Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 46.djvu/309

 1851, and ‘A History of the Anti-Corn-Law League,’ London, 1853, which is still the standard work on the subject.

[Prentice's papers and a portrait in oil became the property of his niece, Mrs. Emily Dunlop of Northwich, Cheshire, from whom the writer derived much of the information contained in the present article. See also Macmillan's Mag. October 1889, pp. 435–43, and Prentice's Hist. Sketches of Manchester.] 

PRENTIS, EDWARD (1797–1854), painter, born in 1797, first exhibited in 1823 at the Royal Academy, sending ‘A Girl with Matches’ and ‘A Boy with Oranges;’ and in 1825 contributed three pictures to the first exhibition of the Society of British Artists, of which, in the following year, he was elected a member. Thenceforward, throughout his life, he was a steady supporter of the society, and all his works were shown in Suffolk Street. Prentis painted scenes in the domestic life of his own time, humorous, pathetic, and sentimental, which gained considerable temporary popularity; they included such subjects as ‘The Profligate's Return from the Alehouse,’ 1829; ‘Valentine's Eve,’ 1835; ‘The Wife’ and ‘The Daughter,’ 1836 (engraved, as a pair, by J. C. Bromley, 1837); ‘A Day's Pleasure,’ 1841, his cleverest work (engraved); and ‘The Folly of Extravagance,’ 1850, which was the last picture he exhibited. Prentis executed for the trustees of the British Museum a series of accurate and highly finished drawings of the ivory objects found at Nimroud; these were engraved on wood by J. Thompson, and published in Layard's ‘Monuments of Nineveh’ (1849, fol.) Prentis died in December 1854, leaving a widow and eleven children.

[Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; Art Journal, 1855, p. 108; Gent. Mag. 1855, pt. i. p. 656; Exhibition Catalogues.] 

PRENTIS, STEPHEN (1801–1862), poet, born in 1801, was educated at Christ's College, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. in 1824, and M.A. in 1830. For many years he resided at Dinan, Côtes du Nord, France, where he died on 12 June 1862. He was the author of numerous short poems of considerable merit, which he printed for private circulation among his friends.

His works, which, unless otherwise specified, were printed at Dinan, are extremely scarce: 1. ‘An Apology for Lord Byron, with Miscellaneous Poems,’ London, 1836, 8vo. 2. ‘Tintern Stonehenge. “Oh! think of me at Times!”’ [in verse], London, 1843, 8vo. 3. ‘The Wreck of the Roscommon,’ a poem, London, 1844, 8vo. 4. ‘A Tribute to May’ [in verse], 1849, 4to. 5. ‘Le Grand Bey,’ 1849. 6. ‘Winter Flowers,’ 1849. 7. ‘The Flight of the Swallow,’ 1851. 8. ‘The Revel of the Missel-Thrush,’ 1851. 9. ‘The Debtor's Dodge; or the Miller and the Bailiff [in verse], with copious Notes,’ 1852, 8vo. 10. ‘Reflexions in a Cemetery abroad,’ 1852. 11. ‘The Common Home,’ 1852. 12. ‘Opuscula,’ 1853, 4to, containing a scene from ‘The Cid,’ an unpublished drama, and ‘Sketch of Levy's Warehouse in 1838.’ 13. ‘Æsop on the Danube, or Le Loup devenu Berger; to which are added two small Poems,’ 1853, 8vo. 14. ‘Lines to a Post,’ 1853, 8vo. 15. ‘Shadows for Music’ [in verse], 1853, 8vo. 16. ‘Sketch of Levy's Warehouse (St. Margaret's Bank, Rochester)’ [in verse]; a reprint, with more text and more notes, 1853, 8vo. 17. ‘ Jeux d'Esprit (xxix) on the Russian War,’ 1854–1855. 18. ‘Lines on a Heap of Stones,’ 1857. 19. ‘Le Paysan du Danube (Les Deux Pigeons)’ [in English verse from the French of La Fontaine], 1858, 8vo. 20. ‘The Prince and the Prayer-book; an Episode in the Life of Napoleon III,’ 1858, 8vo.

[Private information; Cooper's Biogr. Dict.; Graduat. Cantabr.] 

PRESCOTT, HENRY (1783–1874), admiral, son of Admiral Isaac Prescott (1737–1830) who commanded the Queen as flag-captain to Sir Robert Harland in the action off Ushant on 27 July 1778, and grandson, on the mother's side, of the Rev. Richard Walter [q. v.], author of ‘Anson's Voyage round the World,’ was born at Kew on 4 May 1783. He entered the navy in February 1796 on board the Formidable, with Captain George Cranfield Berkeley [q. v.] In 1798 he was moved into the Queen Charlotte, in 1799 to the Penelope, with Captain (afterwards Sir) Henry Blackwood [q. v.], and in her was present at the capture of the Guillaume Tell on 30 March 1800. In 1801, in the Foudroyant, he was present at the operations on the coast of Egypt, and on 17 Feb. 1802 he was appointed by Lord Keith acting lieutenant of the Vincejo brig. His rank was confirmed by commission dated 28 April 1802. In April 1803 he was appointed to the Unicorn, in the North Sea, and in December 1804 to the Æolus, one of the squadron, under Sir Richard John Strachan [q. v.], which, on 4 Nov. 1805, captured the four French ships of the line that had escaped from Trafalgar. In 1806 he was moved into the Ajax, from which he was transferred to the Ocean, flagship of Lord Collingwood in the Mediterranean. On 4 Feb. 1808 he was promoted to be commander of the