Part 51 (1/2)

BA'LAAM, a Midianitish soothsayer; for the account of him see Num.

xxii.-xxiv., and Carlyle's essay on the ”Corn-Law Rhymes” for its application to modern State councillors of the same time-serving type, and their probable fate.

BALACLA'VA, a small port 6 m. SE. of Sebastopol, with a large land-locked basin; the head-quarters of the British during the Crimean war, and famous in the war, among other events, for the ”Charge of the Six Hundred.”

BALANCE OF POWER, preservation of the equilibrium existing among the States of Europe as a security of peace, for long an important consideration with European statesmen.

BALANCE OF TRADE, the difference in value between the exports and the imports of a country, and said to be in favour of the country whose exports exceed in value the imports in that respect.

BALANOGLOS'SUS, a worm-like marine animal, regarded by the zoologist as a possible connecting link between invertebrates and vertebrates.

BALATA, a vegetable gum used as a subst.i.tute for gutta-percha, being at once ductile and elastic; goes under the name of bully.

BAL'ATON, LAKE, the largest lake in Hungary, 48 m. long, and 10 m.

broad, 56 m. SW. of Pesth; slightly saline, and abounds in fish.

BALBI, ADRIANO, a geographer of Italian descent, born at Venice, who composed in French a number of works bearing on geography (1782-1848).

BALBO, CaeSARE, an Italian statesmen and publicist, born at Turin; devoted his later years to literature; wrote a life of Dante; works in advocacy of Italian independence (1789-1853).

BALBO'A. VASCO NUnEZ DE, a Castilian n.o.ble, established a settlement at Darien; discovered the Pacific; took possession of territory in the name of Spain; put to death by a new governor, from jealousy of the glory he had acquired and the consequent influence in the State (1475-1517).

BALDACHINO, a tent-like covering or canopy over portals, altars, or thrones, either supported on columns, suspended from the roof, or projecting from the wall.

BALD'ER, the sun-G.o.d of the Norse mythology, ”the beautiful, the wise, the benignant,” who is fated to die, and dies, in spite of, and to the grief of, all the G.o.ds of the pantheon, a pathetic symbol conceived in the Norse imagination of how all things in heaven, as on earth, are subject in the long-run to mortality.

BALDERSTONE, CALEB, the faithful old domestic in Scott's ”Bride of Lammermoor,” the family he serves his pride.

BALDRICK, an ornamental belt worn hanging over the shoulder, across the body diagonally, with a sword, dagger, or horn suspended from it.

BALDUNG, HANS, or HANS GRuN, a German artist, born in Suabia; a friend of Durer's; his greatest work, a masterpiece, a painting of the ”Crucifixion,” now in Freiburg Cathedral (1300-1347).

BALDWIN, archbishop of Canterbury; crowned Richard Coeur de Lion; accompanied him on the crusade; died at Acre in 1191.