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BAL  phrases the flash of his genius, and brought music of a higher order from the instrument that Balzac had laboriously attempted to perfect. He was at first attached to the service of the cardinal of Valetta, who took him to Italy. On his return to Paris he met with a flattering reception from personages of rank and influence, who had already enjoyed and admired his letters—among others from the bishop of Luçon, afterwards Cardinal Richelieu. In 1624 his letters were collected and printed, and the public received them with the same favour that had previously been given to the originals by the court. His grandiose phrases supplied a want of the age. The homely simplicity of the sixteenth century no longer sufficed for a generation fast advancing to the extreme of fastidiousness, and Balzac supplied the new language that was suitable to the altered condition of society. His success, however, was the occasion of envious and virulent attack. Some accused him of plagiarism, and some slandered his life. To seek repose he retired to his estates on the banks of the Charente, and there employed his leisure by replying to his numerous correspondents, some of whom were monarchs. In this retreat he died, Feb. 18, 1655. So highly was he esteemed, that when in 1634 he expressed a desire to enter the academy, he was immediately elected by the suffrages of all. Towards the close of his life he was much given to works of piety and benevolence, and among his other honours is that of first using the word bienfaisance, which has been permanently retained in the French language. He also founded the prize of eloquence in the French Academy, which is still continued, but with little apparent result. His published works are numerous, and most of the original editions had the advantage of appearing in the type of the Elzevirs at Leyden and Amsterdam. The following list is tolerably complete. His works, including the French and Latin poems, were published in two vols. folio, Paris, 1665; and separately, "Aristippe," Leyden, J. Elzevir, 1658, and Amsterdam, D. Elzevir, 1664; "Lettres Choises," Leyden, 1648-52; "Lettres Familières," Leyden and Amsterdam, 1636 and 1661; "Le Socrate Chretien," Amsterdam, 1652; "Le Prince;" "Lettres à Conrart," Leyden, 1659, and Amsterdam, 1652; "Œuvres Diverses," Leyden, 1651 or 1658; and "Les Entretiens," Leyden, 1658. Some "Letters," "Thoughts," and "Selected Works," have also been published in Paris in recent times.—P. E. D.  BALZAC,, a French novelist, born at Tours in 1799; died at Paris, August 20, 1850. His father had been secretary to the council of state under Louis XV., and the young Balzac was brought up at the college of Vendôme, where he left the character of being "idle and disobedient." He was then placed with a notary, and commenced his literary career by writing articles for the journals. Before the age of twenty-three he had published seven or eight tales. His industry was remarkable, but his earlier pieces never attained much celebrity. In 1826 he joined Barbier, the printer, in the publication of the "Annales Romantique," and united in his own person the three branches of commercial literature—he was author, printer, and bookseller—an arrangement which in his case was not more successful than it has been elsewhere. The first of his works that attracted the attention of the public was "The Physiology of Marriage," a work full of originality and piquant observation. He now formed the bold conception of depicting the natural history of society as it existed in his own day in France. He wished to treat the moral world of men and women in the same manner that the naturalist treats the habits of the lower animated creatures—to describe minutely and accurately, but merely to describe. He therefore prepared to paint in detail private life, life in the provinces, military life, country life, political life, &c., viewed philosophically and analytically. During twenty years of indefatigable industry and prolific authorship, he pursued this course of study, and gave to the world an immense number of compositions, some of which must hold a first rank in their special departments of literature. With a rich imagination, and marvellous sagacity for seizing the peculiarities of character, he combined a looseness of taste which an artist of a higher order would have striven to correct. His works, however, were pre-eminently popular in France, and many of them are well known throughout Europe. After the publication of his "Medicin de Campagne" in 1835, he received a letter of congratulation from the countess de Hanska, then resident with her husband at Geneva. This led to a correspondence, and after the death of her husband, who had large estates in Russian Poland, to an offer of marriage, which was accepted, although de Balzac was already suffering from the disease of the heart which two years later proved fatal. He was buried in Pere-la-Chaise, a large multitude accompanying his body to the grave, and Victor Hugo pronouncing an eloquent and characteristic oration. Balzac had called his whole writings "The Comedy of Human Life," but a witty writer has termed this comedy the "pathological museum of human nature," a collection of specimens every one of which exhibits disease. With a rich imagination he had no high ideal; he held the mirror—not up to nature—but up to modern French society—a mighty difference, on which de Balzac had probably not reflected.—P. E. D.  BAMBAM,, a German Lutheran theologian, deacon of the church of St. Peter's at Hamburg; died in 1742. He left, among other works, "Merckwürdige Historien inden Religions—Streitigkeiten mit den Reformirten."  BAMBINI,, a Venetian historical painter, born 1651; died 1736; a pupil of Mazzoni whilst at Venice, and of C. Maratta when at Rome. His drawing was both elegant and firm; his composition noble and poetical. Knowing his weakness in colour, he had some of his pictures retouched by Cassana.—R. M.  BAMBINI,, a Ferrarese painter at the beginning of the seventeenth century; was a pupil of D. Mona at Parma. At his return to Ferrara, associated with Giulio Cromer, he opened a school for the study of nature. He displayed, in the few works he was able to complete, a vigorous manner enhanced by correctness of design. Died very young in 1629.—R. M.  BAMBOCCI,, an Italian sculptor, born at Piperno about 1368; died at Naples in 1435; was an artist of great and versatile talents, especially renowned for his magnificent tombs. The most important amongst these are that of Cardinal Minutolo (the object of Boccaccio's praises); that of Cardinal Carbone; and above all the Aldemareschi mausoleum. Bambocci stands as the link between Ciccione and Aniello Fiore; and together with these, is one of the greatest glories of the Neapolitan school of sculpture during the fifteenth century. Nor did Bambocci confine himself to sculpture; he equally exercised, with great success, architecture and painting, in which last he had been taught by Zingaro.—R. M.  BAMBOCCIO. See.  BAMBRIDGE,. See. <section end="398H" /> <section begin="398I" />BAMESBIER,, a German painter, established at Amsterdam during the second part of the sixteenth century, was one of the best pupils of Lambert Lombard.—R. M. <section end="398I" /> <section begin="398Zcontin" />BAMFIELD,, a native of Ireland who made some figure in the civil wars during the reign of Charles the First. Clarendon, in his History of the Rebellion, asserts that his real name was Bamford, and that he was a man of wit and parts. He entered the army at an early age, and rose to the rank of colonel of foot. During the first years of the war, he was actively engaged in the service of the king, and yet Clarendon says, "he had not behaved himself so well in it, as to draw any suspicion upon himself from the other party, and was, in truth, much more conversant with the presbyterian party than with the king's." When the parliamentary forces under Sir William Waller marched against Arundel castle, Bamfield, who was in the garrison, endeavoured to put himself at the head of a party, with the hope of being made governor; but his intrigues resulted only in increasing the animosities amongst the soldiers, and led ultimately to the surrender of the place. When in 1648 the king was anxious to send the duke of York out of the kingdom, Bamfield was intrusted with the arrangement for his escape, "being a man of an active and insinuating nature, and dexterous enough in bringing anything to pass that he had the managing of himself." Bamfield managed the matter in a way to justify the opinion entertained of his adroitness, and conveyed the young prince from St. James' to a private house, and thence, in woman's attire, down the river to a vessel which sailed to Holland. For this service, Bamfield was made a groom of the bed-chamber to the prince; but Sir John Berkley, whom he hated, was appointed governor, an act to which he looked as a degradation to himself, and so incensed was he, that when Sir John came to the Hague, Bamfield endeavoured to excite the fleet to declare against Sir John when the duke should come on board, and cause him to be dismissed, "and then he believed he should be able to govern both his highness and the fleet." Bamfield still continued about the person of the duke, and by his restless and intriguing spirit so <section end="398Zcontin" />