HUNTING, CALICO. 



PRIVY COUNCIL. 



beet of the desired nm is strained to the dimensions of 

 ["prim to be copied, before the impression is pUoed upon it, and 

 m allowed to contract to iu original sue, when the impression is 

 transform! to the stone. U ought perhaps to be mentioned that first 

 of all the india-rubber aheet ha* printed upon it thin line*, which 

 divide iu whole surface into squares of a quarter of an inch each, thus 

 aflbrding. by mean* of the T aquare and compasses, an easy means of 

 detecting the slightest inequality of extension in any part during the 

 process of enlarging, whilst the frame is *o constructed as to permit 

 any deviation to be at once remedied. 



For obtaining block* for t*rfaet-printiiig, an additional process is 

 required. After toe enlarged (or reduced) impression is transferred to 

 the lithographic stone or one plate, the surface of the stone or zinc is 

 exposed to the action of an acid, which caU away all the parts not pro- 

 tected by the ink. The print is thus left in raised lines corresponding 

 to those of an engraved wood-block. A matrix is taken in some suitable 

 material, and upon this a cast, corresponding to the original wood- 

 block, or a stereotype from it, is formed by the ordinary method of 

 electrotype deposit [ELKCTRO-MFTALLURCT.] 



The processes we hare described suffice for all the usual purposes of 

 lithographic printing, and printing by the ordinary type-press. To 

 both there are limitations within which only success can be at present 

 assured. Mezzotint, or finely stippled plates, for instance, cannot be 

 successfully reproduced ; but ordinary steel plates, wood-cuts, music, 

 maps, and plans, can be enlarged or reduced with minute accuracy, 

 and printed as lithographs with perfect certainty. The surface-block 

 is somewhat less certain ; but very beautiful results have been 

 obtained, and the manipulative difficulties appear in a fair way of 

 being overcome. 



The further applications of the process seem almost illimitable. For 

 surveying and engineering purposes, for example, a sheet of the 

 Ordnance map could be taken, and in a few hours a copy be produced 

 large enough to admit of the insertion of any amount of local detail. 

 For the potter's use, from a single small drawing or print of a pattern, 

 copies to any extent may be produced, to suit the various sizes of all 

 the articles of a tea- or dinner-service ; and if the original pattern be 

 circular, it may be altered to an oval for dishes, Ac. Its application to 

 various other branches of ornamental art and manufacture, where 

 variations of the size or form of designs ore required, is obvious : 

 whilst in fine art, the small pen or pencil sketch of an artist may at 

 once, by mere mechanical means, be reproduced as a good-sized litho- 

 graph ; the original study of a painter, if he choose so to work, be 

 enlarged ready to his hand on his canvas, preparatory to painting; 

 the diagram of the man of science speedily be reproduced of a size 

 suitable for the lecture-room. Another application which the process 

 is said to be already quite capable of carrying into practice is, that of 

 reproducing impressions (of course of any size required) of books or 

 engravings, even though a couple of centuries may have elapsed since 

 they were printed. And any of these applications of the method is 

 obtainable at a comparatively small cost. 



PRINTING, CALICO. rOjuutoo-PmnmHo.] 



PRIOR, PRIORY, ecclesiastical terms denoting certain monastic 

 foundations and the heads of such foundations. They differ in nothing 

 essentially from the terms abbot and abbey. There were in England 

 religious houses the chiefs of which were called priors, quite as rich 

 and as powerful as many that had a chief who was called the abbot. 

 Thus in Yorkshire there were two houses at no great distance from 

 each other, called Roche and Nortel, the head of the former being an 

 abbot, and of the latter a prior, though Nostel was the more ancient 

 and more considerable foundation. The prior of St. John of Jeru- 

 salem was equal to any abbot ; yet in the main we find the greater 

 monastic foundations presided over by monks who were called abbots. 

 In some cises there was both an abbot and a prior, when the abbot was 

 regarded as the superior officer ; and in the priories there was often a 

 second officer called the sub-prior. 



IMClolUTY. [ NOTICE.] 



PRISM (vptona), in Mathematics, is a solid formed by a straight 

 line which mores parallel to a given straight line, and one end of which 

 traces out the contour of a given rectilinear polygon. The other 

 extremity of the moving straight line traces out an equal and similar 

 polygon, placed parallel to the former one: and the prism U thus 

 bounded by two equal and parallel polygons, joined by as many 

 parallelograms as each polygon has sides. When these parallelograms 

 are at right angles to the planes of the polygons, the solid U called a 

 right prism ; in all other cases, an oblique prism. The prism U among 

 plane solids what the cylinder is among curvilinear ones : it is also called 

 triangular, quadrangular, pentagonal, Ac., according as the .polygons 

 have three, four, five, Ac., aides. Thus the prism used in optics is a 

 triangular prism, while the parallelepiped is a quadrangular prism. 



The number of cubic unit* in the contents of a prism is found by 

 multiplying the number of square units in either of the polygons by 

 the nmiilx-r of linear unit* in the peqiendicular distance between the 

 planes of the two polygons ; and all prisms, however much they may 

 differ in obliquity, which have equal bases, and equal heights or 

 perpendicular distances between opposite polygons, are equal in mag- 

 nitude. 



No other rule can be given for computing the surface of a prism 

 except the simple direction to add the areas of the two polygons to 



those of the joining parallelograms. But in the case of a right prism, 

 the finding of the parallelograms may be shortened by multiplying the 

 number of linear units in the contour of one polygon by the altitude 

 of the prism. 



1'KISM. [OPTICS ; RETRACTION.] 



1'KIVATE ACT. [PARLIAMENT.) 



PIMVATKKR, a private ship of war, fitted out at the cost of an 

 individual for the purpose of carrying on hostilities on his own account, 

 luit under the sanction of a belligerent state, against the public enemy. 

 It is the practice of most nations to commission vessels of this kind as 

 auxiliaries to the public force. The owners of them are licensed to 

 attack and plunder the enemy, and their enterprise U encouraged by 

 allowing them a large portion of any property they may capture. By 

 the law of nations they are not considered pirates. It is usual for the 

 eountry on whose behalf they carry on war to take security for their 

 duly respecting the rights of neutrals and allies, and observing gene- 

 rally the law of nations. [PRIZE.] (45 Geo. III. c. 72 ; 1 Kent's 

 ' Commentaries,' 90.) 



PRIVILEGE (Privilrgium, from the sense of which however it hag 

 been perverted), a particular beneficial exemption from the general 

 rules of law. Privilege is of two kinds ; real, attaching to place, and 

 prrt'mal, attaching to persons, as ambassadors, peers, members of par- 

 liament, attorneys, Ac., whose peculiar privileges are stated under 

 these heads respectively. 



Formerly many places conferred the privilege of freedom from arrest, 

 even in criminal matters, upon those entering them [SANCTUARY] ; and 

 even in later times many places existed which privileged those within 

 them from arrest in civil suite. Of these the most notorious were 

 White Fryars, the Savoy, the Mint, and other places in their neigh- 

 bourhood. But by 8 & 9 Wm. III. c. 27, the privileges of all these 

 places were abolished. However at the present time, no arrest can be 

 made in the king's presence, nor within the verge of the palace of 

 Westminster, nor in any palace where he resides, nor in any place 

 where the lung's justices are sitting. (3 ' lust,' 141.) Personal privi- 

 lege, conferring freedom from arrest, is enjoyed by all suitors, counsel, 

 witnesses, or other persons attending any courts of record upon busi- 

 ness, or an arbitrator under a rule of Nisi prius. This exemption is to 

 be interpreted liberally, and will not therefore be forfeited by taking 

 refreshment after a suit, or by going other than the direct road to or 

 from a court. (Com., ' Dig.,' tit. Privileges.) 



PRIVILE'GIUM. [LAW.] 



PRIVY COUNCIL (Consilium regis privatum, concilium secretum 

 et continuum concilium regis). The privy council, or council table, 

 consists of the assembly of the queen's privy councillors for matters of 

 state. Their number was anciently about twelve, but is now indefi- 

 nitely increased. The present usage is, that no members attend the 

 deliberations of the council who are not especially summoned for that 

 purpose. They must be natural-born subjects of England, and are 

 nominated by the crown without any patent or grant. After nomina- 

 tion and taking the bath of office, they immediately become privy 

 councillors. Formerly they remained in office only during the life of 

 the sovereign, who chose them subject to removal at his discretion ; 

 but by 6 Anne, c. 7, the privy council continues in existence six months 

 after the demise of the crown, unless sooner determined by the suc- 

 cessor, and they are to cause the successor to be proclaimed. The 

 privy council of Scotland is now merged in that of England, by 6 Anno, 

 c. 6. The duties of a privy councillor, as stated in the oath of office, 

 are, to the best of his discretion truly and impartially to advise the 

 king ; to keep secret his counsel, to avoid corruption, to strengthen 

 the king's council in all that by them is thought good for the king and 

 his land, to withstand those who attempt the contrary, and to do all 

 that a good councillor ought to do unto his sovereign lord. By the 

 Act of Settlement (12 A 13 Wm. III. c. 2) all matters relating to the 

 government properly cognizable in the privy council are to be trans- 

 acted there ; and all the resolutions taken thereon are to be signed by 

 such of the privy council as advise and consent to them. 



The court of privy council is of great antiquity ; and during earlier 

 periods of our history appears not always to have confined itself to the 

 entertainment of mere matters of state. It had always and still has 

 power to inquire into all offences against the government ; but it often 

 assumed the cognizance of questions merely affecting the property and 

 liberties of individuals. This is evident from the complaints and 

 remonstrances that so frequently occur in our history, and ultimately 

 from the declaratory law of the 16 Chas. I. referring to such practices. 

 Probably the very statement of Sir Edward Coke, that the subjects of 

 their deliberation are the " publique good, and the honour, defence, 

 safety, and profit of the realm .... private causes, lest they should 

 hinder the publique, they leave to the justices of the king's courts of 

 justice, and meddle not with them," proceeded from his knowledge 

 that such limits had not always been observed, and his jealousy of 

 their invasion. Several other passages in his works seem to show that 

 this was so. The attempts to enlarge the jurisdiction of the council 

 appear always to have been resisted as illegal ; and they were finally 

 checked by the 16 Chas. I. c. 10. That statute recites that of late 

 yean " the council-table hath assumed unto itself a power to inter- 

 meddle in civil causes, and matters only of private interest between 

 party and party, and have adventured to determine of the estates and 

 liberties of the subject, contrary to the laws of the land, and the rights 



