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rigour during the whole of her reign; besides theordinary courts of the bishops, she erected the courtof high-commission, which suspended and deprivedthe refractory of their livings, by the determinationof three commissioners, founded upon the canonlaw; before this court the prisoner was obliged toanswer questions put to him, under oath; it he re-fused to swear, he was imprisoned for contempt;and if he took the oath, he was convicted uponhis own confession.

During the reign of James I., from whom thePuritans had expected more indulgence, they weretreated with greater severity, and many of themleft the kingdom, and retired to Holland, whencethey emigrated to America in 1620. All werelooked upon by James and the court as Puritans, whoopposed the arbitrary maxims of his government;and those were called Puritans in state, who, unitingwith the church Puritans, in opposition to the prin-ciples of the Stuart dynasty, formed a majority in thenation. The success of the first emigrators to Ame-rica, who established the colony of New Plymouth,induced great numbers of Puritans to turn to thesame quarter for relief, and the new colony of Massa-chusetts Bay was founded by them in 1629. Thecolony of New Haven was also founded by Puritans,who tied from the persecutions of Laud, and the op-pressions of the star-chamber and the high-commis-sion courts. Though there were shades of differencein these fugitives to America, they agreed in mostpoints of doctrine and discipline, and most of theirdescendants in New England, of which they composethe principal part of the population, still cherish withfondness the maxims and the memory of their Puri-tan fathers. The Puritans were afterwards preventedfrom retiring to America, and many of them removedinto Holland, while others remained at home, andfinally pulled down the throne and the altar, whichlong persecutions had rendered so odious to them.It was the union of the three kinds of Puritans abovementioned, which gave the parliament the victory inthe civil war which followed. The Presbyterianparty was at first the most powerful, but the Inde-pendents, among whom were Cromwell, Milton, &c.,finally acquired the ascendancy; and it was thisparty, most of whom were republicans in politics aswell as in church discipline, that beheaded the king,and abolished royalty. After the restoration of CharlesII., the act of uniformity passed, in 1662, excludedfrom the communion of the church all who refused toobserve the rites and subscribe to the doctrines of thechurch of England ; and from that time the name ofnon-conformists was applied to such recusants.

Pusterthal. An extensive district in the Tyrol,on the borders of Carinthia. It abounds in mineralores, and the inhabitants are principally employed inthe manufacture of linen and lace. The chief townis Leinz, and the whole district has a population ofabout 80,000 persons.

Putney. An extensive and pleasant hamlet, inthe county of Surrey. It is situated on the banks ofthe Thames, near Fulham. The neighbouring heathis adorned with a number of elegant villas, and itmay almost be considered as an extended suburb ofthe metropolis. Putney has a population of 3811persons, and the character of its site may be judgedfrom the tact that the annual value of the real pro-perty amounts to considerably more than 20,000d.

Puy de Dome. A department of France, situate

— PUY DE DOME.

in Auvergne. It is watered by the Allier, thrCouze, the Dolore, &c. It is studded with externsive forests, and the low lands abound with hemp,vines, and a variety of other fruits. It forms a veryproductive coal district. The Puy de Dome, situatedin the mountains of Auvergne, gives name to thedepartment. The capital is named Clermont. Theinhabitants amount to nearly 550,000 persons, andthe area of the department to about 3400 squaremiles.

Puy de Dome. A lofty mountain in the interiorof France, situated about two miles west of ClermontFerrand. This mountain forms the centre of a group,called the Chaine des Puys. The space occupied bvthem is about seven leagues in length, and half a onein breadth, commencing at the height of Riom on thenorth, and extending on the south to the foot of thenorth-eastern declivity of Mont d’Or. Almost allthese mountains are entirely separated from eachother, and the principal ones are elevated from 1000to 1300 feet above their own base, many being less,and others a little more; but the Puy de Dome, whichis in the centre of the chain, is 1984 feet above thesame level. Their forms are nearly those of truncatedcones, the flanks being inclined about forty degrees,more or less, to the horizon ; and the summits (withthe exception of five or six, which are of a particularnature,) most commonly present a hollow in the formof a cup, which in some is from 159 to 250 feet indepth. The summits of others have merely a slightdepression ; and many distinguished geologists are ofopinion, that all these Puys have been hollow, andtheir interior a crater, which successive fallings inhave filled up in all, or in part, some having merelyhalf of the edge surrounding the crater, while theother half, on the side where the current of lava hadissued, has been carried away. The Puys de laVache, Louchadine, and La Nugere, are of thisdescription; and all of them (five or six, among whichis the Puy de Dome, excepted) are, they say, nothingbut heaps of lava, scoriae, lapilli, or volcanic gravel,piled in confusion one upon the other. From thefoot or the flanks of many of them, currents of lava,more or less considerable, and of a basaltic nature,have issued, and spread over the adjacent soil in idirection to the lowest points.

The Puy de Dome has for a long time been cele-brated in the annals of the learned world, for it wasupon this mountain that one of the greatest geniusesthat France has produced, fully ascertained a mustimportant physical truth, viz., that the pressure of theair is different in different places according to theirelevation above the surface of the ocean; and henceis derived the method of measuring the heights ofmountains by the barometer. The Puy de Domegives name to one of the departments of France; batit is to the mineralogist, above all others, that it offersthe greatest attraction. Being as extraordinary in itsposition and form as in its nature, it has been, andfor a long time will be, the subject of conjecture anddiscussion.

The Puy de Dome rests immediately upon thegranitic platform comprised between the valley ofthe Allier and that of the Sioule, and at a little dis-tance from its base, on the south side, the graniteappears exposed. Its form is nearly that of a trun-cated cone, the upper part of which presents someinequalities and eminences; and it is absolute?isolated, excepting towards the north, where it jot' 1 *