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 828 PRESUMPTION PKEVOST D'EXILES The highlanders reached the plain in safety, but Cope's forces had been alarmed by the firing of their outposts, and were drawn up to receive them. As the sun rose, the high- landers, who were formed in two lines, the second of which was led by the pretender, uncovered, uttered a short prayer, and rushed with a terrific yell upon their enemy. The artillery and dragoons were overpowered, and the infantry, uncovered at both flanks, were completely routed after a brief though brave resistance. " So rapid was this highland on- set," says Lord Mahon, " that in five or six minutes the whole brunt of the battle was over." Of the royal army about 400 were slain (among them the celebrated Col. James Gardiner), and the pretender lost about 100, killed and wounded. The battle was called by the Jacobites that of Gladsmuir, out of respect to a passage in a book of prophecies printed in Edinburgh in 1615, " On Grladsmuir shall the battle be," although that place is a mile distant from the field of conflict. On the fol- lowing day the pretender made a triumphal entry into Edinburgh. PRESUMPTION, in law, an inference or as- sumption made in the absence of evidence. Presumptions are divisible into conclusive pre- sumptions and disputable presumptions. Con- clusive presumptions answer to the prcesumptio juris et de jure of the civil law. The law asserts them to be true, and will not permit evidence to deny or refute them. A familiar illustration may be found in the rule that a debt which has run 20 years, whether under seal, or by judgment, or resting on other evi- dence, is conclusively presumed to have been paid. If it be sued one day before the 20 years expire, the creditor need only prove the debt, and the debtor must prove that he has in some way satisfied it. But if it be sued one day later, not only is the debtor relieved from the necessity of proving payment, but the creditor will not be permitted to prove that the debt has not been paid. If the creditor can prove anything which the law would recognize as a new promise within 20 years, the suit may be maintained on this new promise, but the old debt is conclusively settled. Another common instance is the rule in respect to land, possession of which under a claim of absolute ownership for a certain period constitutes a conclusive presumption of a valid grant, which cannot be disturbed by evidence. (See LIMITATION, STAT- UTES or, and PEESORIPTION.) Conclusive pre- sumptions are not very common in the law; but disputable or rebuttable presumptions, an- swering to the prcesumptio juris of the civil law, constantly occur. They are indeed little more than legal inferences from existing evi- dence, open to modification or reversal by fur- ther evidence. They are much the same with prima facie conclusions or inferences ; as, for example, when one sues on a promissory note, and proves his own possession and the signa- ture of the maker, the law presumes the plain- tiff to be the owner of the note, and also pre- sumes consideration, and gives the plaintiff his case, unless the defendant overcomes the presumption by evidence on his part of some ground of defence. The general presumptions of innocence in favor of an alleged criminal, and of absence of debt in favor of a defend- ant in a civil suit, are of this kind. It will be seen therefore that disputable presumptions do little more than determine where the burden of proof rests. PRETI, Mattia (called IL CALABEESE), an Ital- ian painter, born at Taverna, Calabria, in 1613, died in Malta in 1699. He studied under Lan- franco and Guercino, and painted in the man- ner of the eclectic Bolognese school. Among his chief undertakings was a series of frescoes in the cathedral of Malta illustrating subjects from the life of St. John the Baptist. Many of his works were executed for churches in Rome, Bologna, Venice, and Naples. He was noted for inventive power and boldness. His subjects are generally gloomy or tragic. PREUSS, Johann David Erdmann, a German his- torian, born in Landsberg on the Warthe, April 1, 1785, died in Berlin, Feb. 24, 1868. He was teacher of history and literature at the Fred- erick William institute in Berlin for more than 40 years, historiographer of the Prussian dy- nasty, and biographer of Frederick the Great and editor of his (Euvres (30 vols., Berlin, 1846-'57). Among his later works is Fried- rich der Orosse im siebenjahrigen Kriege und in seinen spateren Regentensorgen (1856). PREVOST, Pierre, a Swiss physicist, born in Geneva, March 3, 1751, died there, April 8, 1839. He studied theology and law, took his degrees as advocate and doctor in 1773, and was a private teacher in Holland and Paris till 1 780, when he went as professor of philosophy to Berlin. He returned to Geneva in 1784, and became in 1793 professor of philosophy there, and in 1810 of natural sciences; and from 1814 to 1823 he was also a member of the representative council of Geneva. He edited Greek classics, translated works by Adam Smith and other English writers, and pub- lished works on philosophy and political econ- omy. He is known by his theories relating to radiant heat, called Prevost's "theory of ex- changes." His principal works are : De Vori- gine des forces magnetiques (Geneva, 1788) ; RecnercJies physico-mecaniques sur la chaleur (1792) ; Du calorique rayonnant (1809) ; and Traites de ptiysique mecanique (1818). PREVOST D'EXILES, Antoine Francois, popular ly known as Abbe Prevost, a French author, born at Hesdin, near Montreuil, April 1, 1697, died near Chantilly, Nov. 23, 1763. He was educated for the church, but repeatedly es- caped from convents to join the army, and was finally brought back to monastic life by disappointment in love. In 1720 he was or- dained. While an inmate for several years the abbey of St. Germain des Pres he to write his first novel. In 1727, after vaii