Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 3.djvu/373

Rh fortifications. There are several churches of considerable antiquity the most remarkable being Saint Maclou. In 1814 Bar-sur-Aube was the scene of several conflicts between Oudinot and the Allied Army, in which the latter ultimately gained the victory. Population in 1872, 4453. LOUT. 4 44 R, lat. 48 13 N.  BAR-SUR-SEINE, the chief town of an arrondissement in the department of the Aube, in France. In the Middle Ages Bar-sur-Seine was a place of considerable importance, and, according to Froissart, contained no fewer than 900 &quot;hotels&quot; or mansions. It was devastated in 1359 by marauders from Lorraine, and suffered greatly in the re ligious wars of the IGth and 17th centuries. A battle was fought here in 1814 between the French and the Allies. Long. 4 24 R, lat. 48 5 N. Population in 1872, 2798.  BÁRA BÁNKÍ, a district of British India under the jurisdiction of the Chief Commissioner of Oudh,lies between 26 and 28 of N. lat. and 81 and 82 of E. long. It is bounded on the N.W. by the district of Sftapur ; on the N. by Bharaich; on the N.E. by Gonda; on the E. by FaizdMd ; on the S. by Sultanpur and Rai Bareli ; and on the W. by Lucknov. The district stretches out in a level plain interspersed with numerous jhils or marshes. In the upper part of the district the soil is sandy, while in the lower part it is clayey, and produces finer crops. The principal rivers are the Ghagra (Gogra), forming the northern boun dary, and the Gumtf, flowing through the middle of the district. Both are navigable by country cargo boats. Area, 1735 square miles, of which 1244 are classified as follows : 821 cultivated, 172 cultivable but not cultivated, and 251 unculturable waste. Estimated population in 1869, 875,587, or 650 to the square mile, living in 148,166 houses and 2065 villages; Hindus, 748,061; Mahome tans, 127,315; Christians, 76. Population in 1872, 1,101,954 souls. Five towns in the district contain over 5000 inhabitants Nawabganj, 10,496; Rudauli, 12,517; Fathipur, 7494; Dariabad, 5999; and Ramnagar, 5714. Principal crops, and their acreage : Rice, 132,459 acres; wheat, 224,583 ; pulses and other food grains, 304,636 ; oil-seeds, 23,000 ; sugar-cane, 29,586 ; cotton, 509; opium, 3423 ; indigo, 4875 ; fibres, 675 ; tobacco, 6051 ; and vege tables, 6351 acres. The agricultural stock and beasts of burden in the district consisted in 1871-72 of 83,232 cows and bullocks, 1000 horses, 2590 ponies, 2840 donkeys, 75,928 sheep and goats, 51,060 pigs, 1181 carts, 26,121 ploughs, and 1533 boats. Of the population returned in 1869, 741,989 were agriculturists, and 133,598 non-agricul turists. The means of communication within the district consist of 337 miles of well-made roads, and 78 miles of railway were under construction in 1 872. Total revenue in 1871-72, 165,662, of which 157,505, or 95 per cent., was derived from the land. The police consist of (1), a regular constabulary force, 490 strong, maintained at a cost of 6812 per annum; and (2), the village watch, numbering 9558 men ; total, 10,048, or about 1 to each 100 of the population, according to the estimate of 1872.  BARAHAT, a town of northern Hindustan, situated in the Himalayas, and within the native state of Garhwal, in 30 43 X. lat. and 78 29 E. long. The town was almost destroyed in 1803 by an earthquake a calamity greatly aggravated by the houses having been built of large stones, with slated roofs. From its central position, it maintains a free communication with all parts of the hills, and those who make the pilgrimage to Gangotri generally halt here and lay in a stock of provisions for the journej. In the neighbourhood stands a curious trident in honour of Siva. The pedestal is of copper, the shaft of brass about 12 feet, and the forks about 6 feet in length. There is no tradition to show the origin of this curious relic; and although it bears a legible inscription, no one has as yet deciphered it The temple in which it was formerly enclosed was destroyed by the earthquake of 1803.  BARANTE,, Baron de Brugière, an eminent French statesman, and the learned historian of the dukes of Burgundy, was the son of an advocate, and was born at Riom, June 10, 1782. At the age of sixteen he entered the Ecole Polytechnique at Paris, and at twenty obtained his first appointment in the civil service. His abilities secured him rapid promotion, and in 1806 the post of auditor to the council of state was given to him. After being employed in several political missions in Germany, Poland, and Spain, during the next two years, he became prefect of Vienne. At the time of the return of Napoleon I. he held the prefecture of Nantes, and this post he immediately resigned. About this period he married. On the second restoration of the Bourbons he was named councillor of state and Secretary-general of the Ministry of the Interior. About the same time he was elected to the Chamber of Deputies for the two departments of Puy-de-D6me and Loire Infdrieure ; jbut in the following year, in consequence of being under the legal age of a deputy, as required by a new law, he lost his seat. After filling for several years the post of Director-general of Indirect Taxes, he was created, in 1819, a peer of France, and took an active and prominent part as a member of the opposition in the debates of the Upper Chamber. During the same period the leisure hours which he could spare from his political engagements were devoted to literary studies. After the revolution of July 1830, M. de Barante was appointed ambassador to Turin ; whence, five years later, he was transferred in the same capacity to St Petersburg. Throughout the reign of Louis Philippe he remained a supporter of the Government ; and after the fall of the monarchy in February 1848, he withdrew from political affairs and retired to his country seat in Auvergne. Shortly before his retirement he had been made Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour. As a scholar his opus magnum is the Histoire des Dues de Bourgogne de la Maison de Valois, which appeared in a series of volumes between 1824 and 1828. It procured him immediate ad mission among the Forty of the French Academy ; and its great qualities of scholarship, impartiality, accuracy, and purity of style, have given him a place among the greatest French historians. Amongst the other literary works of M. de Barante are a Tableau de la Litterature Francaise au dixhuitieme Siede, of which several editions were pub lished; Des Communes et de V Aristocratic (1821); a French translation of the dramatic works of Schiller ; Questions Constitutionelles (1850); Histoire de la Convention Na- tionale, which appeared in six volumes between 1851 and 1853; Histoire du Directoire de la Republique Francaise (1855); fitudes Historiques et Biographizes (1857); La Vie Politique de M. Royer-Collard (1861). The version of Hamlet for M. Guizot s Shakespeare was the work of M. de Barante. He spent the last eighteen years of his life in retirement in Auvergne, and died there on November 22, 1866.  BARANYA, a province in the kingdom of Hungary, extending over 1960 square miles. It lies in the angle formed at the junction of the Danube and the Drave, is traversed by offshoots of the Styrian Alps, and contains one city, 13 market-towns, and 341 villages. The in habitants number about 283,500, and consist of Magyars, Germans, Croatians, and Servians, a large proportion being Roman Catholics. The greater part of the land is fertile, but a portion of it is marshy and unhealthy. The chief products are corn, wine, flax, tobacco, asparagus, and potash. Warm springs are found at Tapolcza, ^iklds, and Harkany. There are some valuable quarries of marble and millstones, and numerous coal-mines. The rearing of sheep 