Part 91 (2/2)

The pious ardor young Pressaeus brings, Betwixt the fortunes of contending kings; Lank, harmless frog! with forces hardly grown, He darts the reed in combats not his own, Which, faintly tinkling on Troxartas' s.h.i.+eld, Hangs at the point and drops upon the field.

Parnell, _Battle of the Frogs and Mice_, iii. (about 1712).

=Prest=, a nickname given by Swift to the d.u.c.h.ess of Shrewsbury, who was a foreigner.

=Prester John=, a corruption of _Belul Gian_, meaning ”precious stone.”

Gian (p.r.o.nounced _zjon_) has been corrupted into John, and Belul, translated into ”precious;” in Latin _Johannes preciosus_ (”precious John”) corrupted into ”Presbyter Joannes.” The kings of Ethiopia or Abyssinia, from a gemmed ring given to Queen Saba, whose son by Solomon was king of Ethiopia, and was called Melech, with the ”precious stone,”

or Melech _Gian-Belul_.

aethiopes regem suum, quem nos vulgo ”Prete Gianni” corrupte dicimus, quatour appellant nominibus, quorum primum est ”Belul Giad,” hoc est _lapis preciosus_. Ductum est autem hoc nomen ab _annulo Salomonis_ quem ille filio ex regina Saba, ut putant genito, dono dedisse, quove omnes postea reges usos fuisse describitor.... c.u.m vero eum coronant, appellant ”Neghuz.” Postremo c.u.m vertice capitis in coronae modum abraso, ungitur a patriarcha, vocant ”Masih,” hoc est _unctum_. Haec autem regiae dignitatis nomina omnibus communia sunt.--Quoted by Selden, from a little annal of the Ethiopian kings (1552), in his _t.i.tles of Honor_, v. 65 (1614).

? As this t.i.tle was like the Egyptian _Pharaoh_, and belonged to whole lines of kings, it will explain the enormous diversity of time allotted by different writers to ”Prester John.”

Marco Polo says that Prester John was slain in battle by Jenghiz Khan; and Gregory Bar-Hebraeus says, ”G.o.d forsook him because he had taken to himself a wife of the Zinish nation, called Quarakhata.[TN-105]

Bishop Jorda.n.u.s, in his description of the world, sets down Abyssinia as the kingdom of Prester John. Abyssinia used to be called ”Middle India.”

Otto of Freisingen is the first author to mention him. This Otto wrote a chronicle to the date 1156. He says that John was of the family of the Magi, and ruled over the country of these Wise Men. Otto tells us that Prester John had ”a sceptre of emeralds.”

Maimonides, about the same time (twelfth century), mentions him, but calls him ”Prester-Cuan.”

Before 1241 a letter was addressed by ”Prester John” to Manuel Comnenus, emperor of Constantinople. It is preserved in the _Chronicle_ of Albericus Trium Fontium, who gives for its date 1165.

Mandeville calls Prester John a lineal descendant of Ogier, the Dane. He tells us that Ogier, with fifteen others, penetrated into the north of India, and divided the land amongst his followers. John was made sovereign of Teneduc, and was called ”Prester” because he converted the natives to the Christian faith.

Another tradition says that Prester John had seventy kings for his va.s.sals, and was seen by his subjects only three times in a year.

In _Orlando Furioso_, Prester John is called by his subjects ”Senapus, king of Ethiopia.” He was blind, and though the richest monarch of the world, he pined with famine, because harpies flew off with his food by way of punishment for wanting to add paradise to his empire. The plague, says the poet, was to cease ”when a stranger appeared on a flying griffin.” This stranger was Astolpho, who drove the harpies to Cocy'tus.

Prester John, in return for this service, sent 100,000 Nubians to the aid of Charlemagne. Astolpho supplied this contingent with horses by throwing stones into the air, and made transport-s.h.i.+ps to convey them to France by casting leaves into the sea. After the death of Agramant, the Nubians were sent home, and then the horses became stones again, and the s.h.i.+ps became leaves (bks. xvii.-xix.).

=Pretender= (_The Young_), Prince Charles Edward Stuart, son of James Francis Edward Stuart (called ”The _Old_ Pretender”). James Francis was the son of James II., and Charles Edward was the king's grandson.--Sir W. Scott, _Waverley_ (time, George II.).

Charles Edward was defeated at Culloden in 1746, and escaped to the Continent.

G.o.d bless the king--I mean the ”Faith's defender;”

G.o.d bless--no harm in blessing--the Pretender.

Who that Pretender is, and who is king, G.o.d bless us all! that's quite another thing.

Ascribed by Sir W. Scott to John Byrom (in _Redgauntlet_).

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