches of St Laurence and St Sebald at Nuremberg. (R. P. S.)
PORCUPINE (Fr., porc-épic, “spiny pig”), the name of the largest European representative of the terrestrial rodent mammals, distinguished by the spiny covering from which it takes its name. The European porcupine (Hystrix cristata) is the typical representative of a family of Old World rodents, the Hystricidae, all the members of which have the same protective covering. These rodents are characterized by the imperfectly
rooted cheek-teeth, imperfect clavicles or collar-bones, cleft upper lip, rudimentary first front-toes, smooth soles, six teats and many cranial characters. They range over the south of Europe, the whole of Africa, India and the Malay Archipelago as far east as Borneo. They are all stout, heavily-built animals, with blunt rounded heads, fleshy mobile snouts, and coats of thick cylindrical or flattened spines, which form the whole
covering of their body, and are not intermingled with ordinary hairs. Their habits are strictly terrestrial. Of the three genera Hystrix is characterized by the inflated skull, in which the nasal chamber is often considerably larger than the brain-case, and
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| The Porcupine (Hystrix cristata). |
the short tail, tipped with numerous slender-stalked open quills, which make a loud rattling noise whenever the animal moves. The common porcupine (H. cristata), which occurs throughout the south of Europe and North and West Africa, is replaced in South Africa by H. africaeaustralis and in India by the hairy-nosed porcupine (H. leucura).
Besides these large crested species, there are several smaller species without crests in north-east India, and the Malay region from Nepal to Borneo. The genus Atherura includes the brush-tailed porcupines which are much smaller animals, with long tails tipped with bundles of flattened spines. Two species are found in the Malay region and one in West Africa. Trichys, the last genus, contains two species, T. fasciculata of Borneo and T. macrotis of Sumatra, both externally very like Atherura, but differing from the members of that genus in many cranial characteristics. In the New World the porcupines are represented by the members of the family Erethizontidae, or Coendidae, which have rooted molars, complete collar-bones. entire upper lips, tuberculated soles, no trace of a first front-toe, and four teats. The spines are mixed with long soft hairs. They are less strictly nocturnal in their habits; and with one exception live entirely in trees, having in correspondence with this long and powerful prehensile tails. They include three genera, of which the first is represented by the Canadian porcupine (Erethizon dorsatus), a stout, heavily-built animal, with long hairs almost or quite hiding its spines, four front- and five hind-toes, and a short, stumpy tail. It is a native of the greater part of Canada and the United States, wherever there is any remnant of the original forest left. Synetheres, or Coendu, contains some eight or ten species, known as tree-porcupines, found throughout tropical South America, with one extending into Mexico. They are of a lighter build than the ground-porcupines, with short, close, many-coloured spines, often mixed with hairs, and prehensile tails. The hind-feet have only four toes, owing to the suppression of the first, in place of which they have a fleshy pad on the inner side of the foot, between which and the toes boughs and other objects can be firmly grasped as with a hand. Chaetomys, distinguished by the shape of its skull and the greater complexity of its teeth, contains C. subspinosus, a native of the hottest parts of Brazil. (W. H. F.; R. L.*)
PORDENONE, IL (1483–1539), an eminent painter of the Venetian school, whose correct name was Giovanni Antonio Licinio, or Licino. He was commonly named Il Pordenone from having been born in 1483 at Corticelli, a village near Pordenone (q.v.) in Italy. He ultimately dropped the name of Licinio, having quarrelled with his brothers, one of whom had wounded him in the hand; he then called himself Regillo, or De Regillo. His signature runs “Antonius Portunaensis,” or “De Portunaonis." He was created a cavalier by Charles V.
As a painter Licinio was a scholar of Pellegrino da S. Daniele, but the leading influence which governed his style was that of Giorgione; the popular story that he was a fellow-pupil with Titian under Giovanni Bellini is incorrect. The district
