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Mary Magdalen, and St. John. At the termination of 
this oratorio, which is truly pathetic and folemn, all the 
degrees of the diminution of found are ufed : as piano, 
piil piano, pianiffhno, equivalent to the diminuendo, calando, 
and fmorzando, of the prefent times. Piftocchi publilhed 
Six Cantatas, with Two Duets, and Two Airs, one to 
French and one to Italian words, about the year 1699. 
PISTOI'A, a city of Italy, in the grand-duchy of 
Tufcany, fituated on the river Stella, in a beautiful plain 
near the foot of the Apennine mountains. By Pliny it 
is called Pijiorium, and is faid to have been once a Ro¬ 
man colony. At prefent it is a bilhop’s fee, fuffragan of 
Florence. The ftreets are broad and regular, the houfes 
tolerably well built, but poorly inhabited for want of 
trade. Formerly it was an independent republic ; but, 
fince it was fubdued by the Florentines in 1200, it has 
been in a declining condition. The cathedral has a very 
handfome cupola, and a magnificent ftaircafe to afcend to 
it. In the chapel dedicated to St. James, where his relics 
are preferved, the walls are almoft covered with plates of 
filver. Here are four marble ftatues of very good work- 
manlhip. The marble pulpit, the baflb relievos, the vef- 
fel that holds the holy water, and the fquare fteeple, are 
the work of John Pifano. The Jefuits have a very fine 
college, and the Francifcans, Dominicans, and Augufti- 
nians, good churches. In the church of the Madonna 
dell" Umilta there are two ftatues, one of Leo. X. and the 
other of Clement VII. The public palace, fituated in a 
large fquare, is a handfome building; feveral of the no¬ 
bility have alfo very good houfes. There are twenty-fe- 
ven parilh-churches 5 and a feminary founded in the year 
1745; of which it is to be obferved, that thofe eftablilh- 
ments called feminaries in Italy and France, are not merely 
academies or fchools, but colleges, where the young 
clergy are inftru&ed in the peculiar duties of their pro- 
feflion, under the infpeftion of the bilhop, during three 
years previous to the time of their receiving holy orders: 
hence each diocefe has its feminary, which is always in 
the epifcopal city, and generally contiguous to the bi- 
Ihop’s palace. In Piftoia there are two public libraries. 
The river Ambrone flows clofe to the town ; and in the 
neighbouring mountains there are many large villages, 
the chief of which is that of St. Marcello, belonging to 
the family of Cartoli. Thefe mountains are a part of the 
Apennines, and border on the territory of Bologna and 
the county of Vernio; higher up is the fource of the 
river Reno. The country about Piftoia, efpecially to¬ 
wards Florence, is exceedingly fertile and delightful, co¬ 
vered with all forts of fruits, corn, wine, &c. and con¬ 
taining a vaft number of little towns, wealthy villages, 
and country-feats, fo as to be reckoned the richeft and 
raoft beautiful in all Tufcany. It is about twenty miles 
north-weft of Florence, and thirty north-eaft of Pila. Lat. 
43. 57. N. Ion-. 10. 58. N. 
PIS'TOL, f. [from Piftoia, a city in Italy where, as 
Fauchet tells us, it was firft made. Borel derives the 
word from JiJiula , pipe; the barrel of this piece, bearing 
fome refemblance to a pipe, or flute.] A fpecies of fmall 
fire-arms, of which there are various forts and fizes ; as, 
the pocket-piftol, the horfe-piltol, &c. 
The Germans are faid to have ufed piftols in France 
before the French themfelves; and the horfemen who re¬ 
ceived them in the time of Henry II. were called pijio- 
liers. But they are mentioned in France as early as the 
year 1544, under the reign of Francis I. 
Piftols with a Ample fpring, inftead of the wheel for¬ 
merly ufed, are of modern invention; but the inventors 
are not known. In the year 1658, the ufe of wheel- 
locked piftols was not aboliftied. The wheel-lock was a 
little folid wheel of fteel, fixed againft the plate of the 
lock of the harquebufs or piftol; it had an axis that 
pierced it in its centre; at the interior end of this axis, 
which went into the lock, a chain was faftened, which 
twilled round it on the wheel being turned, and bent 
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the fpring by which it was held ; to bend this fpring, a 
key was made ufe of, into which the exterior end of the 
axis was inferted. By turning this key from left to 
right, the wheel was made to revolve; and by this move¬ 
ment a little Aider of copper, which covered the pan 
with the priming, retired from being over it; and by the 
fame movement the cock, armed with a flint like the cock 
of a fufil, was in a ftate to be difcharged, on pulling the 
trigger with the finger, as in ordinary piftols; the cock 
then falling on the wheel, produced fire and communi¬ 
cated it to the priming. 
The old Highland piftol appears Angular enough in the 
prefent day. Some, that have been preferved, exhibit 
marks of excellent workmanlhip. The flock is metal, 
and the butt-end fo lhaped, that, when fired off, the pif¬ 
tol can be ufed as a very ferious weapon at clofe quarters. 
The Highland piftol, though never ufed by any of the 
Britifh regiments, is ftill worn by every perfon who 
wilhes to be confidered as fully drefled and accoutred in 
the ancient garb. It is fufpended from the left fide of the 
waift-belt. 
In the year 18 to, Mr. Ezekiel Baker, of Whitechapel 
Road, was complimented with the filver medal from the 
Society of Arts, for his improvements in the cavalry- 
piftol, which he has rendered more fafe to the bearer, 
and more effectual in ufe. Thefe improvements have met 
with the fanflion and approbation of officers of great ex¬ 
perience ; of whom we need only mention Lieutenant- 
col. B. Bloomfield, of the royal horfe-artillery, and Lieu- 
tenant-col. G. Quentin, of the tenth light dragoons. 
The following is Mr. Baker’s account of his improvements. 
Firft, The lock bolts itfelf in going into half-cock, by 
means of a fmall fpring and lever behind the bolt, lying 
acrofs the plate. The lever is prefied againft the bolt by 
means of a fpring, which is always prefling againft it at 
the end of the bolt-fpring, which lies on the lear-fpring; 
there is a part which projects from it below the bottom 
of the fpring with a piece at the end of the fear; as the 
lock is taken to half-cock by the round part of the tum¬ 
bler, the fear is thrown up at that end, which lifts up the 
bolt-fpring over the bolt; the crofs-fpring and lever then 
palling againft the bolt, forces it into the notch of the 
tumbler, which holds the cock fall, fo that it cannot go 
to the cock until unbolted ; this way of bolting will pre¬ 
vent many accidents which might have happened. In 
the prefent way of bolting, the bolt muft be forced for¬ 
wards with the thumb or finger into the tumbler; this 
is frequently forgot to be done; the perfon, in loading, 
thinking himfelf fecure from danger of his piece going 
off, by means of the bolt when loaded, takes up his piece, 
thinking to unbolt and cock it, to his great furprife he 
finds it on full cock, and he is himfelf expofed to great 
danger. This I have often done myfelf for which rea- 
fon I have made this improvement, which will be found 
ufeful, particularly fo in rifle-guns and piftols, or any 
other fire-arms where a bolt is required. 
Secondly, The hammer of the lock is raifed towards 
the cock, which will prevent it from catching the top of 
the holfterin putting in the piftol. Inftances have been 
known that the piftol by that means has gone off, and 
both man and horfe have-been wounded. The hammer, 
raifed in this manner, will alfo be found ufeful in fol- 
diers’ mulket-locks, as it will prevent the thumb from 
being cut with the flint, which is frequently done in 
throwing the hammer back, as the fprings are in general 
very ftrong, and the purchafe is fmall, particularly with 
a new flint. 
Thirdly, Locks in general throw the fire over the pan, 
which is of no ufe whatever; the fence here added under 
the hammer is a preventive; it moves with the hammer, 
and returns the fire into the pan, makes it more certain 
of firing, will prevent the oil from drying up, and the 
powder from clogging the joint of the hammer, and the 
pan being inclined towards the fence Ihortens the hammer 
