PROVANCHER
505
PROVERBS
duties, he never wavered in his deep loyalty to the
Church, recited his Office daily, and received the last
sacraments at the hands of his old friend, Abb6
Rogerson, who has left abundant testimony of his
excellent dispositions. Popularly best known as the
author of the famous lyric, "The Bells of Shandon",
Mahony's title to literary fame rests more securely
upon the collection of writings known as the "Rel-
iques of Father Prout". Dowered with a retentive
memory, irrepressible humour, large powers of ex-
pression, and a strongly satiric turn of mind, an om-
nivorous reader, well trained in the Latin classics,
thoroughly at home in the French and Itahan lan-
guages, and a ready writer of rhythmic verse in English,
Latin, and French, he produced in such articles as
"An Apology for Lent", Literature and the Jesuits",
and "The Rogueries of Tom Moore", an extraordi-
nary mixture of erudition, fancy, and wit, such as is
practically without precise parallel in contemporary
hterature. The best of his work appeared in " Fraser 's
Magazine" during the first three years of his literary
life. He translated largely from Horace and the
poets of France and Italy, including a complete and
free metrical rendering of Cresset's famous mock-
heroic poem "Vert-Vert" and Jerome Vida's "Silk-
worm". But his newspaper correspondence from
Rome and Paris is notable chiefly for the vigour of his
criticisms upon men and measures, expressed, as these
were, in most caustic language. Seven years before
his death he edited the first authorized collection of
the "Reliques", and in 1860 wrote the inaugural ode
for the "Cornhill Magazine", then starting under
Thackeray's editorship. No complete biography of
"Father Prout" has yet been written and but frag-
mentary materials are now available.
O'Neill, Journal of the Iwniian Society (Cork, Oct.-Dec, 1910); The Clongownian CDublin, 1904); Lee in Dtrf.JiVof.BtOi;., 8. V. Mahony, Francis Sylvester; Jerrold, Final Reliques of Father Proul (London, 1876) ; Sbebhan, Benlley Ballads (London, 1869).
Thomas F. Woodlock.
Provancher, Leon Abel, naturalist, b. 10 March, 1S'20, in the parish of Bccancourt, Nicolet county. Province of Quebec ; d. at Cap Rouge, P. Q., 23 March, 1892. He studied at the College and Seminary of Nicolet, was ordained 12 Sept., 1844, and for the next twenty-five years laboured zealously and fearlessly. He organized two pilgrimages to Jerusalem, one of which he conducted in person. In 186.5 he established in his parish at Portneuf a confraternity of the Third Order of St. Francis, probablj* the first of its kind in Canada. From childhood he had a special love for the study of nature and all the time he could spare from his pastoral duties was devoted to the study and de- scription of the fauna and flora of Canada; his extensive pioneer work in this domain won for him the appellation of the "Father of Natural History in Canada". In 1868 he founded the "Naturaliste Canadien", a monthly publication which he edited for twenty years, and from 1869 until his death he was engaged almost exclusively in scientific work. Among his chief writings are: "Trait6 ^l^mentaire de Botanique" (Quebec, 1858); "Flore du Canada" (2 vols., Quebec, 1862); "Le Verger Canadien" (Quebec, 1862); "Le Verger, le Potager et le Par- terre" (Quebec, 1874); "Faune entomologique du Canada" (.3 vols., 1877-90); "De Quebec k .Jeru- salem" (1884); "Une Excursion aux Climats tro- picaux" (1890); "Lea Mollusques de la Province de Quebec".
Laflamme, Proceedings and Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada for 1892. Presidential Address (Ottawa. 1893); HnABD. L'Abbl Provancher in Le Naturaliste Canadien, XXI-XXVl XXX (Chicoutimi, 1894-9; Quebec. 1903).
Edward C. Phillips.
Provencher, .Tcseph Norbert. See Canada, Catholicity in; St. Boniface, Diocese of.
Proverbs, Book of, one of the Sapiential writings
of the Old Testament placed in the Hebrew Bible
among the Hagiographa, and found in the Vulgate
after the books of Psalms and Job.
I. Names and General Object. — In the Masso- retic Text, the Book of Proverbs has for its natural heading the words n?:Vc 'Vw^:, MUUe Shdomoh (Proverbs of Solomon), wherewith this sacred writing begins (cf. x). In the Talmud and in later Jewish works the Book of Proverbs is oftentimes designated by the single word Mishit, and this abridged title is expressly mentioned in the superscription "Liber Proverbiorum, quem Hebr»i Mislc appellant", found in the official edition of the Vulgate. In the Septuagint MSS., the two Hebrew titles are ren- dered by TTapoi.ii.Lai. 2o(a)Xo/x{5i'Tos and irapoifxlai, re- spectively. From these Greek titles again are imme- diately derived the Latin renderings, "Parabolas Salomonis", "Parabolae", a trace of which appears in the Tridentine " Decretum de Canon. Script.", wherein the Book of Proverbs is simply called "Para- bola;". The ordinary title "Proverbia Salomonis" was apparently taken from the Old Latin Version into the Vulgate, whence comes directly the usual English title of " Proverbs ". In the Church's liturgy, the Book of Proverbs is, like the other Sapiential writings, designated by the common term "Wisdom". This is consonant to the practice, common in early Christian times, of designating such books by the word "Wisdom" or by some expression in which this word occurs, as "All- virtuous Wisdom", etc. In- deed, it is probable that the title ~"2n, "Wisdom", was common in Jewish circles at the beginning of Christianity, and that it passed from them to the early Fathers of the Church (cf. Eusebius, "Hist. Eccl.", IV, x-xii, xxvi). Of the various names given to the Book of Proverbs, that of Wisdom best sets forth the ethical object of this inspired writing. How- ever disconnected the pithy sayings or vi\dd descrip- tions which make up the book may appear, they, each and all, are bound by one and the same moral purpose: they aim at inculcating wisdom as under- stood by the Hebrews of old, that is perfection of knowledge shonnng itself in action, whether in the case of king or peasant, statesman or artisan, phil- osopher or unlearned. Differently from the term "Wisdom", the title Mishle (St. Jerome, Masloth) has a distinct reference to the symbolic character and poetical form of the sayings which are gathered together in the Book of Proverbs. In general, the Hebrew word Mashal (constr. plur. Mishle) denotes a representative saying, that is, a statement which, however deduced from a single instance, is capable of application to other instances of a similar kind. Taken in this sense, it corresponds pretty well to the words proverb, parable, maxim etc., in our Western literatures. But besides, it has the mean- ing of sentences constructed in parallelism; and in point of fact, the contents of the Book of Proverbs exhibit, from beginning to end, this leading feature of Hebrew poetry. Hence, it appears that, as prefixed to this inspired writing, the word Mishle describes the general character of the Book of Proverbs as a manual of practical rules which are set forth in a poetical form.
II. Divisions and Contents. — As it stands at the present day, the Book of Proverbs begins with the general title, "Mishle Shelomoh, the son of David, king of Israel", which is immediately followed by a prologue (i, 2-6), stating the aim and importance of the entire work: the whole collection aims at imparting wisdom and at enabling men to understand all kinds of Mashals. The first part of the book (i, 7-ix), itself a hortatory introduction to the collection of proverbs which follows, is a commendation of wisdom. After a deeply religious epigraph (i, 7), the writer, speaking like a father, gives a series of exhortations
