Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama, Vol. 3: A Revised American Edition of the Reader's Handbook — John Shaqi
Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama, Vol. 3: A Revised American Edition of the Reader's HandbookBrewer, Ebenezer Cobham
General
Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama, Vol. 3: A Revised American Edition of the Reader's Handbook
Brewer, Ebenezer Cobham
Allusions; Fiction -- Dictionaries; Literature -- Dictionaries
=Prince of the Kings of the Earth=, a title given to Christ (_Rev._ i. 5).
=Prince of the Power of the Air=, Satan (_Eph._ ii. 2).
=Prince of this World=, Satan (_John_ xiv. 30).
=Princes.= It was Prince Bismarck, the German Chancellor, who said to a
courtly attendant, “Let princes be princes, and mind your own business.”
=Prince’s Peers=, a term of contempt applied to peers of low birth. The
phrase arose in the reign of Charles VII., of France, when his son Louis
(afterwards Louis XI.) created a host of riff-raff peers, such as
tradesmen, farmers, and mechanics, in order to degrade the aristocracy,
and thus weaken its influence in the state.
=Printed Books.= The first book produced in England, was printed in
England in 1477, by William Caxton, in the Almonry, at Westminster, and
was entitled _The Dictes and Sayings of the Philosophers_.
The Rev. T. Wilson says: “The press at Oxford existed ten years before
there was any press in Europe, except those of Haarlem and Mentz.” The
person who set up the Oxford press was Corsellis, and his first printed
book bore the date of 1468. The colophon of it ran thus: “Explicit
exposicio Sancti Jeronimi in simbolo apostolorum ad papam laurēcium.
Impressa Oxonii Et finita Anno Domini Mcccclxviij., xvij. die
Decembris.” The book is a small quarto of forty-two leaves, and was
first noticed in 1664 by Richard Atkins in his _Origin and Growth of
Printing_. Dr. Conyers Middleton, in 1735, charged Atkins with forgery.
In 1812, S. W. Singer defended the book. Dr. Cotton took the subject up
in his _Typographical Gazetteer_ (first and second series).
=Prior= (_Matthew_). The monument to this poet in Westminster Abbey was by
Rysbrack; executed by order of Louis XIV.
=Priory= (_Lord_), an old-fashioned husband, who actually thinks that a
wife should “love, honor, and obey” her husband; nay, more, that
“forsaking all others, she should cleave to him so long as they both
should live.”
_Lady Priory_, an old-fashioned wife, but young and beautiful. She was,
however, so very old-fashioned that she went to bed at ten and rose at
six; dressed in a cap and gown of her own making; respected and loved
her husband; discouraged flirtation; and when assailed by any improper
advances, instead of showing temper or conceited airs, quietly and
tranquilly seated herself to some modest household duty till the
assailant felt the irresistible power of modesty and virtue.--Mrs.
Inchbald, _Wives as They Were and Maids as They Are_ (1797).
=Priscian=, a great grammarian of the fifth century. The Latin phrase,
_Diminuĕre Prisciani caput_ (“to break Priscian’s head”), means to
“violate the rules of grammar.” (See PEGASUS.)
Some, free from rhyme or reason, rule or check,
Break Priscian’s head, and Pegasus’s neck.
Pope, _The Dunciad_, iii. 161 (1728).
Quakers (that like to lanterns, bear
Their light within them) will not swear
And hold no sin so deeply red
As that of breaking Priscian’s head.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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