PROCACCI'NI, ERCOLE, the Elder, was the head of the celebrated family of artists of that name. He was born in 1520, at Bologna, where the greater number of his works still exist. Authors are divided in opinion respecting his merit; Baldinucci and Malvasia call him a painter of moderate talent, while Lomazzo esteems him to be a happy imitator of the colouring and grace of Correggio. His design may be too minute, and his colouring too languid, but he possessed far more taste than most of his contemporaries, and precision free from mannerism, which eminently qualified him for an instructor of youth. Several eminent artists, among whom were Sammacchini, Sabbatini, Bertoja, and his own three sons, were his disciples. The time of his death is uncertain, but he was living in 1591.

take place, and are recorded by the court, in the course of a suit, criminal or civil, previous to final judgment. In this sense the word (processus, procès), is also used in the French, and the Scotch law. In its more ordinary and limited signification the term is applied to the writs which issue out of any court for the purpose of compelling the parties to a suit, and other persons whose co-operation is required, to do some act connected with the progress of the suit. In this sense also process is either civil or criminal. Civil process was formally, and until lately, practically divided into original, mesne (intermediate), and final process.

PROCACCINI, CAMILLO, born in 1546, received his first instruction in the school of his father. He afterwards visited Rome, where some biographers say that he studied the works of Michael Angelo and Raphael. His works evidently show that he had been charmed by Parmegiano. He combined a simplicity and spirit by which his works always charm the eye, though it must be owned that they are too often deficient in the higher power of impressing the mind and moving the affections, which indeed we can hardly expect when we consider the prodigious number of his works in Bologna, Ferrara, Ravenna, Reggio, Piacenza, Parma, and Genoa. Sometimes he allowed himself more time, and then his works have less of the mannerist. His St. Rocco at Reggio deterred Annibale Caracci from painting a companion to it. At Piacenza he had less success in painting against Ludovico; yet his picture occupies the principal place. He died in 1626.

Original process, more commonly known as original writs, issued out of the common-law side, or department, of the court of chancery, hence called the officina justitiæ, the shop at which the right of suing in the king's superior courts might be purchased. The price of this privilege was formerly arbitrary, and until the reign of John the render to the crown was more commonly stipulated for in hawks and horses than in money. But since Magna Charta, origina. writs have been purchasable at a small ad valorem fine of 10s. per cent. upon the amount sought to be recovered. Mesne process was that which issued between the original writ and final judgment, including writs issued for the purpose of compelling the attendance of jurors and of witnesses, and for other collateral purposes. In order to avoid the expense and delay of suing out an original writ, it had long become usual to commence actions by mesne process founded upon a supposed original writ which never had in fact issued. By degress all process before final judgment, except an original writ out of chancery, acquired the name of mesne process, even in cases where it formed the legal as well as the actual commencement of the suit, as in scire facias, auditâ querelâ, &c.

PROCACCINI, GIULIO CESARE, the best artist of the family, was born in 1548. He renounced sculpture, in which he had made considerable progress, for painting, which he studied in the school of the Caracci. The works of Correggio were the principal object of his studies, and many judges are of opinion that no painter ever approached nearer to the style of that great artist. In some of his easel pictures and works of confined composition, he has been mistaken for Correggio. A Madonna of his, at S. Luigi de Franzesi, has been engraved as the work of that master; and some paintings still more closely approximating to this style are in the palace of Sanvitali at Rome and in that of Carrega at Genoa. Of his altar-pieces, that at Santa Afra in Brescia is perhaps most like the style of Correggio; it represents the Virgin and Child amidst a smiling group of saints and angels, in which dignity seems as much sacrificed to grace as in the mutual smile of the Virgin and the Angel in the Nunziata at S. Antonio of Milan. He is sometimes blameable for extravagance of attitude, as in the Executioner of S. Nazario, which is otherwise a picture full of beauties. Notwithstanding the number and extent of his works, his design is correct, his forms and draperies select, his invention varied, and the whole together has a certain grandeur and breadth, which he either acquired from the Caracci, or, like them, derived from Correggio. He died in 1626, aged seventy-eight.

PROCACCINI, CARLO ANTONIO, brother of Camillo and Giulio, was born at Bologna, and learned the art from his father. Not having, like his brother, sufficient genius and invention to attain eminence in historical composition, he devoted himself to landscape, in which he acquired conside able reputation, as well as by fruit and flowers, which he designed after nature.

Final process comprehends writs of execution. [EXECU TION.]

Mesne and final process are sometimes called judicial process, because they issue under the authority of the judges of the court in which the action is pending. A great variety existed in the different forms of process by which actions were commenced in the three superior common-law courts, the inconveniences resulting from which are pointed out in the First Report of the Common-Law Commissioners,' presented in 1828, pp. 70 to 101, 121, &c., 132, &c. But now, by 2 Wm. IV., c. 39, it is enacted, that in actions brought in the courts of law at Westminster, the process shall be a writ of summons, in a form prescribed by the statute, which is addressed to the defendant, and requires him to cause an appearance to be entered within eight days from the service of the writ. If the writ be served on the defendant, and he does not enter an appearance, the plaintiff may direct his own attorney to appear for the defendant, and the defendant being actually or constructively in court by an appearance entered by himself or by the plaintiff for him, the action proceeds. If the defendant cannot be served with the writ of summons, a writ of distringas may be sued out, by which the sheriff is directed to distrain the defendant by his goods for the purpose of compelling an appearance, and if he still hold out, the plaintiff may cause an appearance to be entered for him.

PROCACCINI, ERCOLE, called the Younger, was born in 1596, at Milan. He was the son of Carlo Antonio, and studied under his uncle Giulio Cesare. He frequently painted history and landscapes, but his chief excellence appeared in his flower-pieces, which he painted with great taste and perfection. He died in 1676, at the age of eighty. PROCELLA'RIA. [PETRELS, vol. xviii., p. 46.] PROCESS. This term is sometimes used in its original sense as comprehending the whole of the proceedings which

Where the proceedings are against a trader who is a member of parliament, the writ of summons informs the defendant that an affidavit of debt for the sum of ..... has been filed in the proper office, according to the provisions of the Bankrupt Act, 6 Geo. IV., c. 16, § 10, and that unless the defendant pay, secure, or compound for the debt, or enter into the bond, as provided by that act, and cause an appearance to be entered within one calendar month after service of the writ, he will be deemed to have committed an act of bankruptcy from the time of the service.

The act contains a provision for commencing actions where it was intended to have the security of the personal detention of the debtor, by writ of capias, if the defendant were at large, and by writ of detainer, if he were already in custody. But by 1 & 2 Victoria, c. 110, arrest upon mesne process (as it is called in the statute) is taken away, except in cases where an arrest is ordered by the court or a judge, and all actions must be commenced by summons, though if the court or a judge order an arrest, a capias may issue in the course of the cause already commenced by writ of summons.

By the operation of these statutes the writ of summons is the only process for commencing personal actions in the

died there, AD. 485, i.e. as his successor and biographer Marinus defines it, 124 years after the reign of Julian. (Marinus, Vita Procli, c. 36.) As the successor of Syrianus, he is sometimes called Diadochus.

The works of Proclus, which are very numerous, consist principally of commentaries on older writers; of these the best known are his commentaries on the Timæus' and 'Parmenides' of Plato, the latter of which has been recently printed as an appendix to Stallbaum's bulky edition of the dialogues. He wrote also commentaries on Hesiod's 'Works and Days;' on Ptolemy's Astrology;' and on the first book of Euclid's Elements,* in two books. His original works, besides a few hymns of doubtful merit, are a treatise On the Sphere,' published by Bainbridge, London, 1520 (which however is mostly taken from Geminus), and 'Eighteen Arguments against the Christians,' in which he endeavours to prove that the world is eternal.

In his style Proclus is much more perspicuous and intelligible than his predecessor Plotinus; indeed he is on the whole a good writer, and occasionally is almost eloquent. But the matter of his works has not much to recommend it: his propensity to allegorise everything, even the plainest and simplest expressions in the authors on whom he comments, must deduct largely from his merits as an expounder of other men's thoughts; and but for the interest which attaches to him as the last of a school of philosophy, it is not much to be regretted that his works have slumbered so long in the dust of libraries, and have been either wholly neglected or imperfectly edited. His life,' says Gibbon, with that of his scholar Isidore, composed by two of their most learned disciples, exhibits a deplorable picture of the second childhood of human reason.'

The commentaries on Euclid's first book are valuable for the large number of scattered pieces of information which they give on the history of geometry; but as commentaries they are only useful as showing what kind of discussion took place on geometrical questions at the time when they were written. These commentaries were translated by the late Mr. Thomas Taylor, whose attempts to revive all kinds of Platonism are well known. The original Greek was published by Hervagius at Basle, but from so bad a manuscript, that the Latin of Barocius (Patavii, 1560), taken from inore and better manuscripts, is a better authority when it differs from the Greek of the Basle edition.

The reader who has any curiosity to know more of this author may refer to the following books (1) Procli Opera, ed. Victor Cousin, Paris, 1820-27, 6 vols. 8vo.; (2) 'Initia Philosophiæ ac Theologiæ ex Platonicis fontibus ducta, sive Procli Diadochi et Olympiodori in Platonis Alcibiadem Commentarii,' ed. Fr. Creuzer, Francof. ad Mæn., 1820-25, 4 vols. 8vo; (3) 'Ex Procli Scholiis in Cratylum Platonis, ed. J. F. Boissonade, Lips., 1820; (4) Translation of the Six Books of Proclus on the Theology of Plato, &c., by Th. Taylor, Lond., 1815, 2 vols. 4to.; (5) 'The Commentaries of Proclus on the Timæus of Plato,' in 5 books, by Th. Taylor, Lond., 1820, 2 vols. 4to.

PRO'CNIAS, Count Hoffmansegg's name for a genus of birds placed by Mr. Swainson and others under the subfamily Bombycillina, Swallow Chatterers.

Generic Character.-Bill very broad; the sides inflected; the tip not hooked. Nostrils nearly naked. Wings pointed; the three first quills longest. Inner toe shorter than the outer. Tail slightly forked. (Sw.)

Example, Procnias ventralis, Swallow Fruit-eater. Description.-(Male.)-Blue; front, throat, and temples black: middle of the body beneath white, the sides with blackish transverse striæ. Length about 5 inches. Female.-Green; chin and temples grey; body beneath yellowish, transversely striated with dusky-green.

Mr. Swainson (Zoological Illustrations, 1st series) remarks that the birds of this genus are remarkable for the enormous width of their mouths, which in some species exceeds that of the Swallow family, thus enabling them with ease to swallow the large Melastoma berries and those of other tropical shrubs, on which alone they subsist; not on insects, as Cuvier asserts. Although, he adds, they perfectly resemble the swallows in the construction of their bills, their wings are not formed for rapid flight; and their feet are much stronger, and calculated for searching among

Iz ASTRONOMY, P. 532, for Proclus Diadochus (uot the commentator of Euclid), A.D. 550, read Proclus Diadochus (the commentator of Euclid, A.D. 450. P. C., No. 1171.

Procnias ventralis. (Sw., Zool. Ill.) PROCONSUL. [CONSUL: PROVINCIA.] PROCOPIUS, ANTHE'MIUS, by which latter name he is best known in history, a grandson of Anthemius, who was minister of Arcadius and of Theodosius II., was proclaimed emperor of the West by the nomination of Leo I., emperor of the East, and with the consent of Ricimer, a chief of Suevian and other barbarian mercenaries in the service of the empire, who had assumed the supreme military authority over Italy after the death of Severus. As a condition of his consent, Ricimer obtained the hand of the daughter of Anthemius. After a few years Ricimer quarrelled with his father-in-law, and marched against him. The emperor Leo dispatched the patrician Olybrius to Italy to mediate a peace, but Olybrius, being offered the crown by Ricimer, was tempted by the offer and accepted it. Anthemius, though forsaken by most of his followers, made a stout resistance outside of Rome, but he was defeated and killed, A.D. 472, after five years' reign.

PROCOPIUS was born at Cæsarea in Palestine, about the end of the 5th or beginning of the 6th century. After studying rhetoric in his native country, he went to Constantinople, where he gave lessons on rhetoric, and appears to have practised also as a lawyer, for such he is styled in the title of some of his works. His reputation for learning and ability reached the court; and the emperor Justin the Elder, in the last year of his reign, appointed him assessor (ovyrá0edpog) to Belisarius, who was about that time sent as governor to Dara on the frontiers of Armenia. Procopius afterwards accompanied that commander in his first war against the Persians (A.D. 530), afterwards in that against the Vandals in Africa (533-5), and lastly against the Goths in Italy (536-9). During these campaigns he appears to have rendered himself very useful through his abilities and activity, and to have been entrusted by Belisarius with important commissions connected with the service of the army. In his capacity of assessor, he was the general's legal adviser, and he was also his private secretary. In the year 538, he assisted Antonina, the wife of Belisarius, in VOL. XIX.-F

raising troops in Campania, and in sending some by sea to Rome, which was then besieged. On his return to Constantinople, about the year 540, the emperor Justinian made him a senator, as a reward for his services. In 562, he was made prefect of Constantinople, unless perhaps it was another of the name who obtained this dignity in the year 562. He died in that city at an advanced age, but the precise year of his death is not ascertained.

Procopius wrote the History of his own Times,' in eight books, which has been translated into Latin by Claude Mattret, a jesuit. 'Procopii Cæsariensis Historiarum sui Temporis Libri Octo,' fol. Paris, 1662, with the Greek text. The work has also been translated into Italian, German, and other modern languages. There is a German translation, with notes, by Kanngiesser, Greifswald, 1827-29, 3 vols, 8vo. The History' of Procopius is an important work, which forms the connecting link between antient and modern history, between Ammianus Marcellinus and the Byzantine historians. Procopius was well informed and unprejudiced; he was a spectator of, or an actor in, most of the events which he narrates; he was well acquainted with the court of Justinian; and he is generally trustworthy, except perhaps where he stoops to the customary flatteries towards the emperor, the empress Theodora, and his patron Belisarius, for which flattery however he has made ample amends in his secret history of the same personages. His descriptions of the manners of the various barbarous nations which invaded the Roman empire are vivid and interesting. The first two books of his history concern the Persian wars. He begins his narrative with the death of Arcadius, and briefly relates the wars between the Romans and Persians under Theodosius the Younger, Anastasius, and Justinus, and lastly Justinian. As he comes down to contemporary times, his history is more diffuse. He brings his narrative down to the 23rd year of Justinian's reign, A.D. 550. Books 3 and 4 treat of the wars of the Vandals in Africa, and the reconquest of that province by Belisarius. The 5th, 6th, and 7th books are concerned with the history of the Gothic kingdom in Italy founded by Theodoric, and the expedition of Belisarius against Totilas. The 8th book is of a mixed character; it resumes the account of the Persian wars, then speaks of the affairs of the Roman empire in other quarters, in Africa, on the Rhine, and in Thrace, and at last it resumes the narrative of the Gothic war in Italy, the expedition of Narses, the defeat and death of Teia, and the final overthrow of the Gothic kingdom.

A second volume, published likewise at Paris, in 1563, contains two other works of Procopius, in the Greek text, with a Latin translation. One contains an account of the public buildings erected or restored by Justinian throughout the empire, De Edificiis Domini Justiniani Libri VI. It is written in a laudatory style, but contains much valuable topographical information.

The other work of Porcopius is entitled 'Anecdota, or Secret History, in thirty chapters. The character of this book has been noticed under JUSTINIANUS. Justinian and Theodora are here painted in the darkest colours. Procopius says that he wrote it to complete his History,' in which he could not, through fear of torture and death, speak of living persons as they deserved. Some grossly obscene passages concerning Theodora, who was evidently a very bad woman, have been expunged in most editions. There seems little doubt that Procopius is the author of the work. The Paris edition of Procopius, already quoted, is enriched with copious historical notes, prefaces, and an index. PROCTOR, an officer of the Ecclesiastical courts, whose business is that of an agent between his clients and the courts to which he is attached. He stands in a similar situation to that of an attorney at common law, or a solicitor in chancery. There are about 120 proctors now practising in the several courts of Doctors' Commons, London, which are four in number, the Court of Arches, the Prerogative Court, the Consistory or Consistorial Court of the Bishop of London, and the Admiralty Court.

In commencing a suit in any of these courts, the proctor is appointed by a proxy executed by the client, by which he constitutes him his agent, and promises to confirm all his acts as by law required in such suit. The proctor then proceeds to collect the facts of the case, and to apply to the court, in his client's behalf, to draw allegations and interrogatories, and summon witnesses, whose evidence is taken down in private by the examiners, who are proctors appointed for that purpose. This evidence is deposited in the registry

of the court in which the suit is brought, and is not allowed to be seen by any party until such time as the court may think fit to order publication. No viva vore evidence is received in these courts. After the necessary information has been collected and arranged, the proctor prepares his client's case, to be put into the hands of the advocates, to be by them brought before the court, if they deem it advisable. In the case of wills, or administrations with the will annexed, that is, where the deceased has left a will, but has not appointed any executor, the executors or administrators are sworn to the due execution of the will of the deceased; and they make affidavit as to the amount of property, time of death, &c. The proctor then makes a copy of such will or papers, and places it before the registrar of the court to be compared with the original; the copy, when thus compared, is returned to him with the probate under seal of the court attached. In cases of administration, he delivers in a formal account of the claims of the parties who apply for letters of administration, with an affidavit as to the value of the property and other particulars, and prays the court to decree letters of administration also under seal of the court. These instruments are then delivered to the executors or administrators, and are their authority for distributing the property of the deceased according to his will, or, in the absence of a will, according to law.

It is also the business of the proctor to obtain licences for marriage, on the application of either of the parties about to contract such marriage, and to draw an affidavit in which the party applying for the licence declares that he or she knows of no legal impediment to such marriage. It is the proctor's duty to explain the nature of this affidavit to his client, who is then sworn to the truth of it before one of the advocates, who are appointed surrogates, or deputies of the judge. The affidavit is then lodged in the Faculty Office, or office of the vicar-general, and licence obtained under seal: this licence remains in force for three months.

The proctor in many cases has to attest the acts of his client, and for this purpose he is appointed a notary public, but his power as such extends only to proceedings in his own courts, and not to the general business of a notary. The official title of a proctor is notary public, and one of the procurators-general of the Arches Court of Canterbury and of the High Court of Admiralty.'

The number of the proctors is prevented from increasing very rapidly by the restrictions on taking clerk apprentices' only the thirty-four senior proctors, and of them only such as are of five years' standing in such seniority, are allowed to take an articled clerk, and in no case to take a second until the first has served five years, and then only by permission of the court. The term of articleship is seven years, which is legally required on account of the notarial capacity in which they have to act. Notwithstanding these regulations, the number has materially increased. In the time of Charles II. there were only thirty-four procurators-general and ten supernumeraries. The proctors wear gown as a badge of office in court, and in the Arches a cape trimmed with ermine in addition; and on certain occasions, such as upon admission or attending prayers on the first day of Term, a wig similar to that of a barrister. They are exempted from serving as jurors or parish officers. The appeal from these courts is to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, where the proctor conducts the case in the same way as in the courts of Doctors' Commons, but is obliged to call to his assistance a barrister, in addition to an ecclesiastical advocate. There is an appeal court held in Doctors' Commons, but it is only for business preliminary to the cause being heard before the Privy Council.

The courts are held in the common hall of Doctors' Commons, situated in the College, in which are the official residences of the judges and advocates. The proctors have no inn, or regular locality, but are very inconveniently dispersed about the narrow streets near the College.

Attached to the courts of the province of York and to the different bishops' courts are similar bodies of proctors, who differ only in trifling circumstances from those here described. [PROCURATOR.]

PRO'CULUS, one of the tyrants or pretenders to the empire who rose after the death of Tacitus. He was a native of Liguria, and originally a chief of robbers, but afterwards served in the army with distinction under Aurelian, and showed himself a brave though rude soldier. He was proclaimed emperor in Gaul, and fought against the Germans, but being attacked by Probus, who was acknowledged em