Ploughshare (^X, eth, Isa. ii, 4). The plough- share is a piece of iron, broad but not large, which tips the end of the shaft. So much does it resemble the short sword used by the ancient warriors that it may with very little trouble be converted into that deadly weapon, and when the work of destruction is over, re- duced again into its former shape, and applied to the purposes of agriculture. In allusion to the first opera- tion, the prophet Joel summons the nations to leave their peaceful employments in the cultivated field, and buckle on their armor: "Beat your ploughshares into swords, and your pruning-hooks into spears" (Joel iii, 10). This image the prophet Isaiah has reversed, and then applied to the establishment of that profound and lasting peace which is to bless the Church of Christ in the latter days: "And they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." See Plough.
Plowden, Charles, an English Roman Catholic divine who belonged to the Order of Jesuits, was born in 17415, and educated at Pome, where he entered into the society in 1759. On his return to his own country, al- ter the suppression of his order in 1773, he was one of the most zealous advocates for the proposed reorganiza- tion of the Jesuits in England. He afterwards became president of the Catholic college of Stonyhurst, in Lan- cashire, and died in 1821. His publications are against Butler and Berington. and for the restoration of the Jesuits (1792, 8vo; 1796, 8vo). Also. Remarks on the Memoirs of G. Panzani (Liege, 1794, 8vo):— Consider- ations of the Modern Opinions of the Fallibility of the Pope (1776, 8vo).
An older brother of his, Dr. Francis Plowden, a noted member of the English Chancery Bar, is the au- thor of Jnnt Anglorum, the Rights of Englishmen (1792, 8vo), and Church and State (1795, 4to), which both plead for Roman Catholic recognition by the English government, and became the subject of much contro- versv. See Allibone, Diet, of Brit, and Amer. A uthors, ii, 1609, 1610. (J.H.W.)
Pliiche, Noel - Antoine, a French scientist of note, was born in 1688. He flourished at one time as abbot of Valence de St, Maur. He was also a professor of rhetoric at Rheims, and is distinguished as a natural- ist and man of letters, and also for his opposition to the bull •• Unigenitus." He is the author of Spectacle de la Nature (9 vols.) :— Hist, du del (2 vols.):—/.-; Meca- nique des Langues ; and some lesser works, among which is a Harmony of the Psalms and the Gospels (12mo). He died in 1761.
Plumb-line (T^X. andk, a plummet) or Plum- met (rbpdr, mishMeth, Isa. xxviii, 17, or FlVplBB, mishkoleth. a weight). Amos says (vii, 7), " Behold, the Lord stood upon a wall, made by a plumb-line, with a plumb-line in his hand;" and in the threatenings de-
nounced against Jerusalem for the idolatries of Manas- seh, we read, " I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab" (2 Kings xxi, 13). In Zech. iv, 10, the original term for the plumb-bob is b""l3 'SX, eben bedil, stone of tin. The use of the plumb-line in the measurement, of su- perficial areas was early known to the Egyptians, and is ascribed to their king Menes. See Handicraft.
Plumptre, James, an Anglican divine of note, was born in 1770, and was educated at Clare Hall, Cam- bridge, of which lie afterwards became a fellow. After taking holy orders, he became in 1793 vicar of Great Gransdon, Huntingdonshire. He died in 1832. He is best known as a miscellaneous writer. Among his pub- lications (of which there is a list in Allibone) we notice, Three Discourses on the A nimal < 'n ution (1816, 8vo) : — Popular Comim utary mi ihe liible : — Sermons, vol. i and ii (1821, 1827, 8vo), which are pronounced practical and useful by Bickersteth (in his Christian Student).
Plunket, Oliver, an Irish Roman Catholic prel- ate, was born in 1629 at the castle of Rathmore, county of Meath, of a good Irish family. He completed his stud- ies at Rome, was a professor of theology in that city, and finally elevated to the twofold dignity of archbishop of Armagh and primate of Ireland (1669). His zeal having aroused against him the suspicions of the Prot- estants, he fell a victim to the violent reaction of Tory- ism which took place in 1681. Accused of conspiracy against the court, he was arrested, carried to London, and sentenced to death by a fanatical jury. In vain four successive governors of Ireland testitied to his loy- alty ; the court did not even await the arrival of his witnesses, and his means of defence could be produced in London only three days after his execution, which took place July 1, 1681, at Tyburn. He left a Collection if Episcopal Circulars and Pastoral Letters (Lond. 1686, 2 vols. 4to). See Bp. Burnet, Hist, of his Own Times, ii, 279. (J. II. W.)
Plunket, Thomas, D.D., a noted Presbyterian Irish divine, flourished at Enniskillen in the second half of the 18th century. Having some scruples as to the received doctrine of the Trinity, he removed to Dublin, where he became minister of the Strand Street chapel. He died about 1780. His son was the noted Irish lord William Conyngham Plunket, and his grand- son bishop Thomas Span Plunket.