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 PRESTON had reached India by the way of the cape of Good Hope, made fruitless inquiries for him there. About the same time Peres da Covil- ham, a Portuguese, made a journey to Abyssi- nia in quest of the kingdom of Prester John ; and finding the negus or king of Habesh to be i a Christian prince, he conferred the title upon I him. Mosheim, in his " Ecclesiastical Insti- | tutes," conjectures that Prester John may have | been a Nestorian priest, who, gaining posses- ! sion of a throne in eastern Tartary, transmit- ted his title as well as his name to his succes- | sors. Others have supposed him to be identi- cal with the grand lama. PRESTON, a N. county of West Virginia, bor- dering on Pennsylvania and Maryland, and intersected by Cheat river; area, about 600 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 14,555, of whom 118 were colored. It occupies a valley between the Chestnut ridge on the west and the Alle- ghany ridge on the east, and the soil is very fertile. Iron ore, coal, sandstone, and slate are found, and there is extensive water power. It is traversed by the Baltimore and Ohio rail- road. The chief productions in 1870 were 33,695 bushels of wheat, 20,580 of rye, 145,004 of Indian corn, 189,070 of oats, 27,346 of buck- wheat, 11,961 tons of hay, 58,388 Ibs. of wool, 193,233 of butter, 13,932 of honey, and 8,521 gallons of sorghum molasses. There were 3,596 horses, 4,526 milch cows, 6,423 other cattle, 23,336 sheep, and 6,703 swine; 2 manu- factories of pig iron, 10 tanneries, 19 saw mills, and 4 woollen mills. Capital, Kingwood. PRESTON, a town of Lancashire, England, on the right bank of the river Kibble, 190 m. N. W. of London ; pop. in 1871, 85,427. It occupies an eminence rising from the river, here spanned by a handsome railway viaduct, 68 ft. high. The staple manufacture of Pres- ton was originally linen, which is still made to some extent, but has been completely eclipsed by cotton. There are more than 50 cotton mills, besides manufactories of worsted, ma- chinery, &c. Vessels of 300 tons can ascend to the quays. Preston owes its name, original- ly Priests' Town, to the number of religious houses it contained. In 1873 the number of places of worship was 48, of which 16 belonged to the church of England. PRESTON, Thomas Scott, an American cler- gyman, born in Hartford, Conn., July 23, 1824. He graduated at Trinity college, Hartford, in 1843, and at the General theological seminary, New York, in 1846. He was assistant rector of the church of the Annunciation and subse- quently of St. Luke's, in New York, till 1849, when he went to St. Joseph's theological semi- nary, Fordham, and was ordained in the Roman Catholic church in 1850. After serving as an assistant at the cathedral in New York, and as pastor of St. Mary's church, Yonkers, N. Y., he was in 1853 appointed chancellor of ^the archdiocese of New York, and in 1873 vicar general in connection with the duties of chan- cellor. Since 1861 he has also been pastor of PRESTONPANS 827 St. Ann's church. He has published "Ark of the Covenant, or Life of the Blessed Virgin " (New York, 1860) ; " Life of St. Mary Magda- lene" (1860); "Sermons for the Principal Seasons of the Sacred Year" (1864; enlarj-vd ed., 1866); "The Purgatorian Manual," a se- lection of prayers and devotions (1866) ; " Lec- tures on Christian Unity " (1866) ; " Reason and Revelation" (1868); "Christ and the Church " (1870) ; " The Vicar of Christ " (1871) ; and lectures on the "Devotion of the Sacred Heart" (1874), and other subjects. PRESTON, William Campbell, an American statesman, born in Philadelphia, Dec. 27, 1794, died in Columbia, S. C., May 22, 1860. He was of a Virginia family, and was born while his father was a member of congress in Phila- delphia. He graduated at the state college in Columbia, S. C., in 1812, returned to Virginia, and commenced the study of the law, but after a few months was compelled to travel for the benefit of his health. After an extensive tour through the valley of the Mississippi, he visited Europe, where he remained several years, and at the university of Edinburgh attended the lectures of Professors Playfair and Brown. In 1819 he returned to Virginia, and in 1820 was admitted to the bar. Two years afterward he settled at Columbia, S. C., and soon gained a reputation as a public speaker. In 1828, and again in 1830-'32, he was returned to the state legislature, and became one of the leaders of the nullification party. In 1836 he was elected to the United States senate ; but differing with his colleague, Mr. Calhoun, and his constituents in regard to the support which they gave to Mr. Van Buren, he resigned his seat and re- sumed the practice of the law. He was presi- dent of the South Carolina college from 1845 to 1851, and soon after established the Co- lumbia lyceum, which he endowed with his library of 3,000 volumes. He published a eulogy of Hugh S. Legare in 1843. PRESTONPANS, a village in Haddingtonshire, Scotland, on the frith of Forth, 8 m. E. of Edinburgh, where was fought a memorable action between the Scottish Jacobites under the young pretender, Charles Edward, and the royal troops under Sir John Cope, Sept. 21, 1745. The opposing armies came within sight of each other on the afternoon of the 20th, Cope occupying a strong position adjoining the village of Prestonpans, and having his front protected by a deep morass, while the pretender's troops, mostly highlanders, were posted on a ridge about a mile distant. The royalists had about 2,200 men, with six pieces of artillery, and the insurgents 2,500 ; but in appointments and discipline the former had decidedly the advantage, the highlnnders be- ing a hastily gathered rabble, roughly an. MM' The armies bivouacked in sigljt of each other, At midnight the pretender was informed that a path leading to the plain below and avoiding the morass had been discovered, and i determined to march at once to the attack.