Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 16.djvu/496

* PBOCOPIUS. 428 PROCTOR. concert with the more distinguished Procojjius, attacked Silesia, and took part in those internal feuds of the Hussite factions by which Bolieuiia was almost wholly ruined. From 1428 to 1430 Procopius directed raids against Hungary, Si- lesia, Saxony. Franconia, and other neighboring lands, which were successful and caused the Hus- sites to be dreaded. The Emperor Sigismund attempted to treat with him. but was unsuccess- ful, and in 1431 Procopius decisively defeated a German army at Tauss. In 1433 the moderate Hussites or Cali.Ktines accepted the terms offered by the Catholic party. The Taborites and Or- phans, under the leadership of Procopius the Great and Procopius the Lesser, refused, how- ever, to have anything to do with the Pope, and hence dissensions arose between them and the more moderate of the Hussites. After many lesser encounters between these factions, a de- cisive battle was fought near BOhmisch-Brod, on May 30, 1434, in which both Procopius the Great and Procopius the Lesser were slain. Consult Creighton. History of the Papacy (6 vols., Lon- don, 1897). See Hus.sites. PROCRUSTES, pro-krus'tez (Lat., from Gk. UpoKpovarri^, Prokroustis, from r^^ioKpciciv, pro- krouein, to beat out, stretch). The surname of a celebrated robber of Attica, named Damastes, or Polypemon. According to the ancient legend, he had two Ijeds, one short, the other long. If a short traveler came to him, he placed him on the long bed and hanmiered him out to fit; tall visitors he placed on the short bed and cut down to the proper length. Other writers speak of but one bed. On liis journey from Troezen to Attica Theseus killed Procrustes in the same way the latter had slain his victims. PROCTER, Adelaide Anne (1825-64). An English poet, the eldest daughter of Bryan Waller Procter. She was born in London. In 1853 she became a contributor of verses to Household Words, under the »om de plume of ilary Berwick, and attracted the attention of Charles Dickens, who did much in the way of introducing her contributions to the public. All excepting four of lier poems were first published either in HoiiseholU Words or All the Year Round. In 1858 her collected poems were pub- lished in two volumes under the title of Legends and Lyrics, a Book of Terse. A number of edi- tions were subsequently published, new verses being supplied to several of them, and for the edition of 18G6. the tenth. Charles Dickens sup- plied a memoir. Her verses are distinguished by their tender sympathy and ardent feeling. PROCTER, Bry.vn Waller (1787-1874). An English poet, better known as Barry Cornwall. He was bom at Leeds and was educated at Har- row, where he met Peel and Byron. He studied law- with a solicitor at Calne. in Wiltshire, and settled in London, where he was admitted to the bar and practiced as conveyancer. Shortly after the death of his father (1816) Procter joined the circle of Leigh Hunt and Charles Lamb and married (1824) a stepdaughter of Basil Jlon- t3gu. He was commissioner in lunacy from 1832 to 1861. Procter's principal publications were: Dramatic (Scenes and Other Poems, prompt- ed by Lamb (1819) ; Marcian Colonna and Other Poems (1820), A Sicilian Story and Other Poems, both inspired hy Hunt (1820); Miran- dola, a tragedy (1821), performed by Kemble at Covcnt Garden; The Flood of Thessaly (1823), also inspired by Hunt; and English Songs (1S32). To the last half of his life belongs his deliglitful Charles Lamb, a memoir (1SUU-C8). His Essays and Tales in Pro.se, originall}' con- tributed to annuals, were collected in 1853. Proc- ter wrote nearly three hundred songs on a wide range of theme. It may fairly be said that he restored to the English lyric its melody, such as it had among the Elizabetlians. Well known are "The Sea." "A Petition to Time," "Life." "Song to his Wife," "A Lost Chord," and manj- others. Consult Patmore, Life of B. 11". Procter, contain- ing the fragment of an autobiographj' (London. 1877 1. PROCTOR (abbreviated from OF. procurator, from Lat. procurator, manager, from procurare, to manage, from pro. before, for + curare, to care, from cura, care). In its legal sense, originally one of the body of men who had the exclusive privilege of appearing in the ecclesiastical and admiralty courts of England ; now, any attorney who practices in either of these courts or in a probate court. The former proctors were ad- mitted to practice only by a commission issued in the name of the Archbishop of Canterbury. A proctor might have an advocate do the actual pleading or trial work for him. but he alone could bring and conduct the proceedings in his own name. On the transfer of the jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical courts over the probate of wills, the administration of estates, and matrimonial causes, to the probate and divorce divisions, the proctors practicing in the former courts were empowered to appear in all the courts of equity and common law in England. In 1877 the Solicitors Act provided that all solicitors should have power to practice as proctors on their ad- mission without further examination. L'pon the abolition of tlie old judicial system of England by the Judicature Acts ( q.v. ). the authority to practice in both the new courts was given to both proctors and solicitors. Therefore, in Eng- land today, the old legal distinction between proctors and other members of the bar has been abolished. However, in both England and the United States the title proctor is still applied to prac- titioners in the surrogate, probate, and admi- ralty courts, merely as a matter of description, and without any special legal signification. See Attorney ; Solicitor : Lawyer. By other uses of the term in England, it is applied to the representatives of the parochial clergy in convocation (q.v.). and to the officers charged with the maintenance of discipline among undergraduates in the universities of Oxford and Cambridge. PROCTOR, Redfield (1831 — ). An Ameri- can political leader and Cabinet officer. He was horn in Proetorsville. Vt., and graduated at Dart- mouth College in 1851. and from the Albany Law School in 1859. He served througlioiit the Civil War, rising from a lieutenancy in the Tliird Vermont Volunteer Infantry to be colonel of the Fifteenth Vermont. After some practice M law. he devoted himself to his extensive quarry interests, in which he accumulated a large for- tune. After weral terms in the State Legisla- ture he served from 1870 to 187S as Lieutenant- Governor, and from 1878 to 1880 as Governor.