eggars' Bush_
(1622).

_Prig_ (_Betsey_), an old monthly nurse, "the frequent pardner" of Mrs.
Gamp; equally ignorant, equally vulgar, equally selfish, and brutal to
her patients.

"Betsey," said Mrs. Gamp, filling her own glass, and passing the
teapot [_of gin_], "I will now propoge a toast: 'My frequent
pardner, Betsey Prig.'" "Which, altering the name to Sairah Gamp, I
drink," said Mrs. Prig, "with love and tenderness."--C. Dickens,
_Martin Chuzzlewit_, xlix. (1843).

=Prim'er= (_Peter_), a pedantic country schoolmaster, who believes himself
to be the wisest of pedagogues.--Samuel Foote, _The Mayor of Garratt_
(1763).

=Primitive Fathers= (_The_). The five apostolic fathers contemporary with
the apostles (viz., Clement of Rome, Barn[)a]bas, Hermas, Ignatius and
Polycarp), and the nine following, who all lived in the first three
centuries:--Justin, Theoph'ilus of Antioch, Irenaeus, Clement of
Alexandria, Cyprian of Carthage, Or[)i]gen, Gregory "Thaumatur'gus,"
Dionysius of Alexandria and Tertullian.

[Asterism] For the "Fathers" of the fourth and fifth centuries see GREEK
CHURCH, LATIN CHURCH.

=Primrose= (_The Rev. Dr. Charles_), a clergyman rich in heavenly wisdom,
but poor indeed in all worldly knowledge. Amiable, charitable, devout,
but not without his literary vanity, especially on the Whistonian theory
about second marriages. One admires his virtuous indignation against the
"washes," which he deliberately demolished with the poker. In his
prosperity his chief "adventures were by the fireside, and all his
migrations were from the blue bed to the brown."

_Mrs._ [_Deborah_] _Primrose_, the doctor's wife, full of motherly
vanity, and desirous to appear _genteel_. She could read without much
spelling, prided herself on her housewifery, especially on her
gooseberry wine, and was really proud of her excellent husband.

(She was painted as "Venus," and the vicar, in gown and bands, was
presenting to her his book on "second marriages," but when complete the
picture was found to be too large for the house.)

_George Primrose_, son of the vicar. He went to Amsterdam to teach the
Dutch English, but never once called to mind that he himself must know
something of Dutch before this could be done. He becomes Captain
Primrose, and marries Miss Wilmot, an heiress.

(Goldsmith himself went to teach the French English under the same
circumstances.)

_Moses Primrose_, younger son of th