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It is not easy to discern, among many differing substances obtained from the same matter, what primogenial and simple bodies convened together compose it. Boyle.

The first or primogenial earth, which rose out of the chaos, was not like the present earth. Burnet. The first provoker has by his seniority and primogeniture a double portion of the guilt.

Government of the Tongue. PRIMOGENITURE, the right of the first born, has among most nations been very considerable. The first-born son in the patriarchal ages had a superiority over his brethren, and in the absence of his father was priest to the family. Among the Jews he was consecrated to the Lord, had a double portion of the inheritance, and succeeded in the government of the family or kingdom. But if a woman's first child was a girl, neither she, nor the children that came after her, were consecrated. In every nation of Europe, the right of primogeniture prevails in some degree at present, but it did not prevail always. The law which calls the first-born to the crown, preferably to the others, was unknown to the first race of French kings, and even to the second. It was not till the end of the tenth century, under the race of Hugh Capet, that the prerogative of succession to the crown was appropriated to the first-born. By the ancient custom of gavel-kind, still preserved in some parts of our island, primogeniture is of no account; the paternal estate being equally shared by all the sons. And it has been a matter of violent and learned dispute, whether, at the death of Alexander III. Baliol or Bruce was, by the law as it then stood, heir to the crown of Scotland. The former had undoubtedly the right of primogeniture, but the latter stood in one degree of nearer relation to the deceased sovereign; and the Scottish barons, not being able to determine whose claim was best founded, referred the question to Edward I. of England, and thereby involved their country in a long and ruinous war.

PRIMORDIAL, adj. Fr. primordial; Lat. primordium. Original; existing from the beginning.

More.

The primordials of the world are not mechanical, but spermatical and vital. Salts may be either transmuted or otherwise produced, and so may not be primordial and immutable beings. Boyle.

Not every thing chymists will call salt, sulphur, or spirit, that needs always be a primordiate and ingenerable body.

Id.

PRIMORIE, a hilly district of Austrian Dalmatia, between the Cettina and Narenta. It produces wine, oil, and figs. The chief town is Macarsca. This district was called Dalmatia by the Romans, and by the Greeks Parathalassia. Inhabitants 15,000.

PRIMROSE, n. s. & adj. Lat. primula veris. A flower that appears early in the year: gay; flowery.

Pale primroses,

That die unmarried ere they can behold
Bright Phoebus in his strength.

Shakspeare. Winter's Tale.
There followeth, for the latter part of January,
primroses, anemonies, the early tulip.
Bacon's Essays.

I had thought to have let in some of all professions, that go the primrose way to the everlasting Shakspeare.

bonfire.

How pleasant thy banks and green valleys below,
Where wild in the woodlands the primroses blow;
There, oft as mild evening weeps over the lea,
The sweet-scented birk shades my Mary and me.
Burns.

PRIMROSE, in botany. See PRIMUla. PRIMULA, the primrose, a genus of the monogynia order, and pentandria class of plants; natural order twenty-first, precia. The involucrum lies under a simple umbel; the tube of the corolla is cylindrical; with the mouth or limb patulous. This genus, including also the polyanthus and auricula, furnishes an excellent collection of low, herbaceous, flowery perennials. 1. P. auricula has a thick fibrous root, crowned by a cluster of oblong, fleshy, broad, serrated, smooth leaves, resembling the shape of a bear's ear; and amidst them upright flower stalks from about three or four, to six or eight, inches high, terminated by an umbellate cluster of beautiful flowers, of many different colors in the varieties. All of these have a circular eye in the middle of each flower, and of which there are different colors; whence the auriculas are distinguished into yellow-eyed, white-eyed, &c. The petals of most of the kinds are powdered with an exceedingly fine farina, which contributes greatly to the beauty of the flower. They all flower in April or May, continuing a month or six weeks in beauty, and ripening plenty of seeds in June.

2. P. polyanthus has thick fibrous roots, increasing into large bunches, crowned with a cluster of large oblong, indented, rough leaves; amidst them upright flower-stalks six or eight inches high, terminated mostly by a cluster of several spreading flowers of many different colors in the varieties. They all flower beautifully in April and May, and frequently again in autumn; and sometimes even in winter, if the season is mild. The polyanthus is one of the noted prize flowers among the florists; many of whom are remarkably industrious in raising a considerable variety of different sorts, as well as in using every art to make them blow with all requisite perfection. The chief properties required in a stalk should be upright, moderately tall, with florist's polyanthus are-1. The stem or flowerstrength in proportion, and crowned by a good regular bunch of flowers on short pedicles, strong enough to support them nearly in an upright position. 2. The florets of each branch should be equally large, spreading open flat, with the colors exquisite, and the stripes and variegations lively and regular. 3. The eye in the centre of each floret should be large, regular, and bright; and the antheræ, by the florists called the thrum, should rise high enough to cover the mouth of the tube or hollow part in

the middle of the florets, and render them what they call thrum-eyed; but, when the style elevates the stigma above the antheræ, the eye of the tube generally appears hollow, showing the stigma in the middle, like the head of a pin, and

is rejected as an incomplete flower, though its other properties should be ever so perfect. This pin-eyed polyanthus, however, though rejected by the florists, is the flower in its most perfect state, and great numbers of them are of as beautiful forms and colors as the thrum-eyed varieties.

3. P. veris, the spring primrose, has thick and very fibrous roots, crowned by a cluster of large oblong indented rough leaves, and numerous flower-stalks, from about three or four, to five or six, inches high; each terminated commonly by one flower. All the varieties flower abundantly in March and April, and continue for a month or six weeks. The cowslip primrose, or cowslip, or oxlip, has very thick fibrous roots, crowned by a cluster of oblong, indented, round, leaves, and upright, firm, flower-stalks five or six inches high, terminated each by a cluster of small flowers. They flower in April or May, continuing in succession a month or six weeks. All the varieties of the common spring primrose multiply so fast by the roots that it is scarcely worth while to raise them from seeds. However, though many single kinds may be raised from seed, yet parting the roots is the only method by which the double kind can be preserved; and the same thing is to be observed of all the rest.

PRINCE, n. s. & v. n. Fr. prince; Lat. prinPRINCE DOM, n. s. ceps. A sovereign; a PRINCE LIKE, adj. chief ruler of either PRINCE LY, sex; the son of a king: PRINCESS, n. s. to play the prince: princedom is the rank or state of a prince; Wicliff uses 'prynshood,' see the extract: princelike, becoming a prince: princely, having the rank of princes; befitting that rank; royal; grand; sumptuous: princess, the feminine of prince.

He reseruyde undir derknesse aungelis that kepten not her prynshood, but forsooken their hous into the doom of the gret God, into euerlastinge boondis. Wiclif. Judas i. A prince of great courage and beauty, but fostered Sidney. up in blood by his haughty father. Meaning only to do honour to their princely birth, they flew among them all.

Next Archigald, who, for his proud disdain, Deposed was from princedom sovereign.

Id.

Spenser. Heaven forbid that such a scratch should drive The prince of Wales from such a field as this.

Shakspeare.

Nature prompts them,
In simple and low things, to prince it, much
Beyond the trick of others. Id. Cymbeline.
Here the bracelet of the truest princess
That ever swore her faith.

The wrongs he did me were nothing princelike.

Id.

Shakspeare.

Be opposite all planets of good luck
To my proceeding; if with pure heart's love
I tender not thy beauteous princely daughter.

Id.
Queen Elizabeth, a prince admirable above her sex
Camden.
for her princely virtues.
Many townes of princely youths he leveled with
the ground.
To use the words of the prince of learning here-
upon, only in shallow and small boats they glide
over the face of the Virgilian sea.

Chapman.

Peacham.

Coelestial! whether among the thrones, or named
Of them the highest; for such of shape may seem
· Prince above princes.
Milton's Paradise Lost.

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To mighty lords and princely dames. Waller.
Forces come to be used by good princes, only upon
Temple.
Ask why God's anointed he reviled;
necessity of providing for their defence.
A king and princess dead.

Dryden.

Esau founded a distinct people and government, and was himself a distinct prince over them. Locke. Had we no histories of the Roman emperors, but on their money, we should take them for most virtuous Addison. princes.

God put it into the heart of one of our princes, towards the close of her reign, to give a check to that Atterbury. sacrilege. Princess adored and loved, if verse can give A deathless name, thine shall for ever live.

Granville.

Our tottering state still distracted stands, While that prince threatens, and while this commands. Pope. Under so excellent a princess as the present queen, we suppose a family strictly regulated.

Swift.

Happy those princes, who are educated by men who are at once virtuous and wise, and have been for some time in the school of affliction; who weigh happiness against glory, and teach their royal pupils Goldsmith. the real value of fame.

PRINCE also denotes a person who is a sovereign in his own territories, yet holds of some other as his superior. Also the issue of princes, or those of any royal family. In England the king's children are called sons and daughters of England; the eldest son is created prince of Wales; the cadets are created dukes or earls as the king pleases; and the title of all the children is royal highness; all subjects are to kneel when admitted to kiss their hand, and at table out of the king's presence they are to be served on the knee. See ROYAL FAMILY.

PRINCE FREDERICK'S SOUND, an inlet of the North Pacific Ocean, on the west coast of North America; so named by Vancouver in honor of the late duke of York. Long. 225° 42′ to 227° 20', lat. 56° 52′ to 57° 12′ N.

PRINCE OF THE SENATE, in ancient Rome, the person who was called over first in the roll of senators, whenever it was renewed by the censors: he was always of consular and censorian dignity.

PRINCE OF WALES'S ARCHIPELAGO, a large island of the North Pacific Ocean, surrounded by a number of smaller ones, chiefly in the bays on its coast. They lie in long. 226° 20′ to 229° 26', and lat. 54° 42′ to 56° 21' N., and were so called by Vancouver.

PRINCE OF WALES'S, PULO PINANG, or BETEL NUT, ISLAND, an island off the west coast of the Malay peninsula, from which it is separated by a narrow strait, about two miles broad, which forms the harbour, and affords excellent anchorage for the largest ships. There is also an inner harbour, where ships may receive all repairs that can be performed without going into dock. The principal entrance into the harbour is from the north-west; but there is also a fine channel to the southward. Here is always at least four fathoms, or four fathoms and

a half of water, but it deepens within to fourteen fathoms. The south channel is obstructed by mud banks, but which are buoyed, and leave a safe channel with three fathoms and a half.

The island is five leagues long, and two to three broad. On the north-west it rises in high hills, covered with large trees; on the east side is an extent of level ground well-cultivated. The island has two rivers considerable for its size That called Paz winds through the level part of the island for twenty miles; its mouth is crossed by a mud bank with twelve feet in the springs, but boats can ascend it a considerable way. The second river, called Taloo Moodoo, is a rapid torrent stream that often overflows; its mouth is crossed by a sand bank.

Fort Cornwallis is situated on the north-east point of the island, and, though considerable sums have been expended on it, is little more than a sufficient defence againt the Malays, and is incapable of any resistance to a regular attack by European tactics. The town, named George Town by the English, and Panjang Panaique by the Malays, is of considerable extent; the streets wide and straight, with many good houses. A river runs close past it, and it has a good wharf for loaded boats, to which water is conveyed by pipes. A government house, a jail, a church, and several bridges have been latterly built, and other improvements executed.

Pulo Pinang was granted by the king of Queda, 1787, to captain Light, who married his daughter, and who transferred it to the East India Company. Its situation rendering it an eligible rendezvous for the British China trade, as well as a retreat for the king's ships when obliged to quit the Coromandel coast in the monsoon, a small detachment of troops was sent from Bengal to occupy it; and several English merchants, engaged in the Malay trade, making it their depot, it rapidly increased in population, particularly by the arrival of Chinese and Malays. In 1805 it was erected into a separate government, and a large establishment appointed to it. In 1801 the population was 10,000, exclusive of Europeans and military; of those 2000 are Chinese, who chiefly follow the mechanical trades and shopkeeping, while the Malays, who constitute the mass of the remaining population, cultivate the soil, and chiefly pepper, rice, areca, and cocoa palms.

Though situated within five degrees of the equator, the climate of Prince of Wales's Island is remarkably temperate: the sea breeze that blows regularly throughout the day moderates the heat, and the vapors collected by the woody mountains condense in the night in heavy dews, that perpetuate a verdant herbage, unknown in southern India. One of the mountains rises with a steep ascent to a considerable elevation, and on its summit, which forms a platform of forty yards in diameter, is a signalhouse. The thermometer at this elevation seldom rises above 75°, and in the night falls to 60°. At the town the extremes are 85° and 75°. Among several waterfalls which this beautiful island possesses, one in particular attracts the notice of travellers, by its wildly picturesque effect: it precipitates itself down a rocky precipice VOL. XVIII.

into a natural basin, surrounded by perpendicular walls of rock, whose craggy projections are covered with lofty trees and evergreen shrubs, and forming a fit retreat for Diana and her nymphs, or for Thomson's more interesting Musidora,

To taste the lucid coolness of the flood.

Pinang has no beasts of prey, nor any wild quadrupeds but wild hogs, the little animal named hog-deer, and the bandicoot, a species of rat. Alligators are very numerous, and the termites, or white ants, are here peculiarly destructive. Pinang is abundantly supplied with poultry from the opposite coast, whence are also brought buffaloes for draft, and horses are procured from Sumatra. The sheep for the tables of the English come from Bengal. Fruits are in extreme plenty, particularly pine-apples, which grow wild, shaddocks, oranges, limes, &c.

The harbour abounds in fish, principally of the flat kind. The rocks are covered with a delicate small oyster, and on the banks, before the entrance of the rivers, common oysters are found. In short there is nothing wanting to render this island the most pleasant residence in India. A building-yard has been established at Pinang, and a ship of war and Indiaman of 1000 tons have been built here, the principal part of the timber being brought from Pegu. The rise of tide is nine feet. The value of the goods imported hither in 1807 from England amounted to £76,000; in 1810 to £38,253. Large quantities of Bengal and Madras piece-goods are imported for the Malay trade, and the consumption of European residents. Other imports are opium, grain, tobacco, red wood, sandal-wood, shark-fins, myrrh, pepper, rice, betel-nut, benzoin, camphor, gold dust, elephants' teeth, &c. A great many of these commodities are re-exported to Sumatra, Junk Ceylon, and the other Indian islands; also to China, to Bengal, and Coromandel. Long. of the north-east point 100° 19′ E., lat. 5° 25′ N.

PRINCE'S ISLAND, a low woody island in the Eastern Seas, off the north-western extremity of Java, at the distance of about two leagues, and six from Sumatra. On the south-west side is a bay, into which two small fresh-water rivulets flow. There has of late been a town erected here, called Samadang, consisting of about 400 houses, and this island was formerly much frequented by the Indian ships of many nations. Here may be had some excellent turtle and fowls, and deer, besides all the usual vegetable production of the neighbourhood. Long 105° 15′ E., lat. 6° 25′ S.

PRINCE'S ISLAND, an island in the gulf of Benin, and Bight of Biafara, about 100 miles off the coast of West Africa. It is ninety miles in circumference, and is fertile in rice, tobacco, millet, manioc, sugar-canes, and fruits. It was discovered and settled by the Portuguese in 1471. On the north coast there is a town with a good harbour, containing about 200 houses. Long. 7° 10′ E., lat. 1° 50′ N.

PRINCE'S ISLANDS, four small islands inhabited by the Greeks, in the sea of Marmora, near the straits of Constantinople, being only

G

about twenty miles from that capital, called Prinkipo, Prote, Kalke, and Antigone. They are situated near the entrance of the gulf of Nicomedia, and are frequently resorted to from Constantinople.

make of Prince William's Sound, we were not only made acquainted with its utmost limits in every direction, but proved it to be a branch of the ocean that requires the greatest circumspection to navigate; and, although it diverges into PRINCE WILLIAM HENRY'S ISLAND, an many extensive arms, yet none of them can be island in the East Indian Ocean, W. N. W. of considered as commodious harbours, on account Tench's Island, about seventy miles in circum- of the rocks and shoals that obstruct the approach ference; discovered by Ball and Philip in 1790. to them, or of the very great depth of water at It is fertile, and inhabited by naked savages, or about their entrances of the former, innuwho, however, have houses, canoes, &c. There merable bave been discovered, and there is is a high mountain in the centre, called St. great reason to suppose that many others may Philip. Long. 149° 30′ E., lat. 1° 32′ S. have existence, of which we gained no knowledge. By what may be collected from our enquiries, Snug-corner Cove, and the passage to it from the ocean, seem to be the least liable to these objections of all places of shelter which. the sound affords.' Long. 147° W., lat. 20° to 61° N.

PRINCE WILLIAM HENRY'S ISLAND, an island in the South Pacific Ocean, discovered in 1767, by Captain Wallis.

PRINCE WILLIAM'S SOUND, a name given by captain Cook, in 1778, to an inlet of the sea on the north-west coast of America; which occupies at least two degrees of longitude and one and a half of latitude, exclusive of its arms and branches, the extent of which is unknown.

From this sound or bay the name has been extended to a considerable territory on the coast. The men, women, and children, are all clothed in a sort of close frock, or robe, which sometimes reaches only to the knees, but generally down to the ancles. These frocks are composed of the skins of various animals, and commonly worn with the hairy side outwards. The men often paint their faces of a black color, and of a bright red, and sometimes of a bluish or leaden hue; but not in any regular figure. The women puncture and stain the chin with black, that comes to a point in each cheek. Their canoes are of two sorts; the one large and open, the other small and covered. The framing consists of slender pieces of wood, and the outside is composed of the skins of seals, or sea animals, stretched over the wood. Their weapons, and implements for hunting and fishing, are the same as those used by the Greenlanders and Esquimaux. Many of their spears are headed with iron, and their arrows are generally pointed with bone. The food they were seen to eat was the flesh of some animal, either roasted or broiled, and dried fish. Some of the former that was purchased had the appearance of bear's flesh. They also eat a larger sort of fern-root, either baked, or dressed in some other method. Their drink is water; in their canoes, they brought snow in wooden vessels, which they swallowed by mouthfuls. The skins, that were brought by the natives for sale, were principally of bears, common and pine martins, sea otters, seals, racoons, ermines, foxes, and whitish cats or lynxes. The birds were the halcyon, or great king's fisher, which had fine bright colors; the white headed eagle, and the humming bird. The fish brought to market for sale were chiefly torsk and halibut. The rocks were almost destitute of shell-fish; and the only other animal of this tribe that was observed was a reddish crab, covered with very large spines. Few vegetables of any kind were observed; and the trees that chiefly grew about this sound were the Canadian spruce pine, some of which were of a considerable size. Vancouver visited this sound in 1794, and says after a minute examination we were empowered to

PRINCESS ROYAL ISLANDS, a considerable group of islands on the western coast of North America, east of Queen Charlotte's Islands, between Pitt's Archipelago and Fitzhugh's Sound. They were first visited by Mr. Duncan who found a navigable channel between them, and afterwards more fully explored by Vancouver. PRINCIPAL, adj. & n. s. Fr. principal; PRINCIPALITY, Lat. principalis. Chief; princely;

PRINCIPALLY, adv.

first; important: a head or chief; one primarily engaged; a capital sum of money principality is sovereignty; superiority; one invested with sovereignty or great power; predominance; the country giving title to a prince: principally, chiefly; above the rest; above all the rest.

I am certeyn that neithir deeth, neither lyf, nei-
thir aungelis, neithir principalis, neithir vertues
-mai departe us fro the charite of God that is
in Iesu Crist oure Lord.
Wiclif. Rom. 8.
Divine lady, who have wrought such miracles in
me, as to make a prince none of the basest, to think
all principalities base in respect of the sheep-hook.
Sidney.

Suspicion of friend, nor fear of foe,
That hazarded his health, had he at all;
But walked at will, and wandered to and fro,
In the pride of his freedom principal. Spenser.
Nothing was given to Henry but the name of king;
all other absolute power of principality he had. Id.

This latter is ordered, partly and as touching principal matters by none but precepts divine only; partly and as concerning things of an inferior regard by or dinances, as well human as divine.

Hooker. Can you remember any of the principal evils that he laid to the charge of women? Shakspeare.

Thou wilt not only lose the forfeiture,
But, touched with human gentleness and love,
Forgive a moiety of the principal.

Id.

Yet let her be a principality,
Sovereign to all the creatures on the earth. Id.
Seconds in factions, do many times, when the fac-
tion subdivideth, prove principals.

Bacon. In the chief work of elements, water hath the principality and excess over earth.

Digby on Bodies. If any mystery be effective of spiritual blessings, then this much more, as having the prerogative and Taylor. principality above any thing else.

If the minister of divine offices shall take upon him that holy calling for covetous or ambitious ends, or shall not design the glory of God vrincipally, he polluteth his heart.

Id.

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PRINCIPAL, in English law, is either the actor or absolute perpetrator of the crime, who is called a principal, in the first degree; or he who is present, aiding and abetting the fact to be done, who is denominated a principal in the second degree. The presence of a principal need not always be an actual immediate standing by, within sight or hearing of the fact; but there may be also a constructive presence, as when one commits a robbery or murder, and another keeps watch or guard at some convenient distance. In case of murder, by poisoning, a man may be a principal felon by preparing and laying the poison, or giving it to another (who is ignorant of its poisonous quality) for that purpose, and yet not administer it himself, nor be present when the very deed of poisoning is committed. The same reasoning holds, with regard to other murders committed in the absence of the murderer, by means prepared before-hand, and which could hardly fail of their mischievous effect. As by laying a trap or pit-fall for another, whereby he is killed; letting out a wild beast, with an intent to do mischief; or exciting a madman to commit murder; in every one of these cases the party offending is guilty of murder as a principal, in the first degree. For he cannot be called an accessary, that necessarily pre-supposing a principal; and the poison, the pit-fall, the beast, or the madman, cannot be held principals, being only the instruments of death. He must therefore be held certainly guilty in the first degree.

PRINCIPATO CITRA, or CITERIORE, a province in the central part of Naples, on the Mediterranean. It is of an irregular form, about ninety miles in length from north-west to south-east, and forty-five at its greatest breadth. Its territorial extent is 2400 square miles; for the most part mountainous, but traversed by a plain, extending from Salerno to Agropoli, and watered by the rivers Silaro, Sarno, Calore, and Negro. The mountains are in general well wooded, and a number of them covered with chestnut-trees.

The plains are rich in corn and rice; but the too extended cultivation of the latter has in several places made the climate inhealthy. The other products are wine, olive-oil, and fruit. Hogs are reared in great numbers; and on the coast are considerable fisheries. The principal exports are chestnuts, timber, rice, dried fruit,

particularly figs; wine, hides, and pork. The capital is Salerno. Population about 245,000.

PRINCIPATO ULTRA, or ULTERIORE, a province of the kingdom of Naples, south of the above, with a superficial extent of 1800 square miles, and traversed by the Apennines. It consists of an intermixture of mountains and wellcultivated valleys, and is watered by the Sabato, Tammaro, Calore, and Ofanto. Its climate is pure and salubrious, and the products are corn, wine, fruit, chestnuts, olive oil, and timber for export. The breeding of cattle and sheep is carried on extensively in the mountainous parts; in warmer situations silk worms are reared. The only exports consist of raw products. The chief town is Avellino. Population 358,000.

PRINCIPIATION, n. s. Lat. principium, Analysis into constituent or elemental parts. A word not received.

The separating of any metal into its original or element, we will call principiation. Bacon,

PRINCIPLE, n. s. & v. a. Lat. principium. Element; constituent part; Fr. principe; truth; motive: to fix in any tenet or principle. primordial substance, or cause; fundamental

Touching the law of reason, there are in it some things which stand as principles universally agreed selves evident, the greatest moral duties we owe towupon; and out of those principles, which are in themards God or man, may, without any great difficulty, be concluded.

Hooker. Farewel, young lords; these warlike principles Do not throw from you. Shakspeare. Such kind of notions as are general to mankind, and not confined to any particular sect, or nation, or time, are usually styled common notions, seminal principles; and lex nata, by the Roman orator.

Wilkins.

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