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 216 BAGE BAGOT said to have 2,000,000 inhabitants. It was conquered in 1258 by Hulaku, the grandson of Genghis Khan, and by Tamerlane in 1401, by the Persians and Turks successively in the 15th century, by the Persians again in 1623, and by the Turks finally in 1638. It suffered severely from plague in 1831, and from famine in 1870-'71. BAGE, Robert, an English novelist, born at Derby in 1728, died at Tamworth in 1801. He was a paper-maker, in which trade he con- tinued for the greater part of his life. His principal works are "Mount Heneth," "Bar- ham Downs," "The Fair Syrian," and "James Wallace." Sir Walter Scott recommended that he should be included in Ballantyne's " Novel- ist's Library," and wrote his life for that work. BAGGESEN, Jens Immannel, a Danish poet, born at Korsor in Seeland, Feb. 15, 1764, died in Hamburg, Oct. 3, 1826. He was educated at Copenhagen, and gained considerable repu- tation while still young by his comic tales and a collection of odes and songs. The most re- markable of his writings is his Labyrinthen, a species of autobiography. He wrote many lyrical poems in German a language which he used with the same facility as his native tongue. A collection of these appeared at Hamburg in 1803, and at Amsterdam in 1808. His best German work is his poem Parthe- naM, of which a French translation appeared in 1810. He was appointed professor of the Danish language at Kiel in 1811. A few years later he returned to Denmark, but finally left his native country in 1820. A new edition of his Danish writings appeared in 1845, in 12 volumes, at Copenhagen. A collection of his German writings was also made in 1836. BAGHERIA, or Bagaria, a town of Sicily, in the province and 9 m. E. S. E. of Palermo, on the railroad from Palermo to Termini; pop. 13,200. Near it are numerous villas of the nobility. BAGIIIRMI, a kingdom of central Africa, S. E. of Lake Tchad, between the Borneo and Wadai countries, bounded W. by the Shari river and its affluents; greatest length from N. to S., about 240 m. ; greatest breadth, 150 m. ; pop., inclusive of the pagan dependencies in the outlying S. E. provinces, about 1,500,000, chiefly negroes, and nominally Mohammedans, though there are still many remains of pagan rites. The country is principally a plain, nearly 1,000 feet above the sea, there being no moun- tains excepting in the extreme north and in the outlying S. and S. E. provinces. The capital is Masenya, in lat. 11 38' N., Ion. 16 E. The army consists of 10,000 infantry and 3,000 cav- alry. The chief products are millet, sorghum, sesamum, beans, ground nuts, a kind of grass called jojo, rice, cotton, and indigo. Wheat is raised only for the private use of the sultan. The principal trees are the tamarind and the deleb palm. The climate is extremely hot. There are no mines. The horses are fine, and the Shouwa Arabs wandering between Baghir- mi and Lake Tchad have large flocks of sheep and cattle. The people (Bagarmi) are superior in appearance and character to other central African tribes, and the women are among the finest' in Negroland; but the men are cruel in warfare and castrate their prisoners. Baghir- mi became an independent kingdom in the 16th j century, and was afterward converted to Mo- hammedanism. In 1815, after a long war, it became tributary to Bornoo and Wadai. The title of the ruler is banga (sultan). Dr. Barth (1852) was the first European to visit the country. BACNERES, the name of two bathing towns of S. W. France, in the Pyrenees, both known to the Romans, though under what names is uncertain. I. Bagneres-de-Bigorre, in the de- partment of Hautes-Pyrenees, capital of an arrondissement, on the left bank of the Adour, at the entrance of the valley of Campan, 13 m. S. of Tarbes; pop. in 1866, 9,433. Its warm and hot mineral springs, more than 40 in number, attract numerous invalids and pleas- ure-seekers. It has manufactories of bareges. II. Bagneres-de-Lnchon, in the department of Haute-Garonne, 18 m. S. E. of the preceding ; pop. in 1866, 3,921. It lies at the foot of the Pyrenees, in the beautiful valley of Luchon, about 5 m. from the Spanish frontier. It has hot and cold mineral springs, and is surround- ed by fine scenery. In the neighborhood are copper mines and slate quarries. BAGNOLES, a hamlet of France, in the de- partment of Orne, in a valley 13 m. S. S. E. of Domt'ront. This village, celebrated for its baths and mineral springs, was built in the 17th century, but has been in later times much im- proved and adorned with fine buildings and promenades. BAGOAS, a eunuch in the service of Artax- erxes Ochus of Persia, who, though a native of Egypt, aided the king in the reconquest of that country. He was, however, so much dis- pleased by the sacrilege of the king to the sa- cred animals and other objects of worship in Egypt that, after his return to Persia, he poi- soned him, and raised Arses, his youngest son, to the throne, having murdered all the others. Soon becoming offended with the new king also, he destroyed him and made Darius Co- domannus king (336 B. C.). He afterward at- tempted to poison Darius, but was detected and poisoned himself. He is supposed to be identical with the Bagoses mentioned by Jo- sephus, who led the troops of Artaxerxes Ochus to Judea, seized the temple, and compelled every Jew to pay a tribute of 50 shekels for each lamb sacrificed. BAGOT, Sir Charles, a British diplomatist, born at Blithfield, Sept. 23, 1781, died at Kingston in Canada, May 18, 1843. He was the second son of William, first Lord Bagot. In 1807 he was appointed under-secretary of state for foreign affairs ; in 1814 was sent on a special mission to France; in 1820 was ambas- sador at St. Petersburg, and in 1824 in Holland.
 * On the death of Lord Sydenham in 1841 lie