The Nuttall Encyclopaedia Part 359

PReCIEUSES RIDICULES, a play of Moliere's, published in 1653, directed against the affectations of certain literary coteries of the day.

PREDESTINATION, the eternal decree which in particular foreordains certain of the human family to life everlasting and others to death everlasting, or the theological dogma which teaches these. See ELECTION, THE DOCTRINE OF.

PREDICABLES, the five cla.s.ses of terms which can be predicated of a subject, viz.--GENUS, containing species; SPECIES, contained in a genus; DIFFERENTIA, distinguis.h.i.+ng one species from another; PROPERTY, quality possessed by every member of a species; and ACCIDENT, attribute belonging to certain individuals of a species and not others.

PREGEL, a navigable river in E. Prussia, 120 m. long and 730 ft.

broad, which falls into the Frische Haff below Konigsberg.

PREJEVALSKI, NICHOLAS, Russian explorer, born in Smolensk; joined the army, served against the Poles in 1861, and was appointed to Siberia in 1867; his first explorations were in the country S. of the Amur; in 1871-73 he travelled through Southern Mongolia from Pekin to the upper Yangtse-kiang region; thereafter his energies were devoted to Thibet; he made repeated unsuccessful attempts to reach Lha.s.sa, exploring by the way the desert of Gobi and the upper Hoang-ho, and died finally at Karakol, in West Turkestan; he discovered the wild camel and wild horse, and brought back valuable zoological and botanical collections, which are now in St. Petersburg (1839-1888)

PRE-RAPHAELITISM, a movement headed by Rossetti, Holman Hunt, and Millais, of revolt against the style of art in vogue, traceable all the way back to Raphael, and of a bold return to the study of nature itself, agreeably to the advice of Ruskin, that "they should go to Nature in all singleness of heart, and walk with her laboriously and trustingly, having no other thought than how best to penetrate her meaning: rejecting nothing, selecting nothing, and scorning nothing"; the principle of the movement, as having regard not merely to what the outer eye sees in an object, but to what the inner eye sees of objective truth and reality in it.

PRESBURG (52), the ancient capital of Hungary, close to the Austrian frontier, on the Danube, by rail 40 m. E. of Vienna; is a pleasant town, with a cathedral, a town-house, and a Franciscan church, all of the 13th century, the old Parliament House, and a ruined royal castle; manufactures beer, dynamite, and starch, and trades largely in live stock and corn.

PRESBYOPIA, diminution of sight due to age, occurring usually about forty-five, when near objects are less distinctly seen than distant, an affliction due to the flattening of the lens.

PRESBYTERIANISM, that form of Church government which, discarding prelacy, regards all ministers in conclave as on the same level in rank and function, and which is the prevailing form of Church government in Scotland; inherited from Geneva, as also prevailing extensively in the United States of America. The government is administered by a gradation of courts, called "Kirk-Sessions," of office-bearers in connection with a particular congregation; "Presbyteries," in connection with a small district; "Synods," in connection with a larger; and finally a General a.s.sembly or a Synod of the whole Church, which, besides managing the affairs of the collective body, forms a court of final appeal in disputed matters or cases.

PRESCOTT, WILLIAM HICKLING, American historian, born at Salem, Ma.s.sachusetts; son of a lawyer; graduated at Harvard in 1814, and applied himself to study law; by-and-by he travelled in Europe, married, and turned to literature as a profession; growing blind, the result of an accident at college, he fortunately inherited means, employed a.s.sistants, and with great courage in 1826 began to study Spanish history. "Ferdinand and Isabella" appearing in 1838, established his reputation in both worlds; "The Conquest of Mexico" was published in 1843, and "The Conquest of Peru" in 1847; he was elected corresponding member of the French Inst.i.tute; his style is vivid, direct, and never dull; though not philosophical, his histories are masterpieces of narrative and incident; he died of apoplexy at Boston before completing the "History of Philip II." (1796-1859).

PRESENT TIME, defined impressively by Carlyle as "the youngest born of Eternity, child and heir of all the past times, with their good and evil, and parent of all the future with new questions and significance,"

on the right or wrong understanding of which depend the issues of life or death to us all, the sphinx riddle given to all of us to rede as we would live and not die.

PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, is popularly elected for four years, or rather by delegates so elected to each State, and sometimes re-elected for other four; is commander-in-chief of the army and navy; sees to the administration of the laws, signs bills before they pa.s.s into law, makes treaties, grants reprieves and pardons, and receives an annual salary of 50,000 dollars.

PRESS-GANG, a party armed with powers to impress men into the naval service in times of emergency, a practice which often gave rise to serious disturbances, and is not in any circ.u.mstances likely to be had recourse to again. See IMPRESSMENT.

PRESSENSe, EDMOND DE, eminent French Protestant theologian, born at Luasanne, in Paris; studied under Vinet and Neander at Berlin; became Protestant minister in Paris; was elected a deputy in the National a.s.sembly in 1871, and a senator in 1883; wrote a "Life of Christ," and on numerous subjects of theological and ecclesiastical interest (1824-1891).

PRESTER, JOHN. See JOHN, PRESTER.

PRESTON (112), Lancas.h.i.+re manufacturing town on the Ribble, 31 m. N W. of Manchester; is a well laid out brick town, with three parks, a magnificent town-hall, a market, public baths, free library, museum, and picture-gallery; St. Walburge's Roman Catholic church has the highest post-Reformation steeple in England, 306 ft. The deepening of the river and construction of docks have added to the s.h.i.+pping trade. The chief industry is cotton, but there are also s.h.i.+pbuilding yards, engineer shops, and foundries. One of Cromwell's victories was won here; it was the birthplace of Richard Arkwright, and the scene of the beginning of the English total abstinence movement in 1832.

PRETENDERS, THE, the names given to the son and the grandson of James II. (Prince Charlie) as claiming a right to the throne of England, and called respectively the Elder and the Younger Pretender; the elder, who made one or two attempts to secure his claim, surrendered it to his son, who in 1745 was defeated at Culloden.

PRETORIA (whites, 10), capital of the Transvaal, stands on a mountain-enclosed plain 1000 m. NE. of Cape Town, and nearly 300 m. W. of Lorenzo Marquez, Delagoa Bay, with both of which and with Natal it is connected by rail. It is a thriving town, growing rapidly with flouris.h.i.+ng trade, the see of a bishop, and containing twenty English schools. Coal is found near, and wheat, tobacco, cotton, and indigo grown. It is the seat of the government of the Transvaal.

PReVOST D'EXILES, ANTOINE FRANcOIS, or ABBe PReVOST, a French romancer, born in Heslin, Artois; was educated by the Jesuits, and became a Benedictine monk, but proving refractory, fled to Holland and England; wrote several novels, but his fame rests on one ent.i.tled "Manon Lescaut,"

a work of genius, charming at once in matter and style; a "story," says Professor Saintsbury, "chiefly remarkable for the perfect simplicity and absolute life-likeness of the character-drawing"; derives its name from the subject of it, a young girl named Manon (1697-1763).

PReVOST-PARADOL, LUCIEN ANATOLE, French litterateur and publicist, born in Paris; distinguished himself as journalist and essayist; was an enemy of the Empire, but accepted a post under Ollivier as envoy to the United States in 1870, and committed suicide at Was.h.i.+ngton almost immediately after landing; it was on the eve of the Franco-German War, and he had been the subject of virulent attacks from the republican press of the day (1829-1870).

PRIAM, the old king of Troy during the Trojan War; was the son of Laomedon, who with the help of Apollo and Poseidon built the city; had a large family by his wife Hecuba, Hector, Paris, and Ca.s.sandra, the most noted of them; was too old to take part in the war; is said to have fallen by the hand of Pyrrhus on the capture of Troy by the Greeks.

PRIAPUS, an ancient deity, the personification of the generating or fructifying power, and wors.h.i.+pped as the protector of flocks of sheep and goats, of bees, of the vine and other garden products; a wors.h.i.+p known as the Priapus wors.h.i.+p prevailed extensively all over the East.

PRICE, RICHARD, English moralist, born in Glamorgans.h.i.+re; wrote on politics and economics as well as ethics, in which last he followed CUDWORTH (q. v.), and insisted on the unimpeachable quality of moral distinctions, and the unimpeachable authority of the moral sentiments (1723-1791).

PRICHARD, JAMES COWLES, founder of ethnology and a philologist, born in Hereford; bred to medicine, and practised in Bristol; wrote "Researches into the Physical History of Mankind," "The Eastern Origin of the Celtic Nations," "a.n.a.lysis of Egyptian Mythology," and the "Natural History of Man"; maintained the original unity of the race, and that the original pair were negroes; philology was in his hands the handmaid of ethnology, and he made himself master of the primitive languages (1786-1848).

PRIDEAUX, HUMPHREY, English prelate and scholar; remembered chiefly as the author of a learned work ent.i.tled "The Connection of the History of the Old and New Testaments"; wrote a "Life of Mahomet," popular in its day and for long after (1648-1724).

PRIDE'S PURGE, the name given to a violent exclusion, in 1649, at the hands of a body of troops commanded by Colonel Pride of about a hundred members of the House of Commons disposed to deal leniently with the king, after which some eighty, known as the Rump, were left to deal with his Majesty and bring him to justice.

PRIESSNITZ, founder of the water-cure, in connection with which he had a large establishment at Grafenberg, in Austrian Silesia; was a mere empiric, having been bred to farming (1799-1851).

PRIEST, properly a man in touch with the religious life of the people, and for the most part consecrated to mediate between them and the Deity; the prophet, on the other hand, being one more in touch with the Deity, being at times so close to Him as to require a priest to mediate between him and the laity.

PRIESTLEY, JOSEPH, a Socinian divine, born near Leeds; wrote in defence of Socinianism, and in defence of Christianity; gave himself to physical research, particularly pneumatic chemistry; is claimed as the discoverer of oxygen; sympathised with the French Revolution; was mobbed, and had to flee to America, where he died, believing in immortality despite his materialistic philosophy (1733-1804).

PRIM, JUAN, a Spanish general; distinguished as a statesman; rose to be Minister of War, but aspiring to dictators.h.i.+p, was shot by an a.s.sa.s.sin; he was the leader of the movement that overthrew Isabella in 1868 and installed Amadeo in her stead (1814-1870).

PRIMROSE, the name of a family in Goldsmith's "Vicar of Wakefield."

PRIMROSE LEAGUE, a politico-Conservative organisation founded in 1883 in memory of Lord Beaconsfield, and so called because the primrose was popularly reported to be his favourite flower. It includes a large members.h.i.+p, nearly a million, comprising women as well as men; is divided into district habitations; confers honours and badges in the style of Freemasonry, and has extensive political influence under a grand-master.