account of his fellow-shiremen, the "Worthies of Devon," was born at Axminster in 1643, and educated at Oxford. He entered the church, passed through various degrees of preferment, and died in 1723 vicar of Berry-Pomeroy. The first edition of the "Worthies" was in 1701, folio; the second, with notes, in 1810, 4to. In 1709 he published "Self-murder, asserted to be a very Heinous Crime," with an account of the rescue of a woman who threw herself over the bridge at Totness, where the good man was vicar at the time.—R H.
PRINGLE, Sir John, Bart., M.D., was the son of Sir John Pringle of Stichel house, Roxburghshire. He was born on the 10th of April, 1707, and received his rudimentary education at home under a private tutor; he was afterwards sent to the university of St. Andrews, where he continued his studies under the immediate superintendence of his relative Mr. Frank Pringle, professor of Greek in the university. He then spent a year in Edinburgh; and being intended for commerce, he proceeded thence to Amsterdam. During a chance visit to Leyden he happened to attend a lecture given by the celebrated Boerhaave. From that time the whole current of his thoughts and intentions changed, and he determined to devote himself to medicine. He accordingly commenced a student's career at Leyden, attended Boerhaave and the other celebrated professors of that university, and obtained his degree of M.D. on the 20th July, 1730. Having visited the medical schools of Paris, he returned to Edinburgh, where he commenced the practice of his profession. In March, 1734, we find him appointed to a joint-professorship of moral philosophy in the university of Edinburgh, with the right of succession on the death of the senior professor, Mr. Scott. Eight years afterwards he became physician to the earl of Stair, at that time commander of the British forces in Flanders. He was soon put in charge of a military hospital, and he remained in Flanders during the campaign of 1744. Whilst serving abroad, his professional ability attracted the notice of the duke of Cumberland, who gave him commissions appointing him physician-general to his majesty's forces and the royal hospitals in the Low Countries and other places beyond seas. On receiving these appointments he resigned his professorship, the duties of which he had during his absence conducted by proxy, and devoted himself entirely to the military service. He accompanied the army to Scotland, and remained there until August, 1746. The two following years were passed with the troops abroad. His final retirement from the army followed the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. He then settled in private practice in London, where he met with great success. He retained the friendship of the duke of Cumberland, who in 1749 appointed him his physician in ordinary. In 1761 he became physician to the queen's household, and in 1763 physician in ordinary to the queen. In 1766 he was made a baronet, and in 1774 physician in ordinary to the king and to the princess dowager of Wales. His connection with the Royal College of Physicians commenced in 1758, when he became a licentiate, and he received the honour of the fellowship speciali gratiâ in 1763. The highest distinction, however, which awaited him was the presidentship of the Royal Society, conferred on him in 1772. He had become a fellow in 1745, and was appointed a councillor in 1753. Whilst president he delivered six admirable addresses, on the occasions of awarding the Copley medals. After the author's death, these discourses were edited and published by Dr. Kippis. The fourth is of great interest, from the circumstances under which it was delivered. It accompanied the award of the medal to Pringle's friend. Captain Cook. In 1778 Pringle retired from the presidentship of the Royal Society, and two years after he visited Edinburgh, where it would seem he had an intention of finally settling. He found, however, that the change did not suit his failing health, and he soon returned to London. Whilst in Edinburgh he presented the College of Physicians in that city with ten folio volumes of his medical and surgical observations. He did not long survive his return to London. He died on the 18th of June, 1782, in the seventy-fifth year of his age, and was buried at St. James', Westminster. Besides several papers in the Philosophical Transactions, he was the author of "Observations on the Nature and Cause of the Hospital or Jayl Fever," London, 1750; and "Observations on Diseases of the Army," London, 1752.—F. C. W.
PRINGLE, Thomas, a Scottish poet and miscellaneous writer, was the son of a farmer, and was born at Blacklaw in Teviotdale in 1789. An accident in his childhood rendered him lame for life. After completing his education at the grammar-school of Kelso and the university of Edinburgh, he became a clerk in the register office, in the Scottish capital. At an early age he displayed a taste for poetry, and in 1816 became a contributor to Albyn's Anthology, and published in the Poetic Mirror a poem, entitled the "Autumnal Excursion," which led to his introduction to Sir Walter Scott. The approbation bestowed upon these productions induced the author to resign his situation, and to take charge of the Edinburgh Monthly Magazine (afterwards Blackwood's Magazine), a periodical which was started in 1817, and to which Wilson, Lockhart, and Hogg were contributors. About the same time also he became editor of the Edinburgh Star newspaper, and assisted in the management of Constable's Magazine. Some dispute between Pringle and Blackwood led in a short time to a separation, and in January, 1819, the former returned to his situation in the register office. In 1820 he resolved, in conjunction with his brothers who were farmers, to try his fortune at Cape Colony. They settled in the valley of the Baavians' river, while Thomas obtained the situation of government librarian at Cape Town; and as the emoluments of this office were only £75 a year, he attempted to eke out his income by establishing an academy, by starting a periodical called the South African Journal, and editing the South African Commercial Advertiser. These undertakings were all in a prosperous condition, when the tyrannical interference of the governor, Lord Charles Somerset, compelled Mr. Pringle to discontinue the journals; and ultimately he felt it necessary, in consequence of the governor's continued persecution, to resign his situation as librarian, and to return to England in 1826. The government refused to give him compensation for his losses; and in 1827 he accepted the situation of secretary to the Anti-slavery Society, which he held till the abolition of slavery. He then became a contributor to various leading periodicals, edited the Friendship's Offering, and wrote and published his "Narrative of a Residence in South Africa," a very interesting and well-written work. In 1834 an attack of consumption rendered it absolutely necessary that he should remove to a warmer climate. He was on the eve of returning to the Cape, when he died suddenly on the 5th of December, in the forty-fifth year of his age. The poetry of Pringle has great merit. The versification is sweet, and the style is simple, easy, and elegant. His prose sketches partake of the same qualities, and contain many picturesque and beautiful passages. A collected edition of his poetical works was published in 1839, with a memoir by Leitch Ritchie.—J. T.
PRINSEP, James, a distinguished oriental numismatist, was born in 1800, and was appointed at an early age to an office in the mint of Benares, of which he became principal assay-master. Ten years' residence in that city supplied him with materials for an admirable picture of Indian life, entitled "Sketches of Benares." His attainments were great in several departments of science. He surveyed and drained the city of Benares, built a mint and other edifices, repaired the minarets of the mosque of Aurungzebe, and made important observations on temperature and the fusion of metals, which he communicated to the Royal Society. All that he has written on Indian coins, weights, and measures, and the chronology of the dynasties, possesses the highest authority and value. The numerous papers he wrote in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, of which he was the projector and editor, abound in valuable information on the ancient money and ancient writings of the Hindoos; while his researches into the subject of the Greek Bactrian coins, have furnished an outline of Indian history for fifteen centuries, from the conquest of Alexander downwards. His labours were incessant at Calcutta, whither he removed from Benares to become assay-master at the mint. He overtasked himself, and in January, 1840, reached England with a broken constitution, and died on the 22nd April following, in the forty-first year of his age.—R. H.
PRIOLO or PRIOLI, Benjamin, historian, was born at St. Jean d'Angeli in 1602. He studied at Leyden under Heinsius; at Paris with Grotius; and at Padua under Cremonini and Liceto. He became the intimate companion of the Duc de Rohan, and on that nobleman's death settled first at Geneva and afterwards at Paris. Having espoused the cause of the Prince de Condé he was banished to Flanders; and on his return wrote a history of France from the death of Louis XIII. The narrative is truthful, the style an imitation of Tacitus. Prioli died in 1667.—W. J. P.
