Provence

3853

Providence

bright and interesting as they are instructive.
The works in this section are mostly in verse.

4. Dramatic Literature.—\\e have frag-
ments of dramatic pieces dealing with relig-
ious themes. From the isth century there are
complete sets of mystery plays, but they pos-
sess no literary value. Secular plays (farces
or moralities) are mentioned from the i5th
century onwards, but all trace of them is lost.
Seethe history of Provengal literature (medi-
aeval and modern) by Oelsmer. Downer's
Mistral (1903) contains a sketch of the move-
ment, a good bibliography, and an account
of the language.

Provence, old prov., s.e. corner of France;
its capital was Aix. First the habitat- of wild
Iberian and Ligurian tribes. In noo it passed
to the counts of Barcelona, who made Pro-
vence the cradle of poetry and romance and
the paradise of troubadours. In 1245, on the
death of the last count, it was transferred to
his daughter's husband, Charles of Anjou;
it only became French in 1481, under Louis
xi« Thanks to its dry climate, Provence has
preserved its Roman remains in a fashion
rivalled only by Italy herself.

Proverb. The best definition of a proverb
is perhaps that given by Cervantes — vis.
'short sentences founded on long experience.'
Every true proverb is pithily expressed, and
is based upon the experience of mankind;
but it must also meet with popular acceptance
and be of widespread application. The great
bulk of the better-known proverbs cannot be
claimed as the property of any one nation;
they are found in the mouths of all races.
Differences in expression there may be, but
the root idea remains the same. Thus, take
our common saying, 'God helps those who
help themselves.' The Greeks said, Tray not
to God with hands folded.' The Spaniard
words it, 'God helps the early riser'; and the
natives of the Basque provinces have found
perhaps the neatest expression of all—'God is
a good worker, but He likes to be helped.'

Aristotle made a collection of proverbs,
and so also did Plato. Shakespeare uses them
as titles to his plays, and the same custom
prevailed among the Spanish dramatists. But
in no literature, as among no people, does the
proverb play so important a part as in that
of Spain. Strange to say, the Celtic races,
with whom we associate quickness of percep-
tion and nimbleness of wit, are notably lack-
ing in proverbs, whereas the intellectually
less agile Teuton is particularly rich in them.

Proverbs, Book of, in the Old Testament,
a collection of Hebrew dMactic poetry, of

I varied character arvl date, which wa? brought

,' together not later tKm 250 B.C.

j Providence, capital and chief city of

| Rhode Island, co. seat of Providence co.? and
the second city in New England, is situated
on both banks of the Providence River, a
narrow navigable arm of Narragansett Bay.

; 35 m. from the Atlantic Ocean and 44 m.
s.w. of Boston. The business district of Prov-
idence occupies the central part of the city
and has many handsome substantial build-
ings. Roger Williams Park (103 acres), at
the s. end of the city, has a zoological garden,
a fine bronze statue of Roger Williams, lakes,
playgrounds, and boulevards. Among the
many buildings are several libraries: the
Public Library; the Athenaeum, one of the
first public libraries in America; the John
Carter Brown Library, containing a collec-
tion of books and manuscript? on American
history; the State Law Library, and the li-
braries of the Historical Society, the Medi-
cal Society, and the Y. M. C. A."

The oldest church building, the First Bap-
tist, was built in 1775. A charter for a col-
lege was granted in 1764, and the first build-
ing of Brown University (originally the Col-
lege of Rhode Island), one of the leading
educational institutions in New England, was
erected in 1770. Among other educational
institutions are a Friends' School for boys
and girls (1818), the State Normal School,
Academy of the Sacred Heart, Lasalle Ac-
ademy, St. Francis Xavier Academy, the
Rhode Island School of Design, and the
Franklin Lyceum,

Providence is the leading city in the Uni-
ted States in the manufacture of jewelry and
silverware and has one of the largest mech-
anical tool factories in the world. There are
also important printing and publishing in-
dustries, and manufactures of lumber, text-
iles, knit goods, brassware, copper smithinjr
and sheet-iron products, carriages and wag-
ons, electrical apparatus and supplies, en-
amelled goods, mineral and soda waters, soap
and paints. The population of Providence is
253^504-

In 1636 the General Court at Salem, Mass,,
exiled Roger Williams because of his religious
opinions, and in the same year he fled from
the colony, bought land w. of Narragansett
Bay from the Indians, and founded a town,
which he then called Providence, in recogni-
tion of divine guidance. In 1638 the first Bap-
tist church in America was organized here,
with Williams as its pastor. Complete sep-
aration of temporal and religious affairs, witt