Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 2 Part 16 (1/2)

_Bailli_.--In France the bailiff (_bailli_), or seneschal in feudal days, was the princ.i.p.al officer of any n.o.ble importance. He it was who held the feudal court of a.s.sizes when the lord was not present himself. A great n.o.ble often also had a _prevote_, where small matters were settled, and the preparatory steps taken relative to the more important cases reserved for the a.s.sizes. Among the great officers of the crown of France a grand-seneschal formerly figured until the reign of Philip Augustus, when the last holder of the office was not replaced by a successor. It is also under Philip Augustus that local bailiffs first make a definite appearance.

In the ordinance of 1190, by which the king, about to set forth on the crusade, arranged for the administration of the kingdom during his absence, they figure as part of a general system. Probably the first royal bailiffs or seneschals were the seigniorial bailiffs of certain great fiefs that had been reunited to the crown, their functions still continuing after the annexation. Their essential function was at first the surveillance of the royal provosts (_prevots_), who until then had had the sole administration of the various parts of the domain. They concentrated in their own hands the produce of the provosts.h.i.+ps, and they organized and led the men who by feudal rules owed military service to the king. They had also judicial functions, which, at first narrowly restricted in application, became much enlarged as time went on, and they held periodical a.s.sizes in the princ.i.p.al centres of their districts. When the right of appeal was inst.i.tuted, it was they who heard the appeals from sentences p.r.o.nounced by inferior royal judges and by the seigniorial justices. Royal cases, and cases in which a n.o.ble was defendant, were also reserved for them. The royal _bailli_ or seneschal (no real difference existed between the two offices, the names merely changing according to the district), was for long the king's princ.i.p.al representative in the provinces, [v.03 p.0219] and the _bailliage_ or the _senechaussee_ was then as important administratively as judicially. But the political power of the bailiffs was greatly lessened when the provincial governors were created. They had already lost their financial powers, and their judicial functions now pa.s.sed from them to their lieutenants.

By his origin the bailiff had a military character; he was an officer of the ”short robe” and not of the ”long robe,” which in those days was no obstacle to his being well versed in precedents. But when, under the influence of Roman and canon law, the legal procedure of the civil courts became _learned_, the bailiff often availed himself of a right granted him by ancient public law: that of delegating the exercise of his functions to whomsoever he thought fit. He delegated his judicial functions to lieutenants, whom he selected and discharged at will. But as this delegation became habitual, the position of the lieutenants was strengthened; in the 16th century they became royal officers by t.i.tle, and even dispossessed the bailiffs of their judiciary prerogatives. The tribunal of the _bailliage_ or _senechaussee_ underwent yet another transformation, becoming a stationary court of justice, the seat of which was fixed at the chief town. During the 15th and 16th centuries ambulatory a.s.sizes diminished in both frequency and importance. In the 17th and 18th centuries they were no more than a survival, the _lieutenant_ of such a _bailliage_ having preserved the right to hold one a.s.size each year at a certain locality in his district. The ancient bailiff or _bailli d'epee_ still existed, however; the judgments in the tribunal of the bailliage were delivered in his name, and he was responsible for their execution. So long as the military service of the _ban_ and _arriere ban_, due to the king from all fief-holders, was maintained (and it was still in force at the end of the 17th century), it was the bailiffs who organized it. Finally the _bailliage_ became in principle the electoral district for the states-general, the unit represented therein by its three estates. The justiciary n.o.bles retained their judges, often called bailiffs, until the Revolution. These judges, who were competent to decide questions as to the payment of seigniorial dues could not, legally at all events, themselves farm those revenues.

See Dupont Ferrier, _Les Officiers royaux des bailliages et senechaussees et les inst.i.tutions monarchiques locales en France a la fin du moyen age_ (1902); Armand Brette, _Recueil de doc.u.ments relatifs a la convocation des etats-generaux de 1789_ (3 vols. 1904) (vol. iii. gives the condition of the _bailliages_ and _senechaussees_ in 1789).

(J. P. E.)

BAILLET, ADRIEN (1649-1706), French scholar and critic, was born on the 13th of June 1649, at the village of Neuville near Beauvais, in Picardy.

His parents could only afford to send him to a small school in the village, but he picked up some Latin from the friars of a neighbouring convent, who brought him under the notice of the bishop of Beauvais. By his kindness Baillet received a thorough education at the theological seminary, and was afterwards appointed to a post as teacher in the college of Beauvais. In 1676 he was ordained priest and was presented to a small vicarage. He accepted in 1680 the appointment of librarian to M. de Lamoignon, advocate-general to the _parlement_ of Paris, of whose library he made a _catalogue raisonne_ (35 vols.), all written with his own hand. The remainder of his life was spent in incessant, unremitting labour; so keen was his devotion to study that he allowed himself only five hours a day for rest. He died on the 21st of January 1706. Of his numerous works the following are the most conspicuous: (1) _Histoire de Hollande depuis la treve de 1609 jusqu'a 1690_ (4 vols. 1693), a continuation of Grotius, and published under the name of La Neuville, (2) _Les Vies des saints ..._ (4 vols. 1701), (3) _Des Satires personelles, traite historique et critique de celles qui portent le t.i.tre d' Anti_ (2 vols. 1689), (4) _Vie de Descartes_ (2 vols. 1691), (5) _Auteurs deguises sous des noms etrangers, empruntes, &c._ (1690), (6) _Jugemens des savans sur les princ.i.p.aux ouvrages des auteurs_ (9 vols. 1685-1686). The last is the most celebrated and useful of all his works. At the time of his death he was engaged on a _Dictionnaire universelle ecclesiastique_. The praise bestowed on the Jansenists in the _Jugemens des savans_ brought down on Baillet the hatred of the Jesuits, and his _Vie des saints_, in which he brought his critical mind to bear on the question of miracles, caused some scandal. His _Vie de Descartes_ is a mine of information on the philosopher and his work, derived from numerous unimpeachable authorities.

See the edition by M. de la Monnoye of the _Jugemens des savans_ (Amsterdam, 4 vols. 1725), which contains the _Anti-Baillet_ of Gilles Menage and an _Abrege de la vie de Mr Baillet_.

BAILLIE, LADY GRIZEL (1665-1746), Scottish song-writer, eldest daughter of Sir Patrick Hume or Home of Polwarth, afterwards earl of Marchmont, was born at Redbraes Castle, Berwicks.h.i.+re, on the 25th of December 1665. When she was twelve years old she carried letters from her father to the Scottish patriot, Robert Baillie of Jerviswood, who was then in prison.

Home's friends.h.i.+p for Baillie made him a suspected man, and the king's troops occupied Redbraes Castle. He remained in hiding for some time in a churchyard, where his daughter kept him supplied with food, but on hearing of the execution of Baillie (1684) he fled to Holland, where his family soon after joined him. They returned to Scotland at the Revolution. Lady Grizel married in 1692 George Baillie, son of the patriot. She died on the 6th of December 1746. She had two daughters, Grizel, who married Sir Alexander Murray of Stanhope, and Rachel, Lady Binning. Lady Murray had in her possession a MS. of her mother's in prose and verse. Some of the songs had been printed in Allan Ramsay's _Tea-Table Miscellany_. ”And werena my heart light I wad dee,” the most famous of Lady Grizel's songs, originally appeared in _Orpheus Caledonius_ (1725).

_Memoirs of the Lives and Characters of the Right Hon. George Baillie of Jerviswood and Lady Grisell Baillie, by their daughter, Lady Murray of Stanhope_, were printed in 1822. George Baillie's _Correspondence_ (1702-1708) was edited by Lord Minto for the Bannatyne Club in 1842. ”The Legend of Lady Grizelda Baillie” forms one of Joanna Baillie's _Metrical Legends of Exalted Character_.

BAILLIE, JOANNA (1762-1851), British poet and dramatist, was born at the manse of Bothwell, on the banks of the Clyde, on the 11th of September 1762. She belonged to an old Scottish family, which claimed among its ancestors Sir William Wallace. At an early period she moved with her sister Agnes to London, where their brother, Dr Matthew Baillie, was settled. The two sisters inherited a small competence from their uncle, Dr William Hunter, and took up their residence at Hampstead, then on the outskirts of London, where they pa.s.sed the remainder of their lives. Joanna Baillie had received an excellent education, and began very early to write poetry. She published anonymously in 1790 a volume called _Fugitive Verses_; but it was not till 1798 that she produced the first volume of her ”plays on the pa.s.sions” under the t.i.tle of _A Series of Plays_. Her design was to ill.u.s.trate each of the deepest and strongest pa.s.sions of the human mind, such as hate, jealousy, fear, love, by a tragedy and a comedy, in each of which should be exhibited the actions of an individual under the influence of these pa.s.sions. The first volume was published anonymously, but the authors.h.i.+p, though at first attributed to Sir Walter Scott, was soon discovered. The book had considerable success and was followed by a second volume in 1802, a third in 1812 and three volumes of _Dramas_ in 1836.

_Miscellaneous Plays_ appeared in 1804, and the _Family Legend_ in 1810.

Miss Baillie herself intended her plays not for the closet but for the stage. The _Family Legend_, brought out in 1810 at Edinburgh, under the enthusiastic patronage of Sir Walter Scott, had a brief though brilliant success; _De Monfort_ had a short run in London, mainly through the acting of John Kemble and Mrs Siddons; _Henriquez_ and _The Separation_ were coldly received. With very few exceptions, Joanna Baillie's plays are unsuited for stage exhibition. Not only is there a flaw in the fundamental idea, viz. that of an individual who is the embodiment of a single pa.s.sion, but the want of incident and the direction of the attention to a single point, present insuperable obstacles to their success as acting pieces. At the same time they show remarkable powers of a.n.a.lysis and acute observation and are written in a pure and vigorous style. Joanna Baillie's reputation does not rest entirely on her dramas; she was the author of some poems and songs of great beauty. The best of them are the _Lines to Agnes Baillie on her Birthday, The Kitten, To a Child_ and some of her adaptations of Scottish songs, such as _Woo'd and Married an'a'_. Scattered throughout the dramas are also some lively and [v.03 p.0220] beautiful songs, _The Chough and the Crow_ in _Orra_, and the lover's song in the _Phantom_. Miss Baillie died on the 23rd of February 1851, at the advanced age of 89, her faculties remaining unimpaired to the last. Her gentleness and sweetness of disposition made her a universal favourite, and her little cottage at Hampstead was the centre of a brilliant literary society.

See Joanna Baillie's _Dramatic and Poetical Works_ (London, 1851).

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 Ayrs.h.i.+re. In 1638 he was a member of the famous Glasgow a.s.sembly, 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 a.s.sembly. 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 princ.i.p.al 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_ [Greek: autokatakrisis], 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 Ma.s.s Book, the Breviary, the Ceremonial and other Romish Rituals_ (London, 1661).

BAILLIE, ROBERT (d. 1684), Scottish conspirator, known as BAILLIE OF JERVISWOOD, was the son of George Baillie of St. John's Kirk, Lanarks.h.i.+re.

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 languis.h.i.+ng state when on the 23rd of December 1684 he was brought up again before the high court on the charge of treason. He was p.r.o.nounced 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.

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 theorie 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 inegalites de la lumiere des satellites de Jupiter_. Meantime, he had gained a high literary reputation by his _eloges_ of Charles V., Lacaille, Moliere, 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 Academie des Inscriptions in 1785, when Fontenelle's simultaneous members.h.i.+p of all three Academies was renewed in him. Thenceforth, he devoted himself to the history of science, publis.h.i.+ng 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 l'Atlantide de Platon_ (1779); and _Traite 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 a.s.sembly in the Champ de Mars (July 17, 1791) rendered him obnoxious to the infuriated populace, and he retired to Nantes, where he composed his _Memoires d'un temoin_ (published in 3 vols. by MM. Berville and Barriere, 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 _eloges_ by Merard de Saint Just, Delisle de Salles, Lalande and Lacretelle; in a memoir by Arago, read the 26th of February 1844 before the Academie des Sciences, and published in _Notices biographiques_, t. ii. (1852). See also Delambre, _Histoire de l'astronomie au 18me siecle_, p. 735, and Lalande, _Bibliographie astronomique_, p. 730.

BAILMENT (from Fr. _bailler_, to place in charge of, cf. BAIL), in law, a delivery of goods from one person called the _bailor_, to another person called the _bailee_, for some purpose, upon a contract, express or implied, that after the purpose has been fulfilled they shall be redelivered to the bailor, or otherwise dealt with according to his direction, or kept till he reclaims them. The following is Chief Justice Holt's cla.s.sification of bailments in _Coggs_ v. _Bernard_, 1704, 1 Sm. L.C. 167, which is generally adopted. (1) _Depositum_, or bailment without reward, in order that the bailee may keep the goods for the bailor. In this case, the bailee has no right to use the thing entrusted to him, and is liable for gross negligence, but not for ordinary negligence. Thus, where a customer had deposited some securities with his banker (who received nothing for his services) and they were stolen by a cas.h.i.+er, it was held that as there was no proof of gross negligence the banker was not liable (_Giblin_ v.

_McMullen_, 1868, L.R. 2 P.C. 317). (2) _Commodatum_, or loan, where goods or chattels that are useful are lent to the bailee _gratis_, to be used by him. The bailee may be justly considered as representing himself to the bailor to be a person of competent skill to take care of the thing lent (_Wilson_ v. _Brett_, 1843, 11 M. & W. 113), and the transaction being a gratuitous loan, and one for the advantage of the bailee solely, he is bound to use great diligence in the protection of the thing bailed and will be responsible even for slight negligence. Thus, where a [v.03 p.0221]

horse was lent to the defendant to ride, it was held that it did not warrant him in allowing his servant to do so (_Bringloe_ v. _Morrice_, 1676, 1 Mod. 210). But where a horse was for sale and the vendor allowed the defendant to have the horse for the purpose of trying it, it was held that he had a right to allow a competent person upon the horse to try it (_Camoys_ v. _Scurr_, 1840, 9 C. & P. 383). (3) _Locatio rei_, or lending for hire. In the case of hiring the bailee is bound to use such diligence as a prudent man would exercise towards his own property. Thus, where the defendant hired a horse, and it having fallen ill, prescribed for it himself instead of calling in a veterinary surgeon, he was held liable for the loss (_Dean_ v. _Keate_, 1811, 3 Camp. 4). (4) _Vadium_, p.a.w.n or pledge; a bailment of personal property as a security for a debt. In this case the pledgee is bound to use ordinary diligence in guarding the thing pledged. (5) _Locatio operis faciendi_, where goods are delivered to be carried, or something is to be done about them for a reward to be paid to the bailee. In this case, the bailee is bound to use ordinary diligence in preserving the property entrusted to him. (6) _Mandatum_, a delivery of goods to somebody, who is to carry them, or do something about them _gratis_. The liabilities of a mandatory and of a depository are exactly the same; neither is liable for anything short of gross negligence.

See further under BANKS AND BANKING; CARRIER; DILIGENCE; FACTOR; HIRING; INNS AND INNKEEPERS; LIEN; NEGLIGENCE; PLEDGE; p.a.w.nBROKING; PRINc.i.p.aL AND AGENT, &c.

BAILY, EDWARD HODGES (1788-1867), British sculptor, was born at Bristol on the 10th of March 1788. His father, who was a celebrated carver of figureheads for s.h.i.+ps, destined him for a commercial life, but even at school the boy showed his natural taste and remarkable talents by producing numerous wax models and busts of his schoolfellows, and afterwards, when placed in a mercantile house, still carried on his favourite employment.

Two Homeric studies, executed for a friend, were shown to J. Flaxman, who bestowed on them such high commendation that in 1807 Baily came to London and placed himself as a pupil under the great sculptor. In 1809 he entered the academy schools. In 1811 he gained the academy gold medal for a model of ”Hercules restoring Alcestis to Admetus,” and soon after exhibited ”Apollo discharging his Arrows against the Greeks” and ”Hercules casting Lichas into the Sea.” In 1821 he was elected R.A., and exhibited one of his best pieces, ”Eve at the Fountain.” He was entrusted with the carving of the bas-reliefs on the south side of the Marble Arch in Hyde Park, and executed numerous busts and statues, such as those of Nelson in Trafalgar Square, of Earl Grey, of Lord Mansfield and others. Baily died at Holloway on the 22nd of May 1867.