PKESTON. 380 PKESTONPANS. at Harvard, traveled extensively in Europe. On his return to America he settled at Columbia, S. C, which continued to be his home, though he had large agricultural interests in Louisiana. He was a lover of the fine arts and liberally aided the American artist Hiram Powers (q.v. ). His ability as an orator and a writer gave him a more than local celebrity, and he was for several terms a member of the South Carolina State Senate. As the Civil War drew near he became an ardent secessionist and was chosen to lead his State's delegation at the Charleston convention of 1800. The next year he was appointed one of the com- missioners to Virginia, and he made a notable speech at Richmond urging the Virginians to leave the Union. At the outbreak of the war he entered the Confederate military service, and participated in the first battle of Bull Run. Soon afterwards, however, he was appointed chief of the Conscription Bureau, with the rank of brig- adier-general. At the close of the war he went to Europe, where he remained several years, and though he finally returned to the United States, he continued until his death bitterly hostile to the established Government, PBESTON, M.a;rgaret (Juxkin) (c.1825-97). An American authoress, born in Philadelphia, Pa. She married T. L. Preston of the Virginia Mflitary Institute and lived afterwards in Vir- ginia and Maryland. Her first writing appeared in 1849 in Sartain's Magazine. Her first book, Sihertcood (18.5G), was a novel. Her later writ- ings are almost entirely poetical, and express deep religious feeling and ardent sympathj- with the cause of the South in the Civil War, especial- ly in Becchcnhrook (IS(iti), in which are some widely knowii lines on Stonewall .Jackson's grave, and a lyric "Slain in Battle." Other poems are collected in Old Hongs and Sew ( 1870) ; Cartoons (1875); Colonial Ballads (1887); and For Love's Sake (1887). Later volumes are Aunt Dorothy (1890) and .1 Handful of Monographs. She wrote also a good translation of the Latin hymn "Dies Ira-" ( 1855) . She died in Baltimore. PRESTON, Richard Graham, Viscount ( 1048- 95), An English .Jacobite politician and con- spirator. He was born in Xetherby. Cumberland, and was sent to Westminster School, tlience to Christ Church, Oxford, and became a member of Parliament for his native shire at the age of twenty-seven. For his support of the Stuarts, he ■was rewarded with a Scotch peerage (1681), and the following year as Viscount Preston he was sent on a diplomatic errand to France, but re- turned ( 1085 ) to enter the Parliament of James II., and became a member of the Pri^•y Coiracil. After the downfall of the Stuarts Preston con- tinued to be their agent in France, and upon one of his visits to London was imprisoned in the Tower for six months, but continued his conspir- acies and was regarded by the .Jacobites as the true Secretary of State. In 1091 he was again captured and tried and was condemned to death by the English Government, but saved himself by betraying his fellow plotters. Once again he was imprisoned for refusing to give evidence against Jacobites, but finally retired and devoted himself to the revision of his translation of De Consola- tione Philosophic by Boethius, which was pub- lished posthumously. PRESTON, TnoMA.s Scott (18-24-91), An American Roman Catholic elergvman. He was born at Xew Hartford, Conn., of Protestant par- ents. Though the son's early influences were ad- verse to ritualism, when he graduated from Trin- ity College, Hartford, in 1843 with the determina- tion of entering the ministry, he took the vow of celibacy. After completing his course at the General Theological Seminary in New York, he became attached to Trinity Church, later to the Church of the Annunciation in Xew York, the Holy Innocents, West Point, and Saint Luke's, Xew York. He was among the first in America to respond to the influences of the Tractariau movement, and accepting the Roman Catholic faith, after a brief course of study at Saint .John's College. Fordham, he was ordained to the Roman Catholic priesthood at Albany in 1850. He was first assigned as curate to the old Cathe- dral in ilulberry Street, Xew York, then trans- ferred to the Church of the Immaculate Concep- tion at Yonkers. Returning to the cathedral in 1853. he became secretary to Archbishop Hughes, and in J855 assumed the direction of the chan- cery, which he continued to administer mtil his death. In 1801 he was appointed rector of Saint Ann's to succeed Dr. John M. Forbes (q.v.). In 1874 he became vicar-general of the archdiocese; two years later the Pope conferred the title of ilonsignor, and in 1888 he was named a Pro- thonotary Apostolic. He was a strict discipli- narian and warm supporter of parochial schools. In tliis he was opposed by a faction whose promi- nent members were Dr. Edward ilcCilTOU and Father Ducey (qq.v.), the latter at one time his assistant at Saint Ann's. He published a num- ber of books on devotional and controversial sub- jects, among which Protestantism and the Bible (1880) and Protestantism and the Church (1882) have been extensively used. PRESTON, William Campbell (1704-1800). An American lawyer, orator, and educator, born at Philadelphia. In 1809 he entered Washington College (Va.), but the next year entered the South Carolina College, at which he graduated in 1812. About 1817 he went abroad, met Wash- ington Irving and his brother, and with them made walking trips through Wales and Scotland. He returned to the L'nited States in 1819, was admitted to the bar in 1820. and removed to Columbia, S, C, in 1822. He soon won a great reputation, particularly as a jury lawyer. From 1828 to 1832 he was a member of the Legislature, and was a prominent advocate of Xullification. In 1837 he was elected to the United States Sen- ate as a Calhoun Democrat. In 1842. on account of differences of opinion with his constituents, he resigned and resumed the practice of law. From 1845 to 1851 he was president of the South Care- i lina College, and lectured on belles-lettres. ' Though very successful, lie was forced to resign ; on account of failing health. Preston was recog- ' nized as one of the most finished orators in the United States. i PRESTONPANS, pres'ton-pinz'. A village ! in Haddingtonshire, Scotland, on the Firth of Forth, eight miles east of Edinburgh (Jlap: Scotland, F 4). It gives its name to the battle fouglit in the vicinity in which the Jacobites un- der Prince Charles Edward routed the royal army under Sir .John Cope, capturing their can- non, baggage, and militan- chest, September 21, 1745. Population, in 1891, 2200; in 1901, 1721.
