508 
P I R 
has reckoned any thing, reckons 90 for them; and thi3 
is called a repique. If he reckons above 30, he reckons 
fo many above 90. If he can make lip 30, part in hand 
and part play, ere the other has told any thing, he rec¬ 
kons for them 60. And this is called a pique. Whence 
the name of the game. He that wins all the tricks, in- 
ftead of 10, which is his right for winning the cards, rec¬ 
kons 40. And this is called a capot. 
PIQUI'CA, a town of Peru, in the diocefe of La Plata, 
on the coaft of the Pacific Ocean : eighty-five miles fouth- 
weft of Atacames. Lat. 27. S. 
PIQUI'NO, in geography, a term that is ufed, on the 
weft coaft of Africa, in the North Atlantic Ocean, for 
Little. Assine Grande and Piquino, Great and Little 
Afiine, are in this fituation. They are two leagues apart; 
and the Gold Coaft begins at Little Afiine, which is the 
welternmoft. The land declines towards Great Afiine, 
which is clofe to the water’s edge. Lat. 5. 30. N. Ion. a. 
25. W. 
PI'RA, a town of Auftria : fix miles fouth-fouth-eaft 
of St. Polten. 
PI'RACY, J. [from pirate.'] The aft or praftice of 
robbing on the fea.—His pretence for making war upon 
his neighbours was their piracies, though he praftifed the 
fame trade. Arluthnot. 
Fame fwifter than your winged navy flies, 
Sounding your name, and telling dreadful news 
To all that piracy and rapine ufe. Waller. 
By the ancient common law, piracy, if committed by 
a fubjeft, was held to be a fpecies of treafon, being con¬ 
trary to his natural allegiance ; and by an alien, to be fe¬ 
lony only : but, fince the ftatute of treafons, 25 Edw. III. 
c. 2. it is held to be only felony in a fubjeft. Formerly 
it was only cognizable by the admiralty-courts, which pro¬ 
ceed by the rules of the civil law. But, it being incon- 
fiftent with the liberties of the nation, that any man’s 
life flrould be taken away unlefs by the judgment of his 
peers, or the common law of the land, the ftat. 28 Hen. 
VIII. c. 15. eftabliflied a new jurifdiftion for this pur- 
pofe ; which proceeds according to the courfe of the com¬ 
mon law. 
The offence of piracy, by common law, confifts in com¬ 
mitting thofe afts of robbery and depredation upon the 
high feas, which, if committed upon land, would have 
amounted to felony there. But, by ftatute, fome other 
offences are made piracy alfo ; as, by ftat. n and 12 W. 
III. c. 7. if any natural-born fubjeft commits any aft of 
hoftility upon the high feas againft others of his majefty’s 
fubjefts, under colour of a commiffion from any foreign 
power ; this, though it would only be an aft of war in 
an alien, fliall be conftrued piracy in a fubjeft. And 
farther, any commander, or other feafaring perfon, be¬ 
traying his truft, and running away with any fliip, boat, 
ordnance, ammunition, or goods; or yielding them up 
voluntarily to a pirate; or confpiring to do thefe afts ; 
or any perfon affaulting the commander of a veffel, to 
hinder him from fighting in defence of a fitip; or confi¬ 
ning him, or caufing or endeavouring to caufe a revolt 
on-board ; fliall, for each of thefe offences, be adjudged a 
pirate, felon, and robber; and fliall fuffer death, whe¬ 
ther he be principal, or merely acceffory by fetting forth 
fuch pirates, or abetting them before the faft, or receiv¬ 
ing or concealing them or their goods after it. And the 
ftat. 4 Geo. I. c. 11. exprefsly excludes the principals 
from the benefit of clergy. 
By the ftat. 8 Geo. I. c. 24. the trading with known 
pirates, or furniftiing them with ammunition, or fitting 
out any veffel for that purpole, or in anywife confulting, 
combining, confederating, or correfponding, with them ; 
or the forcibly boarding any merchant-veflel, though 
without feizing or carrying her off, and deftroying or 
throwing any of the goods overboard, fliall be deemed 
piracy ; and fuch accelfories to piracy as are defcribed by 
P I R 
the ftatute of king William, are declared to be principal 
pirates ; and all pirates convifled by virtue of this aft 
are made felons without benefit of clergy. By the lame 
ftatutes alfo (to encourage the defence of merchant-vef- 
fels againft pirates), the commanders or feamen wounded, 
and the widows of fuch feamen as are flain, in any pirati¬ 
cal engagement, fliall be entitled to a bounty to be divided 
among them, not exceeding one fiftieth part of the value of 
the cargo on-board: and fuch wounded feamen fliall be 
entitled to the penfion of Greenwich Hofpital; which no 
other feamen are, except only fuch as have ferved in a 
fliip of war. And, if the commander fliall behave cow¬ 
ardly, by not defending the fliip, if (lie carry guns or arms; 
or (hall difcharge the mariners from fighting, fo that the 
fliip falls into the hands of pirates; fuch commander fliall 
forfeit all his wages, and fuffer fix months imprifonment. 
Laftly, by ftatute 18 Geo. II. c. 30. any natural-born 
fubjeft or denizen, who in time of war (hall commit liofti- 
lities at fea againft any of his fellow-fubjefts, or fliall aflift 
an enemy on that element, is liable to be tried and con- 
vifted as a pirate. 
Stats. 11 and 12 W. III. c. 7. (made perpetual by 6 
Geo. I. c. 19.) enaft, that all piracies, committed on the 
fea, or in any haven, &c. where the admiral hath jurifdic- 
tion, may be tried at fea or on the land, in any of his ma¬ 
jefty’s iflands, &c. abroad, appointed for that purpofe, 
by commiflion under the great feal, or feal of the admi¬ 
ralty, direfted to fuch commiffioners as the king fliall 
think fit; who may commit the offenders, and call a 
court of admiralty, confiding of /even pcrjons at leajl, or, 
for want of feven, any three of the commiffioners may 
call others ; and the perfons fo afiembled may proceed 
according to the courfe of the admiralty, pafs fentence of 
death, and order execution, &c. And commiffions for 
trial of offences within the Cinque Ports, fliall be direfted 
to the Warden of the Cinque Ports, and the trial to be by 
the inhabitants of the Ports. Jacob’s Law Di£l. 
Piracy is a word ufed occafionally for any fpecies of 
robbery, particularly literary theft. — Whatever effeft 
this piracy may have upon us, it contributed very much 
to the advantage of Mr. Philips. Jolinfon’s Life of J. 
Philips. 
PIRzE'US. See the article Athens, vol. ii. p. 466. 
PIRAGI'NEN, a town of Pruffian Lithuania: two 
miles north-eaft of Infterberg. 
PIRAGUI'RI, a town of Brafil, in the government of 
Para, on the Xingi: eighty-five miles fouth-weft of Cu- 
rupa. 
PIRANE'SI (Giovanni Batifta), was born in the Ro¬ 
man territory, Huber fays in the year 1707, others fay in 
1711, or even 1721 ; but all agree that he died at Rome in 
1778. He was at once architeft, antiquary, draughtfman, 
and engraver; and in all, but more particularly in the 
latter art, evinced the molt vigorous and original powers. 
He appears to have had no tutor, at leaft none has been 
mentioned by his biographers; and, excepting a found ma¬ 
thematical foundation, with which books or a mailer 
mult prefumptively have fupplied him, iie built his Ityle 
of engraving on his own ftrong and keen obfervation of 
nature. The authors of the French Encyclopedic fay of 
Piranefi, that lie was the bell draughtfman of ruins, and 
the molt pifturefque engraver, that the country produced. 
His profeffional indullry was unremitting, yet his mind 
and his hand haveTo far outftripped time, that, though 
we know this, we remain in aftonilhment at the vali 
quantity of his works, which, when their number and 
magnitude are taken together, exceed the produftions of 
any other engraver whatever. A pileof more than twenty 
large folio volumes, replete with tafte and intelligence, 
fieems too much to have been produced by the labour of 
a Angle individual, even after we have made ourfelves ac¬ 
quainted with the rapidity of his powers; yet all thefe 
are etched from drawings made by himfelf, and fome of 
thefe drawings, of which the fubjefts are the Greek tern- 
