PENTECOST (i. e. fiftieth), a great feast of the Jews, so called as held on the fiftieth day after the second of the Passover.  It is called also the Feast of Harvest, or Weeks of First-Fruits, the Passover feast being connected with the commencement and this with the conclusion of harvest.  It is regarded by the Jews as commemorative of the giving of the law on Mount Sinai, and will never cease to be associated in the Christian memory with the great awakening from which dates the first birth of the Christian consciousness in the Christian Church, the moment when the disciples of Christ first realised in common that their Master was not dead but alive, and nearer to them than He had been when present in the flesh.

PENTELICUS, a range of mountains in Attica between Athens and Marathon, famous for its quarries of fine white marble.

PENTHESILEA, the daughter of Ares and the queen of the Amazons; on the death of Hector she came to the assistance of the Trojans, but was slain by Achilles, who mourned over her when dying on account of her beauty, her youth, and her courage.

PENTHEUS, a king of Thebes, opposed to the introduction of the Bacchus worship into his kingdom, was driven mad by the god, and torn in pieces by his mother and sisters, who, under the Bacchic frenzy, mistook him for a wild beast.

PENTHIEVRE, DUC DE, the father-in-law of Philippe Egalite, and the protector of Florian (1725-1793).

PENTLAND FIRTH is the strait between the Orkneys and the Scottish mainland connecting the North Sea with the Atlantic, 12 m. long by 6 broad, and swept by a rapid current very dangerous to navigation; 5000 vessels traverse it annually.

PENTONVILLE, a populous district of London, in the parishes of St James’s, Clerkenwell, and Islington, where is the Pentonville Model Prison, built in 1840-42 on the radiating principle to accommodate 520 prisoners.

PENUMBRA, the name given to the partial shadow on the rim of the total shadow of an eclipse, also to the margin of the light and shade of a picture.

PENZANCE (14), the largest town in Cornwall, most westerly borough in England, and terminus of the Great Western Railway, is beautifully situated on the rocky W. shore of Mount’s Bay; its public buildings chiefly of granite.  It has a fine harbour and docks, and is the centre of the mackerel and pilchard fishing industries.  Its mild climate makes it a favourite watering-place.

PEOPLE’S PALACE, Mile End Road, London, is an institution for the recreation and instruction of the East-end population, opened by the Queen in May 1887, and owing its origin to the impulse given by Sir W. Besant’s “All Sorts and Conditions of Men.”  In it are a library, art galleries, concert and reading rooms, baths, gymnasium, &c., and technical classes and handicraft schools are held; these are attended by 5000 pupils, and the institution is visited by a million and a quarter people annually.