exposed to every species of insult, deprivation, and distress. Thus did the hypocritical Charles reward those to whom he was indebted for his restoration to the throne of England! The Presbyterians had now no hopes of justice left, except what they owed to the King's private attachment to the Roman Catholics, and to the exercise of an illegal power in their sovereign, by which the entire liberties of the country might one day be destroyed. This was called the King's dispensing power, under colour of which he pretended to dispense with the execution of the established laws of the realm; thereby, in effect, creating a power above that of the law, and making the monarch an absolute sovereign. It was a painful alternative to the Presbyterians, either to suffer the most shameful deprivations, or countenance the exercise of this usurping power, and thereby endanger the liberties of their country by a kind of unnatural union with the Roman Catholics. In the succeeding reign, when this artifice of universal toleration, and the dispensing power, was again attempted to betray the Protestant interest, the Presbyterians manifested the most honourable disinterestedness, and refused to accept any toleration for themselves that might endanger the general interests of religion, or give countenance to those popish sentiments that had so often deluged their country with the blood of its inhabitants.

In the year 1666 happened the memorable fire of London, a calamity so great and humiliating, that the rancour of bigotry and persecution was somewhat abated by it. This heavy judgment taught the persecutors some useful lessons of righteousness, and the despised Presbyterians were for a time connived at. They built wooden tabernacles to preach in, and their places of worship were crowded with penitent and devout auditors. In two years, however, after the fire of London, their persecutions were revived, and their private assemblies were dissolved. Drs. Patrick and Parker, afterwards bishops, wrote bitterly against them; but Parker met with a formidable, though a sarcastic, antagonist in the famous Andrew Marvel. In 1670, the conventicle act was revived, by which the Presbyterians again suffered the most cruel and vexatious persecutions.

The last penal statute against the Presbyterians was the Test Act, for the repeal of which there was, a few years ago, a very warm but unsuccessful petition from the united body of Protestaut Dissenters in

this country. This offensive act, which was passed in the year 1673, imports that every person, in office or employment, shall take the oaths of allegiance and supremacy; receive the sacraments in some parishchurch before competent witnesses," and subscribe a declaration, renouncing all be. lief of the real presence in the eucharist. From this period to the year 1681, various attempts were made, by the successive parliaments, for a toleration of Dissenters, and for putting in force the laws against Popish Recusants; and many books and pamphlets were published in their defence: but all in vain; the court and the papists contrived, to the end of the reign, to oppress the Presbyterians in every possible way. In Feb. 1685 died the thoughtless, the merry, the dissolute Charles II. and with him all hopes of redress or justice on the part of the Dissenters: for whatever were the errors in this prince's conduct, and the blemishes in his character, he was person. ally beloved by his people, who were overwhelmed with grief and astonishment at his death. He died in the communion of the church of Rome, having received, just before his death, the sacrament at the hands of a Roman Catholic priest.

James, Duke of York, brother to the late King, was crowned, with his Queen, on the 23d of April, 1685. He commenced his reign by disclaiming arbitrary principles, and, at the same time, declaring he would abide by aud maintain the religion established by law. James soon gave the nation to understand what he meant by toleration on the one hand, and an adherence to established usages on the other. By toleration, he meant to encourage the principles and the practices of Popery, and by his support of the established religion, he meant the support of the doctrines of passive obedience, and non-resistance. In these principles and determinations he found himself supported by the articles of the English creed, and the importunities of numerous hot-headed Jesuits, by whose influence he suffered himself to be almost invariably guided.

Notwithstanding the plausible pretences of James II. of granting a free toleration to the Dissenters, his drift was easily seen through; and the Dissenters, much to their credit, as we have already remarked, joined with their persecutors of the established church, generously giving up their private resentments, however just, to their fears of Popery and slavery, which were making large strides towards the destruction of

civil and religious liberty, of which the dispensing power, and the declaration for liberty of conscience, were to be the principal engines. This wise conduct of the Dissenters certainly saved the church and state. Thus an end was put to the prosecution of the Protestant Dissenters by the penal laws; though the laws themselves were not legally repealed, or suspended, till after the revolution in 1688. From this happy period of our English history, the condition of the Presbyterians and other Dissenters began gradually to improve. William and Mary, who succeeded to the throne of England, after the abdication of it by James II. were favourable to the Protestant religion, and the rights of conscience. Notwithstanding the violent opposition which William met with from the high-church party, who were a numerous and powerful body, he succeeded, in many points, to soften the rigours, and abate the national prejudice against the Dissenters. Little else has occurred, since the happy era of the revolution, but fruitless attempts for a repeal of the corporation and test acts. It is to be hoped that the time is not far distant, when these, and some other sta. tutes of an oppresive nature, will be repealed, and Englishmen, of whatever religious persuasion, shall feel and acknowledge, that no difference of opinion can divide their interests as Britons, nor disunite their affections as Christians.

Of the religious tenets of the Presbyte. rians it is not necessary to enlarge very much. They continue to be one of the most numerous and respectable sects of Protestant Dissenters in England; are, doubtless, the richest and most learned body of men out of the pale of the esta blishment; and have now almost entirely forsaken the rigid and severe maxims of their forefathers. They are denominated Presbyterians from their assertion, that the government of the church, as appointed in the New Testament, is by Presbyters. They acknowledge no head of the church but Jesus Christ. According to the original constitution of the Presbyterian church or congregation, they acknowledge the unity and equality of three persons in the Godhead but the greater part of the Presby terians, of the present day, are Unitarians, either what are opprobriously called Arians or Socinians.

They acknowledge the authority and suf. ficiency of the Holy Scriptures to salvation. They generally believe that all corruption and depravity is contracted, and not ori

ginal. They are, for the most part, Pædobaptists, and admit the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, which Dr. Watts says, "is eating bread and drinking wine in the church, in remembrance of the death of Christ." They, in general, reject the doctrine of predestination, and some other doctrines intimately connected therewith. The belief and practice of the modern English Presbyterians are pretty faithfully described in "An Abstract of a Profession of Faith made at a public Ordination at the Old Jewry in 1756;" and also in some "Questions proposed to the Rev. Thomas Wright, at his Ordination, May 31, 1759, with the Answers thereto." These papers may be seen in the "History of Religion," published anonymously, in four vols. 8vo. in the year 1764. We close our account of the Presbyterians by observing, that a lec ture, first set up in the year 1695, at Salter Hall, London, is still continued on the ork ginal foundation, and is supported by the contributions of the friends of Presbyteri. anism in the city of London and its vicinity.

PRESENTMENT of offences, is that which the grand jury find of their own knowledge, and present to the court, without any bill of indictment laid before them at the suit of the King, as a presentment of a nuisance, a libel, and the like; upon which the officer of the court must afterwards frame an indictment, before the party presented can be put to answer it. There are also presentments by justices of the peace, constables, surveyors of the highways, churchwardens, &c.

PRESS, in the mechanic art, a machine made of iron or wood, serving to squeeze or compress any body very close.

The ordinary presses consist of six members, or pieces; viz. two flat smooth planks, between which the things to be pressed are laid; two screws, or worms, fastened to the lower plank, and passing through two holes in the upper; and two nuts, in form of an S, serving to drive the upper plank, which is moveable, against the lower, which is stable, and without motion. Presses, used for expressing of Liquors, are of various kinds: some, in most respects, the same with the common presses, excepting that the under plank is perforated with a great number of holes, to let the juice run through into a tub or receiver underneath. used by Joiners to keep close the pieces they have glued, especially panels, &c. of wainscot, is very simple, consisting of four members; viz. two screws, and two pieces of wood, four or five inches square, and two

Press

or three feet long; whereof the holes at the two ends serve for nuts to the screws. Press, used by Inlayers, resembles the joiner's press, except that the pieces of wood are thicker, and that only one of them is moveable; the other, which is in form of a tressel, being sustained by two legs or pillars, jointed into it at each end. This press serves them for sawing and cleaving the pieces of wood required in marquetry or inlaid work. Founder's Press is a strong square frame, consisting of four pieces of wood, firmly jointed together with tenons, &c. This press is of various sizes, according to the sizes of the mould; two of them are required to each mould, at the two extremes whereof they are placed; so as that, by driving wooden wedges between the mould and the sides of the presses, the two parts of the mould wherein the metal is to be run may be pressed close together. Rolling-Press is a machine used for the taking off prints from copper plates. It is much less complex than that of the Letter-Printers.

PRESS, in Coining, is one of the machines used in striking of money; differing from the balance, in that it has only one iron bar to give it motion, and press the moulds or coins; is not charged with lead at its extreme, nor drawn by cordage. See COINING.

PRESS, Binder's Cutting, is a machine used equally by book-binders, stationers, and paste-board makers; consisting of two large pieces of wood, in form of cheeks, connected by two strong wooden screws; which, being turned by an iron bar, draw together, or set asunder, the cheeks, as much as is necessary for the putting in the books or paper to be cut. The cheeks are placed lengthwise on a wooden stand, in the form of a chest, into which the cuttings fall. Aside of the cheeks are two pieces of wood, of the same length with the screws, serving to direct the cheeks, and prevent their opening unequally. Upon the cheeks the plough moves, to which the cutting-knife is fastened by a screw; which has its key to dismount it on occasion, to be sharpened. The plough consists of several parts; among the rest a wooden screw, or worm, which, catching within the nuts of the two feet that sustain it on the cheeks, brings the knife to the book or paper which is fastened in the press between two boards. This screw, which is pretty Jong, has two directories, which resemble those of the screws of the press. To make the plough slide square VOL. V.

and even on the cheeks, so that the knife may make an equal paring, that foot of the plough, where the knife is not fixed, slides in a kind of groove, fastened along one of the cheeks. Lastly, the knife is a piece of steel, six or seven inches long, flat, thin, and sharp, terminating at one end in a point, like that of a sword, and at the other in a square form, which serves to fasten it to the plough. See BOOK-BINDING.

As the long knives, used by us in the cutting of books or papers, are apt to jump in the cutting thick books, the Dutch are said to use circular knives, with an edge all round; which not only cut more steadily, but last longer without grinding. Press, in the Woollen Manufactory, is a large wooden machine, serving to press cloths, serges, rateens, &c. thereby to render them smooth and even, and to give them a gloss. This machine consists of several members; the principal whereof are the cheeks, the nut, and the worm or screw, accompanied with its bar, which serves to turn it round, and make it descend perpendicularly on the middle of a thick wooden plank, under which the stuffs to be pressed are placed. The Calender is also a kind of press, serving to press, or calender, linens, silks, &c.

We shall now give an account of some presses much in use, and from which, as they are not to be found in books, we have taken original drawings.

PRESS, hop, (Plate Press) a machine used in breweries for compressing bags of hops into a small compass, that they may take less room for the stowage. In the plantation where the hops are grown, (after being picked, dried, and made ready for sale) they are placed in an upper room which has a hole in the floor, the bag to receive them is hung in this hole, and the hops filled into it, a person gets into the bag when nearly full, and by his weight treads down the hops, that the bag may hold more than it otherwise would, the bag is then removed, and its mouth is sewed up. In this state, the bags go to market, and are sold to the brewer, who conveys them to the brewery ready for use; it is here the hops are pressed into a much smaller compass, as breweries are generally situated in large towns, where warehouse-room is valuable, and where the saving of room amply compensates for the trouble of pressing.

Fig. 1 and 2 are upright elevations, at right angles to each other, of a press for packing hops into bags, made by Mr. Va

Hh

Jentine Gotlieb, Lambeth marsh, Southwark: a a is the bottom or fixed bed of the press, firmly bolted to the two upright cheeks, bb, which support at their upper end a strong cross beam, B, called the head; the beam, B, is perforated in the middle to receive an iron screw, D. E is a contrate-wheel, of ninety-six teeth, which has a female screw, to admit the male screw, D; the wheel is turned by a pinion of ten teeth, upon the axis of a large crank, ƒ, which is turned round by one or two men, according to the power required: these men stand upon a stage, H, fastened to the upright cheeks, bb. The lower end of the screw, D, is square, and is keyed into a three-legged iron frame, h, bolted to the swinging-bed of the press, I; this is formed of several pieces of thick oak plank, strongly bolted together the fixed bed, K, of the press is framed in the same manner, and supported on the bottom bed: aa, kk, are two upright beams, fastened at their lower ends to the fixed bed, the press, and at the upper ends are fastened to the frame of the stage, H, on which the men who turn the handle, f, stands: one of these beams, k, is fixed to the lower bed by a moveable key-bolt; at the upper end it turns on a bolt as a centre, so as to rise up, as shown in fig. 1: is a rope going round a pulley, one end fastened to the beam, the other to a weight which counterbalances the beam.

The operation of the machine is begun by screwing the swinging bed of the press up as high as it will go, and turning up the bar, k; a bag, filled with hops, and sewed up, as before described, is then placed on the lower bed, K, and the bar, k, brought down and keyed fast, to keep the bag under the press, the man upon the stage, H, then turns the winch, f, and by the action of the pinion fixed upon its spindle, turns the wheel, E, and thus brings the screw and the swinging bed of the press down upon the bag, and compresses it into a very small space. A small cord is now passed through the spaces between the pieces of wood, forming the lower side of the swinging bed, and the upper side of the fixed bed, and reefed twice round the bag, and tied fast: the man at the handles now turns it back, and draws up the swinging bed to relieve the bag, the cord retaining it in its com pressed state.

In 1798, the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce, rewarded Mr. John Peak, of the New Road, near the Adam and Eve, Lon

don, with thirty guineas, for an improved packing press, shown in fig. 3, Plate Press, which is a front elevation of the machine, A A, the frame of the press ; B B, the large screws, which, in this press, contrary to those in common use, are fixed and immoveable; C, a circular iron bar, extending beyond the sides of the press, and having thereon two worms or endless screws, E, E, which work in two toothed wheels, fixed to the nuts; by turning the winch, D, the nuts and bed are driven up and down the screws, as may be found necessary. F, a stage suspended from the bed, and on which the men stand who work the press; such a stage may, if found necessary, be fixed at the other end of the bar, another winch being put upon the square shoulder, G. The bed of this press must be formed of two pieces of strong wood, which are held together by screws and nuts passed through them, as shown at hhhh.

One very considerable advantage of this press is, that much time is saved by its being a double press; for it will very readily be perceived, that when the lower package has been sufficiently pressed, as the bed or presser is raised, (another package being thereon) the upper package begins to be pressed, as that one underneath is relieved, and so alternately, during the whole operation.

PRESSING, in the manufactures, is the violently squeezing a cloth, stuff, &c. to render it smooth and glossy. There are two methods of pressing, viz. cold or hot. As to the former, or cold pressing, after the stuff has been scoured, fulled, and shorn, it is folded square in equal plaits, and a skin of vellum, or pasteboard, put between each plait. Over the whole is laid a square wooden plank, and so put into the press; which is screwed down tight by means of a lever. After it has lain a sufficient time in the press, they take it out, removing the pasteboards, and lay it up to keep. Some only lay the stuff on a firm table, after plating and pasteboarding, cover the whole with a wooden plank, and load it with a proper weight. The method of pressing hot is this: when the stuff has received the above preparations, it is sprinkled a little with water, sometimes gum water, then plaited equally, and between each two plaits are put leaves of pasteboard; and between every sixth or seventh plait, as well as over the whole, an iron or brass plate well heated in a kind of furnace. This done, it is laid upon the press, and forcibly screwed

PRIME, an appellation given to whatever is first in order, degree, or dignity among several things of the same or like kind. Thus, we say, the prime minister, prime cost, &c. Prime is sometimes used to denote the same with decimal, or the tenth part of an unit. In weights it stands for the twenty-fourth part of a grain.

PRIME figure, in geometry, one which cannot be divided into any other figures more simple than itself, as a triangle among planes, and the pyramid among solids.

PRIME numbers, in arithmetic, are those which can be only measured by unity, or exactly divided without a remainder, 1 being the only aliquot part, as 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, &c. they are sometimes called simple, or incomposite numbers. No even number is prime, because all even numbers are divisible by 2. Numbers ending in 0 and 5, are not prime, because they are all divisible by 5, and those ending in 0 by 10 also.

PRIME of the moon, is the new moon, when she first appears, which is about three days after the change.

PRIME vertical, is that vertical circle which passes through the poles of the meridian, or the east and west points of the horizon; whence dials projected on the plane of this circle are called prime vertical, or north and south dials.

PRIMING, or Prime of a Gun, is the gunpowder put into the pan or touch-hole of a piece, to give it fire thereby. And this is the last thing done in charging. For pieces of ordnauce they have a pointed iron

rod, to pierce the cartridge through the touch-hole, called primer or priming iron. PRIMING, among painters, signifies the laying on of the first colour.

PRIMITIÆ, the first fruits gathered of the earth, whereof the ancients made presents to the gods. In our law, the primitia are one year's profits, after avoidance of every spiritual living, as rated in the King's books.

PRIMITIVE, in grammar, is a root or original word in a language, in contradis tinction to derivative. Thus, God is a pri mitive, godly derivative, and god-like a compound.

PRIMULA, in botany, primrose, a genus of the Pentaudria Monogynia class and order. Natural order of Preciæ. Lysi machiæ, Jussieu. Essential character: involucre of an umbellet; corolla tube cylin drical with a spreading mouth. There are twenty species.

PRIMUM mobile, in the Ptolemaic astronomy, the ninth or highest sphere of the heavens, whose centre is that of the universe.

PRINCE, in polity, a person invested with the supreme command of a state, independent of any other. Prince also de. notes a person who is a sovereign in his own territories, yet holds of some other as his superior; such are the princes of Germany, who, though absolute in their respective principalities, are bound to the Emperor in certain services. Prince also denotes the issue of princes, or those of the royal family. In France, they are called princes of the blood. 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 served on the knee. It is high treason to violate the eldest daughter unmarried.

The Prince of Wales is born Duke of Cornwall, and immediately entitled to all the revenues belonging thereto. He is afterwards created Prince of Wales by investiture with a cap, coronet, gold verge, and ring, and he holds it by patent. The title and principality were first given by Edward I. to his eldest son. While Nor mandy remained to England, he was styled Duke of Normandy; but since the union his title is Magnæ Britanniæ Princeps. He