of territory by Prussia and Russia in 1793.  The Poles now made a desperate stand under Kosciusko, but their three powerful neighbours were too strong, and the final partition of Poland between them took place in 1795.  The Congress of Vienna rearranged the division in 1815, and reconstituted the Russian portion as a kingdom, with the Czar as king; but discontent broke into rebellion, and led to the final repression of independence in 1832.

POLDERS, low marshy lands in Holland and Belgium, drained and reclaimed from sea or river; they form an important part of the former, and are conspicuous from the verdure they display; they include nearly 150 acres of good land, the largest being that of Haarlem Meer, which is 70 square miles in extent, and was drained by steam.

POLE, the name given to the extremities of the imaginary axis of the earth, round which it is conceived to revolve.

POLE, REGINALD, cardinal, archbishop of Canterbury, born at Stourton Castle, Staffordshire, of royal blood; studied at Oxford; took holy orders, and was appointed to various benefices by Henry VIII., who held him in high favour; but he opposed the project of divorcing Catherine, and was driven from the royal presence and deprived of his power; but elected to the cardinalate by the Pope, he tried to return after Henry’s death, but was not received back till Mary’s accession, when he came as Papal legate, and was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury after the death of Cranmer, whom he refused to supersede as long as he lived; he was not obsequious enough to the Pope, and his legation was cancelled; the Queen’s illness accelerated his own end, and he died the day after her; he has been charged with abetting the Marian persecution, but it is highly questionable how far he was answerable for it (1506-1558).

POLE-STAR or POLARIS, a star in the northern hemisphere, in Ursa Minor, the nearest conspicuous one to the N. pole of the heavens, from which it is at present 11/2 deg. distant; a straight line joining the two “pointers” in Ursa Major passes nearly through it.

POLIGNAC, DUC DE and DUCHESS DE, husband and wife; were chargeable with the extravagances of the court of Louis XVI., and were the first to emigrate at the outbreak of the Revolution, the former dying in 1817 and the latter in 1793.

POLIGNAC, PRINCE DE, French statesman, born at Versailles, of an old noble family, prime minister of Charles X., to whose fall he contributed by his arbitrary measures; in attempting flight at the Revolution was captured and sentenced to death, which was converted into banishment; he was allowed to return at length (1780-1847).

POLITIAN, ANGELO, eminent Italian scholar, born in Tuscany; was patronised by Lorenzo de’ Medici, was made professor of Greek and Latin at the university of Florence, his fame in which capacity drew to his class students from all parts of Europe; he did much to forward the Renaissance movement, and was distinguished as a poet no less than as a scholar; he became a priest towards the close of his life (1454-1494).