Provost

“ But this being so, he’s just.
[Knocking within. Provost goes to the door.]
Now are they come.
This is a gentle provost. Seldom when
The steeled gaoler is the friend of men.
[Knocking within.]
How now? What noise? That spirit’s possessed with haste
That wounds th’ unsisting postern with these strokes.
Provost returns.
PROVOST.
There he must stay until the officer
Arise to let him in. He is called up.
DUKE.
Have you no countermand for Claudio yet,
But he must die tomorrow?
PROVOST.
None, sir, none. ”

“ I was told a week or two ago a confused story of the anatomy-lecturer at the college turned out by the provost, and another put in his place. I know not the particulars; but am assured he is blamed for it both by the prince and your grace. I take the provost to be a very honest gentleman, perfectly good natured, and the least inclined to speak ill of others of almost any person I have known. He has very good intentions ”

“ To be provost, to be college president or university professor, is to be seated on an intellectual throne.
The problem of academic rule is not to attract a large number of students, to put up imposing buildings, to have endowments, and fill chairs with learned specialists; to grant many degrees, and to keep the hum of a teaching staff and of a student body alive in the ears of a community, marking the college group by flags and colors, cap and gown, processions and occasions. ”

“ The provosts replaced the viscounts wherever the viscount had not become a fief, and it is possible that in creating them the Crown was imitating the ecclesiastical organization in which the provost figured, notably in the chapters. The royal provosts had at first a double character. In the first place they fulfilled all the functions which answered locally to the royal power.. They collected all the revenues of the domain and all the taxes and dues payable to the king within the limits of their jurisdiction. ”

“ Duty of provost-marshal-general,And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the provost-marshal-general, with the approval of the Secretary of War, to make rules and regulations for the government of his subordinates; to furnish them with the names and residences of all deserters from the army, or any of the land forces in the service of the United States, including the militia, when reported to him by the commanding officers; to communicate to them all orders of the President in reference to calling out the national forces ”

“ Go as fast as if the town-council were met and waiting for the provost, and the provost was waiting for his new-powdered wig.”
“Ah sir,” answered the messenger, with a deep sigh, “thae days hae lang gane by. Deil a wig has a provost of Fairport worn sin’ auld Provost Jervie’s time—and he had a quean of a servant-lass that dressed it herself, wi’ the doup o’ a candle and a drudging-box. ”

“ A provost-sergeant is an officer responsible for the maintenance of order when soldiers are in the United Kingdom. A provost sergeant may be either garrison or regimental, and he has under his superintendence the garrison or regimental police. (W. A. P.)
The Provost in France.—The word prévzit (provost) in old French law had many applications. In conformity with its etymology (praepositus) it could be applied to any person placed at the head of a branch of the public service, a position which, according to the old principles, habitually carried with it a right of jurisdiction. ”

“ He had asked Captain Provost plump and plain to tell him where he was at fault, and Captain Provost, in a most scornful way, had told him that he was a perfect officer, and that if he disliked the way he was being spoken to there was the gangway—he could take himself off ashore at once. But everybody knew what sort of man Captain Provost was. It was no use appealing to the office. Captain Provost had too much influence in the employ. ”

“ Provost and Professors of the College.
As the success of the institution was attributable more to the diligence and abilities of the professors, than, perhaps, to any other cause, we should be doing injustice to their deserts, as well as presenting a very incomplete view of the school itself, were we to pass over, without particular notice, the most prominent among the gentlemen who filled the collegiate chairs.
The first provost, the Rev. Dr. William Smith, was eminent for his various learning, and general ability. Many yet living can bear witness to his eloquence as a preacher ”

“ A possible Lord Provost is a graver personage than a heathen deity. We cannot venture to say, "If the Provost of Dundee will be a Lord Provost, let him". For, if my theory is right, a Lord Provost, a Lord anything, is not made but grows. He must wait for the lordly title to come to him from some quarter; he must not take honour upon himself. He must wait for other people to say, "You are our lord: we are your men"; he must not himself say, "I am your lord: you are my men". ”

“ The age and infirmities of the late provost were probably thought to unfit him for the superintendence of a great seminary, in which vigour of authority must be conjoined with extensive knowledge and talents for instructing; and an inferior station could hardly have been offered with propriety, or accepted without degradation. It is possible, however, that a little leaven of old political animosity may have lurked in the minds of those who opposed him, and mingling with the more obvious motives, have communicated to them a force and influence which they might not otherwise have possessed. ”

“ Some of my colleagues, who are as well not named, by making themselves over busy, got but small thank for their pains. I was even preferred to the provost, as the medium of communicating the sentiments of the volunteering lads to the lord-lieutenant; and their cause did not suffer in my hands, for his lordship had long been in the habit of considering me as one of the discreetest men in the burgh; and although he returned very civil answers to all letters, he wrote to me in the cordial erudition of an old friend—a thing which the volunteers soon discerned, and respected me accordingly. ”

“ This was a new era in public affairs; and no little amazement and anger was expressed by some of the town-council, that any set of persons should dare to question and interfere with the magistrates. But I saw it would never do to take the bull by the horns in that manner at such a time; so I commenced with Bailie Sprose, my lord being at the time provost, and earnestly beseeched him to attend the meeting with me, and to give a mild answer to any questions that might be put ”

“ The High Sheriff and the Chief of Police, when they heard of the Provost's weakness, were filled with wrath and dismay, and very promptly insisted on his lordship taking back the concession, so that this historic procession was as much 'forbidden fruit' as its predecessors, and the students probably enjoyed it the more that they had as usual to dare all those in authority to carry it out. ”

“ The provost of the collegiate church of Beverley was the most notable instance of such an officer in England, but at Beverley he was an external officer with no authority in the government of the church, no stall in the choir and no vote in chapter. The provost of Eton, introduced by Henry VI., occupied a position most nearly approaching that of a foreign cathedral provost. In Germany and in Scandinavia, and in a few of the cathedral churches in the south of France, the provost was the ordinary head of the cathedral chapter, but the office was not common elsewhere. ”

“ The country was divided into enrolment districts, corresponding in general to the congressional districts of the different States, each of which was in charge of a provost-marshal. At the head of these officers was a provost-marshal-general, whose office in Washington formed a separate bureau of the War Department. All men fit for military duty were to be enrolled and, as necessity arose, were to be drafted for the service. Anyone drafted could furnish a substitute or pay three hundred dollars to the Government as an exemption. ”

“ When the gentleman came to the provost, he found him beset by a more formidable mob than was at the guard, who being exasperated at the murder of so many of their fellow citizens, threatned revenge upon the soldiers, and destruction to the provost and his company if they opposed them ”

“ And if a man has a quarrel with another person, without breaking into a fortified house or town, and they reach an agreement without bringing a suit before the provost, no fine shall be paid to us or our provost on account of this, and, if a suit has been brought because of this, they are permitted to reach an agreement, from which they should pay the district; and if anyone brings a suit against another person, and they do not pay any fines to each other, nothing should be paid for this matter either to us or to our provost. ”

“ Supreme provost-marshal: "May I ask the chairman to permit me,—with a view to hastening today's proceedings,—to ask the accused a few of the most important questions direct."
Chairman: "Of course,—eh,—eh—“
Supreme provost-marshal: "Prisoner in the dock, you will now answer me. Since we are here dealing with important State and military secrets, the publication of which might considerably endanger the interests of the Empire and the position of our glorious armies, you must answer as concisely as possible, and not enter into explanations. ”

“ In another case, where an order of a commander of a department authorized a provost court to settle questions of title to personal property, it was declared that that was a subject of which no military court could properly take cognizance, and the department commander was advised that the jurisdiction of such tribunals as provost courts, in time of war, could only be extended to matters of police. ”

“ He was a self-denying and constitutional provost, restoring to the college certain sources of revenue which previous provosts had converted to their own uses, and the appointment of the chaplains, which previous provosts had usurped. With the assistance of Sir Francis Walsingham, he in 1582 obtained a license in mortmain and indemnity for the college. He also gave to it 300l. for the use of poor young men, besides plate and books. ”

“ To this succeeded a very solemn and interesting charge, in which the Provost addressed himself chiefly to the graduates in the arts, adding, with respect to the graduates in Physic, that he had prevailed on a gentleman of their own Profession, whose precepts would receive Dignity from his years and experience, to lay before them what he thought requisite as well for the honour of the College, as for promoting their own future honour and usefulness in life. ”

“ In addition to these representatives, the principal, the lord rector, his assessor, the chancellor's assessor, and the lord provosts of the cities of Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow, and the provost of St Andrews have seats in the courts of their respective universities. ”

“ The provost, who is the head magistrate of the city, getting intelligence hereof, sent his officers to break open the doors, and a little after was going in person to see it done, but in his way was met by some of the inhabitants, who told him that his officers were beaten and bruised by the mob, and driven away from the guard; that it would be dangerous for him to venture his person among them ”

“ From the outset the new provost objected to the guardianship in moral and religious as well as in disciplinary matters which the three tutors seemed to exercise over their pupils, and the friction between the head and his staff soon led to an open rupture. ”

“ This custom of appointing a supervisor, as distinct from the schoolmaster, prevailed at the schools, other than schools for choristers, which were founded from time to time. Thus at Winchester, Eton, Acaster, and Rotherham—to name a few instances only—the responsible head of the institution was the provost, while the master of grammar was merely required to give instruction in the subjects assigned to him. The evolution of the schoolmaster as the superintending organiser and controller of an establishment belongs to a later date in English educational history. ”

“ On or before 3 Sept. 1651 the commissioners appointed him provost of Trinity College, in succession to Anthony Martin, bishop of Meath, who died of the plague in 1650. On 18 Nov. 1651 he performed the acts for B.D. On 3 June 1652 his appointment as provost was confirmed by Oliver Cromwell. ”

“ CHAPTER X—A RIOT
Nothing very material, after Jeanie Gaisling’s affair, happened in the town till the time of my first provostry, when an event arose with an aspect of exceeding danger to the lives and properties of the whole town. I cannot indeed think of it at this day, though age has cooled me down in all concerns to a spirit of composure, without feeling the blood boil in my veins; so greatly, in the matter alluded to, was the king’s dignity and the rightful government, by law and magistracy, insulted in my person. ”

“ The Corporal Provost, a more sensible, covetous, but treacherous and most cowardly rogue. He may be bribed, but his cowardice is such that he may prefer a little reward and no danger to a fortune with some risk. ”

“ All provosts and their assistants are empowered to inflict summary punishment on the breech to the amount of twenty-four lashes, according to the degree of the offence, on soldiers and followers of the army committing offences against discipline, plundering, drunkenness, violence, and, in short, everything tending to the subversion of good order in the army. The provost must either witness the offence himself or have it from the evidence of competent eye witnesses ”