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to death by the revolutionary tribunal, and executed on the 12th, with circumstances of great cruelty. He died with the utmost composure. His crimes were, his conduct on the Champ-de-Mars, and the boldness with which he had declared the accusations brought against the queen false and calumnious. His posthumous works are, Essai sur l'Origine des Fables, et des Religions Anciennes, and his Journal during the early period of the revolution, from April 21 to Oct. 2, 1789 (3 vols. 1804).

BAILMENT, in law, is the delivery of a chattel or thing to another to keep, either for the use of the bailor, or person delivering, or for that of the bailee, or person to whom it is delivered. A bailment always supposes the subject to be delivered only for a limited time, at the expiration of which it must be re-delivered to the bailor; and the material inquiries, in cases of bailment, relate to the degree of responsibility of the bailee in regard to the safe-keeping and re-delivery of the subject of the bailment. This responsibility will depend, in some degree, upon the contract on which the bailment is made. If a thing is delivered to the bailee to keep, without any advantage or use to himself, or any compensation, but merely for the benefit of the bailor, he is answerable only for gross negligence; but if the bailment is for the mutual benefit of both parties, the thing must be kept with the ordinary and usual care which a prudent man takes of his own goods; but if it be delivered for the benefit of the bailee only, he must exercise strict care in keeping it, and will be answerable for slight negligence. A special agreement is made in many cases of borrowing or hiring, specifying the risks assumed by the borrower or hirer; and, in such case, his obligations will be determined by his stipulations. Pledging and letting for hire are species of bailment.

BAIRAM, or BEIRAM; the Easter of the Mohammedans, which follows immediately the Rhamazan or Lent (a month of fasting), and lasts three days. This feast begins, like the Rhamazan, as soon as the new moon is announced by the persons appointed for that purpose, and, during the course of 33 years, takes place in all the seasons and all the months of the year, because the Turks reckon by lunar years. It is the custom, at this feast, for inferiors to make presents to their superiors. This custom formerly extended even to the Europeans, who were obliged to make presents to men of rank, to the pachas

and the cadis. The grand seignior is also accustomed to distribute favors and presents. Sixty days after this first great Bairam, begins a second-the lesser Bairam. They are the only two feasts, the celebration of which the Mohammedan religion prescribes to the faithful.

BAIRDSTOWN; a post-town of Kentucky, and capital of Nelson county, on Beech Fork river; 35 miles S. W. Frankfort, 60 W. S. W. Lexington; lon. 86° 10 W.; lat. 37° 49′ N.; population in 1810, 820. It contains a court-house, a jail, a market-house, a church, and a flourishing Roman Catholic college, styled the college of St. Joseph, which is under the care of the Roman Catholic bishop of Kentucky, and has about 200 students. The college edifice is of brick, four stories high.

BAIUS, or DE BAY, Michael, born 1513, at Melin, in Hainau, educated at Louvain, in 1551 made professor of theology at this university, in 1563 or 1564 chosen a member of the council of Trent, was one of the greatest theologians of the Catholic church in the 16th century. He founded systematic theology directly upon the Bible and the Christian fathers, leaving the scholastic method. He had read the writings of St. Augustine nine times, and had fully adopted the views of that father, whose doctrines of the entire incapacity of the human will for good, and the insufficiency of good works, he first maintained against the less rigid notions of the Jesuits. The doctrines that the human will, when left to itself, could only sin; that even the mother of Jesus was not free from hereditary and actual sin; that every action, which did not proceed from pure love to God, was sinful; and that no penance was effectual for the justification of the sinner, but every thing was to be attributed solely to the grace of God, through Christ, caused him to be persecuted as a heretic by the old Scotists, and, in particular, by the Jesuits, who, notwithstanding the favor in which he stood at the Spanish court, at length succeeded in obtaining a papal bull, in 1567, condemning these doctrines, with others falsely imputed to him. B. submitted; yet the persecutions against him still continued, as did also his defence of the opinions of Augustine in his lectures; and, as the theological faculty at Louvain was entirely in his favor, he not only remained in the quiet possession of his dignities, but was also appointed dean of St. Peter's, in 1575, and, in 1578, chancellor of the university; nay, the king of Spain conferred upon him the office of

inquisitor-general in the Netherlands. He died in 1589, and left the reputation of great learning, pure morals, and a rare modesty. His Augustinian views, which were called then Baianism, descended to the Jansenists (as the precursor of whom he is to be regarded), and, in their hands, received an interpretation formidable to Jesuitism and to the papal power. His doctrine of pure, undivided love to God has been adopted by the Quietists. His writings, mostly polemical, were published by Gabriel Gerberon, at Cologne, 1696, quarto.

BAJAZET I, Turkish emperor, in 1389, succeeded his father, Amurath, who fell in the battle of Cassova against the Servians. He caused his elder brother, Jacob, his rival for the throne, to be strangled—an act of barbarity, which, since his time, has become a custom at the Turkish court. He made great and rapid conquests. Hence his name, Ilderim, the Lightning. In three years, he conquered Bulgaria, part of Servia, Macedonia, Thessaly, and subjected the states of Asia Minor. He besieged even Constantinople for ten years, and hoped to starve it into a surrender. In order to save the city, king Sigismond of Hungary (afterwards emperor of Germany) assembled a great army (including a number of French troops and 2,000 noblemen, under the command of the duke of Nivey), and attacked the city of Nicopolis, in Bulgaria, situated near the Danube. But B. met them, and obtained a decisive victory over the allied Hungarians, Poles and French, 28th Sept., 1395. Sigismond escaped, by a hasty flight, in disguise. The French, by whose imprudent impetuosity the battle was lost, were most of them taken prisoners, and executed by the order of B. He would probably have now overturned the whole Greek empire, if Timur (see Tamerlane) had not attacked Natolia, in 1400. B. marched to meet him, and suffered a total defeat near Ancyra, in Galatia, June 16, 1402. He himself fell into the power of the conqueror, who treated him with generosity. The story of his being carried about in a cage by Timur is without historical proof. B. died, in 1403, in Timur's camp, in Caramania. His successor was Soliman I.Bajazet II succeeded his father, Mahomet II, sultan of the Turks, in 1481. He increased the Turkish empire by conquests on the north-west and in the east, took Lepanto, Modon and Durazzo, in a war against the Venetians, and ravaged the coasts of the Christian states on the Mediterranean, to 45

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revenge the expulsion of the Moors from Spain. At home, he had to contend against his rebellious son Selim, to whom, at last, he resigned the empire. He died in 1512, on his way to the place which he had chosen for his retirement. It has been supposed that he was put to death by the order of his son. He was a man of uncommon talents, and did much for the improvement of his empire, and the promotion of the sciences.

BAKHUYSEN. (See Backhuysen.) BAKKER, Peter Huysinga, a Dutch poet, born in 1715, died in 1801, was a member of the academy of sciences at Leyden. His poem on the inundation of 1740 is much esteemed. All his works make three volumes, of which one volume contains satires and contemptuous songs against the Britons. He was a friend and relation of the Dutch historian Wagenaer, of whose life he published some notices. He translated Hight's Latin poem on Spring into Dutch.

BALALAIKA; a musical instrument, of very ancient Sclavonian origin, common among the Russians, Tartars, and, according to Niebuhr, also frequent in Egypt and Arabia. It is of the guitar kind, but has only two strings.

BALANCE OF POWER. (See Power.)

BALANCE OF TRADE, a subject formerly so much discussed, is now rarely mentioned. The notion was once entertained, that the prosperity of a country depended on exporting merchandise exceeding the value of the imports, and receiving the balance in the precious metals. If a nation has no mines, it can obtain the precious metals only by importation. So far, therefore, there is some ground for the notion. But, in speculating on this subject, men fell into two errors-1, in supposing that any direct legislative interference was necessary, in respect to the precious metals; 2, in computing the balance of trade; for, if we compare the value of exports with that of imports received in exchange, the more profitable the trade is, the more the balance is against us; that is, the more will the value of imports, including the precious metals, exceed that of exports, if we estimate the value in our own markets; and there must be an excess equal to freight and charges, or it is a losing trade to those concerned. But any country may, in fact, have a balance of trade against it, provided it gets credit abroad; and that balance, consisting of the debts of individuals, may be embarrassing to the national industry as much as a private debt may be to a

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debtor, who has either made a bad bargain, or has to struggle to obtain the means of making payment. This subject of the balance of trade was not understood in the U. States until 1824, when the tariff of that date was under dis

cussion.

BALANCING; among seamen, the contracting a sail into a narrower compass, in a storm, by folding up a part of it at one corner, by which it is distinguished from reefing. Balancing is peculiar to few sails.

BALBEC, or BAALBEC; the ancient Heliopolis (city of the sun), in Cœlosyria, in the pachalic of Acre, in Syria, in a fertile valley at the foot of Antilibanus, 40 miles from Damascus; lon. 36° 11′ E.; lat. 34° 1' N.; a small, meanly-built town, surrounded by ruinous walls, containing about 5,000 inhabitants, among whom there are some Christians and Jews. The city is under the government of an aga, who assumes the title of emir. Here are the finest ruins in the East, of which a society of English travellers, who visited B. in the middle of the 18th century, have given the most complete description. As early as the time of Augustus, Heliopolis had a Roman garrison. Whether the magnificent temple of the sun, a great part of which is still uninjured, and which is one of the most splendid remains of antiquity, was built by the emperor Antoninus Pius, or by Septimius Severus, upon whose medals it appears to have been first represented, is uncertain. Of 54 lofty columns, there are but 6 standing: their shafts are 54 feet high, and nearly 22 in circumference; and the whole height, including the pedestal and capital, is 72 feet. Excellent marble statues of Jupiter, Diana and Leda, and bass-reliefs and busts of Roman emperors and empresses, are yet to be seen. The size of the stones, with which the walls of the temple are constructed, is astonishing. No mechanical expedients now known would be able to place them in their present position. Under the emperor Constantine, this temple was neglected, and was changed into a Christian church. Thus it remained until after the irruption of the Arabians, when it fell to decay. The great palace, which Antoninus Pius is also said to have built, and several other temples, are of distinguished beauty. Obeidah, a general of the caliph Omar, captured the city, after a vigorous defence. In 1401, it was taken by Tamerlane. An earthquake almost entirely destroyed it in 1759.

BALBOA, Vasco Nuñez de; born about 1475; one of the Spanish adventurers who pu ued the path which Columbus had pointed out, and sought to make their fortunes in America. The Spanish court granted them full permission to make discoveries, without giving them sufficient support. B., after having dissipated his fortune in Spain, went to America, arrived at the isthmus of Darien, and soon became the leader of a small troop of Spaniards. He succeeded in founding a colony in these regions, either winning the inhabitants by kindness, or subjecting them by force. A dispute having taken place between two of his companions, on the division of a quantity of gold, an Indian, who perceived the eagerness of the Spaniards for it, offered to show them a country where this metal was used for the meanest vessels. He led them to the coast of the Pacific ocean, where the way to Peru was open before them. B., however, ventured not to attack Peru with his troop of 150 men. He was satisfied with getting information, and with taking possession, in the name of the king of Spain, of the great ocean, the boundless plain of which was spread out before him. After four months, he returned to Darien, loaded with gold and pearls. Here he found a new governor, Pedrarias, whom he was commanded to obey by an order of Ferdinand. Though surprised at this ingratitude, he complied, and, in the following year, was appointed viceroy of the South sea. Pedrarias was apparently reconciled to him, but, soon after, under pretext of neglect of duty, ordered him to be tried and condemned to death. B. was beheaded in 1517, at the age of 42 years. Pizarro, who afterwards completed the discovery of Peru, had served under him.

BALCAN. (See Balkan.)

BALDE, Jacob, born at Ensisheim, in Alsace, in 1603, died, in 1668, at Neuburg, on the Danube. He was a Jesuit, a preacher at the court of the elector of Bavaria, and one of the most distinguished Latin poets among the moderns. He witnessed the melancholy scenes of the 30 years' war with a wounded heart. He relieved such as were expelled from their homes, and, at the same time, endeavored to awaken a better spirit among the Germans, and to excite them to valor, virtue and unanimity. An extensive and profound knowledge of the world, with a truly philosophical dignity of mind, are every where displayed in his poems. He will be admired in Germany in all

ages. Augustus William Schlegel says of him, "A deep, strong feeling, often combined with an ardent enthusiasm ; an imagination from which strong and wonderful images spring forth in boundless profusion; an inventive fancy, always striking out original comparisons, in surprising forms; a penetrating judgment, which, when not blinded by partiality or early prejudices, catches the human character with a quick and piercing glance; great moral energy and independence; a bold security of genius, always choosing its own path, and not fearing even the most untrodden;--all these qualities are so strongly displayed in the works of Balde, that we are constrained to declare him an uncommon and richly-gifted poet."-His poems in the German language are insignificant. A collection of his poetical writings, consisting of lyric, elegiac, didactic, satirical and other poems, appeared, in 1660, at Cologne, in 4 vols., 12mo.; and at Munich, in 1729, 8 vols.; a selection by I. C. Orell, Zurich, 1805, second edition, 1818.

BALDWIN III, king of Jerusalem, from 1143 to 1162; a model of that chivalry which grew up in the period of the crusades, from the sentiments of honor, justice, devotion and love. The crusaders had established counts of Tripoli and Edessa, and princes of Antioch. The feudal dominions of the Christians extended as far as Tarsus and Cilicia; but the vassals of B. were always in rebellion against him, or engaged in conflicts with each other. Against them and the new hosts of crusaders, against the knights of St. Mary, the Templars and the Hospitallers, the Saracen heroes, Saladin, Noureddin, Zenghi and Seifeddin, fought with equal fanaticism and equal dissensions among themselves, but with better fortune. In the army of B. were sometimes seen Saracens, valiantly fighting under the banner of the cross. His unhappy reign was the last struggle to establish the Christian chivalry, the tournaments and the knightly orders in the East. With it fell the feudal constitution in that quarter, both civil and ecclesiastical. B. died not long before the total ruin of his kingdom; and when his great adversary, Noureddin, was advised to attack the dominions of the deceased during his funeral, he answered, "Let us respect their affliction; it is just; for they have lost a king such as is rarely to be found." BALE, BASIL, or BASLE. (See Basle.) BALE, COUNCIL OF. (See Basle, Council of.)

BALEARES; the name of the two islands in the Mediterranean, situated near the coast of Valencia, in Spain, Majorca (in Spanish, Mallorca) and Minorca (q. v.), which, together with the Pithyusian islands, Ivica and Formentera, formed the Spanish kingdom of Majorca, containing 1758 square miles, and 275,000 inhabitants. The Grecian name B. was given them because the inhabitants were famous for their skill in slinging. The Balearic slingers distinguished themselves in the army of Hannibal. In later times, the Romans took possession of both the islands; afterwards, the Vandals, under Genseric, and, in the 8th century, the Moors, from whom they were taken by James I, king of Arragon, 1220–1234. They then constituted a kingdom, which, in 1375, was united to Spain. The English conquered Minorca in 1708, lost it again in 1782, and relinquished it to Spain by the treaty of 1783.-Under the Romans, the B. belonged to the conventus juridicus in Carthagine nova.

BALEN, Hendrick van, and Jacob van; father and son; historical painters; the former born in 1560, the latter in 1611, both at Antwerp. The former died in 1632. Pictures by each are still extant, and considered valuable.

BALES, Peter, famous for his skill in penmanship, lived in the 16th century. Holingshed, in his chronicle, mentions the wonderful skill of B. in what may be termed micrography; and Evelyn more particularly states, that he wrote the Lord's prayer, creed, decalogue, two short Latin prayers, his own name, motto, day of the month, year of our Lord and of the reign of queen Elizabeth, to whom he presented it at Hampton court, all within the circle of a silver penny, enchased in a ring and border of gold, and covered with a crystal, so accurately done as to be plainly legible, to the great admiration of her majesty, the whole privy-council, and several ambassadors then at court. He was very dexterous in imitating the hand-writing of others, on which account he was employed by sir Francis Walsingham, the queen's secretary of state; but, by involving himself in the conspiracy of the earl of Essex, he suffered imprisonment. He died about 1610. From a book which he published in 1590, entitled the "Writing Schoolmaster, in three Parts; the first teaching Swift Writing, the second True Writing, the third Fair Writing," it appears that he was acquainted with stenography. His talents were celebrated

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by learned men in verse. We shall have a more just idea of his merits, if we consider the low state of penmanship at that time. All the manuscripts of that period extant are either miserably written, or have the appearance of drawings rather than writings.

BALESSAN; the Eastern name for that species of the amyris which produces the celebrated balsam of Mecca, the ancient balm of Gilead. This plant grows to the height of 14 feet, on a stony, barren soil. The balsam is a resinous matter, exuding, like ordinary resin, from incisions in the bark, in July, August and September. The balsam is used for many medicinal purposes, and the ladies in the East employ it as a means of beautifying the skin. Lady Montague tried it, and relates that she suffered for three days from its application, but that her complexion was greatly improved. The balsam of Gilead was renowned among the early Hebrews.

BALESTRA, Antonio; a historical painter of much reputation; born at Verona, in 1666; died, according to some, in 1720; according to others, in 1740.

Baliol, BalliOL, or BAILLIOL, John; king of Scotland. On the death of queen Margaret, being at the head of the English interest in Scotland, he claimed the vacant throne by virtue of his descent from David, earl of Huntingdon, brother to William the Lion, king of Scotland. Robert Bruce opposed Baliol; but, having submitted to the arbitration of Edward I, the decision was in favor of Baliol, who did homage to him for the kingdom, Nov. 12, 1292. Baliol, however, did not long enjoy the crown, for, having remonstrated against the power which Edward assumed over Scotland, he was summoned to his tribunal as a vassal. Irritated at this, Baliol concluded a treaty with France, on which a war with England immediately commenced; and, after the battle of Dunbar, he surrendered his crown into the hands of the English monarch, who sent him and his son to London, to be imprisoned in the Tower. The pope interceded for them, and they were liberated, and committed to his legate, in 1297. Baliol retired to his estate in France, where he died in 1314.

BALISTE, OF BALLISTE; a kind of machines for besieging, or attacking the besiegers, in use among the ancients, by which heavy stones, also arrows and other weapons, were thrown; and even burning substances and dead bodies, by the besiegers. Many of the ancient wri

ters confound the balista with the catapulta, but Polybius makes a difference, using the latter word only for those machines which threw stones. The mechanism of these machines is not quite clear. There is a third name for a kind of these machines-onager. The weight of the stones thrown was from 10 to 300 pounds. Sometimes a large quantity of stones was thrown at once. A clear idea of these instruments cannot be formed without the study of treatises on the arms and warfare of the ancients.

BALIZE; a sea-port of Mexico, in Yucatan, at the mouth of the river Balize. Vessels of burden cannot come near the town, on account of a bar in the river. It is the only settlement of consequence, belonging to the British, on the coast, and consists of about 200 houses, built of wood. The chief trade is in logwood and mahogany.

BALK; the ancient Bactria. (See Afghanistan.)

BALKAN (anciently called Hamus); a lofty and rugged chain of mountains, extending from cape Emineh Burum, on the Black sea, in European Turkey, to cape San Stefano, in the Adriatic sea, from 23° to 27° E. lon. Near Sulu Derbent (Porta Trajani), this mountain, called, by the Turks, Emineh Slag, separates from Rhodope, and divides the valley of the Danube, which constitutes Bulgaria, (inhabited mostly by wandering tribes), from Romania, or Rumelia. A branch extends from north to south (mount Athos); another runs through ancient Greece, and comprehends the mountains Olympus, Eta, Pindus, Parnassus, Helicon. The highest peak, Orbelus, rises 9000 feet above the surface of the sea. After the overthrow of the empire in Constantinople, only the Greeks of the plains and the sea-coast submitted to the Mussulmans.

The warriors, and those who had no landed property, fled into the mountains, into the armatolics, and have, in general, maintained a continual contest with the pachas of the plain: some have paid a small tribute to the Turkish pacha, and some have become Mohammedans. The districts where the Catholic is the prevailing church, contain the wildest inhabitants, and have never been subjected to the emperors of Constantinople for any length of time.

BALL. Ball-playing was practised by the ancients, and old and young amused themselves with it, particularly in the therma. The Greeks and Romans had four kinds of balls. One was of leather,

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