PALGRAVE, SIR FRANCIS (1788-1861).—­Historian, s. of Meyer Cohen, a Jewish stockbroker, but at his marriage in 1823, having previously become a Christian, assumed his mother-in-law’s name of Palgrave.  He studied law, and was called to the Bar in 1827.  From 1838 until his death in 1861 he was Deputy Keeper of the Records, and in that capacity arranged a vast mass of hitherto inaccessible documents, and ed. many of them for the Record Commission.  His historical works include a History of England in Anglo-Saxon Times (1831), Rise and Progress of the English Commonwealth (1832), and History of Normandy and England (4 vols., 1851-64), pub. posthumously.  He was knighted in 1832.  His works are of great value in throwing light upon the history and condition of mediaeval England.

PALGRAVE, FRANCIS TURNER (1824-1897).—­Poet and critic, s. of the above, ed. at Oxf., was for many years connected with the Education Department, of which he rose to be Assistant Sec.; and from 1886-95 he was Prof. of Poetry at Oxf.  He wrote several vols. of poetry, including Visions of England (1881), and Amenophis (1892), which, though graceful and exhibiting much poetic feeling, were the work rather of a man of culture than of a poet.  His great contribution to literature was his anthology, The Golden Treasury of Songs and Lyrics (1864), selected with marvellous insight and judgment.  A second series showed these qualities in a less degree.  He also pub. an anthology of sacred poetry.

PALTOCK, ROBERT (1697-1767).—­Novelist, was an attorney, and wrote The Life and Adventures of Peter Wilkins, a Cornish Man (1751), admired by Scott, Coleridge, and Lamb.  It is somewhat on the same plan as Robinson Crusoe, the special feature being the gawry, or flying woman, whom the hero discovered on his island, and married.  The description of Nosmnbdsgrutt, the country of the flying people, is a dull imitation of Swift, and much else in the book is tedious.

PARDOE, JULIA (1806-1862).—­Novelist and miscellaneous writer, b. at Beverley, showed an early bias towards literature, and became a voluminous and versatile writer, producing in addition to her lively and well-written novels many books of travel, and others dealing with historical subjects.  She was a keen observer, and her Oriental travels had given her an accurate and deep knowledge of the peoples and manners of the East.  Among her books are The City of the Sultan (1836), Romance of the Harem, Thousand and One Days, Louis XIV. and the Court of France, Court of Francis I., etc.