written in the beginning of the 17th century, perhaps as early as 1605. The writer of the Arte of English Poesie supplies certain biographical details. He was educated at Oxford, and at the age of eighteen he addressed an eclogue entitled Elpine to Edward VI. In his youth he had visited Spain, France and Italy, and was better acquainted with foreign courts than with his own. In 1579 he presented to Queen Elizabeth his Partheniades (printed in a collection of MSS. Ballads by F. J. Furnivall), and he wrote the treatise in question especially for the delectation of the queen and her ladies. He mentions nine other works of his, none of which are extant. There is no direct evidence beyond Bolton's ascription to identify the author with George or Richard Puttenham, the sons of Robert Puttenham and his wife Margaret, the sister of Sir Thomas Elyot, who dedicated his treatise on the Education or Bringing up of Children to her for the benefit of her sons. Both made unhappy marriages, were constantly engaged in litigation, and were frequently in disgrace. Richard was in prison when the book was licensed to be printed, and when he made his will in 1597 he was in the Queen's Bench Prison. He was buried, according to John Payne Collier, at St Clement Danes, London, on the 2nd of July 1601. George Puttenham is said to have been implicated in a plot against Lord Burghley in 1570, and in December 1578 was imprisoned. In 1585 he received reparation from the privy council for alleged wrongs suffered at the hands of his relations. His will is dated the 1st of September 1590. Richard Puttenham is known to have spent much of his time abroad, whereas there is no evidence that George ever left England. This agrees better with the writer's account of himself; but if the statement that he addressed Elpine to Edward VI. when he was eighteen years of age be taken to imply that the production of this work fell within that king's reign, the date of the author's birth cannot be placed anterior to 1529. At the date (1546) of his inheritance of his grandfather, Sir Thomas Elyot's estates, Richard Puttenham was proved in an inquisition held at Newmarket to have been twenty-six years old.
Whoever the author may have been, there is no doubt about the importance of the work, which is the most systematic and comprehensive treatise of the time on its subject. It is " contrived into three bookes: the first of poets and poesies, the second of proportion, the third of ornament." The first section contains a general history of the art of poetry, and a discussion of the various forms of poetry; the second treats of prosody, dealing in turn with the measures in use in English verse, the caesura, punctuation, rhyme, accent, cadence, " proportion in figure," which the author illustrates by geometrical diagrams, and the proposed innovations of English quantitative verse; the section on ornament deals with style, the distinctions between written and spoken language, the figures of speech; and the author closes with lengthy observations on good manners. It is interesting to note that in his remarks on language he deprecates the use of archaisms, and although he allows that the purer Saxon speech is spoken beyond the Trent, he advises the English writer to take as his model the usual speech of the court, of London and the home counties.
Many later " poetics " are indebted to this book. The original edition is very rare. Professor Edward Arber's reprint (1869) contains a clear summary of the various documents with regard to the authorship of this treatise. The history of the Puttenhams is discussed in H. H. S. Croft's edition of Elyot's Boke called the Governour. A careful investigation brought him to the conclusion that the evidence was in favour of Richard. There are other modern editions of the book, notably one in J. Haslewood's Ancient Critical Essays (1811–1815).
PUTTING THE SHOT (or Weight), a form of athletic sports (q.v.). It is the only weight event now remaining in the championship
programme which requires a “ put ” as distinct from a throw,
a put being a fair and square push straight from the shoulder,
quite distinct from throwing or bowling, which are not allowed
in putting the shot. The exercise originated in Great Britain,
where, before the formation of the Amateur Athletic Association,
the shot (a round weight of 16 ℔) was put from a joist about
6 ft, long with a run of 7 ft., the distance being measured
from the impression made by the falling missile to the point
on the joist, or a line continuing it, opposite the impression.
Hence the putter failed to get the full benent of any put save a
perfectly straight one. The present British rule is that the put
shall be made from a 7-ft. square, and the distance taken from
the first pitch of the shot to the front line of the square or that
line produced, as by the old method. In America the put is
made from a 7-ft. circle, and the distance measured from the pitch
to the nearest point of the circle, which has a raised edge in front
to prevent overstepping and consequent fouls. Individual putters
have slight variations of method, but the following description
is substantially good for all. The putter stands in the back part
of the square or circle with his weight entirely upon his right leg,
which is bent. The body is inclined slightly backward, the left
arm stretched out in front as a balance, and the right hand, the
shot resting in the palm, is, held against, or an inch or two from,
the neck below and behind the right ear. From this position
a hop forward is made with the right leg, the foot landing in
the middle of the square and the balance being preserved, so
that the right shoulder is kept well back. Then, letting the right
leg bend well down, the athlete springs up with a rapid twist of
the body, so that the right shoulder is brought forward, and the
right arm is thrust forward with all possible force, the secret
being to throw all the weight and power of the body and arm into
the put at the very moment of delivery. Mere brute strength
and weight have less to do with successful shot-putting than in
hammer-throwing or throwing the 56-℔ weight, and on this
account some comparatively light men have repeatedly beaten
larger and taller putters. Thus G. R. Gray, a Canadian by birth,
who for many years held the world's record of 47 ft. for the
16-lb shot, was a smaller and less powerful man than several
whom he defeated; and another champion of light weight was
W. F. Robertson of Scotland, who weighed only 150 ℔. Among
the best putters of earlier times were E. I. Bor, London Athletic
Club, who made a put of 42 ft. 5 in. in 1872; W. Y. Winthrop
and G. Ross. The talent of Irish athletes both in Great Britain
and America for weight putting and throwing is remarkable,
among the most famous of Irish putters being W. J. M. Barry
and Denis Hogan, the latter of whom won the amateur championship
in seven consecutive years from 1893, and again in 1904 and
1905. The record in 1910 for the 16-℔ shot was 51 ft. made
San Francisco in 1909 by R. Rose.
PUTTKAMMER, ROBERT VON (1828–1900), Prussian statesman,
was born at Frankfort-on-the-Oder on the 5th of May 1828.
His father, Eugen von Puttkammer, Oberpräsident of Posen,
belonged to a widely extended noble family, of which Bismarck's
wife and Robert von Puttkammer's own wife were also members.
Robert von Puttkammer, after a short course of law, began his
official career in 1850 as Auskultator in the courts at Danzig,
but in 1852 entered the civil service, receiving after his promotion
to the rank of Assessor in 1854 a post in the railway department
of the ministry for trade and industry. In 1859 he became a
member of the presidial council (Oberpräsidialrat) at Coblenz,
capital of the Prussian Rhine province, and from 1860 to 1866
was Landrat at Demmin in Pomerania. During the war with
Austria he acted as civil commissary in Moravia. From 1867
to 1871 he was a councillor in the chancery of the North German
Confederation. In 1871 he was appointed president of the
governmental district of Gumbinnen in East Prussia, in 1875
district president (Bezirkspräsident) in Lorraine, and in 1877
Oberpräsident in Silesia. From 1874 onward he was frequently
elected to the Reichstag and the Prussian Chamber of Deputies,
in which he attached himself to the German Conservative party.
Puttkammer was the chosen instrument of the Clerical Conservative
policy initiated by Bismarck when the Socialist peril made
it expedient to conciliate the Catholic Centre. As Oberpräsident
of Silesia he had already done much to mitigate the rigour of the
application of the “ May Laws,” and as minister of public worship
and of the interior he continued this policy. He is also remembered
as the author of the ordinance of the 21st of January 1880
on the simplification of German orthography. This was at first
vigorously opposed, not least by Bismarck himself; but its
