Page:Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography Volume 1.pdf/384

BAK Durham, in 1656, of a family conspicuous for loyalty. In 1674 he entered at Cambridge, was elected fellow of St. John's in 1680, and ordained priest by Bishop Barlow of Lincoln, Dec. 1 9, 1686. He soon afterwards became chaplain to Lord Crew, bishop of Durham, who gave him the living of Long Newton. When King James II. published his declaration, Baker refused to read it, and offended thereby his more courtly patron. Baker, however, could not bring himself to transfer his allegiance to William III., and, in consequence, was ejected from Long Newton. He then retired to his fellowship, which he contrived to hold, without taking the oaths, till 1717, when he was driven from that also. He continued to reside at Cambridge till his death in 1740, and, it is said, was allowed the proceeds of his fellowship by Matthew Prior, who succeeded him. Baker's chief work was "Reflections on Learning," to show the necessity of revelation. He also published an edition of Bishop Fisher's funeral sermon on Margaret, countess of Richmond. He was a great antiquarian and collector of MSS., and corresponded with the literary men of his day, including Bishop Burnet, to whom he supplied several corrections of his History of the Reformation, noticed by Burnet in his preface to his third volume. He gave the earl of Oxford twenty-three volumes of MSS., which are now in the Harleian collection, and bequeathed many more to the university of Cambridge and St. John's college.—J. B., O.  BAKEWELL,, was the son of a farmer at Dishley, Leicestershire, where he was born in 1726. While superintending his father's farm, he began to turn his attention to the improvement of the breed of cattle, especially sheep. And after he came into possession on his father's death, he carried out his improvements so successfully, that the "Dishley, or new Leicestershire Sheep" became celebrated over the whole country. The eminence to which the English breed of cattle has attained may, in a great measure, be attributed to him. Died in 1795.—J. B.  BAKHUYSEN or BACKHUYSEN,, a Dutch marine painter of great fame, was born at Embden in 1631; died 1709. He learned painting under A. van Everdingen, and by his indefatigable study of nature, succeeded in becoming the best marine painter of his time. He delighted especially in representing storms; to do which efficiently, he used at the beginning of a tempest to rush to sea in a small boat, often to his imminent peril. The peculiarity of his subjects, coupled with a certain buoyant originality of character, tended to make him highly renowned and greatly sought for. When Peter of Russia visited Holland, he was desired by that great man to give him lessons in naval drawings. Louis XIV., who had been presented in 1665 by the municipality of Amsterdam with one of Bakhuysen's best pictures, greatly patronized him ever afterwards. Bakhuysen was also a good engraver of sea-pieces, and a writer of spirited verses. All the biographers of this original and unparalleled artist quote a whim of his, during the last days of his life, curiously illustrative of his character. Afflicted with a painful malady, and feeling his end approach, he scrambled out of bed, and went to purchase some of the best wine that could be got, which, along with a purse well filled with gold, he placed at his side; then, when dying, requested the friends that surrounded him to take both, and use them at the moment of his burial.—R. M.  BAKHUYSEN,, a grandson of the preceding, a painter of martial subjects, died in 1787 at Rotterdam.—R. M.  BAKKAR,, a Dutch painter of portraits and interiors, pupil of A. C. Hauch, was a native of Goudenerde, and flourished about 1771.—R. M.  BAKKAREVITCH,, a Russian writer of the present century. He was attached to the Moscow university, where he lectured with great success on Russian literature. He also contributed largely to periodical literature. As a writer, he is esteemed for the high tone of his sentiments and the elegance of his style. He died in 1820.—J. F. W.  BAKKER,, a Dutch poet, born at Amsterdam in 1715; died in 1801. Of his poems, the satires against the English are oftenest mentioned. They were written when the author was eighty-two, and have received the doubtful praise of being as vigorous as any earlier work of his. In the fifty-first volume of the Transactions of the Academy of Leyden, he published an essay on Dutch versification.—J. A., D.  BALAAM, the son of Beor, a famous eastern soothsayer, concerning whose incidental connection with Israel we read in the book of Numbers. <section end="384H" /> <section begin="384I" />BALAGUER,, a Spanish sculptor during the first part of the eighteenth century, was a native of Valencia, where he mostly resided and worked. He studied under Francisco Estele, and gave many proofs of his earnest application to art. His statues, although not free from the prevailing mannerism, were graceful and highly finished. Died in 1744.—R. M. <section end="384I" /> <section begin="384J" />BALANZAC,, Baron de, one of the leaders of the Reformation-party in France, died in 1592. In 1568 he was condemned to death by decree of the parliament of Bordeaux as head of the protestant party; but having been by mistake named Charles, the decree was not executed. <section end="384J" /> <section begin="384K" />BALASSA, and , the first distinguished lyrical poet of Hungary, was born towards the middle of the sixteenth century. He took part in the civil wars of his country, fighting first for the pretender of Transylvania, Békéssy, then for the Austrian House. Dissatisfied with the condition of Hungary, and with the part he had taken in the troubles, he left his country in 1589, returned in 1594, took service against the Turks, and fell in the same year at the siege of Gran. His songs remain popular up to the present day; their subject is love, patriotism, chivalry. He translated Italian and Latin poetry with great felicity.—F. P., L. <section end="384K" /> <section begin="384L" />BALASSI,, a Florentine painter, born 1604; died 1667; studied under three masters, (Ligozzi, Rosselli, and Cresti da Passignano,) a circumstance that impressed him with a tendency to doubt his own work, and which, when more advanced in age, actually led him to retouch all his former productions, rather to spoil than to improve them. He enjoyed great fame during his lifetime, and at his death, his portrait was placed in the gallery of Florence amongst those of distinguished artists.—R. M. <section end="384L" /> <section begin="384M" />BALBAN,, a celebrated king of Delhi, lived about 1260, and died in 1286. His administration was regular and equitable. His court excelled in magnificence that of all his predecessors, and excited the admiration of all the sovereigns of India. The liberal patronage bestowed on learning, both by him and his son, attracted to Delhi men of letters from all parts of Asia. The loss of his son, Mohammed, embittered his last days and shortened his life.—G. M. <section end="384M" /> <section begin="384N" />BALBE,, a very learned Italian, born in Sardinia, 2nd July, 1762. After having been ambassador to the French republic in 1796, and to Madrid in 1816, he was, upon the re-establishment in 1816 of the university of Turin, raised to the president's chair, which he filled till his death on the 14th March, 1837.—J. F. W. <section end="384N" /> <section begin="384O" />BALBES BALBI, an ancient Sardinian family claiming a descent from the Roman Balbus, who, about the end of the sixth century, founded the republic of Quiers. During the eleventh and twelfth centuries, that republic was in a most flourishing condition, and the family of the Balbes then held in it the first place. At the time of the invasion of the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, they were induced to embrace the party of the Guelfs; and the fortresses with which they then encircled their territory are still known as the Tours des Balbes.—G. M. <section end="384O" /> <section begin="384P" />BALBI,, a celebrated geographer, born at Venice in 1782. He was professor of physics and geography in his native city till 1820, when along with his wife, an actress, he journeyed into Portugal. A statistical essay on the kingdom of Portugal and Algarve compared with the other states of Europe, was the fruit of his short residence in that country. He removed to Paris shortly after its publication, and commenced to collect materials for his great work, "Atlas Ethnographique du Globe ou Classification des Peuples anciens et modernes d'après leurs Langues." The first volume of that work, in which its author was the first to take full advantage of the results of modern travel, was published in folio in 1826. He continued to reside in Paris till 1832, publishing in succession statistical accounts of various countries of Europe, and elaborating his celebrated "Abregé de Geographie redigé sur un Plan Nouveau." He removed after the completion of that work to Padua, where, besides an elementary treatise on geography and several valuable contributions to political science, he published in 1830, "The World compared with the British Empire." Died 1848.—J. S., G. <section end="384P" /> <section begin="384Zcontin" />BALBI or BALBO,, a Venetian of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. He studied at Rome under the celebrated rhetorician Pomponio Leto; obtained a professorship in Paris, which he left soon after and came to England, from whence he was called to Vienna by the Emperor Maximilian, who appointed him professor of jurisprudence. He afterwards <section end="384Zcontin" />