38 PROUT PROVENCAL LANGUAGE, &c. by opposing (Nov. 4) the adoption of the con- stitution, which he looked upon as "dangerous to liberty." He next edited in succession three short-lived journals, the last of which expired Oct. 13, 1850. These papers were repeatedly condemned by the courts, but the fines imposed upon the editor were immediately paid by his admirers. His printed speeches and pam- phlets, including his Droit au travail (1848), Les Malthusiens, Demonstration du socialisme, and Ideea revolutionnaires (1849), found a ready sale among men of all opinions, and elicited answers from the ablest pens in the conservative party. In January, 1849, he had undertaken to establish la banque du peuple, an institution of gratuitous credit, by means of which he hoped to bring his theory into operation; but in this he was interrupted, March 28, by a sentence of three years' impris- onment for illegal publications, which he at first avoided by flight. After sojourning in Geneva for a few months, ho delivered him- self up (June 4), and was incarcerated succes- sively in the Conciergerie, at Doullens, and in the prison of Sto. P61agie, where in 1850 he married a merchant's daughter. During his imprisonment he wrote Confessions d'un revo- lutionnaire (1849), Actes de la revolution (1849), Oratuite du credit (1850), and Larerolution so- ciale demontree par le coup d'etat (1852), which created a deep sensation and was looked upon as a partial apology for Napoleon's policy. He was liberated on June 4, 1852 ; in 1856 pub- lished a Manuel des operations de la bourse, a satire on stockjobbers and speculators; and soon afterward De la justice dans la revolution et dans Teglise, nouteaux principes de philo- sophic pratique (3 vols., 1858), which he ironi- cally dedicated to the archbishop of Besanvon. This metaphysical work, a covert attack upon the established order of things, was seized by the police, and its author was sentenced to three years' imprisonment and a fine of 4,000 francs ; but Proudhon was in Belgium, where he remained till November, 1860, when the amnesty granted to the press by Napoleon III. permitted him to return to Paris. His princi- pal later works are: La guerre et la paix (2 vols., 1861) ; Theorie de Vimpot (1861) ; La federation et Punite en Italic (1862); and Du principe federattf et de la neeessite dereconsti- tuer le parti de la revolution (1863). Among his posthumous work's are : Les fivanyilet an- note* (1865), which was seized and the editor was sentenced to a year's imprisonment ; and France et Rhin (1867). See Proudhon, a vie, ses ceuvres et sa corrcspondance, by Charles Clement (1872). The first volume of his cor- respondence was published in 1874, and is to be followed by seven others, besides several additional posthumous works. PROrT, Father. See MAHONY, FRANCIS. PROUT, Samuel, an English water-color paint- er, born in Plymouth, Sept. 17, 1783, died in London, Feb. 10, 1852. Some sketches of Cor- nish scenery which he executed for Britton the antiquary first brought him into notice, and in 1805 he removed to London. He published a series of studies executed in lithography (1816) ; " Facsimiles of Sketches made in Flanders and Germany;" "Sketches in France, Switzerland, and Italy;" "Antiquities of Chester;" "Hints on Light and Shade, Composition, &c., as ap- plicable to Landscape Painting;" "Microcosm, the Artist's Sketch Book of Groups of Figures, Shipping, and other Picturesque Objects;" and " Hints for Beginners." PROCT, William, a Scottish physician, born in 1786, died in London, April 9, 1850. He re- ceived his professional education at the univer- sity of Edinburgh, but passed the greater part of his life in London. His researches on the application of chemistry to the explanation of the phenomena of life are contained in an im- portant work " On the Nature and Treatment of Stomach and Renal Diseases " (5th ed., 1848). He also published "An Inquiry into the Nature and Treatment of Gravel " (1821) ; " Chemistry, Meteorology, and the Function of Digestion, considered with reference to Nat- ural theology," a Bridgewater treatise (1834 ; 4th ed., 1855) ; and a number of papers in sci- entific magazines and transactions. PROVENCAL LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE. Provencal belongs to the Romance or Romanic group of the Aryan or Indo-European family of speech. (See ROMANCE LANGUAGES.) Its real home is the south of France, the boun- dary line running through Dauphiny, Lyou- nais, Auvergne, Limousin, Perigord, and Sain- tongo. It is spoken also in the east of Spain, Catalonia, Valencia, and the Baleares, and in Savoy and a portion of Switzerland. At pres- ent several dialects may be distinguished : New Provencal, Languedocian, Limousinian, Auvorgnian, Dauphinese, Waldensian, Gascon, and Catalan. The Provencal language sepa- rated from the idiom of northern France, des- ignated as la langue d*oil, from the use of the affirmation oil (Lat. illud), about the begin- ning of the 9th century. Probably there was once but one Romance language in the whole of Gaul, though some of the early literary monu- ments which are generally produced as exam- ples of the original uniform tongue, also dating from the 9th century, have a preponderance of French forms. In order to distinguish the newly formed dialect of the south of France from Italian, Spanish, and French, and to give it a geographically comprehensive name, it was natural to select for it the name of the largest province within its territory. Thus, in dis- tinction from romana, came into use la lengua proensal, la proewal, le proensaUs, and vulgar proensal ; and the people who spoke it were called Provincial**, though also Francigence. It received also the name of Limousinian (lemosi), after the province of Limousin, which was gradually transferred also to the Catalonian- Valencian idiom. As a large part of southern France came to be called Languedoc or Llen- guadoch, after the use of the affirmation oe