170 



PIEPOWDKR 



PIU 



Pir|owler Court, in England, an ancient 

 court held in fairs anil market* to administer justice 

 in 11 rough ami rwulv way to all comers, called also 

 the Court ill Dusty Foot (MM \'r. jiinl ixiiiliin). Its 

 jiiiisdictiiin -fin- to have been i ..... lined mostly to 

 pot tv vagal>oiids, |MM| lam, and other wamli-n-r-. 

 Tin- 'nmit has long been obsolete. it.- jurisdiction 

 merged in thi-nmrl of l'ett\ Sessions ( ( |.v.). 



Pierre. Kit VNKI.IN, fourteenth president of the 

 t'niled Sia(e-. was Ixirn at HUlaborOOfh, New 

 Hampsliiic. NoM-mW i't, I8O4. His lather. l!en 

 iaiiiin Pierce. a fiinm-r who hail ri-i-n in tin- war of 

 indc|>ejidcnce to tin- rank of major, in IS'27 am) 

 IV.X.I'INI-JHHC governor if New Hampshire. Frank- 

 lin I'ieive was educated at Itowiloin College, anil 

 wax mi otliccr in a college militan company, in 

 whirli his biographer, Natlianii'l Hawtliorm-, wa> a 

 private. Hi- graduated in 1S-J4. studied law, and 

 was admitted ti tin- \nr in 1S-27. From IH-.J9 to 

 IS33 lie was a inenilier of the state legislature. and 

 for two yearn wan its s|>eaker ; In- was tln-n elected 

 t ...... ngn-ss, a Democrat of the school of Jiu-kson. 



In IST17 he was elected to tin- 1'nited Stati-s senate. 

 of whirli In- was tin- youngest nii-iulier. Ill 1842 

 In- re-ig ..... I his seat, and relumed to the practice 



of law. Mi- refused the Democratic nomination 

 for governor, as well ax an appointment to fill a 

 vacancy in the senate ; and he declined the oltice 

 of attorney -general offered him l>y President Polk. 

 Hi- I- mail ied. however, among the leaders of hU 

 party, zealously advocated the annexation of Texas, 

 with or without slavery, and, after his opponents, 

 the Whigs and Free soih-rs, had heen victorious at 

 the (N>lls in isiti. volunteered ait a private for the 

 Me\ieaii war. The president made him a brigadier- 

 xeii.-t.il. and in August I s 17 he joined deneral 

 S-ott, and led his brigade in the hat ties of Con- 

 in-!. i- and I'hiirnliiisi-o In 1852, in consequence 

 of the conflicting claims of the leaders of the 

 Democratic party at the Itallimoro Convention, he 

 was nominated as a compromise candidate for the 

 presidency, against General Scott, the Whig nomi- 

 ni-e. and received the voU-s of all l>nt four states. 

 iden! Pierre in his inaugural address defended, 

 on i-oiistitiitional grounds, slavery and the Fugitive 

 Slave Law : and his cabinet, wiiieh was an i-inin 

 i-ntly aide one, inelnded Jefferson Davis as secretary 

 of war. Pierces view a- to slavery wits (hat it 

 wits the price paid for the 1'nion by the framers of 

 the federal constitution, and that, then-fine, in 

 honesty it must lie maintained. The principal 

 events of his administration in Important* far 

 In-fine the treaty for reciprocity of trade with the 

 Hriti-li American colonies and the treaty with 

 Japan, or the lililiu.-tering expeditions of Walker 

 (i|.v.| to Nii-aragua and of others to Cuba, with 

 the rt-siiltaiit abortive Osli'iid (|.v.) Manifesto 

 wen- tin- re|M-al of the Missouri Compromise (nee 

 Mlssni IM i and the passing of the Kansas Nebraska 

 Aclffwe K \ssvsi. \\liieh kindled a llaini- of civil 

 war in the new territory thai ultimately set the 

 whole t'nion in a bla/.e. Pini-e. with his rigid 

 regaid for coiistimtional oliligations, was intensely 

 b.H.ii|e to (lie free -late settlers and to alMilitionists 

 in gt'iietal. At the closi- of his term of ollire in 

 he s|-nt three years ill Kurope ; and aflei 

 wanU, having no sympathy with tin- parly which 

 sillu-<|l|entK eiime into power, he took no pail in 

 |dil|.-s He iliinl at (oncord, Sth (IdolM-r 



A a I.IMT Pierre a- an eminent and eloi|iient 

 |-l- .idei ; UK a stati-smaii bis lulinini-liatinn would 

 n. n e tiamed for skilful and succi-w<fiil hail it not 

 l-eii lor the slavery torm which rose and wrecked 

 it ; while ait a man he was amiable and generous, 

 and of Kpotlc iiit<-gtity. There are Liven by 

 Hawthorne i |H.V2i and [i. W. P^rllett ( IH.V2), an<l 

 a Review of hix a>liiiini<*t ration by A. K. ('arndl 



IMeria. a ciuist district of ancient Man-don, at 

 the ba.se of the Olympus, and U-twci-n the Penens 

 and llaliaemon. It was the fabled birthplace of 

 the Muses and of Orpheus. 



Pierre, a city, capital of South Dakota, is on 

 tin- Missouri River, 1 111 miles by rail W. of Huron. 

 Here are Pierre I Hiversily (1888) and agovcinment 

 industrial si bool for the Indians. Pop. (11XW) ^iKi. 



PierKOII. HBSRV Hriai, mmposi-r, was born at 

 Oxford in isl.'i, in 1S44 !.*> idled the chair of Music 

 in Kdinhnrgh, and from !N4G lived in (iernian\. 

 d.VHig at Li'ipxig, iJSth January 1.S7S. Among bis 

 works were the music for the second part of 

 (;i-tlu>'s Faust, the openus Leila and CbntaTMM, 

 and the oratorios Jerusalem and Hezekiiili. 



Piers Plowman. See LA MI LAND. 



I'irli'l (an Italian word signifying piety, in the 

 sense in which that term indicates or includes affec- 

 tion for relatives), the name given in the language 

 of art to representations of the Virgin Miuy 

 embracing the dead body of her son. It is a coun- 

 terpart to the Mtii/otiiiii with the infant Jesus in 

 her arms. 



Pieterniaritzburg, <>r MARITZBURG, capital 

 of Natal (q.v. ), occupies a tine situation near the 

 Umsundusi river, 64 miles N. of Durban, and _>_' is 

 feet above sea-level. The chief buildings are the 

 Legislative Assembly Buildings, Government House, 

 the Colonial Offices, Town-hall (rebuilt 1899, after 

 being burnt), the supreme court, the post-office, 

 railway station, police barracks, \c. KortNapier, 

 the head -quarters of the imperial troops, overlooks 

 the city from a hill on the south-west. There are 

 a college library and museum, asylums, a park, 

 botanical gardens, &c. The city takes its name 

 from its founders (1839), the Boer leaders 1'ieter 

 Kriief and Gert Maritz. There is railway con 

 nection with Durban, with the Orange Free State, 

 and with Johannesburg ami Pretoria in the Trans- 

 vaal. The place has steadily increased in im|>ort 

 ance with the development of the colony, especi- 

 ally since the establishment of the railways. Pop. 

 ( lss7 ) I.">,7o7 ; ( 1898) 24,595, about half whites, the 

 rest Katlirs and Indian coolies. 



Pietists, a designation given at the end of the 

 17lb century to a religions party in (ierinanx. 

 which, without forming a separate sect, wa.s dis 

 tingiiished rather by fervour and /eal than In 

 peculiarities of religious opinion. See ('uriicil 

 HtBTOBV, Vol. III. p. '240, the articles on Si-KNKi: 

 and FlIAM'KK; and the Histories of Pietism by 

 llep|H- ( lS7!l)and liitschl (ISHd Sli). 



Pietra-llirH. a name given to the lines! kinds 

 of Florentine mosaic-work, in which the in 

 materials are hard stones, such as jasper, carnelhui. 

 amethyst, agate. 



Pie/.ometer -r. /'.;, 'I press.' /<//-.,. 'a 



measure ' I. an instrument for measuring the com 

 piessibility of lluids, by observing the extent to 

 which an ail -bubble which marks the upiier level 

 of liipiid in the capillary neck of a Mask is depressed 

 by the application of an external pressure acting 

 through lii|iiid surrounding the Mask. 



PiK. or HIM; (,s'w.v). a genus of art.iodacl\ lc 

 iinguhite mammals, of the family Suina (see I'.OAI:. 

 where the characteristics of the wild species are 

 iliscnssed, with an illustration). The term Swim- 

 is eommoiily applied to the genus in P.rilinn. 

 The IK!V fs covcreil more or less with bristle- 

 anil hairs; the skin is very thick ; the limbs short 

 and stout; the neck, which is carried straight 

 forward from the trunk, is very thick and strong ; 

 tin- face moderately prolonged and truncated, 

 always terminating in a movable cartilaginous 

 disc, furnished, as in the mole, with a special small 

 hone, and employed with wonderful expedition in 



