Sebastopol and Constantinople, she returned by way of Greece

and the Ionian Isles to Trieste. Vienna she entered on the 4th November, 1848. This long and extraordinary pilgrimage of more than a hundred thousand miles by land and sea made her famous everywhere. A record of it appeared in 1850 under the title of "A Woman's Journey Round the World." Her collection of curiosities in natural history she sold to the chief museums of Europe. Assisted, though not to a very generous extent, by the Austrian government, Ida Pfeiffer undertook a second journey round the globe. She sailed from London in May, 1851, and in August landed at Cape Town. Singapore, Borneo, Java, indicate the next points of her progress. At Sumatra she had several attacks of fever and countless fatigues and dangers, but no other spot ever interested her so much. The smaller Sunda and Molucca islands next invited. From these she struck in autumn, 1853, right across the Pacific Ocean to California, where the gold excitement was at its maddest height. At the end of 1853 she sailed to Panama, and thence to the coast of Peru. She attempted to penetrate the South American continent in the direction of the Amazon River, but was compelled to return. Passing the Isthmus of Panama in the spring of 1854, and sailing to New Orleans, she explored a large part of North America. In November, 1854, a vessel brought her to Liverpool , thence she took her passage to San Miguel, one of the Azores, where a son of hers resided. Here she remained from January, 1855, till May, when she sought by way of Lisbon, Southampton, London, her home in Vienna. Her new work, "My Second Journey Round the World," which was published in 1856, and formed four volumes, was sought with exceeding avidity. She should now have rested, but spite of the dissuasions of many eminent persons, Alexander Humboldt among them, she took ship in August, 1856, with the design of visiting Madagascar. She was accompanied in her energetic explorations in Madagascar by a Frenchman called Lambert. The hardships they had to suffer were of the most terrific kind. They proved fatal to Ida Pfeiffer. Completely crushed and exhausted, she painfully gained her native Vienna, where, after lingering for a few weeks, she died on the 28th October, 1858. Ida Pfeiffer was small in stature, thin, and bent. Her manners were unassuming. Perhaps no human being ever accomplished so much with such slender resources. The merit of her books is in their absolute truthfulness, and their defects spring from her want of scientific culture, of imagination, and of poetical feeling.—W. M—l. PFISTER, Albrecht, one of the earliest German printers, of whose life, however, nothing is known except that he lived at Bamberg about the middle of the fifteenth century. According to some he was one of Gutenberg and Fust's workmen, who established a printing-office on his own account; whilst in the opinion of others, he was led independently to the invention of movable types. Among the numerous productions of his press the Latin Bible, in 3 vols., folio, 1456-59, which is sometimes ascribed to Gutenberg, is considered as his masterpiece. Of his edition of Boner's Edelstein (the earliest German book with a complete date) only two copies are known to exist, one at Wolfenbüttel and the other at Berlin.—(See Jäck, Beschreibung der öffentlichen Bibliothek zu Bamberg, 1835.)—K. E. PFISTER, Johann Christian von, a German historian, was born at Pleidelsheim, not far from Stuttgart, 2nd March, 1772. He was prepared for the church at Tübingen, where at the same time he devoted himself to the study of history, and formed an intimate acquaintance with Schelling. For a number of years he was successively pastor of several rural parishes, until in 1832 he was appointed superintendent-general at Stuttgart, where he died on the 30th of September, 1835. His historical works have mostly a local character, such as his standard "History of Suabia," 5 vols. His "History of the Germans," however, is not less deservedly popular.—K. E. * PFIZER, Gustav, a German poet and litterateur, was born at Stuttgart, 27th July, 1807. He studied at Tübingen, and in 1846 obtained a professorship in the Stuttgart gymnasium. Beside his poems, which are of a reflective character, and show an earnest study of the ancients, he published a life of Luther, histories of Alexander the Great and of the Greeks (both intended for the young), critical essays on Uhland and Ruckert, and H. Heine, and other works of a similar cast. He is also a copious contributor to the press, and an able translator.—K. E. PHÆDO, a Greek philosopher, was a native of Elis. He was captured in war while a youth, and was brought to Athens as a slave, about 400 b.c., being still very young. Here he received instructions in philosophy from Socrates and Cebes, and is said to have been ransomed from slavery by some of the disciples of Socrates. He was present at the death of Socrates, and continued to reside at Athens for some time afterwards. Subsequently he returned to Elis, where he became the founder of a school of philosophy. His writings are lost, and nothing is known of his doctrines. In the Phædo of Plato he is represented as relating to Echecrates, his friend, the last conversations and death of Socrates in prison.—G. PHÆDRUS, the Latin fabulist, was a native of Thrace and brought to Rome as a slave, where he learned the Latin language. He became the property of the Emperor Augustus, and received his freedom from him. The work of Phædrus, now extant, consists of ninety-seven fables, divided into five books. Thirty-two other fables are also ascribed to him, but their genuineness is considered doubtful. His compositions are mainly taken from the fables of Æsop and Babrius, and do not therefore contain much original matter. That Phædrus had been largely indebted to Babrius was an opinion held long ago by Bentley, and modern discoveries have confirmed his judgment. Phædrus, however, deserves credit for the manner in which he has transfused his Greek originals into elegant and pleasing Latin. His style is neat and concise, and the language is not unworthy of the Augustan age. The moral tone, moreover, of the fables is uniformly good, and they inculcate many useful lessons for the young. They have been extensively imitated by Lafontaine and others. The best edition is that of Orelli, Zurich, 1831.—G. PHAER, Thomas, an English writer of the sixteenth century, was a native of Pembrokeshire, and was educated at Oxford, whence he proceeded to Lincoln's inn to study law. He became an advocate to the council for the Marches of Wales, but afterwards exchanged the profession of law for that of medicine. He wrote many works both on law and physic, and he is lamented by a contemporary. Sir Thomas Chaloner, as a most skilful physician. He is known as a poet by his story of Owen Glendower in the Mirror for Magistrates, and by his metrical translation of the first nine books of Virgil's Æneid. The latter work he wrote at his seat in the forest of Kilgerran between the years 1554 and 1560. He was engaged on the tenth book when he died in 1560. The edition of the Æneid printed in 1558 was dedicated to Queen Mary, and contains an allusion to William, marquis of Winchester, as the poet's "first bringer-up and patron." The translation was completed by Dr. Thomas Twyne in 1573, and the work of both translators was published in one volume in 1583.—(Warton's History of English Poetry, iii., 319.)—R. H. PHALARIS, Tyrant, was a native of Agrigentum in Sicily. The means by which he rose to supreme power in his own city are not known. His tyranny began 570 b.c., and lasted sixteen years, during which he was much engaged in wars and dissensions, increasing his possessions on all sides and subduing such as opposed his ambitious projects. But he was never master of the whole island. It is supposed that he lost his life in some insurrection of the people, who were doubtless often exasperated by his cruel measures. The story of the brazen bull in which Phalaris tortured and burnt his victims alive, is well-known. It was invented by Perillus, on whom it was first tried. Though the very existence of this barbarous engine has been denied, there is no good reason for doubting it; or for separating the name of the tyrant from the diabolical contrivance. And though two declamations ascribed to Lucian represent Phalaris as humane and gentle, a patron of literature and philosophy, their testimony will not outweigh the all but unanimous voice of earlier times, representing him as most barbarous and cruel. A late tradition cannot set aside the earlier one. The hundred and forty-eight epistles bearing the name of Phalaris, are a forgery. The Greek text was first printed at Venice in 1498, and passed through several editions; till the one printed at Oxford in 1695, and superintended by Charles Boyle, gave rise to Bentley's celebrated dissertation, in which he proved, against Oxford learning and Boyle, that the epistles are spurious. Other scholars had before considered them a forgery; but it was reserved for Bentley to set the question at rest for ever in a discourse of consummate critical ability. At what time the epistles were written cannot be ascertained. The first who speaks of them is Stobæus. The best edition is that of Schaefer, 1823, 8vo, which is only a corrected reprint of Lennep and Valckenaer's.—S. D.