PI Y M AEG ALL
PIGAULT-LEBEUN
He deems didacticism in novels an artistic
error, and expresses his personal views
apart from them.
PI Y MARGALL, Francisco, Spanish writer and statesman. B. 1824. At the age of fifteen he wrote a work on the monuments of the Catalan provinces (Espafia, obra pintoresca, 1842) which drew attention to his ability, and in 1851 he issued the first part of his history of painting (Ilistoria de la pintura en Esparto), which was condemned by the Church for its Eationalistic expressions. He qualified in law, and became a barrister; but the Eevolution of 1854 attracted him to advanced politics. He adopted Posi- tivist views, edited La Discusion, and was compelled to fly to France for his share in the insurrection of 1866. After the Eevolution of 1868 he returned to Spain and entered the Cortes. A strong repub lican and anti-clerical, he was active in setting up the republic of 1873, and he became Minister of the Interior. He was also an unsuccessful candidate for the Presidency. In spite of his very advanced views, and his steady opposition under the restored monarchy, Pi y Margall was greatly respected by all parties except the clerical. His Eationalism is given especially in his Las Luchas de nuestros dias (1890). D. 1901.
PICTON, James Allanson, M.A., educa tionist. B. Aug. 8, 1832. Ed. Liverpool High School, and Owen s College, Man chester. Son of Sir J. A. Picton, an architect, whose educational benefices to Liverpool are commemorated in the " Picton Hall," he entered his father s office at the age of sixteen and proposed to adopt his profession. A few years later he wished to join the Congregationalisfc ministry, and he was trained at Owen s College and the Lancashire Independent College. The authorities regarded him with some suspicion, as he largely adopted the theories of the German philosophers ; but he became a minister, and served the 601
Cheetham Hill Congregational Church for
six years (1856-62). He was again
accused of heresy, and he took a more
liberal congregation at Leicester, where he
entered public life. He was M.P. for
Leicester from 1884-94. He had gone
from Leicester to Hackney, where he
served the St. Thomas s Square Church for
ten years (1869-79), and he represented
Hackney on the London School Board
from 1870 to 1879. For three years he
was Chairman of the School Management
Committee. Picton was a strong advocate
of secular education (The Bible in School,
1901), and he ended his own religious
development as a Pantheist (The Religion
of the Universe, 1904 ; Pantheism, 1905,
etc.). D. Feb. 4, 1910.
PIERSON, Allard, D.D., Ph.D., Dutch writer. B. Apr. 8, 1831. Ed. Utrecht University. From 1854 to 1857 Pierson was pastor of an Evangelical chapel at Louvain, and from 1857 to 1863 he had charge of the Walloon chapel at Eotterdam. In 1864 he resigned, and he expressed his dissent from orthodox theology in a pam phlet which caused a lively controversy. He retired to Germany, and was appointed professor of theology at Heidelberg Uni versity. He evolved beyond liberal theology (see his Studie over de Geschriften van Israels Profeten, 1877, etc.), and occupied the chair of aesthetics and the history of art at Amsterdam University. He wrote a novel and a volume of verse in addition to his many theological works, D. May 27, 1896.
PIGAULT-LEBRUN, Charles Antoine
Guillaume, French novelist and dramatist. B. Apr. 8, 1753. Ed. Oratorian College, Paris. Lebrun was very devout when he was at college, and the Oratorian priests tried to capture him, but his father, fortunately, was unwilling. His real name was Antoine Pigault d Epinoy, but he took to the stage and changed it, as his father disowned him on account of his adventures. The Belgian clergy once had him expelled
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