PRETENDER PREVOT. 



683 



PRETENDER. See Edward, Charles; and 

 Stuart, James Edward Francis 



PRETOR; the principal Roman magistrate, next 

 after the consul. The administration of justice 

 devolved upon him. This office was established 389 

 years after the building of the city, because the con- 

 suls were too much occupied by the almost uninter- 

 rupted series of wars, to attend to that duty. In 

 the year 4 18, plebeians were admitted to the pre- 

 torship. The pretor was chosen in the same man- 

 ner as the consuls, and was therefore called collega 

 consolum. At first there was only one ; but as the 

 business increased through the influx of strangers, 

 a second was added, in the year of Rome 510. The 

 duties were divided between them by lot, the one 

 trying causes between citizens (proctor urbanus), 

 the other between citizens and foreigners (praetor 

 pcregrinus). In 527, two additional ones were 

 chosen to administer justice in the provinces of 

 Sicily and Sardinia, which were conquered at that 

 time. In 557, when the Roman dominion was ex- 

 tended over Spain, two more were added, so that 

 the whole number was now six. Sylla increased 

 their number to eight, and Caesar to ten. Under 

 the emperors their number varied. The distinctions 

 of the pretor were, six lictors who carried the fasces 

 before him, the toga praetexta, and a sella curulis, 

 on which he sat while administering justice. A 

 spear, or, if he was holding a public court, a sword, 

 was placed before him, as the emblem of his judi- 

 cial character. The principal business of the pre- 

 tor was the administration of justice. On his en- 

 trance into office, he swore to respect the laws, and 

 published au edict, stating the rules according to 

 which he should administer justice for the ensuing 

 year (edictum, formula prastoris). He chose from 

 the legal ranks a sufficient number of persons to be 

 judges during his continuance in office. The praetor 

 urbanus, who was the first in rank, took the place 

 of the consuls in their absence ; he presided in the 

 assemblies of the people, and, in case of emergency, 

 convened the senate. The care of some of the pub- 

 lic games also devolved on him, as the Apollinarian, 

 the Circensian, and the Megalensian. The office of 

 pretor continued for a year, after the expiration of 

 which he went into the province assigned him, as 

 pro-pretor. 



PRETORIANS. In the times of the republic, 

 the cohors preetoria was a body of troops selected 

 to guard the person of the commander (in old Latin, 

 praetor}, while in active service. But Augustus 

 established a standing body-guard, consisting of 

 three cohorts, called pretorians, which were sta- 

 tioned in the city. This number was afterwards 

 increased to nine, and a body of horse was finally 

 added. Under Tiberius, a fixed station (castra 

 praetoria, or pnetoriana, or prcetorium) was assigned 

 the in. Under the later emperors, particularly from 

 the time of Commodus, they often deposed and 

 murdered the emperors, and raised their favourites, 

 or even (as in the case of Didius Julianus) the 

 highest bidder, to the throne of the Caesars. Their 

 commander (prafectus pratorio) became the most 

 important officer in the state, having, from the be- 

 ginning of the third century, not only the command 

 of the guards, but the administration of the finances, 

 and an extensive criminal jurisdiction, a natural 

 consequence of the growth of military despotism. 

 The pretorian guards were abolished by Constantine 

 the Great. 



PRETRES INSERMENTES. See Priests, Non- 

 juring. 



PREVESA ; a town of Albania, sangiacat of 

 Janina, on the northern side of the gulf of Arta ; 

 Int. 39 5' N.; Ion. 20 33' E.; eight and. a half 



leagues from Arta, and not far from the ruins of 

 Actium. In 1684, the brave Venetian admiral 

 Morosini took from the Turks Santa Maura, I're- 

 vesa, Butrinto, Parga, Arta, and Voinitza, and thus 

 rendered Venice mistress of the Ambracian gulf. 

 In 1797 these places were ceded to the French re- 

 public, and when the latter became involved in a 

 war with Turkey, Ali, pacha of Janina, took Pre- 

 vesa by storm (1798), pillaged the city, and put to 

 death the greater part of the male population, in 

 violation of express stipulations. By the peace of 

 Luneville, Austria and France formally ceded Pre- 

 vesa, Parga, Voinitza, and Butrinto (Buthrotum) to 

 the Porte. (See Parga.) Prevesa again suffered 

 by the rebellion of Ali, whose son threw himself 

 into the citadel, and thus subjected it to a long 

 blockade. In 1825, it also suffered by an earth 

 quake, which did much damage in Santa Maura. 



PREVILLE, PIERRE Louis DCBDS DE, a distin- 

 guished French actor, born at Paris in 1721, was 

 designed for the church, but ran away, and, after 

 serving as a journeyman mason, joined a company 

 of players, and performed at Strasburg, Dijon, 

 Rouen, and finally became manager of a company 

 at Lyons. In 1773, he made his debut at Paris, at 

 the theatre Francais. Armand favoured his first 

 appearance at the theatre of Fontainebleau, which 

 decided his reputation. He played five different 

 parts in the Mercure galant. Louis XV., who had 

 a good taste, was so struck with his performance, 

 that he ordered him to be received among his own 

 players. Preville's acting was excellent, and he 

 shone not only in humorous parts, but in pathetic 

 scenes. He left the theatre in 1786, but afterwards 

 made his appearance again to relieve some of his 

 companions, who had been reduced to distress by 

 the revolution. He died blind at Beauvais in 1799. 



PREVOST D'EXILES, Antoine Frangois, a 

 French writer, born in 1697, studied with the 

 Jesuits, and entered the order, which, however, he 

 soon quitted for the military service. Dissatisfied 

 with the slowness of promotion, he again joined the 

 Jesuits, but, after a short time, once more returned 

 to the career of arms, and served with reputation. 

 Disappointed love next caused him to assume the 

 habit of the Benedictines of St Maur, and he retired 

 to St Germain des Pres, where he found consolation 

 in study. His restless temper soon led him to sepa- 

 rate himself from the Benedictines, and, in 1729, he 

 went to Holland, and was thrown upon his own 

 resources for subsistence. Here he published his 

 Memoires d'un Homme de Qualite, and, having 

 formed a connexion with a young woman, he went 

 over to England. In 1734, he returned to France, 

 and was appointed almoner and secretary to the 

 prince of Conti. The chancellor d'Aguesseau also 

 selected him to superintend the Histoire generate 

 des Voyages. As he was one day walking in the 

 forest of Chantilly, he was attacked by a stroke of 

 apoplexy. Having been found in a state of insen- 

 sibility by some peasants, the public officer pro- 

 ceeded to open the body of the supposed deceased, 

 when he opened his eyes ; but the wound was mor- 

 tal. This event occurred in 1763. Besides the 

 works already mentioned, are his Histoire de M. 

 Cleveland, Histoire du Chevalier des Grieux, et de 

 Manon Lescaut, with several other romances, and 

 numerous translations from the English of Richard- 

 son, Hume, &c. 



PREVOT, COURS PREVOTALES. Several 

 officers bore the name of prevot in France previous 

 to the revolution. The grand prevot de France, 

 with two deputies (lieutenants generaux civils. crimi- 

 nclset de police), exercised jurisdiction in the royal 

 palace and household ; the prevot des mcrchands 



