blind; and after an operation he died at Paris on the 25th of August 1807.
The work of Portalis appears in the Code Napoléon, but see also Frederick Portalis's Documents, rapports, et travaux inédits sur le Code Civil (1844) and Sur le Concordat (1845); for his life, see the biography in the edition of his Oeuvres by F. Portalis (1823) and René Lavolée Portalis sa vie et see oeuvres (Paris 1869).
His son, Joseph Marie Portals (1778–1858), entered the diplomatic service, and obtaining the favour of Louis XVIII. filled many important offices. He was under-secretary of state for the ministry of justice, first president of the court of cassation, minister for foreign affairs, and in 1851 a member of the senate.
PORTARLINGTON, a market town situated partly in King's county but chiefly in Queen's county, Ireland, on both banks of
the river Barrow, here the county boundary. Pop, (1901), 1943.
The railway station, a mile south of the town, is an important
junction, 42 m. west by south from Dublin, of the Great Southern
& Western system, where the branch line to Athlone leaves
the main line. Monthly fairs are held, and there is considerable
local trade. After the revocation of the edict of Nantes a
colony of French refugees was established here in the reign of
William III., and the beautiful church of St Paul (rebuilt in
1857) was devoted to their use, services being conducted in the
French language, for which reason the church is still spoken of as
the “ French Church.” The former name of the town was
Cooltetoodera, but on the property passing into the hands of
Lord Arlington in the reign of Charles II. the name was changed.
Emo Park, 5 m. south of the town, is the fine demesne of the earls
of Portarlington, a title granted to the family of Dawson in 1785.
An obelisk on Spire Hill near the town is one of the many famine
relief works in Ireland. On the river, close to the town, there
are picturesque remains of Lea Castle, originally built c. 1260.
Portarlington was incorporated in 1667, and was a parliamentary
borough both before the Union and after, its representation in
the imperial parliament (by one member) being merged in
that of the county by the Redistribution Act of 1885.
PORT ARTHUR (formerly Prince Arthur's Landing), a
town and harbour in Thunder Bay District, Ontario, Canada,
on Lake Superior, and the Canadian Pacific, Grand Trunk
Pacific, and Canadian Northern railways, and the lake terminus
of the two latter. Pop. (1901), 3214. The lake terminus of
the Canadian Pacific, originally here, has been moved to Fort
William, 4 m. distant. Lumber and minerals are shipped from
the surrounding district, and vast quantities of grain from the
farther west.
PORT ARTHUR (Chinese, Lu-shun-k'ou), a fortress situated at the extreme south of the peninsula of Liao-tung in the Chinese
principality of Manchuria. It was formerly a Chinese naval
arsenal and fortress, but was captured by the japanese in 1894,
who destroyed most of the defensive works. In 1898 it was
leased to Russia with the neighbouring port of Talienwan, and
was gradually converted into a Russian stronghold. In 1905
the lease was transferred to Japan. The port or harbour is
a natural one, entirely landlocked except to the south. The
basin inside is of limited extent. Barren and rocky hills rise
from the water's edge all round. A railway 270 m. long connects
the port with Mukden and the trans-Siberian line; there is also
railway connexion with Pekin. The harbour is ice-free all
the year round, a feature in which it contrasts favourably with
Vladivostok.
The Liao-tung peninsula, separated from Korea by the Bay of Korea, and from the Chinese mainland by the Gulf of Liao-tung, runs in a south-westerly direction from the mainland of Manchuria, and is continued by a group of small islands which reach another peninsula projecting from the mainland of China in a north-easterly direction, and having at its north-eastern extremity the port of Wei-hai-wei. The Liao-tung peninsula is indented by several bays, two of which nearly meet, making an isthmus less than 2 m. wide, beyond which the peninsula slightly widens again, this Dart of it having the name of Kan-tun (regent's sword). Two wide bays open on the eastern shore of the latter: Lu-shun-k'ou (Port Arthur) and Talienwan. Both were leased to Russia. Lu-shun-k'ou Bay is nearly 4 m. long and 1¼ m. wide, the entrance being only 350 yds. wide. The Chinese deepened the bay artificially and erected quays. The road stead is exposed to south-easterly winds, and in this respect the wider Bay of Talienwan is safer. Coal is found near to the port. The climate is very mild, and similar to that of south Crimea, only moister.
While in occupation by the Russians Port Arthur became Europeanized. The military port, Tairen, is a few miles to the north. During the Russo-Japanese war the Japanese assailed Port Arthur both by land and sea and, after repeated assaults, on the rst of January 1905, General Stoessel surrendered the citadel into the hands of the Japanese.
PORTAS, or Portuary, a breviary (q.v.) of such convenient size that it could be carried on the person, whence its Latin
name portiforium (portare, to carry, foris, out of doors, abroad).
The English word was adapted from the Old French portehors,
and took a large number of forms, e.g. porthors, porteous, portes,
&c. In Scots law, the “ porteous-roll ” was the name given
formerly to a list of criminals drawn up by the justice-clerk on
information given by the local authorities, together with the
names of witnesses, and charges made.
PORTATIVE ORGAN, a small medieval organ carried by the
performer, who manipulated the bellows with one hand and
fingered the keys with the other. This small instrument was
necessarily made as simple as possible. On a small rectangular
wind chest or reservoir, fed by means of a single bellows placed
at the back, in front, or at the right side, were arranged the pipes
— one, two or three to a note — supported by more or less ornamental
uprights and an oblique bar. The most primitive style
of keyboard consisted merely of sliders pushed in to make the
note sound and restored to their normal position by a horn spring;
the reverse action was also in use, the keys being furnished with
knobs or handles.
Towards the middle of the 13th century the portatives represented in the miniatures of illuminated MSS. first show signs of a real keyboard with balanced keys, as in the 13th century Spanish MS., known as the Cantigas de Santa Maria,[1] containing four full pages of miniatures of instrumentalists, fifty-one in number. From the position of the performer's thumb it is evident that the keys are pressed down to make the notes sound. There are nine pipes and the same number of keys, sufficient for the diatonic octave of C major with the B flat added. The pipes put into these small organs were flue pipes, their intonation must have been very unstable owing to the irregularity of the wind supply fed by a single bellows, the pressure being at the mercy of the performer's hand. Increased pressure in pipes with fixed mouthpieces, such as organ pipes, produces a rise in pitch. These medieval portative organs, so extensively used during the 14th and 15th centuries, were revivals of those used by the Romans, of which a specimen excavated at Pompeii in 1876 is preserved in the Museum at Naples. The case measures 14½ in. by 9⅓ in. and contains nine pipes, of which the longest measures but 9¾ in.; six of the pipes have oblong holes at a short distance from the top similar to those made in gamba pipes of modern organs to give them their reedy quality, and also to those cut in the bamboo pipes of the Chinese Cheng, which is a primitive organ furnished with free reeds. From the description of these remains by C. F. Abdy Williams,[2] it would seem that a bronze plate 11½ in. by 2¾ in. having 18 rectangular slits arranged in three rows to form vandykes was found inside the case, with three little plates of bronze just wide enough to pass through the slits lying by it; this plate possibly formed part of the mechanism for the sliders of the keys. The small instrument often taken for a syrinx on a contorniate of Sallust in the Cabinet Impérial de France in Paris may be meant for a miniature portative.
(K. S.)
PORT AUGUSTA, a seaport of Frome county, South Australia, on the east shore of Spencer Gulf, 259 m. by rail N.N.W. of Adelaide. Pop. about 2400. It has a fine natural deep and landlocked harbour, and the government wharves have berthing for large vessels. The chief exports are wool, wheat, flour, copper, hides and tallow. Port Augusta is the seat of a Roman Catholic bishop and has a cathedral, while its town-hall is the finest in the state, that of Adelaide excepted. It is also the starting
point of the Great Northern railway. The largest ostrich
farm in Australia lies 8 m. from the town. The neighbourhood is rich in minerals, copper, silver, iron and coal have been found,
