When an ewe [yew] stops to drink of the “Severn,” then fly,
And look not behind, for destruction is nigh.
Prophetess (The), Ayē´shah, the second and beloved wife of Mahomet. It does not mean that she prophesied, but, like Sultana, it is simply a title of honor. He was the Prophet, she the Prophēta or Madam Prophet.
Prose (Father of English), Wycliffe (1324-1384).
Prose (Father of Greek), Herodotus (B.C. 484-408).
Prose (Father of Italian), Boccaccio (1313-1375).
Pros´erpine (3 syl.), called Proserpĭna in Latin, and “Proser´pin” by Milton, was daughter of Ce´rês. She went to the field of Enna to amuse herself by gathering asphodels, and being tired, fell asleep. Dis, the god of Hell, then carried her off, and made her queen of the infernal reions. Cerês wandered for nine days over the world disconsolate, looking for her daughter, when Hec´ate (2 syl.) told her she had heard the girl’s cries, but knew not who had carried her off. Both now went to Olympus, when the sun-god told them the true state of the case.
N.B.—This is an allegory of seed-corn.
Not that fair field
Of Enna, where Proser´pin, gathering flowers,
Herself a fairer flower, by gloomy Dis
Was gathered—which cost Cerês all that pain
To seek her thro’ the world.
Milton, Paradise Lost, iv. 268 (1665).
Prosperity Robinson, Frederick Robinson, afterwards Viscount Goderich and earl of Ripon, chancellor of the exchequer in 1823. So called by Cobbett, from his boasting about the prosperity of the country just a little before the great commercial crisis of 1825.