Chapter VI: Part 6

AU`GUSTINE, ST., the bishop of Hippo and the greatest of the Latin Fathers of the Church; a native of Tagaste, in Numidia; son of a pagan father and a Christian mother, St. Monica; after a youth of dissipation, was converted to Christ by a text of St. Paul (Rom. xiii. 13, 14), which his eyes first lit upon, as on suggestion of a friend he took up the epistle to read it in answer to an appeal he had made to him to explain a voice that was ever whispering in his ears, "Take and read"; became bishop in 396, devoted himself to pastoral duties, and took an active part in the Church controversies of his age, opposing especially the Manichæans, the Donatists, and the Pelagians; his principal works are his "Confessions," his "City of God," and his treatises on Grace and Free-Will. It is safe to say, no Churchman has ever exercised such influence as he has done in moulding the creed as well as directing the destiny of the Christian Church. He was especially imbued with the theology of St. Paul (354-430).

AUGUSTINIANS, (_a_) Canons, called also Black Cenobites, under a less severe discipline than monks, had 200 houses in England and Wales at the Reformation; (_b_) Friars, mendicant, a portion of them barefooted; (_c_) Nuns, nurses of the sick.

AUGUSTUS, called at first CAIUS OCTAVIUS, ultimately CAIUS JULIUS CÆSAR OCTAVIANUS, the first of the Roman Emperors or Cæsars, grand-nephew of Julius Cæsar, and his heir; joined the Republican party at Cæsar's death, became consul, formed one of a triumvirate with Antony and Lepidus; along with Antony overthrew the Republican party under Brutus and Cassius at Philippi; defeated Antony and Cleopatra at Actium, and became master of the Roman world; was voted the title of "Augustus" by the Senate in 27 B.C.; proved a wise and beneficent ruler, and patronised the arts and letters, his reign forming a distinguished epoch in the history of the ancient literature of Rome (63 B.C.-A.D. 14).

AUGUSTUS, the name of several princes of Saxony and Poland in the 16th and 17th centuries.

AUGUSTUS I., Elector of Saxony, a Lutheran prince, whose reign was peaceful comparatively, and he was himself both a good man and a good ruler, a monarch surnamed the "pious" and the "Justinian of Saxony" (1526-1586).

AUGUSTUS II., Elector of Saxony and King of Poland; forced himself on Poland; had twice to retire, but was reinstated; is known to history as "The Strong"; "attained the maximum," says Carlyle, "in several things,--of physical strength, could break horse-shoes, nay, half-crowns with finger and thumb; of sumptuosity, no man of his means so regardless of expense; and of bastards, three hundred and fifty-four of them (Marshal Saxe one of the lot); baked the biggest bannock on record, a cake with 5000 eggs and a tun of butter." He was, like many a monarch of the like loose character, a patron of the fine arts, and founded the Dresden Picture Gallery (1670-1733).

AUGUSTUS III., son of the preceding; beat Stanislaus Leszcynski in the struggle for the crown of Poland; proved an incompetent king (1696-1763).

AULIC COUNCIL, supreme council in the old German Empire, from which there was no appeal, of date from 1495 to 1654; it had no constitution, dealt with judicial matters, and lived and died with the emperor.

AULIS, a port in Boeotia, where the fleet of the Greeks assembled before taking sail for Troy, and where Iphigeneia, to procure a favourable wind, was sacrificed by her father Agamemnon, an event commemorated in the "Iphigeneia in Aulis" of Euripides.

AUMALE, DUC D', one of the chiefs of the League, became governor of Paris, which he held against Henry IV., leagued with the Spaniards, was convicted of treason, and having escaped, was burned in effigy; died an exile at Brussels (1556-1631).

AUMALE, DUC D', fourth son of Louis Philippe, distinguished himself in Algiers, and was governor of Algeria, which he resigned when his father abdicated; lived in England for twenty years after, acknowledged the Republic, and left his estate and valuables to the French nation (1822-1897).

AUNGERVILLE, RICHARD, or RICHARD DE BURY, tutor to Edward III., bishop of Durham, sent on embassies to various courts, was a lover and collector of books, and left a curious work called "Philobiblon" (1281-1345).

AUNOY, COMTESSE D', a French authoress, known and appreciated for her fairy tales (1650-1705).

AURELIA`NUS, LUCIUS DOMITIUS, powerful in physique, and an able Roman emperor; son of a peasant of Pannonia; distinguished as a skilful and successful general; was elected emperor, 270; drove the barbarians out of Italy; vanquished Zenobia, queen of Palmyra, carrying her captive to Rome; subdued a usurper in Gaul, and while on his way to crush a rebellion in Persia was assassinated by his troops (212-275).

AURE`LIUS, MARCUS. See ANTONI`NUS.

AURE`LIUS, VICTOR SEXTUS, a Roman consul and a Latin historian of the 4th century.

AUREOLA, a wreath of light represented as encircling the brows of the saints and martyrs.

AURILLAC (14), capital of the dep. of Cantal, on the Jourdanne, affluent of the Dordogne, built round the famous abbey of St. Geraud, now in ruins.

AU`ROCHS, a German wild ox, now extinct.

AURO`RA, the Roman goddess of the dawn, charged with opening for the sun the gates of the East; had a star on her forehead, and rode in a rosy chariot drawn by four white horses. See EOS.

AURORA (19), a city in Illinois, U.S., 35 m. SW. of Chicago, said to have been the first town to light the streets with electricity.

AURORA BOREALIS, or Northern Lights, understood to be an electric discharge through the atmosphere connected with magnetic disturbance.

AURUN`GABAD` (50), a city in Hyderabad, in the Nizam's dominions; once the capital, now much decayed, with the ruins of a palace of Aurungzebe.

AU`RUNGZEBE, Mogul emperor of Hindustan, third son of Shah Jehan; ascended the throne by the deposition of his father, the murder of two brothers and of the son of one of these; he governed with skill and courage; extended his empire by subduing Golconda, the Carnatic, and Bengal, and though fanatical and intolerant, was a patron of letters; his rule was far-shining, but the empire was rotten at the core, and when he died it crumbled to pieces in the hands of his sons, among whom he beforehand divided it (1615-1707).

AUSCULTATION, discerning by the sound whether there is or is not disease in the interior organs of the body.

AUSCULTATOR, name in "Sartor Resartus," the hero as a man qualified for a profession, but as yet only expectant of employment in it.

AUSONIA, an ancient name of Italy.

AUSONIUS, DECIMUS MAGNUS, a Roman poet, a native of Gaul, born in Bordeaux; tutor to the Emperor Gratian, who, on coming to the throne, made him prefect of Latium and of Gaul, and consul of Rome. He was a good versifier and stylist, but no poet (300-394).

AUSTEN, JANE, a gifted English novelist, daughter of a clergyman in N. Hampshire; member of a quiet family circle, occupied herself in writing without eye to publication, and only in mature womanhood thought of writing for the press. Her first novel, "Sense and Sensibility," was published in 1811, and was followed by "Pride and Prejudice," her masterpiece, "Persuasion," and others, her interest being throughout in ordinary quiet cultured life, and the delineation of it, which she achieved in an inimitably charming manner. "She showed once for all," says Professor Saintsbury, "the capabilities of the very commonest and most ordinary life, if sufficiently observed and selected, and combined with due art, to furnish forth prose fiction not merely that would pass, but that should be of the absolutely first quality as literature. She is the mother of the English 19th-century novel, as Scott is the father of it" (1775-1816).

AUS`TERLITZ (3), a town in Moravia, near Brünn, where Napoleon defeated the emperors of Russia and of Austria, at "the battle of the three emperors," Dec. 2, 1805; one of Napoleon's most brilliant victories, and thought so by himself.

AUSTIN (14), the capital of Texas, on the Colorado River, named after Stephen Austin, who was chiefly instrumental in annexing Texas to the States.

AUSTIN, ALFRED, poet-laureate in succession to Tennyson, born near Leeds, bred for the bar, but devoted to literature as journalist, writer, and poet; has written "The Golden Age, a Satire," "Savonarola," "English Lyrics," and several works in prose; _b_. 1835.

AUSTIN, JOHN, a distinguished English jurist, professor of Jurisprudence in London University; mastered the science of law by the study of it in Germany, but being too profound in his philosophy, was unsuccessful as professor; his great work, "The Province of Jurisprudence Determined," and his Lectures, were published by his widow after his death (1790-1859).

AUSTIN, MRS. J., (_née_ Sarah Taylor), wife of the preceding, executed translations from the German, "Falk's Characteristics of Goethe" for one; was, like her husband, of the utilitarian school; was introduced to Carlyle when he first went up to London; he wrote to his wife of her, "If I 'swear eternal friendship' with any woman here, it will be with her" (1793-1867)

AUSTIN FRIARS. See AUGUSTINIANS.

AUSTRALASIA (i. e. Southern Asia), a name given to Australia, New Zealand, and the islands adjoining.

AUSTRALIA, a continent entirely within the Southern Hemisphere, about one-fourth smaller than Europe, its utmost length from E. to W. being 2400 m., and breadth 1971; the coast has singularly few inlets, though many and spacious harbours, only one great gulf, Carpentaria, on the N., and one bight, the Great Australian Bight, on the S.; the interior consists of a low desert plateau, depressed in the centre, bordered with ranges of various elevation, between which and the sea is a varying breadth of coast-land; the chief mountain range is in the E., and extends more or less parallel all the way with the E. coast; the rivers are few, and either in flood or dried up, for the climate is very parching, only one river, the Murray, 2345 m. long, of any consequence, while the lakes, which are numerous, are shallow and nearly all salt; the flora is peculiar, the eucalyptus and the acacia the most characteristic, grains, fruits, and edible roots being all imported; the fauna is no less peculiar, including, in the absence of many animals of other countries, the kangaroo, the dingo, and the duck-bill, the useful animals being likewise all imported; of birds, the cassowary and the emu, and smaller ones of great beauty, but songless; minerals abound, both the precious and the useful; the natives are disappearing, the colonists in 1904 numbering close upon 4,000,000; and the territory divided into Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, S. Australia, and W. Australia, which with Tasmania federated in 1900 and became the Commonwealth.

AUSTRASIA, or the East Kingdom, a kingdom on the E. of the possessions of the Franks in Gaul, that existed from 511 to 843, capital of which was Metz; it was celebrated for its rivalry with the kingdom of Neustria, or the Western Kingdom.

AUSTRIA, or AUSTRO-HUNGARY, is a country of every variety of surface and scenery; is inhabited by peoples of different races and nationalities, speaking different languages, as many as 20, and composed of 50 different states, 5 of them kingdoms; occupies the centre of Europe, yet has free communication with the seas on all sides of it; is the third country for size in it; is divided by the Leitha, a tributary of the Danube, into Cis-Leithan on the W. and Trans-Leithan on the E.; has next to no coast-line; its chief seaport, Trieste; is watered by rivers, the Danube in chief, all of which have their mouths in other countries; has three zones of climate with corresponding zones of vegetation; is rich in minerals; is largely pastoral and agricultural, manufacturing chiefly in the W.; the capital Vienna, and the population over 40,000,000.

AUSTRIAN LIP, a thick under-lip characteristic of the House of Hapsburg.

AUTEUIL, a village in the dep. of the Seine, now included in Paris.

AUTHORISED VERSION OF THE BIBLE was executed between the years 1604 and 1610 at the instance of James I., so that it is not undeservedly called King James's Bible, and was the work of 47 men selected with marked fairness and discretion, divided into three groups of two sections each, who held their sittings for three years severally at Westminster, Cambridge, and Oxford, the whole being thereafter revised by a committee of six, who met for nine months in Stationers' Hall, London, and received thirty pounds each, the rest being done for nothing. The result was a translation that at length superseded every other, and that has since woven itself into the affectionate regard of the whole English-speaking people. The men who executed it evidently felt something of the inspiration that breathes in the original, and they have produced a version that will remain to all time a monument of the simplicity, dignity, grace, and melody of the English language; its very style has had a nobly educative effect on the national literature, and has contributed more than anything else to prevent it from degenerating into the merely frivolous and formal.

AUTOCHTHONS, Greek for aborigines.

AUTO-DA-FÉ, or Act of Faith, a ceremony held by the court of the Inquisition in Spain, preliminary to the execution of a heretic, in which the condemned, dressed in a hideously fantastic robe, called the San Benito, and a pointed cap, walked in a procession of monks, followed by carts containing coffins with malefactors' bones, to hear a sermon on the true faith, prior to being burned alive; the most famous auto-da-fé took place in Madrid in 1680.

AUTOL`YCUS, in the Greek mythology a son of HERMES (q. v.), and maternal grandfather of Ulysses by his daughter Anticlea; famed for his cunning and robberies; synonym for thief.

AUTOM`EDON, the charioteer of Achilles.

AUTONOMY (i. e. Self-law), in the Kantian metaphysics denotes the sovereign right of the pure reason to be a law to itself.

AUTRAN`, JOSEPH, a French poet and dramatist, born at Marseilles; he was of the school of Lamartine, and attained distinction by the production of the tragedy "La Fille d'Eschyle" (1813-1877).

AUTUN` (15), an ancient city in the dep. of Saône-et-Loire, on the Arroux, 28 m. NW. from Châlons, where Talleyrand was bishop, with a fine cathedral and rich in antiquities; manufactures serges, carpets, velvet, &c.

AUVERGNE`, an ancient province of France, united to the crown under Louis XIII. in 1610, embracing the deps. of Puy-de-Dôme, Cantal, and part of Haute-Loire, the highlands of which separate the basin of the Loire from that of the Garonne, and contain a hardy and industrious race of people descended from the original inhabitants of Gaul; they speak a strange dialect, and supply all the water-carriers and street-sweepers of Paris.

AUXERRE` (15), an ancient city, capital of the dep. of Yonne, 90 m. SE. of Paris; has a fine cathedral in the Flamboyant style; drives a large trade in wine.

AVA, capital of the Burmese empire from 1364 to 1740 and from 1822 to 1835; now in ruins from an earthquake in 1839.

AV`ALON, in the Celtic mythology an island of faërie in the region where the sun sinks to rest at eventide, and the final home of the heroes of chivalry when their day's work was ended on earth.

AVARS, a tribe of Huns who, driven from their home in the Altai Mts. by the Chinese, invaded the E. of Europe about 553, and committed ravages in it for about three centuries, till they were subdued by Charlemagne, and all but exterminated in 827.

AVATAR`, or Descent, the incarnation and incarnated manifestation of a Hindu deity, a theory both characteristic of Vishnuism and marking a new epoch in the religious development of India.

AVE MARIA, an invocation to the Virgin, so called as forming the first two words of the salutation of the angel in Luke i. 28.

AVEBURY, or ABERY, a village in Wiltshire, 6 m. W. of Marlborough, in the middle of a so-called Druidical structure consisting of 100 monoliths, surmised to have been erected and arranged in memory of some great victory.

AVELLI`NO (26), chief town in a province of the name in Campania, 59 m. E. of Naples, famous for its trade in hazel-nuts and chestnuts; manufactures woollens, paper, macaroni, &c.; has been subject to earthquakes.

AVENTINE HILL, one of the seven hills of Rome, the mount to which the plebs sullenly retired on their refusal to submit to the patrician oligarchy, and from which they were enticed back by Menenius Agrippa by the well-known fable of the members of the body and the stomach.

AVENTI`NUS, a Bavarian historian, author of the "Chronicon Bavariæ" (Annals of Bavaria), a valuable record of the early history of Germany (1477-1534).

AVENZO`AR, an Arabian physician, the teacher of Averroës (1073-1103).

AVERNUS, a deep lake in Italy, near Naples, 1½ m. in circumference, occupying the crater of an extinct volcano, at one time surrounded by a dark wood, and conceived, from its gloomy appearance, as well as from the mephitic vapours it exhaled, to be the entrance to the infernal world, and identified with it.

AVER`ROËS, an Arabian physician and philosopher, a Moor by birth and a native of Cordova; devoted himself to the study and the exposition of Aristotle, earning for himself the title of the "Commentator," though he appears to have coupled with the philosophy of Aristotle the Oriental pantheistic doctrine of emanations (1126-1198).

AVERSA (24), an Italian town 8 m. from Naples, amid vineyards and orange groves; much resorted to by the Neapolitans.

AVEYRON`, a mountainous dep. in the S. of France, with excellent pastures, where the Roquefort cheese is produced.

AVICEN`NA, an illustrious Arabian physician, surnamed the prince of physicians, a man of immense learning and extensive practice in his art; of authority in philosophy as well as in medicine, his philosophy being of the school of Aristotle with a mixture of Neoplatonism, his "Canon of Medicine," being the supreme in medical science for centuries (980-1037).

AVIE`NUS, RUFUS FESTUS, a geographer and Latin poet, or versifier rather, of the 4th century.

AVIGN`ON (37), capital of the dep. of Vaucluse, France; an ancient city beautifully situated on the left bank of the Rhône, near the confluence of the Durance, of various fortune from its foundation by the Phocæans in 539 B.C.; was the seat of the Papacy from 1305 to 1377, purchased by Pope Clement VI. at that period, and belonged to the Papacy from that time till 1797, when it was appropriated to France; it contains a number of interesting buildings, and carries on a large trade in wine, oil, and fruits; grows and manufactures silk in large quantities.

A`VILA (10), a town in Spain, in a province of the name, in S. of Old Castile, 3000 ft. above the sea-level, with a Gothic cathedral and a Moorish castle; birthplace of St. Theresa.

AVILA, JUAN D', a Spanish priest, surnamed the Apostle of Andalusia, for his zeal in planting the Gospel in its mountains; _d_. 1569.

AVILA Y ZINUGA, a soldier, diplomatist, and historian under Charles V.

AVLO`NA (6), or VALONA, a port of Albania, on an inlet of the Adriatic.

AV`OLA (12), a seaport on the E. coast of Sicily, ruined by an earthquake in 1693, rebuilt since; place of export of the Hybla honey.

A`VON, the name of several English rivers, such as Shakespeare's in Warwickshire, of Salisbury in Wiltshire, and of Bristol, rising in Wiltshire.

AVRANCHES` (7), a town in dep. of Manche, Normandy; the place, the spot marked by a stone, where Henry II. received absolution for the murder of Thomas à Becket; lace-making the staple industry, and trade in agricultural products.

AWE, LOCH, in the centre of Argyllshire, overshadowed by mountains, 25 m. in length, the second in size of Scottish lakes, studded with islands, one with the ruin of a castle; the scenery gloomily picturesque; its surface is 100 ft. above the sea-level.

AXEL, archbishop of Lund; born in Zealand; a Danish patriot with Norse blood; subdued tribes of Wends, and compelled them to adopt Christianity.

AXHOLME, ISLE OF, a tract of land in NW. Lincolnshire, 17 m. long and 5 m. broad; once a forest, then a marsh; drained in 1632, and now fertile, producing hemp, flax, rape, &c.

AXIM, a trading settlement on the Gold Coast, Africa, belonging to Britain; belonged to Holland till 1871.

AX`OLOTL, a batrachian, numerous in Mexico and the Western States, believed to be in its preliminary or tadpole state of existence.

AX`UM, capital of an Ethiopian kingdom in Abyssinia, now in ruins, where Christianity was introduced in the 4th century, and which as the outpost of Christendom fell early before the Mohammedan power.

AYACU`CHO, a thriving town in Peru, founded by Pizarro in 1539, where the Peruvians and Colombians achieved their independence of Spain in 1824, and ended the rule of Spain in the S. American continent.

AYA`LA, PEDRO LOPEZ D', a Spanish soldier, statesman, and diplomatist, born in Murcia; wrote a "History of the Kings of Castile," which was more than a chronicle of wars, being also a review of them; and a book of poems entitled the "Rhymes of the Court" (1332-1407).

AYE-AYE, a lemur found in the woods of Madagascar.

AYESHA, the daughter of Abubekr, and favourite wife of Mahomet, whom he married soon after the death of Kadijah; as much devoted to Mahomet as he was to her, for he died in her arms. "A woman who distinguished herself by all manner of qualities among the Moslems," who is styled by them the "Mother of the Faithful" (see KADIJAH). She was, it is said, the only wife of Mahomet that remained a virgin. On Mahomet's death she opposed the accession of Ali, who defeated her and took her prisoner, but released her on condition that she should not again interfere in State matters (610-677).

AYLES`BURY (9), a borough and market-town in Buckinghamshire, 40 m. NW. of London, in an agricultural district; supplies the London market with ducks.

AYLMER, JOHN, tutor to Lady Jane Grey, bishop of London, a highly arbitrary man, and a friend to neither Papist nor Puritan; he is satirised by Spenser in the "Shepherd's Calendar" (1521-1594).

AYLOFFE, SIR JOSEPH, English antiquary, born in Sussex (1708-1781).

AYMA`RAS, the chief native race of Peru and Bolivia, from which it would appear sprang the Quinchuas, the dominant people of Peru at the time of the Spanish conquest; attained a high degree of civilisation, and number to-day 500,000.

AYMON, THE COUNT OF DORDOGNE, the father of four sons, Renaud, Guiscard, Alard, and Richard, renowned in the legends of chivalry, and particularly as paladins of Charlemagne.

AY`MAR-VER`NAY, a peasant of Dauphiné, who in the 17th century professed to discover springs and treasures hid in the earth by means of a divining rod.

AYR (23), the county town of Ayrshire, at the mouth of a river of the same name, a clean, ancient town, its charter, granted by William the Lion, dating from 1200; well built, with elegant villas in the suburbs, a good harbour and docks for shipping; famous in early Scottish history, and doubly so among Scottish towns as the birthplace near it of Robert Burns.

AYR`ER, JACOB, a German dramatist in the 16th century, of the style of HANS SACHS (q. v.).

AYRSHIRE (226), a large and wealthy county in the W. of Scotland, bordered on the W. by the Firth of Clyde, agricultural and pastoral, with a large coal-field and thriving manufactures; its divisions, Carrick, to the S. of the Doon; Kyle, between the Doon and the Irvine, and Cunningham, on the N.; concerning which there is an old rhyme: "Kyle for a man, Carrick for a coo, Cunningham for butter and cheese, Galloway for 'oo."

AYTON, SIR ROBERT, a poet of considerable merit, a native of Fife, born at Kinaldie, who made his fortune by a Latin panegyric to King James I. on his accession; was on friendly terms with the eminent literary men of his time, Ben Jonson in particular; his poems are written in pure and even elegant English, some in Latin, and have only recently been collected together (1571-1638).

AYTOUN, WILLIAM EDMONDSTOUNE, poet and critic, a native of Edinburgh, professor of Rhetoric and English Literature in Edinburgh University, author of the "Lays of the Scottish Cavaliers"; he was also editor, along with Sir Theodore Martin, of the "Gaultier Ballads," an admirable collection of light verse (1813-1865).

AZEGLIO, MARCHESE D', an Italian patriot and statesman, native of Turin; wounded at Vicenza in 1848, fighting for Italian independence; entered the Piedmontese Parliament, was Victor Emanuel's right-hand man, retired in favour of Cavour; he was not altogether engrossed with politics, being an amateur in art (1798-1866).

AZERBIJAN (2,000), prov. of Armenian Persia, S. of the river Aras, with fertile plains, cattle-breeding, and rich in minerals.

AZORES, i. e. Hawk Islands (250), a group of nine volcanic islands in the Atlantic, 800 m. W. of Portugal, and forming a province of it; are in general mountainous; covered with orange groves, of which the chief are St. Michael's and Fayal; and 900 m. W. of it, in the latitude of Lisbon; the climate is mild, and good for pulmonary complaints; they were known to the Carthaginian mariners, but fell out of the map of Europe till rediscovered in 1431.

AZOV, SEA OF, an opening from the Black Sea, very shallow, and gradually silting up with mud from the Don.

AZ`RAEL, the angel of death according to Rabbinical tradition.

AZ`TECS, a civilised race of small stature, of reddish-brown skin, lean, and broad featured, which occupied the Mexican plateau for some centuries before the Spaniards visited it, and were overthrown by the Spaniards in 1520.

AZUNI, DOMINICO ALBERTO, an Italian jurist, born in Sardinia; president of the Court of Appeal at Genoa; made a special study of maritime law; author of "Droit Maritime de l'Europe" (1729-1827).

AZYMITES, the name given to a party in the Church who insisted that only unleavened bread should be used in the Eucharist, and the controversy hinged on the question whether the Lord's Supper was instituted before the Passover season was finished, or after, as in the former case the bread must have been unleavened, and in the latter leavened.

B

BAADER, FRANZ XAVIER VON, a German philosopher, born at Münich; was patronised by the king of Bavaria, and became professor in Münich, who, revolting alike from the materialism of Hume, which he studied in England, and the transcendentalism of Kant, with its self-sufficiency of the reason, fell back upon the mysticism of Jacob Boehme, and taught in 16 vols. what might rather be called a theosophy than a philosophy, which regarded God in Himself, and God even in life, as incomprehensible realities. He, however, identified himself with the liberal movement in politics, and offended the king (1765-1841).

BA`AL (meaning Lord), _PL_. BAALIM, the principal male divinity of the Canaanites and Phoenicians, identified with the sun as the great quickening and life-sustaining power in nature, the god who presided over the labours of the husbandman and granted the increase; his crowning attribute, strength; worshipped on hill-tops with sacrifices, incense, and dancing. Baal-worship, being that of the Canaanites, was for a time mixed up with the worship of Jehovah in Israel, and at one time threatened to swamp it, but under the zealous preaching of the prophets it was eventually stamped out.

BAAL`BEK (i. e. City of Baal, or the Sun), an ancient city of Syria, 35 m. NW. of Damascus; called by the Greeks, Heliopolis; once a place of great size, wealth, and splendour; now in ruins, the most conspicuous of which is the Great Temple to Baal, one of the most magnificent ruins of the East, covering an area of four acres.

BAALISM, the name given to the worship of natural causes, tending to the obscuration and denial of the worship of God as Spirit.

BABA, ALI, the character in the "Arabian Nights" who discovers and enters the den of the Forty Thieves by the magic password "SESAMË" (q. v.), a word which he accidentally overheard.

BABA, CAPE, in Asia Minor, the most western point in Asia, in Anatolia, with a town of the name.

BABBAGE, CHARLES, a mathematician, born in Devonshire; studied at Cambridge, and professor there; spent much time and money over the invention of a calculating machine; wrote on "The Economy of Manufactures and Machinery," and an autobiography entitled "Passages from the Life of a Philosopher"; in his later years was famous for his hostility to street organ-grinders (1791-1871).

BABBINGTON, ANTONY, an English Catholic gentleman; conspired against Elizabeth on behalf of Mary, Queen of Scots, confessed his guilt, and was executed at Tyburn in 1586.

BAB-EL-MANDEB (i. e. the Gate of Tears), a strait between Asia and Africa forming the entrance to the Red Sea, so called from the strong currents which rush through it, and often cause wreckage to vessels attempting to pass it.

BABER, the founder of the Mogul empire in Hindustan, a descendant of Tamerlane; thrice invaded India, and became at length master of it in 1526; left memoirs; his dynasty lasted for three centuries.

BABES IN THE WOOD, Irish banditti who infested the Wicklow Mountains in the 18th century, and were guilty of the greatest atrocities. See CHILDREN.

BÂBIS, a modern Persian sect founded in 1843, their doctrines a mixture of pantheistic with Gnostic and Buddhist beliefs; adverse to polygamy, concubinage, and divorce; insisted on the emancipation of women; have suffered from persecution, but are increasing in numbers.

BABOEUF, FRANÇOIS NOEL, a violent revolutionary in France, self-styled Gracchus; headed an insurrection against the Directory, "which died in the birth, stifled by the soldiery"; convicted of conspiracy, was guillotined, after attempting to commit suicide (1764-1797).

BABOO, or BABU, name applied to a native Hindu gentleman who has some knowledge of English.

BABOON, LEWIS, the name Arbuthnot gives to Louis XIV. in his "History of John Bull."

BA`BRIUS, or GABRIUS, a Greek poet of uncertain date; turned the fables of Æsop and of others into verse, with alterations.

BABY-FARMING, a system of nursing new-born infants whose parents may wish them out of sight.

BABYLON, the capital city of Babylonia, one of the richest and most magnificent cities of the East, the gigantic walls and hanging gardens of which were classed among the seven wonders of the world; was taken, according to tradition, by Cyrus in 538 B.C., by diverting out of their channel the waters of the Euphrates, which flowed through it and by Darius in 519 B.C., through the self-sacrifice of Zophyrus. The name was often metaphorically applied to Rome by the early Christians, and is to-day to great centres of population, such as London, where the overcrowding, the accumulation of material wealth, and the so-called refinements of civilisation, are conceived to have a corrupting effect on the religion and morals of the inhabitants.

BABYLO`NIA, the name given by the Greeks to that country called in the Old Testament, Shinar, Babel, and "the land of the Chaldees"; it occupied the rich, fertile plain through which the lower waters of the Euphrates and the Tigris flow, now the Turkish province of Irak-Arabi or Bagdad. From very early times it was the seat of a highly developed civilisation introduced by the Sumero-Accadians, who descended on the plain from the mountains in the NW. Semitic tribes subsequently settled among the Accadians and impressed their characteristics on the language and institutions of the country. The 8th century B.C. was marked by a fierce struggle with the northern empire of Assyria, in which Babylonia eventually succumbed and became an Assyrian province. But Nabopolassar in 625 B.C. asserted his independence, and under his son Nebuchadnezzar, Babylonia rose to the zenith of its power. Judah was captive in the country from 599 to 538 B.C. In that year Cyrus conquered it for Persia, and its history became merged in that of Persia.

BABYLONISH CAPTIVITY, the name given to the deportation of Jews from Judea to Babylon after the capture of Jerusalem by the king of Babylon, and which continued for 70 years, till they were allowed to return to their own land by Cyrus, who had conquered Babylon; those who returned were solely of the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi.

BACCHANALIA, a festival, originally of a loose and riotous character, in honour of Bacchus.

BACCHANTES, those who took part in the festival of Bacchus, confined originally to women, and were called by a number of names, such as Mænads, Thyads, &c.; they wore their hair dishevelled and thrown back, and had loose flowing garments.

BAC`CHUS, son of Zeus and Semele, the god of the vine, and promoter of its culture as well as the civilisation which accompanied it; represented as riding in a car drawn by tame tigers, and carrying a THYRSUS (q. v.); he rendered signal service to Zeus in the war of the gods with the GIANTS (q. v.). See DIONYSUS.

BACCHYL`IDES, a Greek lyric poet, 5th century B.C., nephew of Simonides and uncle of Eschylus, a rival of Pindar; only a few fragments of his poems extant.

BACCIO DELLA PORTO. See BARTOLOMEO, FRA.

BACCIO`CHI, a Corsican officer, who married Maria Bonaparte, and was created by Napoleon Prince of Lucca (1762-1841).

BACH, JOHANN SEBASTIAN, one of the greatest of musical composers, born in Eisenach, of a family of Hungarian origin, noted--sixty of them--for musical genius; was in succession a chorister, an organist, a director of concerts, and finally director of music at the School of St. Thomas, Leipzig; his works, from their originality and scientific rigour, difficult of execution (1685-1750).

BACHE, A. DALLAS, an American physicist, born at Philadelphia, superintended the coast survey (1806-1867).

BACHELOR, a name given to one who has achieved the first grade in any discipline.

BACIL`LUS (lit. a little rod), a bacterium, distinguished as being twice as long as it is broad, others being more or less rounded. See BACTERIA.

BACK, SIR GEORGE, a devoted Arctic explorer, born at Stockport, entered the navy, was a French captive for five years, associated with Franklin in three polar expeditions, went in search of Sir John Ross, discovered instead and traced the Great Fish River in 1839, was knighted in 1837, and in 1857 made admiral (1796-1878).

BACKHUY`SEN, LUDOLPH, a Dutch painter, famous for his sea-pieces and skill in depicting sea-waves; was an etcher as well as painter (1631-1708).

BACON, DELIA, an American authoress, who first broached, though she did not originate, the theory of the Baconian authorship of Shakespeare's works, a theory in favour of which she has received small support (1811-1859).

BACON, FRANCIS, LORD VERULAM, the father of the inductive method of scientific inquiry; born in the Strand, London; son of Sir Nicholas Bacon; educated at Cambridge; called to the bar when 21, after study at Gray's Inn; represented successively Taunton, Liverpool, and Ipswich in Parliament; was a favourite with the queen; attached himself to Essex, but witnessed against him at his trial, which served him little; became at last in succession Attorney-General, Privy Councillor, Lord Keeper, and Lord Chancellor; was convicted of venality as a judge, deposed, fined and imprisoned, but pardoned and released; spent his retirement in his favourite studies; his great works were his "Advancement of Learning," "Novum Organum," and "De Augmentis Scientiarum," but is seen to best advantage by the generality in his "Essays," which are full of practical wisdom and keen observation of life; indeed, these show such shrewdness of wit as to embolden some (see _SUPRA_) to maintain that the plays named of Shakespeare were written by him (1561-1626).

BACON, ROGER, a Franciscan monk, born at Ilchester, Somerset; a fearless truth-seeker of great scientific attainments; accused of magic, convicted and condemned to imprisonment, from which he was released only to die; suggested several scientific inventions, such as the telescope, the air-pump, the diving-bell, the camera obscura, and gunpowder, and wrote some eighty treatises (1214-1294).

BACON, SIR NICHOLAS, the father of Francis, Lord Bacon, Privy Councillor and Keeper of the Great Seal under Queen Elizabeth; a prudent and honourable man and minister, and much honoured and trusted by the queen (1510-1579).

BACSANYI, JANOS, a Hungarian poet; he suffered from his liberal political opinions, like many of his countrymen (1763-1845).

BACTE`RIA, exceedingly minute organisms of the simplest structure, being merely cells of varied forms, in the shape of spheres, rods, or intermediate shapes, which develop in infusions of organic matter, and multiply by fission with great rapidity, fraught, as happens, with life or death to the higher forms of being; conspicuous by the part they play in the process of fermentation and in the origin and progress of disease, and to the knowledge of which, and the purpose they serve in nature, so much has been contributed by the labours of M. Pasteur.

BAC`TRIA, a province of ancient Persia, now BALKH (q. v.), the presumed fatherland of the Aryans and the birthplace of the Zoroastrian religion.

BACTRIAN SAGE, a name given to Zoroaster as a native of Bactria.

BACUP (23), a manufacturing town in Lancashire, about 20 m. NE. of Manchester.

BADAJOZ` (28), capital of a Spanish province of the name, on the Guadiana, near the frontier of Portugal; a place of great strength; surrendered to Soult in 1811, and taken after a violent and bloody struggle by Wellington in 1812; the scene of fearful outrages after its capture.

BADAKANS, a Dravidian people of small stature, living on the Nilghiri Mountains, in S. India.

BADAKHSHAN` (100), a Mohammedan territory NE. of Afghanistan, a picturesque hill country, rich in minerals; it is 200 m. from E. to W. and 150 from N. to S.; it has been often visited by travellers, from Marco Polo onwards; the inhabitants, called Badakhshans, are of the Aryan family and speak Persian.

BADALO`NA (15), a seaport 5 m. NE. of Barcelona.

BA`DEN (4), a town in the canton of Aargau, Switzerland, 14 m. NW. of Zurich, long a fashionable resort for its mineral springs; also a town near Vienna.

BAD`EN, THE GRAND-DUCHY OF (1,725), a German duchy, extends along the left bank of the Rhine from Constance to Mannheim; consists of valley, mountain, and plain; includes the Black Forest; is rich in timber, minerals, and mineral springs; cotton fabrics, wood-carving, and jewellery employ a great proportion of the inhabitants; there are two university seats, Heidelberg and Freiburg.

BADEN-BADEN (13), a town in the duchy of Baden, 18 m. from Carlsruhe and 22 from Strassburg, noted for its hot mineral springs, which were known to the Romans, and is a popular summer resort.

BAD`ENOCH, a forest-covered district of the Highlands of Scotland, 45 m. long by 19 broad, traversed by the Spey, in the SE. of Inverness-shire; belonged originally to the Comyns, but was forfeited by them, was bestowed by Bruce on his nephew; became finally the property of the Earl of Huntly.

BADI`A-Y-LABLICH, a Spaniard, born at Barcelona; travelled in the East; having acquired a knowledge of Arabic and Arab customs, disguised himself as a Mohammedan under the name of Ali-Bei; his disguise was so complete that he passed for a Mussulman, even in Mecca itself; is believed to be the first Christian admitted to the shrine of Mecca; after a time settled in Paris, and wrote an account of his travels (1766-1818).

BADRINATH, a shrine of Vishnu, in N.W. India, 10,000 ft. high; much frequented by pilgrims for the sacred waters near it, which are believed to be potent to cleanse from all pollution.

BAEDEKER, KARL, a German printer in Coblenz, famed for the guide-books to almost every country of Europe that he published (1801-1859).

BAER, KARL ERNST VON, a native of Esthonia; professor of zoology, first in Königsberg and then in St. Petersburg; the greatest of modern embryologists, styled the "father of comparative embryology"; the discoverer of the law, known by his name, that the embryo when developing resembles those of successively higher types (1792-1876).

BAFFIN, WILLIAM, an early English Arctic explorer, who, when acting as pilot to an expedition in quest of the N.W. Passage, discovered Baffin Bay (1584-1622).

BAFFIN BAY, a strait stretching northward between N. America and Greenland, open four months in summer to whale and seal fishing; discovered in 1615 by William Baffin.

BAGDAD (185), on the Tigris, 500 m. from its mouth, and connected with the Euphrates by canal; is the capital of a province, and one of the most flourishing cities of Asiatic Turkey; dates, wool, grain, and horses are exported; red and yellow leather, cotton, and silk are manufactured; and the transit trade, though less than formerly, is still considerable. It is a station on the Anglo-Indian telegraph route, and is served by a British-owned fleet of river steamers plying to Basra. Formerly a centre of Arabic culture, it has belonged to Turkey since 1638. An imposing city to look at, it suffers from visitations of cholera and famine.

BAGEHOT, WALTER, an English political economist, born in Somerset, a banker by profession, and an authority on banking and finance; a disciple of Ricardo; wrote, besides other publications, an important work, "The English Constitution"; was editor of the _Economist_; wrote in a vigorous style (1826-1877).

BAGGE`SEN, JENS EMMANUEL, a Danish poet, travelled a good deal, wrote mostly in German, in which he was quite at home; his chief works, a pastoral epic, "Parthenais oder die Alpenreise," and a mock epic, "Adam and Eve"; his minor pieces are numerous and popular, though from his egotism and irritability he was personally unpopular (1764-1826).

BAGHELKAND, name of five native states in Central India, Rewah the most prosperous.

BAGHE`RIA, a town in Sicily, 8 m. from Palermo, where citizens of the latter have more or less stylish villas.

BAGIR`MI, a Mohammedan kingdom in Central Africa, SE. of Lake Tehad, 240 m. from N. to S. and 150 m. from E. to W.

BAGLIO`NI, an Italian fresco-painter of note (1573-1641).

BAGLI`VI, GIORGIO, an illustrious Italian physician, wrote "De Fibra Motrice" in defence of the "solidist" theory, as it is called, which traced all diseases to alterations in the solid parts of the body (1667-1706).

BAGNÈRES, two French towns on the Pyrenees, well-known watering-places.

BAGNES, name given to convict prisons in France since the abolition of the galleys.

BAGRA`TION, PRINCE, Russian general, distinguished in many engagements; commanded the vanguard at Austerlitz, Eylau, and Friedland, and in 1812, against Napoleon; achieved a brilliant success at Smolensk; fell at Borodino (1765-1812).

BAGSTOCK, JOE, a "self-absorbed" talking character in "Dombey & Son."

BAHA`MAS, THE (47), a group of over 500 low, flat coral islands in the W. Indies, and thousands of rocks, belonging to Britain, of which 20 are inhabited, and on one of which Columbus landed when he discovered America; yield tropical fruits, sponges, turtle, &c.; Nassau the capital.

BAHAR (263), a town on the Ganges, 34 m. SE. of Patna; after falling into decay, is again rising in importance.

BAHAWALPUR (650), a feudatory state in the NW. of India, with a capital of the name; is connected administratively with the Punjab.

BAHI`A, or San Salvador (200), a fine city, one of the chief seaports of Brazil, in the Bay of All Saints, and originally the capital in a province of the name stretching along the middle of the coast.

BAHR, an Arabic word meaning "river," prefixed to the name of many places occupied by Arabs.

BÄHR, FELIX, classical scholar, burn at Darmstadt; wrote a "History of Roman Literature," in high repute (1798-1872).

BAHREIN` ISLANDS (70), a group of islands in the Persian Gulf, under the protection of Britain, belonging to Muscat, the largest 27 m. long and 10 broad, cap. Manamah (20); long famous for their pearl-fisheries, the richest in the world.

BAHR-EL-GHAZAL, an old Egyptian prov. including the district watered by the tributaries of the Bahr-el-Arab and the Bahr-el-Ghazal; it was wrested from Egypt by the Mahdi, 1884; a district of French Congo lies W. of it, and it was through it Marchand made his way to Fashoda.

BAIÆ, a small town near Naples, now in ruins and nearly all submerged; famous as a resort of the old Roman nobility, for its climate and its baths.

BAÏF, a French poet one of a group of seven known in French literature as the "Pléiade," whose aim was to accommodate the French language and literature to the models of Greek and Latin.

BAIKAL, a clear fresh-water lake, in S. of Siberia, 397 m. long and from 13 to 54 wide, in some parts 4500 ft. deep, and at its surface 1560 ft. above the sea-level, the third largest in Asia; on which sledges ply for six or eight months in winter, and steamboats in summer; it abounds in fish, especially sturgeon and salmon; it contains several islands, the largest Olkhin, 32 m. by 10 m.

BAIKIE, W. BALFOUR, an Orcadian, born at Kirkwall, surgeon in the Royal Navy; was attached to the Niger Expedition in 1854, and ultimately commanded it, opening the region up and letting light in upon it at the sacrifice of his life; died at Sierra Leone (1825-1864).

BAILEY, NATHAN, an early English lexicographer, whose dictionary, very popular in its day, was the basis of Johnson's; _d_. 1742.

BAILEY, PHILIP JAMES, English poet, born in Nottingham; author of "Festus," a work that on its appearance in 1839 was received with enthusiasm, passed through 11 editions in England and 30 in America, was succeeded by "The Angel World," "The Mystic," "The Universal Hymn," and "The Age"; he has been rated by some extravagantly high; _b_. 1816.

BAILEY, SAMUEL, an English author, born in Sheffield, a liberal-minded man, a utilitarian in philosophy, who wrote on psychology, ethics, and political economy, and left a fortune, acquired in business, to his native town (1787-1870).

BAILLIE, JOANNA, a poetess, born at Bothwell, child of the Presbyterian manse there; joined a brother in London, stayed afterwards with a sister at Hampstead; produced a series of dramas entitled "Plays of the Passions," besides many others, both comedies and tragedies, one of which, the "Family Legend," was acted in the Theatre Royal, Edinburgh, under the auspices of Sir Walter Scott; she does not stand high either as a dramatist or a writer (1762-1851).

BAILLIE, LADY GRIZEL, an heroic Scotch lady, famous for her songs, "And werena my heart licht I wad dee" is well known (1665-1740).

BAILLIE, MATTHEW, physician, brother of Joanna, wrote on Morbid Anatomy (1761-1823).

BAILLIE, ROBERT, a Scotch Presbyterian divine, born in Glasgow; resisted Laud's attempt to thrust Episcopacy on the Scotch nation, and became a zealous advocate of the national cause, which he was delegated to represent twice over in London; he was a royalist all the same, and was made principal of Glasgow University; "His Letters and Journals" were published by the Bannatyne Club, and are commended by Carlyle as "veracious," forming, as they do, the subject of one of his critical essays (1599-1662).

BAILLIE, ROBERT, a zealous Scotch Presbyterian, tried for complicity in the Rye House Plot, and unfairly condemned to death, and barbarously executed the same day (in 1683) for fear he should die afterwards and cheat the gallows of its victim.

BAILLY, JEAN SYLVAIN, an astronomer, born at Paris; wrote the "History of Astronomy, Ancient and Modern," in five volumes; was distracted from further study of the science by the occurrence of the Revolution; elected president of the National Assembly; installed mayor of Paris; lost favour with the people; was imprisoned as an enemy of the popular cause and cruelly guillotined. Exposed beforehand "for hours long, amid curses and bitter frost-rain, 'Bailly, thou tremblest,' said one; 'Mon ami,' said he meekly, 'it is for cold.' Crueller end," says Carlyle, "had no mortal."

BAILY, E. H., a sculptor, born in Bristol, studied under Flaxman; his most popular works were, "Eve Listening to the Voice," "The Sleeping Girl," and the "Graces Seated" (1788-1867).

BAIN, ALEXANDER, born at Aberdeen, professor of Logic in the university, and twice Lord Rector, where he was much esteemed by and exercised a great influence over his pupils; his chief works, "The Senses and the Intellect," "The Emotions and the Will," and "Mental and Moral Science"; has written on composition in a very uninteresting style; his psychology, which he connected with physiology, was based on empiricism and the inductive method, to the utter exclusion of all _a priori_ or transcendental speculation, such as hails from Kant and his school; he is of the school of John Stuart Mill, who endorsed his philosophy; _b_. 1818.

BAIRAM, a Mohammedan festival of three days at the conclusion of the Ramadan, followed by another of four days, seventy days later, called the Second Bairam, in commemoration of the offering up of Isaac, and accompanied with sacrifices.

BAIRD, JAMES, ironmaster, founder of the Baird Lectureship, in vindication of Scotch orthodoxy; bequeathed £500,000 to support churches (1802-1876).

BAIRD, SIR DAVID, a distinguished English general of Scotch descent, born at Newbyth, Aberdeenshire; entered the army at 15; served in India, Egypt, and at the Cape; was present at the taking of Seringapatam, and the siege of Pondicherry; in command when the Cape of Good Hope was wrested from the Dutch, and on the fall of Sir John Moore at Corunna, wounded; he afterwards retired (1757-1829).

BAIRD, S. FULLERTON, an American naturalist, wrote, along with others, on the birds and mammals of N. America, as well as contributed to fish-culture and fisheries (1823-1887).

BAI`REUTH (24), the capital of Upper Franconia, in Bavaria, with a large theatre erected by the king for the performance of Wagner's musical compositions, and with a monument, simple but massive, as was fit, to the memory of Jean Paul, who died there.

BAIREUTH, WILHELMINA, MARGRAVINE OF, sister of Frederick the Great, left "Memoirs" of her time (1709-1758).

BAJAZET` I., sultan of the Ottoman Turks, surnamed ILDERIM, _i. e_. Lightning, from the energy and rapidity of his movements; aimed at Constantinople, pushed everything before him in his advance on Europe, but was met and defeated on the plain of Angora by Tamerlane, who is said to have shut him in a cage and carried him about with him in his train till the day of his death (1347-1403).

BA`JUS, MICHAEL, deputy from the University of Louvain to the Council of Trent, where he incurred much obloquy at the hands of the Jesuits by his insistence of the doctrines of Augustine, as the Jansenists did after him (1513-1580).

BAKER, MOUNT, a volcano in the Cascade range, 11,000 ft.; still subject to eruptions.

BAKER, SIR RICHARD, a country gentleman, born in Kent, often referred to by Sir Roger de Coverley; author of "The Chronicle of the Kings of England," which he wrote in the Fleet prison, where he died (1603-1645).

BAKER, SIR SAMUEL WHITE, a man of enterprise and travel, born in London; discovered the Albert Nyanza; commanded an expedition under the Khedive into the Soudan; wrote an account of it in a book, "Ismailia"; visited Cyprus and travelled over India; left a record of his travels in five volumes with different titles (1821-1893).

BAKSHISH, a word used all over the East to denote a small fee for some small service rendered.

BAKU (107), a Russian port on the Caspian Sea, in a district so impregnated and saturated in parts with petroleum that by digging in the soil wells are formed, in some cases so gushing as to overflow in streams, which wells, reckoned by hundreds, are connected by pipes with refineries in the town; a district which, from the spontaneous ignition of the petroleum, was long ago a centre of attraction to the Parsees or fire-worshippers of the East, and resorted to by them as holy ground.

BAKU`NIN, MICHAEL, an extreme and violent anarchist, and a leader of the movement; native of Moscow; was banished to Siberia, but escaped; joined the International, but was expelled (1814-1876).

BALA, the county town of Merioneth, in Wales. Bala Lake, the largest lake in Wales, 4 m. long, and with a depth of 100 ft.

BA`LAAM, a Midianitish soothsayer; for the account of him see Num. xxii.-xxiv., and Carlyle's essay on the "Corn-Law Rhymes" for its application to modern State councillors of the same time-serving type, and their probable fate.

BALACLA`VA, a small port 6 m. SE. of Sebastopol, with a large land-locked basin; the head-quarters of the British during the Crimean war, and famous in the war, among other events, for the "Charge of the Six Hundred."

BALANCE OF POWER, preservation of the equilibrium existing among the States of Europe as a security of peace, for long an important consideration with European statesmen.

BALANCE OF TRADE, the difference in value between the exports and the imports of a country, and said to be in favour of the country whose exports exceed in value the imports in that respect.

BALANOGLOS`SUS, a worm-like marine animal, regarded by the zoologist as a possible connecting link between invertebrates and vertebrates.

BALATA, a vegetable gum used as a substitute for gutta-percha, being at once ductile and elastic; goes under the name of bully.

BAL`ATON, LAKE, the largest lake in Hungary, 48 m. long, and 10 m. broad, 56 m. SW. of Pesth; slightly saline, and abounds in fish.

BALBI, ADRIANO, a geographer of Italian descent, born at Venice, who composed in French a number of works bearing on geography (1782-1848).

BALBO, CÆSARE, an Italian statesmen and publicist, born at Turin; devoted his later years to literature; wrote a life of Dante; works in advocacy of Italian independence (1789-1853).

BALBO`A. VASCO NUÑEZ DE, a Castilian noble, established a settlement at Darien; discovered the Pacific; took possession of territory in the name of Spain; put to death by a new governor, from jealousy of the glory he had acquired and the consequent influence in the State (1475-1517).

BALDACHINO, a tent-like covering or canopy over portals, altars, or thrones, either supported on columns, suspended from the roof, or projecting from the wall.