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 504 BELLE-ISLE theless promoted from the rank of count to that of duke and peer (1748), became a member of the academy (1749), and subsequently minister of war, and was to the last one of the most am- bitious, brilliant, and influential of the unscru- pulous ministers of Louis XV. His memoirs were published in London in 1760. II. Louis Charles Armand Fonqnet, chevalier de, brother of the preceding and associated with him in diplo- matic and military life, bora in 1693, killed in battle, July 15, 1747. He was a dashing soldier, ambitious intriguer, and dissolute cavalier. At Exilles, Savoy, at the head of 50 battalions of his brother's division, he attempted against the advice of his most experienced officers to storm the inaccessible rocks and forts behind which the Piedmontese, though numbering only 21 battalions, were impregnably intrenched. He perished with almost all his officers and many of the men. BELLE ISLE. I. North, an island at the mouth of the strait of the same name, between Labra- dor and the extremity of Newfoundland, 16 m. 'distant from the nearest part of the coast of Labrador, in lat. 52 N., Ion. 55 20' W. Its circumference is about 21 m. On the N. W. side is a harbor for small fishing vessels, and a cove on the E. side affords shelter for shallops. II. South, an island off the E. coast of the N. "W. peninsula of Newfoundland, of about the same size as the preceding, 16 m. E. of Canary or Canada bay ; lat. 51 N., Ion. 55 35' W. BELLE ISLE, Strait of, an outlet of the gulf of St. Lawrence, between Labrador and the N. W. peninsula of Newfoundland ; length, about 80 m. ; breadth, 12 m. Its navigation is con- sidered to be hazardous. The Labrador side is indented with bays Temple bay, Wreck cove, Green bay, Red bay, and Black bay. The opposite coast is devoid of indentations. BELLE-ISLE-E1V-MER, an island in the bay of Biscay on the "W. coast of France, a little N. W. of the mouth of the Loire, department of Morbihan, and 8 m. S. of Quiberon point ; pop. about 10,000. It is of an oblong form ; length, about 11 m. ; breadth, 6 m. Its surface is about 160 ft. above the sea, and treeless. The island is noted for its fine breed of draught horses. It has several druidical monuments. The chief place is Le Palais, on the N. E. coast (pop. 4,900). BELLENDEN, William, a Scottish writer of the early part of the 17th century, the time of whose birth and death is uncertain. He is famous for pure Latinity, and was educated at Paris, where he became professor of belles-lettres, and con- tinned to reside, though he was invited to Scot- land by James I. before the latter succeeded to the English crown. He collected in 1616 three treatises, which he had published before sep- arately, under the title of Bellendenus de Statu. This work was republished in 1787 by Dr. Parr, who prefixed to it a long introduction. He also wrote De tribus Lumin-ibw Romanorum, which Dr. Middleton, in his " Life of Cicero," was accused of borrowing from. BELLEVILLE BELLEROPHON, a hero of Grecian mythology, whose real name was Hipponous, was a son of Glaucus, king of Corinth, and Eurymede, and a grandson of Sisyphus. He was called Belle- rophon in consequence of having slain a Corin- thian eupatrid named Bellerus. After this crime he fled to Prcatus, king of Argos, whose wife became enamored of him. Bellerophon received her advances coldly, and she accused him of having made insulting offers to her, in- sisting that he should be put to death. Prce- tus, not wishing to violate the laws of hospital- ity by slaying a man who was his guest, des- patched him with a letter to lobates, king of Lycia, in which that potentate was charged to have Bellerophon killed. lobates hereupon sent him to combat the monster Chimttra. Bellerophon first caught the winged horse Peg- asus, with the aid of Minerva, and mounting him, soared into the air and slew the monster from on high. lobates next sent him to en- counter the Solymi and the Amazons, but the hero still proved victorious. Lastly, lobates placed a band of the bravest Lycians in ambush to attack him on his return. This device, how- ever, was fruitless, for Bellerophon slew them all. The Lycian monarch, now perceiving that he was invincible, revealed to him the contents of the letter which he had brought from Prce- tus, gave him his daughter Cassandra in mar- riage, and made him heir to the throne of his kingdom. The latter days of Bellerophon were unfortunate. As he attempted to soar to heav- en on the back of Pegasus, Zeus sent a gad- fly which so stung his winged steed that he cast his rider to the earth, where, lame and blind, he wandered lonely in the Aleian fields. BELLEVAL, Pierre Richer de, a French botanist, born in Chalons-sur-Marne in 1558, died in Montpellier in 1623. Henry IV., learning that the medical students of France were accus- tomed to complete their education in the uni- versities of Italy, where the professors had botanical gardens under their charge, founded by royal edict in 1593 a botanical garden at Montpellier, in which he appointed Belleval a professor. Belleval is regarded as one of the founders of strictly scientific botany, since he was among the first to consider plants accord- ing to their general characteristics, without re- gard to their medicinal properties. He had 400 plates engraved, which were praised by Tournefort and Linnseus, but have been nearly all lost. BELLEVILLE, a city and the capital of St. Clair co., Illinois, 85 m. S. of Springfield and 14 m. S. E. of St. Louis; pop. in 1860, 7,520 ; 1870, 8,146. It is pleasantly situated on high ground. The surrounding country is produc- tive and populous, and contains beds of coal. The city is actively engaged in trade and man- ufactures, and contains several churches and banks, a handsome court house, and 27 public schools (including a high school), attended in 1871 by 1,500 pupils. There is also a Roman Catholic academy, with 12 instructors and 180