Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 3.djvu/684

666 was allowed to reside in Staffordshire under surveillance. In 1651 the general Act of Oblivion gave him complete freedom, and his adherents soon began the practice of meeting regularly for worship on Sundays. They were called Biddellians, or Socinians, or Unitarians, the_ name which has now become associated with their opinions. Biddle was not left long in peace. He translated some Socinian books, among others the Life of Socinus, and published two catechisms, which excited a fury of indigna tion against him. He was summoned before the Parliament and imprisoned. The dissolution of that body again set him at liberty for a short time, but he was presently brought up for some expressions used by him in a discus sion with a Baptist clergyman. He was put upon trial, and was only rescued by Cromwell, who sent him out of the way to one of the Scilly Islands, and after three years released him. But in 1662 he was again arrested, and fined 100. As he was unable to pay this sum, he was at once committed to prison, where fever, caused by the pestilential atmosphere, carried him off on the 22d Sep tember 1G62.  BIDEFORD, a municipal borough, market-town, and seaport, in the county of Devon, eight miles S.W. of Barnstaple, with which it is connected by railway. It is situated on the slopes of two hills which rise from the banks of the River Torridge, near its confluence with the Taw, about four miles from the sea. The two portions of the town are united by a bridge of fourteen arches, built, it is said, in the 14th century, and widened in 1864. The bridge forms a favourite promenade, and is endowed for its repair with lands that produce an annual rent of 300 or 400. Many of the houses in the town are built in the ancient fashion with bricks and wooden framework. The old church of St Mary, with the exception of the tower, was taken down and rebuilt in 18G4, and the town-hall is also of modern erection. In addition to these buildings Bideford possesses several large churches and schools, a union workhouse, assembly-rooms, a hospital for aged poor, a reading-room, and a literary and scientific institution. Bideford was already a place of some size under the Saxons, received the right of holding a market in 1271, and was made a free borough in 1573. In the 16th and 17th centuries it was a place of great trade, and in some respects was only exceeded by Exeter and London. The weaving of silk was introduced in 1650, and after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes received extensive development from some French refugees. Bide ford now manufactures earthen wares, ropes, sails, and leather, builds ships, and has a considerable trade both domestic and foreign. Vessels of 500 tons can come up to its quay. It exports oak-bark, grain, and its own manufac tures, and imports timber from Canada and the Baltic, with fruits, wines, and brandies from the south of Europe. The value of its imports was, in 1873, 13,310. Anthracite, coarse potters clay, and a mineral paint are found in the neighbourhood. Population of municipal borough in 1871, 6969.  BIDPAI, more commonly known under the corrupted name of Pilpay, is the supposed author of a famous collection of Hindu fables. Nothing is known of Bidpai be yond the name, which, indeed, occurs only in the Arabic version, but the history of the collection of stories is curious and interesting. The origin of them is undoubtedly to be found in the Pantclia Tantra, or Five Sections, an exten sive body of fables or apologues. A second collection, called the Jlitopadesa, has become more widely known in Europe than the first, on which it is apparently founded. In the 6th century A.D., a translation into Pehlvi of a number of these old fables was made by Barzuyeh, a phy sician at the court of Nushicvan, king of Persia. No traces of this Persian translation can now be found, but nearly two centuries later, Abdallah-ibn-Mokaffah translated the Persian into Arabic ; and his version, which is known as the &quot; Book of Kalilah and Dimna,&quot; from the two jackals in the first story, became the channel through which a knowledge of the fables was transmitted to Europe. It was translated into Greek by Simeon Sethus towards the close of the llth century; his version, however, does not appear to have been retranslated into any other European language. But the Hebrew version of llabbi Joel, made somewhat later, was translated into Latin by John of Capua, and in that form became widely known. Since then the fables have been translated into nearly every European tongue. There are also versions of them in the modern Persian, Malay, Mongol, and Afghan languages.

1em  BIEL (or in French ), a town of the canton of Bern, in Switzerland, situated at the foot of the Jura Mountains, near the northern end of the lake to which it gives its name. It is well built, and possesses a town-house of some antiquity, a remarkable church, a hospital, a gymna sium, and an industrial school. There is considerable industrial activity in Biel, especially in the manufacture of cotton, leather, iron wire, and watches. Founded in the llth or 12th century, Biel continued under the authority of the bishopric of Basel till the beginning of the 15th, when it formed an alliance with Bern, Soleure, and Freiburg. Its defence against the French in 1798 is commemorated by an obelisk on a neighbouring eminence. Its incorpora tion with Basel dates from 1815. Population, 8113.  BIEL,, frequently but erroneously styled the last of the scholastics, was born at Spire about the middle of the 15th century. He held for some time a pastoral charge at Mainz, and afterwards removed to Urach. On the foundation of the University of Tubingen in 1477 he was appointed -to the professorship of theology, and was twice afterwards promoted to the dignity of rector. Some years before his death, in 1495, he entered a religious fra ternity. Biel was a follower of William of Occam, and professes only to develop systematically the principles of his master. His great work, Collector ium super Libras Sententiarum G. Occami (1508, 1512, and various dates), is an admirably clear and consistent account of the nominalist doctrine, and presents the complete system of scholastic thought regarded from that point of view. The strong empirical individualism of the work, tending necessarily to limit the province of reason and extend that of faith, together with scattered utterances on special points, which gained for Biel the title of Papista Antipapista, had con siderable influence in giving form to the new doctrines of Luther and Melanchthon. From its lucidity and relative completeness Biel s work is the best specimen of the final aspect of scholasticism. His other works have also been frequently reprinted. With regard to. the title Ultimus Sc holasticorum, often bestowed on Biel, it has been pointed out by all the best authorities that such a designation is quite inappropriate ; scholasticism did not cease even in Germany with Biel,. and it continued to flourish long after his time in the universities of Spain. (Stockl, Phil. d. Mittelalt., ii. 269 ; Roscher, Ges. d. Nationalokonomik, pp. 21-28.)  BIELAU, frequently distinguished as Langen Bielau, the longest village in the Prussian monarchy. It is situated in the government of Breslau in Silesia, on a tributary of the Piela, and extends for a distance of rather more than four miles. Its industrial establishments are numerous 