devotion to Gothic art, naturally brought him employment as an architect mainly from Roman Catholics; and many of his executed works suffered from the fact that his designs were not fully carried out, owing to a desire to save money or to spend it so as to make the greatest possible display. For this reason his genius is often more fairly displayed by his drawings than by the buildings themselves. In almost every case his design was seriously injured, both by cutting down its carefully considered proportions and by introducing shams (above all things hateful to Pugin), such as plaster groining and even cast-iron carving. The cathedral of St George at Southwark, and even the church in Farm Street, Berkeley Square, London, are melancholy instances of this. Thus his life was a series of disappointments; no pecuniary success compensated him for the destruction of his best designs, as in him the man of business was thoroughly subordinate to the artist. He himself used to say that the only church he had ever executed with unalloyed satisfaction was the one at Ramsgate, which he not only designed but paid for. Pugin was very broad in his love for the medieval styles, but on the whole preferred what is really the most suited to modern requirements, namely the Perpendicular of the 15th century, and this he employed in its simpler domestic form with much success both in his own house at Ramsgate and in the stately Adare Hall in Ireland built for Lord Dunraven. The cathedral of Killarney and the chapel of the Benedictine monastery of Douai were perhaps the ecclesiastic buildings which were carried out with least deviation from Pugin’s original conception.
Apart from his work as an architect, his life presents little of detail to record. In 1836 he published his Contrasts; or a Parallel between the Architecture of the 15th and 19th centuries, in which he seriously criticized the architecture of Protestantism. His other principal publications were True Principles of Christian Architecture (1841); Glossary of Ecclesiastical Ornament (1844); and Treatise on Chancel Screens and Rood Lofts (1851). He was a skilful etcher, and illustrated in this way a number of his works, which were written with much eloquence, great antiquarian knowledge and considerable humour. This last gift is exemplified in a series of etched plates in his Contrasts; on one side is some noble structure of the middle ages, and on the other an example of the same building as erected in the 19th century. In 1849 he married a third wife, daughter of Thomas Knill. Early in 1852 he was attacked by insanity, and he died on the 14th of September that year. His eldest son by his second wife, Edward Welby Pugin (1834–1875), was also an accomplished architect, who carried on his father’s work.
See B. Ferrez, Recollections of A. W. Pugin and his Father (London, 1861).
PUISNE (from O. Fr. puisné, modern puîné, later born, inferior;
Lat. postea, afterwards, and natus, born), a term in law
meaning “ inferior in rank.” It is pronounced “ puny,” and
the word, so spelt, has become an ordinary adjective meaning
weak or undersized. The judges and barons of the common law
courts at Westminster, other than those having a distinct title,
were called puisne. By the Supreme Court of Judicature Act
1877, a “ puisne judge ” is defined as a judge of the High Court
other than the lord chancellor, the lord chief justice of England,
the master of the rolls, the lord chief justice of the common pleas,
and the lord chief baron, and their successors respectively.
PUJAH, or Pooja, the Hindu ceremonies in idol-worship. Colloquially the word has come to be applied by Anglo-Indians
to any kind of rite; thus “ pujah of the flag ” is the sepoy term
for trooping of the colours.
PUKET (also known by the Chinese name Tongkah), the first Siamese port on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula, situated on the eastern side of the island of Junk Ceylon (Malay, “Ujong Salang”) in 7° 50′ N. and 98° 24′ E. It is the headquarters of
the high commissioner of the Siamese administrative division
of the same name, and has a population of about 30,000, of which
more than a third is Chinese. Beneath the town and around
it lie deposits of tin ore which have been worked by Chinese
from ancient times, and the extraction of which still furnishes
occupation for the majority of the inhabitants. In 1907,
dredging for tin in the harbour was undertaken by a European
company. Puket has been a resort of European merchants
since the 16th century. During the ancient wars between Siam
and Burma it was more than once attacked by the latter, but
was relieved by forces from Nakhon Sri Tammarat (Ligore)
on the mainland. The Siamese mining department has a branch
at Puket under control of European officers.
PULASKI, CASIMIR, Count (1748–1779), Polish soldier,
was born in Podolia in 1748, and took a prominent share, under
his father Count Joseph Pulaski, in the formation of the
confederation of Bar and in the military operations which followed,
becoming ultimately commander-in-chief of the Polish patriot
forces. Driven into exile about 1772, Pulaski went to America
and joined the army of Washington in 1777. He distinguished
himself at once in the battle of Brandywine, was made a
brigadier-general and chief of cavalry by Congress, and fought
at Germantown, and in the battles of the winter 1777–78, after
which he raised a mixed corps called the Pulaski legion. At
the head of this force he won further distinction in the southern
theatre of war, and successfully defended Charleston in May
1779. He was mortally wounded soon afterwards at the
unsuccessful attack on Savannah (Oct. 9) and died two days
later on board ship. Congress voted a monument to his memory;
and though this vote has never been carried into execution,
Lafayette laid the corner-stone of a monument in Savannah in
1824, and this was completed in 1855.
PULCI, LUIGI (1431–1487), Italian poet, was born at Florence,
of a well-connected family. His elder brother Luca (d. 1470)
was also a poet, author of Pistole, Driadeo d'amore, and
Ciriffo Calvaneo. Luigi was patronized by Cosimo, Piero, and
Lorenzo de' Medici, and was the author of various works
in poetry and prose. He is famous, however, as the first to
bring artistic romance into Italian literature in his heroic poem
Morgante Maggiore (Venice, 1481), an epic of a giant converted to
Christianity, who accompanies Orlando (Roland). (See Italian Literature.)
PULGAR, HERNANDO DE (1436–c. 1492), Spanish prose-writer, was born at Pulgar (near Toledo) in 1436 and was educated at the court of John II. Henry IV. made him one of his secretaries, and under Isabella he became councillor of state, was charged with a mission to France, and in 1482 was appointed historiographer-royal. He is said to have died in 1492. His Crónica de los Reyes Católicos, wrongly ascribed in the first edition (1565) to Antonio de Lebrija, is often inaccurate and always obsequious; but the record is not without value as regards events within the author’s personal experience. Pulgar’s Claros Varones de Castilla (1486), an account of celebrities at the court of Henry IV., is interesting in matter and style. He compiled a commentary (1485?) on the Coplas de Mingo Revulgo. His Letters, written to various persons of eminence, were first published in 1485–1486.
PULICAT, a town of British India, in Chingleput district, Madras, 2 5 m. N. of Madras city. Pop. (1901), 5448. The Dutch built a fort here as early as 1609, and it was for a long time their chief settlement on the Coromandel coast. Repeatedly captured, it did not finally become British until 1825. It gives its name to the Pulicat lake, a shallow lagoon stretching for about 37 m. along the coast. The seaward side is formed by the
island of Sriharikot, which supplies firewood to Madras city.
PULKOVO, or PULKOWA, a village of Russia, in the government of St Petersburg, 10 m. S. of the city of St Petersburg.
Pop. 2000. It contains the Pulkovo observatory, on a hill
248 ft. high, in 59° 46′ 18″ N. and 30° 19′ 40″ E. It was built
in 1833–1839.
PULLEY, a wheel, either fixed to a turning axle or carried freely on a stationary one, the periphery of which is adapted to receive some form of wrapping connector. A pulley carried on a rotating shaft and connected to another pulley on a second shaft by an endless band consisting of a flat belt, rope, chain
or similar connector serves for the transmission of power from the one shaft to the other and is known as a driving pulley;
