# The Nuttall Encyclopædia/B

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.
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 Johns 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.
Basques, a people of the Western Pyrenees, partly in France and partly in Spain; distinguished from their neighbours only by their speech, which is non-Aryan; a superstitious people, conservative, irascible, ardent, proud, serious in their religious convictions, and pure in their moral conduct.
Bas-relief (i. e. low relief) a term applied to figures very slightly projected from the ground.
Bass Rock, a steep basaltic rock at the mouth of the Firth of Forth, 350 ft. high, tenanted by solan geese; once used as a prison, specially in Covenanting times.
Bass Strait, strait between Australia and Tasmania, about 150 m. broad.
Bassanio, the lover of Portia in the “Merchant of Venice.”
Bassano, a town in Italy, on the Brenta, 30 m. NW. of Padua; printing the chief industry.
Bassano, Duc de, an intriguing French diplomatist in the interest of Bonaparte, and his steadfast auxiliary to the last (1763-1839).
Bassano, Jacopo da Ponte, an eminent Italian painter, chiefly of country scenes, though the “Nativity” at his native town, Bassano, shows his ability in the treatment of higher themes (1510-1592).
Bassompierre, François de, a marshal of France, born in Lorraine; entered military life under Henry IV., was a gallant soldier, and one of the most brilliant wits of his time; took part in the siege of Rochelle; incurred the displeasure of Richelieu; was imprisoned by his order twelve years in the Bastille; wrote his Memoirs there; was liberated on the death of Richelieu; his Memoirs contain a lively description of his contemporaries, the manners of the time, his own intrigues, no less than those of his friends and enemies (1579-1646).
Bassorah (40), a port in Asiatic Turkey, on the Shatt-el-Arab; a place of great commercial importance when Bagdad was the seat of the caliphate; for a time sank into insignificance, but has of late revived.
Basti`a (22), a town in NE. Corsica, the most commercial in the island, and once the capital; was founded by the Genoese in 1383, and taken by the French in 1553; exports wine, oil, fruits, &c.
Bastian, Adolf, an eminent ethnologist, born at Bremen; travelled over and surveyed, in the interest of his science, all quarters of the globe, and recorded the fruits of his survey in his numerous works, no fewer than thirty in number, beginning with “Der Mensch in der Geschichte,” in three vols.; conducts, along with Virchow and R. Hartman, the Zeitschrift für Ethnologie; b. 1826.
Bastian, Dr. H. C., a physiologist, born at Truro; a materialist in his theory of life; a zealous advocate of the doctrine of spontaneous generation; b. 1837.
Bastiat, Frédéric, an eminent political economist, born at Bayonne; a disciple of Cobden's; a great advocate of Free Trade; wrote on behalf of it and against Protection, “Sophismes Economiques”; a zealous Anti-Socialist, and wrote against Socialism (1801-1850).
Bastide, Jules, French Radical writer, born in Paris; took part in the Revolution of 1848, and became Minister of Foreign Affairs (1800-1879).
Bastille (lit. the Building), a State prison in Paris, built originally as a fortress of defence to the city, by order of Charles V., between 1369 and 1382, but used as a place of imprisonment from the first; a square structure, with towers and dungeons for the incarceration of the prisoners, the whole surrounded by a moat, and accessible only by drawbridges; “tyranny's stronghold”; attacked by a mob on 14th July 1789; taken chiefly by noise; overturned, as “the city of Jericho, by miraculous sound”; demolished, and the key of it sent to Washington; the taking of it was the first event in the Revolution. See Carlyle's “French Revolution” for the description of the fall of it.
Basutoland (250), a fertile, healthy, grain-growing territory in S. Africa, SE. of the Orange Free State, under protection of the British crown, of the size of Belgium; yields large quantities of maize; the natives keep large herds of cattle.
Basutos, a S. African race of the same stock as the Kaffirs, but superior to them in intelligence and industry.
Batangas, a port in the island of Luzon, one of the Philippine Islands, which has a considerable trade.
Batavia (105), the capital of Java, on the N. coast, and of the Dutch possessions in the Eastern Archipelago; the emporium, with a large trade, of the Far East; with a very mixed population. Also the ancient name of Holland; insula Batavorum it was called—that is, island of the Batavi, the name of the native tribes inhabiting it.
Bates, Henry Walter, a naturalist and traveller, born at Leicester; friend of, and a fellow-labourer with, Alfred R. Wallace; author of “The Naturalist on the Amazons”; an advocate of the Darwinian theory, and author of contributions in defence of it (1825-1892).
Bath (54), the largest town in Somerset, on the Avon; a cathedral city; a place of fashionable resort from the time of the Romans, on account of its hot baths and mineral waters, of which there are six springs; it was from 1704 to 1750 the scene of Beau Nash's triumphs; has a number of educational and other institutions, and a fine public park.
Bath, Major, a gentleman in Fielding's “Amelia,” who stoops from his dignity to the most menial duties when affection prompts him.
Bath, Order of the, an English order of knighthood, traceable to the reign of Henry IV., consisting of three classes: the first, Knights Grand Cross; the second, Knights Commanders, and the third, Knights Companions, abbreviated respectively into G.C.B., K.C.B., and C.B.; initiation into the order originally preceded by immersion in a bath, whence the name, in token of the purity required of the members by the laws of chivalry. It was originally a military order, and it is only since 1847 that civil Knights, Knights Commanders, and Companions have been admitted as Knights. The first class, exclusive of royal personages and foreigners, is limited to 102 military and 28 civil; the second, to 102 military and 50 civil; and the third, to 525 military and 200 civil. The motto of the order is Tria juncta in uno (Three united in one); and Henry VI.'s chapel at Westminster is the chapel of the order, with the plates of the Knights on their stalls, and their banners suspended over them.
Bathgate (5), largest town in Linlithgowshire; a mining centre; the birthplace of Sir J. Simpson, who was the son of a baker in the place.
Bathilda, St., queen of France, wife of Clovis II., who governed France during the minority of her sons, Clovis III., Childéric II., and Thierry; died 680, in the monastery of Chelles.
Bath`ori, Elizabeth, a Polish princess, a woman of infamous memory, caused some 650 young girls to be put to death, in order, by bathing in their blood, to renew her beauty; immersed in a fortress for life on the discovery of the crime, while her accomplices were burnt alive; d. 1614.
Bathos, an anti-climax, being a sudden descent from the sublime to the commonplace.
Bath`urst (8), the capital of British Gambia, at the mouth of the river Gambia, in Western Africa; inhabited chiefly by negroes; exports palm-oil, ivory, gold dust, &c.
Bathurst (10), the principal town on the western slopes of New South Wales, second to Sydney, with gold mines in the neighbourhood, and in a fertile wheat-growing district.
Bathurst, a district in Upper Canada, on the Ottawa, a thriving place and an agricultural centre.
Bathyb`ius, (i. e. living matter in the deep), substance of a slimy nature found at great sea depth, over-hastily presumed to be organic, proved by recent investigation to be inorganic, and of no avail to the evolutionist.
Batley (28), a manufacturing town in the W. Riding of Yorkshire, 8 m. SW. of Leeds; a busy place.
Batn-el-Hajar, a stony tract in the Nubian Desert, near the third cataract of the Nile.
Baton-Rouge (10), a city on the E. bank of the Mississippi, 130 m. above New Orleans, and capital of the state of Louisiana; originally a French settlement.
Baton-sinister, a bend-sinister like a marshal's baton, an indication of illegitimacy.
Batoum` (10), a town in Transcaucasia, on the E. of the Black Sea; a place of some antiquity; recently ceded by Turkey to Russia, but only as a mere trading port; has an excellent harbour, and has improved under Russian rule.
Batrachomyomachia, a mock-heroic poem, “The Battle of the Frogs and Mice,” falsely ascribed to Homer.
Battas, a Malay race, native to Sumatra, now much reduced in numbers, and driven into the interior.
Battersea, a suburb of London, on the Surrey side of the Thames, opposite Chelsea, and connected with it by a bridge; with a park 185 acres in extent; of plain and recent growth; till lately a quite rural spot.
Batthya`ni, Count, an Hungarian patriot, who fought hard to see his country reinstated in its ancient administrative independence, but failed in his efforts; was arrested, tried for high treason by court-martial, and sentenced to be shot, to the horror, at the time, of the civilised world (1809-1849).
Battle, a market-town in Sussex, near Hastings, so called from the battle of Senlac, in which William the Conqueror defeated Harold in 1066.
Battle of the Spurs, (a) an engagement at Courtrai in 1302 where the burghers of the town beat the knighthood of France, and the spurs of 4000 knights were collected after the battle; (b) an engagement at Guinegate, 1513, in which Henry VIII. made the French forces take to their spurs; of the Barriers (see Barriers); of the Books, a satire by Swift on a literary controversy of the time; of the Standard, a battle in 1138, in which the English, with a high-mounted crucifix for a standard, beat the Scots at Northallerton.
Battue, method of killing game after crowding them by cries and beating them towards the sportsmen.
Baucis. See Philemon.
Baudelaire, Charles, French poet of the romantic school, born in Paris; distinguished among his contemporaries for his originality, and his influence on others of his class; was a charming writer of prose as well as verse, as his “Petits Poèmes” in prose bear witness. Victor Hugo once congratulated him on having “created a new shudder”; and as has been said, “this side of his genius attracted most popular attention, which, however, is but one side, and not really the most remarkable, of a singular combination of morbid but delicate analysis and reproduction of the remotest phases and moods of human thought and passion” (1821-1867).
Baudricourt, a French courtier whom Joan of Arc pressed to conduct her into the presence of Charles VII.
Baudry, Paul, French painter, decorated the foyer of the Grand Opera in Paris; is best known as the author of the “Punishment of a Vestal Virgin” and the “Assassination of Marat” (1828-1886).
Bauer, Bruno, a daring Biblical critic, and violent polemic on political as well as theological subjects; born at Saxe-Altenburg; regarded the Christian religion as overlaid and obscured by accretions foreign to it; denied the historical truth of the Gospels, and, like a true disciple of Hegel, ascribed the troubles of the 19th century to the overmastering influence of the “Enlightenment” or the “Aufklärung” (q. v.) that characterised the 18th. His last work was entitled “Disraeli's Romantic and Bismarck's Socialistic Imperialism” (1809-1882).
Baumgarten, Alexander Gottlieb, professor of Philosophy at Frankfort-on-the-Oder; disciple of Wolf; born at Berlin; the founder of Æsthetics as a department of philosophy, and inventor of the name (1714-1762).
Baumgarten-Crusius, a German theologian of the school of Schleiermacher; professor of Theology at Jena; born at Merseburg; an authority on the history of dogma, on which he wrote (1788-1843).
Baur, Ferdinand Christian, head of the Tübingen school of rationalist divines, born near Stuttgart; distinguished by his scholarship and his labours in Biblical criticism and dogmatic theology; his dogmatic treatises were on the Christian Gnosis, the Atonement, the Trinity, and the Incarnation, while his Biblical were on certain epistles of Paul and the canonical Gospels, which he regarded as the product of the 2nd century; regarded Christianity of the Church as Judaic in its origin, and Paul as distinctively the first apostle of pure Christianity (1792-1861).
Bausset, cardinal, born at Pondicherry, who wrote the Lives of Bossuet and Fénélon (1748-1824).
Bautzen, a town of Saxony, an old town on the Spree, where Napoleon defeated the Prussians and Russians in 1813; manufactures cotton, linen, wool, tobacco, paper, etc.
Bavaria (5,590), next to Prussia the largest of the German States, about the size of Scotland; is separated by mountain ranges from Bohemia on the E. and the Tyrol on the S.; Würtemburg lies on the W., Prussia, Meiningen, and Saxony on the N. The country is a tableland crossed by mountains and lies chiefly in the basin of the Danube. It is a busy agricultural state: half the soil is tilled; the other half is under grass, planted with vineyards and forests. Salt, coal, and iron are widely distributed and wrought. The chief manufactures are of beer, coarse linen, and woollen fabrics. There are universities at Münich, Würzburg, and Erlangen. Münich, on the Isar, is the capital; Nüremberg, where watches were invented, and Angsburg, a banking centre, the other chief towns. Formerly a dukedom, the palatinate, on the banks of the Rhine, was added to it in 1216. Napoleon I. raised the duke to the title of king in 1805. Bavaria fought on the side of Austria in 1866, but joined Prussia in 1870-71.
Bavie`ca, the famous steed of the Cid, held sacred after the hero's death.
Bavou, St., a soldier monk, the patron saint of Ghent.
Baxter, Richard, an eminent Nonconformist divine, native of Shropshire, at first a conformist, and parish minister of Kidderminster for 19 years; sympathised with the Puritans, yet stopped short of going the full length with them; acted as chaplain to one of their regiments, and returned to Kidderminster; became, at the Restoration one of the king's chaplains; driven out of the Church by the Act of Uniformity, was thrown into prison at 70, let out, spent the rest of his days in peace; his popular works, “The Saint's Everlasting Rest,” and his “Call to the Unconverted” (1615-1691).
Bay City (27), place of trade, and of importance as a great railway centre in Michigan, U.S.; the third city in it.
Bayadere, a dancing-girl in India, dressed in loose Eastern costume.
Bayard, a horse of remarkable swiftness belonging to the four sons of Aymon, and which they sometimes rode all at once; also a horse of Amadis de Gaul.
Bayard, Chevalier de, an illustrious French knight, born in the Château Bayard, near Grenoble; covered himself with glory in the wars of Charles VIII., Louis XII., and Francis I.; his bravery and generosity commanded the admiration of his enemies, and procured for him the thrice-honourable cognomen of “The Knight sans peur et sans reproche”; one of his most brilliant feats was his defence, single-handed, of the bridge over the Garigliano, in the face of a large body of Spaniards; was mortally wounded defending a pass at Abblategrasso; fell with his face to the foe, who carried off his body, but restored it straightway afterwards for due burial by his friends (1476-1524).
Bayeux (7), an ancient Norman city in the dep. of Calvados, France; manufactures lace, hosiery, &c.; is a bishop's seat; has a very old Gothic cathedral.
Bayeux Tapestry, representations in tapestry of events connected with the Norman invasion of England, commencing with Harold's visit to the Norman court, and ending with his death at the battle of Hastings; still preserved in the public library of Bayeux; is so called because originally found there; it is 214 ft. long by 20 in. wide, divided into 72 scenes, and contains a variety of figures. It is a question whose work it was.
Bayle, Pierre, a native of Languedoc; first Protestant (as the son of a Calvinist minister), then Catholic, then sceptic; Professor of Philosophy at Padua, then at Rotterdam, and finally retired to the Boompjes in the latter city; known chiefly as the author of the famous Dictionnaire Historique et Critique, to the composition of which he consecrated his energies with a zeal worthy of a religious devotee, and which became the fountain-head of the sceptical philosophy that flooded France on the eve of the Revolution; pronounced by a competent judge in these matters, a mere “imbroglio of historical, philosophical, and anti-theological marine stores” (1647-1700).
Baylen, a town in the province of Jaen, Spain, where General Castaños defeated Dupont, and compelled him to sign a capitulation, in 1808.
Bayley, Sir John, a learned English judge; author of a standard work “On the Law of Bills of Exchange”; d. 1841.
Bayonne (24), a fortified French town, trading and manufacturing, in the dep. of Basses-Pyrénées, at the confluence of the Adour and Nive, 4 m. from the Bay of Biscay; noted for its strong citadel, constructed by Vauban, and one of his chef-d'oeuvres, and its 12th-century cathedral church; it belonged to the English from 1152 to 1451.
Bazaine, François Achille, a marshal of France, born at Versailles; distinguished himself in Algiers, the Crimea, and Mexico; did good service, as commander of the army of the Rhine, in the Franco-German war, but after the surrender at Sedan was shut up in Metz, surrounded by the Germans, and obliged to surrender, with all his generals, officers, and men; was tried by court-martial, and condemned to death, but was imprisoned instead; made good his escape one evening to Madrid, where he lived to write a justification of his conduct, the sale of the book being prohibited in France (1811-1888).
Bazard, Saint-Amand, a French socialist, founder of the Charbonnerie Française; a zealous but unsuccessful propagator of St. Simonianism, in association with Enfantin (q. v.), from whom he at last separated (1791-1832).
Bazoche, a guild of clerks of the parliament of Paris, under a mock king, with the privilege of performing religious plays, which they abused.
Beaches, Raised, elevated lands, formerly sea beaches, the result of upheaval, or left high by the recession of the sea, evidenced to be such by the shells found in them and the nature of the débris.
Beachy Head, a chalk cliff in Sussex, 575 ft. high, projecting into the English Channel; famous for a naval engagement between the allied English and Dutch fleets and those of France, in which the latter were successful.
Beaconsfield, capital of the gold-mining district in Tasmania; also a town in Buckinghamshire, 10 m. N. of Windsor, from which Benjamin Disraeli took his title on his elevation to the peerage.
Beaconsfield, Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of, English novelist and politician, born in London; son of Isaac D'Israeli, littérateur, and thus of Jewish parentage; was baptized at the age of 12; educated under a Unitarian minister; studied law, but did not qualify for practice. His first novel, “Vivian Grey,” appeared in 1826, and thereafter, whenever the business of politics left him leisure, he devoted it to fiction. “Contarini Fleming,” “Coningsby,” “Tancred,” “Lothair,” and “Endymion” are the most important of a brilliant and witty series, in which many prominent personages are represented and satirised under thin disguises. His endeavours to enter Parliament as a Radical failed twice in 1832; in 1835 he was unsuccessful again as a Tory. His first seat was for Maidstone in 1837; thereafter he represented Shrewsbury and Buckinghamshire. For 9 years he was a free-lance in the House, hating the Whigs, and after 1842 leading the Young England party; his onslaught on the Corn Law repeal policy of 1846 made him leader of the Tory Protectionists. He was for a short time Chancellor of the Exchequer under Lord Derby in 1852, and coolly abandoned Protection. Returning to power with his chief six years later, he introduced a Franchise Bill, the defeat of which threw out the Government. In office a third time in 1866, he carried a democratic Reform Bill, giving household suffrage in boroughs and extending the county franchise. Succeeding Lord Derby in 1868, he was forced to resign soon afterwards. In 1874 he entered his second premiership. Two years were devoted to home measures, among which were Plimsoll's Shipping Act and the abolition of Scottish Church patronage. Then followed a showy foreign policy. The securing of the half of the Suez Canal shares for Britain; the proclamation of the Queen as Empress of India; the support of Constantinople against Russia, afterwards stultified by the Berlin Congress, which he himself attended; the annexation of Cyprus; the Afghan and Zulu wars, were its salient features. Defeated at the polls in 1880 he resigned, and died next year. A master of epigram and a brilliant debater, he really led his party. He was the opposite in all respects of his protagonist, Mr. Gladstone. Lacking in zeal, he was yet loyal to England, and a warm personal friend of the Queen (1804-1881).
Bear, name given in the Stock Exchange to one who contracts to deliver stock at a fixed price on a certain day, in contradistinction from the bull, or he who contracts to take it, the interest of the former being that, in the intervening time, the stocks should fall, and that of the latter that they should rise.
Bear, Great. See Ursa Major.
Beam, an ancient prov. of France, fell to the crown with the accession of Henry IV. in 1589; formed a great part of the dep. of Basses-Pyrénées, capital Pau.
Beatification, religious honour allowed by the pope to certain who are not so eminent in sainthood as to entitle them to canonisation.
Beaton, or Bethune, David, cardinal, archbishop of St. Andrews, and primate of the kingdom, born in Fife; an adviser of James V., twice over ambassador to France; on the death of James secured to himself the chief power in Church and State as Lord High Chancellor and Papal Legate; opposed alliance with England; persecuted the Reformers; condemned George Wishart to the stake, witnessed his sufferings from a window of his castle in St. Andrews, and was assassinated within its walls shortly after; with his death ecclesiastical tyranny of that type came to an end in Scotland (1494-1546).
Beaton, James, archbishop of Glasgow and St. Andrews, uncle of the preceding, a prominent figure in the reign of James V.; was partial to affiliation with France, and a persecutor of the Reformers; d. 1539.
Beattie, James, a poet and essayist, born at Laurencekirk; became professor of Logic and Moral Philosophy at Marischal College, Aberdeen; wrote an “Essay on Truth” against Hume; his most admired poem, “The Minstrel,” a didactic piece, traces the progress of poetic genius, admitted him to the Johnsonian circle in London, obtained for him the degree of LL.D. from Oxford, and brought him a pension of £200 per annum from the king; died at Aberdeen (1735-1803).
Beatrice, a beautiful Florentine maiden, Portinari, her family name, for whom Dante conceived an undying affection, and whose image abode with him to the end of his days. She is his guide through Paradise.
Beau Nash, a swell notability at Bath; died in beggary (1674-1761).
Beau Tibbs, a character in Goldsmith's “Citizen of the World,” noted for his finery, vanity, and poverty.
Beaucaire (8), a French town near Avignon, on the Rhône, which it spans with a magnificent bridge; once a great centre of trade, and famous, as it still is, for its annual fair, frequented by merchants from all parts of Europe.
Beauchamp, Alphonse de, a historian, born at Monaco; wrote the “Conquest of Peru,” “History of Brazil,” &c. (1769-1832).
Beauclerk, Henry I. of England, so called from his superior learning.
Beauclerk, Topham, a young English nobleman, the only son of Lord Sydney Beauclerk, a special favourite of Johnson's, who, when he died, lamented over him, as one whose like the world might seldom see again (1759-1780).
Beaufort, Duke of, grandson of Henry IV. of France; one of the chiefs of the Fronde; was surnamed Roi des Halles (King of the Market-folk); appointed admiral of France; did good execution against the pirates; passed into the service of Venice; was killed at the siege of Candia in 1669.
Beaufort, Henry, cardinal, bishop of Winchester, son of John of Gaunt, learned in canon law, was several times chancellor; took a prominent part in all the political movements of the time, exerted an influence for good on the nation, lent immense sums to Henry V. and Henry VI., also left bequests for charitable uses, and founded the hospital of St. Cross at Winchester (1377-1447).
Beauhar`nais, Alexandre, Vicomte de, born at Martinique, where he married a lady who, afterwards as wife of Napoleon, became the Empress Joséphine; accepted and took part in the Revolution; was secretary of the National Assembly; coolly remarked, on the news of the flight of the king, “The king's gone off; let us pass to the next business of the House”; was convicted of treachery to the cause of the Revolution and put to death; as the father of Hortense, who married Louis, Napoleon's brother, he became grandfather of Napoleon III. (1760-1794).
Beauharnais, Eugene de, son of the preceding and of Joséphine, born at Paris, step-son of Napoleon, therefore was made viceroy of Italy; took an active part in the wars of the empire; died at Münich, whither he retired after the fall of Napoleon (1781-1824).
Beauharnais, Hortense Eugenie, sister of the preceding, ex-queen of Holland; wife of Louis Bonaparte, an ill-starred union; mother of Napoleon III., the youngest of three sons (1783-1837).
Beaumar`chais, Pierre Augustin Caron de, a dramatist and pleader of the most versatile, brilliant gifts, and French to the core, born in Paris, son of a watchmaker at Caen; ranks as a comic dramatist next to Molière; author of “Le Barbier de Seville” (1775), and “Le Mariage de Figaro” (1784), his masterpiece; astonished the world by his conduct of a lawsuit he had, for which “he fought against reporters, parliaments, and principalities, with light banter, clear logic, adroitly, with an inexhaustible toughness of resource, like the skilfullest fencer.” He was a zealous supporter of the Revolution, and made sacrifices on its behalf, but narrowly escaped the guillotine; died in distress and poverty. Of the two plays he wrote, Saintsbury says, “The wit is indisputable, but his chansons contain as much wit as the Figaro plays.” He made a fortune by speculations in the American war, and lost by others, one of them being the preparation of a sumptuous edition of Voltaire. For the culmination and decline, as well as appreciation, of him, see the “French Revolution,” by Carlyle (1732-1799).
Bauma`ris, principal town in Anglesea, Wales, on the Menai Strait, near Bangor, a favourite watering-place, with remains of a castle erected by Edward I.
Beaumont, Christophe de, archbishop of Paris, born at Périgord, “spent his life in persecuting hysterical Jansenists and incredulous non-confessors”; but scrupled to grant, though he fain would have granted, absolution on his deathbed to the dissolute monarch of France, Louis XV.; issued a charge condemnatory of Rousseau's “Émile,” which provoked a celebrated letter from Rousseau in reply (1703-1781).
Beaumont, Francis, dramatic poet, born in Leicestershire, of a family of good standing; bred for the bar, but devoted to literature; was a friend of Ben Jonson; in conjunction with his friend Fletcher, the composer of a number of plays, about the separate authorship of which there has been much discussion, the dramatic power of which comes far short of that so conspicuous in the plays of their great contemporary Shakespeare, though it is said contemporary criticism gave them the preference (1585-1615).
Beaumont, Jean Baptiste Élie de, French geologist, born in Calvados; became secretary to the Academy of Sciences; was joint-editor of a geological map of France. He had a theory of his own of the formation of the crust of the earth (1798-1874).
Beauregard, Pierre Gustave Toutant, American Confederate general, born at New Orleans; adopted the cause of the South, and fought in its behalf (1818-1893).
Beaurepaire, a French officer, noted for his noble defence of Verdun against the Prussians; preferred death by suicide to the dishonour of surrender (1748-1792).
Beausobre, Isaac, a Huguenot divine, born at Poitou; fled to Holland on the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, settled in Berlin, and became a notability in high quarters there; attracted the notice of the young Frederick, the Great that was to be, who sought introduction to him, and the young Frederick “got good conversation out of him”; author of a “History of Manichæism,” praised by Gibbon, and of other books famous in their day, a translation of the New Testament for one (1659-1738).
Beautiful Parricide, Beatrice Cenci (q. v.).
Beauty and the Beast, the hero and heroine of a famous fairy tale. Beauty falls in love with a being like a monster, who has, however, the heart of a man, and she marries him, upon which he is instantly transformed into a prince of handsome presence and noble mien.
Beauvais (19), capital of the dep. of Oise, in France, 34 in. SW. of Amiens, an ancient town, noted for its cathedral, its tapestry weaving, and the feat of Jeanne-Hachette and her female following when the town was besieged by Charles the Bold.
Beauvais, a French prelate, born at Cherbourg, Bishop of Senez, celebrated as a pulpit orator (1731-1790).
Beauvillier, a statesman, patron of letters, to whom Louis XIV. committed the governorship of his sons; died of a broken heart due to the shock the death of the dauphin gave him (1607-1687).
Bebek Bay, a fashionable resort on the Bosphorus, near Constantinople, and with a palace of the sultan.
Beccafumi, Domenico, one of the best painters of the Sienese school, distinguished also as a sculptor and a worker in mosaic (1486-1550).
Becca`ria, Cæsare Bonesana, Marquis of, an Italian publicist, author of a celebrated “Treatise on Crimes and Punishments,” which has been widely translated, and contributed much to lessen the severity of sentences in criminal cases. He was a utilitarian in philosophy and a disciple of Rousseau in politics.
Beche-de-mer, a slug, called also the trepang, procured on the coral reefs of the Pacific, which is dried and eaten as a dainty by the Chinese.
Becher, Johann Joachim, chemist, born at Spires; distinguished as a pioneer in the scientific study of chemistry (1635-1682).
Bechstein, a German naturalist, wrote “Natural History of Cage Birds” (1757-1822).
Bechuana-land, an inland tract in S. Africa, extends from the Orange River to the Zambesi; has German territory on the W., the Transvaal and Matabele-land on the E. The whole country is under British protection; that part which is S. of the river Molopo was made a crown colony in 1885. On a plateau 4000 ft. above sea-level, the climate is suited for British emigrants. The soil is fertile; extensive tracts are suitable for corn; sheep and cattle thrive; rains fall in summer; in winter there are frosts, sometimes snow. The Kalahari Desert in the W. will be habitable when sufficient wells are dug. Gold is found near Sitlagoli, and diamonds at Vryburg. The Bechuanas are the most advanced of the black races of S. Africa.
Bechua`nas, a wide-spread S. African race, totemists, rearers of cattle, and growers of maize; are among the most intelligent of the Bantu peoples, and show considerable capacity for self-government.
Becker, Karl, German philologist; bred to medicine; author of a German grammar (1775-1842).
Becker, Nicolaus, author of the “Wacht am Rhein,” was an obscure lawyer's clerk, and unnoted for anything else (1810-1845).
Becker, William Adolphe, an archæologist, born at Dresden; was professor at Leipzig; wrote books in reproductive representation of ancient Greek and Roman life; author of “Manual of Roman Antiquities” (1796-1846).
Becket, Thomas a, archbishop of Canterbury, born in London, of Norman parentage; studied at Oxford and Bologna; entered the Church; was made Lord Chancellor; had a large and splendid retinue, but on becoming archbishop, cast all pomp aside and became an ascetic, and devoted himself to the vigorous discharge of the duties of his high office; declared for the independence of the Church, and refused to sign the Constitutions of Clarendon (q. v.); King Henry II. grew restive under his assumption of authority, and got rid of him by the hands of four knights who, to please the king, shed his blood on the steps of the altar of Canterbury Cathedral, for which outrage the king did penance four years afterwards at his tomb. The struggle was one affecting the relative rights of Church and king, and the chief combatants in the fray were both high-minded men, each inflexible in the assertion of his claims (1119-1170).
Beckford, William, author of “Vathek,” son of a rich alderman of London, who bequeathed him property to the value of £100,000 per annum; kept spending his fortune on extravagancies and vagaries; wrote “Vathek,” an Arabian tale, when a youth of twenty-two, at a sitting of three days and two nights, a work which established his reputation as one of the first of the imaginative writers of his country. He wrote two volumes of travels in Italy, but his fame rests on his “Vathek” alone (1759-1844).
Beckmann, a professor at Göttingen; wrote “History of Discoveries and Inventions” (1738-1811).
Beckx, Peter John, general of the Jesuits, born in Belgium (1790-1887).
Becquerel, Antoine Cæsar, a French physicist; served as engineer in the French army in 1808-14, but retired in 1815, devoting himself to science, and obtained high distinction in electro-chemistry, working with Ampère, Biot, and other eminent scientists (1788-1878).
Bed of Justice, a formal session of the Parlement of Paris, under the presidency of the king, for the compulsory registration of the royal edicts, the last session being in 1787, under Louis XVI., at Versailles, whither the whole body, now “refractory, rolled out, in wheeled vehicles, to receive the order of the king.”
Bedchamber, Lords or Ladies of, officers or ladies of the royal household whose duty it is to wait upon the sovereign—the chief of the former called Groom of the Stole, and of the latter, Mistress of the Robes.
Beddoes, Thomas Lovell, born at Clifton, son of Thomas Beddoes; an enthusiastic student of science; a dramatic poet, author of “Bride's Tragedy”; got into trouble for his Radical opinions; his principal work, “Death's Jest-Book, or the Fool's Tragedy,” highly esteemed by Barry Cornwall (1803-1849).
Bede, or Beda, surnamed “The Venerable,” an English monk and ecclesiastical historian, born at Monkwearmouth, in the abbey of which, together with that of Jarrow, he spent his life, devoted to quiet study and learning; his writings numerous, in the shape of commentaries, biographies, and philosophical treatises; his most important work, the “Ecclesiastical History” of England, written in Latin, and translated by Alfred the Great; completed a translation of John's Gospel the day he died. An old monk, it is said, wrote this epitaph over his grave, Hac sunt in fossâ Bedæ ... ossa, “In this pit are the bones ... of Beda,” and then fell asleep; but when he awoke he found some invisible hand had inserted venerabilis in the blank which he had failed to fill up, whence Bede's epinomen it is alleged.
Bedell, bishop of Kilmore and Ardagh, born in Essex; studied at Cambridge; superintended the translation of the Old Testament into Irish; though his virtues saved him and his family for a time from outrage by the rebels in 1641, he was imprisoned at the age of 70, and though released, died soon after (1571-1642).
Bedford (160), a midland agricultural county of England, generally level, with some flat fen-land; also the county town (28), on the Great Ouse, clean and well paved, with excellent educational institutions, famous in connection with the life of John Bunyan, where relics of him are preserved, and where a bronze statue of him by Boehm has been erected to his memory by the Duke of Bedford in 1871; manufactures agricultural implements, lace, and straw plaiting; Elstow, Bunyan's birthplace, is not far off.
Bedford, John, Duke of, brother of Henry V., protector of the kingdom and regent of France during the minority of Henry VI., whom, on the death of the French king, he proclaimed King of France, taking up arms thereafter and fighting for a time victoriously on his behalf, till the enthusiasm created by Joan of Arc turned the tide against him and hastened his death, previous to which, however, though he prevailed over the dauphin, and burnt Joan at the stake, his power had gone (1389-1435).
Bedford Level, a flat marshy district, comprising part of six counties, to the S. and W. of the Wash, about 40 m. in extent each way, caused originally by incursions of the sea and the overflowing of rivers; received its name from the Earl of Bedford, who, in the 17th century, undertook to drain it.
Bedlam, originally a lunatic asylum in London, so named from the priory “Bethlehem” in Bishopsgate, first appropriated to the purpose, Bedlam being a corruption of the name Bethlehem.
Bedmar, Marquis de, cardinal and bishop of Oviedo, and a Spanish diplomatist, notorious for a part he played in a daring conspiracy in 1618 aimed at the destruction of Venice, but which, being betrayed, was defeated, for concern in which several people were executed, though the arch-delinquent got off; he is the subject of Otway's “Venice Preserved”; it was after this he was made cardinal, and governor of the Netherlands, where he was detested and obliged to retire (1572-1655).
Bedouins, Arabs who lead a nomadic life in the desert and subsist by the pasture of cattle and the rearing of horses, the one element that binds them into a unity being community of language, the Arabic namely, which they all speak with great purity and without variation of dialect; they are generally of small stature, of wiry constitution, and dark complexion, and are divided into tribes, each under an independent chief.
Bee, The, a periodical started by Goldsmith, in which some of his best essays appeared, and his “Citizen of the World.”
Beecher, Henry Ward, a celebrated American preacher, born at Litchfield, Connecticut; pastor of a large Congregational church, Brooklyn; a vigorous thinker and eloquent orator, a liberal man both in theology and politics; wrote “Life Thoughts”; denied the eternity of punishment, considered a great heresy by some then, and which led to his secession from the Congregational body (1813-1887).
Beecher-Stowe, Harriet Elizabeth, sister of the above, authoress of “Uncle Tom's Cabin,” of which probably over a million copies have been sold. Born at Litchfield, Connecticut, U.S.A., in 1812; d. 1896.
Beechy, Rear-Admiral, born in London, son of the following; accompanied Franklin in 1818 and Parry in 1819 to the Arctic regions; commanded the Blossom in the third expedition of 1825-1828 to the same regions; published “Voyage of Discovery towards the North Pole” (1796-1856).
Beechy, Sir William, portrait-painter, born in Oxfordshire; among his portraits were those of Lord Nelson, John Kemble, and Mrs. Siddons (1753-1839).
Beef-eaters, yeomen of the royal guard, whose institution dates from the reign of Henry VII., and whose office it is to wait upon royalty on high occasions; the name is also given to the warders of the Tower, though they are a separate body and of more recent origin; the name simply means (royal) dependant, a corruption of the French word buffetier, one who attends the sideboard.
Beehive houses, small stone structures, of ancient date, remains of which are found (sometimes in clusters) in Ireland and the W. of Scotland, with a conical roof formed of stones overlapping one another, undressed and without mortar; some of them appear to have been monks' cells.
Beel`zebub, the god of flies, protector against them, worshipped by the Phoenicians; as being a heathen deity, transformed by the Jews into a chief of the devils; sometimes identified with Satan, and sometimes his aide-de-camp.
Beerbohm Tree, Herbert, actor, born in London, son of a grain merchant; his first appearance was as the timid curate in the “Private Secretary,” and then as the spy Macari in “Called Back”; is lessee of the Haymarket Theatre, London, and has had many notable successes; he is accompanied by his wife, who is a refined actress; b. 1852.
Beer`sheba, a village in the S. of Canaan, and the most southerly, 27 m. from Hebron; associated with Dan, in the N., to denote the limit of the land and what lies between; lies in a pastoral country abounding in wells, and is frequently mentioned in patriarchal history; means “the Well of the Oath.”
Beeswing, a gauze-like film which forms on the sides of a bottle of good port.
Beethoven, Ludwig von, one of the greatest musical composers, born in Bonn, of Dutch extraction; the author of symphonies and sonatas that are known over all the world; showed early a most precocious genius for music, commenced his education at five as a musician; trained at first by a companion named Pfeiffer, to whom he confessed he owed more than all his teachers; trained at length under the tuition of the most illustrious of his predecessors, Bach and Händel; revealed the most wonderful musical talent; quitted Bonn and settled in Vienna; attracted the attention of Mozart; at the age of 40 was attacked with deafness that became total and lasted for life; continued to compose all the same, to the admiration of thousands; during his last days was a prey to melancholy; during a thunderstorm he died. Goethe pronounced him at his best “an utterly untamed character, not indeed wrong in finding the world detestable, though his finding it so did not,” he added, “make it more enjoyable to himself or to others” (1770-1827).
Beets, Nicolas, a Dutch theologian and poet, born at Haarlem; came, as a poet, under the influence of Byronism; b. 1814.
Befa`na, an Italian female Santa Claus, who on Twelfth Night fills the stockings of good children with good things, and those of bad with ashes.
Begg, James, Scotch ecclesiastic, born at New Monkland, Lanark; was a stalwart champion of old Scottish orthodoxy, and the last (1808-1883).
Beghards, a religious order that arose in Belgium in the 13th century, connected with the Beguins, a mystic and socialistic sect.
Beguins, a sisterhood confined now to France and Germany, who, without taking any monastic vow, devote themselves to works of piety and benevolence.
Begum, name given in the E. Indies to a princess, mother, sister, or wife of a native ruler.
Behaim, Martin, a geographer and chartographer, born in Nüremberg; accompanied Diego Cam on a voyage of discovery along W. coast of Africa; constructed and left behind him a famous terrestrial globe; some would make him out to be the discoverer of America (1459-1507).
Behar (24,393), a province of Bengal, in the valley of the Ganges, which divides it into two; densely peopled; cradle of Buddhism.
Behe`moth, a large animal mentioned in Job, understood to be the hippopotamus.
Behis`tun, a mountain in Irak-Ajemi, a prov. of Persia, on which there are rocks covered with inscriptions, the principal relating to Darius Hystaspes, of date about 515 B.C., bearing on his genealogy, domains, and victories.
Behm, Ernst, a German geographer, born in Gotha (1830-1884).
Behn, Afra, a licentious writer, born in Kent, for whom, for her free and easy ways, Charles II. took a liking; sent by him as a spy to Holland, and through her discovered the intention of the Dutch to burn the shipping in the Thames. She wrote plays and novels (1640-1689).
Behring Strait, a strait about 50 m. wide between Asia and N. America, which connects the Arctic Ocean with the Pacific; discovered by the Danish navigator Vitus Behring in 1728, sent out on a voyage of discovery by Peter the Great.
Beira (1,377), a central province of Portugal, mountainous and pastoral; gives title to the heir-apparent to the Portuguese throne.
Beke, Dr., traveller, born in London; travelled in Abyssinia and Palestine; author of “Origines Biblicæ,” or researches into primeval history as shown not to be in keeping with the orthodox belief.
Bekker, Immanuel, philologist, born in Berlin, and professor in Halle; classical textual critic; issued recensions of the Greek and Latin classics (1780-1871).
Bel and the Dragon, History of, one of the books of the Apocrypha, a spurious addition to the book of Daniel, relates how Daniel persuaded Cyrus of the vanity of idol-worship, and is intended to show its absurdity.
Bela I., king of Hungary from 1061 to 1063; an able ruler; introduced a great many measures for the permanent benefit of the country, affecting both religion and social organisation.
Bela IV., king of Hungary, son of Andreas II., who had in 1222 been compelled to sign the Golden Bull, the Magna Charta of Hungarian liberty; faithfully respected the provisions of this charter, and incurred the enmity of the nobles by his strenuous efforts to subdue them to the royal power.
Belch, Sir Toby, a reckless, jolly, swaggering character in “Twelfth Night.”
Belcher, Sir Edward, admiral, was engaged in several exploring and surveying expeditions; sailed round the world, and took part in the operations in China (1812-1877).
Belfast (256), county town of Antrim, and largest and most flourishing city in the N. of Ireland; stands on the Lagan, at the head of Belfast Lough, 100 m. N. of Dublin; is a bright and pleasant city, with some fine streets and handsome buildings, Presbyterian, Catholic, and Methodist colleges. It is the centre of the Irish linen and cotton manufactures, the most important shipbuilding centre, and has also rope-making, whisky, and aerated-water industries. Its foreign trade is larger than even Dublin's. It is the capital of Ulster, and head-quarters of Presbyterianism in Ireland.
Belfort (83), a fortified town in dep. of Haut-Rhin, and is its capital, 35 m. W. by N. of Basel; capitulated to the Germans in 1870; restored to France; its fortifications now greatly strengthened. The citadel was by Vauban.
Belgæ, Cæsar's name for the tribes of the Celtic family in Gaul N. of the Seine and Marne; mistakenly rated as Germans by Cæsar.
Belgium (6,136), a small European State bordering on the North Sea, with Holland to the N., France to the S., and Rhenish Prussia and Luxemburg on the E.; is less than a third the size of Ireland, but it is the most densely populated country on the Continent. The people are of mixed stock, comprising Flemings, of Teutonic origin; Walloons, of Celtic origin; Germans, Dutch, and French. Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion. Education is excellent; there are universities at Ghent, Liège, Brussels, and Louvain. French is the language of educated circles and of the State; but the prevalence of dialects hinders the growth of a national literature. The land is low and level and fertile in the N. and W., undulating in the middle, rocky and hilly in the S. and E. The Meuse and Scheldt are the chief rivers, the basin of the latter embracing most of the country. Climate is similar to the English, with greater extremes. Rye, wheat, oats, beet, and flax are the principal crops. Agriculture is the most painstaking and productive of the world. The hilly country is rich in coal, iron, zinc, and lead. After mining, the chief industries are textile manufactures and making of machinery: the former at Antwerp, Ghent, Brussels, and Liège; the latter at Liège, Mons, and Charleroi. The trade is enormous; France, Germany, and Britain are the best customers. Exports are coal to France; farm products, eggs, &c., to England; and raw material imported from across seas, to France and the basin of the Rhine. It is a small country of large cities. The capital is Brussels (480), in the centre of the kingdom, but communicating with the ocean by a ship canal. The railways, canals, and river navigation are very highly developed. The government is a limited monarchy; the king, senate, and house of representatives form the constitution. There is a conscript army of 50,000 men, but no navy. Transferred from Spain to Austria in 1713. Belgium was under French sway from 1794 till 1814, when it was united with Holland, but established its independence in 1830.
Belgrade (54), the capital of Servia, on the confluence of the Save and Danube; a fortified city in an important strategical position, and the centre of many conflicts; a commercial centre; once Turkish in appearance, now European more and more.
Belgra`via, a fashionable quarter in the southern part of the West End of London.
Belial, properly a good-for-nothing, a child of worthlessness; an incarnation of iniquity and son of perdition, and the name in the Bible for the children of such.
Belief, a word of various application, but properly definable as that which lies at the heart of a man or a nation's convictions, or is the heart and soul of all their thoughts and actions, “the thing a man does practically lay to heart, and know for certain concerning his vital relations to this mysterious universe, and his duty and destiny there.”
Belinda, Arabella Fermor, the heroine in Pope's “Rape of the Lock.”
Belisa`rius, a general under the Emperor Justinian, born in Illyria; defeated the Persians, the Vandals, and the Ostrogoths; was falsely accused of conspiracy, but acquitted, and restored to his dignities by the emperor; though another tradition, now discredited, alleges that for the crimes charged against him he had his eyes put out, and was reduced to beggary (505-565).
Belize, British Honduras, a fertile district, and its capital (6); exports mahogany, rosewood, sugar, india-rubber, &c.
Bell, Acton. See Brontë.
Bell, Andrew, LL.D., educationist, born at St. Andrews; founder of the Monitorial system of education, which he had adopted, for want of qualified assistants, when in India as superintendent of an orphanage in Madras, so that his system was called “the Madras system”; returned from India with a large fortune, added to it by lucrative preferments, and bequeathed a large portion of it, some £120,000, for the endowment of education in Scotland, and the establishment of schools, such as the Madras College in his native city (1753-1832).
Bell, Bessy, and Mary Gray, the “twa bonnie lassies” of a Scotch ballad, daughters of two Perthshire gentlemen, who in 1666 built themselves a bower in a spot retired from a plague then raging; supplied with food by a lad in love with both of them, who caught the plague and gave it to them, of which they all sickened and died.
Bell, Book, and Candle, a ceremony at one time attending the greater excommunication in the Romish Church, when after sentence was read from the “book,” a “bell” was rung, and the “candle” extinguished.
Bell, Currer. See Brontë.
Bell, Ellis. See Brontë.
Bell, George Joseph, a brother of Sir Charles, distinguished in law; author of “Principles of the Law of Scotland” (1770-1843).
Bell, Henry, bred a millwright, born in Linlithgowshire; the first who applied steam to navigation in Europe, applying it in a small steamboat called the Comet, driven by a three horse-power engine (1767-1830).
Bell, Henry Glassford, born in Glasgow, a lawyer and literary man, sheriff of Lanarkshire; wrote a vindication of Mary, Queen of Scots, and some volumes of poetry (1803-1874).
Bell, John, of Antermony, a physician, born at Campsie; accompanied Russian embassies to Persia and China; wrote “Travels in Asia,” which were much appreciated for their excellency of style (1690-1780).
Bell, Peter, Wordsworth's simple rustic, to whom the primrose was but a yellow flower and nothing more.
Bell, Robert, journalist and miscellaneous writer, born at Cork; edited “British Poets, from Chaucer to Cowper,” his best-known work, which he annotated, and accompanied with careful memoirs of each (1800-1867).
Bell, Sir Charles, an eminent surgeon and anatomist, born in Edinburgh, where he became professor of Surgery; distinguished chiefly for his discoveries in connection with the nervous system, which he published in his “Anatomy of the Brain” and his “Nervous System,” and which gained him European fame; edited, along with Lord Brougham, Paley's “Evidences of Natural Religion” (1774-1842).
Bell, Thomas, a naturalist, born at Poole; professor of Zoology in King's College, London; author of “British Quadrupeds” and “British Reptiles,” “British Stalk-eyed Crustacea,” and editor of “White's Natural History of Selborne” (1792-1880).
Bell Rock, or Inchcape Rock, a dangerous reef of sandstone rocks in the German Ocean, 12 m. SE. of Arbroath, on which a lighthouse 120 ft. high was erected in 1807-10; so called from a bell rung by the sway of the waves, which the abbot of Arbroath erected on it at one time as a warning to seamen.
Bell-the-Cat, Archibald Douglas, Earl of Arran, so called from his offer to dispose by main force of an obnoxious favourite of the king, James III.
Bella, Stephano della, a Florentine engraver of great merit, engraved over 1000 plates; was patronised by Richelieu in France, and the Medici in Florence (1610-1664).
Bell`amy, Jacob, a Dutch poet, born at Flushing; his poems highly esteemed by his countrymen (1752-1821).
Bellange, a celebrated painter of battle-pieces, born at Paris (1800-1866).
Bellar`mine, Robert, cardinal, born in Tuscany; a learned Jesuit, controversial theologian, and in his writings, which are numerous, a valiant defender at all points of Roman Catholic dogma; the greatest champion of the Church in his time, and regarded as such by the Protestant theologians; he was at once a learned man and a doughty polemic (1542-1621).
Bellay, Joachim du, French poet; author of sonnets entitled “Regrets,” full of vigour and poetry; wrote the “Antiquités de Rome”; was called the Apollo of the Pléiade, the best poet and the best prose-writer among them (1524-1560).
Belle France, (i. e. Beautiful France), a name of endearment applied to France, like that of “Merry” applied to England.
Belle-Isle (60), a fortified island on the W. coast of France, near which Sir Edward Hawke gained a brilliant naval victory over the French, under M. de Conflans, in 1759.
Belleisle, Charles Louis Auguste Fouquet, Count of, marshal of France; distinguished in the war of the Spanish Succession; an ambitious man, mainly to blame for the Austrian Succession war; had grand schemes in his head, no less than the supremacy in Europe and the world of France, warranting the risk; expounded them to Frederick the Great; concluded a fast and loose treaty with him, which could bind no one; found himself blocked up in Prague with his forces; had to force his way out and retreat, but it was a retreat the French boast comparable only to the retreat of the Ten Thousand; was made War Minister after, and wrought important reforms in the army (1684-1761). See Carlyle's “Frederick” for a graphic account of him and his schemes, specially in Bk. xii. chap. ix.
Bellenden, John, of Moray, a Scottish writer in the 16th century; translated, at the request of James V., Hector Boece's “History of Scotland,” and the first five books of Livy, which remain the earliest extant specimens of Scottish prose, and remarkable specimens they are, for the execution of which he was well rewarded, being made archdeacon of Moray for one thing, though he died in exile; d. 1550.
Bellenden, William, a Scottish writer, distinguished for diplomatic services to Queen Mary, and for the purity of his Latin composition; a professor of belles-lettres in Paris University (1550-1613).
Beller`ophon, a mythical hero, son of Glaucus and grandson of Sisyphus; having unwittingly caused the death of his brother, withdrew from his country and sought retreat with Proetus, king of Argos, who, becoming jealous of his guest, but not willing to violate the laws of hospitality, had him sent to Iobates, his son-in-law, king of Lycia, with instructions to put him to death. Iobates, in consequence, imposed upon him the task of slaying the Chimæra, persuaded that this monster would be the death of him. Bellerophon, mounted on Pegasus, the winged horse given him by Pallas, slew the monster, and on his return received the daughter of Iobates to wife.
Bellerophon, Letters of, name given to letters fraught with mischief to the bearer. See supra.
Belles-lettres, that department of literature which implies literary culture and belongs to the domain of art, whatever the subject may be or the special form; it includes poetry, the drama, fiction, and criticism.
Belleville, a low suburb of Paris, included in it since 1860; the scene of one of the outrages of the Communists.
Belliard, Comte de, a French general and diplomatist; fought in most of the Napoleonic wars, but served under the Bourbons on Napoleon's abdication; was serviceable to Louis Philippe in Belgium by his diplomacy (1769-1832).
Belli`ni, the name of an illustrious family of Venetian painters.
Bellini, Gentile, the son of Jacopo Bellini, was distinguished as a portrait-painter; decorated along with his brother the council-chamber of the ducal palace; his finest picture the “Preaching of St. Mark” (1421-1508).
Bellini, Giovanni, brother of the preceding, produced a great many works; the subjects religious, all nobly treated; had Giorgione and Titian for pupils; among his best works, the “Circumcision,” “Feast of the Gods,” “Blood of the Redeemer”; did much to promote painting in oil (1426-1516).
Bellini, Jacopo, a painter from Florence who settled in Venice, the father and founder of the family; d. 1470.
Bellini, Vincenzo, a musical composer, born at Catania, Sicily; his works operas, more distinguished for their melody than their dramatic power; the best are “Il Pirati,” “La Somnambula,” “Norma,” and “Il Puritani” (1802-1835).
Bellmann, the poet of Sweden, a man of true genius, called the “Anacreon of Sweden,” patronised by Gustavus Adolphus (1741-1795).
Bello`na, the goddess of fury in war among the Romans, related by the poets to Mars as sister, wife, or daughter; inspirer of the war-spirit, and represented as armed with a bloody scourge in one hand and a torch in the other.
Bellot, Joseph René, a naval officer, born in Paris, distinguished in the expedition of 1845 to Madagascar, and one of those who went in quest of Sir John Franklin; drowned while crossing the ice (1826-1853).
Belloy, a French poet, born at St. Flour; author of “Le Siège du Calais” and numerous other dramatic works (1727-1775).
Belon, Pierre, a French naturalist, one of the founders of natural history, and one of the precursors of Cuvier; wrote in different departments of natural history, the chief, “Natural History of Birds”; murdered by robbers while gathering plants in the Bois de Boulogne (1518-1564).
Bel`phegor, a Moabite divinity.
Belphoebe (i. e. Beautiful Diana), a huntress in the “Faërie Queene,” the impersonation of Queen Elizabeth, conceived of, however, as a pure, high-spirited maiden, rather than a queen.
Belsham, Thomas, a Unitarian divine, originally Calvinist, born at Bedford; successor to the celebrated Priestley at Hackney, London; wrote an elementary work on psychology (1750-1829).
Belshazzar, the last Chaldean king of Babylon, slain, according to the Scripture account, at the capture of the city by Cyrus in 538 B.C.
Belt, Great and Little, gateways of the Baltic: the Great between Zealand and Fünen, 15 m. broad; the Little, between Fünen and Jutland, half as broad; both 70 m. long, the former of great depth.
Belt of Calms, the region in the Atlantic and Pacific, 4° or 5° latitude broad, where the trade-winds meet and neutralise each other, in which, however, torrents of rain and thunder-storms occur almost daily.
Beltane, or Beltein, an ancient Celtic festival connected with the sun-worship, observed about the 1st of May and the 1st of November, during which fires were kindled on the tops of hills, and various ceremonies gone through.
Belted Will, name given to Lord William Howard, warden in the 16th and 17th centuries of the Western Marches of England.
Belu`chistan (200 to 400), a desert plateau lying between Persia and India, Afghanistan and the Arabian Sea; is crossed by many mountain ranges, the Suliman, in the N., rising to 12,000 ft. Rivers in the NE. are subject to great floods. The centre and W. is a sandy desert exposed to bitter winds in winter and sand-storms in summer. Fierce extremes of temperature prevail. There are few cattle, but sheep are numerous; the camel is the draught animal. Where there is water the soil is fertile, and crops of rice, cotton, indigo, sugar, and tobacco are raised; in the higher parts, wheat, maize, and pulse. Both precious and useful metals are found; petroleum wells were discovered in the N. in 1887. The population comprises Beluchis, robber nomads of Aryan stock, in the E. and W., and Mongolian Brahuis in the centre. All are Mohammedan. Kelat is the capital; its position commands all the caravan routes. Quetta, in the N., is a British stronghold and health resort. The Khan of Kelat is the ruler of the country and a vassal of the Queen.
Be`lus, another name for Baal (q. v.), or the legendary god of Assyria and Chaldea.
Bel`vedere, name given a gallery of the Vatican at Rome, especially that containing the famous statue of Apollo, and applied to picture-galleries elsewhere.
Belzo`ni, Giovanni Battista, a famous traveller and explorer in Egypt, born at Padua, of poor parents; a man of great stature; figured as an athlete in Astley's Circus, London, and elsewhere, first of all in London streets; applied himself to the study of mechanics; visited Egypt as a mechanician and engineer at the instance of Mehemet Ali; commenced explorations among its antiquities, sent to the British Museum trophies of his achievements; published a narrative of his operations; opened an exhibition of his collection of antiquities in London and Paris; undertook a journey to Timbuctoo, was attacked with dysentery, and died at Gato (1778-1823).
Bem, Joseph, a Polish general, born in Galicia; served in the French army against Russia in 1812; took part in the insurrection of 1830; joined the Hungarians in 1848; gained several successes against Austria and Russia, but was defeated at Temesvar; turned Mussulman, and was made pasha; died at Aleppo, where he had gone to suppress an Arab insurrection; he was a good soldier and a brave man (1791-1850).
Bemba, a lake in Africa, the highest feeder of the Congo, of an oval shape, 150 m. long and over 70 m. broad, 3000 ft. above the sea-level.
Bembo, Pietro, cardinal, an erudite man of letters and patron of literature and the arts, born at Venice; secretary to Pope Leo X.; historiographer of Venice, and librarian of St. Mark's; made cardinal by Paul III., and bishop of Bergamo; a fastidious stylist and a stickler for purity in language (1470-1547).
Ben Lawers, a mountain in Perthshire, 3984 ft. high, on the W. of Loch Tay.
Ben Ledi, a mountain in Perthshire, 2873 ft. high, 4½ m. NW. of Callander.
Ben Lomond, a mountain in Stirlingshire, 3192 ft. high, on the E. of Loch Lomond.
Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in Great Britain, in SW. Inverness-shire, 4406 ft. high, and a sheer precipice on the NE. 1500 ft. high, and with an observatory on the summit supported by the Scottish Meteorological Society.
Ben Rhydding, a village in the West Riding of Yorkshire, 15 m. NW. of Leeds, with a thoroughly equipped hydropathic establishment, much resorted to.
Benares (219), the most sacred city of the Hindus, and an important town in the NW. Provinces; is on the Ganges, 420 m. by rail NW. of Calcutta. It presents an amazing array of 1700 temples and mosques with towers and domes and minarets innumerable. The bank of the river is laid with continuous flights of steps whence the pilgrims bathe; but the city itself is narrow, crocked, crowded, and dirty. Many thousand pilgrims visit it annually. It is a seat of Hindu learning; there is also a government college. The river is spanned here by a magnificent railway bridge. There is a large trade in country produce, English goods, jewellery, and gems; while its brass-work, “Benares ware,” is famous.
Benbow, John, admiral, born at Shrewsbury; distinguished himself in an action with a Barbary pirate; rose rapidly to the highest post in the navy; distinguished himself well in an engagement with a French fleet in the W. Indies; he lost a leg, and at this crisis some of his captains proved refractory, so that the enemy escaped, were tried by court-martial, and two of them shot; the wound he received and his vexation caused his death. He was a British tar to the backbone, and of a class extinct now (1653-1702).
Bencoolen, a town and a Dutch residency in SW. of Sumatra; exports pepper and camphor.
Bender, a town in Bessarabia, remarkable for the siege which Charles XII. of Sweden sustained there after his defeat at Pultowa.
Benedek, Ludwig von, an Austrian general, born in Hungary; distinguished himself in the campaigns of 1848-1849; was defeated by the Prussians at Sadowa; superseded and tried, but got off; retired to Grätz, where he died (1804-1871).
Benedetti, Count Vincent, French diplomatist, born at Bastia, in Corsica; is remembered for his draft of a treaty between France and Prussia, published in 1870, and for his repudiation of all responsibility for the Franco-German war; b. 1817.
Benedict, the name of fourteen popes: B. I., from 574 to 575; B. II., from 684 to 685; B. III., from 855 to 858; B. IV., from 900 to 907; B. V., from 964 to 965; B. VI., from 972 to 974; B. VII., from 975 to 984; B. VIII., from 1012 to 1024; extended the territory of the Church by conquest, and effected certain clerical reforms; B. IX., from 1033 to 1048, a licentious man, and deposed; B. X., from 1058 to 1059; B. XI., from 1303 to 1304; B. XII., from 1334 to 1342; B. XIII., from 1724 to 1730; B. XIV., from 1740 to 1758. Of all the popes of this name it would seem there is only one worthy of special mention.
Benedict XIV., a native of Bologna, a man of marked scholarship and ability; a patron of science and literature, who did much to purify the morals and elevate the character of the clergy, and reform abuses in the Church.
Benedict, Biscop, an Anglo-Saxon monk, born in Northumbria; made two pilgrimages to Rome; assumed the tonsure as a Benedictine monk in Provence; returned to England and founded two monasteries on the Tyne, one at Wearmouth and another at Jarrow, making them seats of learning; b. 628.
Benedict, St., the founder of Western monachism, born near Spoleto; left home at 14; passed three years as a hermit, in a cavern near Subiaco, to prepare himself for God's service; attracted many to his retreat; appointed to an abbey, but left it; founded 12 monasteries of his own; though possessed of no scholarship, composed his “Regula Monachorum,” which formed the rule of his order; represented in art as accompanied by a raven with sometimes a loaf in his bill, or surrounded by thorns or by howling demons (480-543). See Benedictines.
Benedict, Sir Julius, musician and composer, native of Stuttgart; removed to London in 1835; author of, among other pieces, the “Gipsy's Warning,” the “Brides of Venice,” and the “Crusaders”; conducted the performance of “Elijah” in which Jenny Lind made her first appearance before a London audience, and accompanied her as pianist to America in 1850 (1806-1885).
Benedictines, the order of monks founded by St. Benedict and following his rule, the cradle of which was the celebrated monastery of Monte Casino, near Naples, an institution which reckoned among its members a large body of eminent men, who in their day rendered immense service to both literature and science, and were, in fact, the only learned class of the Middle Ages; spent their time in diligently transcribing manuscripts, and thus preserving for posterity the classic literature of Greece and Rome.
Benedictus, part of the musical service at Mass in the Roman Catholic Church; has been introduced into the morning service of the English Church.
Benefit of Clergy, exemption of the persons of clergymen from criminal process before a secular judge.
Be`neke, Friedrich Eduard, a German philosopher and professor in Berlin of the so-called empirical school, that is, the Baconian; an opponent of the methods and systems of Kant and Hegel; confined his studies to psychology and the phenomena of consciousness; was more a British thinker than a German (1798-1854).
Benenge`li, an imaginary Moorish author, whom Cervantes credits with the story of “Don Quixote.”
Bénetier, the vessel for holding the holy water in Roman Catholic churches.
Benevento (20), a town 33 m. NE. of Naples, built out of and amid the ruins of an ancient one; also the province, of which Talleyrand was made prince by Napoleon.
Benevolence, the name of a forced tax exacted from the people by certain kings of England, and which, under Charles I., became so obnoxious as to occasion the demand of the Petition of Rights (q. v.), that no tax should be levied without consent of Parliament; first enforced in 1473, declared illegal in 1689.
Benfey, Theodor, Orientalist, born near Göttingen, of Jewish birth; a great Sanskrit scholar, and professor of Sanskrit and Comparative Philology at his native place; author of “Lexicon of Greek Roots,” “Sanskrit Grammar,” &c. (1809-1881).
Bengal (76,643), one of the three Indian presidencies, but more particularly a province lying in the plain of the Lower Ganges and the delta of the Ganges-Brahmaputra, with the Himalayas on the N. At the base of the mountains are great forests; along the seaboard dense jungles. The climate is hot and humid, drier at Behar, and passing through every gradation up to the snow-line. The people are engaged in agriculture, raising indigo, jute, opium, rice, tea, cotton, sugar, &c. Coal, iron, and copper mines are worked in Burdwân. The manufactures are of cotton and jute. The population is mixed in blood and speech, but Hindus speaking Bengali predominate. Education is further advanced than elsewhere; there are fine colleges affiliated to Calcutta University, and many other scholastic institutions. The capital, Calcutta, is the capital of India; the next town in size is Patna (165).
Benga`zi (7), the capital of Barca, on the Gulf of Sidra, in N. Africa, and has a considerable trade.
Bengel, Johann Albrecht, a distinguished Biblical scholar and critic, born at Würtemberg; best known by his “Gnomon Novi Testamenti,” being an invaluable body of short notes on the New Testament; devoted himself to the critical study of the text of the Greek Testament (1687-1752).
Bengue`la, a fertile Portuguese territory in W. Africa, S. of Angola, with considerable mineral wealth; has sunk in importance since the suppression of the slave-trade.
Benicia, the former capital of California, 30 m. NE. of San Francisco; has a commodious harbour and a U.S. arsenal.
Beni-Hassan, a village in Middle Egypt, on the right bank of the Nile, above Minieh, with remarkable catacombs that have been excavated.
Beni-Israel (i. e. Sons of Israel), a remarkable people, few in number, of Jewish type and customs, in the Bombay Presidency, and that have existed there quite isolatedly for at least 1000 years, with a language of their own, and even some literature; they do not mingle with the Jews, but they practise similar religious observances.
Benin`, a densely populated and fertile country in W. Africa, between the Niger and Dahomey, with a city and river of the name; forms part of what was once a powerful kingdom; yields palm-oil, rice, maize, sugar, cotton, and tobacco.
Beni-souef`, a town in Middle Egypt, on the right bank of the Nile, 70 m. above Cairo; a centre of trade, with cotton-mills and quarries of alabaster.
Benjamin, Jacob's youngest son, by Rachel, the head of one of the twelve tribes, who were settled in a small fertile territory between Ephraim and Judah; the tribe to which St. Paul belonged.
Bennett, James Gordon, an American journalist, born at Keith, Scotland; trained for the Catholic priesthood; emigrated, a poor lad of 19, to America, got employment in a printing-office in Boston as proof-reader; started the New York Herald in 1835 at a low price as both proprietor and editor, an enterprise which brought him great wealth and the success he aimed at (1795-1872).
Bennett, James Gordon, son of preceding, conductor of the Herald; sent Stanley out to Africa, and supplied the funds.
Bennett, Sir Sterndale, an English musical composer and pianist, born at Sheffield, whose musical genius recommended him to Mendelssohn and Schumann; became professor of Music in Cambridge, and conductor of the Philharmonic Concerts; was president of the Royal Academy of Music (1816-1873).
Bennett, Wm., a High-Churchman, celebrated for having provoked the decision that the doctrine of the Real Presence is a dogma not inconsistent with the creed of the Church of England (1804-1886).
Ben`ningsen, Count, a Russian general, born at Brunswick; entered the Russian service under Catherine II.; was commander-in-chief at Eylau, fought at Borodino, and victoriously at Leipzig; he died at Hanover, whither he had retired on failure of his health (1745-1826).
Bentham, George, botanist, born near Plymouth, nephew of Jeremy and editor of his works, besides a writer on botany (1800-1884).
Bentham, Jeremy, a writer on jurisprudence and ethics, born in London; bred to the legal profession, but never practised it; spent his life in the study of the theory of law and government, his leading principle on both these subjects being utilitarianism, or what is called the greatest happiness principle, as the advocate of which he is chiefly remembered; a principle against which Carlyle never ceased to protest as a philosophy of man's life, but which he hailed as a sign that the crisis which must precede the regeneration of the world was come; a lower estimate, he thought, man could not form of his soul than as “a dead balance for weighing hay and thistles, pains and pleasures, &c.,” an estimate of man's soul which he thinks mankind will, when it wakes up again to a sense of itself, be sure to resent and repudiate (1748-1832).
Bentinck, Lord George, statesman and sportsman, a member of the Portland family; entered Parliament as a Whig, turned Conservative on the passing of the Reform Bill of 1832; served under Sir Robert Peel; assumed the leadership of the party as a Protectionist when Sir Robert Peel became a Free-trader, towards whom he conceived a strong personal animosity; died suddenly; the memory of him owes something to the memoir of his life by Lord Beaconsfield (1802-1848).
Bentinck, Lord William Henry Cavendish, Indian statesman, governor of Madras in 1806, but recalled for an error which led to the mutiny at Vellore; but was in 1827 appointed governor-general of India, which he governed wisely, abolishing many evils, such as Thuggism and Suttee, and effecting many beneficent reforms. Macaulay held office under him. He returned to England in 1835, became member for Glasgow in 1837, and died before he made any mark on home politics (1774-1839).
Bentinck, William, a distinguished statesman, first Earl of Portland, born in Holland; a favourite, friend, and adviser of William III., whom he accompanied to England, and who bestowed on him for his services great honours and large domains, which provoked ill-will against him; retired to Holland, after the king died in his arms, but returned afterwards (1648-1709).
Bentivoglio, an Italian family of princely rank, long supreme in Bologna; B., Guido, cardinal, though a disciple of Galileo, was one of the Inquisitors-General who signed his condemnation (1579-1641).
Bentley, Richard, scholar and philologist, born in Yorkshire; from the first devoted to ancient, especially classical, learning; rose to eminence as an authority on literary criticism, his “Dissertation upon the Epistles of Phalaris,” which he proved to be a forgery, commending him to the regard and esteem of all the scholars of Europe, a work which may be said to have inaugurated a new era in literary historical criticism (1662-1742).
Benuë, an affluent of the Niger, 300 m. long, falling into it 230 m. up, described by Dr. Barth and explored by Dr. Baikic, and offers great facilities for the prosecution of commerce.
Benvolio, a cantankerous, disputatious gentleman in “Romeo and Juliet.”
Benyow`sky, Count, a Hungarian, fought with the Poles against Russia; taken prisoner; was exiled to Kamchatka; escaped with the governor's daughter; came to France; sent out to Madagascar; was elected king by the natives over them; fell in battle against the French (1741-1786).
Benzene, a substance compounded of carbon and hydrogen, obtained by destructive distillation from coal-tar and other organic bodies, used as a substitute for turpentine and for dissolving grease.
Benzoin, a fragrant concrete resinous juice flowing from a styrax-tree of Sumatra, used as a cosmetic, and burned as incense.
Beowulf, a very old Anglo-Saxon romance consisting of 6356 short alliterative lines, and the oldest extant in the language, recording the exploits of a mythical hero of the name, who wrestled Hercules-wise, at the cost of his life, with first a formidable monster, and then a dragon that had to be exterminated or tamed into submission before the race he belonged to could live with safety on the soil.
Béranger, Pierre Jean de, a celebrated French song-writer, born at Paris, of the lower section of the middle class, and the first of his countrymen who in that department rose to the high level of a true lyric poet; his first struggles with fortune were a failure, but Lucien Bonaparte took him up, and under his patronage a career was opened up for him; in 1815 appeared as an author, and the sensation created was immense, for the songs were not mere personal effusions, but in stirring accord with, and contributed to influence, the great passion of the nation at the time; was, as a Republican—which brought him into trouble with the Bourbons—a great admirer of Napoleon as an incarnation of the national spirit, and contributed not a little to the elevation of his nephew to the throne, though he declined all patronage at his hands, refusing all honours and appointments; has been compared to Burns, but he lacked both the fire and the humour of the Scottish poet. “His poetical works,” says Professor Saintsbury, “consist entirely of chansons political, amatory, bacchanalian, satirical, philosophical after a fashion, and of almost every other complexion that the song can possibly take” (1780-1859).
Berar` (896), one of the central provinces of India, E. of Bombay; it occupies a fertile, well-watered valley, and yields large quantities of grain, and especially cotton.
Berat, Frédéric, a French poet and composer, author of a great number of popular songs (1800-1853).
Berber, native language spoken in the mountainous parts of Barbary.
Berber (8), a town in Nubia, on the Nile, occupied by the English; starting-point of caravans for the Red Sea; railway was begun to Suakim, but abandoned.
Ber`berah, the seaport of Somaliland, under Britain, with an annual fair that brings together at times as many as 30,000 people.
Berbers (3,000), a race aboriginal to Barbary and N. Africa, of a proud and unruly temper; though different from the Arab race, are of the same religion.
Berbice, the eastern division of British Guiana; produces sugar, cocoa, and timber.
Berbrugger, a French archæologist and philologist; wrote on Algiers, its history and monuments (1801-1869).
Berchta, a German Hulda, but of severer type. See Bertha.
Bercy, a commune on the right bank of the Seine, outside Paris, included in it since 1860; is the great mart for wines and brandies.
Bere`ans, a sect formed by John Barclay in 1778, who regard the Bible as the one exclusive revelation of God.
Berenger, or Berenga`rius, of Tours, a distinguished theologian, born at Tours; held an ecclesiastical office there, and was made afterwards archdeacon of Angers; ventured to deny the doctrine of transubstantiation, a denial for which he was condemned by successive councils of the Church, and which he was compelled more than once publicly to retract, though he so often and openly recalled his retractation that the pope, notwithstanding the opposition of the orthodox, deemed it prudent at length to let him alone. After this he ceased to trouble the Church, and retired to an island on the Loire, where he gave himself up to quiet meditation and prayer (998-1088).
Berenger I., king of Italy, grandson of Louis the Débonnaire, an able general; provoked the jealousy of the nobles, who dreaded the abridgment of their rights, which led to his assassination at their hands in 934. B. II., king of Italy, grandson of the preceding, was dethroned twice by the Emperor Otho, who sent him a prisoner to Bamberg, where he died, 966.
Berenger, Thomas, a French criminalist and magistrate (1785-1866).
Bereni`ce, a Jewish widow, daughter of Herod Agrippa, with whom Titus was fascinated, and whom he would have taken to wife, had not the Roman populace protested, from their Anti-Jewish prejudice, against it. The name was a common one among Egyptian as well as Jewish princesses.
Beresford, William Carr, Viscount, an English general, natural son of the first Marquis of Waterford; distinguished himself in many a military enterprise, and particularly in the Peninsular war, for which he was made a peer; he was a member of the Wellington administration, and master-general of the ordnance (1770-1854).
Beresi`na, a Russian river, affluent of the Dnieper, into which it falls after a course of 350 m.; it is serviceable as a water conveyance for large rafts of timber to the open sea, and is memorable for the disastrous passage of the French in their retreat from Moscow in 1812.
Berezov`, a town in Siberia, in the government of Tobolsk; a place of banishment.
Berg, Duchy of, on right bank of the Rhine, between Düsseldorf and Cologne, now part of Prussia; Murat was grand-duke of it by Napoleon's appointment.
Ber`gamo (42), a Lombard town, in a province of the same name, and 34 m. NE. of Milan, with a large annual fair in August, the largest in Italy; has grindstone quarries in the neighbourhood.
Bergasse, French jurisconsult, born at Lyons; celebrated for his quarrel with Beaumarchais; author of an “Essay on Property” (1750-1832).
Bergen (52), the old capital of Norway, on a fjord of the name, open to the Gulf Stream, and never frozen; the town, consisting of wooden houses, is built on a slope on which the streets reach down to the sea, and has a picturesque appearance; the trade, which is considerable, is in fish and fish products; manufactures gloves, porcelain, leather, etc.; the seat of a bishop, and has a cathedral.
Bergen-op-Zoom (11), a town in N. Brabant, once a strong place, and much coveted and frequently contested for by reason of its commanding situation; has a large trade in anchovies.
Ber`genroth, Gustav Adolph, historian, born in Prussia; held a State office, but was dismissed and exiled because of his sympathy with the revolutionary movement of 1848; came to England to collect materials for a history of the Tudors; examined in Simancas, in Spain, under great privations, papers on the period in the public archives; made of these a collection and published it in 1862-68, under the title of “Calendar of Letters, Despatches, &c., relating to Negotiations between England and Spain” (1813-1869).
Bergerac (11), a manufacturing town in France, 60 m. E. of Bordeaux, celebrated for its wines; it was a Huguenot centre, and suffered greatly in consequence.
Bergerac, Savinien Cyrano de, an eccentric man with comic power, a Gascon by birth; wrote a tragedy and a comedy; his best work a fiction entitled “Histoire Comique des États et Empires de la Lune et du Soleil”; fought no end of duels in vindication, it is said, of his preposterously large nose (1619-1655).
Berghaus, Heinrich, a geographer of note, born at Clèves; served in both the French and Prussian armies as an engineer, and was professor of mathematics at Berlin; his “Physical Atlas” is well known (1797-1884).
Berghem, a celebrated landscape-painter of the Dutch school, born at Haarlem (1624-1683).
Bergman, Torbern Olof, a Swedish chemist, studied under Linnæus, and became professor of Chemistry at Upsala; discovered oxalic acid; was the first to arrange and classify minerals on a chemical basis (1735-1784).
Beri, a town in the Punjab, 40 m. NW. of Delhi, in a trading centre.
Berkeley, a town in Gloucestershire, famous for its cattle.
Berkeley, George, bishop of Cloyne, born in Kilkenny; a philanthropic man, who conducted in a self-sacrificing spirit practical schemes for the good of humanity, which failed, but the interest in whom has for long centred, and still centres, in his philosophic teaching, his own interest in which was that it contributed to clear up our idea of God and consolidate our faith in Him, and it is known in philosophy as Idealism; only it must be understood, his idealism is not, as it was absurdly conceived to be, a denial of the existence of matter, but is an assertion of the doctrine that the universe, with every particular in it, as man sees it and knows it, is not the creation of matter but the creation of mind, and a reflex of the Eternal Reason that creates and dwells in both it and him; for as Dr. Stirling says, “the object can only be known in the subject, and therefore is subjective, and if subjective, ideal.” The outer, as regards our knowledge of it, is within; such is Berkeley's fundamental philosophical principle, and it is a principle radical to the whole recent philosophy of Europe (1684-1753).
Berkshire (238), a midland county of England, with a fertile, well-cultivated soil on a chalk bottom, in the upper valley of the Thames, one of the smallest but most beautiful counties in the country. In the E. part of it is Windsor Forest, and in the SE. Bagshot Heath. It is famous for its breed of pigs.
Berlichingen, Goetz von, surnamed “The Iron Hand,” a brave but turbulent noble of Germany, of the 15th and 16th centuries, the story of whose life was dramatised by Goethe, “to save,” as he said, “the memory of a brave man from darkness,” and which was translated from the German by Sir Walter Scott.
Berlin` (1,579), capital of Prussia and of the German empire; stands on the Spree, in a flat sandy plain, 177 m. by rail SE. of Hamburg. The royal and imperial palaces, the great library, the university, national gallery and museums, and the arsenal are all near the centre of the city. There are schools of science, art, agriculture, and mining; technical and military academies; a cathedral and some old churches; zoological and botanical gardens. Its position between the Baltic and North Seas, the Spree, the numerous canals and railways which converge on it, render it a most important commercial centre; its staple trade is in grain, cattle, spirits, and wool. Manufactures are extensive and very varied; the chief are woollens, machinery, bronze ware, drapery goods, and beer.
Berlin Decree, a decree of Napoleon of Nov. 21, 1806, declaring Britain in a state of blockade, and vessels trading with it liable to capture.
Berlioz, Hector, a celebrated musical composer and critic, born near Grenoble, in the dep. of Isère, France; sent to study medicine in Paris; abandoned it for music, to which he devoted his life. His best known works are the “Symphonie Fantastique,” “Romeo and Juliet,” and the “Damnation of Faust”; with the “Symphonie,” which he produced while he was yet but a student at the Conservatoire in Paris, Paganini was so struck that he presented him with 20,000 francs (1803-1869).
Ber`mondsey, a busy SE. suburb of London, on the S. bank of the Thames.
Bermoo`thes, the Bermudas.
Bermu`das (15), a group of 400 coral islands (five inhabited) in mid-Atlantic, 677 m. SE. of New York; have a delightful, temperate climate, and are a popular health resort for Americans. They produce a fine arrowroot, and export onions. They are held by Britain as a valuable naval station, and are provided with docks and fortifications.
Bernadotte, Jean Baptiste Jules, a marshal of France, born at Pau; rose from the ranks; distinguished himself in the wars of the Revolution and the Empire, though between him and Napoleon there was constant distrust; adopted by Charles XIII., king of Sweden; joined the Allies as a naturalised Swede in the war against France in alliance with Russia; became king of Sweden himself under the title of Charles XIV., to the material welfare, as it proved, of his adopted country (1764-1844).
Bernard, Claude, a distinguished French physiologist, born at St. Julien; he studied at Paris; was Majendie's assistant and successor in the College of France; discovered that the function of the pancreas is the digestion of ingested fats, that of the liver the transformation into sugar of certain elements in the blood, and that there are nervous centres in the body which act independently of the great cerebro-spinal centre (1813-1878).
Bernard, St., abbot of Clairvaux, born at Fontaines, in Burgundy; pronounced one of the grandest figures in the church militant; studied in Paris, entered the monastery of Citeaux, founded in 1115 a monastery at Clairvaux, in Champagne; drew around him disciples who rose to eminence as soldiers of the cross; prepared the statutes for the Knights-Templar; defeated Abelard in public debate, and procured his condemnation; founded 160 monasteries; awoke Europe to a second crusade; dealt death-blows all round to no end of heretics, and declined all honours to himself, content if he could only awake some divine passion in other men; represented in art as accompanied by a white dog, or as contemplating an apparition of the Virgin and the Child, or as bearing the implements of Christ's passion (1091-1174). Festival, Aug. 20.
Bernard, Simon, a French engineer, born at Dôle; distinguished as such in the service of Napoleon, and for vast engineering works executed in the United States, in the construction of canals and forts (1779-1839).
Bernard of Menthon, an ecclesiastic, founder of the monasteries of the Great and the Little St. Bernard, in the passage of the Alps (923-1008). Festival, June 15.
Bernard of Morlaix, a monk of Cluny, of the 11th century; wrote a poem entitled “De Contemptu Mundi,” translated by Dr. Neale, including “Jerusalem the Golden.”
Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, commonly called Saint-Pierre simply, a celebrated French writer, born at Havre; author of “Paul and Virginia,” written on the eve of the Revolution, called by Carlyle “the swan-song of old dying France,” (1739-1814).
Bernardine, St., of Siena, born at Massa Carrara, in Italy, of noble family; founder of the Observantines, a branch, and restoration on strict lines, of the Franciscan order; established 300 monasteries of the said branch; his works, written in a mystical vein, fill five folio vols. (1380-1444).
Bernauer, Agnes, wife of Duke Albrecht of Bavaria, whom his father, displeased at the marriage, had convicted of sorcery and drowned in the Danube.
Berne (47), a fine Swiss town on the Aar, which almost surrounds it, in a populous canton of the same name; since 1848 the capital of the Swiss Confederation; commands a magnificent view of the Bernese Alps; a busy trading and manufacturing city.
Berners, John Bouchier, Lord, writer or translator of romance; was Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1516, and governor of Calais from 1520; translated Froissart's “Huon of Bordeaux,” &c.
Berners, Juliana, writer on hunting and hawking; lived in the 14th century; said to have been prioress of a nunnery.
Bernese Alps, a chain in the Middle Alps, of which the eastern half is called the Bernese Oberland; form the watershed between the Aar and the Rhône.
Bernhard, Duke of Weimar, a great German general; distinguished himself on the Protestant side in the Thirty Years' war; fought under the standard of Gustavus Adolphus; held command of the left wing at the battle of Lützen, and completed the victory after the fall of Gustavus; died at Neuburg, as alleged, without sufficient proof, by poison (1604-1639).
Bernhardt, Sarah, a dramatic artiste, born in Paris; of Jewish descent, but baptized as a Christian; distinguished specially as a tragédienne; of abilities qualifying her to shine in other departments of the profession and of art, of which she has given proof; b. 1844.
Berni, Francesco, an Italian poet, born in Tuscany, who excelled in the burlesque, to whom the Italian as a literary language owes much; remodelled Boiardo's “Orlando Innamorato” in a style surpassing that of the original.
Bernier, a French physician and traveller, born at Angers; physician for 12 years to Aurungzebe, the Great Mogul; published “Travels,” a work full of interest, and a model of exactitude (1625-1688).
Bernier, The Abbé, born in Mayenne, France; one of the principal authors of the Concordat; promoted afterwards to be Bishop of Orleans (1762-1806).
Berni`na, a mountain in the Swiss canton of Grisons, 13,290 ft. high, remarkable for its extensive glaciers.
Bernini, Giovanni Lorenzo, an Italian painter, sculptor, and architect, born at Naples; produced his “Apollo and Daphne” at eighteen, his masterpiece; was architect to the Pope, and designed the colonnade of St. Peter's; he died wealthy (1598-1680).
Bernouil`li, name of a Swiss family of mathematicians, born at Basel, though of Dutch origin—James, John, and Daniel, of whom John is the most celebrated; was professor first at St. Petersburg and then at Basel; discovered the exponential calculus and the method of integrating rational fractions, as well as the line of swiftest descent (1667-1748).
Bernstorff, Count, a celebrated statesman, diplomatist, and philanthropist of Denmark; called the Danish Oracle by Frederick the Great; founded an Agricultural Society and an hospital at Copenhagen, and obtained the emancipation of the serfs (1711-1772).
Bernstorff, Count, a nephew of the preceding; also statesman and diplomatist (1712-1772).
Bernstorff, Pierre, Danish minister, son of the preceding, a guardian of civil and political liberty (1735-1797).
Bero`sus, a priest of the temple of Belus in Babylon, who, 3rd century B.C., translated into Greek certain records of Babylonish history, valuable fragments of which are preserved by Josephus and Eusebius; these have been collected and published by W. Richter, in Germany.
Berri, an ancient province of France, forms dep. of Indre and Cher, which became crown property in 1100 under Philippe I., and a duchy in 1630, giving title to a succession of French princes.
Berri, Duc de, second son of Charles X. and father of Count de Chambord, a benevolent man; assassinated by a fanatic, Louvel, as he was leaving the Opera House (1778-1820).
Berri, Duchesse de, dowager of preceding, distinguished herself by her futile efforts to restore the Bourbon dynasty in the reign of Louis Philippe (1798-1890).
Berryer, Pierre Antoine, an eminent French barrister, born at Paris; a red-hot Legitimist, which brought him into trouble; was member of the National Assembly of 1848; inimical to the Second Empire, and openly protested against the coup d'état (1790-1868).
Ber`serker, a Norse warrior who went into battle unharnessed, whence his name (which means bare of sark or shirt of mail), and is said to have been inspired with such fury as to render him invulnerable and irresistible.
Bert, Paul, a French physiologist and statesman, born at Auxerre; was professor of Physiology at Paris; took to politics after the fall of the Empire; Minister of Public Instruction under Gambetta; sent governor to Tonquin; died of fever soon after; wrote a science primer for children entitled “La Première Année d'Enseignement Scientifique” (1833-1886).
Bertha, goddess in the S. German mythology, of the spinning-wheel principally, and of the household as dependent on it, in behalf of which and its economical management she is often harsh to idle spinners; at her festival thrift is the rule.
Bertha, St., a British princess, wife of Ethelbert, king of Kent; converted him to Christianity.
Berthe “au Grand Pied” (i. e. Long Foot), wife of Pepin the Short, and mother of Charlemagne, so called from her club foot.
Berthelier, a Swiss patriot, an uncompromising enemy of the Duke of Savoy in his ambition to lord it over Geneva.
Berthelot, Pierre Eugène, a French chemist, born at Paris; professor in the College of France; distinguished for his researches in organic chemistry, and his attempt to produce organic compounds; the dyeing trade owes much to his discoveries in the extraction of dyes from coal-tar; he laid the foundation of thermo-chemistry; b. 1827.
Berthier, Alexandre, prince of Wagram and marshal of France, born at Versailles; served with Lafayette in the American war, and rose to distinction in the Revolution; became head of Napoleon's staff, and his companion in all his expeditions; swore fealty to the Bourbons at the restoration of 1814; on Napoleon's return retired with his family to Bamberg; threw himself from a window, maddened at the sight of Russian troops marching past to the French frontier (1753-1815).
Berthollet, Count, a famous chemist, native of Savoy, to whom we owe the discovery of the bleaching properties of chlorine, the employment of carbon in purifying water, &c., and many improvements in the manufactures; became a senator and officer of the Legion of Honour under Napoleon; attached himself to the Bourbons on their return, and was created a peer (1744-1822).
Berthoud, a celebrated clockmaker, native of Switzerland; settled in Paris; invented the marine chronometer to determine the longitude at sea (1727-1807).
Bertin “l'Ainé,” or the Elder, a French journalist, born at Paris; founder and editor of the Journal des Débats, which he started in 1799; friend of Châteaubriand (1766-1841).
Bertin, Pierre, introduced stenography into France, invented by Taylor in England (1751-1819).
Bertin, Rose, milliner to Marie Antoinette, famed for her devotion to her.
Bertinazzi, a celebrated actor, born at Turin, long a favourite in Paris (1710-1788).
Bertrand and Raton, two personages in La Fontaine's fable of the Monkey and the Cat, of whom R. cracks the nut and B. eats it.
Ber`trand, Henri Gratien, Comte, a French general, and faithful adherent of Napoleon, accompanied him in all his campaigns, to and from Elba, as well as in his exile at St. Helena; conducted his remains back to France in 1840 (1770-1844).
Bertrand de Molleville, Minister of Marine under Louis XVI.; a fiery partisan of royalty, surnamed the enfant terrible of the monarchy (1744-1818).
Berton, Pierre, French composer of operas (1726-1780). Henri, his son, composed operas; wrote a treatise on harmony (1761-1844).
Bérulle, Cardinal, born at Troyes; founder of the order of Carmelites, and of the Congregation of the Oratory (1576-1629).
Berwick, James Fitz-James, Duke of, a natural son of James II., a naturalised Frenchman; defended the rights of his father; was present with him at the battle of the Boyne; distinguished himself in Spain, where he gained the victory of Almanza; was made marshal of France; fell at the siege of Philippsburg; left “Memoirs” (1670-1734).
Berwick, North, a place on the S. shore of the Forth, in Haddingtonshire; a summer resort, specially for the golfing links.
Berwick-on-Tweed (13), a town on the Scotch side of the Tweed, at its mouth, reckoned since 1835 in Northumberland, though at one time treated as a separate county; of interest from its connection with the Border wars, during which it frequently changed hands, till in 1482 the English became masters of it.
Berwickshire (32), a fertile Scottish county between the Lammermoors, inclusive, and the Tweed; is divided into the Merse, a richly fertile plain in the S., the Lammermoors, hilly and pastoral, dividing the Merse from Mid and East Lothian, and Lauderdale, of hill and dale, along the banks of the Leader; Greenlaw the county town.
Berze`lius, Johan Jakob, Baron, a celebrated Swedish chemist, one of the creators of modern chemistry; instituted the chemical notation by symbols based on the notion of equivalents; determined the equivalents of a great number of simple bodies, such as cerium and silenium; discovered silenium, and shared with Davy the honour of propounding the electro-chemical theory; he ranks next to Linnæus as a man of science in Sweden (1779-1848).
Besançon (57), capital of the dep. of Doubs, in France; a very strong place; fortified by Vauban; abounds in relics of Roman and mediæval times; watchmaking a staple industry, employing some 15,000 of the inhabitants; manufactures also porcelain and carpets.
Besant, Mrs. Annie, née Wood, born in London; of Irish descent; married to an English clergyman, from whom she was legally separated; took a keen interest in social questions and secularism; drifted into theosophy, of which she is now an active propagandist; is an interesting woman, and has an interesting address as a lecturer; b. 1847.
Besant, Sir Walter, a man of letters, born at Portsmouth; eminent chiefly as a novelist of a healthily realistic type; wrote a number of novels jointly with James Rice, and is the author of “French Humourists,” as well as short stories; champion of the cause of Authors versus Publishers, and is chairman of the committee; b. 1838.
Besenval, Baron, a Swiss, commandant of Paris under Louis XVI.; a royalist stunned into a state of helpless dismay at the first outbreak of the Revolution in Paris; could do nothing in the face of it but run for his life (1722-1791).
Besika Bay, a bay on the Asiatic coast, near the mouth of the Dardanelles.
Besme, a Bohemian in the pay of the Duke of Guise; assassinated Coligny, and was himself killed by Berteauville, a Protestant gentleman, in 1571.
Bess, Good Queen, a familiar name of Queen Elizabeth.
Bessara`bia (1,688), a government in the SW. of Russia, between the Dniester and the Pruth; a cattle-breeding province; exports cattle, wool, and tallow.
Bessar`ion, John, cardinal, native of Trebizond; contributed by his zeal in Greek literature to the fall of scholasticism and the revival of letters; tried hard to unite the Churches of the East and the West; joined the latter, and was made cardinal; too much of a Grecian to recommend himself to the popehood, to which he was twice over nearly elevated (1395-1472).
Bessel, Friedrich Wilhelm, a Prussian astronomer of prominent ability, born at Minden; professor of Mathematics at Königsberg, and director of the Observatory; discovered—what was a great achievement—the parallax of the fixed star 61 Cygne; his greatest work, “Fundamenta Astronomiæ,” on which he spent 10 years, a marvel, like all he did, of patient toil and painstaking accuracy (1784-1846).
Bessemer, Sir Henry, civil engineer and inventor, born at Charlton, Herts; of his many inventions the chief is the process, named after him, of converting pig-iron into steel at once by blowing a blast of air through the iron while in fusion till everything extraneous is expelled, and only a definite quantity of carbon is left in combination, a process which has revolutionised the iron and steel trade all over the world, leading, as has been calculated, to the production of thirty times as much steel as before and at one-fifth of the cost per ton (1813-1898).
Bessemer process. See Bessemer.
Bessières, Jean Baptiste, Duke of Istria, marshal of France, born at Languedoc, of humble parentage; rose from the ranks; a friend and one of the ablest officers of Napoleon, and much esteemed by him; distinguished himself in the Italian campaign, in Egypt, and at Marengo; was shot at Lützen the day before the battle (1768-1813).
Bessus, a satrap of Bactria under Darius, who assassinated his master after the battle of Arbela, but was delivered over by Alexander to Darius's brother, by whom he was put to death, 328 B.C.
Bestiary, a name given to a class of books treating of animals, viewed allegorically.
Bethany, village on E. of the Mount of Olives, abode of Lazarus and his sisters.
Bethel (i. e. house of God), a place 11 m. N. of Jerusalem, scene of Jacob's dream, and famous in the history of the patriarchs.
Bethencourt, a Norman baron, in 1425 discovered and conquered the Canaries, and held them as a fief of the crown of Castile.
Bethlehem (3), a village 6 m. S. of Jerusalem, the birthplace of Jesus Christ and King David, with a convent containing the Church of the Nativity; near it is the grotto where St. Jerome translated the Bible into Latin.
Bethlen-Gabor, prince of Transylvania, assumed the title of king of Hungary; assisted Bohemia in the Thirty Years' war (1580-1629).
Bethnal Green (129), an eastern suburb of London, a parliamentary borough, a poor district, and scene of benevolent enterprises.
Betterton, Thomas, born at Westminster, a tragic actor, and as such an interpreter of Shakespeare on, it is believed, the traditional lines.
Bettina, the Countess of Arnim, a passionate admirer of Goethe.
Betty, W. Henry, a boy actor, known as the Infant Roscius; amassed a fortune; lived afterwards retired (1791-1874).
Beule, a French statesman and archæologist; superintended excavations on the Acropolis of Athens; held office under Macmahon (1826-1874).
Beust, Count von, a German statesman, born at Dresden; Minister for Foreign Affairs in Saxony; of strong conservative leanings, friendly to Austria; became Chancellor of the Austro-Hungarian empire; adopted a liberal policy; sympathised with France in the Franco-German war; resigned office in 1871; left “Memoirs” (1809-1886).
Beuthen (36), a manufacturing town in Prussian Silesia, in the centre of a mining district.
Beverley (12), a Yorkshire manufacturing town, 8 m. NW. of Hull, with a Gothic minster, which contains the tombs of the Percys.
Beverley, John, a learned man, tutor to the Venerable Bede, archbishop of York, and founder of a college for secular priests at Beverley; was one of the most learned men of his time; d. 721.
Bevis of Southampto, or Hampton, Sir, a famous knight of English mediæval romance, a man of gigantic stature, whose marvellous feats are recorded in Drayton's “Polyolbion.”
Bewick, Thomas, a distinguished wood-engraver, born in Northumberland, apprenticed to the trade in Newcastle; showed his art first in woodcuts for his “History of Quadrupeds,” the success of which led to the publication of his “History of British Birds,” in which he established his reputation both as a naturalist, in the truest sense, and an artist (1753-1828).
Bewick, William, a great wood-engraver; did a cartoon from the Elgin Marbles for Goethe (1795-1866).
Beyle, Marie Henri, French critic and novelist, usually known by his pseudonym “De Stendal,” born at Grenoble; wrote in criticism “De l'Amour,” and in fiction “La Chartreuse de Parme” and “Le Rouge et le Noir”; an ambitious writer and a cynical (1788-1842).
Beypur, a port in the Madras presidency, a railway terminus, with coal and iron in the neighbourhood.
Beyrout (200), the most nourishing commercial city on the coast of Syria, and the port of Damascus, from which it is distant 55 m.; a very ancient place.
Beza, Theodore, a French Protestant theologian, born in Burgundy, of good birth; professor of Greek at Lausanne; deputed from Germany to intercede for the Huguenots in France, persuaded the king of Navarre to favour the Protestants; settled in Geneva, became the friend and successor of Calvin; wrote a book, “De Hereticis a Civili Magistratu Puniendis,” in which he justified the burning of Servetus, and a “History of the Reformed Churches” in France; died at 86 (1519-1605).
Bezants, Byzantine gold coins of varying weight and value, introduced by the Crusaders into England, where they were current till the time of Edward III.
Béziers (42), a manufacturing town in the dep. of Hérault, 49 m. SW. of Montpellier; manufactures silk fabrics and confectionary.
Bhagalpur` (69), a town in Bengal, on the right bank of the Ganges, 265 m. NW. of Calcutta.
Bhagavad Gîtâ, (i. e. Song of Krishna), a poem introduced into the Mahâbhârata, divided into three sections, and each section into six chapters, called Upanishads; being a series of mystical lectures addressed by Krishna to his royal pupil Arjuna on the eve of a battle, from which he shrunk, as it was with his own kindred; the whole conceived from the point of view or belief, calculated to allay the scruples of Arjuna, which regards the extinction of existence as absorption in the Deity.
Bhamo` (6), a town in Burmah, the chief centre of trade with China, conducted mainly by Chinese, and a military station, only 40 m. from the Chinese frontier.
Bhartpur` (68), a town in Rajputana, in a native state of the name; yielding wheat, maize, cotton, sugar, with quarries of building stone; 30 m. W. of Agra; carries on an industry in the manufacture of chowries.
Bhartrihari, Indian author of apothegms, who appears to have lived in the 11th century B.C., and to have been of royal rank.
Bhils, a rude pro-Aryan race of Central India, still untrained to settled life; number 750,000.
Bhod-pa, name given to the aborigines of Thibet, and applied by the Hindus to all the Thibetan peoples.
Bhopal` (952), a well-governed native state in Central India, under British protection, with a capital city (70) of the same name; under a government that has been always friendly to Britain.
Bhutan (20), an independent state in the Eastern Himalayas, with magnificent scenery; subsidised by Britain; has a government like that of Thibet; religion the same, though the people are at a low stage of civilisation; the country exports horses, musk, and salt.
Biaf`ra, Bight of, a large bay in the Gulf of Guinea, in W. Africa; includes several islands, and receives into it the waters of the Calabar rivers.
Biard, Auguste François, French genre painter, born at Lyons; journeyed round the world, sketching by the way; was successful in rendering burlesque groups (1800-1882).
Biarritz, a bathing-place on the Bay of Biscay, 6 m. SW. of Bayonne; became a place of fashionable resort by the visits of the Empress Eugenie.
Bias, one of the seven wise men of Greece, born at Priene, in Ionia; lived in the 6th century B.C.; many wise sayings are ascribed to him; was distinguished for his indifference to possessions, which moth and rust can corrupt, and thieves break through and steal.
Bible, The (i. e. the Book par excellence, and not so much a book as a library of books), a collection of sacred writings divided into two parts, the Old Testament and the New; the Old, written in Hebrew, comprehending three groups of books, the Pentateuch, the Prophets, and the Hagiographa, bearing on the religion, the history, the institutions, and the manners of the Jews; and the New, written in Greek, comprehending the Four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, and the Epistles. The Old Testament was translated into Greek at Alexandria by 72 Jews, 280 B.C., and is known as the Septuagint; and the whole book, Old and New, was translated into Latin in a grotto near Bethlehem by St. Jerome, A.D. 385-404, and is known as the Vulgate, after which the two came to be regarded by the Church as of equal divine authority and as sections of one book. It may be permitted to note that the Bible is written throughout, not in a speculative or a scientific, but a spiritual interest, and that its final aim is to guide men in the way of life. The spirit in which it is composed is the spirit of conviction; its essence, both in the root of it and the fruit of it, is faith, and that primarily in a moral power above, and ultimately a moral principle within, both equally divine. The one principle of the book is that loyalty to the divine commands is the one foundation of all well-being, individual and social.
Biblia Pauperum (i. e. Bible of the Poor), a book consisting of some 50 leaves, with pictures of scenes in the Life of Christ, and explanatory inscriptions, printed, from wooden blocks, in the 15th century, and before the invention of printing by movable types.
Bibulus, a colleague of Julius Cæsar; a mere cipher, a fainéant.
Bicêtre, a hospital, originally a Carthusian monastery, in the S. side of Paris, with a commanding view of the Seine and the city; since used for old soldiers, and now for confirmed lunatics.
Bichât, Marie François Xavier, an eminent French anatomist and physiologist; physician to the Hôtel-Dieu, Paris; one of the first to resolve the structure of the human body into, as “Sartor” has it, “cellular, vascular, and muscular tissues;” his great work “Anatomie Générale appliquée à la Physiologie et à la Medecine”; died at 31 (1771-1802).
Bickerstaff, Isaac, an Irish dramatist of 18th century, whose name was adopted as a nom de plume by Swift and Steele.
Bickersteth, Edward, English clergyman; author of several evangelical works, and one of the founders of the Evangelical Alliance (1786-1850).
Bickerton, Sir Richard, vice-admiral, served in several naval engagements, and died commander-in-chief at Plymouth in 1792.
Biddery ware, ware of tin, copper, lead, and zinc, made at Bidar, in India.
Bidding Prayer, an exhortation to prayer in some special reference, followed by the Lord's Prayer, in which the congregation joins.
Biddle, John, a Socinian writer in the time of Charles I. and the Commonwealth; much persecuted for his belief, and was imprisoned, but released by Cromwell; regarded as the founder of English Unitarianism; author of a “Confession of Faith concerning the Holy Trinity” (1615-1662).
Bidpaï, or Pilpaï, the presumed author of a collection of Hindu fables of ancient date, in extensive circulation over the East, and widely translated.
Biela's Comet, a comet discovered by Biela, an Austrian officer, in 1826; appears, sometimes unobserved, every six years.
Bielefeld (39), a manufacturing town in Westphalia, with a large trade in linen, and the centre of the trade.
Bielu`ka, with its twin peaks, highest of the Altai Mountains, 11,100 ft.
Bienne, Lake of, in the Swiss canton of Berne; the Aar is led into it when in flood, so as to prevent inundation below; on the shores of it are remains of lake-dwellings, and an island in it, St. Pierre, the retreat of Rousseau in 1765.
Bifröst, a bridge in the Norse mythology stretching from heaven to earth, of firm solidity and exquisite workmanship, represented in the rainbow, of which the colours are the reflections of the precious stones.
Bigelow, Erastus Brigham, American inventor of weaving machines, born in Massachusetts (1814-1879).
Big-endians, a name given to the Catholics, as Little-endians is the name given to the Protestants, in the imaginary kingdom of Lilliput, of which the former are regarded as heretics by the latter because they break their eggs at the big end.
Biggar, a town in Lanarkshire, birthplace of Dr. John Brown and of the Gladstone ancestry.
Biglow, imaginary author of poems in the Yankee dialect, written by James Russell Lowell.
Bijapur`, city in the presidency of Bombay, once the capital of an extensive kingdom, now deserted, but with remains of its former greatness.
Bilba`o (50), capital of the Basque prov. of Biscay, in Spain; a commercial city of ancient date, famous at one time for its steel, specially in Queen Elizabeth's time, when a rapier was called a “bilbo.”
Bilderdijk, Willem, Dutch poet, born at Amsterdam (1756-1831).
Bile, a fluid secreted from the blood by the liver to aid in digestion, the secretion of which is most active after food.
Billaud-Varennes, Jean Nicolas, “a grim, resolute, unrepentant” member of the Jacobin Club; egged on the mob during the September massacres in the name of liberty; was president of the Convention; assisted at the fall of Robespierre, but could not avert his own; was deported to Surinam, and content to die there rather than return to France, which Bonaparte made him free to do; died at Port-au-Prince (1756-1819).
Billaut, Adam, the carpenter poet, called “Maître Adam,” born at Nevers, and designated “Virgile au Rabot” (a carpenter's plane); d. 1662.
Billings, Robert William, architect, born in London; delineator of old historical buildings; his great work “Baronial and Ecclesiastical Antiquities of Scotland,” richly illustrated; was engaged in the restoration of old buildings, as well as delineating them (1813-1874).
Billingsgate, a fish-market in London, below London Bridge; also a name given to low, coarse language indulged in there.
Billington, Elizabeth, née Weichsel, a celebrated singer, born in London, of German descent; kept up her celebrity to the last; died at Venice in 1817.
Bilney, Thomas, martyr, born in Norfolk, a priest who adopted the reformed doctrine; was twice arraigned, and released on promise not to preach, but could not refrain, and was at last burned as a heretic in 1531.
Bilocation, the power or state, ascribed to certain of the saints, of appearing in two places at the same time.
Bimetallism, the employment of two metals (gold and silver) in the currency of a country as legal tender at a fixed relative value, the ratio usually proposed being 1 to 15½.
Bimini, a fabulous island with a fountain possessed of the virtue of restoring youth.
Binet, a French littérateur, translator of Horace and Virgil (1732-1812).
Bingen, a manufacturing and trading town on the left bank of the Rhine, in Grand-Duchy of Hesse Darmstadt, opposite which is the tower associated with the myth of Bishop Hatto.
Bingham, Joseph, an English divine, born at Wakefield; author of “Origines Ecclesiasticæ,” a laborious and learned work; lost his all in the South-Sea Scheme and died (1668-1723).
Biogenesis, name of the theory that derives life from life, and opposed to Abiogenesis (q. v.).
Biology, the science of animal life in a purely physical reference, or of life in organised bodies generally, including that of plants, in its varied forms and through its successive stages.
Bion, a Greek pastoral poet of 3rd century B.C., born at Smyrna; a contemporary of Theocritus; settled in Sicily; was poisoned, it is said, by a rival; little of his poetry survives.
Biot, Jean Baptiste, an eminent French mathematician, astronomer, and physicist, born at Paris; professor of Physics in the College of France; took part in measuring an arc of the meridian along with Arago; made observations on the polarisation of light, and contributed numerous memoirs to scientific journals; wrote works on astronomy (1774-1862).
Birague, René de, cardinal and chancellor of France, born at Milan; charged, especially by contemporary historians, as the chief instigator of the St. Bartholomew Massacre (1507-1583).
Birch, Samuel, archæologist and Egyptologist, born in London; keeper of Oriental antiquities in the British Museum; had an extensive knowledge of Egyptology, wrote largely, and contributed articles on that and kindred archæological subjects (1813-1885).
Birch, Thomas, antiquary, born in London; wrote a history of the Royal Society (1705-1765).
Birch-Pfeiffer, Charlotte, actress, born in Stuttgart; acted in Berlin; wrote dramas (1800-1868).
Bird, Edward, an English genre painter, born in Wolverhampton, settled in Bristol; among his works are the “Choristers Rehearsing,” the “Field of Chevy Chase,” and the “Day after the Battle,” pronounced his masterpiece (1772-1819).
Bird, Golding, M.D., a great authority in kidney disease, of which he himself died (1815-1854).
Bird, William, a musician in the time of Elizabeth, composed madrigals; “Non Nobis, Domine,” is ascribed to him (1563-1623).
Bird's nest, the nest of a species of swift, formed from a marine plant that has been first digested by a bird, and esteemed a great luxury by the Chinese.
Biren, Duke of Courland, son of a peasant, favourite of the Russian Empress Anne; held the reins of government even after her death; ruled with great cruelty; was banished to Siberia, but recalled, and had his honours restored to him, which in six years after he relinquished in favour of his eldest son (1687-1772).
Birkbeck, George, M.D., a Yorkshireman, a zealous promoter all over the country of mechanics' institutes, was founder of the London Institute, in consociation with Brougham and others interested in the diffusion of useful knowledge (1776-1841).
Birkenhead (100), in Cheshire, on the Mersey, opposite Liverpool and a suburb of it; a town of rapid growth, due to the vicinity of Liverpool; has large shipbuilding-yards and docks.
Birkenhead, Sir John, a political writer, several times imprisoned during the Commonwealth for his obtrusive royalism (1615-1679).
Birmingham (478), in the NW. of Warwickshire, 112 m. NW. of London by rail; is the chief town of the Midlands, and celebrated all over the world for its metal ware. All kinds of engines and machinery, fine gold, silver, copper, and brass ware, cutlery and ammunition are made here; steel pens, buttons, nails, and screws are specialties. It is a picturesque town with many fine buildings, libraries, art gallery and museums, educational institutions, a cathedral, and a great town-hall, where the triennial musical festival is held. Of this town Burne-Jones was a native, and Priestley, George Dawson, and Dale were dissenting ministers.
Birnam, a hill near Dunkeld, in Perthshire; contains part of a forest mentioned in “Macbeth.”
Biron, a madcap lord in “Love's Labour's Lost.”
Biron, Baron de, marshal of France, born at Périgord; served bravely under Henry IV.; though a Catholic, favoured the Huguenots; narrowly escaped at the Massacre of St. Bartholomew; was killed at the siege of Épernay; carried a note-book with him everywhere, and so observant was he that it passed into proverb, “You will find it in Biron's note-book” (1524-1592).
Biron, Duc de, son of the preceding; served also bravely under Henry IV.; but being a man of no principle and discontented with the reward he got for his services, intrigued with the Duke of Savoy and with Spain against Henry; was arrested and sent to the Bastille, where, after trial, he was beheaded (1562-1602).
Biscay, Bay of, a bay in the Atlantic, extending from Cape Ortegal, in Spain, to Cape Finisterre, in France, and 400 m. broad, of depth varying from 20 to 200 fathoms, and, under SW. winds particularly, one of the stormiest of seas.
Bischof, Karl Gustav, chemist, born at Nüremberg, professor at Bonn; experimented on the inflammable power of gas (1792-1870).
Bischoff, Theodor Ludwig Wilhelm, distinguished biologist, born at Hanover; made a special study of embryology; was professor of Anatomy at Heidelberg, of Physiology at Giessen, and of both at Münich (1807-1882).
Bishop, originally an overseer of souls, eventually an overseer of churches, especially of a district, and conceived of by High-Churchmen as representing the apostles and deriving his powers by transmission from them.
Bishop, Sir Henry Rowley, an English composer, born in London, composer and director of music in Covent Garden Theatre for 14 years; produced 60 pieces, of which “Guy Mannering,” “The Miller and his Men,” are still in favour; was for a brief space professor of Music in Edinburgh University, and eventually held a similar chair in Oxford (1786-1855).
Bishop of Hippo, St. Augustine, as once in office there.
Bishop-Auckland (10), a market-town 9 m. SW. of Durham, where the bishop of Durham has his residence, a palatial structure; it has coal-mines close by; manufactures machinery and cotton goods.
Bismarck Archipelago (188), an archipelago formerly called New Britain, NE. of New Guinea; under the protectorate of Germany.
Bismarck-Schönhausen, Eduard Leopold, Prince von, born at Schönhausen; woke up into civil life by the events of 1848; took a bold stand against revolutionary ideas and measures; conceived the idea of freeing the several States of Germany from foreign control, and welding them into one under the crown of Prussia. Summoned in 1862 by King William to be his political adviser, his influence was at first distrusted, but the annexation of Sleswig-Holstein by force of arms in 1863 raised him into general favour. His next feat, the humiliation of Austria at Königgrätz in 1866, and the consequent erection of a German Confederation, with Prussia at its head, made him the idol of the nation. His treatment of Napoleon III. provoked the latter into a declaration of war, and to an advance on the part of the French against Berlin. To the surprise of nearly all Europe, the Germans proved to be a nation of soldiers, marshalled as army never was before, and beat the French ignominiously back from the Rhine. Count Bismarck had the satisfaction of seeing the power of France, that still threatened, as well as that of Austria, helpless at his feet, the German empire restored under a Hohenzollern king, and himself installed as chancellor of the monarch he had served so well. Nothing he did after this—though he reformed the coinage, codified the law, established protection, increased the army, and repressed Socialism—equalled this great feat, and for this a grateful nation must ever honour his name. If he ceased to be chancellor of Germany on the accession of William II., it was because the young king felt he would have a freer hand with a minister more likely to be under his control (1815-1898).
Bissa`gos, a group of some 20 volcanic islands off the coast of Senegambia, with a large negro population; yield tropical products, and belong now to Portugal.
Bissen, a Danish sculptor, born in Sleswig; a pupil of Thorwaldsen; intrusted by him to finish a statue he left unfinished at his death; he produced some fine works, but his best known are his “Cupid Sharpening his Arrow” and “Atalanta Hunting” (1798-1868).
Bithur, a town on the right bank of the Ganges, 12 m. above Cawnpore, where Nana Sahib lived, and concocted the conspiracy which developed into the mutiny of 1857.
Bithynia, a country in the NW. of Asia Minor, anciently so called; the people of it were of Thracian origin.
Bitlis (25), a high-lying town in Asiatic Turkey, 62 m. W. of Van; stands in a valley 8470 ft. above, the sea-level, with a population of Mohammedans and Armenians.
Bitumen, an inflammable mineral substance, presumably of vegetable origin, called Naphtha when liquid and light-coloured, Petroleum when less fluid and darker, Maltha when viscid, and Asphalt when solid.
Bitzius, a Swiss author, composed stories of Swiss life under the nom de plume of Jeremias Gotthelf, fascinating from their charming simplicity and truth; he is much admired by Ruskin; was by profession a Protestant pastor, the duties of which he continued to discharge till his death (1797-1854).
Bizerta (10), a seaport of Tunis, northernmost town in Africa, 38 m. NW. of the capital, with an excellent harbour.
Bizet, Georges, an operatic composer, born at Paris; his greatest work “Carmen”; died of heart-disease shortly after its appearance (1838-1875).
Björnsen, a Norwegian author, born at Kvikne; composed tales, dramas, and lyrics, all of distinguished merit and imbued with a patriotic spirit; his best play “Sigurd the Bastard”; an active and zealous promoter of liberalism, sometimes extreme, both in religion and politics; his writings are numerous, and they rank high; his songs being highly appreciated by his countrymen; b. 1832.
Black, Joseph, a celebrated chemist, born at Bordeaux, of Scotch parents; the discoverer of what has been called latent heat, but what is really transformed energy; professor of Chemistry, first in Glasgow, then in Edinburgh, where his lectures were very popular; his discoveries in chemistry were fruitful in results (1728-1799).
Black, William, novelist, born in Glasgow; started life as a journalist in connection with the Morning Star; has written several novels, over 30 in number, about the West Highlands of Scotland, rich in picturesque description; the best known and most admired, “A Daughter of Heth,” the “Madcap Violet,” “Macleod of Dare,” “The Strange Adventures of a Phæton,” and “A Princess of Thule.” “But when are you going to write a book, Mr. Black?” said Carlyle to him one day (1841-1898).
Black Art, name given to the presumed power of evoking evil spirits.
Black Assize, a plague at Oxford in 1557, which carried off 300 victims; caught at the assize from the prisoners under trial.
Black Death, a name given to a succession of fatal epidemics that devastated the world from China to Ireland in the 14th century, believed to be the same as the Oriental plague, though attended with peculiar symptoms; the most serious was that of 1348, which, as is reckoned, stripped England alone of one-third of its inhabitants.
Black Forest (488), a wooded mountain chain 4000 ft. high (so called from the black pines that cover it), which runs parallel with the Rhine, and E. of it, through Würtemberg and Baden, from the Swiss frontier to Carlsruhe; is remarkable for its picturesque scenery and its mineral wealth; it possesses many health resorts, as Baden-Baden and Wildbad, where are mineral springs; silver, copper, cobalt, lead, and iron are wrought in many places; the women and children of the region make articles of woodwork, such as wooden clocks, &c.
Black Friars, monks of the Dominican order; name of a district in London where they had a monastery.
Black Hole of Calcutta, a confined apartment 13 ft. square, into which 146 English prisoners were crammed by the orders of Surajah Dowia on the 19th June 1756; their sufferings were excruciating, and only 23 survived till morning.
Black Lands, lands in the heart of Russia, extending between the Carpathians and the Urals, constituting one-third of the soil, and consisting of a layer of black earth or vegetable mould, of from 3 to 20 ft. in thickness, and a chief source, from its exhaustless fertility, of the wealth of the country.
Black Monday, Easter Monday in 1351, remarkable for the extreme darkness that prevailed, and an intense cold, under which many died.
Black Prince, Prince of Wales, son of Edward III., so called, it is said, from the colour of his armour; distinguished himself at Crécy, gained the battle of Poitiers, but involved his country in further hostilities with France; returned to England, broken in health, to die (1330-1376).
Black Rod, Gentleman Usher of, an official of the House of Lords, whose badge of office is a black rod surmounted by a gold lion; summons the Commons to the House, guards the privileges of the House, &c.
Black Saturday, name given in Scotland to Saturday, 4th August 1621; a stormy day of great darkness, regarded as a judgment of Heaven against Acts then passed in the Scottish Parliament tending to establish Episcopacy.
Black Sea, or Euxine, an inland sea, lying between Europe and Asia, twice the size of Britain, being 700 m. in greatest length and 400 m. in greatest breadth; communicates in the N. with the Sea of Azov, and in the SW., through the Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmora, and the Dardanelles, with the Mediterranean. It washes the shores of Turkey, Rumelia, Bulgaria, Russia, and Asia Minor; receives the waters of the Danube, Dneister, Bug, and Don, from Europe, and the Kizil-Irmak and Sakaria from Asia—three times as much as is received by the Mediterranean. It has but one island, Adassi, off the mouths of the Danube; no reefs or shoals; hence in summer navigation is very safe. In winter it is harassed by severe storms. Among the chief ports are Odessa, Kherson, Batoum, Trebizond, and Sinope; the first two are ice-bound in January and February. For three centuries the Turks excluded all other nations from its waters; but the Russians (1774), Austrians (1784), French and English (1802) secured trading rights. Russia and Turkey keep fleets in it, but other warships are excluded. Its waters are fresher than those of the ocean, and it has no noticeable tides.
Black Watch, two Highland regiments, the 42nd and 73rd, so called from the dark colour of the tartan; raised originally for the preservation of the peace in the Highlands.
Blackburn (120), a manufacturing town in Lancashire, 21 m. NW. of Manchester, a centre of the cotton industry, and the greatest in the world; is the birthplace of Hargreaves, the inventor of the spinning-jenny.
Blackheath, a common 7 m. SE. of London, once a favourite haunt of highwaymen, now a place of holiday resort for Londoners; for long provided the only golfing-course in England.
Blackie, John Stuart, a man of versatile gifts and warm human sympathies, born in Glasgow; bred to the bar, but devoted to literary pursuits; studied German; executed a metrical translation of Goethe's “Faust,” Part I.; filled the chair of Humanity in Aberdeen, and afterwards that of Greek in Edinburgh; was a zealous educational reformer; took an active interest in everything affecting the welfare and honour of Scotland; founded a Celtic Chair in Edinburgh University; spoke much and wrote much in his day on manifold subjects; Æschylus, and Homer's “Iliad” in verse; among his works, which are numerous, “Self-Culture” is the most likely to survive him longest (1809-1895).
Blacklock, Thomas, a clergyman, born in Annan, blind from early infancy; after occupying a charge for two years, set up as a teacher in Edinburgh; was influential in inducing Burns to abandon his intention to emigrate, and may be credited, therefore, with saving for his country and humanity at large one of the most gifted of his country's sons (1721-1791).
Blackmore, Richard Doddridge, novelist, born in Berks; bred to the bar; has written several novels, the best known “Lorna Doone,” which, though coldly received at first, became highly popular; he is pronounced unrivalled in his day as a writer of rustic comedy; b. 1825.
Blackmore, Sir Richard, physician, born in Wilts; the most voluminous of poetasters, published four long worthless poems, besides essays and psalms, &c., and made himself the butt of all the wits of the period; d. 1729.
Blackpool (23), a watering-place on the coast of Lancashire, 18 m. NW. of Preston, sometimes called the “Brighton of the North.”
Blackstone, Sir William, an eminent jurist and judge, born in London, the son of a silk-mercer; was fellow of Pembroke College, Oxford, and in 1746 called to the bar; became first Vinerian professor of Law at Oxford; had Jeremy Bentham for one of his pupils; author of the well-known “Commentaries on the Laws of England,” an authority on the subject and a work that has appeared in many editions (1723-1780).
Blackwell, Alexander, adventurer, born in Aberdeen; studied medicine; took to printing; thrown into prison for debt; was supported by his wife; on his release went to Sweden, was patronised by the king; convicted of conspiracy, and beheaded in 1747.
Blackwell, Elizabeth, a lady doctor, born in Bristol, and the first to hold a medical diploma in the United States; graduated in 1849; was admitted into the Maternity Hospital in Paris, and to St. Bartholomew's in London, and has since distinguished herself as a social reformer; b. 1821.
Blackwood, Sir Henry, British admiral, much trusted by Nelson; distinguished at Aboukir Bay and Trafalgar; was present at Nelson's death; held subsequently high naval positions (1770-1832).
Blackwood, William, born in Edinburgh, originator of Blackwood's Magazine; originally a bookseller; started Maga, as it was called, in 1817, his principal literary advisers being Professor Wilson and Lockhart; conducted it as editor till his death (1776-1834). John, his third son, his successor, no less distinguished in the cause of literature (1818-1879).
Blaeu, Willem Janzsoon, Dutch cartographer, born at Alkmaar; his terrestrial and celestial globes have been admired for their excellence and accuracy (1571-1638). His son Jan edited a valuable atlas called “Atlas Major,” in 11 volumes; d. 1673.
Blainville, Henri Marie, a French naturalist; devoted himself to medicine; became assistant to Cuvier; succeeded him as professor of Comparative Anatomy; wrote largely on natural science, and particularly on subjects connected with his appointment as a professor (1777-1850).
Blair, Hugh, clergyman, born in Edinburgh; held in succession several charges in Scotland, and became professor of Rhetoric in Edinburgh University; author of “Lectures on Rhetoric” and “Sermons,” which latter are of the nature of moral essays rather than sermons, were much esteemed at one time for their polished style, and procured him a pension of £200 from the king; he was a man of great critical acumen, and the celebrated Schleiermacher did not think it beneath him to translate some of them into German (1718-1800).
Blair, Robert, author of “The Grave,” a thoughtful and cultured man, born in Edinburgh; minister of Athelstaneford, where he was succeeded by Home, the author of “Douglas.” His poem has the merit of having been illustrated by William Blake (1699-1743).
Blake, Robert, the great English admiral and “Sea King,” born at Bridgewater; successful as a soldier under the Commonwealth, before he tried seamanship; took first to sea in pursuit of Prince Rupert and the royalist fleet, which he destroyed; beat the Dutch under Van Tromp de Ruyter and De Witt; sailed under the great guns of Tunis into the harbour, where he fired a fleet of Turkish pirates; and finally, his greatest feat, annihilated a Spanish fleet in Santa Cruz Bay under the shadow of the Peak of Teneriffe, “one of the fiercest actions ever fought on land or water” (1598-1657).
Blake, William, poet, painter, and engraver, born in London, where, with rare intervals, he spent his life a mystic from his very boyhood; apprenticed to an engraver, whom he assisted with his drawings; started on original lines of his own as illustrator of books and a painter; devoted his leisure to poetry; wrote “Songs of Innocence,” “Marriage of Heaven and Hell,” “Gates of Paradise,” and “Songs of Experience”; was an intensely religious man of deep spiritual insight, most vivid feeling and imagination; illustrated Young's “Night Thoughts,” Blair's “Grave,” and the “Book of Job.” He was a man of stainless character but eccentric habits, and had for wife an angel, Catherine Boucher (1757-1828).
Blanc, Charles, a French art critic, brother of Louis Blanc (1813-1882).
Blanc, Jean Joseph Louis, a French Socialist, born at Madrid; started as a journalist, founded the Revue du Progrès, and published separately in 1840 “Organisation of Labour,” which had already appeared in the Revue, a work which gained the favour of the working-classes; was member of the Provisional Government of 1848, and eventually of the National Assembly; threatened with impeachment, fled to England; returned to France on the fall of the Empire, and was elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1871; wrote an “elaborate and well-written” “History of the French Revolution”; died at Cannes (1811-1882).
Blanc, Mont, the highest mountain in Europe, 15,780 ft., almost entirely within France; sends numerous glaciers down its slopes, the Mer de Glace the chief.
Blanchard, François, a celebrated French aëronaut, inventor of the parachute; he fell from his balloon and was killed at the Hague (1738-1809).
Blanchard, Laman, a prolific periodical and play writer, born at Yarmouth; a man of a singularly buoyant spirit, crushed by calamities; died by suicide (1803-1845).
Blanche of Castile, wife of Louis VIII. of France and mother of St. Louis; regent of France during the minority of her son and during his absence in crusade; governed with great discretion and firmness; died of grief over the long absence of her son and his rumoured intention to stay in the Holy Land (1186-1252).
Blanchet, The Abbé, French littérateur; author of “Apologues and Tales,” much esteemed (1707-1784).
Blandrata, Giorgio, Piedmontese physician, who for his religious opinions was compelled to take refuge, first in Poland, then in Transylvania, where he sowed the seeds of Unitarianism (1515-1590).
Blanqui, Adolphe, a celebrated French publicist and economist, born at Nice; a disciple of J. B. Say, and a free-trader; his principal work, “History of Political Economy in Europe” (1798-1854).
Blanqui, Louis Auguste, a brother of the preceding, a French republican of extreme views and violent procedure; would appear to have posed as a martyr; spent nearly half his life in prison (1805-1881).
Blarney-stone, a stone in Castle Blarney, Cork, of difficult access, which is said to endow whoso kisses it with a fair-spoken tongue, hence the application of the word.
Blasius, St., bishop of Sebaste, in Armenia; the patron of wool-combers; suffered martyrdom in 316.
Blasphemy, defined by Ruskin as the opposite of euphemy, and as wishing ill to anything, culminating in wishing ill to God, as the height of “ill-manners.”
Blatant Beast, Spenser's name for the ignorant, slanderous, clamour of the mob.
Blavatsky, Mme., a theosophist, born in Russia; a great authority on theosophy, the doctrines of which she professed she derived from the fountain-head in Thibet (1813-1891).
Bleek, Friedrich, eminent German Biblical exegete and critic of the Schleiermacher school, born in Holstein; professor at Bonn; his chief work, “Commentary on the Hebrews,” a great work; others are Introductions to the Old and to the New Testaments (1793-1859).
Bleek, Wm., son of preceding, a philologist; accompanied Colenso to Natal; author of “Comparative Grammar of the S. African Languages” (1827-1875).
Blefuscu, an island separated from Lilliput by a strait 800 yards wide, inhabited by pigmies; understood to represent France.
Blenheim, a village in Bavaria, near Augsburg; famous for Marlborough's victory in 1704, and giving name to it.
Blenheim Park, near Woodstock, Oxford, the gift, with the Woodstock estate, of the country to the Duke of Marlborough, for his military services in the Spanish Succession war.
Blessington, Countess of, an Irish lady celebrated for her beauty and wit; figured much in intellectual circles in London; had her salon at Kensington; was on intimate terms with Byron, and published “Conversations with Byron,” and wrote several novels; being extravagant, fell into debt, and had to flee the country (1789-1849).
Blicher, Steen Steensen, Danish poet of rural life (1782-1848).
Bligh, Wm., a naval officer; served under Captain Cook; commanded the Bounty at Tahiti, when his crew mutinied under his harsh treatment, and set him adrift, with 18 others, in an open boat, in which, after incredible privations, he arrived in England; was afterwards governor of N.S. Wales, but dismissed for his rigorous and arbitrary conduct (1753-1817).
Blimber, Mrs. Cornelia, a prim school-matron in “Dombey & Son.”
Blind, Karl, revolutionist and journalist, born at Mannheim; took part in the risings of 1848, and sentenced to prison in consequence of a pamphlet he wrote entitled “German Hunger and German Princes,” but rescued by the mob; found refuge in England, where he interested himself in democratic movements, and cultivated his literary as well as his political proclivities by contributing to magazines, and otherwise; b. 1826.
Blind Harry, a wandering Scottish minstrel of the 15th century; composed in verse “The Life of that Noble Champion of Scotland, Sir William Wallace.”
Blinkert Dune, a dune near Haarlem, 197 ft. above the sea-level.
Bloch, Marcus Elieser, a naturalist, born at Anspach, of Jewish descent; his “Ichthyology” is a magnificent national work, produced at the expense of the wealthiest princes of Germany (1723-1799).
Bloemært, a family of Flemish painters and engravers in 16th and 17th centuries.
Blois, capital of the deps. of Loire and Cher, France, on the Loire, 35 m. S. of Orleans; a favourite residence of Francis I. and Charles IX., and the scene of events of interest in the history of France.
Blomefleld, Francis, a clergyman, born at Norfolk; author of “Topographical History of the County of Norfolk” (1705-1751).
Blomfield, bishop of London, born at Bury St. Edmunds; Greek scholar; active in the Church extension of his diocese (1785-1857).
Blondel, a troubadour of the 12th century; a favourite of Richard Coeur de Lion, who, it is said, discovered the place of Richard's imprisonment in Austria by singing the first part of a love-song which Richard and he had composed together, and by the voice of Richard in responding to the strain.
Blondin, Charles, an acrobat and rope-dancer, born at St. Omer, France; celebrated for his feats in crossing Niagara Falls on the tight-rope; b. 1824.
Blood, Thomas, Colonel, an Irish desperado, noted for his daring attempts against the life of the Duke of Ormonde, and for carrying off the regalia in the Tower; unaccountably pardoned by Charles II., and received afterwards into royal favour with a pension of £500 per annum. He was afterwards charged with conspiracy, and committed to the King's Bench, and released.
Bloody Assizes, the judicial massacres and cruel injustices perpetrated by Judge Jeffreys during Circuit in 1685.
Bloody Bones, a hobgoblin feared by children.
Bloody Statute, statute of Henry VIII. making it a crime involving the heaviest penalties to question any of the fundamental doctrines of the Romish Church.
Bloomfleld, Robert, an English poet, born in Suffolk, by trade a shoemaker; author of the “Farmer's Boy,” a highly popular production, translated into French and Italian; spent his last days in ill-health struggling with poverty, which brought on dejection of mind (1766-1823).
Blount, Charles, a deist, born in London; assailant of revealed religion; was involved in all the controversies of the time; died by his own hand (1654-1693).
Blowpipe, a contrivance by which a current of air is driven through a flame, and the flame directed upon some fusible substance to fuse or vitrify it.
Blücher, Prussian field-marshal, familiarly named “Marshal Forwards,” born at Rostock; served first in the Swedish army, then in the Prussian; distinguished as a leader of cavalry, and met with varying fortune; at the age of 70 commanded the centre of the Allied Army in 1813; distinguished himself at Lützen and Leipzig; pursued the French across the Rhine; pressed forward to Paris at the time of Napoleon's abdication; defeated by Napoleon at Ligny, 16th June 1815; arrived on the field of Waterloo just as the French were preparing to make their last charge, and contributed to decide the fate of the day (1742-1819).
Blue Mountains, a range of thickly wooded mountains traversing Jamaica from E. to W., from 5000 to 7000 ft. in height; also a chain of mountains in New South Wales of two parallel ranges, with a deep chasm between, and full of gloomy ravines and beetling precipices, the highest 4100 ft.
Blue Nose, a nickname given to an inhabitant of Nova Scotia or New Brunswick.
Bluebeard, a wealthy seigneur, the owner of a castle; marries a beautiful woman, and leaves her in charge of the keys of the apartments in his absence, with injunctions not to unlock any of the doors, an injunction which she fails to respect, and finds to her horror the remains of his former wives locked up in one of them; her disobedience is discovered, and she is to prepare for death, but is rescued, as she lies with her head on the block, by the timely arrival of her brothers, who at once despatch the husband to his merited doom.
Blue-books, Parliamentary documents bound in blue paper, as the corresponding documents in France are in yellow; they have been published regularly since the beginning of the 18th century, those of a single session now forming a collection of some 60 folio volumes.
Blue-coat School, a name given to Christ's Hospital, London, founded in the reign of Edward VI., from the blue coats worn by the boys.
Blue-gown, in Scotland a beggar, a bedesman of the king, who wore a blue gown, the gift of the king, and had his license to beg.
Blue-stocking, a female pedant or femme savante, a name derived from a learned coterie, formed in the 15th century, at Venice, who wore blue stockings as a badge.
Bluff Hal, or Harry, Henry VIII. of England.
Blum, a German politician, born at Cologne; tried by court-martial and shot for abetting a political movement in Vienna in 1848, a proceeding which created a wide-spread sensation at the time all over Europe; b. 1807.
Blumenbach, Johann Friedrich, a distinguished German naturalist and ethnologist, born at Gotha; studied at Jena; became professor at Göttingen, an office he filled for 60 years; his works gave a great impulse to scientific research in all directions; the chief were “Institutiones Physiologicæ,” “Manual of Natural History,” “Manual of Comparative Anatomy and Physiology”; he made craniology a special study; was a great advocate for religious liberty (1752-1840).
Blumenthal, Leonard von, field-marshal in the Prussian army; distinguished in the wars with Denmark, Austria, and France; an eminent strategist; b. 1810.
Blumi`ne, the siren that Calypsowise in “Sartor” seduced Teufelsdröckh at the commencement of his career, but who opened his eyes to see that it is not in sentiment, however fine, that the soul's cravings can find satisfaction.
Blunt, John Henry, D.D., born at Chelsea; wrote largely on theological and ecclesiastical subjects (1823-1884).
Bluntschli, Johann Kaspar, a distinguished jurist, born at Zurich; an authority in international law; a liberal conservative both in Church and State; founder and president of the Protestant Union called the Protestantenverein (1808-1881).
Boabdil, or Abu-Abdallah, surnamed “The Unfortunate,” the last Moorish king of Granada, from 1481 to 1492; expelled from his throne by Ferdinand of Castile and Aragon; as he rode off he halted on a hill called “The Last Sigh of the Moor,” and wept as he looked back on the Alhambra, while his mother added to his bitterness with the cutting sarcasm, “Weep as a woman for a throne you have not been able to defend as a man”; died shortly after in Africa, recklessly throwing away his life on a field of battle.
Boadice`a, a British heroine, queen of the Iceni, who occupied Norfolk and Suffolk; roused by indignity done to her and her people by the Romans, gathered round her an army, who, with a murderous onslaught, attacked their settlements and destroyed them; but being attacked and defeated in turn by Suetonius Paulinus, the Roman governor, she put, in her despair, an end to her life by poison, A.D. 61. Cowper made her the theme of one of his poems.
Boanerges (i. e. Sons of Thunder), applied by Christ to the sons of Zebedee for the vehemence of their zeal.
Boaz and Jachin, two pillars of brass at the entrance of Solomon's Temple, signifying respectively strength and stability.
Bob`adil, Captain, a braggadocio in Ben Jonson's “Every Man in his Humour.”
Bobèche, a French theatrical clown, under the Empire and the Restoration, son of an upholsterer of the St. Antoine faubourg, the type of the merry-andrew at country fairs.
Boccaccio, Giovanni, the celebrated Italian raconteur, born near Florence; showed early a passion for literature; sent by his father to Naples to pursue a mercantile career; gave himself up to story-telling in prose and verse; fell in love with Maria, a beautiful woman, daughter of the king, styled by him Fiammetta, for whom he wrote several of his works, and his great work, the “Decameron”; early formed a lifelong friendship with Petrarch, along with whom he contributed to the revival and study of classic literature; lectured on Dante in Florence; Petrarch's death deeply affected him, and he died the year after (1313-1375).
Boccherini, Luigi, a celebrated Italian musical composer, born at Lucca; was associated with Manfredi, the violinist; his works were numerous; appears to have lived in poverty and obscurity (1740-1805).
Bochart, Samuel, a Protestant divine, born at Rouen; pastor at Caen; a geographer and an Orientalist; wrote a treatise on sacred geography; celebrated for a nine-days' discussion with the Jesuit Verin (1599-1667).
Bode, Johann Elert, an astronomer, born at Hamburg; was professor of Astronomy and director of Observatory at Berlin; produced a number of astronomical works, one of his best, “An Introduction to the Knowledge of the Starry Heavens;” gave name to the law of the planetary distances, called Bode's Law, although it was observed by Kepler long before his day (1747-1826).
Bodel, a celebrated troubadour of the 13th century, born at Arras.
Bodensee, another name for the Lake of Constance, well called the filter of the Rhine.
Bodin, Jean, a publicist and diplomatist, born at Angers; author of “The Republic,” in six books, published at first in French and then in Latin, which summed up all the political philosophy of his time, and contributed to prepare the way for subsequent speculations; was the precursor of Hobbes and Montesquieu (1530-1596).
Bodleian Library, the university library of Oxford, founded, or rather restored, by Sir Thomas Bodley in 1593; enlarged from time to time by bequests, often munificent. It possesses 400,000 printed volumes and 30,000 MSS.
Bodley, Sir Thomas, born at Exeter; employed on embassies by Elizabeth on the Continent, where he collected a number of valuable books; bequeathed them and his fortune to the university library of Oxford, named after him (1545-1613).
Bodmer, Johann Jacob, a distinguished Swiss critic, born near Zurich; the first, by study of the masters in literature of Greece and Rome, France, England, and Italy, to wake up Germany to a sense of its poverty in that line, and who aided, along with others, in the inauguration of a new era, which he did more by his republication of the Minnesingers and part of the “Nibelungen Lied” than by his advocacy (1698-1783).
Bodmin (5), the county town of Cornwall, supersedes Truro as capital; an important agricultural centre; has large annual fairs for cattle, horses, and sheep.
Bodoni, an Italian printer; settled at Parma, where his press was set up in the ducal palace, whence issued magnificent editions of the classics, Horace, Virgil, Tacitus, Tasso, and, last of all, Homer. He was often tempted to Rome, but he refused to quit Parma and the patronage of the ducal house there (1740-1813).
Bödtcher, Ludwig, a Danish lyric poet, born at Copenhagen; lived chiefly in Italy (1793-1874).
Boece, Hector, a humanist and Scottish historian, born at Dundee; professor of Philosophy at Paris; friend of Erasmus; was principal of university at Aberdeen; wrote “History of Bishops of Mortlach and Aberdeen,” and “History of Scotland” in excellent Latin (1465-1536).
Boeckh, Philip August, classical antiquary, born at Carlsruhe; professor of Ancient Literature in Berlin; a classic of the first rank, and a contributor on a large scale to all departments of Greek classical learning; was an eminently learned man, and an authority in different departments of learning (1785-1867).
Boehm, Sir Joseph Edgar, sculptor, born in Vienna, of Hungarian parentage; settled in England; executed a colossal statue of the Queen at Windsor, a seated statue of Carlyle on the Thames Embankment, a statue of Bunyan at Bedford, &c.; patronised by the Queen and royal family; buried in St. Paul's by the Queen's desire (1785-1869).
Boehme, Jacob, a celebrated German mystic, born at Görlitz; of an imaginatively meditative turn from boyhood as a neat-herd, and afterwards in his stall as a shoemaker; spent his whole life in meditation on divine things; saw in the Bible a revelation of these as in no other book; seemed to have eyes given him to see visions of these things himself, for which he felt he had no organ to express, and which he conveyed to others in mystical, apocalyptical speech; a thinker very fascinating to all minds of the seer class. He was subject to persecution, as all of his stamp are, by the men of the letter, and bore up with the meekness which all men of his elevation of character ever do—“quiet, gentle, and modest,” as they all are to the very core, in his way of thinking; and his philosophy would seem to have anticipated the secret of Hegel, who acknowledges him as one of the fathers of German philosophy. He left writings which embody a scheme of mystical theology, setting forth the trinity in unity of the Hegelian system, that is, viewing the divine as it is in itself, as it comes out in nature, and as it returns to itself in the human soul (1575-1624).
Boehmer, a German historian, born at Frankfort; author of works on the Carlovingian period of history (1795-1863).
Boeo`tia, a country of ancient Greece, N. of the Gulf of Corinth; the natives, though brave, were mere tillers of the soil under a heavy atmosphere, innocent of culture, and regarded as boors and dullards by the educated classes of Greece, and particularly of Athens, and yet Hesiod, Pindar, and Plutarch were natives of Boeotia.
Boerhaave, a great physician, born near Leyden, and son of a pastor; ultimately professor of Medicine and Botany there, as well as of Chemistry; chairs of which he filled and adorned with the greatest distinction; his reputation spread over Europe, and even as far as China—a letter from which bore the simple address, “To M. Boerhaave, Europe,” and found him; his system was adopted by the profession, and patients from far and wide came to consult him—among others, Pope Benedict VIII. and Peter the Great; his character was as noble as his abilities were great; his principal works were “Institutiones Medicæ,” “Aphorismi de Cognoscendis et Curandis Morbis,” “Libellus de Materia Medica,” and “Institutiones Chemicæ” (1668-1738).
Boers (i. e. peasants engaged in tillage), Dutch colonists of an independent republican temper, who in the 17th century squatted in S. Africa; gave themselves to agriculture and cattle-rearing; settled at length in the Transvaal in a self-governed community by themselves.
Boëthius, Anicius Manlius Severinus, a Roman statesman, born at Rome, of Consular rank, a profoundly learned man, held the highest offices, Consul among others, under Theodoric the Goth; his integrity and opposition to injustice procured him enemies, who accused him of treason; he was cast into prison, and finally put to death; wrote in prison his “De Consolatione Philosophiæ,” in five parts, employing verse and prose alternately, which King Alfred translated into Anglo-Saxon; he was canonised as a martyr, and his influence was great during the Middle Ages (470-524).
Boeuf, Front de, a character in “Ivanhoe.”
Bogatzky, Karl Heinrich von, religious writer; wrote hymns and an autobiography; is best known as the author of the “Golden Treasury” (1690-1744).
Bogdanovitch, a Russian poet, called by his countrymen the “Russian Anacreon”; his best-known poem “Psyche” (1743-1803).
Bogermann, Johann, Dutch divine, translated the Bible into Dutch, and was President of the Synod of Dort (1576-1633).
Bogota` (100), capital of the United State of Colombia, situated on a remarkable, almost mountain-encircled, plateau, on the river Bogotá, 65 m. SE. of its port, Honda, the highest navigable point of the Magdalena, is 8600 ft. above sea-level, and has a spring-like climate. It is regularly built, with innumerable churches, a mint, university, library, and observatory, and several schools. Though the country is fertile and the mountains rich in coal, iron, salt, and precious metals, its situation and the want of a railway hinder trade.
Bog-trotter, a name given to the Scottish moss-troopers, now to certain Irish for their agility in escaping over bogs.
Bogue, David, born in Berwickshire, a Congregational minister; one of the founders of the London Foreign Missionary, the Foreign Bible, and the Religious Tract Societies (1750-1825).
Bohemia (5,843), the most northerly province in Austria, two-thirds the size of Scotland; is encircled by mountains, and drained by the upper Elbe and its tributaries. The Erzgebirge separate it from Saxony; the Riesengebirge, from Prussia; the Böhmerwald, from Bavaria; and the Moravian Mountains, from Moravia. The mineral wealth is varied and great, including coal, the most useful metals, silver, sulphur, and porcelain clay. The climate is mild in the valleys, the soil fertile; flax and hops the chief products; forests are extensive. Dyeing, calico-printing, linen and woollen manufactures, are the chief industries. The glassware is widely celebrated; there are iron-works and sugar-refineries. The transit trade is very valuable. The people are mostly Czechs, of the Slavonic race, Roman Catholics in religion; there is a large and influential German minority of about two millions, with whom the Czechs, who are twice as numerous, do not amalgamate; the former being riled at the official use of the Czech language, and the latter agitating for the elevation of the province to the same status as that of Hungary. Education is better than elsewhere in Austria; there is a university at Prague, the capital. In the 16th century the crown was united with the Austrian, but in 1608 religious questions led to the election of the Protestant Frederick V. This was followed by the Thirty Years' War, the extermination of the Protestants, and the restoration of the Austrian House.
Bohemian, name given to one who lives by his wits and shuns conventionality.
Bohemian Brethren, a fraternity of an extreme sect of the Hussites, organised as United Brethren in 1455; broken up in the Thirty Years' War, met in secret, and were invited, under the name of Moravians or Herrnhuters, by Count Zinzendorf to settle on his estate.
Bohemond, first prince of Antioch, son of Robert Guiscard; set out on the first crusade; besieged and took Antioch; was besieged in turn by the Saracens, and imprisoned for two years; liberated, he collected troops and recaptured the city (1056-1111).
Bohlen, von, a German Orientalist, professor at Königsberg (1796-1840).
Bonn, Henry George, an enterprising publisher, a German, born in London; issued a series of works identified with his name (1796-1884).
Böhtlingk, Otto, Sanskrit scholar, a German, born in St. Petersburg; author, among other works, of a Sanskrit dictionary in 7 vols.; b.1815.
Boiardo, Matteo Maria, Count of Scandiano, surnamed the “Flower of Chivalry”; an Italian poet, courtier, diplomatist, and statesman; author of “Orlando Innamorato” (1456), the model of Ariosto's “Orlando Furioso,” which eclipsed it (1434-1494).
Boieldieu, Adrien François, a distinguished French musical composer of operas; author of the “Calife de Bagdad,” “Télémaque,” and “La Dame Blanche,” reckoned his masterpiece; called the French Mozart (1775-1834).
Boigne, Count de, a French soldier of fortune, born at Chambéry; served under France, Russia, East India Company, and the prince of the Mahrattas, to whom he rendered signal service; amassed wealth, which he dealt out generously and for the benefit of his country (1751-1830).
Boii, an ancient people of Gaul, occupying territory between the Allier and the Loire.
Boileau, Nicolas (surnamed Despréaux, to distinguish him from his brother), poet and critic, born in Paris; brought up to the law, but devoted to letters, associating himself with La Fontaine, Racine, and Molière; author of “Satires” and “Epistles,” “L'Art Poétique,” “Le Lutrin,” &c., in which he attached and employed his wit against the bad taste of his time; did much to reform French poetry, as Pascal did to reform the prose, and was for long the law-giver of Parnassus; was an imitator of Pope, but especially of Horace (1636-1711).
Boisard, a French fabulist of remarkable fecundity (1743-1831).
Bois-Guillebert, a French economist, cousin of Vauban; advocate of free trade; d. 1714.
Bois-le-Duc (27), capital of North Brabant, 45 m. SE. of Amsterdam, and with a fine cathedral; seat of an archbishop.
Boismont, The Abbé, one of the best French pulpit orators of the 18th century (1715-1786).
Boisrobert, The Abbé, a French poet, one of the first members of the French Academy; patronised by Richelieu (1592-1662).
Boissonade, Jean François, a French Greek scholar; for a time carried away by the revolutionary movement, but abandoned politics for letters (1774-1857).
Boissiere, a French lexicographer (1806-1885).
Boissy d'Anglas, Count, a member and president of the Convention in Paris, noted for his firmness and coolness during the frenzy of the Revolution: one day the Parisian mob burst in upon the Convention, shot dead a young deputy, Féraud, “sweeping the members of it before them to the upper-bench ... covered, the president sat unyielding, like a rock in the beating of seas; they menaced him, levelled muskets at him, he yielded not; they held up Féraud's bloody head to him; with grave, stern air he bowed to it, and yielded not”; became a senator and commander of the Legion of Honour under Napoleon; was made a peer by Louis XVIII. (1756-1826).
Boiste, a French lexicographer (1765-1824).
Bokha`ra (1,800), a Mohammedan State in Central Asia, N. of Afghanistan, nominally independent; but the Khan is a vassal of the Czar. The surface is arid, and cultivation possible only near the rivers-the Oxus, Zarafshan, and Karshi. In the sands of the Oxus, gold and salt are found. Rice, cotton, and cereals are grown; silk, cotton-thread, jewellery, cutlery, and firearms are manufactured. The people are of Turk and Persian origin. The capital, Bokhara (70), is on the plain of the Zarafshan, a walled, mud-built city, 8 or 9 m. in circumference, with numerous colleges and mosques, the centre of learning and religious life in Central Asia. It has important trade and large slave markets.
Bolan` Pass, a high-lying, deep, narrow gorge, extending between Quetta (Beluchistan) and Kandahar (Afghanistan), sloping upwards at an inclination of 90 ft. a mile; is traversed by a torrent.
Boleslaus, the name of several dukes of Poland, of whom the most famous is Boleslaus I. the Great, who ruled from 992 to 1025.
Boleyn, Anne, or Bullen, second wife of Henry VIII. and mother of Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Thoman Bullen (afterwards Earl of Wiltshire); after a three years' residence at the French Court became maid of honour to Queen Katherine; attracted the admiration of Henry; was married to him, and became queen; charged with adultery and conspiracy, was found guilty and beheaded; was of the Reformed faith; her marriage with Henry had important bearings on the English Reformation (1507-1536).
Bolingbroke, Henry St. John, Viscount, English statesman, orator, and political writer, born at Battersea; Prime Minister of Queen Anne in the Tory interest, after her dismissal of the Whigs; on the accession of George I. fled to France and joined the Pretender; was impeached and attainted; returned in 1723 to his estates, but denied a seat in the House of Lords, an indignity which he resented by working the overthrow of Walpole; was the friend of Pope and Swift, and the author of “Letters” bearing upon politics and literature. “Bolingbroke,” says Prof. Saintsbury, “is a rhetorician pure and simple, but the subjects of his rhetoric were not the great and perennial subjects, but puny ephemeral forms of them—the partisan and personal politics of his day, the singularly shallow form of infidelity called Deism and the like; and his time deprived him of many, if not most, of the rhetorician's most telling weapons. The 'Letter to Windham,' a sort of apologia, and the 'Ideal of a Patriot King,' exhibit him at his best.” It was he who suggested to Pope his “Essay on Man” (1678-1751).
Bolivar, Simon, surnamed the Liberator, general and statesman, born at Caracas; a man of good birth and liberal education; seized with the passion for freedom during a visit to Madrid and Paris, devoted himself to the cause of S. American independence; freed from the yoke of Spain Venezuela and New Grenada, which, in 1819, he erected into a republic under the name of Colombia; achieved in 1824 the same for Upper Peru, henceforth called Bolivia, after his name; accused of aspiring to the Dictatorship, he abdicated, and was preparing to leave the country when he died of fever, with the sage reflection on his lips, “The presence of a soldier, however disinterested he may be, is always dangerous in a State that is new to freedom”; he has been called the Washington of S. America (1783-1830).
Bolivia (1,500), an inland republic of S. America, occupying lofty tablelands E. of the Andes, and surrounded by Peru, Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, and Chili. The S. is chiefly desert; in the N. are Lake Titicaca and many well-watered valleys. The very varied heights afford all kinds of vegetation, from wheat and maize to tropical fruits. In the lower plains coffee, tobacco, cotton, and cinchona are cultivated. The most important industry is mining: gold, silver, copper, and tin. Trade is hampered by want of navigable rivers, but helped by railways from Chili, Peru, and Argentina. Silver is the chief export; manufactured goods are imported. The country has been independent since 1825; it lost its sea provinces in the war with Chili, 1879-83. The capital is Sucre (12), but La Pay (45) and Cochabamba (14) are larger towns.
Bolland, John, a Jesuit of Antwerp, born in Belgium; compiled five vols. of the Lives of the Saints called “Acta Sanctorum,” which was continued by others, called after him “Bollandists.”
Bollandists, a succession of Jesuits who produced the Lives of the Saints, now extended to sixty vols.
Bologna (147), an ancient walled city of Italy, on a fertile plain, at the foot of the Lower Apennines, 83 m. N. of Florence; has many fine buildings, a university, one of the oldest in Europe, schools of music and art, libraries, and art collections. There are some silk and other industries, and considerable trade.
Bologna, John Of, one of the most celebrated sculptors of art in his time, born at Douai, settled at Florence (1524-1608).
Bolor-Tagh, a high tableland in Central Asia, stretching from the Hindu Kush mountains northwards to the Tian Shan.
Bolse`na, a small town in Italy, on the E. shore of Lake Bolsena.
Bolsena, a lake with clear water in a hollow crater of a volcano, and abounding with fish, but with an unwholesome atmosphere.
Bolton (115), manufacturing town of Lancashire.
Bolton Abbey, an old abbey in Yorkshire, 6 m. E. of Skipton; was founded by the Augustinian canons.
Boma, a station on the Lower Congo, in the Congo Independent State; once a great slave mart.
Bomarsund, a fortress of the island of Aland occupied by Russia, destroyed by the Anglo-French fleet in 1854; the Russians bound not to restore it.
Bomba, nickname of Ferdinand II., late king of the Two Sicilies, given him, it is alleged, from his calling upon his soldiers to bombard his people during an insurrection.
Bombastes Furioso, an opera by Thomas Rhodes in ridicule of the bombastic style of certain tragedies in vogue.
Bombay (26,960), the western Presidency of India, embraces 26 British districts and 19 feudatory states. N. of the Nerbudda River the country is flat and fertile; S. of it are mountain ranges and tablelands. In the fertile N. cotton, opium, and wheat are the staple products. In the S., salt, iron, and gold are mined; but coal is wanting. The climate is hot and moist on the coast and in the plains, but pleasant on the plateaux. Cotton manufacture has developed extensively and cotton cloths, with sugar, tea, wool, and drugs are exported. Machinery, oil, coal, and liquors are imported. Bombay (822), the chief city, stands on an island, connected with the coast by a causeway, and has a magnificent harbour and noble docks. It is rapidly surpassing Calcutta in trade, and is one of the greatest of seaports; its position promises to make it the most important commercial centre in the East, as it already is in the cotton trade of the world. It swarms with people of every clime, and its merchandise is mainly in the hands of the Parsees, the descendants of the ancient fire-worshippers. It is the most English town in India. It came to England from Portugal as dowry with Catherine of Braganza, wife of Charles II., who leased it to the East India Company for £10 a year. Its prosperity began when the Civil War in America afforded it an opening for its cotton.
Bon Gaultier, nom de plume assumed by Professor Aytoun and Sir Theodore Martin.
Bona (30), a seaport in Algeria, in the province of Constantine, on a bay of the Mediterranean, with an excellent harbour and a growing trade; is much improved since its occupation by the French in 1832. Near it are the ruins of Hippo, the episcopal city of Augustine.
Bona, an ascetic writer, surnamed the Fénélon of Italy, one of feuillant order of monks (1609-1674).
Bona Dea (the good goddess), a Roman goddess of fertility, worshipped by women; her priests vestals and her worship by rites from which men were excluded. Her symbol was a serpent, but the name under which she was worshipped is not known.
Bonald, Vicomte de, a French publicist, a violent royalist and ultramontanist; looked upon the Catholic religion and the royal authority as fundamental to the stability of the social fabric, and was opposed to the law of divorce, which led to its alteration. He denied that language was innate, but revealed, and that causation was inherent in matter (1758-1840).
Bonaparte, name of a celebrated family of Italian origin settled in Corsica; the principal members of it were: Charles Marie, born at Ajaccio, 1744; died at Montpellier, 1785; married, 1767. Marie-Lætitia Ramolino, born at Ajaccio, 1750; died at Rome, 1836; of this union were born eight children: Joseph, became king of Naples, 1806; king of Spain from 1808 to 1813; retired to United States after Waterloo; returned to Europe, and died at Florence, 1844. Napoleon I. (q. v.). Lucien, b. 1775; became president of the Council of the Five Hundred, and prince of Canino; died in Viterbo, 1840. Marie-Anne-Eliza, b. 1777; married Felix Bacciochi, who became prince of Lucca; died at Trieste, 1826. Louis, b. 1778; married Hortense de Beauharnais; father of Napoleon III.; king of Holland (from 1806 to 1810); died at Leghorn, 1846. Marie Pauline, b. 1780; married General Leclerc, 1801; afterwards, in 1803, Prince Camille Borghese; became Duchess of Guastalla; died at Florence, 1825. Caroline-Marie, b. 1782; married Marat in 1800; became Grand-duchess of Berg and Clèves, then queen of Naples; died at Florence, 1839. Jerome, b. 1784, king of Westphalia (from 1807 to 1813); marshal of France in 1850; married, by second marriage, Princess Catherine of Würtemburg; died in 1860; his daughter, the Princess Mathilde, b. 1820, and his son, Prince Napoleon, called Jerome, b. 1822, married Princess Clothilde, daughter of Victor Emmanuel, of which marriage was born Prince Victor Napoleon in 1862.
Bonar, Horatius, a clergyman of the Free Church of Scotland, and a celebrated hymn writer, born at Edinburgh (1808-1889).
Bonaventura, St., cardinal, surnamed the Seraphic Doctor, his real name John Fidenza, born in Tuscany; entered the Franciscan Order; was chosen general of the Order and papal legate at the Council of Lyons in 1274, during the session of which he died; was a mystic in theology; ascribed knowledge of the truth to union with God, such as existed between man and his Maker prior to the Fall, a state which could be recovered only by a life of purity and prayer; his writings were admired by Luther (1221-1274).
Bonchamp, Charles, Marquis de, French general, born in Anjou, served in the American war; became one of the chiefs of the Vendéan army; fell at the battle of Cholet, and when dying, relented over the blood already shed; ordered the release of 5000 prisoners which his party, in their revenge, was about to massacre; d. 1793.
Bond, William, a distinguished American astronomer (1789-1815), who with his son, George Phillips, discovered a satellite of Neptune and an eighth satellite of Saturn (1826-1865).
Bondu (30), a country of Senegambia, a dependency of France; yields maize, cotton, fruits.
Bone, Henry, a celebrated enamel painter, especially in miniature on ivory; born at Truro (1755-1834).
Boner, Ulrich, a German fabulist and Dominican monk of the 14th century, author of “Der Edelstein” (The Jewel), a book of fables.
Bonheur, Rosa, a celebrated French animal painter, born at Bordeaux; brought up in poverty from ill-fortune; taught by her father; exhibited when she was 19; her best-known works are the “Horse Fair” and the “Hay Harvest in Auvergne,” “Ploughing with Oxen,” considered her masterpiece; through the Empress Eugenie she received the Cross of the Legion of Honour; during the siege of Paris her studio was spared by order of the Crown Prince; b. 1822.
Bonhomme, Jacques, a name of contempt given by the nobility of France to the peasants in the 14th century.
Boniface, the name of nine Popes. B. I., pope from 418 to 422, assumed the title of First Bishop of Christendom; B. II., pope from 530 to 532; B. III., pope for 10 months, from 607 to 608; B. IV., pope from 608 to 614; B. V., pope from 617 to 625; B. VI., pope in 896; B. VII., pope from 974 to 985; B. VIII., pope from 1294 to 1303, a strenuous assertor of the papal supremacy over all princes, and a cause of much turmoil in Europe, provoked a war with Philip the Fair of France, who arrested him at Anagni, and though liberated by the citizens died on his way to Rome; B. IX., pope from 1389 to 1405, the first pope to wear the Triple Crown.
Boniface, St., the Apostle of Germany, born in Devonshire, his real name Winfried; consecrated Pepin le Bref; was made Primate of Germany; was, with 53 companions, massacred by the barbarians of Friesland, whom he sought to convert (680-755).
Bonin`, a group of rocky islands SE. of Japan, and since 1878 subject to it.
Bonington, Richard, an eminent English landscape painter of exceptional precocity, born near Nottingham; painted the “Ducal Palace” and “Grand Canal” at Venice, his masterpieces (1801-1828).
Bonivard, François de, a Genevese patriot and historian, twice imprisoned by Charles III., a Duke of Savoy, for his sympathy with the struggles of the Genevese against his tyranny, the second time for six years in the Castle of Chillon; immortalised by Lord Byron in his “Prisoner of Chillon”; he was released at the Reformation, and adopted Protestantism (1496-1571).
Bonn (38), a Prussian town on the Rhine, SE. of Cologne, an old Roman station, with a famous university; the birthplace of Beethoven, with a monument to his memory; it is a stronghold of the old Catholics.
Bonnat, Joseph Leon, a French painter, born at Bayonne; imitated for a time the religious paintings of the old masters, but since 1862 has followed a style of his own; “Christ at the Cross” in the Palais de Justice, Paris, is his work; b. 1833.
Bonner, Edmund, bishop of London, born at Worcester; was chaplain to Wolsey; sided with Henry VIII. against the Pope; fell into disgrace under Edward VI.; was restored by Mary, whom he served in her Anti-Protestant zeal; affected to welcome Elizabeth to the throne; was again deposed and imprisoned for refusing to take the oath of supremacy under Elizabeth; died in the Marshalsea Prison: he does not deserve all the odium that has been heaped on his memory; he was faithful as a bishop, consistent in his conduct, and bore the indignities done him with manly fortitude (1495-1569).
Bonnet, Charles de, Swiss naturalist and philosopher, born at Geneva; his studies as a naturalist gave a materialistic cast to his philosophy; though he did not deny the existence of mind, still less that of its sovereign Author, he gave to material impressions a dominant influence in determining its manifestations (1720-1793).
Bonnet-piece, a gold coin of James V. of Scotland, so called from the king being represented on it as wearing a bonnet instead of a crown.
Bonneval, Claude-Alexandre, Comte de. See Achmed Pasha.
Bonnie Dundee, Graham of Claverhouse, Viscount Dundee.
Bonpland, Aimé, a French botanist and traveller, born at Rochelle; companion of Alexander von Humboldt in his S. American scientific explorations; brought home a large collection of plants, thousands of species of them new to Europe; went out again to America, arrested by Dr. Francia in Paraguay as a spy, kept prisoner there for about nine years; released, settled in the prov. of Corrientes, where he died; wrote several works bearing on plants (1773-1858).
Bonstetten, Charles Victor de, a Swiss publicist and judge, born at Berne; wrote on anthropology, psychology, &c. (1745-1832).
Bontemps, Roger, a French personification of a state of leisure and freedom from care.
Bonze, a Buddhist priest in China, Japan, Burmah, &c.
Boole, English mathematician, born at Lincoln; mathematical professor at Cork; author of “Laws of Thought,” an original work, and “Differential Equations” (1815-1864).
Boomerang, a missile of hard curved wood used by the Australian aborigines of 2½ ft. long; a deadly weapon, so constructed that, though thrown forward, it takes a whirling course upwards till it stops, when it returns with a swoop and falls in the rear of the thrower.
Boone, Daniel, a famous American backwoodsman; d. 1822, aged 84.
Boötes (the ox-driver or waggoner), a son of Ceres; inventor of the plough in the Greek mythology; translated along with his ox to become a constellation in the northern sky, the brightest star in which is Arcturus.
Booth, Barton, English actor, acted Shakespearean, characters and Hamlet's ghost (1681-1733).
Booth, John Wilkes, son of an actor, assassinated Lincoln, and was shot by his captors (1839-1865).
Booth, William, founder and general of the Salvation Army, born in Nottingham; published “In Darkest England”; a man of singular self-devotion to the religious and social welfare of the race; b. 1839.
Boothia, a peninsula of British N. America, W. of the Gulf of Boothia, and in which the N. magnetic pole of the earth is situated; discovered by Sir John Boss in 1830.
Booton, an island in the Malay Archipelago, SE. of Celebes; subject to the Dutch.
Bopp, Franz, a celebrated German philologist and Sanskrit scholar, born at Mayence; was professor of Oriental Literature and General Philology at Berlin; his greatest work, “A Comparative Grammar of Sanskrit, Zend, Greek, Latin, Lithuanian, Old Slave, Gothic, and German”; translated portions of the “Mahâbhârata,” q. v. (1791-1867).
Bora, Katharina, the wife of Luther, born in Meissen, originally a nun, who, with eight others, was at Luther's instance released from her convent; proved “a pious and faithful wife” to Luther, as he says of her, and became the mother to him of six children, three sons and three daughters (1499-1552).
Borda, a French mathematician and physicist, born at Dax, in the dep. of Landes, served in both army and navy; one of those employed in measuring an arc of the meridian to establish the metric system in France (1733-1799).
Bordeaux (256), a great industrial and commercial city, and chief seat of the wine trade in France and the third seaport on the Garonne; cap. of the dep. of Gironde; the birthplace of Rosa Bonheur and Richard II., his father, the Black Prince, having had his seat here as governor of Aquitaine. There are sugar-refineries, potteries, foundries, glass and chemical works. The cod-fishing industry has its base here. A cathedral dates from the 11th century. There are schools of science, art, theology, medicine, and navigation, a library, museum, and rich picture-gallery.
Border Minstrel, Sir Walter Scott.
Borders, the, the shifting boundary between Scotland and England before the Union, a centre of endless fighting and marauding on the opposite sides for centuries.
Bordone, an Italian painter, born at Treviso, a pupil of Titian and Giorgione; his most celebrated picture, “The Gondolier presenting the Ring of St. Mark to the Doge” (1500-1570).
Bore, a watery ridge rushing violently up an estuary, due to a strong tidal wave travelling up a gradually narrowing channel. Bores are common in the estuary of the Ganges and other Asiatic rivers, in those of Brazil, and at the mouth of the Severn, in England.
Boreas, the god of the north wind, and son of the Titan Astræus and of Aurora.
Borghese, name of a family of high position and great wealth in Rome: Camillo, having become Pope in 1605 under the title of Paul V.; and Prince Borghese having married Pauline Bonaparte, sister of Napoleon, who separated himself from her on the fall of her brother (1775-1832); the palace of the family one of the finest in Rome, and has a rich collection of paintings.
Borghesi, Count, an Italian savant skilled in numismatics (1781-1860).
Borgia, Cæsar, fourth son of Pope Alexander VI.; was made cardinal at the age of 17, an honour he relinquished to become a soldier, in which capacity it is alleged he gave himself up to deeds of inhumanity, which have made his name a synonym for every action that is most crafty, revolting, and cruel; a portrait of him by Raphael, in the Borghese gallery, is a masterpiece. Notwithstanding the execration in which his memory is held, he is reputed to have been just as a ruler in his own domain, and a patron of art and literature; d. 1507.
Borgia, Franceso, third general of the Order of the Jesuits, a post he filled with great zeal as well as prudent management; was beatified by Urban VIII., and canonised by Clement IX., 1671 (1510-1572).
Borgia, Lucretia, sister of Cæsar Borgia, born at Rome; her father annulled her first marriage, and gave her to a nephew of the king of Naples, who was murdered by her brother's assassins, when she married the Duke of Ferrara; was celebrated for her beauty and her patronage of letters, though she has been accused of enormities as well as her brother (1480-1523).
Borgu, fertile and densely-peopled state in Africa, traversed by the Niger, subject to the Royal Niger Company, in one of the chief towns of which Mungo Park lost his life.
Borlase, William, antiquary and naturalist, born in St. Just, Cornwall; author of “Observations on the Antiquities of Cornwall” and “Natural History of Cornwall”; was vicar in his native parish (1696-1772).
Born, Bertrand, one of the most celebrated troubadours of the 12th century, born in Périgord; aggravated the quarrel between Henry II. of England and his sons; is placed by Dante in the “Inferno.”
Borne, Ludwig, a political writer, born at Frankfort, of Jewish parentage; disgusted with the state of things in Germany, went to Paris after the Revolution there of 1830; was disappointed with the result, and turned Radical; he and Heine were at deadly feud (1787-1837).
Borneo (1,800), an island in the Malay Archipelago, the third largest in the globe, Australia and New Guinea being larger; its length 800 m., and its breadth 700, covered with mountains in the interior, Kinabalu the highest (13,000 ft.); has no volcanoes; bordered all round with wide plains and low marshy ground; rich in vegetation and in minerals, in gold and precious stones; its forests abound with valuable timber, teak, ebony, &c.; all tropical crops and spices are cultivated; the population is Dyak, Malay, and Chinese; possessed in great part by the Dutch, and in the north part by the British.
Bornholm (35), an island belonging to Denmark, in the Baltic; has no good harbour; agriculture, cattle-breeding, and fishing the occupation of the inhabitants.
Bornu (5,000), a Mohammedan State in the Central Soudan, W. and S. of Lake Tehad; famed for a breed of horses; population mostly negroes; the ruling race of Arab descent, called Shuwas; climate hot and unhealthy in the low ground, but temperate in the high.
Boro Budor, the ruin of a magnificent Buddhist temple in Java, ornamented with figures of Buddha and scenes in his life, with representations of battles, processions, chariot races, &c.
Borodino, a village 70 m. W. of Moscow; the scene of a bloody battle between Napoleon and the Russians, Sept. 7, 1812.
Bororo, a large Brazilian nation between Cuyaba and Goyaz.
Borough, in Scotland Burgh, is in its modern sense primarily a town that sends a representative to Parliament; but it is further an area of local government, exercising police, sanitary, and sometimes educational, supervision, and deriving its income from rates levied on property within its bounds, and in Scotland sometimes from “common good” and petty customs. Its charter may be held from the Crown or granted by Parliament.
Borough English, descent of lands to a youngest son.
Borowlaski, Count, a Polish dwarf, of perfect symmetry, though only three feet in height; attained the age of 98.
Borrome`an Islands, four islands in Lago Maggiore, of which three were converted into gardens by Count Borromeo in 1671, on one of which stands a palace of the Borromeos, enriched with fine paintings and other works of art.
Borrome`o, St. Carlo, cardinal and archbishop of Milan, a prominent member of the Council of Trent, and contributed to the Tridentine Catechism; conspicuous by his self-sacrificing offices during a plague in the city of which he was the archbishop (1538-1584).
Borromeo, Frederigo, nephew and successor of the preceding, of equal status in the Church, and similar character (1584-1631).
Borrow, George Henry, traveller and philologist, born in Norfolk; showed early a passion for adventure and a facility in languages; was appointed agent for the Bible Society in Russia and Spain; in his fondness for open-air life, associated much with the gipsies; wrote an account of those in Spain, and a famous book, entitled “The Bible In Spain”; wrote “Lavengro,” his masterpiece (a gipsy designation applied to him, meaning “word-master,” which he was), which is chiefly autobiography (1803-1831).
Borrowdale, a valley in the Lake District, W. Cumberland, celebrated for its beautiful scenery.
Borthwick Castle, a ruined peel tower, 13 m. SE. of Edinburgh, where Queen Mary and Bothwell spent four days together in June 1567.
Bory de Saint-Vincent, Jean Baptiste, a French traveller and naturalist (1780-1846).
Boscawen, Edward, a British admiral, known from his fearlessness as “Old Dreadnought”; distinguished himself in engagements at Puerto Bello, Cathagena, Cape Finisterre, and the Bay of Lagos, where, after a “sea hunt” of 24 hours, he wrecked and ruined a fine French fleet, eager to elude his grasp (1711-1761).
Boscovich, Roger Joseph, an Italian mathematician and astronomer, born at Ragusa; entered the Order of the Jesuits; was professor in Pavia, and afterwards at Milan; discovered the equator of the sun and the period of its rotation; advocated the molecular theory of physics, with which his name is associated; died insane (1701-1787).
Bosio, Baron, a celebrated Italian sculptor; patronised in France (1769-1845).
Bosna-Serai (38), capital of Bosnia, and seat of authority.
Bosnia (1,200), a province in NW. of the Balkan Peninsula, under Austria-Hungary; the inhabitants of Servian nationality.
Bos`phorus (Ox-ford), a channel 17 m. long and from 3 to ½ m. broad, and about 30 fathoms deep, strongly defended by forts, extending from the Sea of Marmora to the Black Sea; subject to Turkey. It derives its name from the channel which, according to the Greek myth, Zeus, in the form of an ox, crossed into Europe with Europa on his back.
Bos`quet, Pierre François Joseph, a marshal of France, distinguished in Algiers and the Crimea; was wounded at the storming of the Malakoff (1810-1861).
Bos`suet, Jacques Bénigne, bishop of Meaux, born at Dijon, surnamed the “Eagle of Meaux,” of the see of which he became bishop; one of the greatest of French pulpit orators, and one of the ablest defenders of the doctrines of the Catholic Church; the great aim of his life the conversion of Protestants back to the Catholic faith; took a leading part in establishing the rights of the Gallican clergy, or rather of the Crown, as against the claims of the Pope; proved himself more a time-server than a bold, outspoken champion of the truth; conceived a violent dislike to Madame Guyon, and to Fénélon for his defence of her and her Quietists; and he is not clear of the guilt of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes; wrote largely; his “Discourse on Universal History” is on approved lines, and the first attempt at a philosophy of history; his Funeral Orations are monuments of the most sublime eloquence; while his “Politique founded on Holy Scripture” is a defence of the divine right of kings. “Bossuet,” says Professor Saintsbury, “was more of a speaker than a writer. His excellence lies in his wonderful survey and grasp of the subject, in the contagious enthusiasm and energy with which he attacks his point, and in his inexhaustible metaphors and comparisons.... Though he is always aiming at the sublime, he scarcely ever oversteps it, or falls into the bombastic or ridiculous.... The most unfortunate incident of his life was his controversy with Fénélon” (1627-1704).
Bossut, Charles, French mathematician, born near Lyons, confrère of the Encyclopaedists; his chief work “L'Histoire Générale des Mathématiques”; edited Pascal's works (1730-1814).
Boston (19), a Lincolnshire seaport, on the Witham, 30 m. SE. of Lincoln; exports coal, machinery, corn, and wool, and imports timber and general goods. There is a large cattle and sheep market, also canvas and sail-cloth works. Fox, the martyrologist, was a native. It has a spacious church, which is a conspicuous landmark and beacon at sea.
Boston (561), on Massachusetts Bay, is the capital of Massachusetts and the chief city of New England, one of the best-built and best-appointed cities of the Union. With an excellent harbour and eight converging railways it is an emporium of trade, and very wealthy. Sugar, wool, hides, and chemicals are imported; farm produce, cattle, cotton, and tobacco exported; boot and shoe making is one of many varied industries. The many educational institutions and its interest in literature and art have won for it the title of American Athens. Among famous natives were Franklin, Poe, and Emerson; while most American men of letters have been associated with it. The Boston riots of 1770 and 1773 were the heralds of the revolution, and the first battle was fought at Bunker Hill, not far off, now included in it.
Boston, Thomas, a Scottish divine, born at Duns, educated at Edinburgh, became minister of Ettrick; author of the “Fourfold State,” a popular exposition of Calvinism, and “The Crook in the Lot,” both at one time much read and studied by the pious Presbyterian burghers and peasantry of Scotland; the former an account of the state of man, first in innocence, second as fallen, third as redeemed, and fourth as in glory. He was a shrewd man and a quaint writer; exercised a great influence on the religious views of the most pious-minded of his countrymen (1676-1732).
Boston Tea-party, the insurgent American colonists who, disguised as Indians, boarded, on Dec. 16, 1773, three English ships laden with tea, and hurled several hundred chests of it into Boston harbour, “making it black with unexpected tea.”
Boswell, James, the biographer of Johnson, born at Edinburgh, showed early a penchant for writing and an admiration for literary men; fell in with Johnson on a visit to London in 1763, and conceived for him the most devoted regard; made a tour with him to the Hebrides in 1773, the “Journal” of which he afterwards published; settled in London, and was called to the English bar; succeeded, in 1782, to his father's estate, Auchinleck, in Ayrshire, with an income of £1600 a year. Johnson dying in 1784, Boswell's “Life” of him appeared five years after, a work unique in biography, and such as no man could have written who was not a hero-worshipper to the backbone. He succumbed in the end to intemperate habits, aggravated by the death of his wife (1740-1795).
Boswell, Sir Alexander, son and heir of the preceding, an antiquary; mortally wounded in a duel with James Stuart of Dunearn, who had impugned his character, for which the latter was tried, but acquitted (1775-1822).
Bosworth, a town in Leicestershire, near which Richard III. lost both crown and life in 1485, an event which terminated the Wars of the Roses and led to the accession of the Tudor dynasty to the throne of England in the person of Henry VII.
Bosworth, Joseph, an Anglo-Saxon scholar, born in Derbyshire; became professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford; was the author of an Anglo-Saxon Grammar and Dictionary (1789-1876).
Botany Bay, an inlet in New South Wales, 5 m. S. of Sydney; discovered by Captain Cook in 1770; so called, by Sir Joseph Banks, from the variety and beauty of its flora; was once an English convict settlement.
Both, John and Andrew, Flemish painters of the 17th century, the former a landscape and the latter a figure painter; worked frequently on the same canvas.
Bothnia, a prov. of Sweden, divided into E. and W. by a gulf of the name.
Bothwell, a village in Lanarkshire, on the Clyde, 8 m. SE. of Glasgow; scene of a battle between Monmouth and the Covenanters in 1679.
Bothwell, James Hepburn, Earl of, one of the envoys sent in 1560 to convey Mary, Queen of Scots, from France home; was made Privy Councillor the year after; had to flee to France for an act of conspiracy; was recalled by Mary on her marriage with Darnley; was a great favourite with the queen; was believed to have murdered Darnley, though when tried, was acquitted; carried off Mary to Dunbar Castle; pardoned; was made Duke of Orkney, and married to her at Holyrood; parted with her at Carberry Hill; fled to Norway, and was kept captive there at Malmöe; after ten years of misery he died, insane, as is believed (1525-1577).
Botocudos, a wandering wild tribe in the forests of Brazil, near the coast; a very low type of men, and at a very low stage of civilisation; are demon-worshippers, and are said to have no numerals beyond one.
Bo-tree, a species of Ficus, sacred to the Buddhists as the tree under which Buddha sat when the light of life first dawned on him. See Buddha.
Botta, Carlo Giuseppe, an Italian political historian, born in Piedmont; his most important work is his “History of Italy from 1789 to 1814”; was the author of some poems (1766-1837).
Botta, Paul Émile, Assyriologist, born at Turin, son of the preceding; when consul at Mosul, in 1843, discovered the ruins of Nineveh; made further explorations, published in the “Memoire de l'Ecriture Cunéiform Assyrienne” and “Monuments de Ninive” (1802-1870).
Böttger, an alchemist who, in his experiments on porcelain, invented the celebrated Meissen porcelain (1682-1719).
Botticelli, Sandro, or Alessandro, a celebrated painter of the Florentine school; began as a goldsmith's apprentice; a pupil of Fra Lippo Lippi; the best-known examples of his art are on religious subjects, though he was no less fascinated with classical—mythological conceptions; is distinguished for his attention to details and for delicacy, particularly in the drawing of flowers; and it is a rose on the petticoat of one of his figures, the figure of Spring, which Ruskin has reproduced on the title-page of his recent books, remarking that “no one has ever yet drawn, or is likely to draw, roses as he has done;... he understood,” he adds, “the thoughts of heathens and Christians equally, and could in a measure paint both Aphrodité and the Madonna” (1447-1515).
Böttiger, Karl Auguste, German archæologist, was a voluminous writer on antiquities, especially classical (1760-1835).
Bottom, a weaver in the interlude in “Midsummer-Night's Dream,” whom, with his ass's head, Titania falls in love with under the influence of a love-potion.
Botzaris, one of the heroes of the war of Greek independence (1789-1823).
Bouchardon, a celebrated French sculptor (1698-1762).
Boucher, a French painter, born at Paris (1703-1770).
Boucher de Perthes, French naturalist and anthropologist, born in Ardennes (1783-1868).
Boucicault, Dion, a dramatic writer, author of popular Irish pieces, as “The Colleen Bawn” and “The Shaughraun” (1822-1890).
Boucicaut, Marshal de, one of the bravest and noblest of French soldiers, born at Tours; distinguished in several famous battles; was taken captive by the English at Agincourt; died in England (1364-1421).
Boufflers, Chevalier de, field-marshal of France, courtier and author (1737-1815).
Boufflers, Marquis de, marshal of France, distinguished for his defence of Namur (1695) and of Lille (1708), and his masterly retreat from Malplaquet (1645-1711).
Bougainville, Louis Antoine de, a French navigator, born in Paris; voyaged round the world, which occupied him two years and a half; his “Travels” had a remarkably stimulating effect on the imaginations of the “philosophies,” as described by him in “Un Voyage autour du Monde” (1729-1811).
Bough, Sam, landscape painter, born at Carlisle, and settled in Edinburgh for 20 years (1822-1878).
Bouguer, Pierre, French physicist, born in Brittany; wrote on optics and the figure of the earth (1698-1758).
Bouguereau, Adolphe, a distinguished French painter, born at Rochelle in 1825; his subjects both classical and religious, as well as portraits.
Bouhour, le Père, French littérateur, born at Paris (1628-1702).
Bouillé, Marquis de, a French general, born in Auvergne, distinguished in the Seven Years' War, in the West Indies and during the Revolution; “last refuge of royalty in all straits”; favoured the flight of Louis XVI.; a “quick, choleric, sharp-discerning, stubbornly-endeavouring man, with suppressed-explosive resolution, with valour, nay, headlong audacity; muzzled and fettered by diplomatic pack-threads,... an intrepid, adamantine man”; did his utmost for royalty, failed, and quitted France; died in London, and left “Memoirs of the French Revolution” (1759-1800). See for the part he played in it, Carlyle's “French Revolution.”
Bouillon, district in Belgium, originally a German duchy; belonged to Godfrey, the crusader, who pledged it to raise funds for the crusade.
Bouilly, Jean Nicolas, a French dramatist, born near Tours, nicknamed, from his sentimentality “poète lacrymal” (1763-1842).
Boulainvilliers, a French historian, author of a “History of Mahomet” (1658-1722).
Boulak (20), the port of Cairo, on the Nile.
Boulan`ger, Jean Marie, a French general, born at Rennes; of note for the political intrigues with which he was mixed up during the last years of his life, and the dangerous popular enthusiasm which he excited; accused of peculation; fled the country, and committed suicide at Brussels (1837-1891).
Boulay de la Meurthe, a French statesman, distinguished as an orator; took part in the redaction of the Civil Code; was a faithful adherent of Napoleon (1761-1840). Henri, a son, vice-president of the Republic from 1849 to 1851 (1797-1858).
Boulder, a large mass or block of rock found in localities often far removed from the place of its formation, and transported thither on the ice of the Glacial Age.
Boulevard, the rampart of a fortified city converted into a promenade flanked by rows of trees and a feature of Paris in particular, though the boulevard is not always on the line of a rampart.
Boulogne, Bois de, a promenade between Paris and St. Cloud, much frequented by people of fashion, and a favourite place of recreation; it rivals that of the Champs Elysées.
Boulogne-sur-Mer (46), a fortified seaport in France, on the English Channel, in the dep. of Pas-de-Calais, 27 m. SW. of Calais, one of the principal ports for debarkation from England; where Napoleon collected in 1803 a flotilla to invade England; is connected by steamer with Folkestone, and a favourite watering-place; the chief station of the North Sea fisheries; is the centre of an important coasting trade, and likely to become a naval station.
Boulogne-sur-Seine (32), a town on the right bank of the Seine, 5 m. SW. of Paris, from which it is separated by the Bois-de-Boulogne.
Boulton, Matthew, an eminent engineer, born at Birmingham; entered into partnership with James Watt, and established with him a manufactory of steam-engines at Soho, on a barren heath near his native place; contributed to the improvement of the coinage (1728-1809).
“Bounty,” Mutiny of the, a mutiny which took place on the ship Bounty, on the 28th April 1789, bound from Otaheite to the West Indies, on the part of 25 of the crew, who returned to Otaheite after setting the captain (Bligh) adrift with others in an open boat. Bligh reached England after a time, reported the crime, to the seizure at length of certain of the offenders and the execution of others. Those who escaped founded a colony on Pitcairn Island.
Bourbaki, Charles Denis Soter, a French general, born at Pau, served in the Crimean War and in Italy, suffered disastrously in the Franco-German War, and attempted suicide; served for a time under Gambetta, afterwards retired; b. 1816.
Bourbon, a family of French origin, hailing from Bourbonnais, members of which occupied for generations the thrones of France, Naples, and Spain, and who severally ruled their territories under a more or less overweening sense of their rights as born to reign. Two branches, both of which trace back to Henry IV., held sway in France, one beginning with Louis XIV., eldest son of Louis XIII., and the other, called the Orleans, with Philip of Orleans, second son of Louis XIII., the former ending with Charles X. and his family, and the latter ending with Louis Philippe and his line. The branches of the family ruling in Spain and Naples began with Philip VI., grandson of Louis XIV., the former branch still (1899) in power, the latter ending with Francis II. in 1860.
Bourbon, Charles de, styled the Constable de Bourbon, acquired immense wealth by the death of an elder brother and by his marriage, and lived in royal state; was for his daring in the field named Constable of France by Francis I.; offended at some, perhaps imaginary, injustice Francis did him, he clandestinely entered the service of the Emperor Charles V., defeated the French at Pavia, and took Francis captive; parted from Charles, laid siege to Rome, and fell in the assault, mortally wounded, it is said, by Benvenuto Cellini (1489-1527).
Bourbonnais, ancient province in the centre of France, being the duchy of Bourbon; united to the crown in 1531; cap. Moulins.
Bourdaloue, Louis, a French Jesuit, born at Bourges, called the “king of preachers, and preacher of kings”; one of the most eloquent pulpit orators of France; did not suffer by comparison with Bossuet, his contemporary, though junior; one of the most earnest and powerful of his sermons, the one entitled “The Passion,” is deemed the greatest. His sermons are ethical in their matter from a Christian standpoint, carefully reasoned, and free from ornament, but fearless and uncompromising (1632-1704).
Bourdon, Sebastian, a French painter, born at Montpellier; his chef-d'oeuvre “The Crucifixion of St. Peter,” executed for the church of Notre Dame (1616-1671).
Bourdon de l'Oise, a French revolutionist, member of the Convention; banished to Guiana, where he died in 1791.
Bourgelat, a famous French veterinary surgeon, born at Lyons, and founder of veterinary colleges at Lyons in 1762; was an authority on horse management, and often consulted on the matter (1712-1779).
Bourgeois, Sir Francis, painter to George III.; left his collection to Dulwich College, and £10,000 to build a gallery for them (1756-1811).
Bourgeoisie, the name given in France to the middle class, professional people, and merchants, as distinguished from the nobles and the peasants, but applied by the Socialists to the capitalists as distinct from the workers.
Bourges (43), a French town in the dep. of Cher; birthplace of Louis XI. and Bourdaloue.
Bourget, Paul, an eminent French novelist and essayist, born at Amiens; a subtle analyst of character, with a clear and elegant style, on which he bestows great pains; his novels are what he calls “psychological,” and distinct from the romantist and naturalistic; b. 1852.
Bourignon, Antoinette, a Flemish visionary and fanatic; resolved religion into emotion; brought herself into trouble by the wild fancies she promulgated, to the derangement of others as well as herself (1615-1680).
Bourmont, Louis Auguste Victor, Comte de, a French marshal; at the Revolution joined the Bourbons on the frontiers; served the royal cause in La Vendée; held high commands under Napoleon; commanded under Ney on Napoleon's return from Elba; deserted on the eve of Waterloo to Louis XVIII.; gave evidence against Ney to his execution; commanded the expedition against Algiers; refused allegiance to Louis Philippe on his accession, and was dismissed the service (1773-1846).
Bourne, Hugh, founder of the Primitive Methodists, and a zealous propagator of their principles; he was a carpenter by trade, and he appears to have wrought at his trade while prosecuting his mission, which he did extensively both in Britain and America (1772-1852).
Bournemouth (38), a town in Hants, on Poole Bay, 37 m. SW. of Southampton, with a fine sandy beach; a great health resort; is of recent, and has been of rapid, growth.
Bourrienne, Louis Antoine Fauvelet, secretary of Napoleon, and a school friend, born at Sens; held the post for five years, but dismissed for being implicated in disgraceful money transactions; joined the Bourbons at the Restoration; the Revolution of 1830 and the loss of his fortune affected his mind, and he died a lunatic at Caen; wrote “Memoirs” disparaging to Napoleon (1769-1834).
Boussa, a town in Central Africa, capital of a State of the same name, where Mungo Park lost his life as he was going up the Niger.
Boustrophe`don, an ancient mode of writing from right to left, and then from left to right, as in ploughing a field.
Bouterwek, Friedrich, a German philosopher and professor of Philosophy at Göttingen; a disciple of Kant, then of Jacobi, and expounder of their doctrines; wrote “History of Poetry and Eloquence among the Modern Races” (1766-1828).
Bowdich, Thomas Edward, an English traveller, born at Bristol; sent on a mission to Guinea, and penetrated as far as Coomassie; wrote an interesting account of it in his “Mission to Ashanti” (1791-1824).
Bowditch, Nathaniel, American mathematician, born at Salem, Massachusetts; a practical scientist; published “Practical Navigation,” translated the “Mécanique Céleste” of Laplace, accompanied with an elaborate commentary (1773-1838).
Bowdler, Thomas, an English physician; edited expurgated editions of Shakespeare and Gibbon in the interest of moral purity; added in consequence a new term to the English language, Bowdlerism (1754-1825).
Bowdoin, James, an American statesman, born in Boston, of French extraction; a zealous advocate of American independence; author of “Discourse on the Constitution of the United States” (1727-1790).
Bowen, Richard, a gallant British naval commander, distinguished himself in several engagements, and by his captures of the enemy's ships; killed by grape-shot at the storming of Santa Cruz, at the moment when Nelson was wounded (1761-1797).
Bower, Walter, abbot of Inchcolm, Scottish chronicler; continued Fordun's History down to the death of James I. in 1437 from 1153 (1385-1449).
Bowles, William Lisle, a poet, born in Northamptonshire; his sonnets, by their “linking,” as Professor Saintsbury has it, “of nature's aspect to human feeling,” were much admired by Coleridge, and their appearance is believed to have inaugurated a new era in English poetry, as developed in the Lake School (1762-1850).
Bowling, Tom, a typical British sailor in “Roderick Random.”
Bowling, Sir John, linguist and political writer, born at Exeter; friend and disciple of Bentham as well as editor of his works; first editor of Westminster Review; at the instance of the English Government visited the Continental States to report on their commercial relations; became governor of Hong-Kong; ordered the bombardment of Canton, which caused dissatisfaction at home (1792-1872).
Bowyer, William, printer and scholar, born in London; wrote on the origin of printing, and published an edition of the Greek New Testament with notes (1699-1777).
“Box and Cox,” a farce by J. M. Morton, remarkable for a successful run such as is said to have brought the author £7000.
Boy Bishop, a boy chosen on 6th December, St. Nicholas' Day, generally out of the choir, to act as bishop and do all his episcopal duties, except celebrate mass. For the term of his office, which varied, he was treated as bishop, and if he died during his tenure of it was buried with episcopal honours. The term of office was limited in 1279 to 24 hours.
Boyars, the old nobility of Russia, whose undue influence in the State was broken by Peter the Great; also the landed aristocracy of Roumania.
Boyce, William, composer, chiefly of church music, born in London; published a collection of the “Cathedral Music of the Old English Masters”; composed “Hearts of Oak,” a naval song sung by ships' crews at one time before going into action (1710-1779).
Boycott, Captain, an Irish landlord's agent in Connemara, with whom the population of the district in 1880 refused to have any dealings on account of disagreements with the tenantry.
Boyd, Andrew Kennedy Hutchison, a Scottish clergyman and writer; bred for the bar, but entered the Church; known to fame as A. K. H. B.; author of “Recreations of a Country Parson,” which was widely read, and of Reminiscences of his life; died at Bournemouth by mischance of swallowing a lotion instead of a sleeping-draught (1825-1899).
Boyd, Zachary, a Scottish divine; regent of a Protestant college at Samur, in France; returned to Scotland in consequence of the persecution of the Huguenots; became minister of Barony Parish, Glasgow, and rector of the University; preached before Cromwell after the battle of Dunbar; author of the “Last Battell of the Soule in Death” and “Zion's Flowers,” being mainly metrical versions of Scripture, called “Boyd's Bible” (1585-1653).
Boydell, John, an English engraver and print-seller, famous for his “Shakespeare Gallery,” with 96 plates in illustration of Shakespeare, and the encouragement he gave to native artists; he issued also Hume's “History of England,” with 196 plates in illustration (1719-1804).
Boyer, Baron, French anatomist and surgeon; attendant on Napoleon, afterwards professor in the University of Paris; wrote works on anatomy and surgical diseases, which continued for long text-books on those subjects; was a man of very conservative opinions (1757-1833).
Boyer, Jean Pierre, president of Hayti, born at Port-au-Prince of a negress and a Creole father; secured the independence of the country; held the presidency for 25 years from 1818, but suspected of consulting his own advantage more than that of the country, was driven from power by a revolution in 1843; retired to Paris, where he spent the rest of his life and died (1776-1850).
Boyle, Charles, fourth Earl of Orrery, distinguished for the connection of his name with the Bentley controversy, and for its connection with an astronomical contrivance by one Graham to illustrate the planetary system (1676-1731).
Boyle, Richard, first and great Earl of Cork, distinguished among Irish patriots and landlords for what he did to improve his estates and develop manufactures and the mechanical arts in Ireland, also for the honours conferred upon him for his patriotism; when Cromwell saw how his estates were managed he remarked, that had there been one like him in every province in Ireland rebellion would have been impossible (1566-1643).
Boyle, The Hon. Robert, a distinguished natural philosopher, born at Lismore, of the Orrery family; devoted his life and contributed greatly to science, especially chemistry, as well as pneumatics; was one of the originators of the “Royal Society”; being a student of theology, founded by his will an endowment for the “Boyle Lectures” in defence of Christianity against its opponents and rivals; refused the presidentship of the Royal Society, and declined a peerage (1626-1691).
Boyle Lectures, the lectureship founded by the Hon. Robert Boyle in 1691, and held for a tenure of three years, the endowment being £50 per annum; the lecturer must deliver eight lectures in defence of Christianity, and some of the most eminent men have held the post.
Boyle's Law, that the volume of a gas is inversely as the pressure.
Boyne, a river in Ireland, which flows through Meath into the Irish Sea; gives name to the battle in which William III. defeated the forces of James II. on 30th July 1690.
Boz, a nom de plume under which Dickens wrote at first, being his nickname when a boy for a little brother.
Bozzy, Johnson's familiar name for Boswell.
Brabant, in mediæval times was an important prov. of the Low Countries, inhabitants Dutch, cap. Breda; is now divided between Holland and Belgium. It comprises three provs., the N. or Dutch Brabant; Antwerp, a Belgian prov., inhabitants Flemings, cap. Antwerp; and S. Brabant, also Belgian, inhabitants Walloons, cap. Brussels; the whole mostly a plain.
Bracton, Henry de, an English “justice itinerant,” a writer on English law of the 13th century; author of “De Legibus et Consuetudinibus Angliæ,” a “Treatise on the Laws and Customs of England,” and the first attempt of the kind; d. 1268.
Bradamante, sister to Rinaldo, and one of the heroines in “Orlando Furioso”; had a lance which unhorsed every one it touched.
Braddock, Edward, British general, born in Perthshire; entered the Coldstream Guards, and became major-general in 1754; commanded a body of troops against the French in America, fell in an attempt to invest Fort Duquesue, and lost nearly all his men (1695-1755).
Braddon, Miss (Mrs. John Maxwell), a popular novelist, born in London; authoress of “Lady Audley's Secret,” “Aurora Floyd,” and some 50 other novels; contributed largely to magazines; b. 1837.
Bradford (216), a Yorkshire manufacturing town, on a tributary of the Aire, 9 m. W. of Leeds; it is the chief seat of worsted spinning and weaving in England, and has an important wool market; coal and iron mines are at hand, and iron-works and machinery-making are its other industries. Also the name of a manufacturing town on the Avon, in Wilts.
Bradlaugh, Charles, a social reformer on secularist lines, born in London; had a chequered career; had for associate in the advocacy of his views Mrs. Annie Besant; elected M.P. for Northampton thrice over, but not allowed to sit till he took the oath, which he did in 1886; died respected by all parties in the House of Commons; wrote the “Impeachment of the House of Brunswick” (1833-1891).
Bradley, James, astronomer, born in Gloucestershire; professor of Astronomy at Oxford, and astronomer-royal at Greenwich; discovered the aberration of light and the nutation of the earth's axis; made 60,000 astronomical observations (1693-1762).
Bradshaw, George, an engraver of maps in Manchester; published maps illustrative of certain canal systems, and did the same service for railways, which developed into the well-known “Railway Guide” (1830-1863).
Bradshaw, John, president of the High Court of Justice for trial of Charles I., born at Stockport; bred for the bar; a friend of Milton; a thorough republican, and opposed to the Protectorate; became president of the Council on Cromwell's death; was buried in Westminster; his body was exhumed and hung in chains at the Restoration (1586-1659).
Bradwardin, Thomas, archbishop of Canterbury, surnamed “Doctor Profundus” from his treatise “De Causa Dei” against Pelagianism; chaplain to Edward III.; was present at Crécy and at the taking of Calais; died of the black death shortly after his consecration (1290-1348).
Bradwardine, the name of a baron and his daughter, the heroine of “Waverley.”
Braemar`, a Scottish Highland district SW. of Aberdeenshire; much frequented by tourists, and resorted to for summer country quarters.
Brag, Jack, a pretender who ingratiates himself with people above him.
Braga (23), a city, 34 m. NE. of Oporto, Portugal; the residence of the Primate; the capital of Minho.
Braganza, capital of Traz-os-Montes, in Portugal; gives name to the ruling dynasty of Portugal, called the House of Braganza, the eighth duke of Braganza having ascended the throne in 1640, on the liberation of Portugal from the yoke of Spain.
Bragi, the Norse god of poetry and eloquence, son of Odin and Frigga; represented as an old man with a long flowing beard and unwrinkled brow, with a mild expression of face; received in Valhalla the heroes who fell in battle.
Braham, John, a celebrated tenor singer, the most so in Europe of his day, and known all over Europe; was particularly effective in rendering the national songs; born in London, of Jewish parents; composed operas, which, however, were only dramas interspersed with songs. Scott described him as “a beast of an actor, but an angel of a singer” (1774-1856).
Brahé, Tycho, a Swedish astronomer, of noble birth; spent his life in the study of the stars; discovered a new star in Cassiopeia; had an observatory provided for him on an island in the Sound by the king, where he made observations for 20 years; he was, on the king's death, compelled to retire under persecution at the hand of the nobles; accepted an invitation of the Kaiser Rudolf II. to Prague, where he continued his work and had Kepler for assistant and pupil (1546-1601).
Brahma, in the Hindu religion and philosophy at one time the formless spirit of the Universe, from which all beings issue and into which they all merge, and as such is not an object of worship, but a subject of meditation; and at another the creator of all things, of which Vishnu (q. v.) is the preserver and Siva (q. v.) the destroyer, killing that he may make alive. See Trimurti.
Brahman, or Brahmin, one of the sacred caste of the Hindus that boasts of direct descent from, or immediate relationship with, Brahma, the custodians and mediators of religion, and therefore of high-priestly rank.
Brahmanas, treatises on the ceremonial system of Brahminism, with prescriptions bearing upon ritual, and abounding in legends and speculations.
Brahmaputra (i. e. son of Brahma), a river which rises in Tibet, circles round the E. of the Himalayas, and, after a course of some 1800 m., joins the Ganges, called the Sampo in Tibet, the Dihong in Assam, and the Brahmaputra in British India; it has numerous tributaries, brings down twice as much mud as the Ganges, and in the lower part of its course overflows the land, particularly Assam, like an inland sea.
Brahminism, the creed and ritual of the Brahmans, or that social, political, and religious organisation which developed among the Aryans in the valley of the Ganges under the influence of the Brahmans. According to the religious conception of this class, Brahma, or the universal spirit, takes form or incarnates himself successively as Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva, which triple incarnation constitutes a trimurti or trinity. In this way Brahma, the first incarnation of the universal spirit, had four sons, from whom issued the four castes of India—Brahmans, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas, and Sudras—all the rest being outcasts or pariahs. See Caste.
Brahmo-Somaj (i. e. church of God), a secession from traditional Hinduism, originated in 1830 by Rammohun Roy, and developed by Chunder Sen; founded on theistic, or rather monotheistic, i. e. unitarian, principles, and the rational ideas and philosophy of Europe, as well as a profession of a sense of the brotherhood of man no less than the unity of God.
Brahms, Johannes, a distinguished composer, born at Hamburg; of great promise from a boy; settled in Vienna; has no living rival; the appearance of compositions of his an event in the musical world; approaches Beethoven as no other does; distinguished as a performer as well as a composer; b. 1833.
Braidwood, James, born in Edinburgh; director of the London fire brigade; distinguished for his heroism on the occasion of great fires both in Edinburgh and London (1790-1861).
Braille, a blind Frenchman, invented printing in relief for the blind (1809-1852).
Brainerd, American missionary to the Red Indians, born in Connecticut; his Life was written by Jonathan Edwards, in whose house he died (1718-1747).
Bramah, Joseph, an engineer, born in Barnsley, Yorkshire; author of many mechanical inventions, 18 of which were patented, among others the hydraulic press, named after him (1748-1814).
Bramante, Donato, architect; laid the foundation of St. Peter's at Rome, which he did not live to complete (1444-1514).
Bramble, Matthew, a gouty humorist in “Humphrey Clinker”; of a fretful temper, yet generous and kind, who has a sister, Miss Tabitha, an ungainly maiden at forty-five, and of anything but a sweet temper.
Bramhall, John, archbishop of Armagh, born in Yorkshire, a high-handed Churchman and imitator of Laud; was foolhardy enough once to engage, nowise to his credit, in public debate with such a dialectician as Thomas Hobbes on the questions of necessity and free-will (1594-1663).
Bramwell, Sir Frederick, civil engineer, president of the British Association in 1888, and previously of Association of Engineers; b. 1818.
Bran, name given to Fingal's dog.
Brand, John, antiquary, born in Durham, wrote a “Popular Antiquities” (1744-1784).
Brandan, St., Island of, an island reported of by St. Brandan as lying W. of the Canary Islands, and that figured on charts as late as 1755, in quest of which voyages of discovery were undertaken as recently as the beginning of the 18th century, up to which time it was believed to exist.
Brande, chemist, born in London; author of “Manual of Chemistry” and other works (1788-1866).
Brandenburg (2,542), in the great northern plain of Germany, is a central Prussian province, and the nucleus of the Prussian kingdom; most of it a sandy plain, with fertile districts and woodlands here and there.
Brandenburg, the House of, an illustrious German family dating from the 10th century, from which descended the kings of Prussia.
Brandes, George, a literary critic, born at Copenhagen, of Jewish parents; his views of the present tendency of literature in Europe provoked at first much opposition in Denmark, though they were received with more favour afterwards; the opposition to his views were such that he was forced to leave Copenhagen, but, after a stay in Berlin, he returned to it in 1862, with the support of a strong party in his favour.
Brandt, a Swedish chemist; chanced on the discovery in 1669 of phosphorus while in quest of a solvent to transmute metals, such as silver, into gold; d. 1692.
Brandt, Sebastian, a satirical writer, born at Strassburg; author of the “Narrenschiff” or “Ship of Fools,” of which there have been many translations and not a few imitations (1458-1521).
Brandy Nan, a nickname for Queen Anne, from her fondness for brandy.
Brandywine Creek, a small river in Delaware; scene of a victory of the British over the Americans in 1777.
Brangtons, The, a vulgar, evil-spoken family in Miss Burney's “Evelina.”
Brant, Joseph, Indian chief who sided with the British in the American war; a brave and good man; d. 1807.
Brantôme, Pierre de Bourdeilles, a French chronicler, contemporary of Montaigne, born in Périgord; led the life of a knight-errant, and wrote Memoirs remarkable for the free-and-easy, faithful, and vivid delineations of the characters of the most celebrated of his contemporaries (1527-1614).
Brasidas, a Spartan general, distinguished in the Peloponnesian war; his most celebrated action, the defeat at the expense of his life, in 422 B.C., of the flower of the Athenian army at Amphipolis, with a small body of helots and mercenaries.
Brass, Sampson, a knavish attorney in “Old Curiosity Shop”; affected feeling for his clients, whom he fleeced.
Brasses, sepulchral tablets of a mixed metal, called latten, inlaid in a slab of stone, and insculpt with figures and inscriptions of a monumental character; the oldest in England is at Stoke d'Abernon, in Surrey.
Brassey, Thomas, a great railway contractor, born in Cheshire; contracted for the construction of railways in all parts of the world (1805-1870).
Braun, Auguste Emil, German archæologist, born at Gotha; works numerous, and of value (1809-1856).
Bravest of the Brave, Marshal Ney, so called from his fearlessness in battle; Napoleon had on one occasion said, “That man is a lion.”
Braxy, an inflammatory disease in sheep, due to a change in food from succulent to dry; and the name given to the mutton of sheep affected with it.
Bray, a Berkshire village, famous for Simon Aleyn, its vicar from 1540 to 1588, who, to retain his living, never scrupled to change his principles; he lived in the reigns of Charles II., James II., William III., Queen Anne, and George I.
Brazen Age, in the Greek mythology the age of violence, that succeeded the weak Silver Age. See Ages.
Brazil (14,000), the largest South American State, almost equal to Europe, occupies the eastern angle of the continent, and comprises the Amazon basin, the tablelands of Matto Grosso, the upper basin of the Paraguay, and the maritime highlands, with the valleys of the Paraná and San Francisco. Great stretches of the interior are uninhabitable swamp and forest lands; forests tenanted by an endless variety of brilliant-plumed birds and insects; the coasts are often humid and unhealthy, but the upper levels have a fine climate. Almost all the country is within the tropics. The population at the seaports is mostly white; inland it is negro, mulatto, and Indian. Vegetable products are indescribably rich and varied; timber of all kinds, rubber, cotton, and fruit are exported; coffee and sugar are the chief crops. The vast mineral wealth includes diamonds, gold, mercury, and copper. Most of the trade is with Britain and America. The language is Portuguese; the religion, Roman Catholic; education is very backward, and government unsettled. Discovered in 1500, and annexed by Portugal; the Portuguese king, expelled by the French in 1808, fled to his colony, which was made a kingdom 1815, and an empire in 1822. The emperor, Pedro II., was driven out in 1889, and a republic established on the federal system, which has been harassed ever since by desultory civil war. The capital is Rio Janeiro; Bahia and Pernambuco, the other seaports.
Brazil-wood, a wood found in Brazil, of great value for dyeing red, the colouring principle being named Brasilin.
Brazza (22), an island in the Adriatic, belonging to Austria; is richly wooded; noted for its wines; yields marble.
Brazza, Pierre Savorgnan de, explorer, born in Rome; acquired land N. of the Congo for France, and obtained a governorship; b. 1852.
Breadfruit-tree, a South Sea island tree producing a fruit which, when roasted, is used as bread.
Bréal, Michel, a French philologist, born at Landau; translator into French of Bopp's “Comparative Grammar”; b. 1832.
Brèche-de-Roland, a gorge in the dep. of the Haute-Pyrénées, which, according to tradition, Charlemagne's Paladin of the name of Roland cleft with one stroke of his sword when he was beset by the Gascons.
Brechin, a town in Forfarshire, W. of Montrose, on the S. Esk, with a cathedral and an old round tower near it, 85 ft. high, the only one of the kind in Scotland besides being at Abernethy.
Breda (23), fortified town, the capital of N. Brabant; a place of historical interest; Charles II. resided here for a time during his exile, and issued hence his declaration prior to his restoration.
Breeches Bible, the Geneva Bible, so called from its rendering in Gen. iii. 7, in which “aprons” is rendered “breeches.”
Breeches Review, the Westminster, so called at one time, from one Place, an authority in it, who had been a leather-breeches maker at Charing Cross.
Brégnet, a French chronometer-maker, born at Neuchâtel; a famous inventor of astronomical instruments (1747-1823).
Brehm, Alfred Edmund, German naturalist; his chief work “Illustrirtes Thierleben” (1829-1884).
Brehon Laws, a body of judge-created laws that for long formed the common law of Ireland, existed from prehistoric times till Cromwell's conquest. The origin of the code is unknown, and whether it was at first traditional; many manuscript redactions of portions exist still.
Bremen (126), the chief seaport of Germany, after Hamburg; is on the Weser, 50 m. from its mouth, and is a free city, with a territory less than Rutlandshire. Its export and import trade is very varied; half the total of emigrants sail from its docks; it is the head-quarters of the North German Lloyd Steamship Company. Textiles, tobacco, and paper industries add to its prosperity; was one of the principal cities of the Hanseatic League.
Bremer, Fredrika, a highly popular Swedish novelist, born in Finland; “The Neighbours,” “The President's Daughter,” and “Strife and Peace,” are perhaps her best stories; has been called the Jane Austen of Sweden.
Bremer, Sir James, rear-admiral; distinguished in the Burmese and Chinese wars (1786-1850).
Bremerhaven, the port of Bremen, on the estuary of the Weser, founded for the accommodation of large vessels in 1830, with a large hospice for emigrants.
Brendan, St., an Irish saint, born at Tralee, celebrated for his voyages in quest of “a land beyond human ken” and his discovery of “a paradise amid the waves of the sea”; founded a monastery at Clonfert; died in 577, in his ninety-fourth year.
Brenner Pass, pass on the central Tyrolese Alps, 6853 ft. high, between Innsbruck and Botzen, crossed by a railway, which facilitates trade between Venice, Germany, and Austria.
Brennus, a Gallic chief, who, 300 B.C., after taking and pillaging Rome, invested the Capitol for so long that the Romans offered him a thousand pounds' weight of gold to retire; as the gold was being weighed out he threw his sword and helmet into the opposite scale, adding Væ victis, “Woe to the conquered,” an insolence which so roused Camillus, that he turned his back and offered battle to him and to his army, and totally routed the whole host.
Brenta, an Italian river; rises in the Tyrol, waters Bassano, and debouches near Venice.
Brentano, Clemens, poet of the romanticist school, born at Frankfort-on-the-Main, brother of Goethe's Bettina von Arnim; was a roving genius (1778-1849).
Brentford, market-town in Middlesex, on the Brent, 10 m. W. of London, that figures in history and literature.
Brenz, Johann, the reformer of Würtemberg, and one of the authors of the Würtemberg Confession, as well as a catechism extensively used (1499-1570).
Brescia (43), a city of Lombardy, on the Mella and Garza, 50 m. E. of Milan; has two cathedrals, an art gallery and library, a Roman temple excavated in 1822, and now a classical museum; its manufactures are woollens, silks, leather, and wine.
Breslau (335), the capital of Silesia, second city in Prussia; an important commercial and manufacturing centre, and has a first-class fortress; is on the Oder, 150 m. by rail SE. of Frankfort; it stands in the centre of the Baltic, North Sea, and Danube trade, and has a large woollen industry and grain market; there are a cathedral, university, and library.
Bressay, one of the Shetland Isles, near Lerwick, with one of the best natural harbours in the world.
Brest (76), a strongly-fortified naval station in the extreme NW. of France; one of the chief naval stations in France, with a magnificent harbour, and one of the safest, first made a marine arsenal by Richelieu; has large shipbuilding yards and arsenal; its industries are chiefly related to naval equipment, with leather, waxcloth, and paper manufactures.
Bréton, Jules Adolphe, a French genre and landscape painter, born at Courrières, in Pas-de-Calais, 1827.
Breton de los Herreros, Spanish poet and dramatist; wrote comedies and satires in an easy, flowing style (1800-1873).
Breteuil, Baron de, an ex-secretary of Louis XVI. (1733-1807).
Brethren of the Common Life, a Dutch branch of the “Friends of God,” founded at Deventer by Gerard Groote.
Bretschneider, Henry Gottfried von, a German satirical writer, born at Gera; led a bohemian life; served in the army; held political posts; composed, besides satirical writings, “Almanach der Heiligen auf das Jahr, 1788,” “Wallers Leben und Sitten,” and the comic epic, “Graf Esau” (1739-1810).
Bretschneider, Karl Gottlieb, a German rationalistic theologian; much regarded for his sound judgment in critical matters; his theological writings are of permanent value; his chief works, “Handbuch der Dogmatik,” and an edition of Melanchthon's works.
Bretwalda, a title apparently of some kind of acknowledged supremacy among the Anglo-Saxon kings, and the leader in war.
Breughel, a family of Butch painters, a father and two sons, the father, Peter, called “Old” B. (1510-1570); a son, John, “Velvet” B., either from his dress or from the vivid freshness of his colours (1560-1625); and the other, Peter, “Hellish” B., from his fondness for horrible subjects (1559-1637).
Brevet`, a commission entitling an officer in the army to a nominal rank above his real rank.
Breviary, a book containing the daily services in the Roman Catholic Church and corresponding to the English Prayer-Book; differs from the “Missal,” which gives the services connected with the celebration of the Eucharist, and the “Pontifical,” which gives those for special occasions.
Brewer, John Sherren, historian, professor of English Literature in King's College, London; author of “Calendar of Letters and Papers of Henry VIII.'s Reign,” his work the sole authority on Henry's early reign (1810-1879).
Brewer of Ghent, Jacob Arteveld.
Brewster, Sir David, an eminent Scottish natural philosopher, born at Jedburgh; edited the “Edinburgh Encyclopædia,” in the pages of which Carlyle served his apprenticeship; specially distinguished for his discoveries in light, his studies in optics, and for his optical inventions, such as the kaleidoscope and the stereoscope; connected with most scientific associations of his time; wrote largely on scientific and other subjects, e. g., a Life of Newton, as well as Lives of Euler, Kepler, and others of the class; Principal of the United Colleges of St. Andrews, and afterwards of Edinburgh, being succeeded at St. Andrews by James David Forbes, who years before defeated him as candidate for the Natural Philosophy chair in Edinburgh; bred originally for the Church, and for a time a probationer (1781-1868).
Brewster, William, leader of the Pilgrim Fathers in the Mayflower, who conveyed them to Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1620; had been a clergyman of the Church of England.
Brian Boroihme, an Irish chief, who early in the 10th century established his rule over a great part of Ireland, and made great efforts for the civilisation of the country; died defeating the Danes at Clontarf, being, it is said, the twenty-fifth battle in which he defeated them.
Briançon, the highest town in France, 4300 ft. above sea-level, 42 m. SE. from Grenoble, with a trade in cutlery.
Briareus, a Uranid with 50 heads and 100 arms, son of Ouranos and Gaia, i. e. Heaven and Earth, whom Poseidon cast into the sea and buried under Etna, but whom Zeus delivered to aid him against the Titans; according to another account, one of the Giants (q. v.).
Brice, St., bishop of Tours in the beginning of the 5th century, and disciple of St. Martin. Festival, Nov. 19.
Brice's, St., a day in 1002 on which a desperate attempt was made to massacre all the Danes in England and stamp them wholly out, an attempt which was avenged by the Danish king, Sweyn.
Brick, Jefferson, an American politician in “Martin Chuzzlewit.”
Bride of the Sea, Venice, so called from a ceremony in which her espousals were celebrated by the Doge casting a ring into the Adriatic.
Bridewell, a house of correction in Blackfriars, London, so called from St. Bridget's well, near it.
Bridge of Allan, a village on Allan water, 3 m. N. of Stirling, with a mild climate and mineral waters.
Bridge of Sighs, a covered way in Venice leading from the Ducal Palace to the State prison, and over which culprits under capital sentence were transported to their doom, whence the name.
Bridgenorth, Major Ralph, a Roundhead in “Peveril of the Peak.”
Bridgeport (48), a thriving manufacturing town and seaport of Connecticut, U.S., 58 m. NE. from New York.
Bridget, Mrs., a character in “Tristram Shandy.”
Bridget, St., an Irish saint, born at Dundalk; entered a monastery at 14; founded monasteries; takes rank in Ireland with St. Patrick and St. Columba. Festival, Feb. 1 (453-523). Also the name of a Swedish saint in the 14th century; founded a new Order, and 72 monasteries of the Order.
Bridgeton, a manufacturing town in New Jersey, 38 m. S. of Philadelphia.
Bridgetown (21), capital of Barbadoes, seat of the government, the bishop, a college, &c.; it has suffered frequently from hurricane and fever.
Bridgewater, Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of, celebrated for his self-sacrificing devotion to the improvement and extension of canal navigation in England, embarking in it all his wealth, in which he was aided by the skill of Brindley; he did not take part in politics, though he was a supporter of Pitt; died unmarried (1736-1803).
Bridgewater, Francis Henry Egerton, 8th Earl of, educated for the Church, bequeathed £8000 for the best work on natural theology, which his trustees expended in the production of eight works by different eminent men, called “Bridgewater Treatises,” all to be found in Bohn's Scientific Library (1758-1829).
Bridgman, Laura, a deaf, dumb, and blind child, born in New Hampshire, U.S.; noted for the surprising development of intellectual faculty notwithstanding these drawbacks; Dickens gives an account of her in his “American Notes” (1829-1889).
Bridgwater, a seaport town in Somersetshire, 29 m. SW. of Bristol.
Bridlegoose, Judge, a judge in Rabelais' “Pantagruel,” who decided cases by the throw of dice.
Bridlington, a watering-place in Yorkshire, 6 m. SW. of Flamborough Head, with a chalybeate spring.
Bridport, Viscount, a British admiral, distinguished in several engagements (1797-1814).
Brieg (20), a thriving, third, commercially speaking, town in Prussian Silesia, 25 m. SE. of Breslau.
Brienne, Jean de, descendant of an old French family; elected king of Jerusalem, then emperor of Constantinople; d. 1237.
Brienz, Lake of, lake in the Swiss canton of Bern, 8 m. long, 2 m. broad, over 800 ft. above sea-level, and of great depth in certain parts, abounding in fish. Town of, a favourite resort for tourists.
Brieuc, St., (19), a seaport and an episcopal city in the dep. of Côtes-du-Nord, France.
Brigade, a body of troops under a general officer, called brigadier, consisting of a number of regiments, squadrons, or battalions.
Brigantes, a powerful British tribe that occupied the country between the Humber and the Roman Wall.
Briggs, Henry, a distinguished English mathematician; first Savilian professor at Oxford; made an important improvement on the system of logarithms, which was accepted by Napier, the inventor, and is the system now in use (1561-1631).
Brigham Young, the chief of the Mormons (1801-1877).
Bright, James Franck, historian, Master of University College, Oxford; author of “English History for the Use of Public Schools,” a book of superior literary merit; b. 1832.
Bright, John, English statesman, son of a Lancashire cotton spinner, born near Rochdale; of Quaker birth and profession; engaged in manufacture; took an early interest in political reform; he joined the Anti-Corn-Law League on its formation in 1839, and soon was associated with Cobden in its great agitation; entering Parliament in 1843, he was a strong opponent of protection, the game laws, and later of the Crimean war; he advocated financial reform and the reform of Indian administration; and on the outbreak of the American Civil War supported the North, though his business interests suffered severely; he was closely associated with the 1867 Reform Act, Irish Church Disestablishment 1869, and the 1870 Irish Land Act; his Ministerial career began in 1868, but was interrupted by illness; in 1873, and again in 1881, he was Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster; he seceded from Gladstone's Government on the Egyptian policy in 1882, and strenuously opposed Home Rule in 1886; in 1880 he was Lord Rector of Glasgow University; he was a man of lofty and unblemished character, an animated and eloquent orator; at his death Mr. Gladstone pronounced one of the noblest eulogiums one public man has ever paid to another (1811-1889).
Brighton (128), a much-frequented watering-place in Sussex, 50 m. S. of London, of which it is virtually a suburb; a place of fashionable resort ever since George IV. took a fancy to it; a fine parade extends along the whole length of the sea front; has many handsome edifices, a splendid aquarium, a museum, schools of science and art, public library and public gallery; the principal building is the Pavilion or Marine Palace, originally built for George IV. Also the name of a suburb of Melbourne.
Blight's Disease, a disease in the kidneys, due to several diseased conditions of the organ, so called from Dr. Richard Bright, who first investigated its nature.
Bril Brothers, Matthew and Paul, landscape painters, born at Antwerp; employed in the 16th century by successive Popes to decorate the Vatican at Rome; of whom Paul, the younger, was the greater artist; his best pictures are in Rome.
Brillat-Savarin, a French gastronomist, author of “Physiologie du Goût,” a book full of wit and learning, published posthumously; was professionally a lawyer and some time a judge (1755-1825).
Brin`disi (15), a seaport of Southern Italy, on the Adriatic coast; has risen in importance since the opening of the Overland Route as a point of departure for the East; it is 60 hours by rail from London, and three days by steam from Alexandria; it was the port of embarkation for Greece in ancient times, and for Palestine in mediæval.
Brindley, James, a mechanician and engineer, born in Derbyshire; bred a millwright; devoted his skill and genius to the construction of canals, under the patronage of the Duke of Bridgewater, as the greatest service he could render to his country; regarded rivers as mere “feeders to canals” (1716-1772).
Brink, Jan Ten, a Dutch writer, distinguished as a critic in the department of belles-lettres; b. 1834.
Brinvilliers, Marquise de, notorious for her gallantries and for poisoning her father, brother, and two sisters for the sake of their property; was tortured and beheaded; the poison she used appears to have been the Tofana poison, an art which one of her paramours taught her (1630-1676). See Aqua Tofana.
Brisbane (49), capital of Queensland, on the Brisbane River, 25 m. from the sea, 500 m. N. of Sydney, is the chief trading centre and seaport of the Colony; it has steam communication with Australian ports and London, and railway communication with Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide; prosperity began when the colony was opened to free settlement in 1842; it was dissociated from New South Wales and the city incorporated in 1859.
Brisbane, Admiral Sir Charles, a naval officer of distinction under Lords Hood and Nelson; captured in 1796 Dutch warships, three ships of the line among them, in Saldanha Bay, and in 1807 the island of Curaçoa; was made governor of St. Vincent (1769-1829).
Brisbane, Sir James, naval officer, brother of the preceding, served under Lord Howe and under Nelson at Copenhagen (1774-1829).
Brisbane, Sir Thomas Macdougall, British general, a man of science and an astronomer, born near Largs, Ayrshire; saw service as a soldier; was appointed governor of New South Wales to the profit of the colony; gave name to the capital of Queensland; catalogued over 7000 stars; succeeded Scott as president of the Royal Society (1773-1860).
Brise`is, a young virgin priestess, who fell to the lot of Achilles among the spoil of a victory, but whom Agamemnon carried off from him, whereupon he retired to his tent and sullenly refused to take any further part in the war, to its prolongation, in consequence, as Homer relates, for ten long years; the theme of the “Iliad” being the “wrath of Achilles” on this account, and what it led to.
Brissac, the name of a noble family which supplied several marshals to France.
Brisson, Henri, French publicist and journalist; after holding presidentships in the Chamber became premier in 1885, but resigned after a few months; formed a Radical administration in 1898, which was short-lived; b. 1835.
Brissot de Warville, Jean Pierre, a French revolutionary, born at Chartres, son of a pastry-cook; bred to the bar, took to letters; became an outspoken disciple of Rousseau; spent some time in the Bastille; liberated, he went to America; returned on the outbreak of the Revolution, sat in the National Assembly, joined the Girondists; became one of the leaders, or rather of a party of his own, named after him Brissotins, midway between the Jacobins and them; fell under suspicion like the rest of the party, was arrested, tried and guillotined (1754-1793).
Bristol (286), on the Avon, 6 m. from its mouth, and 118 m. W. of London, is the largest town in Gloucestershire, the seventh in England, and a great seaport, with Irish, W. Indian, and S. American trade; it manufactures tobacco, boots and shoes; it has a cathedral, two colleges, a library and many educational institutions; by a charter of Edward III. it forms a county in itself.
Bristol Channel, an inlet in SW. of England, between S. Wales and Devon and Cornwall, 8 m. in length, from 5 to 43 in breadth, and with a depth of from 5 to 40 fathoms; is subject to very high tides, and as such dangerous to shipping; numerous rivers flow into it.
Britannia, a name for Britain as old as the days of Cæsar, and inhabited by Celts, as Gaul also was.
Britannia Tubular Bridge, a railway bridge spanning the Menai Strait, designed by Robert Stephenson, and completed in 1850; consists of hollow tubes of wrought-iron plates riveted together, and took five years in erecting.
Britannicus, the son of Claudius and Messalina, poisoned by Nero.
British Aristides, name applied to Andrew Marvell from his corresponding incorruptible integrity in life and poverty at death.
British Association, an association, of Sir David Brewster's suggestion, of men of all departments of science for the encouragement of scientific research and the diffusion of scientific knowledge, which holds its meetings annually under the presidency of some distinguished scientist, now in this, now in that selected central city of the country; it is divided into eight sections—mathematical, chemical, geological, biological, geographical, economic, mechanical, and anthropological.
British Columbia (98), a western fertile prov. of British America, extending between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific, and from the United States on the S. to Alaska on the N., being 800 m. long and four times the size of Great Britain; rich in timber and minerals; rain is abundant, and cereals do well.
British Lion, the name given to John Bull when roused by opposition.
British Museum, a national institution in London for the collection of MSS., books, prints and drawings, antiquities, and objects of natural history, ethnology, &c.; founded as far back as 1700, though not opened, in Montagu House as it happened, for the public benefit till 1759.
Britomart, is a lady knight in the “Faërie Queene,” representing chastity with a resistless magic spear.
Brittany (3,162), an old French prov., land of the Bretons, comprising the peninsula opposite Devon and Cornwall, stretching westward between the Bays of Cancale and Biscay, was in former times a duchy; a third of its inhabitants still retain their Breton language.
Britton, John, topographer and antiquary, born in Wiltshire in humble position; author of “Beauties of Wiltshire,” instalment of a work embracing all the counties of England and Wales; his principal works, and works of value, are “Antiquities of Great Britain” and “Cathedral Antiquities of England”; his chief work is 14 volumes; the “Antiquities in Normandy” did much to create an interest in antiquarian subjects (1771-1857).
Brixton, a southern suburb of London, on the Surrey side, a district of the city that has of late years extended immensely.
Broad Arrow, a stamp like an arrow-head to indicate government property.
Broad Bottom Ministry, a coalition of great weight under Mr. Pelham, from Nov. 1744 to Mar. 1755, so called from the powerful parties represented in it.
Broad Church, that section of the Church which inclines to liberal opinions in theology, and is opposed to the narrowing of either spirit or form, perhaps to an undue degree and to the elimination of elements distinctive of the Christian system.
Broads, The Norfolk, are a series of inland lakes in the E. of Norfolkshire, which look like expansions of the rivers; they are favourite holiday resorts on account of the expanse of strange scenery, abundant vegetation, keen air, fishing and boating attractions.
Brob`dingnag, an imaginary country in “Gulliver's Travels,” inhabited by giants, each as tall “as an ordinary spire-steeple”; properly a native of the country, in comparison with whom Gulliver was a pigmy “not half so big as a round little worm plucked from the lazy finger of a maid.”
Broca, Paul, an eminent French surgeon, anthropologist, and one of the chief French evolutionists; held a succession of important appointments, and was the author of a number of medical works (1824-1880).
Brochant de Villiers, a mineralogist and geologist, born in Paris; director of the St. Gobin manufactory (1773-1810).
Brochs, dry-stone circular towers, called also Picts' towers and Duns, with thick Cyclopean walls, a single doorway, and open to the sky, found on the edge of straths or lochs in the N. and W. of Scotland.
Brocken, or Blocksberg, the highest peak (3740 ft.) of the Harz Mts., cultivated to the summit; famous for a “Spectre” so called, long an object of superstition, but which is only the beholder's shadow projected through, and magnified by, the mists.
Brockhaus, Friedrich Arnold, a German publisher, born at Dortmund; a man of scholarly parts; began business in Amsterdam, but settled in Leipzig; publisher of the famous “Conversations Lexikon,” and a great many other important works (1772-1823).
Brocoliando, a forest in Brittany famous in Arthurian legend.
Brodie, Sir Benjamin, surgeon, born in Wiltshire; professor of surgery; for 30 years surgeon in St. George's Hospital; was medical adviser to three sovereigns; president of the Royal Society (1783-1862).
Brodie, William, a Scottish sculptor, born in Banff; did numerous busts and statues (1815-1881).
Broglie, Albert, son of the following, a Conservative politician and littérateur, author of “The Church and the Roman Empire in the 4th century”; b. 1821
Broglie, Charles Victor, Duc de, a French statesman, born at Paris; a Liberal politician; was of the party of Guizot and Royer-Collard; held office under Louis Philippe; negotiated a treaty with England for the abolition of slavery; was an Orleanist, and an enemy of the Second Empire; retired after the coup d'état (1785-1870).
Broglie, Victor François, Duc de, marshal of France, distinguished in the Seven Years' War, being “a firm disciplinarian”; was summoned by royalty to the rescue as “war god” at the outbreak of the Revolution; could not persuade his troops to fire on the rioters; had to “mount and ride”; took command of the Emigrants in 1792, and died at Münster (1718-1804).
Broke, Sir Philip Bowes Vere, rear-admiral, born at Ipswich, celebrated for the action between his ship Shannon, 38 guns, and the American ship Chesapeake, 49 guns, in June 1813, in which he boarded the latter and ran up the British flag; one of the most brilliant naval actions on record, and likely to be long remembered in the naval annals of the country (1776-1841).
Bromberg (41), a busy town on the Brahe, in Prussian Posen; being a frontier town, it suffered much in times of war.
Brome, Alexander, a cavalier, writer of songs and lampoons instinct with wit, whim, and spirit; and of his songs some are amatory, some festive, and some political (1626-1666).
Brome, Richard, an English comic playwright, contemporary with Ben Jonson, and a rival; originally his servant; his plays are numerous, and were characterised by his enemies as the sweepings of Jonson's study; d. 1652.
Bromine, an elementary fluid of a dark colour and a disagreeable smell, extracted from bittern, a liquid which remains after the separation of salt.
Bromley (21), a market-town in Kent, 10 m. SE. of London, where the bishops of Rochester had their palace, and where there is a home called Warner's College for clergymen's widows.
Brompton, SW. district of London, in Kensington, now called S. Kensington; once a rustic locality, now a fashionable district, with several public buildings and the Oratory.
Bröndsted, Peter Olaf, a Danish archæologist; author of “Travels and Researches in Greece,” where by excavations he made important discoveries; his great work “Travels and Archæological Researches in Greece” (1780-1842).
Brongniart, Adolphe, French botanist, son of the succeeding, the first to discover and explain the function of the pollen in plants (1801-1876).
Brongniart, Alexandre, a French chemist and zoologist, collaborateur with Cuvier, born at Paris; director of the porcelain works at Sèvres; revived painting on glass; introduced a new classification of reptiles; author of treatises on mineralogy and the ceramic arts (1770-1847).
Bronte (16), a town in Sicily, on the western slope of Etna, which gave title of duke to Nelson.
Brontë, the name of three ladies, Charlotte, Emily, and Anne, daughters of a Yorkshire clergyman of Irish extraction: Charlotte, born at Thornton, Yorkshire; removed with her father, at the age of four, to Haworth, a moorland parish, in the same county, where she lived most of her days; spent two years at Brussels as a pupil-teacher; on her return, in conjunction with her sisters, prepared and published a volume of poems under the pseudonyms respectively of “Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell,” which proved a failure. Nothing daunted, she set to novel writing, and her success was instant; first, “Jane Eyre,” then “Shirley,” and then “Villette,” appeared, and her fame was established. In 1854 she married her father's curate, Mr. Nicholls, but her constitution gave way, and she died (1816-1855). Emily (Ellis), two years younger, poet rather than novelist; wrote “Wuthering Heights,” a remarkable production, showing still greater genius, which she did not live to develop. Anne (Acton), four years younger, also wrote two novels, but very ephemeral productions.
Bronze Age, the age in the history of a race intermediate between the Stone Age and the Iron, and in some cases overlapping these two, when weapons and tools were made of bronze.
Bronzi`no, a Florentine painter, painted both in oil and fresco; a great admirer of Michael Angelo; his famous picture, “Descent of Christ into Hell” (1502-1572).
Brook Farm, an abortive literary community organised on Fourier's principles, 8 m. from Boston, U.S., by George Ripley in 1840; Nathaniel Hawthorne was one of the community, and wrote an account of it.
Brooke, Henry, Irish dramatist and novelist, born in co. Cavan; author of the “Fool of Quality,” a book commended by John Wesley and much lauded by Charles Kingsley, and the only one of his works that survives; wrote, among other things, a poem called “Universal Beauty,” and a play called “Gustavus Vasa” (1703-1783).
Brooke, Sir James, rajah of Sarawak, born at Benares, educated in England; entered the Indian army; was wounded in the Burmese war, returned in consequence to England; conceived the idea of suppressing piracy and establishing civilisation in the Indian Archipelago; sailed in a well-manned and well-equipped yacht from the Thames with that object; arrived at Sarawak, in Borneo; assisted the governor in suppressing an insurrection, and was made rajah, the former rajah being deposed in his favour; brought the province under good laws, swept the seas of pirates, for which he was rewarded by the English government; was appointed governor of Labuan; finally returned to England and died, being succeeded in Sarawak by a nephew (1803-1868).
Brooke, Stopford, preacher and writer, born in Donegal; after other clerical appointments became incumbent of Bedford Chapel, Bloomsbury, and Queen's chaplain; from conscientious motives seceded from the Church, but continued to preach in Bloomsbury; wrote the “Life of Robertson of Brighton,” a “Primer of English Literature,” “History of English Poetry,” “Theology in the English Poets,” and “Life of Milton,” all works in evidence of critical ability of a high order; b. 1832.
Brooklyn (806), a suburb of New York, on Long Island, though ranking as a city, and the fourth in the Union; separated from New York by the East River, a mile broad, and connected with it by a magnificent suspension bridge, the largest in the world, as well as by some 12 lines of ferry boats plied by steam; it is now incorporated in Greater New York; has 10 m. of water front, extensive docks and warehouses, and does an enormous shipping trade; manufactures include glass, clothing, chemicals, metallic wares, and tobacco; there is a naval yard, dock, and storehouse; the city is really a part of New York; has many fine buildings, parks, and pleasure grounds.
Brooks, Charles William Shirley, novelist and journalist, born in London; was on the staff of the Morning Chronicle; sent to Russia to inquire into and report on the condition of the peasantry and labouring classes there, as well as in Syria and Egypt; his report published in his “Russians of the South”; formed a connection with Punch in 1851, writing the “Essence of Parliament,” and succeeded Mark Lemon as editor in 1870; he was the author of several works (1816-1874).
Brosses, Charles de, a French archæologist, born at Dijon; wrote among other subjects on the manners and customs of primitive and prehistoric man (1709-1777).
Brossette, a French littérateur, born at Lyons; friend of Boileau, and his editor and commentator (1671-1743).
Brothers, Richard, a fanatic, born in Newfoundland, who believed and persuaded others to believe that the English people were the ten lost tribes of Israel (1757-1824).
Brougham, Henry, Lord Brougham and Vaux, born in Edinburgh, and educated at the High School and University of that city; was admitted to the Scotch bar in 1800; excluded from promotion in Scotland by his liberal principles, he joined the English bar in 1808, speedily acquired a reputation as a lawyer for the defence in Crown libel actions, and, by his eloquence in the cause of Queen Caroline, 1820, won universal popular favour; entering Parliament in 1810, he associated with the Whig opposition, threw himself into the agitation for the abolition of slavery, the cause of education, and law reform; became Lord Chancellor in 1830, but four years afterwards his political career closed; he was a supporter of many popular institutions; a man of versatile ability and untiring energy; along with Horner, Jeffrey, and Sidney Smith, one of the founders of the Edinburgh Review, also of London University, and the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge; a writer on scientific, historical, political, and philosophical themes, but his violence and eccentricity hurt his influence; spent his last days at Cannes, where he died (1778-1868).
Broughton, Lord. See Hobhouse.
Broughton, Rhoda, novelist, her best work “Not Wisely but Too Well”; wrote also “Cometh Up as a Flower,” “Red as a Rose is She,” &c.; b. 1840.
Broughton, William Robert, an English seaman, companion of Vancouver; discovered a portion of Oceania (1763-1822).
Broughty Ferry (9), a watering-place, with villas, near Dundee, and a favourite place of residence of Dundee merchants.
Broussa (37), a city in the extreme NW. of Asiatic Turkey, at the foot of Mt. Olympus, 12 m. from the Sea of Marmora; the capital of the Turkish empire till the taking of Constantinople in 1453; abounds in mosques, and is celebrated for its baths.
Broussais, Joseph Victor, a French materialist, founder of the “physiological school” of medicine; resolved life into excitation, and disease into too much or too little (1772-1838).
Broussel, a member of the Parlement of Paris, whose arrest, in 1648, was the cause of, or pretext for, the organisation of the Fronde.
Brousson, a French Huguenot who returned to France after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and was broken on the wheel, 1698.
Brouwer, a Dutch painter, mostly of low, vulgar life, which, as familiar with it, he depicted with great spirit (1605-1638).
Brown, Amy, the first wife of the Duc de Berri, born in England, died in France; the Pope, in 1816, annulled her marriage, but declared her two daughters legitimate (1783-1876).
Brown, Charles Brockden, an American novelist, born in Philadelphia, of Quaker connection; his best-known fictions are “Wieland,” “Edgar Huntly,” &c. (1771-1810).
Brown, Ford Madox, an English painter, born at Calais; his subjects nearly all of a historical character, one of which is “Chaucer reciting his Poetry at the Court of Edward III.”; anticipated Pre-Raphaelitism (1821-1893).
Brown, Sir George, British general, born near Elgin, distinguished both in the Peninsular and in the Crimean war, was severely wounded at Inkerman, when in command of the Light Division (1790-1863).
Brown, Henry Kirke, an American sculptor, did a number of statues, a colossal one of Washington among them (1814-1886).
Brown, John, American slavery abolitionist; settled in Kansas, and resolutely opposed the project of making it a slave state; in the interest of emancipation, with six others, seized on the State armoury at Harper's Ferry in hope of a rising, entrenched himself armed in it, was surrounded, seized, tried, and hanged (1800-1859).
Brown, John, of Haddington, a self-educated Scotch divine, born at Carpow, near Abernethy, Perthshire, son of a poor weaver, left an orphan at 11, became a minister of a Dissenting church in Haddington; a man of considerable learning, and deep piety; author of “Dictionary of the Bible,” and “Self-interpreting Bible” (1722-1787).
Brown, John, M.D., great-grandson of the preceding, born at Biggar, educated in Edinburgh High School and at Edinburgh University, was a pupil of James Syme, the eminent surgeon, and commenced quiet practice in Edinburgh; author of “Horæ Subsecivæ,” “Rab and his Friends,” “Pet Marjorie,” “John Leech,” and other works; was a fine and finely-cultured man, much beloved by all who knew him, and by none more than by John Ruskin, who says of him, he was “the best and truest friend of all my life.... Nothing can tell the loss to me in his death, nor the grief to how many greater souls than mine that had been possessed in patience through his love” (1810-1882).
Brown, John, M.D., founder of the Brunonian system of medicine, born at Bunkle, Berwickshire; reduced diseases into two classes, those resulting from redundancy of excitation, and those due to deficiency of excitation; author of “Elements of Medicine” and “Observations on the Old and New Systems of Physic” (1735-1788). See Broussais.
Brown, Jones, and Robinson, three middle-class Englishmen on their travels abroad, as figured in the pages of Punch, and drawn by Richard Doyle.
Brown, Mount (16,000 ft.), the highest of the Rocky Mts., in N. America.
Brown, Oliver Madox, son of Ford Madox, a youth of great promise both as an artist and poet; died of blood-poisoning (1855-1874).
Brown, Rawdon, historical scholar, spent his life at Venice in the study of Italian history, especially in its relation to English history, which he prosecuted with unwearied industry; his great work, work of 20 years' hard labour, “Calendar of State Papers and Manuscripts relating to English Affairs existing in the Archives of Venice and Northern Italy,” left unfinished at his death; died at Venice, where he spent a great part of his life, where Ruskin found him and conceived a warm friendship for him (1803-1883).
Brown, Robert, a distinguished botanist, born at Montrose, son of an Episcopal clergyman; accompanied an expedition to survey the coast of Australia in 1801, returned after four years' exploration, with 4000 plants mostly new to science, which he classified and described in his “Prodromus Floræ Novæ Hollandiæ”; became librarian to, and finally president of, the Linnean Society; styled by Humboldt botanicorum facile princeps; he was a man of most minute and accurate observation, and of a wide range of knowledge, much of which died along with him, out of the fear of committing himself to mistakes (1773-1858).
Brown, Samuel, M.D., chemist, born in Haddington, grandson of John Brown of Haddington, whose life was devoted, with the zeal of a mediæval alchemist, to a reconstruction of the science of atomics, which he did not live to see realised: a man of genius, a brilliant conversationist and an associate of the most intellectual men of his time, among the number De Quincey, Carlyle, and Emerson; wrote “Lay Sermons on the Theory of Christianity,” “Lectures on the Atomic Theory,” and two volumes of “Essays, Scientific and Literary” (1817-1856).
Brown, Thomas, Scottish psychologist, born in Kirkcudbrightshire, bred to medicine; professor of Moral Philosophy in the University of Edinburgh, colleague and successor to Dugald Stewart; his lectures, all improvised on the spur of the moment, were published posthumously; “Lectures on the Philosophy of the Human Mind” established a sixth sense, which he called the “muscular.” He was a man of precocious talent, and a devoted student, to the injury of his health and the shortening of his life; he was obliged from ill-health to resign his professorship after 10 years (1778-1820).
Brown Willy, the highest peak (1368 ft.) in Cornwall.
Browne, Charles Farrar, a humorist and satirist, known by the pseudonym of “Artemus Ward,” born in Maine, U.S.; his first literary effort was as “showman” to an imaginary travelling menagerie; travelled over America lecturing, carrying with him a whimsical panorama as affording texts for his numerous jokes, which he brought with him to London, and exhibited with the same accompaniment with unbounded success; he spent some time among the Mormons, and defined their religion as singular, but their wives plural (1834-1867).
Browne, Hablot Knight, artist, born in London; illustrated Dickens's works, “Pickwick” to begin with, under the pseudonym of “Phiz,” as well as the works of Lever, Ainsworth, Fielding, and Smollett, and the Abbotsford edition of Scott; he was skilful as an etcher and an architectural draughtsman (1815-1882).
Browne, Robert, founder of the Brownists, born in Rutland; the first seceder from the Church of England, and the first to found a Church of his own on Congregational principles, which he did at Norwich, though his project of secession proved a failure, and he returned to the English Church; died in jail at Northampton, where he was imprisoned for assaulting a constable; he may be accounted the father of the Congregational body in England (1540-1630).
Browne, Sir Thomas, physician and religious thinker, born in London; resided at Norwich for nearly half a century, and died there; was knighted by Charles II.; “was,” Professor Saintsbury says, “the greatest prose writer perhaps, when all things are taken together, in the whole range of English”; his principal works are “Religio Medici,” “Inquiries into Vulgar Errors,” and “Hydriotaphia, or Urn-Burial, a Discourse of the Sepulchral Urns found in Norfolk”; “all of the very first importance in English literature,...” adds the professor, “the 'Religio Medici' the greatest favourite, and a sort of key to the others;” “a man,” says Coleridge, “rich in various knowledge, exuberant in conceptions and conceits, contemplative, imaginative, often truly great, and magnificent in his style and diction.... He is a quiet and sublime enthusiast, with a strong tinge of the fantastic. He meditated much on death and the hereafter, and on the former in its relation to, or leading on to, the latter” (1605-1682).
Browne William, English pastoral poet, born at Tavistock; author of “Britannia's Pastorals” and “The Shepherd's Pipe,” a collection of eclogues and “The Inner Temple and Masque,” on the story of Ulysses and Circe, with some opening exquisitely beautiful verses, “Steer hither, steer,” among them; was an imitator of Spenser, and a parallel has been instituted between him and Keats (1590-1645).
Brownie, a good-natured household elf, believed in Scotland to render obliging services to good housewives, and his presence an evidence that the internal economies were approved of, as he favoured good husbandry, and was partial to houses where it was observed.
Browning, Elizabeth Barrett, née Barrett, poetess, born at Carlton Hall, Durham; a woman of great natural abilities, which developed early; suffered from injury to her spine; went to Torquay for her health; witnessed the death by drowning of a brother, that gave her a shock the effect of which never left her; published in 1838 “The Seraphim,” and in 1844 “The Cry of the Children”; fell in with and married Robert Browning in 1846, who immediately took her abroad, settling in Florence; wrote in 1850 “Sonnets from the Portuguese,” in 1851 “Casa Guidi Windows,” and in 1856 “Aurora Leigh,” “a novel in verse,” and in 1860 “Poems before Congress”; ranks high, if not highest, among the poetesses of England; she took an interest all through life in public affairs; her work is marked by musical diction, sensibility, knowledge, and imagination, which no poetess has rivalled (1806-1861).
Browning, Robert, poet, one of the two greatest in the Victorian era, born in Camberwell; early given to write verses; prepared himself for his literary career by reading through Johnson's Dictionary; his first poem “Pauline” (q. v.) published in 1833, which was followed by “Paracelsus” in 1835, “Sordello” in 1840; after a time, in which he was not idle, appeared, with some of his “Dramatic Romances and Lyrics,” in 1855 his “Men and Women,” and in 1868 “The Ring and the Book” (q. v.), his longest poem, and more analytic than poetic; this was succeeded by a succession of others, finishing up with “Asolando,” which appeared the day he died at Venice; was a poet of great subtlety, deep insight, creative power, and strong faith, of a genius and learning which there are few able to compass the length and breadth of; lies buried in Westminster Abbey; of Browning it has been said by Professor Saintsbury, “Timor mortis non conturbabat, 'the fear of death did not trouble him.' In the browner shades of age as well as in the spring of youth he sang, not like most poets, Love and Death, but Love and Life.... 'James Lee,' 'Rabbi Ben Ezra,' and 'Prospice' are among the greatest poems of the century.” His creed was an optimism of the brightest, and his restful faith “it is all right with the world” (1812-1889).
Brown-Séquard, physiologist, born in Mauritius, of American parentage; studied in Paris; practised in New York, and became a professor in the Collège de France; made a special study of the nervous system and nervous diseases, and published works on the subject; b. 1818.
Bruant, a French architect, born in Paris; architect of the Invalides and the Salpétrière; d. 1697.
Bruat, a French admiral, commanded the French fleet at the Crimea (1796-1885).
Bruce, a family illustrious in Scottish history, descended from a Norman knight, Robert de Bruis, who came over with the Conqueror, and who acquired lands first in Northumberland and then in Annandale.
Bruce, James, traveller, called the “Abyssinian,” born at Kinnaird House, Stirlingshire, set out from Cairo in 1768 in quest of the source of the Nile: believed he had discovered it; stayed two years in Abyssinia, and returned home by way of France, elated with his success; felt hurt that no honor was conferred on him, and for relief from the chagrin wrote an account of his travels in five quarto vols., the general accuracy of which, as far as it goes, has been attested by subsequent explorers (1730-1794).
Bruce, Michael, a Scotch poet, born near Loch Leven, in poor circumstances, in the parish of Portmoak; studied for the Church; died of consumption; his poems singularly plaintive and pathetic; his title to the authorship of the “Ode to the Cuckoo” has been matter of contention (1746-1767).
Bruce, Robert, rival with John Baliol for the crown of Scotland on the death of Margaret, the Maiden of Norway, against whose claim Edward I. decided in favour of Baliol (1210-1295).
Bruce, Robert, son of the preceding, earl of Carrick, through Marjory his wife; served under Edward at the battle of Dunbar for one instance; sued for the Scottish crown in vain (1269-1304).
Bruce, Robert, king of Scotland, son of the preceding, did homage for a time to Edward, but joined the national party and became one of a regency of four, with Comyn for rival; stabbed Comyn in a quarrel at Dumfries, 1306, and was that same year crowned king at Scone; was defeated by an army sent against him, and obliged to flee to Rathlin, Ireland; returned and landed in Carrick; cleared the English out of all the fortresses except Stirling, and on 24th June 1314 defeated the English under Edward II. at Bannockburn, after which, in 1328, the independence of Scotland was acknowledged as well as Bruce's right to the crown; suffering from leprosy, spent his last two years at Cardross Castle, on the Clyde, where he died in the thirty-third year of his reign (1274-1329).
Brucin, an alkaloid, allied in action to strychnine, though much weaker, being only a twenty-fifth of the strength.
Brückenau, small town in Bavaria, 17 m. NW. of Kissingen, with mineral springs good for nervous and skin diseases.
Brucker, historian of philosophy, born at Augsburg, and a pastor there; author of “Historia Critica Philosophiæ” (1696-1770).
Brueys, David Augustin de, French dramatist, born at Aix, an abbé converted by Bossuet, and actively engaged in propagating the faith; managed to be joint editor with Palaprat in the production of plays (1650-1725).
Bruges (49), cap. of W. Flanders, in Belgium, intersected by canals crossed by some 50 bridges, whence its name “Bridges”; one of these canals, of considerable depth, connecting it with Ostend; though many of them are now, as well as some of the streets, little disturbed by traffic, in a decayed and a decaying place, having once had a population of 200,000; has a number of fine churches, one specially noteworthy, the church of Notre Dame; it has several manufactures, textile and chemical, as well as distilleries, sugar-refineries, and shipbuilding yards.
Brugsch, Heinrich Karl, a German Egyptologist, born at Berlin; was associated with Mariette in his excavations at Memphis; became director of the School of Egyptology at Cairo; his works on the subject are numerous, and of great value; b. 1827.
Brühl, Heinrich, Count von, minister of Augustus III., king of Poland, an unprincipled man, who encouraged his master, and indulged himself, in silly foppery and wasteful extravagance, so that when the Seven Years' War broke out he and his master had to flee from Dresden and seek refuge in Warsaw (1700-1763).
Bruin, the bear personified in the German epic of “Reynard the Fox.”
Brumaire, the 18th (i. e. the 9th November 1799, the foggy month), the day when Napoleon, on his return from Egypt, overthrew the Directory and established himself in power.
Brummell, Beau, born in London, in his day the prince of dandies; patronised by the Prince of Wales, afterwards George IV.; quarrelled with the prince; fled from his creditors to Calais, where, reduced to destitution, he lived some years in the same reckless fashion; settled at length in Caen, where he died insane (1778-1805).
Brunck, an able French Hellenist, classical scholar, and critic, born at Strassburg; edited several classical works, played a perilous part in the French Revolution; was imprisoned, and, on his release, had to sell his library in order to live (1729-1803).
Brune, G. Marie, French marshal, saw service in the Vendéan war and in Italy, distinguished himself under Napoleon in Italy and Holland; submitted to Bourbons in 1814; joined Napoleon on his return from Elba; was appointed to a post of command in the S. of France, but had to surrender after Waterloo, and was attacked by a mob of Royalists at Avignon as he was setting out for Paris, and brutally murdered and his body thrown into the Rhône (1763-1815).
Brunel, Sir Isambard, engineer, born in Rouen, entered the French navy, emigrated to the United States; was chief engineer of New York; settled in England, became block-maker to the Royal Navy; constructed the Thames tunnel, begun in 1825 and finished in 1843 (1759-1849).
Brunel, Isambard Kingdom, son of the preceding, assisted his father in his engineering operations, in particular the Thames tunnel; was engineer of the Great Western Railway; designed the Great Western steamship, the first to cross the Atlantic; was the first to apply the screw propeller to steam navigation; designed and constructed the Great Eastern; constructed bridges and naval docks (1806-1859).
Brunelleschi, Italian architect, born in Florence, bred a goldsmith, studied at Rome; returned to his native city, built the Duomo of the Cathedral, the Pitti Palace, and the churches of San Lorenzo and Spirito Santo (1377-1444).
Brunetière, French critic, connected with the Revue des Deux Mondes and now editor; a very sound and sensible critic; his chief work, begun in the form of lectures in 1890, entitled “L'Évolution des Genres de l'Histoire de la Littérature Française”; according to Prof. Saintsbury, promises to be one of the chief monuments that the really “higher” criticism has yet furnished; b. 1849.
Brunetto-Latini, an Italian writer, who played an important part among the Guelfs, and was obliged to flee to Paris, where he had Dante for a pupil (1220-1294).
Brunhilda, a masculine queen in the “Nibelungen Lied” who offered to marry the man that could beat her in feats of strength, was deceived by Siegfried into marrying Gunther, and meditated the death of Siegfried, who had married her rival Chriemhilda, which she accomplished by the hand of Hagen. Also a queen of Austrasia, who, about the 7th century, had a lifelong quarrel with Fredegunde, queen of Neustria, the other division of the Frankish world, which at her death she seized possession of for a time, but was overthrown by Clothaire II., Fredegunde's son, and dragged to death at the heels of an infuriated wild horse.
Bruni, Leonardo, Italian humanist, born at Arezzo, hence called Aretino; was papal secretary; settled in Florence, and wrote a history of it; did much by his translations of Greek authors to promote the study of Greek (1369-1444).
Brünn (95), Austrian city, capital of Moravia, beautifully situated, 93 m. N. of Vienna, with large manufactures; woollens the staple of the country; about one-half of the population Czechs.
Brunnow, Count von, a Russian diplomatist, born at Dresden; represented Russia in several conferences, and was twice ambassador at the English Court (1797-1875).
Bruno, Giordano, a bold and fervid original thinker, born at Nola, in Italy; a Dominican monk, quitted his monastery, in fact, was for heterodoxy obliged to flee from it; attached himself to Calvin for a time, went for more freedom to Paris, attacked the scholastic philosophy, had to leave France as well; spent two years in England in friendship with Sir Philip Sidney, propagated his views in Germany and Italy, was arrested by the Inquisition, and after seven years spent in prison was burned as a heretic; he was a pantheist, and regarded God as the living omnipresent soul of the universe, and Nature as the living garment of God, as the Earth-Spirit does in Goethe's “Faust”—a definition of Nature in relation to God which finds favour in the pages of “Sartor Resartus”; d. 1600.
Bruno, St., born at Cologne, retired to a lonely spot near Grenoble with six others, where each lived in cells apart, and they met only on Sundays; founder of the Carthusian Order of Monks, the first house of which was established in the desert of Chartreuse (1030-1101). Festival, Oct. 6.
Bruno the Great, third son of Henry the Fowler; archbishop of Cologne, chancellor of the Empire, a great lover of learning, and promoter of it among the clergy, who he thought should, before all, represent and encourage it (928-965).
Brunonian System, a system which regards and treats diseases as due to defective or excessive excitation, as sthenic or asthenic. See Brown, John.
Brunswick (404), a N. German duchy, made up of eight detached parts, mostly in the upper basin of the Weser; is mountainous, and contains part of the Harz Mts.; climate and crops are those of N. Germany generally. Brunswick (101), the capital, a busy commercial town, once a member of the Hanseatic League, and fell into comparative decay after the decay of the League, on the Oker, 140 m. SW. of Berlin; an irregularly built city, it has a cathedral, and manufactures textiles, leather, and sewing-machines.
Brunswick, Charles William, Duke of, Prussian general, commanded the Prussian and Austrian forces levied to put down the French Revolution; emitted a violent, blustering manifesto, but a Revolutionary army under Dumouriez and Kellermann met him at Valmy, and compelled him to retreat in 1792; was beaten by Davout at Auerstädt, and mortally wounded (1735-1806).
Brunswick, Frederick William, Duke of, brother of Queen Caroline; raised troops against France, which, being embarked for England, took part in the Peninsular war; fell fighting at Ligny, two days before the battle of Waterloo (1771-1815).
Brussels (477), on the Senne, 27 m. S. of Antwerp, is the capital of Belgium, in the heart of the country. The old town is narrow and crooked, but picturesque; the town-hall a magnificent building. The new town is well built, and one of the finest in Europe. There are many parks, boulevards, and squares; a cathedral, art-gallery, museum and library, university and art schools. It is Paris in miniature. The manufactures include linen, ribbons, and paper; a ship-canal and numerous railways foster commerce.
Brutus, Lucius Junius, the founder of Republican Rome, in the 6th century B.C.; affected idiocy (whence his name, meaning stupid); it saved his life when Tarquin the Proud put his brother to death; but when Tarquin's son committed an outrage on Lucretia, he threw off his disguise, headed a revolt, and expelled the tyrant; was elected one of the two first Consuls of Rome; sentenced his two sons to death for conspiring to restore the monarchy; fell repelling an attempt to restore the Tarquins in a hand-to-hand combat with Aruns, one of the sons of the banished king.
Brutus, Marcus Junius, a descendant of the preceding, and son of Cato Uticensis's sister; much beloved by Cæsar and Cæsar's friend, but persuaded by Cassius and others to believe that Cæsar aimed at the overthrow of the republic; joined the conspirators, and was recognised by Cæsar among the conspirators as party to his death; forced to flee from Rome after the event, was defeated at Philippi by Antony and Augustus, but escaped capture by falling on a sword held out to him by one of his friends, exclaiming as he did so, “O Virtue, thou art but a name!” (85-42 B.C.).
Bruyère, a French writer, author of “Charactères de Théophraste,” a satire on various characters and manners of his time (1644-1696).
Bryan, William Jennings, American statesman, born in Salem, Illinois; bred to the bar and practised at it; entered Congress in 1890 as an extreme Free Silver man; lost his seat from his uncompromising views on that question; was twice nominated for the Presidency in opposition to Mr McKinley, but defeated; b. 1860.
Bryant, William Cullen, American poet; his poems were popular in America, the chief, “The Age,” published in 1821; was 50 years editor of the New York Evening Post; wrote short poems all through his life, some of the later his best (1794-1878).
Bryce, James, historian and politician, born at Belfast; Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford; bred to the bar; for a time professor of Civil Law at Oxford; entered Parliament in 1880; was member of Mr. Gladstone's last cabinet; his chief literary work, “The Holy Roman Empire,” a work of high literary merit; b. 1838.
Brydges, Sir Samuel Egerton, English antiquary, born at Wootton House, in Kent; called to the bar, but devoted to literature; was M.P. for Maidstone for six years; lived afterwards and died at Geneva; wrote novels and poems, and edited old English writings of interest (1762-1837).
Bubastis, an Egyptian goddess, the Egyptian Diana, the wife of Ptah; and a city in Lower Egypt, on the eastern branch of the Nile.
Buccaneers, an association, chiefly English and French, of piratical adventurers in the 16th and 17th centuries, with their head-quarters in the Caribbean Sea, organised to plunder the ships of the Spaniards in resentment of the exclusive right they claimed to the wealth of the S. American continent, which they were carrying home across the sea.
Buccleuch, a glen 18 m. SW. of Selkirk, with a stronghold of the Scott family, giving the head the title of earl or duke.
Bucen`taur, the state galley, worked by oars and manned by 168 rowers, in which the Doge of Venice used to sail on the occasion of the annual ceremony of wedding anew the Adriatic Sea by sinking a ring in it.
Buceph`alus (i. e. ox-head), the horse which Alexander the Great, while yet a youth, broke in when no one else could, and on which he rode through all his campaigns; it died in India from a wound. The town, Bucephala, on the Hydaspes, was built near its grave.
Bucer Martin, a German Reformer, born at Strassburg; originally a Dominican, adopted the Reformed faith, ministered as pastor and professor in his native place, differed in certain matters from both Luther and Zwingli, while he tried to reconcile them; invited by Cranmer to England, he accepted the invitation, and became professor of Divinity at Cambridge, where he died, but his bones were exhumed and burned a few years later (1491-1551).
Buch, Leopold von, a German geologist, a pupil of Werner and fellow-student of Alexander von Humboldt, who esteemed him highly; adopted the volcanic theory of the earth; wrote no end of scientific memoirs (1774-1853).
Buchan, a district in the NE. of Aberdeenshire, between the rivers Deveron and Ythan; abounds in magnificent rock scenery. The Comyns were earls of it till they forfeited the title in 1309.
Buchanan, Claudius, born at Cambuslang, near Glasgow, chaplain in Barrackpur under the East India Company, vice-provost of the College at Fort William, Calcutta; one of the first to awaken an interest in India as a missionary field; wrote “Christian Researches in Asia” (1756-1815).
Buchanan, George, a most distinguished scholar and humanist, born at Killearn, Stirlingshire; educated at St. Andrews and Paris; professor for three years in the College at St. Barbe; returned to Scotland, became tutor to James V.'s illegitimate sons; imprisoned by Cardinal Beaton for satires against the monks, escaped to France; driven from one place to another, imprisoned in a monastery in Portugal at the instance of the Inquisition, where he commenced his celebrated Latin version of the Psalms; came back to Scotland, was appointed in 1562 tutor to Queen Mary, in 1566 principal of St. Leonard's College, in St. Andrews, in 1567 moderator of the General Assembly in 1570 tutor to James VI., and had several offices of State conferred on him; wrote a “History of Scotland,” and his book “De Jure Regni,” against the tyranny of peoples by kings; died in Edinburgh without enough to bury him; was buried at the public expense in Greyfriars' churchyard; when dying, it is said he asked his housekeeper to examine his money-box and see if there was enough to bury him, and when he found there was not, he ordered her to distribute what there was among his poor neighbours and left it to the city to bury him or not as they saw good (1506-1582).
Buchanan, James, statesman of the United States, was ambassador in London in 1853, made President in 1856, the fifteenth in order, at the time when the troubles between the North and South came to a head, favoured the South, retired after his Presidentship into private life (1791-1868).
Buchanan, Robert, a writer in prose and verse, born in Warwickshire, educated at Glasgow University; his first work, “Undertones,” a volume of verse published by him in 1863, and he has since written a goodly number of poems, some of them of very high merit, the last “The Wandering Jew,” which attacks the Christian religion; besides novels, has written magazine articles, and one in particular, which involved him in some trouble; b.1841.
Buchanites, a fanatical sect who appeared in the W. of Scotland in 1783, named after a Mrs. Buchan, who claimed to be the woman mentioned in Rev. xii.
Bucharest (220), capital of Roumania, picturesquely situated on the Dambovitza, a tributary of the Danube, in a fertile plain, 180 m. from the Black Sea; is a meanly built but well-fortified town, with the reputation of the most dissolute capital in Europe; there is a Catholic cathedral and a university; it is the emporium of trade between the Balkan and Austria; textiles, grain, hides, metal, and coal are the chief articles in its markets.
Buchez, Joseph, a French historian, politician, and Socialist; joined the St. Simonian Society, became a Christian Socialist, and a collaborateur in an important historical work, the “Parliamentary History of the French Revolution”; figured in political life after the Revolution of 1848, but retired to private life after the establishment of the Empire (1796-1865).
Büchner, Ludwig, physician and materialist, born at Darmstadt; lectured at Tübingen University; wrote a book entitled “Kraft und Stoff,” i. e. Force and Matter, and had to retire into private practice as a physician on account of its materialistic philosophy, which he insisted on teaching (1824-1899).
Buchon, a learned Frenchman; wrote chronologies of French history (1791-1846).
Buckingham, George Villiers, Duke of, favourite of James I. and Charles I., born in Leicestershire; rose under favour of the former to the highest offices and dignities of the State; provoked by his conduct wars with Spain and France; fell into disfavour with the people; was assassinated at Portsmouth by Lieutenant Felton, on the eve of his embarking for Rochelle (1592-1628).
Buckingham, George Villiers, Duke of, son of the preceding; served under Charles I. in the Civil War, was at the battle of Worcester; became minister of Charles II.; a profligate courtier and an unprincipled man (1627-1688).
Buckingham, James Silk, traveller and journalist, born in Falmouth; conducted a journal in Calcutta, and gave offence to the East India Company by his outspokenness; had to return to England, where his cause was warmly taken up; by his writings and speeches paved the way for the abolition of the Company's charter (1784-1855).
Buckinghamshire (185), English S. midland county, lying E. of Oxford, W. of Bedford and Hertford, is full of beautiful and varied scenery; hill, dale, wood, and water. The Thames forms the southern boundary, the Ouse flows through the N., and the Thame through the centre. The Chiltern Hills cross the county. Agriculture is the prevailing industry; dairy produce, cattle and poultry feeding, and sheep rearing the sources of wealth. The county town is Buckingham (3), on the Ouse, 60 m. NW. of London.
Buckland, Francis (Frank), naturalist, son of the succeeding, bred to medicine; devoted to the study of animal life; was inspector of salmon fisheries; wrote “Curiosities of Natural History,” “Familiar History of British Fishes,” &c.; contributed largely to the journals, such as the Field, and edited Land and Water, which he started in 1866 (1826-1880).
Buckland, William, a distinguished geologist, born at Tiverton; had a predilection from boyhood for natural science; awoke in Oxford University an interest in it by his lectures on mineralogy and geology; his pen was unceasingly occupied with geological subjects; exerted himself to reconcile the teachings of science with the accounts in Genesis; was made Dean of Westminster by Sir Robert Peel; his intellect gave way in 1850, and he remained in mental weakness till his death (1784-1856).
Buckle, George Earle, editor of the Times, born near Bath; studied at Oxford, where he distinguished himself; is a Fellow of All Souls' College; became editor in 1884, having previously belonged to the editorial staff; b. 1854.
Buckle, Henry Thomas, an advanced thinker, born in Lee, in Kent; in delicate health from his infancy, too ambitious for his powers, thought himself equal to write the “History of Civilisation in England,” in connection with that of Europe, tried it, but failed; visited the East for his health, and died at Damascus; his theory as regards the development of civilisation is, that national character depends on material environment, and that progress depends upon the emancipation of rationality, an extremely imperfect reading and rendering of the elements at work, and indeed a total omission of nearly all the more vital ones; he was distinguished as a chess-player (1822-1862).
Buckstone, John Baldwin, an able comic actor and popular dramatist, born in London; for a long period the lessee of the Haymarket Theatre, London (1802-1870).
Buda-Pesth (506), a twin city, the capital of Hungary, on the Danube; Buda (Ger. Ofen) on the right bank and Pesth on the left, the two cities being connected by a suspension bridge, the former on a rocky elevation and the latter on level ground; a great commercial centre.
Budastis, an ancient town in Lower Egypt, where festivals in honour of Bacchus used to be held every year.
Buddha, Gautama, or Sakya-muni, the founder of Buddhism about the 5th century B.C., born a Hindu, of an intensely contemplative nature, the son of a king, who did everything in his power to tempt him from a religious life, from which, however, in his contemplation of the vanity of existence, nothing could detain him; retired into solitude at the age of 30, as Sakyamuni, i. e. solitary of the Sakyas, his tribe; consulted religious books, could get no good out of them, till, by-and-by, he abstracted himself more and more from everything external, when at the end of ten years, as he sat brooding under the Bo-tree alone with the universe, soul with soul, the light of truth rose full-orbed upon him, and he called himself henceforth and gave himself out as Buddha, i. e. the Enlightened; now he said to himself, “I know it all,” as Mahomet in his way did after him, and became a preacher to others of what had proved salvation to himself, which he continued to do for 40 years, leaving behind him disciples, who went forth without sword, like Christ's, to preach what they, like Christ's, believed was a gospel to every creature.
Buddhism, the religion of Buddha, a religion which, eschewing all speculation about God and the universe, set itself solely to the work of salvation, the end of which was the merging of the individual in the unity of being, and the “way” to which was the mortification of all private passion and desire which mortification, when finished, was the Buddhist Nirvâna. This is the primary doctrine of the Buddhist faith, which erelong became a formality, as all faiths of the kind, or of this high order, ever tend to do. Buddha is not answerable for this, but his followers, who in three successive councils resolved it into a system of formulæ, which Buddha, knowing belike how the letter killeth and only the spirit giveth life, never attempted to do. Buddha wrote none himself, but in some 300 years after his death his teachings assumed a canonical form, under the name of Tripitaka, or triple basket, as it is called. Buddhism from the first was a proselytising religion; it at one time overran the whole of India, and though it is now in small favour there, it is, in such form as it has assumed, often a highly beggarly one, understood to be the religion of 340 millions of the human race.
Bude-light, a very brilliant light produced by introducing oxygen into the centre of an Argand burner, so called from the place of the inventor's abode.
Budweis (28), a Bohemian trading town on the Moldau, 133 m. NW. of Vienna.
Buenos Ayres (543), capital of the Argentine Republic, stands on the right bank of the broad but shallow river Plate, 150 m. from the Atlantic; it is a progressing city, improving in appearance, with a cathedral, several Protestant churches, a university and military school, libraries and hospitals; printing, cigar-making, cloth and boot manufacture are the leading industries; it is the principal Argentine port, and the centre of export and import trade; the climate does not correspond with the name it bears; a great deal of the foreign trade is conducted through Monte Video, but it monopolises all the inland trade.
Buffalo (256), a city of New York State, at the E. end of Lake Erie, 300 m. due NW. of New York; is a well-built, handsome, and healthy city; the railways and the Erie Canal are channels of extensive commerce in grain, cattle, and coal; while immense iron-works, tanneries, breweries, and flour-mills represent the industries; electric power for lighting, traction, &c., is supplied from Niagara.
Buffon, George Louis Leclerc, Comte de, a great French naturalist, born at Montbard, in Burgundy; his father one of the noblesse de robe; studied law at Dijon; spent some time in England, studying the English language; devoted from early years to science, though more to the display of it, and to natural science for life on being appointed intendant of the Jardin du Roi; assisted, and more than assisted, by Daubenton and others, produced 15 vols. of his world-famous “Histoire Naturelle” between the years 1749 and 1767. The saying “Style is the man” is ascribed to him, and he has been measured by some according to his own standard. Neither his style nor his science is rated of any high value now: “Buffon was as pompous and inflated as his style” (1707-1780).
Bugeaud, Thomas, marshal of France, born at Limoges; served under Napoleon; retired from service till 1830; served under Louis Philippe; contributed to the conquest of Algiers; was made governor, and created duke for his victory over the forces of the emperor of Morocco at the battle of Isly in 1844; his motto was Ense et aratro, “By sword and plough” (1784-1849).
Bugenhagen, Johann, a German Reformer, a convert of Luther's and coadjutor; helpful to the cause as an organiser of churches and schools (1485-1558).
Bugge, Norwegian philologist, professor at Christiania; b. 1833.
Buhl, ornamental work for furniture, which takes its name from the inventor (see infra), consisted in piercing or inlaying metal with tortoise-shell or enamel, or with metals of another colour; much in fashion in Louis XIV.'s reign.
Buhl, Charles André, an Italian cabinet-maker, inventor of the work which bears his name (1642-1732).
Bukowina (640), a small prov. and duchy in the E. of Austria-Hungary; rich in minerals, breeds cattle and horses.
Bulgaria, with Eastern Roumelia (3,154), constitutes a Balkan principality larger than Ireland, with hills and fertile plains in the N., mountains and forests in the S.; Turkey is the southern boundary, Servia the western, the Danube the northern, while the Black Sea washes the eastern shores. The climate is mild, the people industrious; the chief export is cereals; manufactures of woollens, attar of roses, wine and tobacco, are staple industries; the chief import is live stock. Sofia (50), the capital, is the seat of a university. Varna (28), on the Black Sea, is the principal port. Bulgaria was cut out of Turkey and made independent in 1878, and Eastern Roumelia incorporated with it in 1885.
Bull, an edict of the Pope, so called from a leaden seal attached to it.
Bull, George, bishop of St. Davids, born at Wells; a stanch Churchman; wrote “Harmonia Apostolica” in reconciliation of the teachings of Paul and James on the matter of justification, and “Defensio Fidei Nicenæ,” in vindication of the Trinity as enunciated in the Athanasian Creed (q. v.), and denied or modified by Arians, Socinians, and Sabellians (1634-1709).
Bull, John, a humorous impersonation of the collective English people, conceived of as well-fed, good-natured, honest-hearted, justice-loving, and plain-spoken; the designation is derived from Arbuthnot's satire, “The History of John Bull,” in which the Church of England figures as his mother.
Bull, Ole Bornemann, a celebrated violinist, born in Bergen, Norway, pupil of Paganini; was a wise man at making money, but a fool in spending it (1810-1880).
Bull Run, a stream in Virginia, U.S., 25 m. from Washington, where the Union army was twice defeated by the Confederate, July 1861 and August 1862.
Bullant, a French architect and sculptor; built the tombs of Montmorency, Henry II., and Catherine de Medicis, as well as wrought at the Tuileries and the Louvre (1510-1578).
Buller, Charles, a politician, born in Calcutta, pupil of Thomas Carlyle; entered Parliament at 24, a Liberal in politics; held distinguished State appointments; died in his prime, universally beloved and respected (1806-1848).
Buller, General Sir Redvers Henry, served in China, Ashanti, South Africa, Egypt, and the Soudan, with marked distinction in the 60th King's Royal Rifles; has held staff appointments, and was for a short time Under-Secretary for Ireland; b. 1839.
Bullinger, Heinrich, a Swiss Reformer, born in Aargau; friend and successor of Zwingli; assisted in drawing up the Helvetic Confession; was a correspondent of Lady Jane Grey (1504-1575).
Bulls and Bears, in the Stock Exchange, the bull being one who buys in the hope that the value may rise, and the bear one who sells in the hope that it may fall. See Bear.
Bülow, Bernard von, Foreign Secretary of the German empire; early entered the Foreign Office, and has done important diplomatic work in connection with it, having been secretary to several embassies and chargé d'affaires to Greece during the Russo-Turkish war; b. 1850.
Bülow, Friedrich Wilhelm, Baron von, a Prussian general; served his country in the war with Revolutionary France; defeated the French under the Empire in several engagements, and contributed to the victory at Waterloo, heading the column that first came to Wellington's aid at the decisive moment (1755-1816).
Bülow, Guido von, a famous pianist, pupil of Liszt (1830-1894).
Buloz, a French littérateur, born near Geneva; originator of the Revue des Deux Mondes (1803-1877).
Bulwer, Henry Lytton, an experienced and successful diplomatist, served the Liberal interest; was party to the conclusion of several important treaties; wrote several works, “An Autumn in Greece,” a “Life of Byron,” &c. (1801-1872).
Bumble, Mr., a beadle in “Oliver Twist.”
Bunau, a German historian, author of a “History of the Seven Years' War” (1697-1762).
Buncombe, a district in N. Carolina, for the ears of the constituency of which a dull speech was some years ago delivered in the U.S. Congress, whence the phrase to “talk Buncombe,” i. e. to please one's constituency.
Bundelkhand (2,000), a territory in NW. Provinces, India, between the Chambal and the Jumna; has been extensively irrigated at great labour and expense.
Bunker Hill, an eminence 112 ft., now included in Boston, the scene on 19th June 1775 of the first great battle in the American War of Independence.
Bunsby, Jack, commander of a ship in “Dombey & Son,” regarded as an oracle by Captain Cuttle.
Bunsen, Baron von, a diplomatist and man of letters, born at Korbach; in Waldeck; studied at Marburg and Göttingen; became acquainted with Niebuhr at Berlin; studied Oriental languages under Silvestre de Sacy at Paris; became secretary, under Niebuhr, to the Prussian embassy at Rome; recommended himself to the king, and succeeded Niebuhr; became ambassador in Switzerland and then in England; was partial to English institutions, and much esteemed in England; wrote the “Church of the Future,” “Hippolytus and his Age,” &c. (1791-1860).
Bunsen, Robert William, a distinguished German chemist, born at Göttingen, settled as professor of Chemistry at Heidelberg; invented the charcoal pile, the magnesian light, and the burner called after him; discovered the antidote to arsenic, with hydrate of iron and the Spectrum Analysis (q. v.); b. 1811.
Bunsen Burner, a small gas-jet above which is screwed a brass tube with holes at the bottom of it to let in air, which burns with the gas, and causes at the top a non-luminous flame; largely used in chemical operations.
Bunyan, John, author of the “Pilgrim's Progress,” born in Elstow, near Bedford, the son of a tinker, and bred himself to that humble craft; he was early visited with religious convictions, and brought, after a time of resistance to them, to an earnest faith in the gospel of Christ, his witness for which to his poor neighbours led to his imprisonment, an imprisonment which extended first and last over twelve and a half years, and it was towards the close of it, and in the precincts of Bedford jail, in the spring of 1676, that he dreamed his world-famous dream; here two-thirds of it were written, the whole finished the year after, and published at the end of it; extended, it came out eventually in two parts, but it is the first part that is the Pilgrim's Progress, and ensures it the place it holds in the religious literature of the world; encouraged by the success of it—for it leapt into popularity at a bound—Bunyan wrote some sixty other books, but except this, his masterpiece, not more than two of these, “Grace Abounding” and the “Holy War,” continue to be read (1628-1688).
Buontalenti, an Italian artist, born at Florence, one of the greatest, being, like Michael Angelo, at once architect, painter, and sculptor (1536-1608).
Burbage, Richard, English tragedian, born in London, associate of Shakespeare, took the chief rôle in “Hamlet,” “King Lear,” “Richard III.,” &c. (1562-1618).
Burchell, Mr., a character in the “Vicar of Wakefield,” noted for his habit of applying “fudge” to everything his neighbours affected to believe.
Burckhardt, Swiss historian and archæologist, born at Bâle, author of “Civilisation in Italy during the Renaissance”; b. 1818.
Burckhardt, John Ludvig, traveller, born at Lausanne, sent out from England by the African Association to explore Africa; travelled by way of Syria; acquired a proficiency in Arabic, and assumed Arabic customs; pushed on to Mecca as a Mussulman pilgrim—the first Christian to risk such a venture; returned to Egypt, and died at Cairo just as he was preparing for his African exploration; his travels were published after his death, and are distinguished for the veracious reports of things they contain (1784-1817).
Burder, George, Congregational minister, became secretary to the London Missionary Society, author of “Village Sermons,” which were once widely popular (1752-1832).
Burdett, Sir Francis, a popular member of Parliament, married Sophia, the youngest daughter of Thomas Coutts, a wealthy London banker, and acquired through her a large fortune; becoming M.P., he resolutely opposed the government measures of the day, and got himself into serious trouble; advocated radical measures of reform, many of which have since been adopted; was prosecuted for a libel; fined £1000 for condemning the Peterloo massacre, and imprisoned three months; joined the Conservative party in 1835, and died a member of it (1770-1844).
Burdett-Coutts, The Right Honourable Angela Georgina, Baroness, daughter of Sir Francis, inherited the wealth of Thomas Coutts, her grandfather, which she has devoted to all manner of philanthropic as well as patriotic objects; was made a peeress in 1871; received the freedom of the city of London in 1874, and in 1881 married Mr. William Lehman Ashmead-Bartlett, an American, who obtained the royal license to assume the name of Burdett-Coutts; b. 1804.
Bureau, a name given to a department of public administration, hence bureaucracy, a name for government by bureaux.
Bürger, Gottfried August, a German lyric poet, author of the ballads “Lenore,” which was translated by Sir Walter Scott, and “The Wild Huntsman,” as well as songs; led a wild life in youth, and a very unhappy one in later years; died in poverty (1747-1794).
Burgkmair, Hans, painter and engraver, born at Augsburg; celebrated for his woodcuts, amounting to nearly 700 (1473-1531).
Burgos (34), ancient cap. of Old Castile, on the Arlanzon, 225 m. N. of Madrid by rail; boasts a magnificent cathedral of the Early Pointed period, and an old castle; was the birthplace of the Cid, and once a university seat; it has linen and woollen industries.
Burgoyne, John, English general, and distinguished as the last sent out to subdue the revolt in the American colonies, and, after a victory or two, being obliged to capitulate to General Gates at Saratoga, fell into disfavour; defended his conduct with ability and successfully afterwards; devoted his leisure to poetry and the drama, the “Heiress” in the latter his best (1723-1792).
Burgoyne, Sir John, field-marshal, joined the Royal Engineers, served under Abercromby in Egypt, and under Sir John Moore and Wellington in Spain; was present at the battles of Alma, Balaclava, and Inkerman in the Crimea; was governor of the Tower (1782-1871).
Burgundy was, prior to the 16th century, a Teutonic duchy of varying extent in the SE. and E. of France; annexed to France as a province in the 6th century; the country is still noted for its wines.
Burhanpur (32), a town in the Central Provinces of India, in the Nimar district, 280 m. NE. of Bombay; was at one time a centre of the Mogul power in the Deccan, and a place of great extent; is now in comparative decay, but still famous, as formerly, for its muslins, silks, and brocades.
Buridan, Jean, a scholastic doctor of the 14th century, born in Artois, and famous as the reputed author, though there is no evidence of it in his works, of the puzzle of the hungry and thirsty ass, called after him Buridan's Ass, between a bottle of hay and a pail of water, a favourite illustration of his in discussing the freedom of the will.
Burke, Edmund, orator and philosophic writer, born at Dublin, and educated at Dublin University; entered Parliament in 1765; distinguished himself by his eloquence on the Liberal side, in particular by his speeches on the American war, Catholic emancipation, and economical reform; his greatest oratorical efforts were his orations in support of the impeachment of Warren Hastings; he was a resolute enemy of the French Revolution, and eloquently denounced it in his “Reflections,” a weighty appeal; wrote in early life two small but notable treatises, “A Vindication of Natural Society,” and another on our ideas of the “Sublime and Beautiful,” which brought him into contact with the philosophic intellects of the time, and sometime after planned the “Annual Register,” to which he was to the last chief contributor. “He was,” says Professor Saintsbury, “a rhetorician (i. e. an expert in applying the art of prose literature to the purpose of suasion), and probably the greatest that modern times has ever produced” (1730-1797).
Burke, Sir John Bernard, genealogist, born in London, of Irish descent, author of the “Peerage and Baronetage of the United Kingdom”; produced, besides editing successive editions of it, a number of works on aristocratic genealogies (1815-1892).
Burke, Robert O'Hara, Australian explorer, born in Galway; conducted an expedition across Australia, but on the way back both he and his companion Wells perished, after terrible sufferings from privation and drought (1820-1861).
Burke, William, a notorious murderer, native of Ireland; executed in 1828 for wholesale murders of people in Edinburgh by suffocation, after intoxicating them with drink, whose bodies he sold for dissection to an Edinburgh anatomist of the name of Knox, whom the citizens mobbed; he had an accomplice as bad as himself, who, becoming informer, got off.
Burkitt, William, Biblical expositor, born in Suffolk; author of “Expository Notes on the New Testament,” once held in high esteem (1650-1703).
Burleigh, William Cecil, Lord, a great statesman, born in Lincolnshire; bred to the legal profession, and patronised and promoted by the Protector Somerset; managed to escape the Marian persecution; Queen Elizabeth recognised his statesman-like qualities, and appointed him chief-secretary of state, an office which, to the glory of the queen and the good of the country, he held for forty years, till his death. His administration was conducted in the interest of the commonweal without respect of persons, and nearly all his subordinates were men of honour as well as himself (1520-1598).
Burlingame, Anson, American diplomatist; sent ambassador to China, and returned as Chinese envoy to the American and European courts; concluded treaties between them and China (1820-1870).
Burma (9,606), a vast province of British India, lying E. of the Bay of Bengal, and bounded landward by Bengal, Tibet, China, and Siam; the country is mountainous, drained by the Irawadi, Salween, and Sittang Rivers, whose deltas are flat fertile plains; the heights on the Chinese frontier reach 15,000 ft; the climate varies with the elevation, but is mostly hot and trying; rice is the chief crop; the forests yield teak, gum, and bamboo; the mines, iron, copper, lead, silver, and rubies. Lower Burma is the coast-land from Bengal to Siam, cap. Rangoon, and was seized by Britain in 1826 and 1854. Upper Burma, cap. Mandalay, an empire nearly as large as Spain, was annexed in 1886.
Burn, Richard, English vicar, born in Westmoreland; compiled several law digests, the best known his “Justice of the Peace” and “Ecclesiastical Law” (1709-1785).
Burnaby, Colonel, a traveller of daring adventure, born at Bedford, a tall, powerful man; Colonel of the Horse Guards Blue; travelled in South and Central America, and with Gordon in the Soudan; was chiefly distinguished for his ride to Khiva in 1875 across the steppes of Tartary, of which he published a spirited account, and for his travels next year in Asia Minor and Persia, and his account of them in “On Horseback through Asia Minor”; killed, pierced by an Arab spear, at Abu Klea as he was rallying a broken column to the charge; he was a daring aëronaut, having in 1882 crossed the Channel to Normandy in a balloon (1842-1885).
Burnand, Francis Cowley, editor of Punch; studied for the Church, and became a Roman Catholic; an expert at the burlesque, and author of a series of papers, entitled “Happy Thoughts,” which give evidence of a most keen, observant wit: b. 1836.
Burne-Jones, Sir Edward, artist, born at Birmingham, of Welsh descent; came early under the influence of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, and all along produced works imbued with the spirit of it, which is at once mystical in conception and realistic in execution; he was one of the foremost, if not the foremost, of the artists of his day; imbued with ideas that were specially capable of art-treatment; William Morris and he were bosom friends from early college days at Oxford, and used to spend their Sunday mornings together (1831-1898).
Burnes, Sir Alexander, born at Montrose, his father a cousin of Robert Burns; was an officer in the Indian army; distinguished for the services he rendered to the Indian Government through his knowledge of the native languages; appointed Resident at Cabul; was murdered, along with his brother and others, by an Afghan mob during an Insurrection (1805-1841).
Burnet, Gilbert, bishop of Salisbury, born at Edinburgh, of an old Aberdeen family; professor of Divinity in Glasgow; afterwards preacher at the Rolls Chapel, London; took an active part in supporting the claims of the Prince of Orange to the English throne; was rewarded with a bishopric, that of Salisbury; wrote the “History of the Reformation,” an “Exposition of the Thirty-nine Articles,” the “History of His Own Times”; he was a Whig in politics, a broad Churchman in creed, and a man of strict moral principle as well as Christian charity; the most famous of his works is his “History of His Own Times,” a work which Pope, Swift, and others made the butt of their satire (1643-1715).
Burnet, John, engraver and author, born at Fisherrow; engraved Wilkie's works, and wrote on art (1784-1868).
Burnet, Thomas, master of the Charterhouse, born in Yorkshire, author of the “Sacred Theory of the Earth,” eloquent in descriptive parts, but written wholly in ignorance of the facts (1635-1715).
Burnett, Frances Hodgson, novelist, born in Manchester, resident for a time in America; wrote “That Lass o' Lowrie's,” and other stories of Lancashire manufacturing life, characterised by shrewd observation, pathos, and descriptive power; b. 1849.
Burney, Charles, musical composer and organist, born at Shrewsbury; a friend of Johnson's; author of “The History of Music,” and the father of Madame d'Arblay; settled in London as a teacher of music (1726-1814).
Burney, Charles, son of preceding, a great classical scholar; left a fine library, purchased by the British Museum for £13,500 (1757-1817).
Burney, James, brother of preceding, rear-admiral, accompanied Cook in his last two voyages; wrote “History of Voyages of Discovery” (1750-1821).
Burnley (87), a manufacturing town in Lancashire, 27 m. N. of Manchester; with cotton mills, foundries, breweries, &c.
Burnouf, Eugene, an illustrious Orientalist, born in Paris; professor of Sanskrit in the College of France; an authority on Zend or Zoroastrian literature; edited the text of and translated the “Bhâgavata Purána,” a book embodying Hindu mythology; made a special study of Buddhism; wrote an introduction to the history of the system (1801-1852).
Burns, John, politician and Socialist, born at Vauxhall, of humble parentage; bred to be an engineer; imbibed socialistic ideas from a fellow-workman, a Frenchman, a refugee of the Commune from Paris; became a platform orator in the interest of Socialism, and popular among the working class; got into trouble in consequence; was four times elected member of the London County Council for Battersea; and has been twice over chosen to represent that constituency in Parliament; b. 1858.
Burns, Robert, celebrated Scottish poet, born at Alloway, near Ayr, in 1759, son of an honest, intelligent peasant, who tried farming in a small way, but did not prosper; tried farming himself on his father's decease in 1784, but took to rhyming by preference; driven desperate in his circumstances, meditated emigrating to Jamaica, and published a few poems he had composed to raise money for that end; realised a few pounds thereby, and was about to set sail, when friends and admirers rallied round him and persuaded him to stay; he was invited to Edinburgh; his poems were reprinted, and money came in; soon after he married, and took a farm, but failing, accepted the post of exciseman in Dumfries; fell into bad health, and died in 1796, aged 37. “His sun shone as through a tropical tornado, and the pale shadow of death eclipsed it at noon.... To the ill-starred Burns was given the power of making man's life more venerable, but that of wisely guiding his own life was not given.... And that spirit, which might have soared could it but have walked, soon sank to the dust, its glorious faculties trodden under foot in the blossom; and died, we may almost say, without ever having lived.” See Carlyle's “Miscellanies” for by far the justest and wisest estimate of both the man and the poet that has yet by any one been said or sung. He is at his best in his “Songs,” he says, which he thinks “by far the best that Britain has yet produced.... In them,” he adds, “he has found a tune and words for every mood of man's heart; in hut and hall, as the heart unfolds itself in many-coloured joy and woe of existence, the name, the voice of that joy and that woe, is the name and voice which Burns has given them.”
Burra-Burra, a copper-mine in S. Australia, about 103 m. NE. of Adelaide.
Burrard Inlet, an inlet of river Fraser, in British Columbia, forming one of the best harbours on the Pacific coast.
Burritt, Elihu, a blacksmith, born in Connecticut; devoted to the study of languages, of which he knew many, both ancient and modern; best known as the unwearied Advocate of Peace all over America and a great part of Europe, on behalf of which he ruined his voice (1810-1879).
Burroughs, John, popular author, born in New York; a farmer, a cultured man, with a great liking for country life and natural objects, on which he has written largely and con amore; b. 1837.
Burrus, a Roman general, who with Seneca had the conduct of Nero's education, and opposed his tyrannical acts, till Nero, weary of his expostulations, got rid of him by poison.
Burschenschaft, an association of students in the interest of German liberation and unity; formed in 1813, and broken up by the Government in 1819.
Burslem (31), a pottery-manufacturing town in Staffordshire, and the “mother of the potteries”; manufactures porcelain and glass.
Burton, John Hill, historian and miscellaneous writer, born at Aberdeen; an able man, bred for the bar; wrote articles for the leading reviews and journals, “Life of Hume,” “History of Scotland,” “The Book-Hunter,” “The Scot Abroad,” &c.; characterised by Lord Rosebery as a “dispassionate historian”; was Historiographer-Royal for Scotland (1809-1881).
Burton, Sir Richard Francis, traveller, born in Hertfordshire; served first as a soldier in Scind under Sir C. Napier; visited Mecca and Medina as an Afghan pilgrim; wrote an account of his visit in his “Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage, &c.”; penetrated Central Africa along with Captain Speke, and discovered Lake Tanganyika; visited Utah, and wrote “The City of the Saints”; travelled in Brazil, Palestine, and Western Africa, accompanied through many a hardship by his devoted wife; translated the “Arabian Nights”; his works on his travels numerous, and show him to have been of daring adventure (1821-1890).
Burton, Robert, an English clergyman, born in Leicestershire; Scholar of Christ Church, Oxford; lived chiefly in Oxford, spending his time in it for some 50 years in study; author of “The Anatomy of Melancholy,” which he wrote to alleviate his own depression of mind, a book which is a perfect mosaic of quotations on every conceivable topic, familiar and unfamiliar, from every manner of source (1576-1640). See Anatomy of Melancholy.
Burton-on-Trent (46), a town in Staffordshire; brews and exports large quantities of ale, the water of the place being peculiarly suitable for brewing purposes.
Bury (56), a manufacturing town in Lancashire, 10 m. NW. of Manchester; originally but a small place engaged in woollen manufacture, but cotton is now the staple manufacture in addition to paper-works, dye-works, &c.
Bury St. Edmunds, or St. Edmundsbury (16), a market-town in Suffolk, 26 m. NW. of Ipswich, named from Edmund, king of East Anglia, martyred by the Danes in 870, in whose honour it was built; famous for its abbey, of the interior life of which in the 12th century there is a matchlessly graphic account in Carlyle's “Past and Present.”
Busa`co, a mountain ridge in the prov. of Beira, Portugal, where Wellington with 40,000 troops beat Masséna with 65,000.
Busby, Richard, distinguished English schoolmaster, born at Lutton, Lincolnshire; was head-master of Winchester School; had a number of eminent men for his pupils, among others Dryden, Locke, and South (1606-1695).
Büsching, Anton Friedrich, a celebrated German geographer; his “Erdbeschreibung,” the first geographical work of any scientific merit; gives only the geography of Europe (1724-1793).
Bushire (27), the chief port of Persia on the Persian Gulf, and a great trading centre.
Bushmen, or Bosjesmans, aborigines of South-west Africa; a rude, nomadic race, at one time numerous, but now fast becoming extinct.
Bushrangers, in Australia a gang made up of convicts who escaped to the “bush,” and there associated with other desperadoes; at one time caused a great deal of trouble in the colony by their maraudings.
Busiris, a king of Egypt who used to offer human beings in sacrifice; seized Hercules and bound him to the altar, but Hercules snapped the bonds he was bound with, and sacrificed him.
Busk, Hans, one of the originators of the Volunteer movement, born in Wales; author of “The Rifle, and How to Use it” (1815-1882).
Buskin, a kind of half-boot worn after the custom of hunters as part of the costume of actors in tragedy on the ancient Roman stage, and a synonym for tragedy.
Bute, an island in the Firth of Clyde, about 16 m. long and from 3 to 5 broad, N. of Arran, nearly all the Marquis of Bute's property, with his seat at Mount Stuart, and separated from the mainland on the N. by a winding romantic arm of the sea called the “Kyles of Bute.”
Bute, John Stuart, third Earl of, statesman, born of an old Scotch family; Secretary of State, and from May 1762 to April 1763 Prime Minister under George III., over whom he had a great influence; was very unpopular as a statesman, his leading idea being the supremacy of the king; spent the last 24 years of his life in retirement, devoting himself to literature and science (1712-1792).
Bute, Marquis of, son of the second marquis, born in Bute; admitted to the Roman Catholic Church in 1868; devoted to archæological studies, and interested in university education; b. 1849.
Butler, Alban, hagiographer, born in Northampton; head of the college at St. Omer; wrote “Lives of the Saints” (1710-1773).
Butler, Charles, an English barrister, born in London; wrote “Historical Account of the Laws against the Catholics” (1750-1832).
Butler, Joseph, an eminent English divine, born at Wantage, in Berks; born a Dissenter; conformed to the Church of England; became preacher at the Rolls, where he delivered his celebrated “Sermons,” the first three of which contributed so much to the stability of moral science; was raised, in virtue of his merits alone, to the see of Bristol; made dean of St. Paul's, and finally bishop of Durham; his great work, “The Analogy of Religion, Natural and Revealed, to the Constitution and Course of Nature,” the aim of which is twofold—first, to show that the objections to revealed religion are equally valid against the constitution of nature; and second, to establish a conformity between the divine order in revelation and the order of nature; his style is far from interesting, and is often obscure (1692-1752).
Butler, Samuel, a master of burlesque, born at Strensham, in Worcestershire, the son of a small farmer; the author of “Hudibras,” a poem of about 10,000 octosyllabic lines, in which he subjects to ridicule the ideas and manners of the English Puritans of the Civil War and the Commonwealth; it appeared in three parts, the first in 1663, the second soon after, and the third in 1678; it is sparkling with wit, yet is hard reading, and few who take it up read it through; was an especial favourite with Charles II., who was never weary of quoting from it. “It represents,” says Stopford Brooke, “the fierce reaction that (at the Restoration) had set in against Puritanism. It is justly famed,” he adds, “for wit, learning, good sense, and ingenious drollery, and, in accordance with the new criticism, is absolutely without obscurity. It is often as terse as Pope's best work; but it is too long; its wit wearies us at last, and it undoes the force of its attacks on the Puritans by its exaggeration” (1612-1680).
Butler, William Archer, a philosophical writer, born near Clonmel, Ireland; professor of Moral Philosophy at Dublin; author of “Lectures on the History of Ancient Philosophy” (1814-1848).
Butt, Clara, operatic singer, born in Sussex; made her début in London at the Albert Hall in the “Golden Legend,” and in “Orfeo” at the Lyceum, ever since which appearances she has been much in demand as a singer; b. 1872.
Butt, Isaac, Irish patriot, distinguished for his scholarship at Dublin University; became editor of the Dublin University Magazine; entered Parliament, and at length took the lead of the “Home Rule” party, but could not control it, and retired (1813-1879).
Buttmann, Philipp, a German philologist, born at Frankfort-on-the-Main; professor of Philology in Berlin; best known by his “Greek Grammar” (1764-1829).
Buxton, a high-lying town in Derbyshire, noted for its calcareous and chalybeate springs, and a resort for invalids; is also famous for its rock crystals, stalactite cavern, and fine scenery.
Buxton, Sir Thomas Fowell, a philanthropist, born in Essex, a tall man of energetic character; entered life as a brewer, and made his fortune; was conspicuous for his interest in benevolent movements, such as the amelioration of criminal law and the abolition of slavery; represented Weymouth in Parliament from 1818 to 1837; was made a baronet in 1840; he was Wilberforce's successor (1786-1845).
Buxton, Sir Thomas Fowell, once governor of S. Australia, grandson of the preceding; educated at Harrow and Cambridge; a Liberal in politics, and member for King's Lynn from 1865 to 1868; a philanthropist and Evangelical Churchman; b. 1837.
Buxtorf, a celebrated Hebraist, born in Westphalia, member of a family of Orientalists; professor of Hebrew for 39 years at Basle; was known by the title, “Master of the Rabbis” (1564-1629).
Byblis, in the Greek mythology a daughter of Miletus, in love with her brother Caunus, whom she pursued into far lands, till, worn out with sorrow, she was changed into a fountain.
Byng, George, Viscount Torrington, admiral, favoured the Prince of Orange, and won the navy over to his interest; commanded the squadron that took Gibraltar in 1704: conquered the Spaniards off Cape Passaro; was made First Lord of the Admiralty in 1727, an office he held till his death (1663-1733).
Byng, John, admiral, fourth son of the preceding; having failed to compel the French to raise the blockade of Minorca, was recalled, in deference to popular clamour, and being tried and condemned as guilty of treason, was shot at Portsmouth, a fate it is now believed he did not deserve, and which he bore like a man and a Christian (1704-1757).
Byrom, John, poet and stenographer, born near Manchester; invented a system of shorthand, now superseded, and which he had the sole right of teaching for 21 years; contributed as “John Shadow” to the Spectator; author of the pastoral, “My Time, O ye Muses, was Happily Spent”; his poetry satirical and genial (1692-1763).
Byron, George Gordon, sixth Lord, an English poet, born in London, son of Captain Byron of the Guards, and Catherine Gordon of Gight, Aberdeenshire; spent his boyhood at Aberdeen under his mother, now a widow, and was educated at Harrow and Cambridge, spending, when at the latter, his vacations in London, where his mother had taken a house; wrote “Hours of Idleness,” a poor first attempt, which called forth a severe criticism in the Edinburgh Review, and which he satirised in “English Bards and Scotch Reviewers,” and soon afterwards left England and spent two years in foreign travel; wrote first part of “Childe Harold,” “awoke one morning and found himself famous”; produced the “Giaour,” “Bride of Abydos,” “Hebrew Melodies,” and other work. In his school days he had fallen in love with Mary Chaworth, but she had not returned his affection, and in 1815 he married Miss Millbank, an heiress, who in a year left him never to return, when a storm raised against him on account of his private life drove him from England, and he never came back; on the Continent, moved from place to place, finished “Childe Harold,” completed several short poems, and wrote “Don Juan”; threw himself into revolutionary movements in Italy and Greece, risked his all in the emancipation of the latter, and embarking in it, died at Missolonghi in a fit, at the age of 36. His poems, from the character of the passion that breathed in them, made a great impression on his age, but the like interest in them is happily now passing away, if not already past; the earth is looking green again once more, under the breath, it is believed, of a new spring-time, or anyhow, the promise of such. See “Organic Filaments” in “Sartor Resartus” (1788-1824).
Byron, Henry James, dramatist, born in Manchester, wrote “Our Boys” (1834-1884).
Byron, John, naval officer, grandfather of the poet, nicknamed from his misfortunes “Foul-weather Jack”; accompanied Anson in his voyage round the world, but was wrecked in his ship the Wager; suffered almost unexampled hardships, of which he wrote a classical account on his safe return home; he rose to the rank of admiral, and commanded the squadron in the West Indies during the American war; died in England (1723-1786).
Byrsa, a celebrated citadel of Carthage.
Byzantine Art, a decorative style of art patronised by the Romans after the seat of empire was removed to the East; it has been described by Mr. Fairholt as “an engraftment of Oriental elaboration of detail upon classic forms, ending in their debasement.”
Byzantine Empire, called also the Eastern, the Lower, or the Greek Empire; dates from 395 A.D., when, by the death of Theodosius, the Roman empire was divided between his two sons, Arcadius and Honorius, the Eastern section falling to the share of the former, who established the seat of his government at Byzantium; the empire included Syria, Asia Minor, Pontus, Egypt in Africa, and Ancient Greece, and it lasted with varied fortune for ten centuries after the accession of Arcadius, till Constantinople was taken by the Turks in 1453.
Byzantium, the ancient name of Constantinople; founded by Greek colonists in 667 B.C.