Page:Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography Volume 1.pdf/383

BAJ king of Hungary, met him at the head of 100,000 men, including the flower of the chivalry of France and Germany, but was totally defeated at Nicopoli on the Danube, September 28, 1396. Bajazet is said to have boasted, on the occasion of this victory, that he would feed his horse on the altar of St. Peter at Rome. His progress, however, was arrested by a violent fit of the gout. He was preparing for an attack on Constantinople, when he was interrupted by the approach of Timour the Great, by whom he was defeated at Angora in Anatolia, July 28, 1402. He was taken captive, and died about nine months afterwards at Antioch in Pisidia. He was succeeded by Mahomet I. The iron cage in which Bajazet is said to have been imprisoned is rejected as a fable by modern writers. He was surnamed "Ilderim," or "the Lightning;" an epithet drawn, says Gibbon, from the fiery energy of his soul, and the rapidity of his destructive march.— II. succeeded his father, Mahomet II., in 1481. His brother, Zizini, contested the empire with him, with the assistance of Caith-Bey, sultan of the Mamelukes in Egypt, but was compelled to retreat into Italy, where he died in 1495. Bajazet undertook an expedition against Caith-Bey, but without success, being defeated, with great loss, near Mount Taurus in Cilicia, in 1489. He was more fortunate in Europe, where, in the same year, his generals conquered Croatia and Bosnia. He was engaged in long and bloody hostilities with the Moldavians, the Rhodians, and especially the Venetians, who frequently invaded the south of Greece; and with Ismael, king of Persia. In 1512 he was compelled to resign his dominions to his son, Selim I., and died shortly afterwards, probably by poison.—A. H. P.  BAJON, a French physician and naturalist. He died towards the end of the eighteenth century. In 1763 he was sent as senior surgeon to Guiana, where he stayed twelve years. During his sojourn at Cayenne, he wrote to Daubenton several times on natural-history subjects, and was consequently named a correspondent of the Academy of Sciences. He obtained, during his travels, a great many plants and animals, and published his observations on them in Paris, 1777-78, 2 vols., in 8vo. Bajon has published many articles in the Medical and in the Physical Journal. Buffon has made great use of his "Memoire sur le Tapir." We do not know for certainty the exact date of Bajon's birth or death.—E. L.  BAKE,, a Dutch poet, born in the latter part of the seventeenth century. His principal poems were of a religious character. He died in 1714.  BAKER,, born at Abergavenny in 1575; educated first at Christ's hospital, then at Broadgate's hall (now Pembroke college), Oxford. He entered a student of the Middle Temple, but having embraced the Roman catholic religion, went into Italy and became a Benedictine. He returned to England, and died in 1641. Cressy, in his Church History, has made considerable use of materials collected by Baker.—J. B., O.  BAKER,, Bart., M.D. Cantabr., 1756, physician to George III., and president of the College of Physicians; born 1722; died June 15, 1809. His son republished in 1818 a volume of medical tracts, read by him at the College of Physicians, 1767-85.  BAKER,, author of the "History of Northamptonshire," was a native of the borough of Northampton. The first part of his history was published in 1822, and about one-third of the fifth part in 1841. Here, from the failure of the author's health, it terminated abruptly. He died at Northampton, October 12, 1851, aged seventy.  BAKER,, an English naturalist. He was the son of William Baker, a chancery clerk, and was born on the 8th of May, 1698, in Chancery Lane, London. In 1713 he was apprenticed to a bookseller, but in 1720 became clerk to Mr. John Forster, attorney. Mr. Forster had a deaf and dumb daughter, who became a pupil of Baker's, and such was his success, that he soon became famous as an instructor of deaf and dumb persons. In 1724-25, he published some exceptional poetry, and devoted himself to literature. In 1729 he married the daughter of the celebrated Daniel Defoe. He now turned his attention to subjects of natural philosophy and history, and in 1740 he was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, and of the Royal Society soon after. He subsequently became a frequent contributor to the Philosophical Transactions. The following are the titles of some of his papers—"Experimenta et observationes de Scarabæo qui tres annos sine Alimento Vixit," No. 457, p. 441; "On the Grubs destroying the Grass in Norfolk," Ibid. 43, p. 35; "Observations on a Polype Dried,' Ibid. 42, p. 432; "A Letter concerning some Vertebræ of Ammonitæ or Cornu Ammonis," Ibid. 46, p. 37; "An account of the Sea Polype (Sepia)," Ibid. 50, p. 777; "An Account of some uncommon Fossil Bodies," Ibid. 48, p. 117; "A Letter concerning an extraordinary large Fossil Tooth of an Elephant found in Norfolk," Ibid. 43, p. 331; "On an extraordinary Fish, called in Russia Quab; and on the Stones called Crabs' Eyes," Ibid. 45, p. 174. In many of his researches he employed the microscope, then an instrument new to science, and in 1745 he published a work on the microscope, in two volumes, with the title "Of Microscopes, and the Discoveries made thereby." This work contains an account of many of the earliest observations made with the microscope, and is still consulted. In 1753 he published a more advanced work entitled "Employment for the Microscope." It consisted of two parts; first, an examination of salts and saline substances, their amazing configurations and crystals; second, an account of various animalcules, with observations and remarks. For his researches on the forms assumed by crystalline substances, he received from the hands of Sir Hans Sloane the Copley medal of the Royal Society. In 1768 he published a work entitled "Microscopical Observations." He died in the Strand, in November, 1774, and was buried in the churchyard of St. Mary-le-Strand. His natural-history collections were very extensive, and were sold by auction after his death, and occupied ten days in their sale. He is said to have introduced into this country the culture of the Rheum palmatum, the rhubarb plant, the leaf-stalks of which are so largely used as an article of diet at the present day. He also gave a history of the Coccus polonicus, the cochineal of the north. His active devotion to the science of natural history, produced a decided impression in the latter part of the eighteenth century.—E. L.  BAKER,, an English statesman, died in 1558. In 1526 he was attached to the embassy of the bishop of St. Asaph to the court of Denmark. On his return he became a member of the House of Commons, and was shortly afterwards elected speaker. He subsequently held in succession the offices of attorney-general, member of the privy council, and chancellor of the exchequer.—G. M. <section end="383H" /> <section begin="383I" />BAKER,, an English admiral, died 10th November, 1716. In 1692 he sailed in the capacity of captain with Sir George Rook, to escort the English fleet from Smyrna. In the reign of Queen Anne, Baker distinguished himself in an expedition against Cadiz. He afterwards assisted at the taking of Gibraltar, and shared the honour of the victory obtained over the French fleet at Malaga. In 1716 he was commissioned by the government to renew the treaties of alliance between England and the states of Barbary, including also Minorca. His conduct and success in this important mission justified his appointment. A monument to his memory has been erected in Westminster abbey.—G. M. <section end="383I" /> <section begin="383J" />BAKER,, was born at Sissinghurst in 1568. The earlier part of his life seems to have been sufficiently prosperous: he received a liberal education, and occupied various positions of trust. He was knighted by King James in 1603; but having become involved in some pecuniary obligations, he lost his fortune, and was compelled to turn his attention to literature. His earliest printed work bears the date 1636, so that it would appear that he did not begin to write till nearly sixty-seven years of age. His works are the more remarkable from the fact that they were nearly all composed while he was a prisoner in the Fleet, where he died in 1644. Baker is best known as the author of a "Chronicle of the Kings of England, from the time of the Romans' Government unto the death of King James," London, 1641, which was continued by Edward Philips, the nephew of Milton, and was long held in repute as the most authentic history of England.—J. B. <section end="383J" /> <section begin="383K" />BAKER,, was born at Ilton in Somersetshire in 1625, and entered at Oxford in 1640. He afterwards became vicar of Bishop's Nynnmet in Devonshire, in which retirement he devoted himself to mathematical studies, and became a great proficient. The Royal Society presented him with a medal, as a mark of esteem; and in their Philosophical Transactions for 1684 an account of his great work is preserved. The book was entitled "The Geometrical Key, or the Gate of Equations Unlocked," &c. He died June 5, 1690.—J. B., O. <section end="383K" /> <section begin="383Zcontin" />BAKER,, was born at Crook in the county of <section end="383Zcontin" />