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653 653 Cisco in 1872,

was

"Jim Black; or, The ReguIn 1880 Belasco went to New York to take charge of two productions at the Madison Square Theater and it was there that he made his first pronounced success as a dramatic author. This was achieved in 1884 with " May Blossom, " the most famous of the Madison Square plays of that period. When Daniel Frohrnan left the Madison Square Theater to take charge of the Lyceum Theater iu 1885, Belasco went with him and became di-

lators'

called

Revenge."



rector of the productions

Forming a literary partnership with Henry C. de Mille, thenthere.

first jointwork was "

The

Wife." Twoothercollaborations, "The Charity Ball" and "Lord Chumley," followed, in

which

E. H. Sothern gained his first triumph as a star. The three plays were produced at the Lyceum. Then Belasco and De Mille wrote and pro-

duced "Men and Women " David Belasco.

for

'

Charles

Frohrnan at Proctor's Theater, Twenty-third

De

Mille having died, Belasco, in collaboration with Franklin Fyles, wrote " The Girl I Left Behind Me. " In 1891 his English version of " Miss Four years later he Helyett" was produced. street.

Belais

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

brought out " The Heart of Maryland. " During the last decade Mr. Belasco has taken rank at the head of American dramatic authors, and has written and produced "Zaza," "Madame Butterfly," "La Belle Russe," "Valerie," and, with James A. Heme, "Hearts of Oak" and "Du Barry." E. Ms.— H. Ve. a.

BELASCO, DAVID. See James, David. BELASCO, ISRAEL: English pugilist;

born

London in 1800 a brother of the better-known Abraham or " Aby " Belasco. His first appearance in the prize-ring was on July 23, 1817, at Moulsey in



Heath, England, where after a battle of thirty rounds' he was defeated by Ned Brown, commonly known as the " Sprig of Myrtle. " In his second encounter, which was with Kit Barber at Tarbury Common, Sept. 15, 1819, Belasco was more fortuAt the end of forty -one rounds Belasco was nate. declared the winner of the £50 staked by his oppoTwo years later (Oct. 30, 1821) he defeated nent.

Saunders in fourteen rounds at Moulsey Heath, but on March 19, 1823, at the same place,, matched against A. Matthewson for £25 a side, he was defeated in forty-four rounds. Bibliography: The American Jews' Annual.

Chief town of the county of AnThe Jewish trim, province of Ulster, Ireland. community—a comparatively prosperous one—numberino- some 400 or 500 souls, is of recent date; its foundation being due to M. A. Jaffe, who arrived synagogue was established in 1870 there in 1851.

BELFAST:

A

J.

Chotzner and

J. E.

cessively filled the post of minister.

Myers have sucOf recent years

number

of Russian Jews have settled in the place has been found necessary to establish a board of guardians (1893), and a Hebrew ladies' foreign benevolent society (1896), while in 1898 a Hebrew national school was founded for the training of their

a

and

it

children. Sir Otto Jaffe was mayor of Belfast in 1899. Bibliography Jacobs, Jewish Year Book, 1900-1, pp.

105.

104-

j

BELGIUM One of the smaller states of western Europe. Under the Romans it formed one of the six provinces of ancient Gaul and bore the name "Gallia Belgica" (Gibbon, "Decline and Fall," vol. i. eh. i). There are no authentic records of the date of the earliest immigration of Jews to Belgium. According to a widely spread legend, their first settlement in this rich, and fertile country occurred as early as the second century. Jewish merchants are said to have carried on at that time a considerable commercial intercourse between different parts of Asia Minor and the central countries of Europe. They followed the Roman legions in their path of conquest. In the wars of Vespasian and Titus a considerable number of Jewish captives found their way either willingly or unwillingly to Gaul and the Iberian peninsula. The defeat of Bar Kokba completed the

Early

dispersion of the Jews in the West; and the number of Jewish settlements

in Gaul and Spain increased. In the fourth century their existence is hisThe original settlements were in torically attested. the immediate vicinity of the Roman military posts, which formed a chain of communications extending Tongres and Tournai, in all the way to Britain. actual Belgian territory, are mentioned among the

Settlement,

They were also esplaces where Jews settled. tablished in the chief seats of the provinces. At that period they appear to have enjoyed a considerThey were able degree of freedom and prosperity. admitted to rights of citizenship; the tribunals treated them on a footing of equality with other citizens, and they shared and participated in the common duties and benefits of the state. The irruption of the Vandals did not affect, to any appreciable degree, the position of the Jews. They lived on in a state of complete tranquillity, undisturbed by adverse religious enactments and unhinfirst

dered by commercial restrictions. The Frankish kingdom, founded by Clovis (486), included the whole of Belgium and embraced all the country be-

yond the Somme, and between the Meuse and the The fortunes of the Belgian Jews were, theresea. fore, for some centuries interwoven with those of Like their communities, they were condi-

their brethren in France.

Under Frankish

sister

tioned by the political and religious movements of the time. In general their state was exceedingly prosperous. They engaged in commerce, agriculture, and all forms of industry and their argosies were seen in the rivers and on the seas. Nor was the profession of arms denied them; for they took a prominent part at the siege of Aries (508) in the war between Clovis and the general of Theodoric. Their condi-

Rulers.

F. H. V.

j.

and the Revs.

Belgium