Brewer's: Pirie's Chair

“The lowest seat o' hell.” “If you do not mend your ways, you will be sent to Pirie's chair, the lowest seat of hell.”

In Pirie's chair you'll sit, I say, The lowest seat o' hell; If ye do not amend your ways, It's there that ye must dwell.

Child's English and Scottish Ballads: The Courteous Knight.

Pirrie or pyrrie means a sudden storm at sea (Scotch pirr). “They were driven back by storme of winde and pyrries of the sea.” (North: Plutarch, p. 355.)

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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