874 PIC 
It is moft probable, as competent and candid judges 
have maintained, that the whole or a great part of thefe 
charges is either an exaggeration or a calumny inven¬ 
ted and propagated, in order to difgrace the Picards, 
becaufe they deferted the communion and protefted 
again ft the errors of the church of Rome. Lalititis 
relates, that Picard fettled in Bohemia in the year 1418, 
accompanied by forty other perfons, befides women and 
children. The Jefuit Balbinus, in his Epitome Rerum 
Bohemicarum, lib. ii. concurs in this account, and 
charges on the Picards none of the extravagancies of 
crimes afcribed to them by Sylvius. Schledfa, fecretary 
of Ladiftaus, king of Bohemia, in his letters to Erafmus, 
gives a particular account of the Picards; reprefenting 
them as perfons who confidered the pope, cardinals, and 
bifliops of Rome, as antichrifts; who cenfured thofe that 
adored the confecrated elements in the eucharift as 
idolaters, and denied the corporal prefence of Chrift in 
this ordinance ; who condemned the worlhip of faints, 
prayers for the dead, auricular confeflton, the penance 
impofed by priefts, the feafts and vigils obferved in the 
Romilh church ; and confined themfelves to the obfer- 
vance of the fabbath, and of the two great feafts of 
Chriftmas and Pentecoft. From this abitrabt of their 
lentiments, it fufficiently appears, that they were no 
other than the Vaudois; and M. de Beaufobre has plainly 
fhown that they were both of the fame fe6l under differ¬ 
ent denominations. Befides, it is a certain faff, that the 
Vaudois were fettled in Bohemia in the year 1178, where 
fome of them adopted the rites of the Greek church, and 
others thofe of the Latin church. The former were 
generally adhered to till about the middle of the four¬ 
teenth century, when the eftabliffiment of the Latin rites 
occafioned great difturbance. When the national trou¬ 
bles commenced in Bohemia, on occafion of the oppofi- 
tion to the papal power (fee Moravians), the Picards 
appeared more publicly in the avowal and defence of 
their religious opinions ; and they formed a confiderable 
body in an iftand by the river Launitz or Laufnecz, in 
the diftrifl of Bechin ; and, recurring to arms, were 
defeated by Zifca. 
Moftieim confiders the Picards as deriving their name 
from the Begliards, by a change in the pronunciation of 
that word, and concurs in the unfavourable account of 
them given by the writers to whom we have already 
referred. He reprefents them as appearing in the reli¬ 
gious afiemblies, and joining in the celebration of divine 
worlhip, without any veil or covering whatever; agree* 
ably to the maxim wdiich they are laid to have adopted, 
viz. that thofe were not free (i. e. fufficiently extricated 
from the ffiackles of the body) who made ufe of garments, 
particularly fuch garments as covered the thighs and the 
parts adjacent. But, though he mentions this praftice, 
and denominates them an abfurd left, which by fuch 
tenets incurred deferved reproach, he acknowledges that 
in their religious afiemblies nothing palled that was con¬ 
trary to the rules of virtue, however they were fufpefted 
of the molt fcandalous incontinence, and of the molt 
lafcivious practices. He Hates that Zifca, the auftere 
general of the Huffites, gave credit to the rumours that 
were induftrioully circulated againft them; and, falling 
upon them in the year 1421, put fome to the fword, and 
condemned the reft to the flames, which dreadful punilh- 
ment they fuftained with the molt cheerful fortitude, 
and alfo with a contempt of death that was peculiar to 
their fe£l, and which they polfelfed in a degree that feems 
to furpafs credibility. Thefe extravagant enthufiafts, 
he fays, were diftinguilhed by other appellations, fuch as 
thofe of Adamites and Begliards ; and the denomination 
was extended fo as to comprehend the Huffites, and all 
the Bohemians who oppofed the tyranny of the church of 
Rome. They w'ere called by their enemies, and indeed 
by the multitude in general, “Picardiers.” He fays that 
Beaufobre, in his attempts to juftify the Picards', or 
Bohemian Adamites, againft the accufations of their 
PIC 
enemies, which he confiders as altogether groundlefs, i : f 
tnanifeftly endeavouring to wafh the Ethiopian white : 
and he adds, that it may be demonftrated, by the moft 
unexceptionable and authentic records, that his account 
is true; fuggefting at the fame time a charge of prejudice 
and partiality againft the refpeftable and learned author 
from whom he differs. Mnjheim, vol. ii. 
PIC'ARDY, before the revolution, a confiderable 
province of France; bounded on theeaft by Champagne, 
on the fouth by the Ille of France, on the weft by Nor¬ 
mandy and the Channel, and on the north by Hainaut, 
Artois, and the German Ocean. The land in general is 
fertile, and-is watered by a great number of rivers, the 
principal of which are the Somme, the Oife, the Autliie, 
the Canche, the Deule, the Lys, and the Serre. Amiens 
is the principal city. It now forms the department of 
the Somme, part of the department of the Straits of Calais, 
and the department of the Aifne. 
PICAROO'N, f. [from picare, Italian.] A robber; a 
plunderer.—Some frigates Ihould be always in the Downs 
to chafe picaroons from infefting the coaft. Ld. Clarendon's 
Life. —Coriica and Majorca in all wars have been the 
nelts of picaroons. Temple's Mifcell. 
PICA'RT (Bernard), an eminent engraver, born at 
Paris in 1673, was the Ion of Stephen Picart, furnamed 
the Roman, alfo diftinguilhed in the arts of engraving and 
delign. He received his firlt inffrudfions under his father, 
and at the age of 12 had acquired a great degree of prac¬ 
tical dexterity. He then ftudied drawing at the academy, 
and perfpebtive and architecture under Sebaftian le Clerc ; 
and he improved himfelf in compofition by the inftruc- 
tions of Van Schuppen, with whom he drew anatomical 
figures after nature. He had acquired confiderable repu¬ 
tation in his art, when, in 1710, his attachment to the 
Proteftant religion induced him to fettle in Holland, 
where he fpent the remainder of his life. Picart’s chief 
employment was that of furnilhing decorations of books 
for the bookfellers, in which department few have equalled 
him. He always kept a number of proofs for himfelf, 
which obtained a high price from collectors. Another 
fource of profit was the publication of what he termed 
“ Innocent Impoftures,” which were etchings imitating 
fome of the moft noted mailers with lb much Ikill that 
they palled for originals, even with connoifleurs. His 
greateft works were “Pierres Antiques Gravees,” folio, 
Amft. 1724. “ Ceremonies Religieufes de tous les Peu- 
ples du Monde,” Amft. 1723, & feq. 11 vols. fob of this 
work an edition was publilhed at Paris in 9 vols. fo). 1741 
& feq. of which the plates are lefs beautiful than thofe of 
the Dutch edition, but the explanations are rendered 
more orthodox. The figures in the “Temple of the 
Mules” are alfo by Picart; and he likewife engraved a 
number of Epithalamiums, a fpecies of prints cuftom- 
ary in Holland. His figures are neat and elegant, and 
fometimes touched with fpirit; but he was apt to injure 
the expreffion of his heads by too many dots, and to make 
the folds of his draperies too long and ftiff. In allegori¬ 
cal defigns his thoughts are fine, but fometimes too far¬ 
fetched. Picart died at Amfterdam in 1733, at the age of 
60, much beloved and elleemed. 
PIC'ARY, f. TheSus tajaflu, or Mexican hog. 
PICAUVIL'LE, a town of France, in the department 
of the Channel: nine miles north-weft of Charentan. 
PICAWE'E, Indians of America, on the banks of the 
Great Miami. 
PIC'CADIL, Piccadil'ly, or Pick'ardil,/. [wexw, 
to Ihear. “ Menage derives it from the Span, picadillo, 
the diminutive of picado, which laft means any thing 
pinked like cloth.” Pegge. The Fr. pique, however, is 
quilted. Ben Jonfon has converted the word into, pickur- 
dil, as others have into pieliadillo and peccadillo. See Pec¬ 
cadillo. “ Piccadilles, the feveral divilions, or pieces 
faftened together about the brim of the collar of a doub¬ 
let.” Cotgrave. Blount and Pegge imagine that the 
ftreet in London, called Piccadilly, took its name from 
