Chapter VII: Part 7

BALD`ER, the sun-god of the Norse mythology, "the beautiful, the wise, the benignant," who is fated to die, and dies, in spite of, and to the grief of, all the gods of the pantheon, a pathetic symbol conceived in the Norse imagination of how all things in heaven, as on earth, are subject in the long-run to mortality.

BALDERSTONE, CALEB, the faithful old domestic in Scott's "Bride of Lammermoor," the family he serves his pride.

BALDRICK, an ornamental belt worn hanging over the shoulder, across the body diagonally, with a sword, dagger, or horn suspended from it.

BALDUNG, HANS, or HANS GRÜN, a German artist, born in Suabia; a friend of Dürer's; his greatest work, a masterpiece, a painting of the "Crucifixion," now in Freiburg Cathedral (1300-1347).

BALDWIN, archbishop of Canterbury; crowned Richard Coeur de Lion; accompanied him on the crusade; died at Acre in 1191.

BALDWIN, the name of several counts of Flanders, eight in all.

BALDWIN I., king of Jerusalem; succeeded his brother Godfrey de Bouillon; assuming said title, made himself master of most of the towns on the coast of Syria; contracted a disease in Egypt; returned to Jerusalem, and was buried on Mount Calvary; there were five of this name and title, the last of whom, a child of some eight years old, died in 1186 (1058-1118).

BALDWIN I., the first Latin emperor of Constantinople; by birth, count of Hainault and Flanders; joined the fourth crusade, led the van in the capture of Constantinople, and was made emperor; was defeated and taken prisoner by the Bulgarians (1171-1206). B. II., nephew of Baldwin I., last king of the Latin dynasty, which lasted only 57 years (1217-1273).

BALE, JOHN, bishop of Ossory, in Ireland; born in Suffolk; a convert from Popery, and supported by Cromwell; was made bishop by Edward VI.; persecuted out of the country as an apostate from Popery; author of a valuable account of early British writers (1495-1563).

BALEARIC ISLES (312), a group of five islands off the coast of Valencia, in Spain, Majorca the largest; inhabitants in ancient times famous as expert slingers, having been one and all systematically trained to the use of the sling from early childhood; cap. Palma (58).

BALFE, MICHAEL WILLIAM, a musical composer, of Irish birth, born near Wexford; author of "The Bohemian Girl," his masterpiece, and world-famous (1808-1870).

BALFOUR, A. J., of Whittinghame, East Lothian; educated at Eton and Cambridge; nephew of Lord Salisbury, and First Lord of the Treasury and leader of the House of Commons in Lord Salisbury's ministry; author of a "Defence of Philosophic Doubt" and a volume of "Essays and Addresses"; _b_. 1848.

BALFOUR, FRANCIS MAITLAND, brother of the preceding; a promising biologist; career was cut short by death in attempting to ascend the Wetterhorn (1851-1882).

BALFOUR, SIR JAMES, Lord President of the Court of Session; native of Fife; an unprincipled man, sided now with this party, now with the opposite, to his own advantage, and that at the most critical period in Scottish history; _d_. 1583.

BALFOUR OF BURLEY, leader of the Covenanters in Scott's "Old Mortality."

BALI, one of the Samoa Islands, 75 m. long by 40 m. broad; produces cotton, coffee, and tobacco.

BALIOL, EDWARD, son of the following, invaded Scotland; was crowned king at Scone, supported by Edward III.; was driven from the kingdom, and obliged to renounce all claim to the crown, on receipt of a pension; died at Doncaster, 1369.

BALIOL, JOHN DE, son of the following; laid claim to the Scottish crown on the death of the Maid of Norway in 1290; was supported by Edward I., and did homage to him for his kingdom, but rebelled, and was forced publicly to resign the crown; died in 1314 in Normandy, after spending some three years in the Tower; satirised by the Scotch, in their stinging humorous style, as King Toom Tabard, i. e. Empty King Cloak.

BALIOL, SIR JOHN DE, of Norman descent; a guardian to the heir to the Scottish crown on the death of Alexander III.; founder of Baliol College, Oxford; _d_. 1269.

BALIZE, or BELIZE, the capital of British Honduras, in Central America; trade in mahogany, rosewood, &c.

BALKAN PENINSULA, the territory between the Adriatic and the Ægean Sea, bounded on the N. by the Save and the Lower Danube, and on the S. by Greece.

BALKANS, THE, a mountain range extending from the Adriatic to the Black Sea; properly the range dividing Bulgaria from Roumania; mean height, 6500 ft.

BALKASH, LAKE, a lake in Siberia, 780 ft. above sea-level, the waters clear, but intensely salt, 150 m. long and 73 m. broad.

BALKH, anciently called Bactria, a district of Afghan Turkestan lying between the Oxus and the Hindu-Kush, 250 m. long and 120 m. broad, with a capital of the same name, reduced now to a village; birthplace of Zoroaster.

BALL, JOHN, a priest who had been excommunicated for denouncing the abuses of the Church; a ringleader in the Wat Tyler rebellion; captured and executed.

BALL, SIR R. S., mathematician and astronomer, born in Dublin; Astronomer-Royal for Ireland; author of works on astronomy and mechanics, the best known of a popular kind on the former science being "The Story of the Heavens"; _b_. 1840.

BALLAD, a story in verse, composed with spirit, generally of patriotic interest, and sung originally to the harp.

BALLANCHE, PIERRE SIMON, a mystic writer, born at Lyons, his chief work "la Palingénésie Sociale," his aim being the regeneration of society (1814-1847).

BALLANTINE, JAMES, glass-stainer and poet, born in Edinburgh (1808-1877).

BALLANTINE, SERJEANT, distinguished counsel in celebrated criminal cases (1812-1887).

BALL`ANTYNE, JAMES, a native of Kelso, became a printer in Edinburgh, printed all Sir Walter Scott's works; failed in business, a failure in which Scott was seriously implicated (1772-1833).

BALLANTYNE, JOHN, brother of preceding, a confidant of Sir Walter's in the matter of the anonymity of the Waverley Novels; an inimitable story-teller and mimic, very much to the delight of Sir Walter (1774-1821).

BALLARAT` (40), a town in Victoria, and since 1851 the second city in the province, about 100 m. NW. of Melbourne; the centre of the chief gold-fields in the colony, the precious metal being at first washed out of the soil, and now crushed out of the quartz rocks and dug out of deep mines; it is the seat of both a Roman Catholic and a Church of England bishopric.

BALL`ATER, a clean Aberdeenshire village on the Dee, a favourite summer resort, stands 668 ft. above sea-level.

BALMAT, JACQUES, of Chamounix, a celebrated Alpine guide (1796-1834).

BALMAWHAPPLE, a prejudiced Scotch clergyman in "Waverley."

BAL`MEZ, an able Spanish Journalist, author of "Protestantism and Catholicism compared in their Effects on the Civilisation of Europe" (1810-1848).

BALMOR`AL, a castle on the upper valley of the Dee, at the foot of Braemar, 52½ m. from Aberdeen, 9 m. from Ballater; the Highland residence of Queen Victoria, on a site which took the fancy of both the Queen and the Prince Consort on their first visit to the Highlands.

BALMUNG, the sharp-cutting sword of Siegfried, so sharp that a smith cut in two by it did not know he was so cut till he began to move, when he fell in pieces.

BALNAVES, HENRY, coadjutor of John Knox in the Scottish Reformation, and a fellow-sufferer with him in imprisonment and exile; afterwards contributed towards formulating the creed of the Scotch Church; born at Kirkcaldy, and educated in Germany; _d_. 1579.

BALSALL, a thriving suburb of Birmingham, engaged in hardware manufacture.

BALTIC PROVINCES, Russian provinces bordering on the Baltic.

BALTIC SEA, an inland sea in the N. of Europe, 900 m. long and from 100 to 200 m. broad, about the size of England and Wales; comparatively shallow; has no tides; waters fresher than those of the ocean, owing to the number of rivers that flow into it and the slight evaporation that goes on at the latitude; the navigation of it is practically closed from the middle of December to April, owing to the inlets being blocked with ice.

BALTIMORE (550), the metropolis of Maryland, on an arm of Chesapeake Bay, 250 m. from the Atlantic; is picturesquely situated; not quite so regular in design as most American cities, but noted for its fine architecture and its public monuments. It is the seat of the John Hopkins University. The industries are varied and extensive, including textiles, flour, tobacco, iron, and steel. The staple trade is in bread-stuffs; the exports, grain, flour, and tobacco.

BALUE, CARDINAL, minister of Louis XI.; imprisoned, for having conspired with Charles the Rash, by Louis in an iron cage for eleven years (1421-1491).

BALUCHISTAN, a country lying to the S. of Afghanistan and extending to the Persian Gulf. See Beluchistan.

BALZAC, HONORÉ DE, native of Tours, in France; one of the most brilliant as well as prolific novelwriters of modern times; his productions remarkable for their sense of reality; they show power of observation, warmth and fertility of imagination, and subtle and profound delineation of human passion, his design in producing them being to make them form part of one great work, the "Comédie Humaine," the whole being a minute dissection of the different classes of society (1799-1850).

BALZAC, JEAN LOUIS GUEZ DE, born at Angoulême, a French littérateur and gentleman of rank, who devoted his life to the refinement of the French language, and contributed by his "Letters" to the classic form it assumed under Louis XIV.; "he deliberately wrote," says Prof. Saintsbury, "for the sake of writing, and not because he had anything particular to say," but in this way did much to improve the language; _d_. 1685.

BAMBAR`RA (2,000), a Soudan state on the banks of the Upper Niger, opened up to trade; the soil fertile; yields grain, dates, cotton, and palm-oil; the natives are negroes of the Mohammedan faith, and are good husbandmen.

BAMBERG (35), a manufacturing town in Upper Franconia, Bavaria; once the centre of an independent bishopric; with a cathedral, a magnificent edifice, containing the tomb of its founder, the Emperor Henry II.

BAMBINO, a figure of the infant Christ wrapped in swaddling bands, the infant in pictures surrounded by a halo and angels.

BAMBOROUGH CASTLE, an ancient fortress E. of Belford, on the coast of Northumberland, now an alms-house.

BAMBOUK (800), a fertile but unhealthy negro territory, with mineral wealth and deposits of gold, W. of Bambarra.

BAMIAN`, a high-lying valley in Afghanistan, 8500 ft. above sea-level; out of the rocks on its N. side, full of caves, are hewn huge figures of Buddha, one of them 173 ft. high, all of ancient date.

BAMPTON LECTURES, annual lectures on Christian subjects, eight in number, for the endowment of which John Bampton, canon of Salisbury, left property which yields a revenue worth £200 a year.

BANBURY, a market-town in Oxfordshire, celebrated for its cross and its cakes.

BANCA (80), an island in the Eastern Archipelago, belonging to the Dutch, with an unhealthy climate; rich in tin, worked by Chinese.

BANCROFT, GEORGE, an American statesman, diplomatist, and historian, born in Massachusetts; his chief work "The History of the United States," issued finally in six vols., and a faithful account (1800-1891).

BANCROFT, HUBERT, an American historian, author of a "History of the Pacific States of N. America"; _b_. 1832.

BANCROFT, RICHARD, archbishop of Canterbury, a zealous Churchman and an enemy of the Puritans; represented the Church at the Hampton Court Conference, and was chief overseer of the Authorised Version of the Bible (1554-1610).

BANCROFT, SIR SQUIRE, English actor, born in London, made his first appearance in Birmingham in 1861; married Mrs. Wilton, an actress; opened with her the Haymarket Theatre in 1880; retired in 1885, at which time both retired, and have appeared since only occasionally.

BANDA ISLES, a group of the Moluccas, some twelve in number, belonging to Holland; yield nutmegs and mace; are subject to earthquakes.

BANDA ORIENTAL, See URUGUAY.

BANDELLO, an Italian Dominican monk, a writer of tales, some of which furnished themes and incidents for Shakespeare, Massinger, and other dramatists of their time (1480-1562).

BANDIE`RA, brothers, born in Venice; martyrs, in 1844, to the cause of Italian independence.

BANDINELLI, a Florentine sculptor, tried hard to rival Michael Angelo and Cellini; his work "Hercules and Cacus" is the most ambitious of his productions; did a "Descent from the Cross" in bas-relief, in Milan Cathedral (1487-1559).

BANFF (7), county town of Banffshire, on the Moray Firth, at the mouth of the Deveron; the county itself (64) stretches level along the coast, though mountainous on the S. and SE.; fishing and agriculture the great industries.

BANFFY, BARON, Premier of Hungary, born at Klausenburg; became in 1874 provincial prefect of Transylvania; was elected a peer on the formation of the Upper Hungarian Chamber, and was made Premier in 1893; he is a strong Liberal; _b_. 1841.

BANGA, the Hindu name for the Delta of the Ganges.

BAN`GALORE (180), the largest town in Mysore, and the capital; stands high; is manufacturing and trading.

BANGHIS, a low-caste people in the Ganges valley.

BANGK`OK (500), the capital of Siam, on the Menam; a very striking city; styled, from the canals which intersect it, the "Venice of the East"; 20 m. from the sea; the centre of the foreign trade, carried on by Europeans and Chinese; with the royal palace standing on an island, in the courtyard of which several white elephants are kept.

BANGOR (9), an episcopal city in Carnarvon, N. Wales, with large slate quarries; a place of summer resort, from the beauty of its surroundings.

BANGORIAN CONTROVERSY, a controversy in the Church of England provoked by a sermon which Hoadley, bishop of Bangor, preached before George I. in 1717, which offended the sticklers for ecclesiastical authority.

BANGWEO`LO, a lake in Equatorial Africa, discovered by Livingstone, and on the shore of which he died; 150 m. long, and half as wide; 3690 ft. above sea-level.

BANIAN DAYS, days when no meat is served out to ships' crews.

BANJARI, a non-Aryan race in Central India, the carriers and caravan-conductors of the region.

BANIM, JOHN, Irish author, a native of Kilkenny, novelist of Irish peasant life on its dark side, who, along with his brother Michael, wrote 24 vols. of Irish stories, &c.; his health giving way, he fell into poverty, but was rescued by a public subscription and a pension; Michael survived him 32 years (1798-1842).

BANKS, SIR JOSEPH, a zealous naturalist, particularly in botany; a collector, in lands far and wide, of specimens in natural history; left his collection and a valuable library and herbarium to the British Museum; president of the Royal Society for 41 years (1744-1820).

BANKS, THOMAS, an eminent English sculptor, born at Lambeth; first appreciated by the Empress Catharine; his finest works, "Psyche" and "Achilles Enraged," now in the entrance-hall of Burlington House; he excelled in imaginative art (1735-1805).

BANNATYNE CLUB, a club founded by Sir Walter Scott to print rare works of Scottish interest, whether in history, poetry, or general literature, of which it printed 116, all deemed of value, a complete set having been sold for £235; dissolved in 1861.

BAN`NOCKBURN (2), a manufacturing village 3 m. SE. of Stirling, the scene of the victory, on June 24, 1314, of Robert the Bruce over Edward II., which reasserted and secured Scottish independence; it manufactures carpets and tartans.

BAN`SHEE, among the Irish, and in some parts of the Highlands and Brittany, a fairy, believed to be attached to a family, who gave warnings by wailings of an approaching death in it, and kept guard over it.

BANTAM, a chief town in Java, abandoned as unhealthy by the Dutch; whence the Bantam fowl is thought to have come.

BANTING SYSTEM, a dietary for keeping down fat, recommended by a Mr. Banting, a London merchant, in a "Letter on Corpulence" in 1863; he recommended lean meat, and the avoidance of sugar and starchy foods.

BANTRY BAY, a deep inlet on the SW. coast of Ireland; a place of shelter for ships.

BANTU, the name of most of the races, with their languages, that occupy Africa from 6° N. lat. to 20° S.; are negroid rather than negro, being in several respects superior; the name, however, suggests rather a linguistic than an ethnological distinction, the language differing radically from all other known forms of speech--the inflection, for one thing, chiefly initial, not final.

BANVILLE, THEODORE DE, a French poet, born at Moulins; well characterised as "_Roi des Rimes_," for with him form was everything, and the matter comparatively insignificant, though, there are touches here and there of both fine feeling and sharp wit (1823-1891).

BANYAN, the Indian fig; a tree whose branches, bending to the ground, take root and form new stocks, till they cover a large area and become a forest.

BA`OBAB, a large African tropical tree, remarkable for the girth of its trunk, the thickness of its branches, and their expansion; its leaves and seeds are used in medicine.

BAPHOMET, a mysterious image, presumed represent Mahomet, which the Templars were accused of worshipping, but which they may rather be surmised to have invoked to curse them if they failed in their vow; Carlyle refers to this cult in "Sartor," end of Bk. II. chapter vii., where he speaks of the "Baphometic fire-baptism" of his hero, under which all the spectres that haunted him withered up.

BAPTISM, the Christian rite of initiation into the membership of the Church, identified by St. Paul (Rom. vi. 4) with that No to the world which precedes or rather accompanies Yea to God, but a misunderstanding of the nature of which has led to endless diversity, debate, and alienation all over the Churches of Christendom.

BAPTISTE, JEAN, a name given to the French Canadians.

BAPTISTRY, a circular building, sometimes detached from a church, in which the rite of baptism is administered; the most remarkable, that of Pisa.

BAPTISTS, a denomination of Christians, sometimes called Anabaptists to distinguish them from Pædobaptists, who, however they may and do differ on other matters, insist that the rite of initiation is duly administered only by immersion, and to those who are of age to make an intelligent profession of faith; they are a numerous body, particularly in America, and more so in England than in Scotland, and have included in their membership a number of eminent men.

BAPTISMAL REGENERATION, the High Church doctrine that the power of spiritual life, forfeited by the Fall, is bestowed on the soul in the sacrament of baptism duly administered.

BARAGUAY D'HILLIERS`, ACHILLE, a French marshal who fought under Napoleon at Quatre-Bras; distinguished himself under Louis Philippe in Algeria, as well as under Louis Napoleon; presided at the trial of Marshal Bazaine (1795-1878).

BARATARIA, the imaginary island of which Sancho Panza was formally installed governor, and where in most comical situations he learned how imaginary is the authority of a king, how, instead of governing his subjects, his subjects govern him.

BARBACAN, or BARBICAN, a fortification to a castle outside the walls, generally at the end of the drawbridge in front of the gate.

BARBA`DOES (182), one of the Windward Islands, rather larger than the Isle of Wight; almost encircled by coral reefs; is the most densely peopled of the Windward Islands; subject to hurricanes; healthy and well cultivated; it yields sugar, arrowroot, ginger, and aloes.

BARBARA, ST., a Christian martyr of the 3rd century; beheaded by her own father, a fanatical heathen, who was immediately after the act struck dead by lightning; she is the patron saint of those who might otherwise die impenitent, and of Mantua; her attributes are a tower, a sword, and a crown. Festival, Dec. 4.

BARBARIANS, originally those who could not speak Greek, and ultimately synonymous with the uncivilised and people without culture, particularly literary; this is the sense in which Matthew Arnold uses it.

BARBAROSSA, the surname of Frederick I., emperor of Germany, of whom there is this tradition, that "he is not yet dead; but only sleeping, till the bad world reach its worst, when he will reappear. He sits within a cavern near Saltzburg, at a marble table, leaning on his elbow; winking, only half-asleep, as a peasant once tumbling into the interior saw him; beard had grown through the table, and streamed out on the floor. He looked at the peasant one moment, asked something about the time it was; then drooped his eyelids again: 'Not yet time, but will be soon.'"

BARBAROSSA (i. e. Red-beard), HORUK, a native of Mitylene; turned corsair; became sovereign of Algiers by the murder of Selim the emir, who had adopted him as an ally against Spain; was defeated twice by the Spanish general Gomarez and slain (1473-1518).

BARBAROSSA, KHAIR-EDDIN, brother and successor of the preceding; became viceroy of the Porte, made admiral under the sultan, opposed Andrea Doria, ravaged the coast of Italy, and joined the French against Spain; died at Constantinople in 1546.

BARBAROUX, CHARLES, advocate, born at Marseilles, of which he became town-clerk; came to Paris "a young Spartan," and became chief of the Girondins in the French Revolution; represented Marseilles in the Constituent Assembly and the Convention; joined the Rolands; sent "fire-eyed" message to Marseilles for six hundred men "who knew how to die"; held out against Marat and Robespierre; declared an enemy of the people, had to flee; mistook a company approaching for Jacobins, drew his pistol and shot himself, but the shot miscarried; was captured and guillotined (1767-1794).

BARBARY APE, a tailless monkey of gregarious habits, native of the mountainous parts of Barbary, and of which there is a colony on the Rock of Gibraltar, the only one in Europe.

BARBARY STATES, the four states of Morocco, Algeria, Tunis, and Tripoli, so called from the Berbers who inhabit the region.

BARBAULD, ANNA LÆTITIA, _née_ Aiken, an English popular and accomplished authoress, wrote "Hymns in Prose for Children," "Evenings at Home," in which she was assisted by a brother, &c. (1743-1825).

BARBAZAN, a French general under Charles VI. and VII., who deservedly earned for himself the name of the Irreproachable Knight; _d_. 1432.

BAR`BECUE, a feast in the open air on a large scale, at which the animals are roasted and dressed whole, formerly common in the SW. States of N. America.

BARBERI`NI, an illustrious and influential Florentine family, several of the members of which were cardinals, and one made pope in 1623 under the name Urban VIII.

BARBERTON, a mining town and important centre in the Transvaal, 180 m. E. of Pretoria.

BARBÈS, ARMAND, a French politician, surnamed the Bayard of Democracy; imprisoned in 1848, liberated in 1854; expatriated himself voluntarily; died at the Hague (1809-1870).

BARBIER, ANTOINE ALEX., a French bibliographer, author of a "Dictionary of Anonymous and Pseudonymous Works" (1765-1825).

BARBIER, ED. FR., jurisconsult of the parliament, born in Paris; author of a journal, historical and anecdotical, of the time of Louis XV. (1689-1771).

BARBIER, HENRY, a French satirical poet, born in Paris; wrote vigorous political verses; author of "Iambics" (1805-1882).

BARBOUR, JOHN, a Scotch poet and chronicler, archdeacon of Aberdeen, a man of learning and sagacity; his only extant work a poem entitled "The Bruce," being a long history in rhyme of the life and achievements of Robert the Bruce, a work consisting of 13,000 octosyllabic lines, and possessing both historical and literary merit; "represents," says Stopford Brooke, "the whole of the eager struggle for Scottish freedom against the English, which closed at Bannockburn, and the national spirit in it full grown into life;" _d_. 1195.

BARCA (500), a Turkish province in the N. of Africa, between Tripoli and Egypt; produces maize, figs, dates, and olives.

BARCA, name of a Carthaginian family to which Hamilcar, Hasdrubal, and Hannibal belonged, and determinedly opposed to the ascendency of Rome; known as the Barcine faction.

BARCELO`NA (280), the largest town in Spain next to Madrid, on the Mediterranean, and its chief port, with a naval arsenal, and its largest manufacturing town, called the "Spanish Manchester," the staple manufacture being cotton; is the seat of a bishopric and a university; has numerous churches, convents, and theatres.

BARCLAY, ALEX., a poet and prose-writer, of Scotch birth; bred a monk in England, which he ceased to be on the dissolution of the monasteries; wrote "The Ship of Fools," partly a translation and partly an imitation of the German "Narrerschiff" of Brandt. "It has no value," says Stopford Brooke; "but it was popular because it attacked the follies and questions of the time; and its sole interest to us is in its pictures of familiar manners and popular customs" (1475-1552).

BARCLAY, JOHN, born in France, educated by the Jesuits, a stanch Catholic; wrote the "Argenis," a Latin romance, much thought of by Cowper, translated more than once into English (1582-1621).

BARCLAY, JOHN, leader of the sect of the Bereans (1734-1798).

BARCLAY, ROBERT, the celebrated apologist of Quakerism, born in Morayshire; tempted hard to become a Catholic; joined the Society of Friends, as his father had done before him; his greatest work, written in Latin as well as in English, and dedicated to Charles II., "An Apology for the True Christian Divinity, as the same is held forth and preached by the People called in scorn Quakers," a great work, the leading thesis of which is that Divine Truth is not matter of reasoning, but intuition, and patent to the understanding of every truth-loving soul (1645-1690).

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

BARRÈRE. See BARÈRE.

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

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

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

BARRIÈRE, JEAN FRANÇOIS, French historian of the Revolution (1786-1868).

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

BARRY CORNWALL. See PROCTER.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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