Page:Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography Volume 1.pdf/445

BAS poured on the occasion of his taking orders, should be flayed. This barbarous order was accordingly executed in the chapel of the prison in such a manner as to cover the victim with blood. On the 18th of August, 1849, a little before dawn, Ugo Bassi was taken to a deserted field adjoining the cemetery of Bologna to be shot. He was pale, but firm; and while the soldiers were taking aim, he said, "I die innocent—I die for liberty,—I forgive my murderers. Viva Jesu! viva Maria! viva"—but the word Italia was lost, stifled by the bullets of the Croats. The mother of Ugo Bassi heard the fate of her son without a tear. Three times she repeated his name, and expired. Ugo Bassi was the author of a work on "The Church after the Image of Christ," and an unfinished poem called "Constantine, or the Triumph of the Cross." His talents were universal. He was an accomplished musician and composer. He wrote his own language in remarkable perfection, and was a perfect master of Latin, Greek, English, and French. He was remarkable for his personal beauty and his eloquence as an improvisatore; while his memory was so prodigious, that he is said to have been capable of reciting the whole of the Divina Commedia of Dante.—E. A. H.  BASSIANO,, an Italian poet, born at Bologna, lived at Rome about 1549. Several of his poems are to be found in the rare work of Ubaldini.  BASSO,, a Neapolitan lawyer and poet, acted a prominent part in the revolution of 1647. He was author of some poetical works.  BASSOL,, a distinguished Scottish schoolman, author of a work entitled "Commentaria seu Lecturæ in Quatuor Libris Sententiarum," was born in the reign of Alexander III. He studied under the famous Duns Scotus, at Oxford, and removed with him in 1304 to Paris, where he resided some time in the university. In 1313 he entered the order of the Minorites, and was sent to Rheims, where he studied medicine, and for several years taught philosophy. In 1322 he took up his residence in Mechlin, and spent the remainder of his life there, teaching theology. He died in 1347. Bassol was so famous for the order and method displayed in his prelections, that he was styled "Doctor Ordinatissimus," or the most Methodical Doctor. He was so much admired by his illustrious preceptor, Duns Scotus, that he used to say, "If only Joannes Bassiolis be present I have a sufficient auditory."—J. T.  BASSOMPIERRE,, marshal of France, born in Lorraine, 1579. Having distinguished himself by brilliant military services under Henry IV. and Louis XIII., he was thrown by Cardinal Richelieu into the Bastile, where he remained a prisoner during the twelve years that his great but vindictive adversary lived. His lonely imprisonment was relieved by the writing of his "Memoires," that ordinary solace of French public characters, who, when obliged from any cause to retire from the scenes of active life, turn their past career into a history of moving adventures, of which the author is the hero. If Bassompierre describes himself as the most fortunate lover, the gayest and most brilliant courtier, the wisest and wittiest of statesmen, and the finest general, as well as the finest man of his time, he does no more than give vent to his irrepressible animal spirits, in the same way that has made French memoirs of all times most agreeable, and, so far as they illustrate manners, not uninstructive reading. His allusions to his own high qualities are in a considerable degree supported by the fact, that the courageous and unscrupulous minister, who had determined to bend the factious nobility to the court, thought Bassompierre important enough to be deprived of liberty. He died in 1646, having survived his persecutor only three years.—J. F. C.  BASSOT,, an apocryphal author in the commencement of the seventeenth century. The name is remarkable on account of its having figured on the title-page of a pamphlet entitled "The true History of the Giant Teutobochus, King of the Teutoni, defeated by Marius, and buried at the Chateau Chaumont." The real author of this history was Pierre Masuyer.  BASSUS,, a Roman orator and historian in the middle of the first century. He wrote a history of the wars of the Romans in Germany, and also a general history of Rome, which was continued in thirty-one books by the elder Pliny.  BASSUS,, a Greek poet, born at Smyrna, who lived in the beginning of the first century, author of ten epigrams in the Greek anthology, and a poem on the death of Germanicus. <section end="445H" /> <section begin="445I" />BASSUS,, commander of the fleets of Ravenna and Messina under Vitellius, about the year 69. He succeeded Cerealis Vitalianus in the government of Judea, and suppressed the rebellion of the Jews, which continued after the taking of Jerusalem. He was succeeded by Flavius Sylvius. <section end="445I" /> <section begin="445J" />BASSUS,, a Roman consul under Severus, in the year 211. He was, under a frivolous pretext, condemned to death by the senate, at the instigation of the Emperor Heliogabalus, who had become enamoured of his wife, and afterwards married her.—G. M. <section end="445J" /> <section begin="445K" />BASSUS,, a Roman epic poet, lived in the time of Vespasian, who made him a present of five hundred thousand sesterces. Quintilian praises his poetic talent. <section end="445K" /> <section begin="445L" />BAST,, born at Ghent in 1787; died in 1832. He was conservator of the cabinet of medals at Ghent, and secretary of the college of curators. <section end="445L" /> <section begin="445M" />BAST,, a French theologian and antiquarian; born at Gand in 1753; died in 1825. He took an active part in the Brabantian revolution of 1789, and subsequently distinguished himself as a member of the Flemish confederation by his opposition to Austria; but after the invasion of his native district by the French, he renounced politics, and devoted himself to antiquarian studies, especially numismatics. His principal work is entitled "Recueil d'Antiquités Romaines et Gauloises trouvées dans la Flandre proprement dite," &c., 1804. Died in 1825. <section end="445M" /> <section begin="445N" />BASTARD, T., or BATARD, a French botanist, who lived at the beginning of the nineteenth century. He was professor of botany, and director of the garden of plants at Angers, and published an essay on the Flora of the departments of the Maine and Loire, and a notice of the plants in the garden at Angers. <section end="445N" /> <section begin="445O" />BASTARD D'ESTANG, , count de, peer of France, president of the chamber to the court of cassation, grand cross of the legion of honour, born at Nogarogers, 31st October, 1783; died at Paris, 23d January, 1844. He adopted the legal profession, and early distinguished himself at the bar by his uncommon sagacity. In 1810 he was counsellor of the imperial court of Paris, and in 1815, after the second return of Louis XVIII., was named first president of the royal court of Lyons. In 1819 he was recalled to Paris, and was nominated a member of the chamber of peers. He was eminently distinguished by his prudence and sound judgment.—G. M. <section end="445O" /> <section begin="445P" />BASTARO,, a Roman fresco painter, flourishing about 1610, whose works at the Minerva at Rome rank him amongst the distinguished artists of that time.—R. M. <section end="445P" /> <section begin="445Q" />BASTE,, a French admiral, born at Bourdeaux, 21st November, 1768; died 29th January, 1814. He entered the navy in 1781, as a common mariner, and rose rapidly through all the superior grades. He distinguished himself at the sieges of Mantua and of Malta, at the battle of Aboukir, and in the expedition to San Domingo. Towards the close of his life, he was employed in the land service by Napoleon. He died of a wound which he received at the battle of Brienne.—G. M. <section end="445Q" /> <section begin="445R" />BASTER,, a Dutch botanist, was born in 1711, and died in 1775. He devoted himself to the study of natural history, and particularly to botany. He graduated at Leyden as physician in 1731. He published a work on some sea-plants and animalcules, and several memoirs in the Transactions of the Dutch academies. A genus, Basteria, is named after him. <section end="445R" /> <section begin="445S" />BASTHOLM,, a celebrated Danish ecclesiastic, born at Copenhagen in 1740; died in 1819. He obtained a prize at the university of Copenhagen for an essay, and wrote several works of a religious character. <section end="445S" /> <section begin="445T" />BASTIAT,, a French writer on political economy, one of the leaders of the agitation for free trade, which echoed in France the more energetic movement conducted by Cobden in this country, was born at Bayonne in 1801, and died at Rome in 1850. After a visit to England in 1845, he published a translation of some of the speeches of the free traders, with an introductory account of "Cobden et la Ligue." Shortly afterwards, having removed from Mugron to Paris, he became secretary of the society, and editor of the journal founded for the propagation of free trade doctrines. In 1848-49 he was successively member of the constituent and the legislative assemblies. His principal work is entitled "Harmonies Economiques."—J. S., G. <section end="445T" /> <section begin="445U" />BASTIDE,, born at Berlin about 1747; died in 1810. He bequeathed his manuscripts to the imperial library at Paris. He was author of several grammatical and philosophical dissertations. <section end="445U" /> <section begin="445Zcontin" />BASTIDE,, a French litterateur, born <section end="445Zcontin" />