e Intelligence Department in 1896; moved
by certain discoveries affecting Esterhazy, began to inquire into the
Dreyfus case, which led to his removal out of the way to Tunis; returned
and exposed the proceedings against Dreyfus, with the result that a
revision was demanded, and the charge confirmed; _b_. 1854.

PICTON, SIR THOMAS, British general, born in Pembroke; served in the
West Indies, and became governor of Trinidad, also in the Walcheren
Expedition, and became governor of Flushing, and in the Peninsula and at
Waterloo, where he fell as he was leading his men to the charge
(1758-1815).

PICTS, a race of people now believed to be of Celtic origin, that
from 296 to 844 inhabited the NE. of Caledonia from the Forth to the
Pentland Firth, and were divided into northern and southern by the
Grampians, while the W. of the country, or Argyll, was occupied by the
Dalriads or Scots from Ireland, who eventually gained the ascendency over
them, to their amalgamation into one nation.

PICTS' HOUSES, the name popularly given to EARTH-HOUSES (q. v.)
in several parts of Scotland.

PIED PIPER OF HAMELIN, the hero of an old German legend, had come to
a German town, offered to clear it of the rats which infested it for a
sum of money, but after executing his task was unrewarded, upon which he
blew a blast on his magic pipe, the sound of which drew the children of
the town into a cave, which he locked when they entered, and shut them up
for ever.

PIEDMONT, a district of Italy, formerly a principality, ruled by the
house of Savoy, surrounded by the Alps, the Apennines, and the river
Ticino; occupies the W. end of the great fertile valley of the Po, a
hilly region rich in vines and mulberries, and a mountainous tract with
forests and grazing land intersected by lovely valleys, which send
streams down into the Po; the people are industrious; textile
manufactures are extensive, and agriculture is skilful; Turin, the
largest town, was the capital of Italy 1859-1865; in the glens of the
Cottian Alps the Vaudois or Waldenses, after much persecution, still
dwell.

PIERCE, FRANKLIN, the fourteenth President of the United States,
born in New Hampshire, was the lifelong friend of Nathaniel Hawthorne;
bred to the bar; served in the Mexican War, and was elected President in
1852; his period of office was one of trouble, he supported the States'
rights doctrine, and served with the South in the Civil War (1804-1869).

PIER