PEDRO II. (PEDRO D'ALCANTARA): Emperor of Brazil; born Dec. 2,
1825; died at Paris Dec. 5, 1891. He succeeded his father, Pedro
I., and assumed personal control of the government in July,
1840. The last years of his life were spent in exile after his
deposition (1889). Pedro was a humane and enlightened prince as
well as an excellent scholar, who devoted a large portion of his
leisure time to the study of Hebrew. For the centenary of the
union of the county of Venaissin with the French republic he
published, shortly before his death, three liturgical poems
under the title "Poésies Hébraïco-Provençales du Rituel
Israélite Comtadin, Traduites et Transcrites" (Avignon, 1891),
together with a Provençal translation of the "Ḥad Gadya" under
the title "Un Cabri." The three poems are a mixture of Hebrew
and Provençal verses, which he translated into French, adding
philological notes on the Provençal. - R. E. J. xxiii. 154; -
Die Neuzeit, xxxi. 396 et seq., 481.