Parks, Martin P., an American minister of the Gospel, who distinguished himself by a most consistent life and great devotion to the Christian cause, was bom in North Carolina in 1804 of pious Methodist parents. He chose a military career, and was educated at West Point, While at the academy he was converted under the preaching of Mcllvaine, and after having been over a year and a half in the United States service, felt obliged to enter the ministry of the Gospel by the call he expe- rienced to this holy work. He joined the Virginia Con- ference, and preached for j-ears with great success. "The force and beauty of his language, the fervor of his ap- peals, and the rapture that kindled in his heart while he preached, were at times almost irresistible ; his hear- ers were borne along on the rapid, sparkling current of his eloquence." He was at the opening of Randolph Macon College appointed professor of mathematics in that institution. But after a time he determined to change his Church relations, and he finally became a clergyman in the Protestant Episcopal Church. In this new relation he was equally successful until disease closed his labors. He died on the ocean while on his way from Europe, whither he had gone to regain his health, in the year 1854. See Bennett, Memorials of Methodism in Virginia, p. 729-731. (J. H. W.)
Parliamentary Church is a church erected un-
PARLOR
696
PARMA
dcr the authority of an act of Parliament. In England such a church is generally called a district church ; and the acts of Parliament authorizing such churches are known as the Church Building Acts. In Scotland sim- ilar churches are called Quoad iSacra churches. See Parish.
Parlor is the rendering occasionally of three Heb. words: 1, "TyH, cheder, an enclosed place (I Chron. xxviii, 11 ; Sept. otto^/jk/;, Vulg. cubiculum), especially an innei- room or "chamber" (as elsewhere almost inva- riably rendered); 2, tlS'j?, Ushlah, a bedroom (1 Sam. ix, 22; Sept. Krar«Xii|ia, Yulg. triclinium), especially a corner cell or " chamber" (as elsewhere nearly con- stantly rendered) in a courtyard; 3, iT?S[, aliydh, an upper room (Judg. iii, 20, 23, 24, 25; Sept. vTripi^ov, Vulg. canaculum), especially "the chamber" (as else- where usually rendered) over the gate or on the roof. See Chajiber. In Judg. iii, 20-28 the words in the original imply "an upper chamber of coolness," no doubt such as are still found in the mansions and gar- dens of the East, to which the owner retires to enjoy a purer air and more extensive prospect tlian any other part of his dwelling commands, and where he usually takes his siesta during the heat of the day. It is kept as a strictly private apartment, no one entering it but such as are specially invited. See Housn. Kitto ob- serves (note in Pict. Bible, ad loc.) that " it appears to have been an apartment detached from the main build- ing, but having a communication with it, and also with the exterior. It also probably enjoyed a free circula- tion of the air, which rendered it particularlj' agreeable in the heat of summer, especially in so very warm a dis- trict as the plain of Jericho." See Upper Eooji.
Parlor [Locutorium, spelcehouse) designates in eccle- siastical language the room in which monastics commu- nicated with tradespeople and visitors at the convent; also with the obedientaries during reading or cloister time. See Walcott, Sacred A rchceology, s. v.
Parma, a former duchy of Upper Italy, but now a part of the Italian kingdom, is bounded on the north by Lombardy and Venice, east by Modena, south by Genoa and Tuscany, and west by Piedmont, and contains in all 2208 English square miles, with a population (1871) of oOG.OOO. The Apennines, which cross the southern division of the duchies, send off spurs northwards, and give to the northern part of the country the character of a plain, gently undulating, but sloping uniformly to the Po, which is the recipient of all the rivers of the country. The plain, which is very fertile, produces rich crops of grain (including rice), leguminous plants, fruits of all kinds, olives, and grapes; while marble, alabaster, salt, and petroleum are the chief mineral products. Next to agriculture, the production and manufacture of silk, the rearing of cattle and poultry, cheese-making, and the extraction of the mineral products afford the chief employment. Silk and cheese are the chief exports. The Roman Catholic religion was until its recent union with the kingdom the only one tolerated, though a few Jews arc found here and there through the country. The condition of education, much improved of late, is still very defective.
IJistory. — Parma and Piacenza, which was a part of the recent duchy, belonged in the time of the Roman empire to Cisalpine Gaul, and after its fall came under the rule of the Lombards, to whose rule succeeded that of the kings of Italy and the (Jernian emperors. In the ]2tli and following centuries they joined the other ter- ritories of Northern Italy whicli were struggling for liberty and independence, and consequently became in- volved in the Guelph and Ghibelline contests. Weak- ened by these strifes, they fell under the domination of the powerfid houses of Este, Visconti. and Sforza; but in 14St9 they passed under the yoke of the French mon- arch, Louis XII, from whom tliey were soon recovered by the emperor Maximilian, and handed over to pope