PRESIDIO 343 PREVOST Sept. 6, 1901) ; Theodore Roosevelt (1901). Elected 1905. William H. Taft, 1909; Woodrow Wilson, 1913 and 1917; Warren G. Harding, 1921. PRESIDIO (SPANISH, GARRISON, GUARD). In the United States there are two military posts or reservations called by this name — that of San Fran- cisco and that of Monterey. The Presi- dio of San Francisco is near the suburbs of that city situated on the harbor. It was a military post under both the Mexi- can and Spanish Governments and by executive order was reserved as a mili- tary base by the United States. Its area is nearly 1,500 acres. The Presidio of Monterey, Cal., is much smaller and likewise was taken over as a military station by the United States, after it had been similarly used by Spain and Mexico. PRESSBURG (POZSONY), a town in Hungary; 35 miles E. of Vienna, on the left bank of the Danube, and on spurs of the Little Carpathians. The most striking edifice is the ruined royal pal- ace, on the top of an eminence, burned in 1811. The cathedral is a large Gothic structure, dating from the 11th century. The trade chiefly in corn and timber, is extensive. Pressburg is a place of very great antiquity. In 1541, when the Turks captured Buda, it became the capital of Hungary, and retained the honor till the Emperor Joseph II. re- stored it to Buda. The treaty by which Austria ceded Venice to France and the Tyrol to Bavaria was signed here in 1805. Pop. about 80,000. PRESTER JOHN, PRESBYTER, or PRIEST JOHN, a name given in the Middle Ages to a supposed Christian sovereign, said to hold his empire in some central part of Asia (Tibet), though, ac- cording to the Portuguese, he was King of Abyssinia. ^ PRESTO (Italian), quick, used in mu- sic to designate a faster rate of move- ment than is indicated by allegro. Presto assai denotes very quick, and prestissimo the highest degree of quick^ ness. PRESTON, a municipal and parlia- mentary borough of England, in Lan- cashire, 27 miles N. E. of Liverpool. The environs of the town exhibit much pleas- ing scenery, and there are some fine pub- lic parks. Among the churches, Christ Church is admired for the purity of its Norman architecture. The Catholic church, St. Walburge's, is considered the finest in the town. The original staple manufacture of the town, linen, has been completely eclipsed by the cotton manu- facture, of which Preston is now one ox the chief centers. Preston also has machine shops, iron and brass foundries, railway carriage works, breweries, malt houses, roperies, tanneries, etc. In 1323 Preston, originally Priest's Town, was taken and burned by Robert Bruce; in the great civil war it espoused the Royalist cause, and was twice captured by the Parliamentarians; in the re- bellion of 1715 it was occupied by the Jacobite forces; in that of 1745 the Highlanders, headed by the Pretender, passed through Preston both on their march to London and on their retreat. Preston was the birthplace of Ark- wright. It returns two members to Parliament. Pop. (1917) 106,747. PRESUMPTION, in law, in the ab- sence of direct evidence that which comes nearest to the proof of a fact. Pre- sumptions are of three degrees: Vio- lent, in which those circumstances ap- pear which necessarily attend the fact; probable, arising from such circum- stances as usually attend the fact; and light (without validity). PRETENDER, one who made claim to a throne under a pretense of right (as Perkin Warbeck, Lambert Simnel, in English history) ; specially applied to the son and grandson of James II., the heirs of the House of Stuart, who laid claim to the throne of England. PRETORIA, the capital of the former South African Republic (Transvaal), since 1910 the seat of government of the Union of South Africa. Pretoria was founded in 1855 by the Boer leader Pre- torius. It owes its prosperity chiefly to the gold mines of Johannesburg, 30 miles distant. Pop. about 65,000. PREVEZA, or PREVISA, a fortified town formerly in the extreme S. W. of European Turkey, now belonging to Greece ; on the N. side of the entrance to the Gulf of Arta. It exports valonia acorns, wool, cotton, and oil. The Ve- netians held the town from 1683 to 1797. One year later Ali Pasha drove out the French garrison and plundered the place. Pop. about 7,500. PREVOST, EUGENE MARCEL, a French novelist; born in Paris, May 1, 1862. His first story, "The Scorpion" (1887), the tragic history of a clerical tutor in a Jesuit school, made a deep im- pression because of the fine psychological insight and intimate knowledge of the priestly life it displayed. Among his works are "Our Helpmate: Provin- cials and Parisiennes" (1885) ; "Chon- chette" (1888) ; "Mile. Jaufre" (1889) ; "Women's Letters" (1892); "A Woman's
