tened
and purified from venial sins, a result which is, in great part, ascribed
to the prayers of the faithful and the sacrifice of the Mass. The creed
of the Church in this matter was first formulated by Gregory the Great,
and was based by him, as it has been vindicated since, on passages of
Scripture as well as the writings of the Fathers. The conception of it,
as wrought out by Dante, Carlyle considers "a noble embodiment of a true
noble thought." See his "Heroes."

PURIM, THE FEAST OF, or LOTS, an annual festival of the Jews in
commemoration of the preservation, as recorded in "Esther," of their race
from the threatened wholesale massacre of it in Persia at the instance of
Haman, and which was so called because it was by casting "lots" that the
day was fixed for the execution of the purpose. It lasts two days, being
observed on the 14th and 15th of the month Adar.

PURITAN CITY, name given to Boston, U.S., from its founders and
inhabitants who were originally of Puritan stock.

PURITANS, a name given to a body of clergymen of the Church of
England who refused to assent to the Act of Uniformity passed in the
reign of Queen Elizabeth, because it required them to conform to Popish
doctrine and ritual; and afterwards applied to the whole body of
Nonconformists in England in the 16th and 17th centuries, who insisted on
rigid adherence to the simplicity prescribed in these matters by the
sacred Scriptures. In the days of Cromwell they were, "with musket on
shoulder," the uncompromising foes of all forms, particularly in the
worship of God, that affected to be alive after the soul had gone out of
them.

PURSUIVANT, one of the junior officers in the Heralds' College, four
in England, named respectively Rouge Croix, Blue Mantle, Rouge Dragon,
and Portcullis; and three in Scotland, named respectively Bute, Carrick,
and Unicorn.

PUSEY, EDWARD BOUVERIE, English theologian, born in Berkshire, of
Flemish descent; studied at Christ's Church, Oxford, and became a Fellow
of Oriel, where he was brought into relationship with Newman, Keble, and
Whately; spent some time in Germany studying Rationalism, and, after his
return, was in 1828 appointed Regius Professor of Hebrew at Oxford; in
1833 he joined the Tractarian Movement, to which he contributed by his
learning, and which, from his standing in the University, as well as from
the part he played in it, was at length called by his name; he was not so
conspicuous as ot