t of Galt (_q.v._).

PIERPONT, JOHN (1785-1860).--Poet, _b._ at Litchfield, Conn., was first a
lawyer, then a merchant, and lastly a Unitarian minister. His chief poem
is _The Airs of Palestine_.

PIKE, ALBERT (1809-1891).--Poet, _b._ at Boston, Mass., was in his early
days a teacher, and afterwards a successful lawyer. His now
little-remembered poems were chiefly written under the inspiration of
Coleridge and Keats. His chief work, _Hymns to the Gods_, which appeared
in _Blackwood's Magazine_, closely imitates the latter. He also wrote
prose sketches.

PINDAR, PETER, (_see_ WOLCOT, J.).

PINKERTON, JOHN (1758-1826).--Historian and Antiquary, _b._ in Edin., was
apprenticed to a lawyer, but took to literature, and produced a number of
works distinguished by painstaking research, but disfigured by a
controversial and prejudiced spirit. His first publication was _Select
Scottish Ballads_ (1783), some of which, however, were composed by
himself. A valuable _Essay on Medals_ (1784) introduced him to Gibbon and
Horace Walpole. Among his other works are _Ancient Scottish Poems_
(1786), _Dissertation on the Goths_ (1787), _Medallic History of England_
(1790), _History of Scotland_ (1797), and his best work, _Treatise on
Rocks_ (1811). One of his most inveterate prejudices was against Celts of
all tribes and times. He _d._ in obscurity in Paris.

PINKNEY, EDWARD COATE (1802-1828).--_B._ in London, where his _f._ was
U.S. ambassador. He wrote a number of light, graceful short poems, but
fell a victim to ill-health and a morbid melancholy at 25. His longest
poem is _Rudolph_ (1825).

PIOZZI, HESTER LYNCH (SALUSBURY) (1741-1821).--Miscellaneous writer, _m._
Henry Thrale, a wealthy brewer, and, after his death, Gabriel Piozzi, an
Italian musician. Her chief distinction is her friendship with Dr.
Johnson, who was for a time almost domesticated with the Thrales. Her
second marriage in the year of Johnson's death, 1784, broke up the
friendship. She wrote _Anecdotes of Dr. Johnson_, a work which had a
favourable reception, and gives a lifelike picture of its subject, and
left an _Autobiography_. Her poem, _The Three Warnings_, is supposed to
have been touched up by Johnson. Many details of her friendship with J.
are given in the _Diary_ of Madame D'Arblay (_q.v._).

PLANCHE, JAMES ROBINSON (1796-1880).--Dramatist and miscellaneous writer,
_b._ in London of Huguenot descent, was in the Herald Office, and rose to
be