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hie alterations both in do&rine and ecclefiadical polity. 
Many miftakes have been occafioned by confounding 
thefe two parties; the former of which were zealoufly in* 
tent upon a very important objedl, the revival of piety, 
and, with this view, the reformation of public feminaries, 
where miniders W'ere educated, both as to the mode of in- 
ftrudlion and the extent of difcipline; but the latter were, 
for the molt part, totally deditute of reafon and judg¬ 
ment ; their errors were the reveries of a difordered brain; 
and they were rather to be confidered as lunatics than as 
heretics. Some among them were lefs extravagant, and 
tempered the fingular notions they had derived from 
reading or meditation with a certain mixture of the im¬ 
portant truths and doftrines of religion. They were 
modly, however, of the myftic kind. For a more parti¬ 
cular account we mull refer to Molheim’s Eccl. Hid. vol. 
iv. 8vo. 
Many grofs errors are charged on the Pietifts, in a book 
intitled “ Manipulus Obfervationum Antipietidecarum;” 
but they have too much the feverity of polemical exagge¬ 
ration ; at lead it is certainly fo with regard to a great 
part of them. In effedt, there are Pietids of feveral 
kinds : fome run into grofs illufions, and carry their er¬ 
rors to the overturning a great part of the Chridian doc¬ 
trine; others are only vilionaries; and others very ho¬ 
ned and good people, who, difgulled with the coldnefs 
and formality of other churches, and charmed with the 
fervent piety of the Pietids, are attached to their party 
without giving in to the grofied of their errors. 
In the Protedant parts of Wirtemberg, there are many 
perfons didinguilhed by the name of Pietids, who hold 
private meetings for devotion, but do not in otherrefpe&s 
feparate from their churches. 
Pietists, otherwife called the “ Brethren and Siders 
of the Pious and Chridian Schools,” a fociety formed in 
the year 1678, by Nicholas Barre, and obliged by their 
engagements to devote themfelves to the education of 
poor children of both fexes. 
PIETO'LA, a village of Italy, near Mantua. While 
Italy was in pofleflion of the French, anobelifk was ereited 
here to the memory of Virgil, a native of this place, by 
Bonaparte; and further, out of refpeft to that great 
poet, this perfonage granted the inhabitants an indem¬ 
nification for all their lodes by the war. 
PIE'TON, a river of the Netherlands, which runs into 
the Sambre a little above Charleroy. 
PIE'TRA CASTEL'LO, a town of Naples, in Capi- 
tanata : fix miles north-wed of Volturara. 
PIE'TRA CORBA'RA, a town of the idand of Cor- 
fica: eleven miles north of Badia. 
PIE'TRA EMBOSCA'TA, a name given by the Ita¬ 
lians to the Florentine marble, fo remarkable for its de¬ 
lineations. 
PIE'TRA GAL'LA, a town of Naples, in Bafilicata : 
two miles fouth-fouth-wed of Acerenza. 
PIE'TRA MA'LA, a town of Naples, in Calabria Ci- 
tra : eleven miles fouth of Cofenza. 
PIE'TRA MA'LA, a mountain that rifes in the mid¬ 
dle of the Apennines, on the road to Bologna, about 
forty miles from Florence. This mountain is rendered 
remarkable by a dame that fpreads over a fmall part of its 
furface, and burns almod continually without producing 
any of thofe definitive eftedls which accompany volca¬ 
nic explofions. A fimilar phenomenon is obferved on 
the fide of a mountain about four miles from Carvigliano: 
here the dame, which (hows itfelf low down on the decli¬ 
vity of the mountain, covers a fpace of about 140 feet; 
and it runs along in crevices, and burns much dronger 
in fome places than in others. Its colour is either bright 
yellow, or blue, like fpirits of wine, and it rifes little 
more than half a foot from its furface ; but in rainy wea¬ 
ther, and particularly in winter, it is faid to increafe 
confiderably, and mount to the height of fix or feven 
feet. It was extinguifhed in fome places by waving hats 
ftrongly over it, and re-produced by firing a pidol into a 
P I E 
finall train of gunpowder, and fometimes by merely 
throwing a lighted paper upon the fpot where it had dif- 
appeared. It emits a drong odour, refembling that of 
ether. Naturalids are divided in their opinions as to the 
caufe of this phenomenon : fome fuppofe it to be eletric, 
others phofphoric, and others again volcanic. In favour 
of this latter opinion, it is alleged, that there are vediges 
of ancient eruptions in the neighbourhood ; that fliocks 
of earthquakes frequently agitate the furrounding moun¬ 
tains •. and that fulphureous bubbles are perceivable in 
the vicinity, and are fo infiimmable as to take fire at the 
approach of a torch, &c. But on the other hand it is 
faid, that, if the flames of Pietra Mala proceeded from 
any fuch caufe, the ground over which they hover mud 
be heated, and its heat increafed if opened, becaufe it 
would be nearer the fubterranean furnace. On the con¬ 
trary, the flame in this mountain communicates but lit¬ 
tle heat when burning; and, when extinguiflied, leaves 
the ground cold, and without the ufual vediges of fire. 
Hence others have been led to afcribe it to a fort of oily 
fubllance, or petroleum, with which they fuppofe the ad¬ 
jacent earth to be impregnated. But, if this were the 
caufe, it is faid that the flames, indead of being increafed, 
would be diminiflied or extinguiflied by the rains and 
tempeds of winter, and the crevices which emit the flame 
mull exhibit fome traces of this oily vapour; but the 
flame glows with the greated vivacity in winter, and the 
foil manifeds no appearance of any oily or bituminous 
fubllance. The firil of thefe fats is equally decifive 
againlt the operation of the eletric fluid and phofphoric 
exhalations. Whatever be its caufe, the flame illumi¬ 
nates the whole trat around it, and banifhes the horror 
of night from one of the mod dreary folitudes of the 
Apennines. Similar phenomena were obferved in or 
near the fame region anciently, as Pliny the elder (lib. 
xi. cap. 3.) notices the appearances of flames in the ter¬ 
ritory' of Mutina, which includes the neighbouring 
Apennines. 
PIE'TRA MALA'RA, a town of Naples, in Lavora: 
feven miles north of Capua. 
PIE'TRA MAUfR A, a town of Naples, in Capitanata: 
four miles north-wed of Lefina. 
PIE'TRA PAU'LA, a town of Naples, in Calabria 
Citra : four miles wed-north-well of Cariati-Vecchia. 
PIE'TRA PERTO'SA, a town of Naples, in Bafili¬ 
cata : twelve miles fouth-ead of Potenza. 
PIE'TRA PETRO'SA, a town of Naples, in Bafili¬ 
cata : fixteen miles fouth of Acerenza. 
PIE'TRA PRE'ZIA, a town of Sicily, in the valley 
of Noto: ten miles fouth-wedof Cadro Giovanni. 
PIE'TRA PU'GNO, a town of Corfica, in the depart¬ 
ment of Corte. 
PIE'TRA PUllCI'NA, a town of Naples, in Princi- 
pato Ultra : three miles north of Benevento. 
PIE'TRA PULE'MA, a town of Naples, in Princi- 
pato Ultra: nine miles north-north-ead of Benevento. 
PIE'TRA di RO'MA, a town of Sicily, in the val¬ 
ley of Demona, on the north coad: eighteen miles wed 
of Pati. 
PIE'TRA SA'MA, a town of the republic of Lucca : 
twelve miles wed of Lucca. 
PIE'TRA SAN'TA, a town of Etruria: fix miles 
fouth-ead of Mafia. 
PIE'TRA VAIRAN', a town of Naples, in Lavora : 
eleven miles ead of Sezza. 
PIETRAFE'ZA, a town of Naples, in Bafilicata : feven 
miles fouth-wefi of Potenza. 
PIETRAGRU'A (Carlo Luigi), of Florence, a mufic- 
mafler of confiderable reputation in his day, compofed 
two operas for Venice : 1. I! Pador Fido, in 1721; 2. Ro- 
molo e Tazio, in 1722. Profeffors fpeak of Pietragruain 
fuch terms as remove all doubt of his merit. 
PIETRAL'BO or Petralbo, a town of the ifland of 
Corfica : ten miles fouth of St. Fiorenzo. 
PIE'TRO da PIE'TRI, or Pitri, an Italian artid, 
was 
