[Princeton] (3), a town of New Jersey, 50 m. SW. of New York; was the scene of a battle in the War of Independence, and the meeting-place of the Continental Congress of 1783; now noted as the seat of the College of New Jersey, founded at Newark 1746, and removed to Princeton ten years later, with now 50 teachers and 600 students; Jonathan Edwards and Dr. James M'Cosh as presidents, James Madison and others as alumni, have given it lustre. The Theological Seminary, the oldest and largest Presbyterian one in the States, was founded in 1812, and a School of Science in 1871. The college is rich in museums, observatories, laboratories, libraries, and funds.
[Pringle, Thomas], minor poet, born in Roxburghshire; edited the Monthly Magazine; emigrated to South Africa; held a small government appointment; was bullied out of it; returned home, and became Secretary to the Anti-Slavery Society (1789-1834).
[Printed Paper], Carlyle's satirical name for the literature of France prior to the Revolution.
[Prinzenraub] (the stealing of the princes), name given to an attempt, to satisfy a private grudge of his, on the part of Kunz von Kaufingen to carry off, on the night of the 7th July 1455, two Saxon princes from the castle of Altenburg, in which he was defeated by apprehension at the hands of a collier named Schmidt, through whom he was handed over to justice and beheaded. See [Carlyle's] account of this in his "Miscellanies."
[Prior, Matthew], English poet and diplomatist, born near Wimborne, East Dorset; studied at Cambridge; became Fellow of Trinity College; was ambassador to France; involved himself in an intrigue, was imprisoned, and on his release lived in retirement; he is remembered as a poet; wrote in 1687 a parody of Dryden's "Hind and Panther," entitled "The Story of the Country Mouse and the City Mouse," and afterwards, "Solomon on the Vanity of the World," "Alma; or, The Progress of the Mind," after Butler, as well as tales, lyrics, and epigrams; Professor Saintsbury calls him "the king of 'verse of society'" (1664-1721).
[Priscian], Latin grammarian of the 6th century, born in Cæsarea; was author of "Grammatical Commentaries" in 18 books, a standard work during the Middle Ages, and in universal use at that time.
[Priscillian], a Spaniard of noble birth, who introduced a Gnostic and Manichæan heresy into Spain, and founded a sect called after him, and was put to death by the Emperor Maximius in 385; his followers were an idly speculative sect, who practised a rigidly ascetic style of life, and after being much calumniated did not survive him over 60 years.
[Prismatic colours], the seven colours a ray of pure white light is resolved into when refracted through a prism, applied figuratively by Carlyle to the pure light refracted through the soul of a man of genius.
[Prisoner of Chillon], the name given to [François de Bonivard] (q. v.), who was for six years kept prisoner in the castle of Chillon, on the Lake of Geneva, and is the subject of a well-known poem by Byron.