POL DE MONT. 172 POLE. aflerwards at the Univcrsit.v of ];ouvain, ami be- came professor of the Dutch laii^'uuge ami litera- ture ill the Atheiiaum at Touriiai, ami (18S2) at Antwerp. His ehief works are: Wiitirluid en- levcn {ii::), JoiiycUnyslevcn {IHIS), Ue eerste wicitAc/i (l>i:'.)), Lcnlcnullcrnijin { ISSl ), Loreley (1S82), FliuUlcniidf Miiidirs (1885), Zanna (IS8t>), a eomeily in verse. Vlnribclla (1893), and Jris (18'.)4)," besides bioj;rai)liies of Hen- drik Conscience (1883) and of .Ian van Beers (1881)). POLDER, pul'der (Duteli, morass). A name •iWiU ill the Netherlands to that portion of dry land which was formerly below the level of the sea or the nearest river, and lias been reclaimed by building; a dike. ealle<l a rinjrvaart, around the rejjion to lie draineil and Imni^iht umh-r cultiva- tion. On sueli an emliaiikiiieut niaoliinery for liftiii;,' water is placed and worked by wind or steam power. Successive eniltankments and canals are built as the work proceeds. In Nortli Holland in the Sehcrnier jiolder four such embankments and intermediate canals were necessary in order to reclaim the lowest part of the polder. A lai-fie portion of the cultivated laud of the Neth- erlands has thus lieen rcclaimcil from the ocean. The largest of the linishcd pciUlcrs is that which occupies the former site of the Haarlem Lake and covers aliout lifty thousand acres, or about eighty scpiare miles. At the present time still larger polders are in the course of bcin;,' drained. POLE. In seograiihy, one of the two extremi- ties (if the a.xis round which the earth revolves. They are therefore situated the one on the north and the oilier on the smitli side of the eiiuator, and equidistant from all ]iarts of it, or in latitude 90° nortli and latilude 90° south, respectively. They are called the North and South poles of the eartli. In aslrunomy. the poles, which, for dis- tinction's sake, arc denominated cchstidl poles, are those points in the heavens to which the earth's axis is directed, and round which the heavens seem to revolve. The celestial [loles are valuable points of reference to astronomers and };eof,'rapliers, so that the determination of their ])nsition in the heavens is a matter of the great- est importance. Unfortunately, no stars mark their exact situation (see Poi.K Stak). though there are minute telescopic stars only a few .seconds from the North Pole. The position of the polar point is determined in the following manner: .V liright star (generally the Pole star) is selected, and its position in its up|)er and its lower culminations (q.v.) is accurately noted, with the meridian circle (q.v.); the point mid- way between these two positions of the star is the Jiole of the heavens. The observation of the two positions of the star must be corrected for refraction, and it is for this reason that the Pole star is selected, since the ell'cct of refraction is nuich the same in both positions of the star. The term 'pole' has, liowever, a wider application in astronomy, as in S]>lierieal geometry, denoting the extremities of a line passing through the centre of a great circle perpendicular to its plane; thus, we have the poles of the horizon (zenith and nadir), the poles of the ecliptic, the poles of a meridian. Poh> in physics denotes those jioints of a body at which its attractive or repulsive energy is concentrated. See Magnetism, Tek- UE.STHIAT,. POLE (of a magnet). See Magnetism. POLE, REGINALD (1500-58). The last Roman Catholic Archbishop of Canterbury. He was born at JStuurlon Castle, Stall'cndshire, in Mareli, LWO, the son of Sir Richard Pole, by Margaret, Coun- tess of Salisbury, daughter of the Duke of Cbir- ence, the brother of Edward IV. His early eiluc;i- tion was received from the (Carthusians at Slieeii. whence, being lilierally provided for by lli'iny VIII., he jiassed to .Magdalen College, Oxford, and. although still a layman, received several valuabli. preferments through the favor of the King. Por the further ]irosccutioii of his studies lie went, in I.'iil, to the University of Paris, and thence to Padua, where he formed the friendship of a distinguished group of scholars and friends, all of whom subsequently took a leading part in public afl'airs — Contarini. Pembo, Sadoleto. and others. In 1527 he returned to Knglaud, where the highest ecclesiastical dignities awaited his acceptance. In l.'j'29-30 he was in Paris, where he collected o|iinions favorable to Henry VIIl.'s divorce from Catliiirim^ of Aragon, but on his re- turn he courageously endeavored to dissuade the King, In l.'>;i2 Pole was again on the Con- tinent, whence he issued his Pro I'lcclcsiaslicw Viiilfilifi Drfensionc (1.536), taking strong grounds against the divorce. At the end of 1.531) he went to Rome, where he was ordained deacon and made a cardinal. In February, 1.537, be was a]ipointed Papal legate to England, but his commission was not then discharged. His posi- tion liiid greatly enraged Henry, whose resent- ment fell upon Pole's elder brother, and upon his aged mother, the Countess of Salisbury. During the rest of Henr^-'s reign Pole remained in exile. The Papacy, for "the maintenance of whose author- ity in the" cause of the injured Catharine Pole was regarded as a martyr, treated him with dis- tinguished favor. He was employed in many af- fairs of the highest importance, being sent as legate, in 1537, to Prance and the Low Countries, from both which States Henry 'lll. in vain de- manded his extradition. He also took an active part in the discussion on the Interim, and when the Council of Trent was opened, he was ap- pointed one of the three legate-jiresidents who aetx'd in the name of the Pope, Paul III. On this pontiir's death in 1549, Pole was all but elected to succeed. For some time after this he resided ehiedy in a monasti'iy. near Verona, in coiii|iaralive retirement, until the accession of Mary called liiin back to active life, as the m.ain instrument of the reconciliation of England with the Pajiacy. On November 24. 1554. Pole sol- emnly entered London as legate, possessing in equal degree the confidence of the Queen. In the arduous charge thus intrusted to him he ac- quitted himself with much prudence, and. con- sidering the circumstances of the time, with sin- gular moderation. In the severities which marked the later history of Mary's reign it is all but certain tli;it Pole li;ul no share. He was ordained ])ricst .March 20, 1557. and consecrated Arch- bishop of Canterbury two days after, and later made chancellor of the universities of Oxford and Cambridge. On the dillicult and critical question of the disposal of the Church property confiscated by Henry VIIL. Pole, who saw the necessity of moderation, was for a time at issue with the Pope; but his representations were successful in producing a more moderate policy, and the work of reunion appeared to proceed with every pros- pect of:i complete and permanent issue, when it
