PIPI 



Pipit the name given to the ripe pods of Ccesal- 

 pinia Papai (see C^ESALPINIA), which are used in 

 tanning, and are not unfrequently imported along 

 with Dividivi (q.v.). 



Piping Crow, a name somewhat loosely 

 applied in Australia to any bird of the genus 

 {rymnorhina or Barita (q.v.). Another modifica- 

 tion of the name is Piping Crow Shrike or Piping 

 Roller ; the bird is also called Caruck. 



Pipit (Anthiis), a genus of small birds forming 

 with the wagtails the family Motacillidse. The 

 pipits have a strong resemblance to the larks in 

 external appearance, and even in many of their 

 habits, such as singing while on the wing ; but they 

 moult twice a year, while larks moult only once. 

 With the wagtails they agree in all respects 

 except in colour, and like them they are chiefly 

 terrestrial in habit, ninning along the ground, 

 working in and out among grass or heather in 

 search of the insects, worms and slugs which 



PIRACY 



193 



Meadow-pipit ( Antkus pratensis). 



form their food. The Meadow-pipit (A. pratensis), 

 also known as the Titlark or Moss-cheeper, is the 

 species most abundant in Britain. It breeds early 

 in spring, nesting in a hollow on the ground or 

 under a bank, and rears two broods in a season. 

 The Tree-pipit (A. trivialis), though only a summer 

 visitor, is common in many districts, and breeds 

 freely in the south and west of Scotland. The 

 Rock-pipit (A. obscurus) frequents rocky shores 

 and feeds on molluscs and small crustaceans. 



Pippi. See GIULIO ROMANO. 



Pippin. See PEPIN. 



Pippin, a name given to many varieties of 

 apple, among which are some of the finest in culti- 

 vation, as the Golden Pippin, Ribston Pippin, &c. 



Piqilil. a city of Ohio, on the Miami River 

 (here crossed by two bridges), 28 miles by rail N. 

 of Dayton. It has foundries, oil-refineries, and 

 manufactories of flour, furniture, mattresses, &c. 

 Pop. (1900) 12,172. 



PiqilCt, a game at cards for two players, played 

 with thirty-two cards, the sixes, fives, fours, threes, 

 and twos being rejected. The game was formerly 

 played a hundred up, a partie being the best of 

 five games ; but almut 1880 the rnbicon game 

 superseded piquet au cent. At the rubicon game 

 ix hands are played, each player dealing alter- 

 nately. The one whose aggregate score is the 

 higher wins the partie. He deducts the loser's 

 core, and adds a hundred to the difference. If 

 the loser fails to score a hundred in the six hands, 

 he is rubiconed, and the scores are added instead 

 of being deducted. For a description of the mode 

 of play, handbooks should be consulted. 



The earliest known mention of piquet is by 

 Rabelais in the (largantnan list of games (1530- 

 45). Hence it has lieen concluded that piquet is 

 of French origin. But it is more probable that a 

 limilar game, called ronfa, was played in Italy at 

 377 



an earlier date, and that this game, with modifi- 

 cations, travelled from Italy to Spain, where it 

 was re-named cientos, and to France, where it was 

 re-named piquet. Piquet seldom, if ever, occurs 

 in English books of the Shakespearian period, but 

 cent (cientos) frequently does. From this it may 

 be concluded that piquet, under the name of cent, 

 was played in England until about the middle of 

 the 17th century, when the word ' cent ' went out of 

 use, and was replaced by the word 'piquet.' It 

 may be noticed in this connection that from the 

 time of the marriage of Mary to Philip of Spain 

 (1554) the English equivalent of the Spanish 

 name of the game was in vogue, and that con- 

 temporaneously with the marriage of Charles I. to 

 the daughter of Henry IV. of France (1625) the 

 French name piquet was substituted. 



The etymology of piquet has been much specu- 

 lated on ; no satisfactory settlement has been 

 arrived at. In 1651 was published The Rot/all and 

 Delight/nil Game of Picyuet, translated from the 

 earliest known French book on the subject. This 

 was followed by several others, more or less resem- 

 bling it, Wit's Interpreter (1671), Cotton's Corn- 

 pleat Gamester (1674), and Seymour's Court Game- 

 ster (1719), all containing piquet. The next 

 original work was Hoyle's Short Treatise on the 

 Game of Piquet (1744). This included the laws 

 which were the authority until 1873, when the 

 Portland Club issued a code. The general adoption 

 of the rubicon game, shortly afterwards, necessi- 

 tated a fresh revision ; and in 1881 the Portland 

 and Turf Clubs agreed to the code of laws which 

 now governs the game. These laws were published 



in 1882, together with a treatise on the game, by 

 /-i i \j 

 Cavendish. 



Piracy (Lat. pirata; Gr. peirates, 'an adven- 

 turer,' 'a pirate'), robbery on the high sea, was 

 apparently very much mixed up with early mari- 

 time adventure, the sea-rover being frequently 

 pirate as much as trader : thus, the Phoenicians 

 often combined piracy with more legitimate sea- 

 faring enterprise. In Homeric times piracy was 

 accounted a reputable or even dignified calling ; 

 and the Greeks, especially the Phoca-ans, long 

 displayed a natural genius for piracy. This aptitude 

 was cherished by the constant warfare between 

 small states, it being difficult sometimes to decide 

 what was public and what was private war. Cilicia 

 was long the headquarters of Mediterranean piracy, 

 until in 67 B.C. Pompey made his memorable 

 expedition against the pirates with great naval and 

 military forces. From the 8th to the llth century 

 the Norse vikings were the terror of western coasts 

 and waters (see NORTHMEN). The Hariseatic 

 League (q.v.) had its origin in the desire for 

 mutual defence against Baltic and other pirates. 

 At a later date the Moslem rovers scourged the 

 Mediterranean, commingling naval war on the 

 large scale with peddling, thievery, and the abduc- 

 tion of slaves : Algiers was a piratical stronghold 

 till well into the 19th century (see CORSAIRS); 

 and in the 17th century the English Channel 

 swarmed with Algerine pirates, who snapped up 

 in one prize 500 worth of linen belonging to the 

 Lord Deputy of Ireland, and blockaded him, the 

 king's representative, for weeks in an English port 

 while he waited for a ship-of-war to convey him 

 across the Irish Sea. In 1635 they actually entered 

 Cork harbour, and carried off a boat with eight 

 fishermen, to be sold as slaves in Algiers. The 

 Buccaneers (q.v.) preyed mainly on the Spanish 

 commerce with the Spanish American colonies. 

 Lundy Island (q.v.) was long a nest of pirates, 

 English and other. Captain Kidd (q.v.) is in the 

 popular mind the chief representative of the pic- 

 turesque type of pirates, whose career of reckless 

 bloodshed and rapine under their 'Jolly Roger ' or 



