Chapter VII: Book I: The escape from Troy; Æneas and his son, driven by a tempest (6)

BARBY ELSTER, sharp-tongued and sweet-hearted "help" in the Rossiter family in Susan Warner's _Queechy_. She considers herself her employers' more-than-equal and loses no opportunity of expressing the conviction.--(1852.)

BARCLAY OF URY, an Aberdeen laird, persecuted as a "Quaker coward" by a mob of former friends and dependents, offers no resistance and refuses defence from the sword of an ancient henchman.

"Is the sinful servant more
Than his gracious Lord who bore
Bonds and stripes in Jewry?"

J.G. Whittier, _Barclay of Ury_.

BARCO'CHEBAH, an antichrist.

Shared the fall of the antichrist Barcochebar.--Professor
Selwin, _Ecce Homo_.

BARD OF AVON, Shakespeare, born and buried at Stratford-upon-Avon (1564-1616).

_Bard of Ayrshire_, Robert Burns, a native of Ayrshire (1759-1796).

_Bard of Hope_, Thomas Campbell, author of _The Pleasures of Hope_ (1777-1844).

_Bard of the Imagination_, Mark Akenside, author of _The Pleasures of the Imagination_ (1721-1770).

_Bard of Memory_, S. Rogers, author of _The Pleasures of Memory_ (1762-1855).

_Bard of Olney_, W. Cowper _[Coo'-per]_, who lived for many years at Olney, in Bucks (1731-1800).

_Bard of Prose_, Boccaccio.

He of the hundred tales of love.

Byron, _Childe Harold_, iv. 56 (1818).

_Bard of Rydal Mount_, William Wordsworth, who lived at Rydal Mount; also called "Poet of the Excursion," from his principal poem (1770-1850).

_Bard of Twickenham_, Alexander Pope, who lived at Twickenham (1688-1744).

BARDELL _(Mrs.)_, landlady of "apartments for single gentlemen" in Groswell Street. Here Mr. Pickwick lodged for a time. She persuaded herself that he would make her a good second husband, and on one occasion was seen in his arms by his three friends. Mrs. Bardell put herself in the hands of Messrs. Dodson and Fogg (two unprincipled lawyers), who vamped up a case against Mr. Pickwick of "breach of promise," and obtained a verdict against the defendant. Subsequently Messrs. Dodson and Fogg arrested their own client, and lodged her in the Fleet.--C. Dickens, _The Pickwick Papers_ (1836).

BARDE'SANIST (4 _syl_.), a follower of Barde'san, founder of a Gnostic sect in the second century.

BARDO BARDI, aged blind scholar, father of Romola. She is his colaborer in the studies he pursues despite his infirmity.--George Eliot, _Romola_.

BAR'DOLPH, corporal of captain sir John Falstaff, in 1 and 2 _Henry IV._ and in _The Merry Wives of Windsor_. In _Henry V._ he is promoted to lieutenant, and Nym is corporal. Both are hanged. Bardolph is a bravo, but great humorist; he is a lowbred, drunken swaggerer, wholly without principle, and always poor. His red, pimply nose is an everlasting joke with sir John and others. Sir John in allusion thereto calls Bardolph "The Knight of the Burning Lamp." He says to him, "Thou art our admiral, and bearest the lantern in the poop." Elsewhere he tells the corporal he had saved him a "thousand marks in links and torches, walking with him in the night betwixt tavern and tavern."--Shakespeare.

We are much of the mind of Falstaff's tailor.
We must have better assurance for sir John than
Bardolph's.--Macaulay.

(The reference is to 2 _Henry IV_. act i. sc. 2. When Falstaff asks Page, "What said Master Dumbleton about the satin for my short cloak and slops!" Page replies, "He said, sir, you should procure him better assurance than Bardolph. He ... liked not the security.")

BARDON _(Hugh)_, the scout-master in the troop of lieutenant Fitzurse.--Sir W. Scott, _Ivanhoe_ (time, Richard I.).

BAREFOOT BOY, reminiscence of the author's own boyhood in Whittier's poem, _The Barefoot Boy_.

Prince thou art,--the grown-up man
Only is republican.

BARÈRE (2 _syl_.), an advocate of Toulouse, called "The Anacreon of the Guillotine." He was president of the Convention, a member of the Constitutional Committee, and chief agent in the condemnation to death of Louis XVI. As member of the Committee of Public Safety, he decreed that "Terror must be the order of the day." In the first empire Barère bore no public part, but at the restoration he was banished from France, and retired to Brussels (1755-1841).

The filthiest and most spiteful Yahoo of the
fiction was a noble creature compared with the
Barère of history.--Lord Macaulay.

BARFÜSLE, pretty German child, left an orphan at a tender age, and cast upon the world. She maintains herself reputably and resists many temptations until she is happily married.--Bernard Auerbach, _Barfüsle._

BAR'GUEST, a goblin armed with teeth and claws. It would sometimes set up in the streets a most fearful scream in the "dead waste and middle of the night." The faculty of seeing this monster was limited to a few, but those who possessed it could by the touch communicate the "gift" to others.--_Fairy Mythology, North of England_.

BAR'GULUS, an Illyrian robber or pirate.

Bargulus, Illyrius latro, de quo est apud Theopompum
magnas opes habuit.--Cicero, _De Officiis_,
ii. 11.

BARICONDO, one of the leaders of the Moorish army. He was slain by the duke of Clarence.--Ariosto, _Orlando Furioso_ (1516).

BARKER (.Mr.), friend to Sowerberry. _Mrs. Barker_, his wife.--W. Brough, _A Phenomenon in a Smock Frock_.

BAR'KIS, the carrier who courted [Clara] Peggot'ty, by telling David Copperfield when he wrote home to say to his nurse "Barkis is willin'." Clara took the hint and became Mrs. Barkis.

He dies when the tide goes out, confirming the
superstition that people can't die till the tide goes
out, or be born till it is in. The last words he
utters are "Barkis is willin'."--C. Dickens, _David
Copperfield_, xxx. (1849).

(Mrs. Quickly says of sir John Falstaff, "'A parted even just between twelve and one, e'en at the turning o' the tide."--_Henry V_. act ii. sc. 3, 1599.)

BAR'LAHAM AND JOSAPHAT, the heroes and title of a minnesong, the object of which was to show the triumph of Christian doctrines over paganism. Barlaham is a hermit who converts Josaphat, an Indian prince. This "lay" was immensely popular in the Middle Ages, and has been translated into every European language.--Rudolf of Ems (a minnesinger, thirteenth century).

BARLEY _(Bill)_, Clara's father. Chiefly remarkable for drinking rum, and thumping on the floor.--C. Dickens, _Great Expectations_ (1860).

BARLEYCORN (_Sir John_), Malt-liquor personified. His neighbors vowed that sir John should die, so they hired ruffians to "plough him with ploughs and bury him;" this they did, and afterwards "combed him with harrows and thrust clods on his head," but did not kill him. Then with hooks and sickles they "cut his legs off at the knees," bound him like a thief, and left him "to wither with the wind," but he died not. They now "rent him to the heart," and having "mowed him in a mow," sent two bravos to beat him with clubs, and they beat him so sore that "all his flesh fell from his bones," but yet he died not. To a kiln they next hauled him, and burnt him like a martyr, but he survived the burning. They crushed him between two stones, but killed him not. Sir John bore no malice for this ill-usage, but did his best to cheer the flagging spirits even of his worst persecutors.

This song, from the _English Dancing-Master_ (1651), is generally ascribed to Robert Burns, but all that the Scotch poet did was slightly to alter parts of it. The same may be said of "Auld lang Syne," "Ca' the Yowes," "My Heart is Sair for Somebody," "Green grow the Rashes, O!" and several other songs, set down to the credit of Burns.

BARLOW, the favorite archer of Henry VIII. He was jocosely created by the merry monarch "Duke of Shoreditch," and his two companions "Marquis of Islington" and "Earl of Pancras."

_Barlow (Billy)_, a jester, who fancied himself a "mighty potentate." He was well known in the east of London, and died in Whitechapel workhouse. Some of his sayings were really witty, and some of his attitudes truly farcical.

BAR'MECIDE. Schacabac "the hare-lipped," a man in the greatest distress, one day called on the rich Barmecide, who in merry jest asked him to dine with him. Barmecide first washed in hypothetical water, Schacabac followed his example. Barmecide then pretended to eat of various dainties, Schacabac did the same, and praised them highly, and so the "feast" went on to the close. The story says Barmecide was so pleased that Schacabac had the good sense and good temper to enter into the spirit of the joke without resentment, that he ordered in a real banquet, at which Schacabac was a welcome guest.--_Arabian Nights_ ("The Barber's Sixth Brother").

BAR'NABAS _(St.)_, a disciple of Gamaliel, cousin of St. Mark, and fellow-laborer with St. Paul. He was martyred at Salamis, A.D. 63. _St. Barnabas' Day_ is June 11.--_Acts_ iv. 36, 37.

BAR'NABY _(Widow)_, the title and chief character of a novel by Mrs. Trollope (1839). The widow is a vulgar, pretentious husband-hunter, wholly without principle. _Widow Barnaby_ has a sequel called _The Barnabys in America, or The Widow Married_, a satire on America and the Americans (1840).

BARNABY RUDGE, a half-witted whose companion is a raven. He is enticed into joining the Gordon rioters.--C. Dickens, _Barnaby Budge_ (1841). (See RUDGE.)

BARNACLE, brother of old Nicholas Cockney, and guardian of Priscilla Tomboy of the West Indies. Barnacle is a tradesman of the old school, who thinks the foppery and extravagance of the "Cockney" school inconsistent with prosperous shop-keeping. Though brusque and even ill-mannered, he has good sense and good discernment of character.--_The Romp_ (altered from Bickerstaff's _Love in the City_).

BARNADINE, malefactor, condemned to death, "who will not die that day, upon any man's persuasion."--Shakespeare, _Measure for Measure_.

BARNES (1 _syl_.), servant to colonel Mannering, at Woodburne.--Sir W. Scott, _Guy Mannering_ (time, George II.).

BARNEY, a repulsive Jew, who waited on the customers at the low public-house frequented by Fagin and his associates. Barney always spoke through his nose.--C. Dickens, _Oliver Twist_ (1837).

BARN'STABLE (_Lieutenant_), in the British navy, in love with Kate Plowden, niece of colonel Howard of New York. The alliance not being approved of, Kate is removed from England to America, but Barnstable goes to America to discover her retreat. In this he succeeds, but being seized as a spy, is commanded by colonel Howard to be hung to the yardarm of an American frigate called the _Alacrity_. Scarcely is the young man led off, when the colonel is informed that Barnstable is his own son, and he arrives at the scene of execution just in time to save him. Of course after this he marries the lady of his affection.--E. Fitzball, _The Pilot_ (a burletta).

BARNWELL (_George_), the chief character and title of a tragedy by George Lillo. George Barnwell is a London apprentice, who falls in love with Sarah Millwood of Shoreditch, who leads him astray. He first robs his master of £200. He next robs his uncle, a rich grazier at Ludlow, and murders him. Having spent all the money of his iniquity, Sarah Millwood turns him off and informs against him. Both are executed (1732).

For many years this play was acted on boxing-night, as a useful lesson to London apprentices. BARON (_The old English_), a romance by Clara Reeve (1777).

BAR'RABAS, the rich "Jew of Malta." He is simply a human monster, who kills in sport, poisons whole nunneries, and invents infernal machines. Shakespeare's "Shylock" has a humanity in the very whirlwind of his resentment, but Marlowe's "Barrabas" is a mere ideal of that "thing" which Christian prejudice once deemed a Jew. (See BARABAS.)--Marlowe, _The Jew of Malta_ (1586).

_Bar'rabas_, the famous robber and murderer set free instead of Christ by desire of the Jews. Called in the New Testament _Barab'has_. Marlowe calls the word "Barrabas" in his _Jew of Malta_, and Shakespeare says:

"Would any of the stock of Bar'rabas
Had been her husband, rather than a Christian."

_Merchant of Venice_, act iv. sc. 1 (1598).

BARRY CORNWALL, the _nom de plume_ of Bryan Waller Procter. It is an imperfect anagram of his name (1788-1874).

BARSAD (_John), alias_ Solomon Pross, a spy.

He had an aquiline nose, but not straight,
having a peculiar inclination towards the left
cheek; expression, therefore, sinister.--C. Dickens,
_A Tale of Two Cities_, ii. 16 (1859).

BARSIS'A (_Santon_), in _The Guardian_, the basis of the story called _The Monk_, by M. G. Lewis (1796).

BARSTON, _alias_ captain Fenwicke, a jesuit and secret correspondent of the conntess of Derby.--Sir W. Scott, _Peveril of the Peak_ (time, Charles II.).

BARTHOL'OMEW (_Brother_), guide of the two Philipsons on their way to Strasburg.

--Sir W. Scott, _Anne of Geierstein_ (time, Edward IV.).

_Bartholomew (St.)._ His day is August 24, and his symbol a knife, in allusion to the knife with which he is said to have been flayed alive.

BARTLEY HUBBARD, the "smart" newspaper-man in _A Modern Instance_, by William Dean Howells (1883). He also plies his trade and exhibits his assurance in _The Rise of Silas Lapham_ (1885).

BARTOLDO, a rich old miser, who died of fear and want of sustenance. Fazio rifled his treasures, and on the accusation of his own wife was tried and executed.--Dean Milman, _Fazio_ (1815).

_Bartoldo_, same as _Bertoldo_ (_q.v._).

BARTOLI (in French _Barthole_, better known, however, by the Latin form of the name, _Bartolus_) was the most famous master of the dialectical school of jurists (1313-1356). He was born at Sasso Ferrata in Italy, and was professor of Civil Law at the University of Perugia. His reputation was at one time immense, and his works were quoted as authority in nearly every European court. Hence the French proverb, applied to a well-read lawyer, _He knows his "Barthole" as well as a Cordelier his "Dormi_" (an anonymous compilation of sermons for the use of the Cordelier monks). Another common French expression, _Résolu comme Barthole_ ("as decided as Barthole"), is a sort of punning allusion to his _Resolutiones Bartoli_, a work in which the knottiest questions are solved with _ex cathedra_ peremptoriness.

BAR'TOLUS, a covetous lawyer, husband of Amaran'ta.--Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Spanish Curate_ (1622).

BARTON (_Sir Andrew_), a Scotch sea-officer, who had obtained in 1511 letters of marque for himself and his two sons, to make reprisals upon the subjects of Portugal. The council-board of England, at which the earl of Surrey presided, was daily pestered by complaints from British merchants and sailors against Barton, and at last it was decided to put him down. Two ships were, therefore, placed under the commands of sir Thomas and sir Edward Howard, an engagement took place, and sir Andrew Barton was slain, bravely fighting. A ballad in two parts, called "Sir Andrew Barton," is inserted in Percy's _Reliques_, II. ii. 12.

BARTRAM, the lime-burner, an obtuse, middle-aged clown in _Ethan Brand_ by Nathaniel Hawthorne. When he finds the suicide's skeleton in the kiln, the heart whole within the ribs, he congratulates himself that "his kiln is half a bushel richer for him" (1846).

BARUCH. _Dites, donc, avez-vous lu Baruch?_ Said when a person puts an unexpected question, or makes a startling proposal. It arose thus: Lafontaine went one day with Racine to _tenebrae_, and was given a Bible. He turned at random to the "Prayer of the Jews," in Baruch, and was so struck with it that he said aloud to Racine, "Dites, donc, who was this Baruch? Why, do you know, man, he was a fine genius;" and for some days afterwards the first question he asked his friends was, _Diles, done, Mons., avez-vous lu Baruch?_

BARZIL'LAI (3 _syl_.), the duke of Ormond, a friend and firm adherent of Charles II. As Barzillai assisted David when he was expelled by Absalom from his kingdom, so Ormond assisted Charles II. when he was in exile.

Barzillai, crowned with honors and with years,...
In exile with his god-like prince he mourned,
For him he suffered, and with him returned.

Dryden, _Absalom and Achitophel_, i.

BASA-ANDRE, the wild woman, a sorceress, married to Basa-Jaun, a sort of vampire. Basa-Andre sometimes is a sort of land mermaid (a beautiful lady who sits in a cave combing her locks with a golden comb). She hates church bells. (See BASA-JAUN.)

BASA-JAUN, a wood-sprite, married to Basa-Andre, a sorceress. Both hated the sound of church bells. Three brothers and their sister agreed to serve him, but the wood-sprite used to suck blood from the finger of the girl, and the brothers resolved to kill him. This they accomplished. The Basa-Andre induced the girl to put a tooth into each of the footbaths of her brothers, and lo! they became oxen. The girl crossing a bridge saw Basa-Andre, and said if she did not restore her brothers she would put her into a red-hot oven, so Basa-Andre told the girl to give each brother three blows on the back with a hazel wand, and on so doing they were restored to their proper forms.--Rev. W. Webster, _Basque Legends_, 49 (1877).

BAS BLEU, nickname applied to literary women in the days succeeding the French Revolution, made familiar in America by J. K. Paulding's _Azure Hose_.

BASHABA, sachem in J. G.L. Whittier's poem, _The Bridal of Pennacock_. His beautiful daughter, scorned by the chief to whom Bashaba gave her in marriage, and detained against her will by her angry father, steals away by night in a canoe and IS drowned in a vain attempt

To seek the wigwam of her chief once more.

BASHFUL MAN (_The_), a comic drama by

W. T. Moncrieff. Edward Blushington, a young man just come into a large fortune, is so bashful and shy that life is a misery to him. He dines at Friendly Hall, and makes all sorts of ridiculous blunders. His college chum, Frank Friendly, sends word to say that he and his sister Dinah, with sir Thomas and lady Friendly, will dine with him at Blushington House. After a few glasses of wine, Edward loses his shyness, makes a long speech, and becomes the accepted suitor of Dinah Friendly.

BASIL, the blacksmith of Grand Pré, in Acadia (now _Nova Scotia_), and father of Gabriel the betrothed of Evangeline. When, the colony was driven into exile in 1713 by George II., Basil settled in Louisiana, and greatly prospered; but his son led a wandering life, looking for Evangeline, and died in Pennsylvania of the plague.--Longfellow, _Evangeline_ (1849).

BASIL MARCH, a clever, cynical, and altogether charming man of letters who takes one of the leading parts in William Dean Howells's _Their Wedding Journey. A Chance Acquaintance_, and _A Hazard of New Fortunes_.

BA'SILE (2 _syl_.), a calumniating, niggardly bigot in _Le Mariage de Figaro_, and again in _Le Barbier de Séville_, both by Beaumarchais. Basile and Tartuffe are the two French incarnations of religious hypocrisy. The former is the clerical humbug, and the latter the lay religious hypocrite. Both deal largely in calumny, and trade in slander.

BASILIS'CO, a bully and a braggart, in _Solyman and Perseda_ (1592). Shakespeare has made Pistol the counterpart of Basilisco.

Knight, knight, good mother, Basilisco-like.

Shakespeare, _King John_, act i. sc. 1 (1596).

(That is, "my boasting like Basilisco has made me a knight, good mother.")

BASILISK, supposed to kill with its gaze the person who looked on it. Thus Henry VI. says to Suffolk, "Come, basilisk, and kill the innocent gazer with thy sight."

Natus in ardente Lydiæ basiliscus arena,
Vulnerat aspectu, luminibusque nocet.

Mantuanus.

BASILIUS, a neighbor of Quiteria, whom he loved from childhood, but when grown up the father of the lady forbade him the house, and promised Quiteria in marriage to Camacho, the richest man of the vicinity. On their way to church they passed Basilius, who had fallen on his sword, and all thought he was at the point of death. He prayed Quiteria to marry him, "for his soul's peace," and as it was deemed a mere ceremony, they were married in due form. Up then started the wounded man, and showed that the stabbing was only a ruse, and the blood that of a sheep from the slaughter-house. Camacho gracefully accepted the defeat, and allowed the preparations for the general feast to proceed.

Basilius is strong and active, pitches the bar
admirably, wrestles with amazing dexterity, and
is an excellent cricketer. He runs like a buck,
leaps like a wild goat, and plays at skittles like
a wizard. Then he has a fine voice for singing,
he touches the guitar so as to make it speak, and
handles a foil as well as any fencer in Spain.--Cervantes,
_Don Quixote_, II. ii. 4 (1615).

BASRIG or BAGSECG, a Scandinavian king, who with Halden or Halfdene (2 _syl_.) king of Denmark, in 871, made a descent on Wessex. In this year Ethelred fought nine pitched battles with the Danes. The first was the battle of Englefield, in Berkshire, lost by the Danes; the next was the battle of Beading, won by the Danes; the third was the famous battle of Æscesdun or Ashdune (now _Ashton_), lost by the Danes, and in which king Bagsecg was slain.

And Ethelred with them [_the Danes_] nine sundry fields that fought ...
Then Reading ye regained, led by that valiant lord,
Where Basrig ye outbraved, and Halden sword to sword.

Drayton, _Polyolbion_, xii. (1613).

Next year (871) the Danes for the first time entered Wessex.... The first place they came to was Reading.... Nine great battles, besides smaller skirmishes, were fought this year, in some of which the English won, and in others the Danes. First, alderman Æthelwulf fought the Danes at Englefield, and beat them. Four days after that there was another battle at Reading ... where the Danes had the better of it, and Æthelwulf was killed. Four days afterwards there was another more famous battle at Æscesdun ... and king Æthelred fought against the two kings, and slew Bagsecg with his own hand.--E. A. Freeman, _Old English History_ (1869); see Asser, _Life of Alfred_ (ninth century).

BASSA'NIO, the lover of Portia, successful in his choice of the three caskets, which awarded her to him as wife. It was for Bassanio that his friend Antonio borrowed 3000 ducats of the Jew Shylock, on the strange condition that if he returned the loan within three months no interest should be required, but if not, the Jew might claim a pound of Antonio's flesh for forfeiture.--Shakespeare, _Merchant of Venice_ (1598).

BAS'SET _(Count)_, a swindler and forger, who assumes the title of "count" to further his dishonest practices.--C. Cibber, _The Provoked Husband_ (1728).

BASSIA'NUS, brother of Satur'nius emperor of Rome, in love with Lavin'ia daughter of Titus Andron'icus (properly _Andronicus_). He is stabbed by Deme'trius and Chiron, sons of Tam'ora queen of the Goths.--(?) Shakespeare, _Titus Andronicus_ (1593).

BASSI'NO _(Count)_, the "perjured husband of Aurelia" slain by Alonzo.--Mrs. Centlivre, _The Perjured Husband_ (1700).

BASSANIO, a youth of noble birth but crippled fortunes, whose desire to win the hand of Portia, a rich heiress, is the moving spring of the action of Shakespeare's _The Merchant of Venice_. Portia's father has left three caskets, and has ordered in his will that his daughter is to marry only the man who chooses the casket that holds her portrait. That Bassanio may enter the list of Portia's suitors, his friend Antonio borrows money of Shylock, a Jew, who, out of hatred to the merchant, entraps him into pledging a pound of his flesh as surety for the loan. Bassanio marries Portia, but misfortune overtakes Antonio, he forfeits his bond, and his life is only saved by a quibble devised by Portia.

BASTARD OF ORLEANS, in Shakespeare's _Henry VI_ Part 1, is Jean Dunois a natural son of Louis of Orleans, brother of Charles VI.

BAT (_Dr_.), naturalist in Cooper's _Prairie_, who mistakes his ass at night for a monster described in his note-book.

BATES (1 _syl_.), a soldier in the army of Henry V. He with Court and Williams are sentinals before the English camp at Agincourt, and the king disguised comes to them during the watch, and talks with them respecting the impending battle,--Shakespeare, _Henry V_.

_Bates (Charley)_, generally called "Master Bates," one of Fagin's "pupils," training to be a pickpocket. He is always laughing uproariously, and is almost equal in artifice and adroitness to "The Artful Dodger" himself.--C. Dickens, _Oliver Twist_ (1837).

_Bates (Frank)_, the friend of Whittle. A man of good plain sense, who tries to laugh the old beau out of his folly.--Garrick, _The Irish Widow_ (1757).

BATH (_King of_), Richard Nash, generally called _Beau_ Nash, master of-the ceremonies for fifteen years in that fashionable city (1674-1761).

_Bath (The Maid of_), Miss Linley, a beautiful and accomplished singer, who married Richard B. Sheridan, the statesman and dramatist.

_Bath (The Wife of_), one of the pilgrims travelling from Southwark to Canterbury, in Chaucer's _Canterbury Tales_. She tells her tale in turn, and chooses "Midas" for her subject (1388).

BATHSHEBA in Dryden's _Absalom and Achitophel_ is Louisa de Queronailles, a young French lady brought into England by the Duchess of Orleans, and who became the mistress of Charles II. The King made her Duchess of Portsmouth.

My father [_Charles II._] whom with reverence I name ...
Is grown in Bathsheba's embraces old.

Dryden, _Absalom and Achitophel_, ii.

BATHSHEBA EVERDEIIE, handsome heiress of an English farmstead, beloved by two honest men and one knave. She marries the knave in haste, and repents it at leisure for years thereafter. Released by his death, she marries Gabriel Oak.--Thomas Hardy, _Far from the Madding Crowd_ (1874).

BATTAR _(Al), i.e. the trenchant_, one of Mahomet's swords.

BATTUS, a shepherd of Arcadia. Having witnessed Mercury's theft of Apollo's oxen, he received a cow from the thief to ensure his secrecy; but, in order to test his fidelity, Mercury re-appeared soon afterwards, and offered him an ox and a cow if he would blab. Battus fell into the trap, and was instantly changed into a touchstone.

When Tantalus in hell sees store and starves;
And senseless Battus for a touchstone serves.

Lord Brooke, _Treatise on Monarchie_, iv.

BAU'CIS AND PHILEMON, an aged Phrygian woman and her husband, who received Jupiter and Mercury hospitably when every one else in the place had refused to entertain them. For this courtesy the gods changed the Phrygians' cottage into a magnificent temple, and appointed the pious couple over it. They both died at the same time, according to their wish, and were converted into two trees before the temple.--_Greek and Roman Mythology_.

BAUL'DIE (2 _syl._), stable-boy of Joshua Geddes the quaker.--Sir W. Scott, _Red-gauntlet_ (time, George III.).

_Baul'die_ (2 _syl._), the old shepherd in the introduction of the story called _The Black Dwarf_, by sir W. Scott (time, Anne).

BAVIAN FOOL (_The_), one of the characters in the old morris-dance. He wore a red cap faced with yellow, a yellow "slabbering-bib," a blue doublet, red hose, and black shoes. He represents an overgrown baby, but was a tumbler, and mimicked the barking of a dog. The word Bavian is derived from _bavon_, a "bib for a slabbering child" (see Cotgrave, _French Dictionary_). In modern French _bave_ means "drivel," "slabbering," and the verb _baver_ "to slabber," but the bib is now called _bavette_. (See MORRIS-DANCE.)

BAVIE'CA, the Cid's horse. He survived his master two years and a half, and was buried at Valencia. No one was ever allowed to mount him after the death of the Cid.

BAVIUS, any vile poet. (See MÆVIUS.)

BAWTRY. _Like the saddler of Baivtry, who was hanged for leaving his liquor_. (_Yorkshire Proverb_.) It was customary for criminals on their way to execution to stop at a certain tavern in York for a "parting draught." The saddler of Bawtry refused to accept the liquor, and was hanged, whereas if he had stopped a few minutes at the tavern his reprieve, which was on the road, would have arrived in time to save him.

BA'YARD, _Le chevalier sans peur et sans reproche_; born in France in 1475. He served under Charles VIII. and Louis XII.; bore a gallant part in the "Battle of the Spurs," and died in 1524 of wounds received while in action.

_The British Bayard_, sir Philip Sidney (1554-1584).

_The Polish Bayard_, prince Joseph Poniatowski (1763-1814).

_The Bayard of India_, sir James Outram (1803-1863). So called by sir Charles Napier.

_Ba'yard_, a horse of incredible speed, belonging to the four sons of Aymon. If only one mounted, the horse was of the ordinary size, but increased in proportion as two or more mounted. (The word means "bright bay color.")--Villeneuve, _Les Quatre fils Aymon_.

_Bayard_, the steed of Fitz-James.--Sir W. Scott, _Lady of the Lake_, v. 18 (1810).

BAYAR'DO, the famous steed of Rinaldo, which once belonged to Amadis of Gaul. It was found in a grotto by the wizard Malagigi, along with the sword Fusberta, both of which he gave to his cousin Rinaldo.

His color bay, and hence his name he drew--
Bayardo called. A star of silver hue
Emblazed his front.

Tasso, _Rinaldo_, ii. 220 (1562).

BAYES (1 _syl._), the chief character of _The Rehearsal_, a farce by George Villiers, duke of Buckingham (1671). Bayes is represented as greedy of applause, impatient of censure, meanly obsequious, regardless of plot, and only anxious for claptrap. The character is meant for John Dryden.

C. Dibdin, in his _History of the Stage_, states that Mrs. Mountford played "Bayes" "with more variety than had ever been thrown into the part before."

No species of novel-writing exposes itself to a
severer trial, since it not only resigns all Bayes'
pretensions "to elevate the imagination," ... but
places its productions within the range
of [general] criticism.--_Encyc. Brit._ Art. "Romance."

BAYNARD (_Mr._), introduced in an episode in the novel called _Humphrey Clinker_, by Smollett (1771).

BEA'CON (_Tom_), groom to Master Chiffinch (private emissary of Charles II.).--Sir W. Scott, _Peveril of the Peak_ (time, Charles II.).

BEA'GLE (_Sir Harry_), a horsy country gentleman, who can talk of nothing but horses and dogs. He is wofully rustic and commonplace. Sir Harry makes a bargain with lord Trinket to give up Harriet to him in exchange for his horse. (See GOLDFINCH.)--George Colman, _The Jealous Wife_ (1761).

BEAK. Sir John Fielding was called "The Blind Beak" (died 1780). BEAN LEAN (_Donald_), _alias_ Will Ruthven, a Highland robber-chief. He also appears disguised as a peddler on the roadside leading to Stirling. Waverley is rowed to the robber's cave and remains there all night.

_Alice Bean_, daughter of Donald Bean Lean, who attends on Waverley during a fever.--Sir W. Scott, _Waverley_ (time, George II.).

BEAR (_The Brave_). Warwick is so called from his cognizance, which was _a bear and ragged staff_.

BEARCLIFF (_Deacon_), at the Gordon Arms or Kippletringam inn, where colonel Mannering stops on his return to England, and hears of Bertram's illness and distress.--Sir W. Scott, _Guy Mannering_ (time, George II.).

BEARDED (_The_). (1) Geoffrey the crusader. (2) Bouchard of the house of Montmorency. (3) Constantine IV. (648-685). (4) Master George Killingworthe of the court of Ivan _the Terrible_ of Russia, whose beard (says Hakluyt) was five feet two inches long, yellow, thick, and broad. Sir Hugh Willoughby was allowed to take it in his hand.

_The Bearded Master_. Soc'ratês was so called by Persius (B.C. 468-399).

_Handsome Beard_, Baldwin IV. earl of Flanders (1160-1186).

_John the Bearded_, John Mayo, the German painter, whose beard touched the ground when he stood upright.

BEARNAIS (_Le_), Henri IV. of France, so called from his native province, Le Béarr. (1553-1610).

BEATON, the artist of _Every Other Week_, the story of which periodical is told in W. D. Howells's _A Hazard of New Fortunes_ (1889).

His name was Beaton--Angus Beaton. His father was a Scotchman, but Beaton was born in Syracuse, New York, and it had taken only three years to obliterate many traces of native and ancestral manner in him. He wore his thick beard cut shorter than his moustache, and a little pointed; he stood with his shoulders well thrown back, and with a lateral curve of his person when he talked about art which would alone have carried conviction, even if he had not had a thick, dark bang coming almost to the brows of his mobile gray eyes, and had not spoken English with quick, staccato impulses, so as to give it the effect of epigrammatic and sententious French.

BE'ATRICE (3 _syl_.), a child eight years old, to whom Dantê at the age of nine was ardently attached. She was the daughter of Folco Portina'ri, a rich citizen of Florence. Beatrice married Simoni de Bardi, and died before she was twenty-four years old (1266-1290). Dantê married Gemma Donati, and his marriage was a most unhappy one. His love for Beatrice remained after her decease. She was the fountain of his poetic inspiration, and in his _Divina Commedia_ he makes her his guide through paradise.

Dantê's Beatrice and Milton's Eve Were not drawn from their spouses you conceive. Byron, _Don Juan_, iii. 10 (1820).

(Milton, who married Mary Powell, of Oxfordshire, was as unfortunate in his choice as Dantê.)

_Beatrice_, wife of Ludov'ico Sforza.

_Beatrice_, daughter of Ferdinando king of Naples, sister of Leonora duchess of Ferrara, and wife of Mathias Corvi'nus of Hungary.

_Beatrice_, niece of Leonato governor of Messina, lively and light-hearted, affectionate and impulsive. Though wilful she is not wayward, though volatile she is not unfeeling, though teeming with wit and gaiety she is affectionate and energetic. At first she dislikes Benedick, and thinks him a flippant conceited coxcomb; but overhearing a conversation between her cousin Hero and her gentlewoman, in which Hero bewails that Beatrice should trifle with such deep love as that of Benedick, and should scorn so true and good a gentleman, she cries, "Sits the wind thus? then, farewell, contempt. Benedick, love on; I will requite you." This conversation of Hero's was a mere ruse, but Benedick had been caught by a similar trick played by Claudio, don Pedro, and Leonato. The result was they sincerely loved each other, and were married.--Shakespeare, _Much Ado about Nothing_ (1600).

BEATRICE CENCI, the _Beautiful Parricide (q.v.)._

BEATRICE D'ESTE, canonized at Rome.

BEATRICE GIORGINI, an Italian contessa whose parents contract a secret marriage, an unequal match as to birth and fortune, and, dying young, one by violence, leave their child in charge of Betta, a faithful nurse, who takes her to her mother's mother, an old peasant. At her grandmother's death she becomes companion to a relative of her father; marries don Leonardo, her father's cousin and one of the witnesses to the secret marriage, and uses him to prove her legitimacy and his own treachery.--Mary Agnes Tincker, _Two Coronets_ (1889).

BEAU BRUMMEL, George Bryan Brummel, son of a London pastry-cook, who became the fashion at the court of George III. and reigning favorite of the Prince of Wales. His story has been made the foundation of a brilliant American play by Clyde Fitch, in which Richard Mansfield takes the part of Brummel (1890).

BEAU CLARK, a billiard-maker at the beginning of the nineteenth century. He was called "The Bean," assumed the name of _Beauelerc_, and paid his addresses to a _protégée_ of lord Fife.

BEAU FIELDING, called "Handsome Fielding" by Charles II., by a play on his name, which was Hendrome Fielding. He died in Scotland Yard.

BEAU HEWITT was the original of sir George Etherege's "Sir Fopling Flutter," in the comedy called _The Man of Mode or Sir Fopling Flutter_ (1676).

BEAU NASH, Richard Nash, called also "King of Bath;" a Welsh gentleman, who for fifteen years managed the bath-rooms of Bath, and conducted the balls with unparalleled splendor and decorum. In his old age he sank into poverty (1674-1761).

BEAU D'ORSAY _(Le)_, father of count d'Orsay, whom Byron calls "_Jeune Cupidon._"

BEAU SEANT, the Templars' banner, half white and half black; the white signified that the Templars were good to Christians, the black, that they were evil to infidels.

BEAU TIBBS, in Goldsmith's _Citizen of the World_, a dandy noted for his finery, vanity, and poverty.

BEAUCLERK, Henry I. king of England (1068, 1100-1135).

BEAUFORT, the lover of Maria Wilding, whom he ultimately marries.--A. Murphy, _The Citizen_ (a farce).

BEAUJEU (_Mons. le chevalier de_), keeper of a gambling-house to which Dalgarno takes Nigel.--Sir W. Scott, _Fortunes of Nigel_ (time, James I.).

_Beaujeu_ (_Mons. le comte de_), a French officer in the army of the Chevalier Charles Edward, the Pretender.--Sir W. Scott, _Waverley_ (time, George II.).

BEAUMAINS ("_big hands_"), a nickname which sir Key (Arthur's steward) gave to Gareth when he was kitchen drudge in the palace. "He had the largest hands that ever man saw." Gareth was the son of king Lot and Margawse (king Arthur's sister). His brothers were sir Gaw'ain, sir Agravain, and sir Gaheris. Mordred was his half-brother.--Sir T. Malory, _History of Prince Arthur_, i. 120 (1470).

His achievements are given under the name "Gareth" (q.v.).

Tennyson, in his _Gareth and Lynette_, makes sir Key tauntingly address Lancelot thus, referring to Gareth:

Fair and fine, forsooth!
Sir Fine-face, sir Fair-hands? But see thou to it
That thine own fineness, Lancelot, some fine day,
Undo thee not.

Be it remembered that Key himself called Gareth "Beaumain" from the extraordinary size of the lad's hands; but the taunt put into the mouth of Key by the poet indicates that the lad prided himself on his "fine" face and "fair" hands, which is not the case. If "fair hands" is a translation of this nickname, it should be "fine hands," which bears the equivocal sense of _big_ and _beautiful_.

BEAU'MANOIR (_Sir Lucas_), Grand-Master of the Knights Templars.--Sir W. Scott, _Ivanhoe_ (time, Richard I.).

BEAUPRE [_Bo-pray_'], son of judge Vertaigne (2 _syl_.) and brother of Lami'ra.--Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Little French Lawyer_ (1647).

BEAUTÉ (2 _syl_). _La dame de Beauté_. Agnes Sorel, so called from the château de Beauté, on the banks of the Marne, given to her by Charles VII. (1409-1450).

BEAUTIFUL CORISANDE (3 _syl_). Diane comtesse de Guiche et de Grammont. She was the daughter of Paul d'Andouins, and married Philibert de Grammont, who died in 1580. The widow outlived her husband for twenty-six years. Henri IV., before he was king of Navarre, was desperately smitten by La belle Corisande, and when Henri was at war with the League, she sold her diamonds to raise for him a levy of 20,000 Gascons (1554-1620).

(The letters of Henri to Corisande are still preserved in the _Bibliothéque de l'Arsenal_, and were published in 1769.)

BEAUTIFUL PARRICIDE (_The_), Beatrice Cenci, daughter of a Roman nobleman, who plotted the death of her father because he violently defiled her. She was executed in 1605. Shelley has a tragedy on the subject, entitled _The Cenci_. Guido Reni's portrait of Beatrice is well known through its numberless reproductions.

BEAUTY (_Queen of_). So the daughter of Schems'edeen' Mohammed, vizier of Egypt, was called. She married her cousin, Bed'redeen' Hassan, son of Nour'edeen' Ali, vizier of Basora.--_Arabian Nights_ ("Nouredeen Ali," etc.).

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (_La Belle et la Bête_'), from _Les Contes Marines_ of Mde. Villeneuvre (1740), the most beautiful of all nursery tales. A young and lovely woman saved her father by putting herself in the power of a frightful but kind-hearted monster, whose respectful affection and melancholy overcame her aversion to his ugliness, and she consented to become his bride. Being thus freed from enchantment, the monster assumed his proper form and became a young and handsome prince.

BEAUTY OF BUTTERMERE (3 syl.), Mary Robinson, who married John Hatfield, a heartless impostor executed for forgery at Carlisle in 1803.

BEAUX' STRATAGEM (_The_), by George Farquhar. Thomas viscount Aimwell and his friend Archer (the two beaux), having run through all their money, set out fortune-hunting, and come to Lichfield as "master and man." Aimwell pretends to be very unwell, and as lady Bountiful's hobby is tending the sick and playing the leech, she orders him to be removed to her mansion. Here he and Dorinda (daughter of lady Bountiful) fall in love with each other, and finally marry. Archer falls in love with Mrs. Sullen, the wife of squire Sullen, who had been married fourteen months but agreed to a divorce on the score of incompatibility of tastes and temper. This marriage forms no part of the play; all we are told is that she returns to the roof of her brother, sir Charles Freeman (1707).

BEDE (_Adam_ and _Seth_), brothers, carpenters. Seth loves the fair gospeller Dinah Morris, but she marries Adam.--George Eliot, _Adam Bede_.

_Bede (Cuthbert_), the Rev. Edward Bradley, author of _The Adventures of Mr. Verdant Green, an Oxford Freshman_ (1857).

BED'ER ("_the full moon_"), son of Gulna'rê (3 syl.), the young king of Persia. As his mother was an under-sea princess, he was enabled to live under water as well as on land. Beder was a young man of handsome person, quick parts, agreeable manners, and amiable disposition. He fell in love with Giauha'rê, daughter of the king of Samandal, the most powerful of the under-sea empires, but Giauharê changed him into a white bird with red beak and red legs. After various adventures, Beder resumed his human form and married Giauharê.--_Arabian Nights_ ("Beder and Giauharê").

BED'IVERE (_Sir_) or BED'IVER, king Arthur's butler and a knight of the Round Table. He was the last of Arthur's knights, and was sent by the dying king to throw his sword Excalibur into the mere. Being cast in, it was caught by an arm "clothed in white samite," and drawn into the stream.--Tennyson, _Morte d'Arthur_.

Tennyson's _Morte d'Arthur_ is a very close and in many parts a verbal rendering of the same tale in sir Thomas Malory's _Morte d'Arthur_, iii. 168 (1470).

BEDLOE (_Augustus_), an eccentric Virginian, an opium-eater, and easily hypnotized, in Edgar Allan Poe's _Tale of the Ragged Mountains_ (1846).

BEDOTT (_Widow_). (See HEZEKIAH BEDOTT.)

BED'OUINS [_Bed'.winz_], nomadic tribes of Arabia. In common parlance, "the homeless street poor." Thus gutter-children are called "Bedouins."

BED'REDEEN' HAS'SAN of Baso'ra, son of Nour'edeen' Ali grand vizier of Basora, and nephew to Schems'edeen' Mohammed vizier of Egypt. His beauty was transcendent and his talents of the first order. When twenty years old his father died, and the sultan, angry with him for keeping from court, confiscated all his goods, and would have seized Bedredeen if he had not made his escape. During sleep he was conveyed by fairies to Cairo, and substituted for an ugly groom (Hunchback) to whom his cousin, the Queen of Beauty, was to have been married. Next day he was carried off by the same means to Damascus, where he lived for ten years as a pastry-cook. Search was made for him, and the search party, halting outside the city of Damascus, sent for some cheese-cakes. When the cheese-cakes arrived, the widow of Nouredeen declared that they must have been made by her son, for no one else knew the secret of making them, and that she herself had taught it to him. On hearing this, the vizier ordered Bedredeen to be seized, "for making cheese-cakes without pepper," and the joke was carried on till the party arrived at Cairo, when the pastry-cook prince was reunited to his wife, the Queen of Beauty.--_Arabian Nights_ ("Nouredeen Ali," etc.).

BEDWIN (_Mrs._), housekeeper to Mr. Brownlow. A kind, motherly soul, who loves Oliver Twist most dearly.--C. Dickens, _Oliver Twist_ (1837).

BEE OF ATTICA, Soph'oclês the dramatist (B.C. 495-405). The "Athenian Bee" was Plato the philosopher (B.C. 428-347).

The Bee of Attica rivalled Æschylus when in
the possession of the stage.--Sir W. Scott, _The
Drama._

BEEF'INGTON (_Milor_), introduced in _The Rovers._ Casimir is a Polish emigrant, and Beefington an English nobleman exiled by the tyranny of king John.--_Anti-Jacobin._

"Will without power," said the sagacious Casimir,
to Milor Beefington, "is like children playing
at soldiers."--Macaulay.

BE'ELZELBUB (4 _syl_.), called "prince of the devils" (_Matt._ xii. 24), worshipped at Ekron, a city of the Philistines (2 _Kings_ i. 2), and made by Milton second to Satan.

One next himself in power and next in crime--Beëlzebub.

_Paradise Lost_, i. 80 (1665).

BEE'NIE (2 _syl_.), chambermaid at Old St. Ronan's inn, held by Meg Dods.--Sir W. Scott, _St. Ronan's Well_ (time, George III.).

BEES (_Telling the_), a superstition still prevalent in some rural districts that the bees must be told at once if a death occur in the family, or every swarm will take flight. In Whittier's poem, _Telling the Bees_, the lover coming to visit his mistress sees the small servant draping the hives with black, and hears her chant:

"Stay at home, pretty bees, fly not hence,
Mistress Mary is dead and gone."

BEFA'NA, the good fairy of Italian children. She is supposed to fill their shoes and socks with toys when they go to bed on Twelfth Night. Some one enters the bedroom for the purpose, and the wakeful youngters cry out, "_Ecco la Befana!_" According to legend, Befana was too busy with house affairs to take heed of the Magi when they went to offer their gifts, and said she would stop for their return; but they returned by another way, and Befana every Twelfth Night watches to see them. The name is a corruption of _Epiphania_.

BEG (_Callum_), page to Fergus M'Ivor, in _Waverley_, a novel by sir W. Scott (time, George II.).

_Beg (Toshach)_, MacGillie Chattanach's second at the combat.--Sir W. Scott, _Fair Maid of Perth_ (time, Henry IV.).

BEGGAR OF BETHNAL GREEN (_The_), a drama by S. Knowles (recast and produced, 1834). Bess, daughter of Albert, "the blind beggar of Bethnal Green," was intensely loved by Wilford, who first saw her in the streets of London, and subsequently, after diligent search, discovered her in the Queen's Arms inn at Romford. It turned out that her father Albert was brother to lord Woodville, and Wilford was his truant son, so that Bess was his cousin Queen Elizabeth sanctioned their nuptials, and took them under her own conduct. (See BLIND.)

BEGGARS (_King of the_), Bampfylde Moore Carew. He succeeded Clause Patch (1693, 1730-1770).

BEGGAR'S DAUGHTER (_The_), "Bessee the beggar's daughter of Bethnal Green," was very beautiful, and was courted by four suitors at once--a knight, a country squire, a rich merchant, and the son of an inn-keeper at Romford. She told them all they must first obtain the consent of her poor blind father, the beggar of Bethnal Green, and all slunk off except the knight, who went and asked leave to marry "the pretty Bessee." The beggar gave her for a "dot," £3000, and £100 for her trousseau, and informed the knight that he (the beggar) was Henry, son and heir of sir Simon de Montfort, and that he had disguised himself as a beggar to escape the vigilance of spies, who were in quest of all those engaged on the baron's side in the battle of Evesham.--Percy's _Reliques_, II. ii 10.

The value of money was about twelve times more than its present purchase value, so that the "dot" given was equal to £36,000.

BEGGAR'S OPERA (_The_), by Gay (1727). The beggar is captain Macheath. (For plot, see MACHEATH.)

BEGGAR'S PETITION (_The_), a poem by the Rev. Thomas Moss, minister of Brierly Hill and Trentham, in Staffordshire. It was given to Mr. Smart, the printer, of Wolverhampton.--_Gentleman's Magazine_, lxx. 41. BEGUINES [_Beg-wins_], the earliest of all lay societies of women united for religious purposes. Brabant says the order received its name from St. Begga, daughter of Pepin, who founded it at Namur', in 696; but it is more likely to be derived from _le Bègue_ ("the Stammerer"); and if so, it was founded at Liège, in 1180.

BEH'RAM, captain of the ship which was to convey prince Assad to the "mountain of fire," where he was to be offered up in sacrifice. The ship being driven on the shores of queen Margia'na's kingdom, Assad became her slave, but was recaptured by Behram's crew, and carried back to the ship. The queen next day gave the ship chase. Assad was thrown overboard, and swam to the city whence he started. Behram also was drifted to the same place. Here the captain fell in with the prince, and reconducted him to the original dungeon. Bosta'na, a daughter of the old fire-worshipper, taking pity on the prince, released him; and, at the end, Assad married queen Margiana, Bostana married prince Amgiad (half-brother of Assad), and Behram, renouncing his religion, became a mussulman, and entered the service of Amgiad, who became king of the city.--_Arabian Nights_ ("Amgiad and Assad").

BELA'RIUS, a nobleman and soldier in the army of Cym'beline (3 _syl._) king of Britain. Two villains having sworn to the king that he was "confederate with the Romans," he was banished, and for twenty years lived in a cave; but he stole away the two infant sons of the king out of revenge. Their names were Guide'rius and Arvir'agus. When these two princes were grown to manhood, a battle was fought between the Romans and Britons, in which Cymbeline was made prisoner, but Belarius coming to the rescue, the king was liberated and the Roman general in turn was made captive. Belarius was now reconciled to Cymbeline, and presenting to him the two young men, told their story; whereupon they were publicly acknowledged to be the sons of Cymbeline and princes of the realm.--Shakespeare, _Cymbeline_ (1605).

BEL BREE, wide-awake country girl in _The Other Girls_, by A.D.T. Whitney. Dissatisfied with rustic life, she accompanies aunt Blin, a dressmaker, to Boston, works hard, is exposed to the temptations that beset a pretty girl in a city, but resists them. She is thrown out of work by the Boston fire, and "enters service" with satisfactory consequences to all concerned.

BELCH (_Sir Toby_), uncle of Olivia the rich countess of Illyria. He is a reckless roysterer of the old school, and a friend of sir Andrew Ague-cheek.--Shakespeare, _Twelfth Night_ (1614).

BELCOUR, a foundling adopted by Mr. Belcour, a rich Jamaica merchant, who at death left him all his property. He was in truth the son of Mr. Stockwell, the clerk of Belcour, senior, who clandestinely married his master's daughter, and afterwards became a wealthy merchant. On the death of old Belcour, the young man came to England as the guest of his unknown father, fell in love with Miss Dudley, and married her. He was hot-blooded, impulsive, high-spirited, and generous, his very faults serving as a foil to his noble qualities; ever erring and repenting, offending and atoning for his offences.--Cumberland, _The West Indian_ (1771).

BE'LED, one of the six Wise Men of the East, led by the guiding star to Jesus. He was a king, who gave to his enemy who sought to dethrone him half of his kingdom, and thus turned a foe into a fast friend.--Klopstock, _The Messiah_, v. (1747).

BELERMA, the lady whom Durandarte served for seven years as a knight-errant and peer of France. When, at length, he died at Roncesvalles, he prayed his cousin Montesi'nos to carry his heart to Belerma.

I saw a procession of beautiful damsels in mourning, with white turbans on their heads. In the rear came a lady with a veil so long that it reached the ground: her turban was twice as large as the largest of the others; her eyebrows were joined, her nose was rather flat, her mouth wide, but her lips of a vermilion color. Her teeth were thin-set and irregular, though very white; and she carried in her hand a fine linen cloth, containing a heart. Montesinos informed me that this lady was Belerma.--Cervantes, _Don Quixote_, II. ii. 6 (1615).

BELE'SES (3 _syl_.), a Chaldaean soothsayer and Assyrian satrap, who told Arba'ces (3 _syl_.) governor of Me'dia, that he would one day sit on the throne of Nineveh and Assyria. His prophecy came true, and Beleses was rewarded with the government of Babylon.--Byron, _Sardanapalus_ (1819).

BEL'FIELD _(Brothers)._ The elder brother is a squire in Cornwall, betrothed to Sophia (daughter of sir Benjamin Dove), who loves his younger brother Bob. The younger brother is driven to sea by the cruelty of the squire, but on his return renews his acquaintance with Sophia. He is informed of her unwilling betrothal to the elder brother, who is already married to Violetta, but parted from her. Violetta returns home in the same ship as Bob Belfield, becomes reconciled to her husband, and the younger brother marries Sophia.--Rich. Cumberland, _The Brothers_ (1769).

BEL'FORD, a friend of Lovelace (2 _syl_.). They made a covenant to pardon every sort of liberty which they took with each other.--Richardson, _Clarissa Harlowe_ (1749).

_Belford (Major)_, the friend of colonel Tamper, and the plighted hnsband of Mdlle. Florival.--G. Colman, sen., _The Deuce is in Him_ (1762).

BELGE (2 _syl_.), the mother of seventeen sons. She applied to queen Mercilla for aid against Geryon'eo, who had deprived her of all her offspring except five.--Spenser, _Faëry Queen_, v. 10 (1596).

"Beige" is Holland, the "seventeen sons" are the seventeen provinces which once belonged to her; "Geryoneo" is Philip II. of Spain; and "Mercilla" is queen Elizabeth.

BELIAL, sons of, in the Bible _passim_ means the lewd and profligate. Milton has created the personality of Belial:

Belial came last; than whom a spirit more lewd
Fell not from Heaven, or more gross to love
Vice for itself. To him no temple stood
Or altar smoked; yet who more oft than he
In temples, and at altars, when the priest
Tarns atheist, as did Eli's sons, who filled
With lust and violence the house of God?
In courts and palaces he also reigns,
And in luxurious cities, where the noise
Of riot ascends above their loftiest towers
And injury and outrage; and when night
Darkens the streets, then wander forth the sons
Of Belial, flown with insolence and wine.

Milton, _Paradise Lost_, i. 490

On the other side up rose
Belial, in act more graceful and humane;
A fairer person lost not Heaven; he seemed
For dignity composed, and high exploit.
But all was false and hollow; though his tongue.
Dropt manna, and could make the worse appear
The better reason, to perplex and dash
Maturest counsels; for his thoughts were low
To vice industrious, but to nobler deeds
Timorous and slothful.

Milton, _Paradise Lost_, ii. 108.