Personati, an ecclesiastical term, which does not occur earlier than the 11th century, came into use after tlie time of Alexander III, and designates (1) Persons, canons holding office with precedence in chapter and choir after dignitaries, either bj- institution or custom. A dignitary was also a person because his person was honored, and he was a person constituted in dignit3^ The '"quatuor perscnaj" were the four internal dignita- ries. Until recently the dignitaries were called the parsons at Hereford. (2) Stipendiarj' clerks or chap- lains perpetuallj' resident in a cathedral or collegiate church, like the chantry priests of St. William at York and the rectors of choir at Beverley, holding offices for life. At Grenoble, Sens, Aries, and Nevers they had the responsibility of the ordinary' choral services. — Walcott, Sacred Archaeology, s. v.
Per.sonatiis. See Personati.
Persuasion, the act of influencing the judgment and passions by arguments or motives. It is different from conviction. Conviction affects the understand- ing only; persuasion the will and practice. It is more extensive!}' used than conviction, which last is found- ed on demonstration, natural or supernatural. But all things of whicli we may be persuaded are not capa- ble of demonstration. Eloquence is but the art of per-
suasion. See Blair, Rh toric ; Maury, Principles of Eloquence; Puljnt Orator.
Perth, Articles of. See Articles.
Perth, Councils of (Concilium Pci'thusanum), held at the Scottish city so named.
I. The first was held in 1202 or 1203, by cardinal John Salerno, Roman legate in Scotland ; in which certain regulations relating to the reform of the cler- gy were drawn np. The council lasted three days, but two only of the canons are known :
1. That they who had received orders on Suuday should be removed from the service of the altar.
2. Tliat every Saturday from 12 o'clock be kept as a day of rest, by abstaining from work ; the holy day to con- tinue till Monday moruing.
See Skinner, i, 280. Labbc, Cone, xi, 24.
II. Another council was held at Perth in 1212. William Malvoisin, bishop of St. Andrew's, Walter, bishop of Glasgow, and others were present. The pope's instructions for preaching the Crusade were published ; upon which, says the author of the Scoti- chronicon. great numbers of all ranks of clergy through- out Scotland, regulars as well as seculars, took the cross, but very few of the rich or great men of the king- dom. See Skinner, Works, i, 280; Wilkins, Cone, i, 532; Collier, Eccles. Hist; Landon, Man. of Councils, s. V.
Perthes, Friedricii Ciiristoph, an eminent Ger- man publisher, distinguished not onl}' in his profes- sional capacity, but for his sincere piety and ardent patriotism, was born at Kudolstadt April 21, 1772. In his fifteenth j'ear he was apprenticed to a Leipsic booliseller, with whom he remained six years, devoting much of his leisure time to the acquisition of knowl- edge. In 1793 he passed into the establishment of Hoffmann, the Hamburg bookseller ; and in 179G started business on his own account ; and, by his keen and wide appreciation of the public wants, his untiring diligence, and his honorable reputation, he ultimately made it tlie most extensive of the kind in modern Ger- many. During the first few years or so of his Ham- burg apprenticeship, his more intimate friends had been either Kantian or sceptical in their opinions, and Perthes, who was not distinguished for either learning or speculative talent, had learned to think with his friends ; but a friendship which he subsequently formed with Jacobi (q. v. \ and the Ilolstein poet and humor- ist, Matthias Claudius, led him to a more serious view of Christian it}', and he became one of the noblest types of German orthodox piety, leading a life whose influ- ence is imi)ressed on many distinguished minds of his country to this day. The iron rule of the French in Northern Germany, and the prohibition of intercourse with England, nearly ruined trade, yet Perthes, even in this great crisis of affairs, found ways and means to ex- tend his. He endeavored to enlist the intellect of Ger- many on the side of patriotism, and in 1810 started the Niitionnl-Museiim, with contributions from Jean Paul Friedrich Richter, count Stolberg, Claudius, Fouque, Heeren, Sartorius, Schlegel, Gorres, Arndt, and other eminent men. Its success was far beyond Perthes's expectations, and encouraged him to continue his pa- triotic activity, until Hamburg's incorporation with the French empire put a temporary stricture upon his activit}'. He subsequently took a prominent part in forcing the French garrison to evacuate Hamburg, March 12, 1813; and on its re -occupation by the French, he was one of the ten Hamburgers who were specially excepted from pardon. After peace had been restored to Europe, he steadily devoted himself to the extension of his business, and to the consolida- tion of the sentiment of German national unity, as far as that could be accomplished by literature and speech. In 1822 he removed to Gotha, transferring his Ham- burg business to his partner, Besser. Here he laid himself out mainly for the publication of great histor-
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ical and thoological works. His subsequent corre- spomlonce witli literary, political, and tlieological no- tabilities—such as Niehulir (one of his dearest friends), Neander, Schleiermacher, Liicke, Nitszch, Tlioluck, Schellinif, and Unibreit — is extremely interesting, and throws a rich light upon the recent inner life of Ger- manj'. He died ISIay 18, 1843. — Ciiambers. See Fri drich Perthes' Lchen (12th edit. l.So3, 3 vols. 8vo), ■written b}' his second son, Clemens Tiicodor Perthes, professor of law at Bonn, and translated into English anoin'mously in Edinburgh (1857, 2 vols. 8vo) ; Me- moirs of Frederick Perthes, or Literary, Re'igious, and Political Life in Gennanii from 1789-18-13; Baur, Re- ligious Life in Germany (transl. Iiy Jane Sturge, Lond. 1870, 2 vols. 12mo), ii, 132-178.