BARCLAY, WILLIAM, father of John (1), an eminent citizen and professor of Law at Angers; d. 1605. All these Barclays were of Scottish descent.

BARCLAY DE TOLLY, a Russian general and field-marshal, of Scottish descent, and of the same family as Robert Barclay the Quaker; distinguished in successive Russian wars; his promotion rapid, in spite of his unpopularity as German born; on Napoleon's invasion of Russia his tactic was to retreat till forced to fight at Smolensk; he was defeated, and superseded in command by Kutusow; on the latter's death was made commander-in-chief; commanded the Russians at Dresden and Leipzig, and led them into France in 1815; he was afterwards Minister of War at St. Petersburg, and elevated to the rank of prince (1761-1818).

BARD OF AVON, Shakespeare; OF AYRSHIRE, Burns; OF HOPE, Campbell; OF IMAGINATION, Akenside; OF MEMORY, Rogers; OF OLNEY, Cowper; OF RYDAL MOUNT, Wordsworth; OF TWICKENHAM, Pope.

BARDELL', MRS., a widow in the "Pickwick Papers," who sues Pickwick for breach of promise.

BARDOLPH, a drunken, swaggering, worthless follower of Falstaff's.

BARDON HILL, a hill in Leicestershire, from which one can see right across England.

BAR-DURANI, the collective name of a number of Afghan tribes between the Hindu-Kush and the Soliman Mountains.

BAREBONE'S PARLIAMENT, Cromwell's Little Parliament, met 4th July 1653; derisively called Barebone's Parliament, from one Praise-God Barebone, a member of it. "If not the remarkablest Assembly, yet the Assembly for the remarkablest purpose," says Carlyle, "that ever met in the modern world; the business being no less than introducing of the Christian religion into real practice in the social affairs of this nation.... In this it failed, could not but fail, with what we call the Devil and all his angels against it, and the Little Parliament had to go its ways again," 12th December in the same year.

BAREGES, a village on the Hautes-Pyrenees, at 4000 ft. above the sea-level, resorted to for its mineral waters.

BAREILLY (121), a city in NW. India, the chief town in Rohilkhand, 153 m. E. of Delhi, notable as the place where the Mutiny of 1858 first broke out.

BARENTZ, an Arctic explorer, born in Friesland; discovered Spitzbergen, and doubled the NE. extremity of Nova Zembla, in 1596, and died the same year.

BARERE, French revolutionary, a member of the States-General, the National Assembly of France, and the Convention; voted in the Convention for the execution of the king, uttering the oft-quoted words, "The tree of Liberty thrives only when watered by the blood of tyrants;" escaped the fate of his associates; became a spy under Napoleon; was called by Burke, from his flowery oratory, the Anacreon of the Guillotine, and by Mercier, "the greatest liar in France;" he was inventor of the famous fable "his masterpiece," of the "Sinking of the Vengeur," "the largest, most inspiring piece of blaque manufactured, for some centuries, by any man or nation;" died in beggary (1755-1841). See VENGEUR.

BARETTI, GIUSEPPE, an Italian lexicographer, born in Turin; taught Italian in London, patronised by Johnson, became secretary of the Royal Academy (1719-1789).

BARFLEUR, a seaport 15 m. E. of Cherbourg, where William the Conqueror set out with his fleet to invade England.

BARFRUeSH (603), a town S. of the Caspian, famous for its bazaar.

BAR'GUEST, a goblin long an object of terror in the N. of England.

BARI, THE, a small negro nation on the banks of the White Nile.

BARING, SIR FRANCIS, founder of the great banking firm of Baring Brothers & Co.; amassed property, value of it said to have been nearly seven millions (1740-1810).

BARING-GOULD, SABINE, rector of Lew-Trenchard, Devonshire, celebrated in various departments of literature, history, theology, and romance, especially the latter; a voluminous writer on all manner of subjects, and a man of wide reading; b. 1834.

BARHAM, RICHARD HARRIS, his literary name Thomas Ingoldsby, born at Canterbury, minor canon of St. Paul's; friend of Sidney Smith; author of "Ingoldsby Legends," published originally as a series of papers in Bentley's Miscellany (1788-1879).

BARKIS, a carrier-lad in "David Copperfield," in love with Peggotty. "Barkis is willin'."

BARKER, E. HENRY, a classical scholar, born in Yorkshire; edited Stephens' "Thesaurus Linguae Graecae," an arduous work; died in poverty (1788-1839).

BARKING, a market-town in Essex, 7 m. NE. of London, with the remains of an ancient Benedictine convent.

BARLAAM AND JOSAPHAT, a mediaeval legend, being a Christianised version of an earlier legend relating to Buddha, in which Josaphat, a prince like Buddha, is converted by Barlaam to a like ascetic life.

BARLEYCORN, JOHN, the exhilarating spirit distilled from barley personified.

BARLOW, JOEL, an American poet and diplomatist; for his Republican zeal, was in 1792 accorded the rights of citizenship in France; wrote a poem "The Vision of Columbus" (1755-1812).

BARLOWE, a French watchmaker, inventor of the repeating watch; d. 1690.

BARMACIDE FEAST, an imaginary feast, so called from a story in the "Arabian Nights" of a hungry beggar invited by a Barmacide prince to a banquet, which proved a long succession of merely empty dishes, and which he enjoyed with such seeming gusto and such good-humour as to earn for himself a sumptuous real one.

BAR'MACIDES, a Persian family celebrated for their magnificence, and that in the end met with the cruellest fate. Yahya, one of them, eminent for ability and virtue, was chosen by the world-famous Haroun-Al-Raschid on his accession to the caliphate to be his vizier; and his four sons rose along with him to such influence in the government, as to excite the jealousy of the caliph so much, that he had the whole family invited to a banquet, and every man, woman, and child of them massacred at midnight in cold blood. The caliph, it is gratifying to learn, never forgave himself for this cruelty, and was visited with a gnawing remorse to the end of his days; and it had fatal issues to his kingdom as well as himself.

BAR'MEN (116), a long town, consisting of a series of hamlets, 6 m. in extent, in Rhenish Prussia; the population consists chiefly of Protestants; the staple industry, the manufacture of ribbons, and it is the centre of that industry on the Continent.

BARNABAS, ST., a member of the first Christian brotherhood, a companion of St. Paul's, and characterised in the Acts as "a good man"; stoned to death at Cyprus, where he was born; an epistle extant bears his name, but is not believed to be his work; the Epistle to the Hebrews has by some been ascribed to him; he is usually represented in art as a venerable man of majestic mien, with the Gospel of St. Matthew in his hand. Festival, June 11.

BARNABITES, a proselytising order of monks founded at Milan, where Barnabas was reported to have been bishop, in 1530; bound, as the rest are, by the three monastic vows, and by a vow in addition, not to sue for preferment in the Church.

BARNABY RUDGE, one of Dickens' novels, published in 1841.

BARNARD, HENRY, American educationist, born in Connecticut, 1811.

BARNARD, LADY ANNE, daughter of Lindsay, the 5th Earl of Balcarres, born in Fife; authoress of "Auld Robin Gray," named after a Balcarres herd; lived several years at the Cape, where her husband held an appointment, and after his death, in London (1750-1825).

BARNARD CASTLE, an old tower W. of Darlington, in Durham; birthplace of John Baliol, and the scene of Scott's "Rokeby."

BAR'NARDINE, a reckless character in "Measure for Measure."

BARNAVE, JOSEPH MARIE, French lawyer, born at Grenoble; president of the French Constitutional Assembly in 1780; one of the trio in the Assembly of whom it was said, "Whatsoever those three have on hand, Dupont thinks it, Barnave speaks it, Lameth does it;" a defender of the monarchy from the day he gained the favour of the queen by his gallant conduct to her on her way back to Paris from her flight with the king to Varennes; convicted by documentary evidence of conspiring with the court against the nation; was guillotined (1761-1793).

BARN-BURNERS, name formerly given to an extreme radical party in the United States, as imitating the Dutchman who, to get rid of the rats, burned his barns.

BARNES, THOMAS, editor of the Times, under whom the paper first rose to the pre-eminent place it came to occupy among the journals of the day (1786-1841).

BARNES, WILLIAM, a local philologist, native of Dorsetshire; author of "Poems of Rural Life in Dorset," in three vols.; wrote on subjects of philological interest (1830-1886).

BARNET (5), a town in Hertfordshire, almost a suburb of London; a favourite resort of Londoners; has a large annual horse and cattle fair; scene of a battle in 1471, at which Warwick, the king-maker, was slain.

BARNETT, JOHN, composer, born at Bedford; author of operas and a number of fugitive pieces (1802-1891).

BARNEVELDT, JOHANN VAN OLDEN, Grand Pensionary of Holland, of a distinguished family; studied law at the Hague, and practised as an advocate there; fought for the independence of his country against Spain; concluded a truce with Spain, in spite of the Stadtholder Maurice, whose ambition for supreme power he courageously opposed; being an Arminian, took sides against the Gomarist or Calvinist party, to which Maurice belonged; was arrested, tried, and condemned to death as a traitor and heretic, and died on the scaffold at 71 years of age, with sanction, too, of the Synod of Dort, in 1619.

BARNSLEY (35), a manufacturing town in W. Yorkshire, 18 m. N. of Sheffield; manufactures textile fabrics and glass.

BARNUM, an American showman; began with the exhibition of George Washington's reputed nurse in 1834; picked up Tom Thumb in 1844; engaged Jenny Lind for 100 concerts in 1849, and realised a fortune, which he lost; started in 1871 with his huge travelling show, and realised another fortune, dying worth five million dollars (1810-1891).

BAROCCI, a celebrated Italian painter, imitator of the style of Correggio (1528-1612).

BAROCHE, PIERRE-JULES, a French statesman, minister of Napoleon III. (1802-1870).

BARO'DA (2,415), a native state of Gujerat, in the prov. of Bombay, with a capital (101) of the same name, the sovereign of which is called the Guicowar; the third city in the presidency, with Hindu temples and a considerable trade.

BARO'NIUS, CAESAR, a great Catholic ecclesiastic, born near Naples, priest of the Congregation of the Oratory under its founder, and ultimately Superior; cardinal and librarian of the Vatican; his great work, "Annales Ecclesiastici," being a history of the first 12 centuries of the Church, written to prove that the Church of Rome was identical with the Church of the 1st century, a work of immense research that occupied him 30 years; failed of the popehood from the intrigues of the Spaniards, whose political schemes he had frustrated (1538-1607).

BARONS' WAR, a war in England of the barons against Henry III., headed by Simon de Montfort, and which lasted from 1258 to 1265.

BAROQUE, ornamentation of a florid and incongruous character, more lavish and showy rather than true and tasteful; much in vogue from the 16th to the 18th centuries.

BARRA, a small island, one of the Hebrides, 5 m. SW. of S. Uist, the inhabitants of which are engaged in fisheries.

BAR'RACKPUR (18), a town on the Hooghly, 15 m. above Calcutta, where the lieutenant-governor of Bengal has a residence; a healthy resort of the Europeans.

BARRACK-ROOM BALLADS, ballads by Rudyard Kipling, with a fine martial strain.

BARRAS, PAUL FRANCOIS, a member of the Jacobin Club, born in Provence; "a man of heat and haste,... tall, and handsome to the eye;" voted in the National Convention for the execution of the king; took part in the siege of Toulon; put an end to the career of Robespierre and the Reign of Terror; named general-in-chief to oppose the reactionaries; employed Bonaparte to command the artillery, "he the commandant's cloak, this artillery officer the commandant;" was a member of the Directory till Bonaparte swept it away (1755-1829).

BAR'RATRY, the offence of inciting and stirring up riots and quarrels among the Queen's subjects, also a fraud by a ship captain on the owners of a ship.

BARRE, ISAAC, soldier and statesman, born in Dublin, served under Wolfe in Canada, entered Parliament, supported Pitt, charged with authorship of "Junius' Letters"; d. 1802.

BARREL MIRABEAU, Viscount de Mirabeau, brother of the great tribune of the name, so called from his bulk and the liquor he held.

BARRERE. See BARERE.

BARRETT, WILSON, English actor, born in Essex; made his debut at Halifax; lessee of the Grand Theatre, Leeds, and of the Court and the Princess's Theatres, London; produced his Hamlet in 1884; b. 1846.

BARRIE, JAMES MATTHEW, a writer with a rich vein of humour and pathos, born at Kirriemuir ("Thrums"), in Forfarshire; began his literary career as a contributor to journals; produced, among other works, "Auld Licht Idylls" in 1888, and "A Window in Thrums," in 1889, and recently "Margaret Ogilvie," deemed by some likely to prove the most enduring thing he has yet written; b. 1860.

BARRIER REEF, THE GREAT, a slightly interrupted succession of coral reefs off the coast of Queensland, of 1200 m. extent, and 100 m. wide at the S., and growing narrower as they go N.; are from 70 to 20 m. off the coast, and protect the intermediate channel from the storms of the Pacific.

BARRIERE, JEAN FRANCOIS, French historian of the Revolution (1786-1868).

BARRIERE, PIERRE, would-be assassin of Henry IV. of France; broken on the wheel in 1593.

BARRIERS, BATTLE OF THE, a battle fought within the walls of Paris in 1814 between Napoleon and the Allies, which ended in the capitulation of the city and the abdication of Napoleon.

BARRINGTON, JOHN SHUTE, 1st Viscount, gained the favour of the Nonconformists by his "Rights of Dissenters," and an Irish peerage from George I. for his "Dissuasive from Jacobitism"; left six sons, all more or less distinguished, particularly Daines, the fourth, distinguished in law (1727-1800), and Samuel, the fifth, 1st Lord of the name, distinguished in the naval service, assisted under Lord Howe at the relief of Gibraltar, and became an admiral in 1787 (1678-1764).

BARROS, JOAO DE, a distinguished Portuguese historian; his great work. "Asia Portugueza," relates, in a pure and simple style, the discoveries and conquests of the Portuguese in the Indies; he did not live to complete it (1493-1570).

BARROT, ODILON, famous as an advocate, born at Villefort; contributed to the Revolutions of both 1830 and 1848; accepted office under Louis Napoleon; retired after the coup d'etat, to return to office in 1872 (1791-1873).

BARROW, a river in Ireland rising in the Slievebloom Mts.; falls into Waterford harbour, after a course of 114 m.

BARROW, ISAAC, English scholar, mathematician, and divine, born in London; a graduate of Cambridge, and fellow of Trinity College; appointed professor of Greek at Cambridge, and soon after Gresham professor of Geometry; subsequently Lucasian professor of Mathematics (in which he had Newton for successor), and master of Trinity, and founder of the library; a man of great intellectual ability and force of character; besides mathematical works, left a "Treatise on the Pope's Supremacy," and a body of sermons remarkable for their vigour of thought and nervousness of expression (1630-1677).

BARROW, SIR JOHN, secretary to the Admiralty for 40 years, and much esteemed in that department, distinguished also as a man of letters; wrote the Lives of Macartney, Anson, Howe, and Peter the Great (1764-1848).

BARROW-IN-FURNESS (51), a town and seaport in N. Lancashire, of recent rapid growth, owing to the discovery of extensive deposits of iron in the neighbourhood, which has led to the establishment of smelting works and the largest manufacture of steel in the kingdom; the principal landowners in the district being the Dukes of Devonshire and Buccleuch.

BARRY, JAMES, painter, born in Cork; painted the "Death of General Wolfe"; became professor of Painting at the Royal Academy, but was deposed; died in poverty; his masterpiece is the "Victors at Olympia" (1741-1806).

BARRY, SIR CHARLES, architect, born at Westminster; architect of the new Palace of Westminster, besides other public buildings (1795-1860).

BARRY CORNWALL. See PROCTER.

BART, or BARTH, JEAN, a distinguished French seaman, born at Dunkirk, son of a fisherman, served under De Ruyter, entered the French service at 20, purchased a ship of two guns, was subsidised as a privateer, made numerous prizes; having had other ships placed under his command, was captured by the English, but escaped; defeated the Dutch admiral, De Vries; captured his squadron laden with corn, for which he was ennobled by Louis XIV.; he was one of the bravest of men and the most independent, unhampered by red-tapism of every kind (1651-1702).

BARTH, HEINRICH, a great African explorer, born at Hamburg; author of "Travels in the East and Discoveries in Central Africa," in five volumes (1821-1865).

BARTHELEMY, AUGUSTE-MARSEILLE, a poet and politician, born at Marseilles; author of "Nemesis," and the best French translation of the "AEneid," in verse; an enemy of the Bourbons, an ardent Imperialist, and warm supporter of Louis Napoleon (1796-1867).

BARTHELEMY, THE ABBE, JEAN JACQUES, a French historian and antiquary, born at Cassis, in Provence; educated by the Jesuits; had great skill in numismatics; wrote several archaeological works, in chief, "Voyage du Jeune Anacharsis en Grece;" long treated as an authority in the history, manners, and customs of Greece (1716-1795).

BARTHELEMY SAINT-HILAIRE, JULES, a French baron and politician, born at Paris; an associate of Odilon Barrot in the Revolutions of 1830 and 1848, and subsequently a zealous supporter of M. Thiers; for a time professor of Greek and Roman Philosophy in the College of France; an Oriental as well as Greek scholar; translated the works of Aristotle, his greatest achievement, and the "Iliad" into verse, as well as wrote on the Vedas, Buddhism, and Mahomet; b. 1805.

BARTHEZ, PAUL JOSEPH, a celebrated physician, physiologist, and Encyclopaedist, born at Montpellier, where he founded a medical school; suffered greatly during the Revolution; was much esteemed and honoured by Napoleon; is celebrated among physiologists as the advocate of what he called the Vital Principle as a physiological force in the functions of the human organism; his work "Nouveaux Elements de la Science de l'Homme" has been translated into all the languages of Europe (1734-1806).

BARTHOLDI, a French sculptor, born at Colmar; his principal works, "Lion le Belfort," and "Liberte eclairant le Monde," the largest bronze statue in the world, being 150 ft. high, erected at the entrance of New York harbour; b. 1834.

BARTHOLOMEW, ST., an apostle of Christ, and martyr; represented in art with a knife in one hand and his skin in the other; sometimes been painted as being flayed alive, also as headless. Festival, Aug. 24.

BARTHOLOMEW FAIR, an annual market held at Smithfield, London, and instituted in 1133 by Henry I., to be kept on the saint's day, but abolished in 1853, when it ceased to be a market and became an occasion for mere dissipation and riot.

BARTHOLOMEW HOSPITAL, an hospital in Smithfield, London, founded in 1123; has a medical school attached to it, with which the names of a number of eminent physicians are associated.

BARTHOLOMEW'S DAY, ST., 24th August, day in 1572 memorable for the wholesale massacre of the Protestants in France at the instance of Catharine de Medici, then regent of the kingdom for her son, Charles IX., an event, cruelly gloried in by the Pope and the Spanish Court, which kindled a fire in the nation that was not quenched, although it extinguished Protestantism proper in France, till Charles was coerced to grant liberty of conscience throughout the realm.

BARTIZAN, an overhanging wall-mounted turret projecting from the walls of ancient fortifications.

BARTLETT, JOHN H., an American ethnologist and philologist, born at Rhode Island, U.S.; author of "Dictionary of Americanisms," among other works particularly on ethnology (1805-1886).

BARTOLI, DANIELE, a learned Italian Jesuit, born at Ferrara (1635-1685).

BARTOLI, PIETRO, Italian engraver, engraved a great number of ancient works of art (1635-1700).

BARTOLINI, LORENZO, a Florentine sculptor, patronised by Napoleon; produced a great number of busts (1777-1850).

BARTOLOMME'O, FRA, a celebrated Florentine painter of sacred subjects, born at Florence; an adherent of Savonarola, friend of Raphael; "St. Mark" and "St. Sebastian" among his best productions (1469-1517).

BARTOLOZ'ZI, FRANCESCO, an eminent engraver, born at Florence; wrought at his art both in England and in Portugal, where he died; his chief works, "Clytie," after Annibale Caracci, the "Prometheus," after Michael Angelo, and "Virgin and Child," after Carlo Dolci; he was the father of Madame Vestris (1725-1815).

BARTON, BERNARD, the "Quaker poet," born in London; a clerk nearly all his days in a bank; his poems, mostly on homely subjects, but instinct with poetic feeling and fancy, gained him the friendship of Southey and Charles Lamb, as well as more substantial patronage in the shape of a government pension (1784-1849).

BARTON, ELIZABETH, "the Maid of Kent," a poor country servant-girl, born in Kent, subject from nervous debility to trances, in which she gave utterances ascribed by Archbishop Warham to divine inspiration, till her communications were taken advantage of by designing people, and she was led by them to pronounce sentence against the divorce of Catharine of Aragon, which involved her and her abettors in a charge of treason, for which they were all executed at Tyburn (1506-1534).

BARUCH, (1) the friend of the prophet Jeremiah, and his scribe, who was cast with him into prison, and accompanied him into Egypt; (2) a book in the Apocrypha, instinct with the spirit of Hebrew prophecy, ascribed to him; (3) also a book entitled the Apocalypse of Baruch, affecting to predict the fall of Jerusalem, but obviously written after the event.

BARYE, a French sculptor, distinguished for his groups of statues of wild animals (1795-1875).

BASAITI, a Venetian painter of the 15th and 16th centuries, a rival of Bellini; his best works, "Christ in the Garden" and the "Calling of St. Peter and St. Andrew."

BASEDOW, JOHANN BERNARD, a zealous educational reformer, born at Hamburg; his method modelled according to the principles of Rousseau; established a normal school on this method at Dessau, which, however, failed from his irritability of temper, which led to a rupture with his colleagues (1723-1790).

BASEL (74), in the NW. of Switzerland, on the Rhine, just before it enters Germany; has a cathedral, university, library, and museum; was a centre of influence in Reformation times, and the home for several years of Erasmus; it is now a great money market, and has manufactures of silks and chemicals; the people are Protestant and German-speaking.

BASEL, COUNCIL OF, met in 1431, and laboured for 12 years to effect the reformation of the Church from within. It effected some compromise with the Hussites, but was hampered at every step by the opposition of Pope Eugenius IV. Asserting the authority of a general council over the Pope himself, it cited him on two occasions to appear at its bar, on his refusal declared him contumacious, and ultimately endeavoured to suspend him. Failing to effect its purpose, owing to the secession of his supporters, it elected a rival pope, Felix V., who was, however, but scantily recognised. The Emperor Frederick III. supported Eugenius, and the council gradually melted away. At length, in 1449, the pope died, Felix resigned, and Nicholas V. was recognised by the whole Church. The decrees of the council were directed against the immorality of the clergy, the indecorousness of certain festivals, the papal prerogatives and exactions, and dealt with the election of popes and the procedure of the College of Cardinals. They were all confirmed by Nicholas V., but are not recognised by modern Roman canonists.

BA'SHAN, a fertile and pastoral district in NE. Palestine of considerable extent, and at one time densely peopled; the men of it were remarkable for their stature.

BASHAHR, a native hill state in the Punjab, traversed by the Sutlej; tributary to the British Government.

BASHI-BAZOUKS', irregular, undisciplined troops in the pay of the Sultan; rendered themselves odious by their brutality in the Bulgarian atrocities of 1876, as well as, more or less, in the time of the Crimean war.

BASHKIRS, originally a Finnish nomad race (and still so to some extent) of E. Russia, professing Mohammedanism; they number some 500,000.

BASHKIRTSEFF, MARIE, a precocious Russian young lady of good family, but of delicate constitution, who travelled a good deal with her mother, noted her impressions, and left a journal of her life, which created, when published after her death, an immense sensation from the confessions it contains (1860-1884).

BASIL, ST., THE GREAT, bishop of Caesarea, in Cappadocia, his birthplace; studied at Athens; had Julian the Apostate for a fellow-student; the lifelong friend of Gregory Nazianzen; founded a monastic body, whose rules are followed by different monastic communities; a conspicuous opponent of the Arian heresy, and defender of the Nicene Creed; tried in vain to unite the Churches of the East and West; is represented in Christian art in Greek pontificals, bareheaded, and with an emaciated appearance (326-380). There were several Basils of eminence in the history of the Church: Basil, bishop of Ancyra, who flourished in the 4th century; Basil, the mystic, and Basil, the friend of St. Ambrose.

BASIL I., the Macedonian, emperor of the East; though he had raised himself to the throne by a succession of crimes, governed wisely; compiled, along with his son Leo, surnamed the Philosopher, a code of laws that were in force till the fall of the empire; fought successfully against the Saracens; d. 886.

BASILICA, the code of laws, in 60 books, compiled by Basil I., and Leo, his son and successor, first published in 887, and named after the former.

BASILICA, a spacious hall, twice as long as broad, for public business and the administration of justice, originally open to the sky, but eventually covered in, and with the judge's bench at the end opposite the entrance, in a circular apse added to it. They were first erected by the Romans, 180 B.C.; afterwards, on the adoption of Christianity, they were converted into churches, the altar being in the apse.

BASILICON DORON (i. e. Royal Gift), a work written by James I. in 1599, before the union of the crowns, for the instruction of his son, Prince Henry, containing a defence of the royal prerogative.

BASILI'DES, a Gnostic of Alexandria, flourished at the commencement of the 2nd century; appears to have taught the Oriental theory of emanations, to have construed the universe as made up of a series of worlds, some 365 it is alleged, each a degree lower than the preceding, till we come to our own world, the lowest and farthest off from the parent source of the series, of which the God of the Jews was the ruler, and to have regarded Jesus as sent into it direct from the parent source to redeem it from the materialism to which the God of the Jews, as Creator and Lord of the material universe, had subjected it; which teaching a sect called after his name accepted and propagated in both the East and the West for more than two centuries afterwards.

BAS'ILISK, an animal fabled to have been hatched by a toad from the egg of an old cock, before whose breath every living thing withered and died, and the glance of whose eye so bewitched one to his ruin that the bravest could confront and overcome it only by looking at the reflection of it in a mirror, as PERSEUS (q. v.) was advised to do, and did, when he cut off the head of the Medusa; seeing itself in a mirror, it burst, it as said, at the sight.

BASKERVILLE, JOHN, a printer and typefounder, originally a writing-master in Birmingham; native of Sion Hill, Worcestershire; produced editions of classical works prized for their pre-eminent beauty by connoisseurs in the art of the printer, and all the more for their rarity (1706-1756).

BASNAGES, JACQUES, a celebrated Protestant divine, born at Rouen; distinguished as a linguist and man of affairs; wrote a "History of the Reformed Churches" and on "Jewish Antiquities" (1653-1723).

BASOCHE, a corporation of lawyers' clerks in Paris. See BAZOCHE.

BASQUE PROVINCES, a fertile and mineral district in N. of Spain, embracing the three provinces of Biscaya, Guipuzcoa, and Alava, of which the chief towns are respectively Bilbao, St. Sebastian, and Vittoria; the natives differ considerably from the rest of the Spaniards in race, language, and customs. See BASQUES.

BASQUE ROADS, an anchorage between the Isle of Oleron and the mainland; famous for a naval victory gained in 1809 over a French fleet under Vice-Admiral Allemand.

BASQUES, a people of the Western Pyrenees, partly in France and partly in Spain; distinguished from their neighbours only by their speech, which is non-Aryan; a superstitious people, conservative, irascible, ardent, proud, serious in their religious convictions, and pure in their moral conduct.

BAS-RELIEF (i. e. low relief) a term applied to figures very slightly projected from the ground.

BASS ROCK, a steep basaltic rock at the mouth of the Firth of Forth, 350 ft. high, tenanted by solan geese; once used as a prison, specially in Covenanting times.

BASS STRAIT, strait between Australia and Tasmania, about 150 m. broad.

BASSANIO, the lover of Portia in the "Merchant of Venice."

BASSANO, a town in Italy, on the Brenta, 30 m. NW. of Padua; printing the chief industry.

BASSANO, DUC DE, an intriguing French diplomatist in the interest of Bonaparte, and his steadfast auxiliary to the last (1763-1839).

BASSANO, JACOPO DA PONTE, an eminent Italian painter, chiefly of country scenes, though the "Nativity" at his native town, Bassano, shows his ability in the treatment of higher themes (1510-1592).

BASSOMPIERRE, FRANCOIS DE, a marshal of France, born in Lorraine; entered military life under Henry IV., was a gallant soldier, and one of the most brilliant wits of his time; took part in the siege of Rochelle; incurred the displeasure of Richelieu; was imprisoned by his order twelve years in the Bastille; wrote his Memoirs there; was liberated on the death of Richelieu; his Memoirs contain a lively description of his contemporaries, the manners of the time, his own intrigues, no less than those of his friends and enemies (1579-1646).

BASSORAH (40), a port in Asiatic Turkey, on the Shatt-el-Arab; a place of great commercial importance when Bagdad was the seat of the caliphate; for a time sank into insignificance, but has of late revived.

BASTI'A (22), a town in NE. Corsica, the most commercial in the island, and once the capital; was founded by the Genoese in 1383, and taken by the French in 1553; exports wine, oil, fruits, &c.

BASTIAN, ADOLF, an eminent ethnologist, born at Bremen; travelled over and surveyed, in the interest of his science, all quarters of the globe, and recorded the fruits of his survey in his numerous works, no fewer than thirty in number, beginning with "Der Mensch in der Geschichte," in three vols.; conducts, along with Virchow and R. Hartman, the Zeitschrift fuer Ethnologie; b. 1826.

BASTIAN, DR. H. C., a physiologist, born at Truro; a materialist in his theory of life; a zealous advocate of the doctrine of spontaneous generation; b. 1837.

BASTIAT, FREDERIC, an eminent political economist, born at Bayonne; a disciple of Cobden's; a great advocate of Free Trade; wrote on behalf of it and against Protection, "Sophismes Economiques"; a zealous Anti-Socialist, and wrote against Socialism (1801-1850).

BASTIDE, JULES, French Radical writer, born in Paris; took part in the Revolution of 1848, and became Minister of Foreign Affairs (1800-1879).

BASTILLE (lit. the Building), a State prison in Paris, built originally as a fortress of defence to the city, by order of Charles V., between 1369 and 1382, but used as a place of imprisonment from the first; a square structure, with towers and dungeons for the incarceration of the prisoners, the whole surrounded by a moat, and accessible only by drawbridges; "tyranny's stronghold"; attacked by a mob on 14th July 1789; taken chiefly by noise; overturned, as "the city of Jericho, by miraculous sound"; demolished, and the key of it sent to Washington; the taking of it was the first event in the Revolution. See Carlyle's "French Revolution" for the description of the fall of it.

BASUTOLAND (250), a fertile, healthy, grain-growing territory in S. Africa, SE. of the Orange Free State, under protection of the British crown, of the size of Belgium; yields large quantities of maize; the natives keep large herds of cattle.

BASUTOS, a S. African race of the same stock as the Kaffirs, but superior to them in intelligence and industry.

BATANGAS, a port in the island of Luzon, one of the Philippine Islands, which has a considerable trade.

BATAVIA (105), the capital of Java, on the N. coast, and of the Dutch possessions in the Eastern Archipelago; the emporium, with a large trade, of the Far East; with a very mixed population. Also the ancient name of Holland; insula Batavorum it was called—that is, island of the Batavi, the name of the native tribes inhabiting it.

BATES, HENRY WALTER, a naturalist and traveller, born at Leicester; friend of, and a fellow-labourer with, Alfred R. Wallace; author of "The Naturalist on the Amazons"; an advocate of the Darwinian theory, and author of contributions in defence of it (1825-1892).

BATH (54), the largest town in Somerset, on the Avon; a cathedral city; a place of fashionable resort from the time of the Romans, on account of its hot baths and mineral waters, of which there are six springs; it was from 1704 to 1750 the scene of Beau Nash's triumphs; has a number of educational and other institutions, and a fine public park.

BATH, MAJOR, a gentleman in Fielding's "Amelia," who stoops from his dignity to the most menial duties when affection prompts him.

BATH, ORDER OF THE, an English order of knighthood, traceable to the reign of Henry IV., consisting of three classes: the first, Knights Grand Cross; the second, Knights Commanders, and the third, Knights Companions, abbreviated respectively into G.C.B., K.C.B., and C.B.; initiation into the order originally preceded by immersion in a bath, whence the name, in token of the purity required of the members by the laws of chivalry. It was originally a military order, and it is only since 1847 that civil Knights, Knights Commanders, and Companions have been admitted as Knights. The first class, exclusive of royal personages and foreigners, is limited to 102 military and 28 civil; the second, to 102 military and 50 civil; and the third, to 525 military and 200 civil. The motto of the order is Tria juncta in uno (Three united in one); and Henry VI.'s chapel at Westminster is the chapel of the order, with the plates of the Knights on their stalls, and their banners suspended over them.

BATHGATE (5), largest town in Linlithgowshire; a mining centre; the birthplace of Sir J. Simpson, who was the son of a baker in the place.

BATHILDA, ST., queen of France, wife of Clovis II., who governed France during the minority of her sons, Clovis III., Childeric II., and Thierry; died 680, in the monastery of Chelles.

BATH'ORI, ELIZABETH, a Polish princess, a woman of infamous memory, caused some 650 young girls to be put to death, in order, by bathing in their blood, to renew her beauty; immersed in a fortress for life on the discovery of the crime, while her accomplices were burnt alive; d. 1614.

BATHOS, an anti-climax, being a sudden descent from the sublime to the commonplace.

BATH'URST (8), the capital of British Gambia, at the mouth of the river Gambia, in Western Africa; inhabited chiefly by negroes; exports palm-oil, ivory, gold dust, &c.

BATHURST (10), the principal town on the western slopes of New South Wales, second to Sydney, with gold mines in the neighbourhood, and in a fertile wheat-growing district.

BATHURST, a district in Upper Canada, on the Ottawa, a thriving place and an agricultural centre.

BATHYB'IUS, (i. e. living matter in the deep), substance of a slimy nature found at great sea depth, over-hastily presumed to be organic, proved by recent investigation to be inorganic, and of no avail to the evolutionist.

BATLEY (28), a manufacturing town in the W. Riding of Yorkshire, 8 m. SW. of Leeds; a busy place.

BATN-EL-HAJAR, a stony tract in the Nubian Desert, near the third cataract of the Nile.

BATON-ROUGE (10), a city on the E. bank of the Mississippi, 130 m. above New Orleans, and capital of the state of Louisiana; originally a French settlement.

BATON-SINISTER, a bend-sinister like a marshal's baton, an indication of illegitimacy.

BATOUM' (10), a town in Transcaucasia, on the E. of the Black Sea; a place of some antiquity; recently ceded by Turkey to Russia, but only as a mere trading port; has an excellent harbour, and has improved under Russian rule.

BATRACHOMYOMACHIA, a mock-heroic poem, "The Battle of the Frogs and Mice," falsely ascribed to Homer.

BATTAS, a Malay race, native to Sumatra, now much reduced in numbers, and driven into the interior.

BATTERSEA, a suburb of London, on the Surrey side of the Thames, opposite Chelsea, and connected with it by a bridge; with a park 185 acres in extent; of plain and recent growth; till lately a quite rural spot.

BATTHYA'NI, COUNT, an Hungarian patriot, who fought hard to see his country reinstated in its ancient administrative independence, but failed in his efforts; was arrested, tried for high treason by court-martial, and sentenced to be shot, to the horror, at the time, of the civilised world (1809-1849).

BATTLE, a market-town in Sussex, near Hastings, so called from the battle of Senlac, in which William the Conqueror defeated Harold in 1066.

BATTLE OF THE SPURS, (a) an engagement at Courtrai in 1302 where the burghers of the town beat the knighthood of France, and the spurs of 4000 knights were collected after the battle; (b) an engagement at Guinegate, 1513, in which Henry VIII. made the French forces take to their spurs; OF THE BARRIERS (see BARRIERS); OF THE BOOKS, a satire by Swift on a literary controversy of the time; OF THE STANDARD, a battle in 1138, in which the English, with a high-mounted crucifix for a standard, beat the Scots at Northallerton.

BATTUE, method of killing game after crowding them by cries and beating them towards the sportsmen.

BAUCIS. See PHILEMON.

BAUDELAIRE, CHARLES, French poet of the romantic school, born in Paris; distinguished among his contemporaries for his originality, and his influence on others of his class; was a charming writer of prose as well as verse, as his "Petits Poemes" in prose bear witness. Victor Hugo once congratulated him on having "created a new shudder"; and as has been said, "this side of his genius attracted most popular attention, which, however, is but one side, and not really the most remarkable, of a singular combination of morbid but delicate analysis and reproduction of the remotest phases and moods of human thought and passion" (1821-1867).

BAUDRICOURT, a French courtier whom Joan of Arc pressed to conduct her into the presence of Charles VII.

BAUDRY, PAUL, French painter, decorated the foyer of the Grand Opera in Paris; is best known as the author of the "Punishment of a Vestal Virgin" and the "Assassination of Marat" (1828-1886).

BAUER, BRUNO, a daring Biblical critic, and violent polemic on political as well as theological subjects; born at Saxe-Altenburg; regarded the Christian religion as overlaid and obscured by accretions foreign to it; denied the historical truth of the Gospels, and, like a true disciple of Hegel, ascribed the troubles of the 19th century to the overmastering influence of the "ENLIGHTENMENT" or the "AUFKLAeRUNG" (q. v.) that characterised the 18th. His last work was entitled "Disraeli's Romantic and Bismarck's Socialistic Imperialism" (1809-1882).

BAUMGARTEN, ALEXANDER GOTTLIEB, professor of Philosophy at Frankfort-on-the-Oder; disciple of Wolf; born at Berlin; the founder of AEsthetics as a department of philosophy, and inventor of the name (1714-1762).

BAUMGARTEN-CRUSIUS, a German theologian of the school of Schleiermacher; professor of Theology at Jena; born at Merseburg; an authority on the history of dogma, on which he wrote (1788-1843).

BAUR, FERDINAND CHRISTIAN, head of the Tuebingen school of rationalist divines, born near Stuttgart; distinguished by his scholarship and his labours in Biblical criticism and dogmatic theology; his dogmatic treatises were on the Christian Gnosis, the Atonement, the Trinity, and the Incarnation, while his Biblical were on certain epistles of Paul and the canonical Gospels, which he regarded as the product of the 2nd century; regarded Christianity of the Church as Judaic in its origin, and Paul as distinctively the first apostle of pure Christianity (1792-1861).

BAUSSET, cardinal, born at Pondicherry, who wrote the Lives of Bossuet and Fenelon (1748-1824).

BAUTZEN, a town of Saxony, an old town on the Spree, where Napoleon defeated the Prussians and Russians in 1813; manufactures cotton, linen, wool, tobacco, paper, etc.

BAVARIA (5,590), next to Prussia the largest of the German States, about the size of Scotland; is separated by mountain ranges from Bohemia on the E. and the Tyrol on the S.; Wuertemburg lies on the W., Prussia, Meiningen, and Saxony on the N. The country is a tableland crossed by mountains and lies chiefly in the basin of the Danube. It is a busy agricultural state: half the soil is tilled; the other half is under grass, planted with vineyards and forests. Salt, coal, and iron are widely distributed and wrought. The chief manufactures are of beer, coarse linen, and woollen fabrics. There are universities at Muenich, Wuerzburg, and Erlangen. Muenich, on the Isar, is the capital; Nueremberg, where watches were invented, and Angsburg, a banking centre, the other chief towns. Formerly a dukedom, the palatinate, on the banks of the Rhine, was added to it in 1216. Napoleon I. raised the duke to the title of king in 1805. Bavaria fought on the side of Austria in 1866, but joined Prussia in 1870-71.

BAVIE'CA, the famous steed of the Cid, held sacred after the hero's death.

BAVOU, ST., a soldier monk, the patron saint of Ghent.

BAXTER, RICHARD, an eminent Nonconformist divine, native of Shropshire, at first a conformist, and parish minister of Kidderminster for 19 years; sympathised with the Puritans, yet stopped short of going the full length with them; acted as chaplain to one of their regiments, and returned to Kidderminster; became, at the Restoration one of the king's chaplains; driven out of the Church by the Act of Uniformity, was thrown into prison at 70, let out, spent the rest of his days in peace; his popular works, "The Saint's Everlasting Rest," and his "Call to the Unconverted" (1615-1691).

BAY CITY (27), place of trade, and of importance as a great railway centre in Michigan, U.S.; the third city in it.

BAYADERE, a dancing-girl in India, dressed in loose Eastern costume.

BAYARD, a horse of remarkable swiftness belonging to the four sons of Aymon, and which they sometimes rode all at once; also a horse of Amadis de Gaul.

BAYARD, CHEVALIER DE, an illustrious French knight, born in the Chateau Bayard, near Grenoble; covered himself with glory in the wars of Charles VIII., Louis XII., and Francis I.; his bravery and generosity commanded the admiration of his enemies, and procured for him the thrice-honourable cognomen of "The Knight sans peur et sans reproche"; one of his most brilliant feats was his defence, single-handed, of the bridge over the Garigliano, in the face of a large body of Spaniards; was mortally wounded defending a pass at Abblategrasso; fell with his face to the foe, who carried off his body, but restored it straightway afterwards for due burial by his friends (1476-1524).

BAYEUX (7), an ancient Norman city in the dep. of Calvados, France; manufactures lace, hosiery, &c.; is a bishop's seat; has a very old Gothic cathedral.

BAYEUX TAPESTRY, representations in tapestry of events connected with the Norman invasion of England, commencing with Harold's visit to the Norman court, and ending with his death at the battle of Hastings; still preserved in the public library of Bayeux; is so called because originally found there; it is 214 ft. long by 20 in. wide, divided into 72 scenes, and contains a variety of figures. It is a question whose work it was.

BAYLE, PIERRE, a native of Languedoc; first Protestant (as the son of a Calvinist minister), then Catholic, then sceptic; Professor of Philosophy at Padua, then at Rotterdam, and finally retired to the Boompjes in the latter city; known chiefly as the author of the famous Dictionnaire Historique et Critique, to the composition of which he consecrated his energies with a zeal worthy of a religious devotee, and which became the fountain-head of the sceptical philosophy that flooded France on the eve of the Revolution; pronounced by a competent judge in these matters, a mere "imbroglio of historical, philosophical, and anti-theological marine stores" (1647-1700).

BAYLEN, a town in the province of Jaen, Spain, where General Castanos defeated Dupont, and compelled him to sign a capitulation, in 1808.

BAYLEY, SIR JOHN, a learned English judge; author of a standard work "On the Law of Bills of Exchange"; d. 1841.

BAYONNE (24), a fortified French town, trading and manufacturing, in the dep. of Basses-Pyrenees, at the confluence of the Adour and Nive, 4 m. from the Bay of Biscay; noted for its strong citadel, constructed by Vauban, and one of his chef-d'oeuvres, and its 12th-century cathedral church; it belonged to the English from 1152 to 1451.

BAZAINE, FRANCOIS ACHILLE, a marshal of France, born at Versailles; distinguished himself in Algiers, the Crimea, and Mexico; did good service, as commander of the army of the Rhine, in the Franco-German war, but after the surrender at Sedan was shut up in Metz, surrounded by the Germans, and obliged to surrender, with all his generals, officers, and men; was tried by court-martial, and condemned to death, but was imprisoned instead; made good his escape one evening to Madrid, where he lived to write a justification of his conduct, the sale of the book being prohibited in France (1811-1888).

BAZARD, SAINT-AMAND, a French socialist, founder of the Charbonnerie Francaise; a zealous but unsuccessful propagator of St. Simonianism, in association with ENFANTIN (q. v.), from whom he at last separated (1791-1832).

BAZOCHE, a guild of clerks of the parliament of Paris, under a mock king, with the privilege of performing religious plays, which they abused.

BEACHES, RAISED, elevated lands, formerly sea beaches, the result of upheaval, or left high by the recession of the sea, evidenced to be such by the shells found in them and the nature of the debris.

BEACHY HEAD, a chalk cliff in Sussex, 575 ft. high, projecting into the English Channel; famous for a naval engagement between the allied English and Dutch fleets and those of France, in which the latter were successful.

BEACONSFIELD, capital of the gold-mining district in Tasmania; also a town in Buckinghamshire, 10 m. N. of Windsor, from which Benjamin Disraeli took his title on his elevation to the peerage.

BEACONSFIELD, BENJAMIN DISRAELI, EARL OF, English novelist and politician, born in London; son of Isaac D'Israeli, litterateur, and thus of Jewish parentage; was baptized at the age of 12; educated under a Unitarian minister; studied law, but did not qualify for practice. His first novel, "Vivian Grey," appeared in 1826, and thereafter, whenever the business of politics left him leisure, he devoted it to fiction. "Contarini Fleming," "Coningsby," "Tancred," "Lothair," and "Endymion" are the most important of a brilliant and witty series, in which many prominent personages are represented and satirised under thin disguises. His endeavours to enter Parliament as a Radical failed twice in 1832; in 1835 he was unsuccessful again as a Tory. His first seat was for Maidstone in 1837; thereafter he represented Shrewsbury and Buckinghamshire. For 9 years he was a free-lance in the House, hating the Whigs, and after 1842 leading the Young England party; his onslaught on the Corn Law repeal policy of 1846 made him leader of the Tory Protectionists. He was for a short time Chancellor of the Exchequer under Lord Derby in 1852, and coolly abandoned Protection. Returning to power with his chief six years later, he introduced a Franchise Bill, the defeat of which threw out the Government. In office a third time in 1866, he carried a democratic Reform Bill, giving household suffrage in boroughs and extending the county franchise. Succeeding Lord Derby in 1868, he was forced to resign soon afterwards. In 1874 he entered his second premiership. Two years were devoted to home measures, among which were Plimsoll's Shipping Act and the abolition of Scottish Church patronage. Then followed a showy foreign policy. The securing of the half of the Suez Canal shares for Britain; the proclamation of the Queen as Empress of India; the support of Constantinople against Russia, afterwards stultified by the Berlin Congress, which he himself attended; the annexation of Cyprus; the Afghan and Zulu wars, were its salient features. Defeated at the polls in 1880 he resigned, and died next year. A master of epigram and a brilliant debater, he really led his party. He was the opposite in all respects of his protagonist, Mr. Gladstone. Lacking in zeal, he was yet loyal to England, and a warm personal friend of the Queen (1804-1881).

BEAR, name given in the Stock Exchange to one who contracts to deliver stock at a fixed price on a certain day, in contradistinction from the bull, or he who contracts to take it, the interest of the former being that, in the intervening time, the stocks should fall, and that of the latter that they should rise.

BEAR, GREAT. See URSA MAJOR.

BEAM, an ancient prov. of France, fell to the crown with the accession of Henry IV. in 1589; formed a great part of the dep. of Basses-Pyrenees, capital Pau.

BEATIFICATION, religious honour allowed by the pope to certain who are not so eminent in sainthood as to entitle them to canonisation.

BEATON, or BETHUNE, DAVID, cardinal, archbishop of St. Andrews, and primate of the kingdom, born in Fife; an adviser of James V., twice over ambassador to France; on the death of James secured to himself the chief power in Church and State as Lord High Chancellor and Papal Legate; opposed alliance with England; persecuted the Reformers; condemned George Wishart to the stake, witnessed his sufferings from a window of his castle in St. Andrews, and was assassinated within its walls shortly after; with his death ecclesiastical tyranny of that type came to an end in Scotland (1494-1546).

BEATON, JAMES, archbishop of Glasgow and St. Andrews, uncle of the preceding, a prominent figure in the reign of James V.; was partial to affiliation with France, and a persecutor of the Reformers; d. 1539.

BEATTIE, JAMES, a poet and essayist, born at Laurencekirk; became professor of Logic and Moral Philosophy at Marischal College, Aberdeen; wrote an "Essay on Truth" against Hume; his most admired poem, "The Minstrel," a didactic piece, traces the progress of poetic genius, admitted him to the Johnsonian circle in London, obtained for him the degree of LL.D. from Oxford, and brought him a pension of L200 per annum from the king; died at Aberdeen (1735-1803).

BEATRICE, a beautiful Florentine maiden, Portinari, her family name, for whom Dante conceived an undying affection, and whose image abode with him to the end of his days. She is his guide through Paradise.

BEAU NASH, a swell notability at Bath; died in beggary (1674-1761).

BEAU TIBBS, a character in Goldsmith's "Citizen of the World," noted for his finery, vanity, and poverty.

BEAUCAIRE (8), a French town near Avignon, on the Rhone, which it spans with a magnificent bridge; once a great centre of trade, and famous, as it still is, for its annual fair, frequented by merchants from all parts of Europe.

BEAUCHAMP, ALPHONSE DE, a historian, born at Monaco; wrote the "Conquest of Peru," "History of Brazil," &c. (1769-1832).

BEAUCLERK, Henry I. of England, so called from his superior learning.

BEAUCLERK, TOPHAM, a young English nobleman, the only son of Lord Sydney Beauclerk, a special favourite of Johnson's, who, when he died, lamented over him, as one whose like the world might seldom see again (1759-1780).

BEAUFORT, DUKE OF, grandson of Henry IV. of France; one of the chiefs of the Fronde; was surnamed Roi des Halles (King of the Market-folk); appointed admiral of France; did good execution against the pirates; passed into the service of Venice; was killed at the siege of Candia in 1669.

BEAUFORT, HENRY, cardinal, bishop of Winchester, son of John of Gaunt, learned in canon law, was several times chancellor; took a prominent part in all the political movements of the time, exerted an influence for good on the nation, lent immense sums to Henry V. and Henry VI., also left bequests for charitable uses, and founded the hospital of St. Cross at Winchester (1377-1447).

BEAUHAR'NAIS, ALEXANDRE, VICOMTE DE, born at Martinique, where he married a lady who, afterwards as wife of Napoleon, became the Empress Josephine; accepted and took part in the Revolution; was secretary of the National Assembly; coolly remarked, on the news of the flight of the king, "The king's gone off; let us pass to the next business of the House"; was convicted of treachery to the cause of the Revolution and put to death; as the father of Hortense, who married Louis, Napoleon's brother, he became grandfather of Napoleon III. (1760-1794).

BEAUHARNAIS, EUGENE DE, son of the preceding and of Josephine, born at Paris, step-son of Napoleon, therefore was made viceroy of Italy; took an active part in the wars of the empire; died at Muenich, whither he retired after the fall of Napoleon (1781-1824).

BEAUHARNAIS, HORTENSE EUGENIE, sister of the preceding, ex-queen of Holland; wife of Louis Bonaparte, an ill-starred union; mother of Napoleon III., the youngest of three sons (1783-1837).

BEAUMAR'CHAIS, PIERRE AUGUSTIN CARON DE, a dramatist and pleader of the most versatile, brilliant gifts, and French to the core, born in Paris, son of a watchmaker at Caen; ranks as a comic dramatist next to Moliere; author of "Le Barbier de Seville" (1775), and "Le Mariage de Figaro" (1784), his masterpiece; astonished the world by his conduct of a lawsuit he had, for which "he fought against reporters, parliaments, and principalities, with light banter, clear logic, adroitly, with an inexhaustible toughness of resource, like the skilfullest fencer." He was a zealous supporter of the Revolution, and made sacrifices on its behalf, but narrowly escaped the guillotine; died in distress and poverty. Of the two plays he wrote, Saintsbury says, "The wit is indisputable, but his chansons contain as much wit as the Figaro plays." He made a fortune by speculations in the American war, and lost by others, one of them being the preparation of a sumptuous edition of Voltaire. For the culmination and decline, as well as appreciation, of him, see the "French Revolution," by Carlyle (1732-1799).

BAUMA'RIS, principal town in Anglesea, Wales, on the Menai Strait, near Bangor, a favourite watering-place, with remains of a castle erected by Edward I.

BEAUMONT, CHRISTOPHE DE, archbishop of Paris, born at Perigord, "spent his life in persecuting hysterical Jansenists and incredulous non-confessors"; but scrupled to grant, though he fain would have granted, absolution on his deathbed to the dissolute monarch of France, Louis XV.; issued a charge condemnatory of Rousseau's "Emile," which provoked a celebrated letter from Rousseau in reply (1703-1781).

BEAUMONT, FRANCIS, dramatic poet, born in Leicestershire, of a family of good standing; bred for the bar, but devoted to literature; was a friend of Ben Jonson; in conjunction with his friend Fletcher, the composer of a number of plays, about the separate authorship of which there has been much discussion, the dramatic power of which comes far short of that so conspicuous in the plays of their great contemporary Shakespeare, though it is said contemporary criticism gave them the preference (1585-1615).

BEAUMONT, JEAN BAPTISTE ELIE DE, French geologist, born in Calvados; became secretary to the Academy of Sciences; was joint-editor of a geological map of France. He had a theory of his own of the formation of the crust of the earth (1798-1874).

BEAUREGARD, PIERRE GUSTAVE TOUTANT, American Confederate general, born at New Orleans; adopted the cause of the South, and fought in its behalf (1818-1893).

BEAUREPAIRE, a French officer, noted for his noble defence of Verdun against the Prussians; preferred death by suicide to the dishonour of surrender (1748-1792).

BEAUSOBRE, ISAAC, a Huguenot divine, born at Poitou; fled to Holland on the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, settled in Berlin, and became a notability in high quarters there; attracted the notice of the young Frederick, the Great that was to be, who sought introduction to him, and the young Frederick "got good conversation out of him"; author of a "History of Manichaeism," praised by Gibbon, and of other books famous in their day, a translation of the New Testament for one (1659-1738).

BEAUTIFUL PARRICIDE, BEATRICE CENCI (q. v.).

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, the hero and heroine of a famous fairy tale. Beauty falls in love with a being like a monster, who has, however, the heart of a man, and she marries him, upon which he is instantly transformed into a prince of handsome presence and noble mien.

BEAUVAIS (19), capital of the dep. of Oise, in France, 34 in. SW. of Amiens, an ancient town, noted for its cathedral, its tapestry weaving, and the feat of Jeanne-Hachette and her female following when the town was besieged by Charles the Bold.

BEAUVAIS, a French prelate, born at Cherbourg, Bishop of Senez, celebrated as a pulpit orator (1731-1790).

BEAUVILLIER, a statesman, patron of letters, to whom Louis XIV. committed the governorship of his sons; died of a broken heart due to the shock the death of the dauphin gave him (1607-1687).

BEBEK BAY, a fashionable resort on the Bosphorus, near Constantinople, and with a palace of the sultan.

BECCAFUMI, DOMENICO, one of the best painters of the Sienese school, distinguished also as a sculptor and a worker in mosaic (1486-1550).

BECCA'RIA, CAESARE BONESANA, MARQUIS OF, an Italian publicist, author of a celebrated "Treatise on Crimes and Punishments," which has been widely translated, and contributed much to lessen the severity of sentences in criminal cases. He was a utilitarian in philosophy and a disciple of Rousseau in politics.

BECHE-DE-MER, a slug, called also the trepang, procured on the coral reefs of the Pacific, which is dried and eaten as a dainty by the Chinese.

BECHER, JOHANN JOACHIM, chemist, born at Spires; distinguished as a pioneer in the scientific study of chemistry (1635-1682).

BECHSTEIN, a German naturalist, wrote "Natural History of Cage Birds" (1757-1822).

BECHUANA-LAND, an inland tract in S. Africa, extends from the Orange River to the Zambesi; has German territory on the W., the Transvaal and Matabele-land on the E. The whole country is under British protection; that part which is S. of the river Molopo was made a crown colony in 1885. On a plateau 4000 ft. above sea-level, the climate is suited for British emigrants. The soil is fertile; extensive tracts are suitable for corn; sheep and cattle thrive; rains fall in summer; in winter there are frosts, sometimes snow. The Kalahari Desert in the W. will be habitable when sufficient wells are dug. Gold is found near Sitlagoli, and diamonds at Vryburg. The Bechuanas are the most advanced of the black races of S. Africa.

BECHUA'NAS, a wide-spread S. African race, totemists, rearers of cattle, and growers of maize; are among the most intelligent of the Bantu peoples, and show considerable capacity for self-government.

BECKER, KARL, German philologist; bred to medicine; author of a German grammar (1775-1842).

BECKER, NICOLAUS, author of the "Wacht am Rhein," was an obscure lawyer's clerk, and unnoted for anything else (1810-1845).

BECKER, WILLIAM ADOLPHE, an archaeologist, born at Dresden; was professor at Leipzig; wrote books in reproductive representation of ancient Greek and Roman life; author of "Manual of Roman Antiquities" (1796-1846).

BECKET, THOMAS A, archbishop of Canterbury, born in London, of Norman parentage; studied at Oxford and Bologna; entered the Church; was made Lord Chancellor; had a large and splendid retinue, but on becoming archbishop, cast all pomp aside and became an ascetic, and devoted himself to the vigorous discharge of the duties of his high office; declared for the independence of the Church, and refused to sign the CONSTITUTIONS OF CLARENDON (q. v.); King Henry II. grew restive under his assumption of authority, and got rid of him by the hands of four knights who, to please the king, shed his blood on the steps of the altar of Canterbury Cathedral, for which outrage the king did penance four years afterwards at his tomb. The struggle was one affecting the relative rights of Church and king, and the chief combatants in the fray were both high-minded men, each inflexible in the assertion of his claims (1119-1170).

BECKFORD, WILLIAM, author of "Vathek," son of a rich alderman of London, who bequeathed him property to the value of L100,000 per annum; kept spending his fortune on extravagancies and vagaries; wrote "Vathek," an Arabian tale, when a youth of twenty-two, at a sitting of three days and two nights, a work which established his reputation as one of the first of the imaginative writers of his country. He wrote two volumes of travels in Italy, but his fame rests on his "Vathek" alone (1759-1844).

BECKMANN, a professor at Goettingen; wrote "History of Discoveries and Inventions" (1738-1811).

BECKX, PETER JOHN, general of the Jesuits, born in Belgium (1790-1887).

BECQUEREL, ANTOINE CAESAR, a French physicist; served as engineer in the French army in 1808-14, but retired in 1815, devoting himself to science, and obtained high distinction in electro-chemistry, working with Ampere, Biot, and other eminent scientists (1788-1878).

BED OF JUSTICE, a formal session of the Parlement of Paris, under the presidency of the king, for the compulsory registration of the royal edicts, the last session being in 1787, under Louis XVI., at Versailles, whither the whole body, now "refractory, rolled out, in wheeled vehicles, to receive the order of the king."

BEDCHAMBER, LORDS or LADIES OF, officers or ladies of the royal household whose duty it is to wait upon the sovereign—the chief of the former called Groom of the Stole, and of the latter, Mistress of the Robes.

BEDDOES, THOMAS LOVELL, born at Clifton, son of Thomas Beddoes; an enthusiastic student of science; a dramatic poet, author of "Bride's Tragedy"; got into trouble for his Radical opinions; his principal work, "Death's Jest-Book, or the Fool's Tragedy," highly esteemed by Barry Cornwall (1803-1849).

BEDE, or BEDA, surnamed "The Venerable," an English monk and ecclesiastical historian, born at Monkwearmouth, in the abbey of which, together with that of Jarrow, he spent his life, devoted to quiet study and learning; his writings numerous, in the shape of commentaries, biographies, and philosophical treatises; his most important work, the "Ecclesiastical History" of England, written in Latin, and translated by Alfred the Great; completed a translation of John's Gospel the day he died. An old monk, it is said, wrote this epitaph over his grave, Hac sunt in fossa Bedae ... ossa, "In this pit are the bones ... of Beda," and then fell asleep; but when he awoke he found some invisible hand had inserted venerabilis in the blank which he had failed to fill up, whence Bede's epinomen it is alleged.

BEDELL, bishop of Kilmore and Ardagh, born in Essex; studied at Cambridge; superintended the translation of the Old Testament into Irish; though his virtues saved him and his family for a time from outrage by the rebels in 1641, he was imprisoned at the age of 70, and though released, died soon after (1571-1642).

BEDFORD (160), a midland agricultural county of England, generally level, with some flat fen-land; also the county town (28), on the Great Ouse, clean and well paved, with excellent educational institutions, famous in connection with the life of John Bunyan, where relics of him are preserved, and where a bronze statue of him by Boehm has been erected to his memory by the Duke of Bedford in 1871; manufactures agricultural implements, lace, and straw plaiting; Elstow, Bunyan's birthplace, is not far off.

BEDFORD, JOHN, DUKE OF, brother of Henry V., protector of the kingdom and regent of France during the minority of Henry VI., whom, on the death of the French king, he proclaimed King of France, taking up arms thereafter and fighting for a time victoriously on his behalf, till the enthusiasm created by Joan of Arc turned the tide against him and hastened his death, previous to which, however, though he prevailed over the dauphin, and burnt Joan at the stake, his power had gone (1389-1435).

BEDFORD LEVEL, a flat marshy district, comprising part of six counties, to the S. and W. of the Wash, about 40 m. in extent each way, caused originally by incursions of the sea and the overflowing of rivers; received its name from the Earl of Bedford, who, in the 17th century, undertook to drain it.

BEDLAM, originally a lunatic asylum in London, so named from the priory "Bethlehem" in Bishopsgate, first appropriated to the purpose, Bedlam being a corruption of the name Bethlehem.

BEDMAR, MARQUIS DE, cardinal and bishop of Oviedo, and a Spanish diplomatist, notorious for a part he played in a daring conspiracy in 1618 aimed at the destruction of Venice, but which, being betrayed, was defeated, for concern in which several people were executed, though the arch-delinquent got off; he is the subject of Otway's "Venice Preserved"; it was after this he was made cardinal, and governor of the Netherlands, where he was detested and obliged to retire (1572-1655).

BEDOUINS, Arabs who lead a nomadic life in the desert and subsist by the pasture of cattle and the rearing of horses, the one element that binds them into a unity being community of language, the Arabic namely, which they all speak with great purity and without variation of dialect; they are generally of small stature, of wiry constitution, and dark complexion, and are divided into tribes, each under an independent chief.

BEE, THE, a periodical started by Goldsmith, in which some of his best essays appeared, and his "Citizen of the World."

BEECHER, HENRY WARD, a celebrated American preacher, born at Litchfield, Connecticut; pastor of a large Congregational church, Brooklyn; a vigorous thinker and eloquent orator, a liberal man both in theology and politics; wrote "Life Thoughts"; denied the eternity of punishment, considered a great heresy by some then, and which led to his secession from the Congregational body (1813-1887).

BEECHER-STOWE, HARRIET ELIZABETH, sister of the above, authoress of "Uncle Tom's Cabin," of which probably over a million copies have been sold. Born at Litchfield, Connecticut, U.S.A., in 1812; d. 1896.

BEECHY, REAR-ADMIRAL, born in London, son of the following; accompanied Franklin in 1818 and Parry in 1819 to the Arctic regions; commanded the Blossom in the third expedition of 1825-1828 to the same regions; published "Voyage of Discovery towards the North Pole" (1796-1856).

BEECHY, SIR WILLIAM, portrait-painter, born in Oxfordshire; among his portraits were those of Lord Nelson, John Kemble, and Mrs. Siddons (1753-1839).

BEEF-EATERS, yeomen of the royal guard, whose institution dates from the reign of Henry VII., and whose office it is to wait upon royalty on high occasions; the name is also given to the warders of the Tower, though they are a separate body and of more recent origin; the name simply means (royal) dependant, a corruption of the French word buffetier, one who attends the sideboard.

BEEHIVE HOUSES, small stone structures, of ancient date, remains of which are found (sometimes in clusters) in Ireland and the W. of Scotland, with a conical roof formed of stones overlapping one another, undressed and without mortar; some of them appear to have been monks' cells.

BEEL'ZEBUB, the god of flies, protector against them, worshipped by the Phoenicians; as being a heathen deity, transformed by the Jews into a chief of the devils; sometimes identified with Satan, and sometimes his aide-de-camp.

BEERBOHM TREE, HERBERT, actor, born in London, son of a grain merchant; his first appearance was as the timid curate in the "Private Secretary," and then as the spy Macari in "Called Back"; is lessee of the Haymarket Theatre, London, and has had many notable successes; he is accompanied by his wife, who is a refined actress; b. 1852.

BEER'SHEBA, a village in the S. of Canaan, and the most southerly, 27 m. from Hebron; associated with Dan, in the N., to denote the limit of the land and what lies between; lies in a pastoral country abounding in wells, and is frequently mentioned in patriarchal history; means "the Well of the Oath."

BEESWING, a gauze-like film which forms on the sides of a bottle of good port.

BEETHOVEN, LUDWIG VON, one of the greatest musical composers, born in Bonn, of Dutch extraction; the author of symphonies and sonatas that are known over all the world; showed early a most precocious genius for music, commenced his education at five as a musician; trained at first by a companion named Pfeiffer, to whom he confessed he owed more than all his teachers; trained at length under the tuition of the most illustrious of his predecessors, Bach and Haendel; revealed the most wonderful musical talent; quitted Bonn and settled in Vienna; attracted the attention of Mozart; at the age of 40 was attacked with deafness that became total and lasted for life; continued to compose all the same, to the admiration of thousands; during his last days was a prey to melancholy; during a thunderstorm he died. Goethe pronounced him at his best "an utterly untamed character, not indeed wrong in finding the world detestable, though his finding it so did not," he added, "make it more enjoyable to himself or to others" (1770-1827).

BEETS, NICOLAS, a Dutch theologian and poet, born at Haarlem; came, as a poet, under the influence of Byronism; b. 1814.

BEFA'NA, an Italian female Santa Claus, who on Twelfth Night fills the stockings of good children with good things, and those of bad with ashes.

BEGG, JAMES, Scotch ecclesiastic, born at New Monkland, Lanark; was a stalwart champion of old Scottish orthodoxy, and the last (1808-1883).

BEGHARDS, a religious order that arose in Belgium in the 13th century, connected with the Beguins, a mystic and socialistic sect.

BEGUINS, a sisterhood confined now to France and Germany, who, without taking any monastic vow, devote themselves to works of piety and benevolence.

BEGUM, name given in the E. Indies to a princess, mother, sister, or wife of a native ruler.

BEHAIM, MARTIN, a geographer and chartographer, born in Nueremberg; accompanied Diego Cam on a voyage of discovery along W. coast of Africa; constructed and left behind him a famous terrestrial globe; some would make him out to be the discoverer of America (1459-1507).

BEHAR (24,393), a province of Bengal, in the valley of the Ganges, which divides it into two; densely peopled; cradle of Buddhism.

BEHE'MOTH, a large animal mentioned in Job, understood to be the hippopotamus.

BEHIS'TUN, a mountain in Irak-Ajemi, a prov. of Persia, on which there are rocks covered with inscriptions, the principal relating to Darius Hystaspes, of date about 515 B.C., bearing on his genealogy, domains, and victories.

BEHM, ERNST, a German geographer, born in Gotha (1830-1884).

BEHN, AFRA, a licentious writer, born in Kent, for whom, for her free and easy ways, Charles II. took a liking; sent by him as a spy to Holland, and through her discovered the intention of the Dutch to burn the shipping in the Thames. She wrote plays and novels (1640-1689).

BEHRING STRAIT, a strait about 50 m. wide between Asia and N. America, which connects the Arctic Ocean with the Pacific; discovered by the Danish navigator Vitus Behring in 1728, sent out on a voyage of discovery by Peter the Great.

BEIRA (1,377), a central province of Portugal, mountainous and pastoral; gives title to the heir-apparent to the Portuguese throne.

BEKE, DR., traveller, born in London; travelled in Abyssinia and Palestine; author of "Origines Biblicae," or researches into primeval history as shown not to be in keeping with the orthodox belief.

BEKKER, IMMANUEL, philologist, born in Berlin, and professor in Halle; classical textual critic; issued recensions of the Greek and Latin classics (1780-1871).

BEL AND THE DRAGON, HISTORY OF, one of the books of the Apocrypha, a spurious addition to the book of Daniel, relates how Daniel persuaded Cyrus of the vanity of idol-worship, and is intended to show its absurdity.

BELA I., king of Hungary from 1061 to 1063; an able ruler; introduced a great many measures for the permanent benefit of the country, affecting both religion and social organisation.

BELA IV., king of Hungary, son of Andreas II., who had in 1222 been compelled to sign the Golden Bull, the Magna Charta of Hungarian liberty; faithfully respected the provisions of this charter, and incurred the enmity of the nobles by his strenuous efforts to subdue them to the royal power.

BELCH, SIR TOBY, a reckless, jolly, swaggering character in "Twelfth Night."

BELCHER, SIR EDWARD, admiral, was engaged in several exploring and surveying expeditions; sailed round the world, and took part in the operations in China (1812-1877).

BELFAST (256), county town of Antrim, and largest and most flourishing city in the N. of Ireland; stands on the Lagan, at the head of Belfast Lough, 100 m. N. of Dublin; is a bright and pleasant city, with some fine streets and handsome buildings, Presbyterian, Catholic, and Methodist colleges. It is the centre of the Irish linen and cotton manufactures, the most important shipbuilding centre, and has also rope-making, whisky, and aerated-water industries. Its foreign trade is larger than even Dublin's. It is the capital of Ulster, and head-quarters of Presbyterianism in Ireland.

BELFORT (83), a fortified town in dep. of Haut-Rhin, and is its capital, 35 m. W. by N. of Basel; capitulated to the Germans in 1870; restored to France; its fortifications now greatly strengthened. The citadel was by Vauban.

BELGAE, Caesar's name for the tribes of the Celtic family in Gaul N. of the Seine and Marne; mistakenly rated as Germans by Caesar.

BELGIUM (6,136), a small European State bordering on the North Sea, with Holland to the N., France to the S., and Rhenish Prussia and Luxemburg on the E.; is less than a third the size of Ireland, but it is the most densely populated country on the Continent. The people are of mixed stock, comprising Flemings, of Teutonic origin; Walloons, of Celtic origin; Germans, Dutch, and French. Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion. Education is excellent; there are universities at Ghent, Liege, Brussels, and Louvain. French is the language of educated circles and of the State; but the prevalence of dialects hinders the growth of a national literature. The land is low and level and fertile in the N. and W., undulating in the middle, rocky and hilly in the S. and E. The Meuse and Scheldt are the chief rivers, the basin of the latter embracing most of the country. Climate is similar to the English, with greater extremes. Rye, wheat, oats, beet, and flax are the principal crops. Agriculture is the most painstaking and productive of the world. The hilly country is rich in coal, iron, zinc, and lead. After mining, the chief industries are textile manufactures and making of machinery: the former at Antwerp, Ghent, Brussels, and Liege; the latter at Liege, Mons, and Charleroi. The trade is enormous; France, Germany, and Britain are the best customers. Exports are coal to France; farm products, eggs, &c., to England; and raw material imported from across seas, to France and the basin of the Rhine. It is a small country of large cities. The capital is Brussels (480), in the centre of the kingdom, but communicating with the ocean by a ship canal. The railways, canals, and river navigation are very highly developed. The government is a limited monarchy; the king, senate, and house of representatives form the constitution. There is a conscript army of 50,000 men, but no navy. Transferred from Spain to Austria in 1713. Belgium was under French sway from 1794 till 1814, when it was united with Holland, but established its independence in 1830.

BELGRADE (54), the capital of Servia, on the confluence of the Save and Danube; a fortified city in an important strategical position, and the centre of many conflicts; a commercial centre; once Turkish in appearance, now European more and more.

BELGRA'VIA, a fashionable quarter in the southern part of the West End of London.

BELIAL, properly a good-for-nothing, a child of worthlessness; an incarnation of iniquity and son of perdition, and the name in the Bible for the children of such.

BELIEF, a word of various application, but properly definable as that which lies at the heart of a man or a nation's convictions, or is the heart and soul of all their thoughts and actions, "the thing a man does practically lay to heart, and know for certain concerning his vital relations to this mysterious universe, and his duty and destiny there."

BELINDA, ARABELLA FERMOR, the heroine in Pope's "Rape of the Lock."

BELISA'RIUS, a general under the Emperor Justinian, born in Illyria; defeated the Persians, the Vandals, and the Ostrogoths; was falsely accused of conspiracy, but acquitted, and restored to his dignities by the emperor; though another tradition, now discredited, alleges that for the crimes charged against him he had his eyes put out, and was reduced to beggary (505-565).

BELIZE, British Honduras, a fertile district, and its capital (6); exports mahogany, rosewood, sugar, india-rubber, &c.

BELL, ACTON. See BRONTE.

BELL, ANDREW, LL.D., educationist, born at St. Andrews; founder of the Monitorial system of education, which he had adopted, for want of qualified assistants, when in India as superintendent of an orphanage in Madras, so that his system was called "the Madras system"; returned from India with a large fortune, added to it by lucrative preferments, and bequeathed a large portion of it, some L120,000, for the endowment of education in Scotland, and the establishment of schools, such as the Madras College in his native city (1753-1832).

BELL, BESSY, and MARY GRAY, the "twa bonnie lassies" of a Scotch ballad, daughters of two Perthshire gentlemen, who in 1666 built themselves a bower in a spot retired from a plague then raging; supplied with food by a lad in love with both of them, who caught the plague and gave it to them, of which they all sickened and died.

BELL, BOOK, AND CANDLE, a ceremony at one time attending the greater excommunication in the Romish Church, when after sentence was read from the "book," a "bell" was rung, and the "candle" extinguished.

BELL, CURRER. See BRONTE.

BELL, ELLIS. See BRONTE.

BELL, GEORGE JOSEPH, a brother of Sir Charles, distinguished in law; author of "Principles of the Law of Scotland" (1770-1843).

BELL, HENRY, bred a millwright, born in Linlithgowshire; the first who applied steam to navigation in Europe, applying it in a small steamboat called the Comet, driven by a three horse-power engine (1767-1830).

BELL, HENRY GLASSFORD, born in Glasgow, a lawyer and literary man, sheriff of Lanarkshire; wrote a vindication of Mary, Queen of Scots, and some volumes of poetry (1803-1874).

BELL, JOHN, of Antermony, a physician, born at Campsie; accompanied Russian embassies to Persia and China; wrote "Travels in Asia," which were much appreciated for their excellency of style (1690-1780).

BELL, PETER, Wordsworth's simple rustic, to whom the primrose was but a yellow flower and nothing more.

BELL, ROBERT, journalist and miscellaneous writer, born at Cork; edited "British Poets, from Chaucer to Cowper," his best-known work, which he annotated, and accompanied with careful memoirs of each (1800-1867).

BELL, SIR CHARLES, an eminent surgeon and anatomist, born in Edinburgh, where he became professor of Surgery; distinguished chiefly for his discoveries in connection with the nervous system, which he published in his "Anatomy of the Brain" and his "Nervous System," and which gained him European fame; edited, along with Lord Brougham, Paley's "Evidences of Natural Religion" (1774-1842).

BELL, THOMAS, a naturalist, born at Poole; professor of Zoology in King's College, London; author of "British Quadrupeds" and "British Reptiles," "British Stalk-eyed Crustacea," and editor of "White's Natural History of Selborne" (1792-1880).

BELL ROCK, or INCHCAPE ROCK, a dangerous reef of sandstone rocks in the German Ocean, 12 m. SE. of Arbroath, on which a lighthouse 120 ft. high was erected in 1807-10; so called from a bell rung by the sway of the waves, which the abbot of Arbroath erected on it at one time as a warning to seamen.

BELL-THE-CAT, Archibald Douglas, Earl of Arran, so called from his offer to dispose by main force of an obnoxious favourite of the king, James III.

BELLA, STEPHANO DELLA, a Florentine engraver of great merit, engraved over 1000 plates; was patronised by Richelieu in France, and the Medici in Florence (1610-1664).

BELL'AMY, JACOB, a Dutch poet, born at Flushing; his poems highly esteemed by his countrymen (1752-1821).

BELLANGE, a celebrated painter of battle-pieces, born at Paris (1800-1866).

BELLAR'MINE, ROBERT, cardinal, born in Tuscany; a learned Jesuit, controversial theologian, and in his writings, which are numerous, a valiant defender at all points of Roman Catholic dogma; the greatest champion of the Church in his time, and regarded as such by the Protestant theologians; he was at once a learned man and a doughty polemic (1542-1621).

BELLAY, JOACHIM DU, French poet; author of sonnets entitled "Regrets," full of vigour and poetry; wrote the "Antiquites de Rome"; was called the Apollo of the Pleiade, the best poet and the best prose-writer among them (1524-1560).

BELLE FRANCE, (i. e. Beautiful France), a name of endearment applied to France, like that of "Merry" applied to England.

BELLE-ISLE (60), a fortified island on the W. coast of France, near which Sir Edward Hawke gained a brilliant naval victory over the French, under M. de Conflans, in 1759.

BELLEISLE, CHARLES LOUIS AUGUSTE FOUQUET, COUNT OF, marshal of France; distinguished in the war of the Spanish Succession; an ambitious man, mainly to blame for the Austrian Succession war; had grand schemes in his head, no less than the supremacy in Europe and the world of France, warranting the risk; expounded them to Frederick the Great; concluded a fast and loose treaty with him, which could bind no one; found himself blocked up in Prague with his forces; had to force his way out and retreat, but it was a retreat the French boast comparable only to the retreat of the Ten Thousand; was made War Minister after, and wrought important reforms in the army (1684-1761). See CARLYLE'S "FREDERICK" for a graphic account of him and his schemes, specially in Bk. xii. chap. ix.

BELLENDEN, JOHN, of Moray, a Scottish writer in the 16th century; translated, at the request of James V., Hector Boece's "History of Scotland," and the first five books of Livy, which remain the earliest extant specimens of Scottish prose, and remarkable specimens they are, for the execution of which he was well rewarded, being made archdeacon of Moray for one thing, though he died in exile; d. 1550.

BELLENDEN, WILLIAM, a Scottish writer, distinguished for diplomatic services to Queen Mary, and for the purity of his Latin composition; a professor of belles-lettres in Paris University (1550-1613).

BELLER'OPHON, a mythical hero, son of Glaucus and grandson of Sisyphus; having unwittingly caused the death of his brother, withdrew from his country and sought retreat with Proetus, king of Argos, who, becoming jealous of his guest, but not willing to violate the laws of hospitality, had him sent to Iobates, his son-in-law, king of Lycia, with instructions to put him to death. Iobates, in consequence, imposed upon him the task of slaying the Chimaera, persuaded that this monster would be the death of him. Bellerophon, mounted on Pegasus, the winged horse given him by Pallas, slew the monster, and on his return received the daughter of Iobates to wife.