Chapter Protesilaos to Public-house Signs of P by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Protesilaos to Public-house Signs

Protesilaos in Fénelon's Télémaque, is meant to represent Louvois, the French Minister of State.

Protestant One of the party who adhered to Luther at the Reformation. These Lutherans, in 1529, “protested” against the decree of Charles V. of Germany, and appealed from the Diet of Spires to a general council. A Protestant now means one of the Reformed Church.
   Protestant Pope. Clement XIV.

Proteus (pron. Pro'-tuce). As many shapes as Proteus- i.e. full of shifts, aliases, disguises, etc. Proteus was Neptune's herdsman, an old man and a prophet. He lived in a vast cave, and his custom was to tell over his herds of sea-calves at noon, and then to sleep. There was no way of catching him but by stealing upon him during sleep and binding him; if not so captured, he would elude anyone who came to consult him by changing his shape, for he had the power of changing it in an instant into any form he chose.

“The changeful Proteus, whose prophetic mind,
The secret cause of Bacchus' rage divined,
Attending, left the flocks, his scaly charge,
To graze the bitter weedy foam at large.”
Camoens: Lusiad, vi.

Proteus One of the two gentlemen of Verona; his serving-man is Launce. Valentine is the other gentleman, whose serving-man is Speed. (Shakespeare. Two Gentlemen of Verona.)

Prothalamion Marriage song by Edmund Spenser, peculiarly exquisite- probably the noblest ever sung.

Proto-martyr The first martyr. Stephen the deacon is so called (Acts v. vii.).

Protocol The first rough draft or original copy of a despatch, which is to form the basis of a treaty. (Greek, proto-koleon, a sheet glued to the front of a manuscript, and bearing an abstract of the contents and purport. (Harmolaus Barbarus.)

Protoplasm, Sarcode The material or cells of which all living things are built up. Each is a jelly-like substance, the former being the nucleus of plants and the latter of animals. Max Schultz proved the identity of these substances.
    Protoplasm is not a simple but a complicated structure, sometimes called a “colony of plasts,” or nuclear granules. (Greek, proto-plasma, the first model; proto-sarkodes, the first flesh-like entity.)

Protozo'a The lowest class of animal life (Greek, protos zoon). In a figurative sense, a young aspirant for literary honours: “They were young intellectual protozoa.”

Proud (The). Otho IV., Emperor of Germany. (1175, 1209-1218.)
   Tarquin II. of Rome. Superbus. (Reigned B.C. 535-510, died 496.)
   The proud Duke. Charles Seymour, Duke of Somerset. He would never suffer his children to sit in his presence, and would never speak to his servants except by signs. (Died 1748.)
   Proud as Lucifer; proud as a peacock

Proudfute (Oliver). A boasting bonnet-maker of Perth. His widow is Magdalen or Maudie. (Sir Walter Scott: Fair Maid of Perth.)

Prout (See under Father .)

Province means a country previously conquered. (Latin, pro vinco.)

Provincial Like or in the manner of those who live in the provinces.
   Provincial of an Order. The superior of all the monastic houses of a province.

Prudent Tree (The). Pliny calls the mulberry the most prudent of all trees, because it waits till winter is well over before it puts forth its leaves. Ludovico Sforza, who prided himself on his prudence, chose a mulberry-tree for his device, and was called “Il Moro.”

Prudhomme A Mons. Prud'homme. A man of experience and great prudence, of estimable character and practical good sense. Your Mons. Prudhomme is never a man of genius and originality, but what