PICKEN, ANDREW (1788-1833). —Miscellaneous writer, b. in Paisley, was in business in the West Indies, and in Glasgow and Liverpool, but not being successful, went to London to try his fortunes in literature. His earlier writings, Tales and Sketches of the West of Scotland and The Sectarian (1829), gave offence in dissenting circles: his next, The Dominie's Legacy (1830), had considerable success, and a book on Travels and Researches of Eminent Missionaries (1830) did something to rehabilitate him with those whom he had offended. His last work, The Black Watch (1833), had just appeared when he d. of an apoplectic seizure. His best work is somewhat like that 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.