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# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Baillie, Robert (Scottish conspirator)

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​BAILLIE, ROBERT (d. 1684), Scottish conspirator, known as Baillie of Jerviswood, was the son of George Baillie of St. John’s Kirk, Lanarkshire. He incurred the resentment of the Scottish government by rescuing, in June 1676, his brother-in-law Kirkton, a Presbyterian minister who had illegally been seized and confined in a house by Carstairs, an informer. He was fined £500, remaining in prison for four months and then being liberated on paying one-half the fine to Carstairs. In despair at the state of his country he determined in 1683 to emigrate to South Carolina, but the plan came to nothing. The same year Baillie, with some of his friends, went to London and entered into communication with Monmouth, Russell and their party in order to obtain redress; and on the discovery of the Rye House Plot he was arrested. Questioned by the king himself he repudiated any knowledge of the conspiracy, but with striking truthfulness would not deny that he had been consulted with the view of an insurrection in Scotland. He was subsequently loaded with irons and sent back a prisoner to Scotland. Though there was no evidence whatever to support his connexion with the plot, he was fined £6000 and kept in close confinement. He was already in a languishing state when on the 23rd of December 1684 he was brought up again before the high court on the charge of treason. He was pronounced guilty on the following day and hanged the same afternoon at the market cross at Edinburgh with all the usual barbarities. His shocking treatment was long remembered as one of the worst crimes committed by the Stuart administration in Scotland. Bishop Burnet, who was his cousin, describes him as “in the presbyterian principles but ... a man of great piety and virtue, learned in the law, in mathematics and in languages.” He married a sister of Sir Archibald Johnston, Lord Warriston, and left a son, George, who took refuge in Holland, afterwards returning with William III. and being restored to his estates.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Baillie, Robert (Scottish divine)

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​BAILLIE, ROBERT (1602–1662), Scottish divine, was born at Glasgow. Having graduated there in 1620, he gave himself to the study of divinity. In 1631, after he had been ordained and had acted for some years as regent in the university, he was appointed to the living of Kilwinning in Ayrshire. In 1638 he was a member of the famous Glasgow Assembly, and soon after he accompanied Leslie and the Scottish army as chaplain or preacher. In 1642 he was made professor of divinity at Glasgow, and in the following year was selected as one of the five Scottish clergymen who were sent to the Westminster Assembly. In 1649 he was one of the commissioners sent to Holland for the purpose of inviting Charles II. to Scotland, and of settling the terms of his admission to the government. He continued to take an active part in all the minor disputes of the church, and in 1661 was made principal of Glasgow University. He died in August of the following year, his death being probably hastened by his mortification at the apparently firm establishment of episcopacy in Scotland. Baillie was a man of learning and ability; his views were not extreme, and he played but a secondary part in the stirring events of the time. His Letters, by which he is now chiefly remembered, are of first-rate historical importance, and give a very lively picture of the period.
A complete memoir and a full notice of all his writings will be found in D. Laing’s edition of the Letters and Journals of Robert Baillie (1637–1662), Bannatyne Club, 3 vols. (Edinburgh, 1841–1842). Among his works are Ladensium αὐτοκατάκρισις, an answer to Lysimachus Nicanor, an attack on Laud and his system, in reply to a publication which charged the Covenanters with Jesuitry; Anabaptism, the true Fountain of Independency, Brownisme, Antinomy, Familisme, &c., a sermon; An Historical Vindication of the Government of the Church of Scotland; The Life of William (Laud) now Lord Archbishop of Canterbury Examined (London, 1643); A Parallel of the Liturgy with the Mass Book, the Breviary, the Ceremonial and other Romish Rituals (London, 1661).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Bailly, Jean Sylvain

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​BAILLY, JEAN SYLVAIN (1736–1793), French astronomer and orator, was born at Paris on the 15th of September 1736. Originally intended for the profession of a painter, he preferred writing tragedies until attracted to science by the influence of Nicolas de Lacaille. He calculated an orbit for the comet of 1759 (Halley’s), reduced Lacaille’s observations of 515 zodiacal stars, and was, in 1763, elected a member of the Academy of Sciences. His Essai sur la théorie des satellites de Jupiter (1766), an expansion of a memoir presented to the Academy in 1763, showed much original power; and it was followed up in 1771 by a noteworthy dissertation Sur les inégalités de la lumière des satellites de Jupiter. Meantime, he had gained a high literary reputation by his Éloges of Charles V., Lacaille, Molière, Corneille and Leibnitz, which were issued in a collected form in 1770 and 1790; he was admitted to the French Academy (February 26, 1784), and to the Académie des Inscriptions in 1785, when Fontenelle’s simultaneous membership of all three Academies was renewed in him. Thenceforth, he devoted himself to the history of science, publishing successively:—Histoire de l’astronomie ancienne (1775); Histoire de l’astronomie moderne (3 vols. 1779–1782); Lettres sur l’origine des sciences (1777); Lettres sur lVAtlantide de Platon (1779); and Traité de l’astronomie indienne et orientale (1787). Their erudition was, however, marred by speculative extravagances.
The cataclysm of the French Revolution interrupted his studies. Elected deputy from Paris to the states-general, he was chosen president of the Third Estate (May 5, 1789), led the famous proceedings in the Tennis Court (June 20), and acted as mayor of Paris (July 15, 1789, to November 16, 1791). The dispersal by the National Guard, under his orders, of the riotous assembly in the Champ de Mars (July 17, 1791) rendered him obnoxious to the infuriated populace, and he retired to Nantes, where he composed his Mémoires d’un témoin (published in 3 vols. by MM. Berville and Barrière, 1821–1822), an incomplete narrative of the extraordinary events of his public life. Late in 1793, Bailly quitted Nantes to join his friend Pierre Simon Laplace at Melun; but was there recognized, arrested and brought (November 10) before the Revolutionary Tribunal at Paris. On the 12th of November he was guillotined amid the insults of a howling mob. He met his death with patient dignity, having, indeed, disastrously shared the enthusiasms of his age, but taken no share in its crimes.
Notices of his life are contained in the Éloges by Mérard de Saint Just, Delisle de Salles, Lalande and Lacretelle; in a memoir by Arago, read the 26th of February 1844 before the Académie des Sciences, and published in Notices biographiques, t. ii. (1852). See also Delambre, Histoire de l’astronomie au 18me siècle, p. 735, and Lalande, Bibliographie astronomique, p. 730.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Chincha Islands

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​CHINCHA ISLANDS, three small islands in the Pacific Ocean, about 12 m. from the coast of Peru (to which country they belong), opposite the town of Pisco, and 106 m. distant from Callao, in 13° 38′ S., 76° 28′ W. The largest of the group, known as the North Island or Isla del Norte, is only four-fifths of a mile in length, and about a third in breadth. They are of granitic formation, and rise from the sea in precipitous cliffs, worn into countless caves and hollows, which furnish convenient resting-places for the sea-fowl. Their highest points attain an elevation of 113 ft. The islands have yielded a few remains of the Chincha Indian race. They were formerly noted for vast deposits of guano, and its export was begun by the Peruvian government in 1840. The supply, however, was exhausted in 1874. In 1853–1854 the Chincha Islands were the chief object in a contest known as the Guano War between President Echenique and General Castilla; and in April 1864 they were seized by the Spanish rear-admiral Pinzon in order to bring the Peruvian government to apologize for its treatment of Spanish immigrants.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Chinchew

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​CHINCHEW, or Chinchu, the name usually given in English charts to an ancient and famous port of China in the province of Fu-kien, of which the Chinese name is Chʽüanchow-fu or Tsʽüanchow-fu. It stands in 24° 57′ N., 118° 35′ E. The walls have a circuit of 7 or 8 m., but embrace much vacant ground. The chief exports are tea and sugar, tobacco, china-ware, nankeens, &c. There are remains of a fine mosque, founded by the Arab traders who resorted thither. The English Presbyterian Mission has had a chapel in the city since about 1862. Beyond the northern branch of the Min (several miles from the city) there is a suburb called Loyang, approached by the most celebrated bridge in China.
Chʽüanchow, owing to the obstruction of its harbour by sand banks, has been supplanted as a port by Amoy, and its trade is carried on through the port of Nganhai. It is still, however, a large and populous city. It was in the middle ages the great port of Western trade with China, and was known to the Arabs and to Europeans as Zaitūn or Zayton, the name under which it appears in Abulfeda’s geography and in the Mongol history of Rashīddudīn, as well as in Ibn Batuta, Marco Polo and other medieval travellers. Some argument has been alleged against the identity of Zayton with Chʽüanchow, and in favour of its being rather Changchow (a great city 60 m. W.S.W. of Chʽüanchow), or a port on the river of Changchow near Amoy. “Port of Zayton” may have embraced the great basin called Amoy Harbour, the chief part of which lies within the Fu or department of Chʽüanchow; but there is hardly room for doubt that the Zayton of Marco Polo and Abulfeda was the Chʽüanchow of the Chinese. Ibn Batuta informs us that a rich silk texture made here was called Zaitūniya; and there can be little doubt that this is the real origin of the word “Satin,” Zettani in medieval Italian, Aceytuni in Spanish.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Chinchilla

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​CHINCHILLA, a small grey hopping rodent mammal (Chinchilla lanigera), of the approximate size of a squirrel, inhabiting the eastern slopes of the Andes in Chile and Bolivia, at altitudes between 8000 and 12,000 ft. It typifies not only the genus Chinchilla, but the family Chinchillidae, for the distinctive features of which see Rodentia. The ordinary chinchilla is about 10 in. in length, exclusive of the long tail, and in the form of its head somewhat resembles a rabbit. It is covered with a dense soft fur 3/4 in. long on the back and upwards of an inch in length on the sides, of a delicate French grey colour, darkly mottled on the upper surface and dusky white beneath; the ears being long, broad and thinly covered with hair. Chinchillas live in burrows, and these subterranean dwellings undermine the ground in some parts of the Chilean Andes to such an extent as to cause danger to travellers on horseback. They associate in communities, forming their burrows among loose rocks, and coming out to feed in the early morning and towards sunset. They feed chiefly on roots and grasses, in search of which they often travel considerable distances; and when eating they sit on their haunches, holding their food in their fore-paws. The Indians in hunting them employ the grison (Galictis vittata), a member of the weasel family, which is trained to enter the crevices of the rocks where the chinchillas lie concealed during the day. The fur (q.v.) of this rodent was prized by the ancient Peruvians, who made coverlets and other articles with the skin, and at the present day the skins are exported in large numbers to Europe, where they are made into muffs, tippets and trimmings. That chinchillas have not under such circumstances become rare, if not extinct, is owing to their extraordinary fecundity, the female usually producing five or six young twice a year. They are docile in disposition, and thus well fitted for domestication. The Peruvian chinchilla (C. brevicaudata) is larger, with relatively shorter ears and tail; while still larger species constitute the genus Lagidium, ranging from the Andes to Patagonia, and distinguished by having four in place of five front-toes, more pointed ears, and a somewhat differently formed skull. (See also Viscacha). (R. L.*)
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/China (porcelain)

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​CHINA, the common name for ware made of porcelain, given because it came from China, where the first vitrified, translucent, white ware was produced. The Portuguese or Italians gave it the name of “porcelain” (q.v.). English usage was influenced by India and the East, where the Persian chīnī was widely prevalent as the name of the ware. This is seen also in some of the earlier forms and pronunciations, e.g. chiney, cheney, and later chaney (see Ceramics; and for “china-clay” Kaolin).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Chinandega

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​CHINANDEGA, or Chinendega, the capital of the department of Chinandega in western Nicaragua, 10 m. N.N.E. of the seaport of Corinto by the Corinto-Managua railway. Pop. (1900) about 12,000. Chinandega is the centre of a fertile corn-producing district, and has a large transit trade owing to its excellent situation on the chief Nicaraguan railway. Its manufactures include coarse cloth, pottery and Indian feather ornaments. Cotton, sugar-cane and bananas are cultivated in the neighbourhood.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Baindir

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​BAINDIR (anc. Caystrus), a town in Asiatic Turkey in the Aidin vilayet, situated in the valley of the Kuchuk Menderes. Pop. under 10,000, nearly half Christian. It is connected with Smyrna by a branch of the Aidin railway, and has a trade in cotton, figs, raisins and tobacco.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Baines, Edward

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​BAINES, EDWARD (1774–1848), English newspaper-proprietor and politician, was born in 1774 at Walton-le-Dale, near Preston, Lancashire. He was educated at the grammar schools of Hawkshead and Preston, and at the age of sixteen was apprenticed to a printer in the latter town. After remaining there four years and a half he removed to Leeds, finished his apprenticeship, and at once started in business for himself. He was always a most assiduous student, and quickly became known as a man of great practical shrewdness and ability, who took a keen interest in political and social movements. His political opinions led him to sympathize with nonconformity and he soon joined the Independents. In 1801 the assistance of party friends enabled him to buy the Leeds Mercury. Provincial newspapers did not at that time possess much influence; it was no part of the editor’s duty to supply what are now called “leading articles,” and the system of reporting was defective. In both respects Baines made a complete change in the Mercury. His able political articles gradually made the paper the organ of Liberal opinion in Leeds, and the connexion of the Baines family with the paper made their influence powerful for many years in this direction. Baines soon began to take a prominent part in politics; he was an ardent advocate of parliamentary reform, and it was mainly by his influence that Macaulay was returned for Leeds in 1832; and in 1834 he succeeded Macaulay as member. He was re-elected in 1835 and 1837, but resigned in 1841. In parliament he supported the Liberal party, but with independent views. Like his son Edward after him, he strongly advocated the separation of church and state, and opposed government interference in national education. His letters to Lord John Russell on the latter question (1846) had a powerful influence in determining the action of the government. He died in 1848. His best-known writings are:—The History, Directory and Gazetteer of the County of York; History, Directory and Gazetteer of the County of Lancaster&#8202History of the County Palatine and Duchy of Lancaster. He was also the author of a History of the Wars of Napoleon, which was continued under the title of A History of the Reign of George III.
His Life (1861) has been written by his son, Sir Edward Baines (1800–1890), who was editor and afterwards proprietor of the Leeds Mercury, M.P. for Leeds (1859–1874), and was knighted in 1880; his History of the Cotton Manufacture (1835) was long a standard authority. An elder son, Matthew Talbot Baines (1790–1860), went to the bar, and became recorder of Hull (1837). He became M.P. for Hull in 1847, and in 1849 president of the Poor Law Board. In 1852 he was returned for Leeds, and again became president of the Poor Law Board (till 1855). In 1856 he entered the cabinet as chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Baily, William Hellier

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​BAILY, WILLIAM HELLIER (1819–1888), English palaeontologist, nephew of E. H. Baily the sculptor, was born at Bristol on the 7th of July 1819. From 1837 to 1844 he was Assistant Curator in the Bristol Museum, a post he relinquished to join the staff of the Geological Survey in London. In 1854 he became assistant naturalist, under Edward Forbes and afterwards under Huxley. In 1857 he was transferred to the Irish branch of the Geological Survey, as acting palaeontologist, and retained this post until the end of his life. He was the author of many papers on palaeontological subjects, and of notes on fossils in the explanatory memoirs of the Geological Survey of Ireland. He published (1867–1875) a useful work entitled Figures of Characteristic British Fossils, with Descriptive Remarks, of which only the first volume, dealing with palaeozoic species, was issued. The figures were all drawn on stone by himself. He died at Rathmines near Dublin on the 6th of August 1888.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Bain, Andrew Geddes

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​BAIN, ANDREW GEDDES (1797–1864), British geologist, was a native of Scotland. In 1820 he emigrated to Cape Colony, and carried on for some years the business of a saddler at Graaff Reinet. During the Kaffir War in 1833–34 he took command of a provisional battalion raised for the defence of the frontier. Later he was engaged to construct a military road through the Ecca Pass, and displayed engineering talents which led to his being permanently employed as surveyor of military roads under the corps of Royal Engineers. This occupation created an interest in geology, which was fostered in 1837 by the loan of Lyell’s Elements. He discovered the remains of many reptilia, including the Dicynodon, which was obtained from the Karroo Beds near Fort Beaufort and described by Owen. Devoting all his spare energies to geological studies, Bain prepared in 1852 the first comprehensive geological map of South Africa, a work of great merit, which was published by the Geological Society of London in 1856. He died at Cape Town in 1864.
Obituary by Dr R. N. Rubidge, in Geol. Mag. January 1865, p. 47; also Trans. Geol. Soc. S. Africa, vol. ii. part v., June 1896 (with portrait).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Baini, Giuseppe

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​BAINI, GIUSEPPE (1775–1844), Italian priest, musical critic and composer of church music, was born at Rome on the 21st of October 1775. He was instructed in composition by his uncle, Lorenzo Baini, and afterwards by G. Jannaconi. In 1814 he was appointed musical director to the choir of the pontifical chapel, to which he had as early as 1802 gained admission in virtue of his fine bass voice. His compositions, of which very few have been published, were very favourable specimens of the severe ecclesiastical style; one in particular, a ten-part Miserere, composed for Holy Week in 1821 by order of Pope Pius VII., has taken a permanent place in the services of the Sistine chapel during Passion Week. Baini held a higher place, however, as a musical critic and historian than as a composer, and his Life of Palestrina (Memorie storico-critiche della vita e delle opere di Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, 1828) ranks as one of the best works of its class. The phrase Il Principe della Musica, which has become finally associated with the name of Palestrina, originates with this biography. Giuseppe Baini died on the 21st of May 1844 in Rome.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Bairam

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​BAIRAM, a Perso-Turkish word meaning “festival,” applied in Turkish to the two principal festivals of Islam. The first of these, according to the calendar, is the “Lesser Festival,” called by the Turks Kütshük Bairām (“Lesser Bairam”), or Sheker Bairām (“Sugar Bairam”), and by Arabic-speaking Moslems ‛Īd al-Fitr (“Festival of Fast-breaking”), or Al-‛īd aṣ-ṣaghīr (“Lesser Festival”). It follows immediately the ninth or the fasting-month, Ramaḍān, occupying the first three days of the tenth month, Shawwāl. It is, therefore, also called by Turks Ramazān Bairām, and exhibits more outward signs of rejoicing than the technically “Greater Festival.” Official receptions are held on it, and private visits paid; friends congratulate one another, and presents are given; new clothes ​are put on, and the graves of relatives are visited. The second, or “Greater Festival,” is called by the Turks Qurbān Bairām, “Sacrifice Bairam,” and by Arabic speakers Al-ʽīd al-kabīr, “Greater Festival,” or ʽĪḍ al-aḍḥā, “Festival of Sacrifice.” It falls on the tenth, and two or three following days, of the last month, Dhū-l-ḥijja, when the pilgrims each slay a ram, a he-goat, a cow or a camel in the valley of Minā in commemoration of the ransom of Ishmael with a ram. Similarly throughout the Moslem world, all who can afford it sacrifice at this time a legal animal, and either consume the flesh themselves or give it to the poor. Otherwise it is celebrated like the “Lesser Festival,” but with less ardour. Both festivals, of course, belong to a lunar calendar, and move through the solar year every thirty-two years.
See Lane’s Modern Egyptians, chap. xxv.; Michell, Egyptian Calendar; Hughes, Dictionary of Islam, pp. 192 ff.; Sir R. Burton, Pilgrimage, chaps. vii., xxx. (D. B. Ma.)