belonging to Count Appony, is open to the public. | Hereford, had 2,383 inhabs. in 1861, of which the The manufactures, which are various, include silk and woollen goods, saltpetre, rosoglio, and tobacco; and the town has a large transit trade in corn, linen, and Hungarian wines. Immediately outside the town is the königsberg (king's mountain), a small circular mound to which the king of Hungary formerly went to perform an important ceremony, immediately after his coronation. A very beautiful and fertile country extends along the other bank of the Danube, opposite Presburg; and on that side are the favourite resorts of the inhabs.; the promenade in the Au; public gardens; and arena, or theatre in the open air for national performances.

Presburg is very ancient. Joseph II. transferred its previous title of capital of Hungary to Buda. The treaty which gave Venice to the French and the Tyrol to Bavaria was concluded here in 1805.

PRESCOT, a market town, par., and township of England, hund. W. Derby, co. Lancaster, 8 m. E. by N. Liverpool, and 23 m. W. by S. Manchester. Pop. of par. 63,540, and of township, 5,136 in 1861. Area of par., 34,940 acres; do. of township, 240 acres. It is situated on high ground, over a large and rich coal-field, and consists of one long principal street, well paved and lighted with gas, on the old turnpike road between Liverpool and Manchester. The principal public buildings are a town-hall, sessions-house, prison, and mechanics' institute. The par, church, an ancient structure, has a modern tower and steeple 156 ft. in height, forming a conspicuous object to the surrounding country. The living is a vicarage, of the annual value of 8937., in the gift of King's College, Cambridge, to which the manor belongs. In the out-townships are numerous district churches, the patronage of 6 of which is with the vicar. There are places of worship in the town for Wesleyan and Primitive Methodists, Independents, and Unitarians, besides which there are within the par. 3 Rom. Cath, chapels, and a great number of meeting-houses for different denominations of dissenters. A grammar school, with an endowment producing 1607. a year, has about 30 foundation boys (sons of inhabs.) with other pay scholars, those born and educated in the par. having a preference to 7 fellowships and several good exhibitions at Brasennose College, Oxford. Several almshouses, erected in 1708, furnish lodging for 19 old women; and there are numerous money charities. The other benevolent institutions are a ladies' charity, bible society, and savings' bank.

parl. bor. had 1,743. Presteign is a well-built town, and, notwithstanding its limited size, is the cap. of the co., the assizes and quarter sessions being held in it. The church, which is very ancient, has some curious monuments and fine old tapestry. The living, a rectory of the annual value of about 8001., is in the gift of the Earl of Oxford. The Wesleyan and Primitive Methodists, and Baptists, have places of worship. The co. hall is a handsome structure, and there is also a co. gaol and a free-school. The latter, founded and liberally endowed in the reign of Elizabeth by a clothier of the town, furnishes a plain English education to between 50 and 60 boys; and there are other minor schools and Sunday schools attached to the church and the Wesleyan connection. At the N. end of the town is a tine circular mound, laid out in public walks, presented to the inhabs. by the Earl of Oxford. Presteign unites with New Radnor and other small bors. in sending 1 mem. to the H. of C. Registered electors in the whole bor., 401 in 1865. It is governed by a bailiff and constables.

The Rev. Richard Lucas, author of the 'Enquiry after Happiness,' was a native of Presteign, having been born here in 1648. The work now referred to, which has passed through a great number of editions, and is still held in considerable estimation, was written after the author had become blind.

PRESTON, a parl. and mun. bor., market town, and par. of England, in its own div. of hund. Amounderness, co. Lancaster, on the N. bank of the Ribble, 19 m. S. Lancaster, 28 m. NNE. Liverpool, and 211 m. NWN. London by London and North Western railway. Pop. of parl. bor. 82,985 in 1861. Area of parl. bor. (which comprises Preston and Fishwick townships), 2,560 acres. The town, which consists of a broad principal street, running NE. from the river, crossed by several others in different directions, is well built, well paved, with handsome dwelling-houses and thriving factories, having a perfect drainage, and good roads leading from it. The streets are well lighted with gas, and there is an abundant supply of water. The market-place, at the junction of Fishergate and Friargate, contains about 3,000 sq. yds. The public buildings comprise an elegant court-house, erected in 1826, a town-hall, built in 1863, from designs of Mr. G. G. Scott; an exchange or market-house, assembly-rooms, theatre, borough prison, House of Recovery, and a large county penitentiary. The Prescot has long been celebrated for its manu-church, originally erected in the 16th century, facture of watch-tools and movements, in both of was rebuilt in 1770: the living is a vicarage, of which branches it greatly excels; files, also, of the annual value of 6657., in the gift of the trusfirst-rate quality, and engravers' tools, are made tees of Hulme's charity. There are also 11 dishere. The manufacture of coarse earthenware has trict churches, chiefly of modern erection, and for many years been carried on, the clay of the several others have been built in the out townneighbourhood being well adapted for such a pur- ships. The places of worship for dissenters compose. Coal-mines are wrought in every direction prise four for Rom. Caths. (a numerous and inround the town; it is estimated that upwards of creasing body), and others for Wesleyan Metho2,000 men are employed in the collieries within dists, Independents, Unitarians, Huntingdonians, the par.; and Liverpool receives from Prescot its Primitive Methodists, Baptists, Sandemanians, chief supply of coal. Many of the out-townships and the Society of Friends. National schools are are very populous, St. Helen's and Eccleston hav-attached to the several churches; and all or most ing attained to some importance as manufacturing of the dissenting places of worship have large towns. Prescot has petty sessions, and a baronial court for the recovery of small debts. Markets on Saturday, and fairs on alternate Tuesdays. PRESTEIGN, a parl, bor. and market town of S. Wales, hund. New Radnor, co. Radnor, near the S. bank of the Lug, in a fertile and well-cultivated valley, adjoining the confines of Herefordshire, 12 m. E. by N. Leominster. The par. of Presteign, which extends partly into Wigmore hund., co.

Sunday schools, furnishing religious instruction to between 7,000 and 8,000 children. A grammar school, founded prior to 1688, has an endowment of 501, a year: there is, also, a partially endowed blue-coat school, and several day and infant schools, supported by subscription. The other charities comprise nine almshouses, and several money bequests; a dispensary, house of recovery, built in 1829; provident society, work

house, and savings' bank. Among the literary | Preston has sent two mems, to the H. of C. since establishments, the first place is due to the Pres- the reign of Edward VI., the right of voting, ton Institution for Diffusing Useful Knowledge, down to the Reform Act, being in the inhabs, at which has a library of about 3.000 vols., and an large. The boundary Act enlarged the electoral excellent museum. The Palatine and Dr. Shep- limits, so as to include the township of Fishwick herd's libraries are open to all classes, and the with the old bor. Reg. electors, 2,659 in 1865. town has a public law library. An agricultural society was founded in the year 1811. Avenham Walk, on the summit of the hill which rises from the banks of the Ribble, is a favourite promenade, and is kept in order at the cost of the corporation.

Preston is supposed to have risen on the decay of the ancient Rerigonium, or Ribchester, a city now reduced to the condition of a mere village, about 11 m, higher up the river; and it derived its name of Priest's-town from the number of religious houses established here, and of which there are still some remains. It was partly destroyed by Robert Bruce, in 1322. In the parliamentary wars of Charles I., its inhabs, declared for the king, and it was besieged and taken by Sir Thomas Fairfax. In 1715, the Jacobite insurgents took possession of the town, and erected barricades for its defence; but, after a brave resistance, they were compelled to surrender to the royalist force under General Willes. In 1745, Preston was visited by the Pretender, on his retreat; but he was compelled to withdraw on the approach of the Duke of Cumberland.

Preston, from its central position, its vicinity to an important coal district, and its extensive means of communication with the interior by canals and railways, united to the skill and enterprise of its citizens, has of late years rapidly increased in wealth and pop., and is now one of the great seats of the cotton manufacture. The manufacture dates from the year 1791, and at present employs about 28,000 hands, including the trades connected with it. The manufacture of linen cloth, formerly the principal branch of industry in Preston, is still pretty extensively carried on, and employs about 2,000 hands. It has also numerous iron foundries, and establishments for making machinery and other articles. Leather is tanned in considerable quantities; and there is a small fishery on the Ribble, which abounds with salmon, smelts, and eels. The Ribble is navigable at spring tides, as far as Preston-marsh, for vessels of 250 tons. The navigation, which formerly was much impeded by sand-banks, has been improved by a company incorporated in 1837-38. The Lancaster canal, formed in 1796, passes the town; and it is connected with other parts of the co., and of England generally, by the North Union railway, which crosses the Ribble on a viaduct of five arches, 68 ft. above the river, the Lancaster and Preston railway, a portion of the great north-west line, the Preston and Long-the ridge railway, the Bolton and Preston railway, and the Preston and Wyre railway, which last connects it with the new sea-port of Fleetwood, at the mouth of Wyre harbour, now rapidly rising in importance. Large markets on Saturday, with others on Wednesday and Friday for fish, butter, and vegetables. Great fairs in January, March, August, and November, the first of which called the Great Saturday,' is celebrated for its show of horses.

Preston is a bor. by prescription, and received its first charter from Henry II. By a subsequent charter, granted by Henry III., the officers of the bor, were authorised to hold a guild merchant for the renewing of the freedom of the burgesses, and other purposes. This privilege is made the occasion of great festivity. For a long time after their first institution, the guilds were held at irregular periods; but they have now for more than a century been celebrated every twentieth year, commencing on the Monday next after the decollation of St. John, which generally happens in the last week of August. Processions of the corporation, and the different trades in characteristic dresses, as well as of ladies, and females employed in the factories, take place on two of the days; and the amusements, which are varied and interesting, continue for a fortnight. But for civic purposes the guild books are open for an entire month. Under the Municipal Reform Act, Preston is divided into six wards, its municipal officers being a mayor and twelve aldermen, with thirtysix councillors. Quarter and petty sessions are held under a recorder. Quarter sessions for the hunds, of Amounderness, Blackburn, and Leyland, are also held here, and there is a county court.

PRESTONPANS, a bor. of barony and sea-port town of Scotland, co. Haddington, on the shore of the Frith of Forth, 74 m. E. Edinburgh. Pop. 1,577 in 1861. The town is straggling and illbuilt, consisting principally of a single street parallel to the Frith of Forth. It derives its name from its having, for a lengthened period, had a number of salt-works or pans for the production of salt by the evaporation of the sea water, and for the refining of rock salt. The latter branch of the business is now the only one that is carried on. It has also works for the manufacture of coarse pottery. There are extensive oyster beds in the vicinity of the town, whence the Edinburgh markets derive a large proportion of their supply. Morrison's Haven, port of Prestonpans, about & m. W. from the town, is a small creek, with not more than 10 ft. water at springs.

Near this village, on the 21st of Sept. 1745, the royal army, under Sir John Cope, consisting of about 2,100 regular troops, was totally defeated and dispersed, with great loss, by the Highlanders, who were but little superior in point of numbers, under the Pretender. The king's troops being panic-struck threw away their arms, and fled at the first fire, and were cut down almost without resistance.

PREVESA, a town of Turkey in Europe, prov. Albania, at the entrance of the Ambracian Gulf, 58 m. SSW. Yanina. Pop. estim. at 5,000. The town is ill-built, badly paved and dirty; but it is in a good situation for commerce, and was formerly the entrepôt of the trade of Epirus. On the isthmus, connecting the peninsula upon which it stands with the mainland, are the remains of Nicopolis, consisting of the ancient walls, a theatre, some baths, and various other vestiges of antiquity.

PRINCE EDWARD'S ISLAND (formerly ST. JOHN'S), an island of N. America, belonging to Great Britain; in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, principally between the 46th and 47th degs, of N. lat., and the 62nd and 64th of W. long., from 20 to 25 m. E. New Brunswick, Length, of a curved line passing through its centre E. to W., about 140 m.; greatest breadth, 34 m. Area estimated at 1,380,700 acres, or about 2,150 sq. m. Pop. 80,857 in 1861, principally Highland Scotch, Irish, and Acadian French, with Englishmen, Dutchmen, Americans, and Swedes. A chain of hills of moderate height partly intersects it; but the surface in general is level, or at most only undulating.

20

PROVIDENCE

This island was taken from the French in 1758. It was annexed, with Cape Breton, to the government of Nova Scotia in 1763, but since 1768 has formed a separate colony.

PRINCE EDWARD'S ISLAND It is well watered, and its shores are deeply in- borough river, near the S. coast, has one of the dented with numerous bays. The climate is milder best harbours in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The than in any of the surrounding British colonies, town, on gently rising ground, is regularly built, and appears to be favourable to longevity. The and clean, with about 6,000 inhabs. The courtatmosphere is nearly free from the fogs prevalent house, episcopal and Scotch churches, several in Cape Breton and the adjacent countries. Be-chapels, the barracks, and the fort are its only low the thin vegetable mould the soil is generally conspicuous public buildings. clay or loam, resting on a base of sandstone: there are some swamps and pine barrens; but these bear only a small proportion to the whole surface. The island in general is well wooded, the principal trees being spruce, fir, beech, birch, and maple. Oak, ash, and larch are scarce, and the quality of the first is very inferior. All kinds of grain and vegetables raised in England come to perfection. Wheat is, at present, the principal object of attention; but it is an uncertain crop. Potatoes have been extensively cultivated, and have had the same mischievous consequences here as in Ireland and elsewhere. Flax of excellent quality is raised, and manufactured into linen for domestic use. Hemp will grow, but not to the same perfection as in the adjacent colonies. It is said, that had the natural advantages of this island been turned to proper account, it might at this time have been the granary of the British colonies, instead of barely supporting a poor and limited population, Of nearly 1,400,000 acres contained in the island, only 10,000 are said to be unfit for the plough; but only 216,000 are now under cultivation. The origin of this state of things is ascribed, in Lord Durham's report, to the injudicious grants made to absentee proprietors, under conditions that have been totally disregarded. The absent proprietors neither improve the land, nor will let others improve it. They retain it, and keep it in a state of wilderness. (Report, pp. 70-86.) What land is under the plough is cultivated in a very slovenly manner; though the establishment of an agricultural society of late years has done something to improve husbandry.

Pastures are good, and suitable for cattle and sheep: owing to the want of proper attention, hogs are said not to thrive so well as the former. Live stock used to suffer greatly from the ravages of bears, loup-cerviers, and other wild animals; but these are much less numerous now than formerly. The island has no mines. Its fisheries might be of considerable importance; but, owing to the want of capital and of a taste for the business, they are all but wholly neglected, and left to the undisturbed possession of the Americans. A good many ships are built in the colony: 66 vessels, of 8,837 tons, were built in 1860; 67 vessels, of 9,006 tons, in 1861; and 73 vessels, of 12,375 tons, in 1862. The total value of the imports, in 1862, was 211,2407., and of the exports, 150,550. The principal trade is with the other provs, of B. N. America. Total colonial revenue, 25,6004, in 1862.

PRINCE OF WALES'S ISLAND (native Pulo Pinang, the Areca island'), an island and British settlement in the Eastern Seas, about 2 m. from the W. coast of the Malay Peninsula; lat. 5° 15' N., long. 100° 25′ E. Length, N. to S., nearly 16 m.; breadth varying from 8 to 12 m. Area about 160 sq. m. Pop. 42,160 in 1861, principally Malays, Chinese, and Chuliahs, the Europeans being under 800. The N. part of the island is mountainous, and a range of hills runs through its centre, declining in height as it approaches the SW. extremity. But two-thirds of the whole surface are level, or of gentle inclination, and, like the hills, covered with woods. The thermometer, in the plains, ranges between 76° and 90° Fahr., and on the higher hills at from 64° to 76°. Except in a few places, Pinang is considered very healthy. Refreshing showers fall at short intervals throughout the year. The climate of the high lands is said to resemble that of Funchal in Madeira. The geological formations are primitive: nearly all the hills are of granite, and the subsoil, where not alluvial, is principally the detritus of that rock. Tin ore is found at the base of the mountains. The island produces a good deal of timber, well adapted for ship-building and masts, and fine fruits; and the soil is favourable to the growth of spices. As a commercial mart, however, this settlement is much inferior to Singapore.

The attention of the agriculturists is almost exclusively directed to the improvement and extension of the spice plantations, and dry waste land for that purpose may be obtained from the government on leases of 40 years, at a small quitrent. A good many cocoa-nuts are grown; and gambir, indigo, cotton, areca, and tobacco in small quantities. Coffee, sugar-cane, betel nut and leaf, rice, cotton, and ginger are also raised. The trade of Pinang is chiefly that of transit, between Great Britain and British India on the one hand, and the Malay Peninsula and Tenasserim, provs. Siam, Anam, Borneo, Java, Sumatra, and China, on the other. A considerable trade in cotton cloths is kept up by the Chuliahs with the Coromandel coast.

George Town, the cap., at the N.E. extremity of Pinang, has a pop. of about 13,000. It is built on level ground, and consists of a long and broad street, intersected by others of inferior dimensions. It has a fort, a handsome church, an Armenian chapel, two Rom. Catholic chapels, a court-house, gaol, public school, poor-house, the governor's offices, and the civil and military hospitals. A few shops are kept by Europeans, but the major portion by Chinese. There are cantonments for the native troops near the town. Pinang was purchased by the East India Company in 1786.

The constitution is nearly similar to that of Nova Scotia, and in all civil matters independent of any jurisdiction in America. The government and legislature is vested in a lieut.-governor, a council of nine members, and a house of assembly of thirty representatives, elected by the people. The governor is chancellor of the court of chancery; the chief justice and attorney general are appointed by the sovereign; and the high sheriff is appointed annually by the local government. In the supreme court of judicature all criminal and civil matters of consequence are tried by jury. Cases of petty debt and breaches of the peace are decided by special magistrates and justices of the PROVIDENCE, a city and port of entry of the peace. There are superior schools in Charlotte U. States, Rhode Island, of which it is the cap., Town, and numerous district schools. Charlotte being, also, the second city of New England in Town, the cap, and seat of government, on Hills-point of pop., wealth, and commerce. It stands at

PROVENCE, one of the former provs, of France, in the SE. part of the kingdom, now subdivided into the déps. Basses-Alpes, Bouches-du-Rhone, Var, and a portion of Vaucluse.

the head of the tide-water in Narragansett Bay, about 30 m. from the Atlantic, 40 m. SSW. Boston, with which it is connected by railway. Pop. 50,560 in 1860. The town stands on elevated ground on both sides Providence River, an arm of the bay, here crossed by two bridges, one 90 ft. in width. It is a well-built, handsome, thriving town. Its chief public buildings are the state house, Brown university, and the arcade. The last was finished in 1828; it is 222 ft. in depth has 2 granite fronts 72 ft. in width, ornamented with Doric colonnades, and cost, in all, about 130,000 dolls. Providence has numerous churches, schools, and charitable institutions. Brown University, founded at Warren in 1764, and removed thither in 1770, comprises 2 colleges, and is governed by a board of trustees and fellows, all of whom must be Baptists. It has a library of 28,000 vols., and a very complete philosophical apparatus, and is attended by above 150 students. The Friends have a boarding-school here, which has about 200 pupils. There are several literary societies, which assess libraries, and many extensive private seminaries.

German states; on the S. France; and on the W. Belgium and the Netherlands. From the extreme eastern frontier of Prussia to Aix-la-Chapelle, in an ENE. and WSW. direction, the distance is about 775 m.; and from the promontory on the Baltic, above Stralsund, to the extreme southern frontier of Silesia, in a NE. and SW. direction, the distance is 404 m. Owing, however, to the irregularity of the frontier, and the intervention of other countries, these measurements give no information as to the extent of the monarchy.

Growth of Prussia.-The rise of the Prussian power has been rapid and extraordinary. The kings of Prussia are descended from petty German princes, who, in the 14th century, were burgraves of Nuremberg. In 1415, Sigismund, emperor of Germany, sold the marquisate (afterwards electorate) of Brandenburg to Frederick, one of these burgraves, for 400,000 ducats, who, by this purchase, laid the foundation of the future grandeur of his family. In 1515, Albert, margrave of Brandenburg, was elected grand master of the Teutonic knights, who then possessed Ducal Prussia; and by a treaty concluded in 1525, this territory was secularised and erected into a duchy in favour of Albert and his successors. In 1657, Prussia was acknowledged by Poland to be a free and inde

Providence is distinguished as a manufacturing town: its cotton factories employ from 14,000 to 18,000 spindles; and it has extensive bleachinggrounds and dye-houses; iron foundries, and ma-pendent state; and, after other aggrandisements, it chine-factories for the production of cotton machinery; with manufactures of combs, jewellery, glass wares, leather, boots and shoes, soap, candles, and furniture. Pawtucket, about 4 m. NE., is also the seat of extensive cotton manufactures, the products of which find an outlet at Providence, Vessels of the largest burden come close to the wharfs, and the navigation of the bay is not often impeded by ice.

Providence communicates with Boston, and with Stonington in Connecticut, by railways; with Worcester (Massachusetts) by the Blackstone canal; and steamboats of a large class keep up a daily communication with New York. It was originally settled in 1636, by Mr. Roger Williams,, to whom is ascribed the honour of having established the first political community in which perfect religious toleration was admitted. It was incorporated as a city in 1831.

see.

PROVIDENCE, one of the Bahama Islands, which

was advanced to the dignity of a kingdom in 1700. Pomerania was not long after added to Prussia. But notwithstanding these acquisitions, when Frederick the Great ascended the throne, in 1740, his disjointed dominions did not contain 2,500,000 inhabs., who had made but little progress in the arts, or in the accumulation of wealth. But this extraordinary man, with no extrinsic assistance, and by mere dint of superior talent, wrested, in the early part of his reign, the valuable and extensive province of Silesia from the house of Austria. He afterwards defended himself, during the seven years' war, against the combined efforts of Austria, Russia, and France, and forced these powers to conclude a treaty, by which Silesia was solemnly guaranteed to Prussia. In the latter part of his reign, in conjunction with Russia and Austria, Frederick planned, and partly carried into effect, the partition of Poland, acquiring as his share the western parts of Prussia, and secured, in addition to the increase of territory, an unrestricted communication between the great divisions of his kingdom.

PRUSSIA, one of the great European kingdoms, between the 49th and 56th deg. Ñ. lat., and the 6th and 23rd deg. E. long. The principal part of By these different acquisitions, Prussia, at the the Prussian dominions lies continuously along death of Frederick, in 1.86, had been increased in the S. shore of the Baltic, between Russia and size nearly a half; while, owing to the superior Mecklenburg, comprising the N. part of what was fertility of the conjoined provinces, and the imformerly Poland, and most part of the N. of Ger-provement effected in every part of his dominions, many. The inland frontier of this part of the after the peace of 1763, the pop, had increased to, monarchy on the E. and S. is sufficiently con- about 6,000,000. Prussia acquired, by the subse-' nected; but on the W. side it is very ragged, some quent partition of Poland in 1792, and its final small independent states being almost entirely dismemberment in 1795, a great extension of tersurrounded by the Prussian dominions. But, ex-ritory, including the important city of Dantzic, clusive of this principal portion, there is an extensive Prussian territory on both sides the Rhine, divided into the provinces of Westphalia and Rhine. This portion is separated from the rest of the monarchy, or from what may be called the Eastern States, by Hesse-Cassel and part of Hanover and Brunswick. Some detached territories in Saxony, and the principalities of Hohenzollern in the kingdom of Würtemberg, also belong to Prussia.

Eastern Prussia has on the N. the Baltic; on the E. Russia, Russian Poland, and Cracow; and on the S. and W. the Austrian states of Galicia, Moravia, and Bohemia, with Saxony and other German states. W. Prussia, or the provinces on the Rhine, have on the N. and E. Hanover and other

and upwards of 2,000,000 inhabs. In addition to this she acquired the bishopric of Paderborn and the principalities of Bayreuth and Anspach, with several lesser districts in Germany; so that, in 1805, the kingdom contained nearly 5,000 geog. sq. miles of territory, and a pop. of 9,640,000. Her disastrous contest with France in 1806 lowered Prussia for a while; but the spirit of the people was not subdued; and after Napoleon's campaign in Russia, the pop. rose en masse, and the zeal and bravery of the Prussians were mainly instrumental in effecting the final overthrow of Napoleon. At the general peace of 1815, Prussia became more powerful than ever. She recovered all her former possessions, except a portion of her Polish dominions assigned to the kingdom of Poland; but

this was more than compensated by valuable ac- The subjoined table gives the area of the kingquisitions in Saxony, Pomerania, and the Rhenish dom, in geographical and English sq. m.:-— provinces.