OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Ascalon

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​ASCALON, now ʽAsḲalān, one of the five chief cities of the Philistines, on the coast of the Mediterranean, 12 m. N. of Gaza. The place is mentioned several times in the Tell el-Amarna correspondence. It revolted from Egypt on two occasions, but was reconquered, and a sculpture at Thebes depicts the storming of the city. Ascalon was a well-fortified town, and the seat of the worship of the fish-goddess Derketo. Though situated in the nominal territory of the tribe of Judah, it was never for any length of time in the possession of the Israelites. The only incident in its history recorded in the Bible (the spoliation by Samson, Judg. xiv. 19) may possibly have actually occurred at another place of the same name, in the hill country of Judaea. Sennacherib took it in 701 B.C. The conquest of Alexander hellenized its civilization, and after his time it became tributary alternately to Syria and Egypt. Herod the Great was a native of the city, and added greatly to its beauty; but it suffered severely in the later wars of the Romans and Jews. In the 4th century it again rose to importance; and till the 7th century, when it was conquered by the Moslems, it was the seat of a bishopric and a centre of learning. During the first crusade a signal victory was gained by the Christians in the neighbouring plain on the 15th of August 1099; but the city remained in the hands of the caliphs till 1157, when it was taken by Baldwin III., king of Jerusalem, after a siege of five months. By Baldwin IV. it was given to his sister Sibylla, on her marriage with William of Montferrat in 1178. When Saladin (1187) had almost annihilated the Christian army in the plain of Tiberias, Ascalon offered but a feeble resistance to the victor. At first he repaired and strengthened its fortifications, but afterwards, alarmed at the capture of St Jean d’Acre (Acre) by Richard Cœur de Lion in 1191, he caused it to be dismantled. It was restored in the following year by the English king, but only to be again abandoned. From this time Ascalon lost much of its importance, and at length, in 1270, its fortifications were almost totally destroyed by Sultan Bibars, and its port was filled up with stones. The place is now a desolate heap of ruins, with remains of its walls and fragments of granite pillars. The surrounding country is well watered and very fertile.
See a paper by Guthe, “Die Ruinen Ascalons,” in the Zeitschrift of the Deutsche Palästina-Verein, ii. 164 (translated in Palestine Exploration Fund Quarterly Statement, 1880, p. 182). See also C. R. Conder in the latter journal, 1875, p. 152. (R. A. S. M.)
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Ascanius

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​ASCANIUS, in Roman legend, the son of Aeneas by Creüsa or Lavinia. From Livy it would appear that tradition recognized two sons of Aeneas called by this name, the one the son of his Trojan, the other of his Latin wife. According to the usual account, he accompanied his father to Italy on his flight from Troy. On the death of Aeneas, the government of Latium was left in the hands of Lavinia, Ascanius being too young to undertake it. After thirty years he left Lavinium, and founded Alba Longa. Ascanius was also called Ilus and Iulus, and the Julian gens claimed to be descended from him. Several more or less contradictory traditions may be found in Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Strabo and other writers.
Virg. Aen. ii. 666; Livy i. 3; see also Klausen. Aeneas und die Penaten (1840).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Bauble

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​BAUBLE (probably a blend of two different words, an old French baubel, a child’s plaything, and an old English babyll, something swinging to and fro), a word applied to a stick with a weight attached, used in weighing, to a child’s toy, and especially to the mock symbol of office carried by a court jester, a baton terminating in a figure of Folly with cap and bells, and sometimes having a bladder fastened to the other end; hence a term for any triviality or childish folly.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Batu

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​BATU, or Rock Islands (Dutch Batoe), a group of three greater and forty-eight lesser islands in the Dutch East Indies, W. of Sumatra, between 0° 10′ N. to 0° 45′ S. and 97° 50′–98° 35′ E., belonging to the Ayerbangi district of the lowlands of Padang (Sumatra). They are separated by the strait of Sibirut from the Mentawi group. The three chief islands, from N. to S., are Pini or Mintao, Masa, and Bala. The total land area of the group is 445 sq. m. The islands are generally low, and covered with forest, in which the cocoanut palm is conspicuous. There is trade in cocoanuts, oil, and other forest produce. The natives, about 3000 in number, are of Malayan or pre-Malayan stock, akin to those of the island of Nias to the north-west. Only about twenty of the smaller islands are inhabited.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Batwa

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​BATWA, a tribe of African pygmies living in the mountainous country around Wissmann Falls in the Kasai district of the Belgian Congo. They were discovered in 1880 by Paul Pogge and Hermann von Wissmann, and have been identified with Sir H. M. Stanley’s Vouatouas. They are typical of the negrito family south of the Congo. They are well made, with limbs perfectly proportioned, and are seldom more than 4 ft. high. Their complexion is a yellow-brown, much lighter than their Bantu-Negroid neighbours. They have short woolly hair and no beard. They are feared rather than despised by the Baluba and Bakuba tribes, among whom they live. They are nomads, cultivating nothing, and keeping no animals but a small type of hunting-dog. Their weapon is a tiny bow, the arrows for which are usually poisoned. They build themselves temporary huts of a bee-hive shape. As hunters they are famous, bounding through the jungle growth “like grasshoppers” and fearlessly attacking elephants and buffalo with their tiny weapons. Their only occupation apart from hunting is the preparation of palm-wine which they barter for grain with the Baluba. They are monogamous and display much family affection. See further Pygmy; Akka; Wochua; Bambute.
See A. de Quatrefages, The Pygmies (Eng. ed., 1895); Sir H. H. Johnston, Uganda Protectorate (1902); Hermann von Wissmann, My Second Journey through Equatorial Africa (London, 1891).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Bauan

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​BAUAN (or Baun), a town of the province of Batangas, Luzon, Philippine Islands, at the head of Batangas Bay, about 54 m. S. of Manila. Pop. (1903) 39,094. A railway to connect the town with Manila was under construction in 1908. Bauan has a fine church and is known as a market for “sinamay” or hemp cloth, the hemp and cotton being imported and dyed and woven by the women in their homes. Palm-fibre mats and hats, fans, bamboo baskets and cotton fish-nets are woven here. There is ​excellent fishing in the bay. Hogs and horses are raised for the Manila market. The surrounding country is fertile and grows cacao, indigo, oranges, sugar-cane, corn and rice. The language is Tagalog.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Batum

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​BATUM, a seaport of Russian Transcaucasia, in the government of and 90 m. by rail S.W. of the city of Kutais, on the S.E. shore of the Black Sea, in 41° 39′ N. and 41° 38′ E. Pop. (1875) 2000; (1900) 28,512, very mixed. The bay is being filled up by the sand carried into it by several small rivers. The town is protected by strong forts, and the anchorage has been greatly improved by artificial works. Batum possesses a cathedral, finished in 1903, and the Alexander Park, with sub-tropical vegetation. The climate is very warm, lemon and orange trees, magnolias and palms growing in the open air; but it is at the same time extremely wet and changeable. The annual rainfall (90 in.) is higher than anywhere in Caucasia, but it is very unequally distributed (23 in. in August and September, sometimes 16 in. in a couple of days), and the place is still most unhealthy. The town is connected by rail with the main Transcaucasian railway to Tiflis, and is the chief port for the export of naphtha and paraffin oil, carried hither in great part through pipes laid down from Baku, but partly also in tank railway-cars; other exports are wheat, manganese, wool, silkworm-cocoons, liquorice, maize and timber (total value of exports nearly 51/2 millions sterling annually). The imports, chiefly tin plates and machinery, amount to less than half that total. Known as Bathys in antiquity, as Vati in the middle ages, and as Bathumi since the beginning of the 17th century, Batum belonged to the Turks, who strongly fortified it, down to 1878, when it was transferred to Russia. In the winter of 1905–1906 Batum was in the hands of the revolutionists, and a “reign of terror” lasted for several weeks.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Batyphone

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​BATYPHONE (Ger. and Fr. Batyphon), a contrabass clarinet which was the outcome of F. W. Wieprecht’s endeavour to obtain a contrabass for the reed instruments. The batyphone was made to a scale twice the size of the clarinet in C, the divisions of the chromatic scale being arranged according to acoustic principles. For convenience in stopping holes too far apart to be covered by the fingers, crank or swivel keys were used. The instrument was constructed of maple-wood, had a clarinet mouthpiece of suitable size connected by means of a cylindrical brass crook with the upper part of the tube, and a brass bell. The pitch was two octaves below the clarinet in C, the compass being the same, and thus corresponding to the modern bass tuba. The tone was pleasant and full, but not powerful enough for the contrabass register in a military band. The batyphone had besides one serious disadvantage: it could be played with facility only in its nearly related keys, G and F major. The batyphone was invented and patented in 1839 by F. W. Wieprecht, director general of all the Prussian military bands, and E. Skorra, the court instrument manufacturer of Berlin. In practice the instrument was found to be of little use, and was superseded by the bass tuba. A similar attempt was made in 1843 by Adolphe Sax, and met with a similar fate.
A batyphone bearing the name of its inventors formed part of the Snoeck collection which was acquired for Berlin’s collection of ancient musical instruments at the Technische Hochschule für Musik. The description of the batyphone given above is mainly derived from a MS. treatise on instrumentation by Wieprecht, in 1909 in the possession of Herr Otto Lessmann (Berlin), and reproduced by Capt. C. R. Day, in Descriptive Catalogue of the Musical Instruments of the Royal Military Exhibition, London, 1890 (London, 1891), p. 124.  (K. S.)
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Baudier, Michel

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​BAUDIER, MICHEL (c. 1589–1645), French historian, was born in Languedoc. During the reign of Louis XIII. he was historiographer to the Court of France. He contributed to French history by writing Histoire de la guerre de Flandre 1559–1609 (Paris, 1615); Histoire de l’administration du cardinal d’Amboise, grand ministre d’état en France (Paris, 1634), a defence of the cardinal; and Histoire de l’administration de l’abbé Suger (Paris, 1645). Taking an especial interest in the Turks he wrote Inventaire général de l’histoire des Turcs (Paris, 1619); Histoire générale de la religion des Turcs avec la vie de leur prophète Mahomet (Paris, 1626); and Histoire générale du sérail et de la cour du grand Turc (Paris, 1626; English trans. by E. Grimeston, London, 1635). Having heard the narrative of a Jesuit who had returned from China, Baudier wrote Histoire de la cour du roi de Chine (Paris, 1626; English trans. in vol. viii. of the Collection of Voyages and Travels of A. and J. Churchill, London, 1707–1747). He also wrote Vie du cardinal Ximénès (Paris, 1635), which was again published with a notice of the author by E. Baudier (Paris, 1851), and a curious romance entitled Histoire de l’incomparable administration de Romieu, grand ministre d’état de Raymond Bérenger, comte de Provence (Paris, 1635).
See J. Lelong, Bibliothèque historique de la France (Paris, 1768–1778); L. Moréri, Le Grand Dictionnaire historique (Amsterdam, 1740).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Battus

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​BATTUS, the legendary founder of the Greek colony of Cyrene in Libya (about 630 B.C.). The Greeks who accompanied him were, like himself, natives of Thera, and descended partly from the race of the Minyae. Various accounts are given both of the founding of Cyrene and of the origin of the founder’s name. According to the Cyrenaeans (Herod, iv. 150-156), Battus, having an impediment in his speech, consulted the oracle at Delphi, and was told to found a colony in Libya; according to the Theraeans, Battus was entrusted with this mission by their aged king Grinus. In another version, there was civil war in Thera; Battus, leader of one party, was banished, and, on applying to the oracle, was recommended to take out a colony to “the continent” (Schol. Pindar, Pyth. iv. 10). In any case the foundation is attributed to the direct instructions of Apollo. The name was connected by some with βατταρίζω, (“stammer”), but Herodotus (iv. 155) says that it was the Libyan word for “king,” that Battus was not called by the name until after his arrival at Libya, and that the oracle addressed him as “Battus” by anticipation. This, however, would imply on the part of the oracle a knowledge of Libya, which was not shared by the rest of Greece (Herod. l.c.), and it is noteworthy that the name occurs in Arcadian and Messenian legends. Herodotus does not know his real name, but Pindar (Pyth. v. 116), no doubt rightly, calls the founder of the colony Aristoteles, while Justin (xiii. 7) gives his name as Aristaeus who was worshipped at Cyrene. Four kings named Battus, alternating with four named Arcesilaus, ruled in Cyrene (q.v.) till the fall of the dynasty about 450 B.C.
See R. W. Macan’s Herodotus IV.-VI. (1895), vol. i. pp. 104 seq. and notes.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Black Sea (district)

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​BLACK SEA (Russ. Chernomorskaya), a military district of the province of Kuban, formerly an independent province of Transcaucasia, Russia; it includes the narrow strip of land along the N.E. coast of the Black Sea from Novorossiysk to the vicinity of Pitsunda, between the sea and the crest of the main range of the Caucasus. Area, 2836 sq. m. Pop. (1897) 54,228; (1906, estimate) 71,900. It is penetrated by numerous spurs of this range, which strike the sea abruptly at right angles to the coast, and in many cases plunge down into it sheer. Owing to its southern exposure, its sheltered position, and a copious rainfall, vegetation, in part of a sub-tropical character, grows in great profusion. In consequence, however, of the mountainous character of the region, it is divided into a large number of more or less isolated districts, and there is little intercourse with the country north of the Caucasus, the passes over the range being few and difficult (see Caucasus). But since the Russians became masters of this region, its former inhabitants (Circassian tribes) have emigrated in thousands, so that the country is now only thinly inhabited. It is divided into three districts—Novorossiysk, with the town (pop. in 1897, 16,208) of the same name, which acts as the capital of the Black Sea district; Velyaminovsk; and Sochi. Novorossiysk is connected by rail, at the west end of the Caucasus, with the Rostov-Vladikavkaz line, and a mountain road leads from Velyaminovsk (or Tuapse) to Maikop in the province of Kuban.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Black Rod

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​BLACK ROD (more fully, “Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod”), an official of the House of Lords, instituted in 1350. His appointment is by royal letters patent, and his title is due to his staff of office, an ebony stick surmounted with a gold lion. He is a personal attendant of the sovereign in the Upper House, and is also usher of the order of the Garter, being doorkeeper at the meetings of the knights’ chapter. He is responsible for the maintenance of order in the House of Lords, and on him falls the duty of arresting any peer guilty of breach of privilege or other offence of which the House takes cognizance. But the duty which brings him most into prominence is that of summoning the Commons and their speaker to the Upper House to hear a speech from the throne or the royal assent given to bills. If the sovereign is present in parliament, Black Rod commands the attendance of the gentlemen of the Commons, but when lords commissioners represent the king, he only desires such attendance. Black Rod is on such occasions the central figure of a curious ceremony of much historic significance. As soon as the attendants of the House of Commons are aware of his approach, they close the doors in his face. Black Rod then strikes three times with his staff, and on being asked “Who is there?” replies “Black Rod.” Being then admitted he advances to the bar of the House, makes three obeisances and says, “Mr Speaker, the king commands this honourable House to attend his majesty immediately in the House of Lords.” This formality originated in the famous attempt of Charles I. to arrest the five members, Hampden, Pym, Holles, Hesilrige and Strode, in 1642. Indignant ​at this breach of privilege, the House of Commons has ever since maintained its right of freedom of speech and uninterrupted debate by the closing of the doors on the king’s representative.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Blackball

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​BLACKBALL, a token used for voting by ballot against the election of a candidate for membership of a club or other association. Formerly white and black balls about the size of pigeons’ eggs were used respectively to represent votes for and against a candidate for such election; and although this method is now generally obsolete, the term “blackball” survives both as noun and verb. The rules of most clubs provide that a stated proportion of “blackballs” shall exclude candidates proposed for election, and the candidates so excluded are said to have been “blackballed”; but the ballot (q.v.) is now usually conducted by a method in which the favourable and adverse votes are not distinguished by different coloured balls at all. Either voting papers are employed, or balls—of which the colour has no significance—are cast into different compartments of a ballot-box according as they are favourable or adverse to the candidate.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Blackburn, Colin Blackburn

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​BLACKBURN, COLIN BLACKBURN, Baron (1813–1896), British judge, was born in Selkirkshire in 1813, and educated at Eton and at Trinity College, Cambridge, taking high mathematical honours in 1835. He was called to the bar in 1838, and went the northern circuit. His progress was at first slow, and he employed himself in reporting and editing, with T. F. Ellis, eight volumes of the highly-esteemed Ellis and Blackburn reports. His deficiency in all the more brilliant qualities of the advocate almost confined his practice to commercial cases, in which he obtained considerable employment in his circuit; but he continued to belong to the outside bar, and was so little known to the legal world that his promotion to a puisne judgeship in the court of queen’s bench in 1859 was at first ascribed to Lord Campbell’s partiality for his countrymen, but Lord Lyndhurst, Lord Wensleydale and Lord Cranworth came forward to defend the appointment. Blackburn himself is said to have thought that a county court judgeship was about to be offered him, which he had resolved to decline. He soon proved himself one of the soundest lawyers on the bench, and when he was promoted to the court of appeal in 1876 was considered the highest authority on common law. In 1876 he was made a lord of appeal and a life peer. Both in this capacity and as judge of the queen’s bench he delivered many judgments of the highest importance, and no decisions have been received with greater respect. In 1886 he was appointed a member of the commission charged to prepare a digest of the criminal law, but retired on account of indisposition in the following year. He died at his country residence, Doonholm in Ayrshire, on the 8th of January 1896. He was the author of a valuable work on the Law of Sales.
See The Times, 10th of January 1896; E. Manson, Builders of our Law (1904).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Black Veil

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​BLACK VEIL, in the Roman Catholic Church, the symbol of the most complete renunciation of the world and adoption of a nun’s life. On the appointed day the nun goes through all the ritual of the marriage ceremony, after a solemn mass at which all the inmates of the convent assist. She is dressed in bridal white with wreath and veil, and receives a wedding-ring, as spouse of the Church. Afterwards she presides at a wedding-breakfast, at which a bride-cake is cut. She thus bids adieu to all her friends, and having previously taken the white veil, the betrothal, she now assumes the black, and for ever forswears the world and its pleasures. Her hair is cut short, and her bridal robes are exchanged for the sombre religious habit. Her wedding-ring, however, she continues to wear, and it is buried with her.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Blackberry

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​BLACKBERRY, or Bramble, known botanically as Rubus fruticosus (natural order Rosaceae), a native of the north temperate region of the Old World, and abundant in the British Isles as a copse and hedge-plant. It is characterized by its prickly stem, leaves with usually three or five ovate, coarsely toothed stalked leaflets, many of which persist through the winter, white or pink flowers in terminal clusters, and black or red-purple fruits, each consisting of numerous succulent drupels crowded on a dry conical receptacle. It is a most variable plant, exhibiting many more or less distinct forms which are regarded by different authorities as sub-species or species. In America several forms of the native blackberry, Rubus nigrobaccus (formerly known as R. villosus), are widely cultivated; it is described as one of the most important and profitable of bush-fruits.
For details see F. W. Card in L. H. Bailey’s Cyclopedia of American Horticulture (1900).