PRETYMAN 



6326 



PRIBRAM 



death, and prosecuted several 

 vigorous campaigns against the 

 natives. In 1856 he was elected 

 president of the 

 newly founded 

 South African 

 Republic, 

 which remained 

 little more than 

 anameforeight 

 years. His po- 

 licy of concilia- 

 tion with the 

 British diggers, 

 who had flocked 

 to the Trans- 

 vaal on the discovery of diamonds 

 in 1870, created such unpopularity 

 with the Boers that he resigned in 

 1871. In 1880 he was associated 

 with Kruger and Joubert in the 

 Boer revolt against British annexa- 

 tion, retiring on the election of 

 Kruger to the presidency, May, 

 1883. Pretorius died May 19, 1901. 

 Pretyman, ERNEST GEORGE 

 (b. 1860). British soldier and poli- 

 tician. Born Nov. 13, 1860. he was 

 educated at 

 Eton, and was 

 gazetted to the 

 R.A. in 1880. 

 Retiring from 

 the army in 

 1889, he en- 

 tered politics, 

 was Conserva- 

 tive M.P. for 

 Woodbridge, 

 1895-1906, and 

 was elected for 



E. G. Pretyman, 

 British politician 



the Chelmsford 



division of Essex in 1908. Civil 

 lord of the Admiralty, 1900-3, and 

 secretary 1903-6, he was again 

 civil lord 1916-19. 



Preventive Service. In the 

 United Kingdom the name of a 

 former branch of the coast defence 

 service. The preventive service 

 came into existence after the end 

 of the Napoleonic wars, to sup- 

 press smuggling on the S. coast of 

 England, particularly in Kent and 

 Sussex. Two naval vessels, the 

 Ilamillies and Hyperion, were 

 commissioned, chiefly with half- 

 pay naval lieutenants, but the 

 officers were actually stationed at 

 various points along the coast with 

 the necessary men and boats. By 

 1830 the service had expanded to 

 include many vessels up to 200 

 tons, revenue cutters, etc., and in 

 1845 men who joined the pre- 

 ventive service were required to 

 sign on to serve in the navy in 

 case of emergency. After 1857 the 

 service became the coast-guard ser- 

 vice, and eventually passed under 

 the Admiralty. See Coastguard. 



Prevesa. Town of Greece. 

 Situated at the entrance of the 

 gulf of Arta, it has a considerable 

 shipping trade, and exports olives 



and olive oil. The ruins of Niko- 

 polis, founded by Augustus to 

 commemorate the battle of Actium, 

 lie 4 m. N. of the town. Pop. 6,000, 

 .mostly Greeks. 



Prevost, EUGENE MARCEL (b. 

 1862). French novelist. He waa 

 born in Paris, May 1, 1862, and 

 worked as en- 

 gineer in a Lille 

 factory u n t il 

 1891, by which 

 time he had al- 

 ready attained 

 considerable 

 popularity 

 with his stories. 

 His novels, 

 J^ ^ which 



followed 

 one an- 

 other in rapid succession, include 

 Le Scorpion, 1887 ; Chonchette, 

 1888; Demoiselle Jaufre, 1889; 

 La Cousine Laura, 1890; Lettres 

 de Femmes, 1892, followed by 

 Nouvelles Lettres, 1894, and 

 Dernieres Lettres, 1897 ; Les Demi- 

 Vierges, 1894 ; L'Heureux Men- 

 age, 1901 ; Monsieur et Madame 

 Moloch, 1906 ; and Lettres a 

 Fran9oise Marine, 1908. His play, 

 La Plus Faible, produced at the 

 Comedie Francaise in 1904, en- 

 joyed great success. In 1909 he was 

 elected to the French Academy. 

 See French Novelists of To-day, W. 

 Stephens, 1915. Pron. Pray-vo. 



Prevost d 'Exiles, ANTOINE 

 FRANCOIS (1697-1763). French 

 abbo and author. He was born at 

 Hesdi n, A r- 

 tois, April 1, 

 1697, and 

 e d u c a ted by 

 the Jesuits, 

 and saw some 

 military ser- 

 vice before 

 j oining the 

 B e n e d i c tine 

 order in 1721. 

 In 1728, fol- 

 io wing a period 

 of exile in Holland and England, he 

 published his first novel M6moires 

 d'un Homme de Qualit6, of which 

 the enchanting Manon Lescaut, 

 1733, was a sequel. He spent most 

 of the rest of his life near Chantilly, 

 writing industriously, but none of 

 his numerous other works is re- 

 membered. He died Nov. 23, 1763. 

 His works were published in 39 

 volumes in 1806, and an English 

 translation of Manon Lescaut, with 

 Life of Prevost, in 1841. See 

 L'Abbc Prevost, H. Harrisse, 1896. 

 Pron. Pray-vo deg-zeel. 



Prey (Lat., praeda, booty). Lit- 

 erally, something taken by force, 

 plunder or booty. Beasts of prey 

 are those that devour other ani- 

 mals, and birds of prey also live 



on other living things. Such are 

 lions and tigers, eagles, vultures, 

 and hawks. See Bird ; Eagle ; 

 Hawk ; Vulture, etc. 



Priam. In Greek mythology, 

 king of Troy, son of Laomedon and 

 father of Hector, Paris, Polyxena, 



Priam, the aged king of Troy, being 



slain by Neoptolemus at the fall of 



Troy. From a vase painting after 



Polygnotus 



Cassandra, and many other chil- 

 dren. He was popularly credited 

 with fifty sons and daughters. He 

 was the only one of the sons of 

 Laomedon that was spared when 

 Hercules came to take vengeance 

 for being cheated out of his reward 

 for saving Hesione (q.v. ) from the 

 sea-monster. When Hector had 

 been killed by Achilles, Priam, in a 

 pathetic and powerful scene in the 

 Iliad, visits the conqueror in the 

 night-time to beg for the body of 

 his son. At the taking of Troy, 

 Priam was killed by Neoptolemus, 

 or Pyrrhusj the son of Achilles. 

 See Homer; Troy. 



Priapus. In Greek mythology, 

 god of the reproductive powers of 

 nature, and patron of gardens. He 

 was the son of Dionysus and Aph- 

 rodite, and was especially wor- 

 shipped at Lampsacus on the 

 Hellespont. His worship often de- 



enerated into sheer licentiousness, 

 tatues of Priapus were to be 

 found in gardens. 



Pribilof Islands. Group of 

 small islands in Bering Sea. Situ- 

 ated about 200 m. S.W. of the 

 Alaskan mainland, they are an im- 

 portant centre of the fur-seal fish- 

 eries, and were constituted a reser- 

 vation in 1868. The islands, of vol- 

 canic formation, were first visited 

 in 1786 by Gerasim Pribilof, after 

 whom they were named. They were 

 acquired by the U.S.A. from Russia 

 in 1867. See Bering Sea Question. 

 Pribram. Town of the republic 

 of Czecho-Slovakia, in Bohemia. It 

 is 18 m. S. of Beraun, and is famous 

 for its silver-lead mines. On the 

 Sacred Mount (1,903 ft.) are the 

 Redemptorist Convent and a 

 church, much visited by pilgrims. 

 Pop. 13,000. 



