IP I A 
PfANKATAN'K, a river of Virginia, which runs 
'into the Chefapeak in lat. 37. 32. N. Ion. 76. 20. W. 
PIA'NO, adj. An Italian mufical term implying foft, 
with a fubdued voice. It was at firft only ufed in repeat¬ 
ing fhort pafThges in the way of echo, being no otherwife 
employed by Corelli. At prefent its ufe is extended to 
whole periods, in the way of contrail to forte, loud, in 
every degree of comparifon. 
PIA'NO, a town of Italy : fixteen miles fouth-weft of 
Modena. 
PIA'NO DELLE COR'TE, a town of Naples, in 
Principato Citra: twelve miles north-north-weft of Can- 
giano. 
PIA'NO FOR'TE, f [Italian.] The name of a mu- 
fical inftrument of the harpfichord kind ; fo called from 
the facility with which the player upon it can give a J'oft 
or firong expreftion. See the article Music, vol. xvi. 
p. 373 .- 
This elegant and exprellive inftrument, from the period 
of its invention to the prefent time, has been in a conftant 
progrefs towards perfection. The moft effential improve¬ 
ment we have noticed fince the appearance of our article 
Music, is the bridge of reverberation, the invention of 
Mr. F. W. Collard, of the firm of dementi, Collard, and 
Co. Cheapfide, London ; for which a patent was granted 
in the year 1821. 
By the bridge of reverberation, the firings have the 
effeCt of being fixed like thofe of a harp to the found- 
board itfelf, inftead of being checked by an intermediate 
attachment to a folid fubftance. This contrivance not 
only produces a more equal and rich flow of vibration, 
but takes away the whiffling of the large fteel firings, fo 
common and often fo difagreeable in grand piano-fortes 
on the ufual conftruCtion. It alfo gives them the great 
advantage of turning all thofe portions of the firings be¬ 
yond the original bridge, which were before ufelefs, to 
the augmentation and perfection of the tone produced on 
the main body of the inftrument by means of the harmo¬ 
nic fwell. In expreffive movements, and legato paffages, 
the addition of the harmonics, independent of the beauty 
of found, produces an advantage which mull be obvious 
to every one, fince it affeCts that continuity of vibration, 
which, fomewhat like the bow of a violin, makes one note 
glide into another ; and, as this effeCl is produced with¬ 
out at all interfering with the dampers, the bafs may be 
played ftaccato, whilft the treble is played legato, and vice 
verfa. The whole volume of tone called forth by the 
harmonic fwell and damper pedal combined, is of extra¬ 
ordinary rrchnefs and power; and in paffages requiring 
bold contraft, dramatic energy, orfuftained grandeur, will 
be found of fingular efficacy. 
The great improvement given by this new conftruftion 
alfo to the extra additional keys in the treble, mull be 
confidered very important, fince all the great continental 
compofers and performers now employ them fo very fre¬ 
quently in paffages of very brilliant effeft ; and fince they 
are found fo highly ufeful, not only for duets by two per- 
fons on the fame inftrument, but for giving the mafter an 
opportunity of marking the charadler of paffages above, 
whilft the fcholar is practifing them in the odiave below. 
The additional pedal for fixing the keys on two firings 
will be found very convenient, as it leaves the feet to be 
employed on the harmonic fwell and damper pedal during 
a delicate Aram, or for the purpofe of accompaniment. 
PIA'NO PIC'OLA, a town of Naples, in the province 
of Capitanata: two miles weft of Viefte. 
PIANO'SA, a fmall ifland in the Mediterranean, near 
the coaft of Etruria, anciently called Plunatia, and ufed 
as a place of exile : feven miles fouth-fouth-weft from the 
ifland of Elba. Lat. 42. 42. N. Ion. 10. 15. E. 
PI'APET. See Pianet. 
PI'APIS HAR'BOUR, a port on the north coaft of 
the ifland of Way goo, on the Equinodlial Line. Lon. 
13°- 45 - £• 
P I A 371 
PIAQUEM'INES, a river of Louifiana, which runs 
into the Miffouri in lat. 38. 25. N. Ion. 91. 37. W. 
PIA'RA, f. A Spanifh term, fignifying a drove of ten 
mules led by two men. James's Mil. Di6l. 
PIAR AN'THUS, f [from the Gr. tti apo;, fat, or thick, 
and aiiQog, a flower.] A genus of plants feparated by Mr. 
R. Brown from Siapelia, becaufe it wants the external 
crown. (Brown’s Tranf. of the Wernerian Society, i. 23.) 
But thefe plants fo precifely accord with various Stape- 
lise in every point of habit, that we fliould prefume the 
finglenefs of the crown can afford no legitimate generic 
diftindtion, any more than the difference between five 
and ten ftamens in Cerallium, the want or prefence of a 
nedlary in Tilia, and other fimilar cafes. See Stapelia 
pundlata and pulla. 
PIASAN'SKOI (Niznei), a town of Ruflia, in the 
government of Tobolfk, near the Frozen Sea. 488 miles 
north of Turuchanfk. Lat. 69. 16. N. Ion. 87. 14. E. 
PIASAN'SKOI (Verchnei), a town of Ruflia, in the 
government of Tobolfk, near the Frozen Ocean: 460 miles 
north of Turuchanfk. Lat. 68. 30. N. Ion. 87. 14. E. 
PIAS'KY, a town of Poland,' in the palatinate of Lub¬ 
lin : twelve miles eaft-fouth-eaft of Lublin. 
PIAS'TER, or Piastre, f A Spanifh money, more 
ordinarily called a piece of eight. 
Piastre is alfo a money of account and filver coin in 
Turkey and the Levant. Conftantinople and the whole 
of Turkey keep accounts in piafters, commonly called 
grouch by the Turks, and by the Englifh dollars. Each 
piafter is divided into 40 paras, and each para into three 
afpers. Thefe are real coins ; but the piafter is alfo fome- 
times divided into 80, and fometimes into 100, imaginary 
parts, called afpers, or minas. Ajux, orjuck, is a fum 
of 100,000 real afpers ; a chife, or purfe, is 500, By the 
regulations of 1780, the purfe of 500 piafters was to 
weigh 28i2§ Turkifh drams, fo that a Angle piafter 
weighed 5-I drams, or 277 Engliffi' grains, and the other 
pieces in proportion. The ftandard of finenefs was re¬ 
duced at the fame time to 50 carats (or hundredth parts) 
of finefilver, and 50 of alloy ; which gave the value of the 
piafter at 19^. fterling, and the other filver coins in pro¬ 
portion. But fince that period the Turkifh have fuffered 
a deterioration. Dr. Kelly, the author of the Univerfal 
Cambift, caufed a piafter of the lateft coinage to be 
weighed and affayed by the king’s affay-mafter of the 
mint; and the report is as follows: weight, 8 dwt. 6 gr, 
finenefs, 5 oz. 6 dwt. worfe than the Englifh ftandard. 
This gives its finenefs 47 carats 2 grains Turkifh, and its 
value in fterling i3gd> 
The piaftre and other filver coins bear the fame infcrip- 
tions as the gold coins, and the fame differences exift in 
them. The infcriptions on the Angle, double, and half, 
piafters of Selim of 1789 are fimilar to thofe on the fequin 
fonducliof this prince, which has on one fide, “Sultan 
Selim, fon of Muftafa Khan,” and on the reverfe, 
“ Struck at Slambul, in the year 1203” of the hegira. 
The piaftre of Tunis bears on one fide the words, “ Sul¬ 
tan of the Two Lands, and Sovereign of the Two Seas, 
Sultan Selim Khan, bleft with Victory;” and on the re¬ 
verfe, “ Struck at Tunis,” in the year, &c. Kelly’s Uni¬ 
verfal Cambift. 
PIAST'LA, a town of Mexico, in the province of Chi- 
ametlan, on the river Piaftia : fifty miles north-weft of 
Chiametlan. 
PIAST'LA, a river of Mexico, which runs into the 
Pacific Ocean in lat. 23. 25. N. 
PIAST'LA, a town of Mexico, in the province of 
Guafteca: fifteen miles fouth of Panuco. 
PIAST'LA, a town of Mexico, in the province of 
Tlafcala : fifty-five miles fouth of Puebla de los Angelos. 
PIASTRI'NE, f. See Pistereen. 
PIAS'TUS, a king of Poland, was originally a wheel¬ 
wright, and the fon of Coflifco, a citizen of Crufwitz. He 
flourifhed in the year 830, when on the extinction of the 
family 
