PIRATES 



acceptor is dummy, but he does 

 not change his seat and sit opposite 

 to him. The declarer alone can 

 score towards game. The acceptor 

 of the declarer scores only above 

 the line. The declarer scores 50 

 points if he wins a game, and 50 

 points for the rubber. These points 

 are not shared by the acceptor. 

 See Auction Bridge; Bridge: 

 consult also Pirate Bridge, R. F 

 Foster, 1919. 



Pirates of Penzance, THE. 

 Comic opera written by W. S. 

 Gilbert, composed by Arthur 

 Sullivan. It was produced April 3, 

 1880, at the Opera Comique 

 Theatre, London, and had a run 

 of 363 continuous performances. 

 George Grossmith, Richard Tem- 

 ple, Rutland Harrington, Julia 

 Gwynne, Emily Cross, and Marion 

 Hood were in the original cast. 



Pirene. Fountain at Corinth. 

 It issued from the rock on the 

 Acrocorinthus. It was said to have 

 first gushed forth at the stamp of 

 the foot of the winged horse 

 Pegasus, which Bellerophon (q.v. ) 

 caught here. 



Pirmasens. Town of Bavaria. 

 It is 40 m. S.W. of Spires, in the 

 Bavarian Palatinate. The- chief 

 industry is the manufacture of 

 boots and shoes and the prepara- 

 tion of leather. In the 18th cen- 

 tury it was part of Hesse- Darm- 

 stadt, and in 1815 passed to 

 Bavaria. It is named after S. Pir- 

 min, who preached here in the 8th 

 century. Pop. 38,000. 



Pirna. Town of Saxony. It 

 stands on the Elbe, about 10 m. 

 S.E. of Dresden, and was in medie- 

 val times a fortified town. The 

 chief industries are the making of 

 glass, pottery, etc. There is a trade 

 in grain along the Elbe, and stone 

 is quarried in the neighbourhood. 

 Above the town is the Sonnenstein, 

 once a strong fortress commanding 

 the Elbe, and earlier a castle that 

 protected the town. The fortifica- 

 tions, both of the city and on the 



hill, were destroyed in the 18th 

 century. In early days part of 

 Meissen, Pirna was included in 

 Saxony about 1423. Pop. 21,000. 



Piron, ALEXIS (1689-1773). 

 French dramatist. Born at Dijon, 

 July 9, 1689, he settled in Paris in 

 1719, and first won success with 

 a dramatic monologue, Arlequin 

 Deucalion. Of his numerous plays 

 only one survives, La Metromanie, 

 1738, which ranks among the best 

 comedies of the 18th century. 

 Among his contemporaries he was 

 famous for his wit and caustic epi- 

 grams. He died Jan. 21, 1773. 



Pirot. Town of Serbia, the chief 

 town of the department of the 

 same name. It-is situated on the 

 Nishava, 35 m. S.E. of Nish, and is 

 on the trunk rly. from Nish to 

 Sofia-Constantinople. It has cloth 

 and carpet industries. In 1885 it 

 was the scene of a defeat of the 

 Serbs by the Bulgars. During the 

 Great War it was captured from 

 the Serbs by the Bulgars, Oct. 26, 

 1915, and recaptured, on Oct. 14, 

 1918,by a Serbo-French force, from 

 the Austro-Germans. Pop. 10,700. 

 The province has an area of 934 

 sq. m., and a pop. of about 1 15,000. 



Pirrie, WILLIAM JAMES PIRRIE, 

 IST VISCOUNT (1847-1924). British 

 shipbuilder and shipowner. Born 

 at Quebec, 

 May 31, 1847, 

 he was of Irish 

 parentage, and 

 was educated 

 in Belfast. As 

 a youth he en- 

 tered the ship- 

 building yard 

 of Messrs. Har- 

 land & Wolff. 

 In 1874 he be- 

 came a partner in the company, 

 and later chairman, and it was due 

 mainly to his energy that the firm 

 obtained its commanding position. 

 Pirrie was made a privy councillor 

 in 1897, a baron in 1906, and vis- 

 count in 1921. He never sat in the 



1st Viscount Pirrie, 

 British shipbuilder 



P:rna, Saxony. Market place, with Town Hall on the left, looking towards the 

 16th century Town Church 



House of Commons, but was an in- 

 fluential man in the N. of Ireland. 

 At first a Unionist, he became a 

 Liberal and a Home Ruler about 

 1904. In 1918 he was made con- 

 troller-general of merchant ship- 

 building. In 1921 his firm took over 

 the various ship-repairing works 

 from the Port of London Authority. 

 He died June 5, 1924. 



Pisa. Maritime prov. of N.W. 

 Italy, in Tuscany, facing the Lig- 

 urian Sea. Curving round the prov. 

 of Leghorn (q.v.), and traversed in 

 the N. by the Arno, it yields mar- 

 ble, copper, and coal. It also pro- 

 duces cereals, wine, and oil, and 

 manufactures silk, cotton, linen, 

 pottery, glass, and soap. Its area is 

 1,185 sq. m. Pop. 351,800. 



Pisa (Lat. Pisae). City of Italy, 

 capital of the prov. of Pisa. It 

 stands on the Arno, 7 m. from the 

 Ligurian Sea and 

 50 m. by rly. W. 

 of Florence. Fa- 

 mous in art and 

 history, its pre- 

 sent business is 

 mainly with tour- 

 ists and the uni- 

 versity. The busi- 

 Pisaarms egt part o{ the 



town is built around the banks 

 of the Arno, but the most interest- 

 ing quarter is the Piazza del 

 Duomo. The cathedral, built 1063- 

 1118, and restored in the early 

 17th century, is of white marble 

 with an elliptical dome and an 

 arcaded fa9ade. The circular 

 marble baptistery (1153-1278) has 

 an octagonal font and a fine 

 hexagonal pulpit by Niccolo 

 Pisani. The campanile, usually 

 known as the Leaning Tower, was 

 built 1174-1350 and rises to a 

 height of 179 ft. in eight colon- 

 naded storeys. It is 16J ft. out of 

 the perpendicular, the ground on 

 the S. side having presumably 

 sunk. The beautiful cloistered 

 cemetery (1275-84), with earth 

 reputed to have been brought from 

 Calvary, is built in Tuscan-Gothic 

 style and has medieval frescoes 

 and Etruscan and other sculptures. 

 Among other interesting churches 

 are S. Maria della Spina (1325- 

 29) ; the basilica of S. Michele ; 

 S. Paolo and S. Niccola, both of the 

 13th century. The university, a 

 12th century foundation, is housed 

 in a handsome Renaissance build- 

 ing and has a library with over 

 200,000 volumes and many in- 

 valuable MSS. The municipal 

 museum has a representative col- 

 lection of Tuscan paintings and 

 sculptures ; there are also a natural 

 history museum, botanical gardens, 

 and an art academy. The leading 

 industry is the manufacture of 

 cottons. In the vicinity are thermal 



