Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 02.djvu/493

BALLESTREM. served in the campaigns of 1866 and 1870-71, and at the close of the latter retired with the rank of captain, devoting himself thenceforth to a political career. He was elected to the Reichstag in 1872, and took a prominent position in the Centre Party, being appointed a Papal chamberlain by Pius IX. for his vigorous services in the Culturkampf. He was first vice-president of the Lower House, 1890-93.

BALLET, bal'la' or bfd'let (Fr. dimin. of 6a?, dance. It. hallo, ball, dance, from Late Lat. and It. hdUiire, to dance; cognate with ballad). A species of dance, u.sually forming, on the stage of the present day, an interlude in operatic or other theatrical performances. Owing to its resemblance in this respect to the chorus of classic Greek tragedy, attempts have been made to trace its history back to the pantomimic sacri- ficial dances of antiquity. The modern ballet, however, is a development from the court fes- tivities of late mediæval times. We find it existing in Italy in the beginning of the Six- teenth Century, especially at the Court of Turin, where scions of the noblest houses took part in it. in song and declamation, as well as in dance; for the ballet at first appeared in com- bination with other theatric arts, and com- pleted the chaotic medley exhibited in these spectacles, which were at once mythological, alle- gorical, fantastic, warlike, and pastoral. From these mingled elements, the ballet, like other features of dramatic entertainments, gradually evolved as a distinct species.

Under Catharine de' Medici it was introduced into France, where most of its modern develop- ment has taken place. Baltasarini (called Beau- joyeux), Catharine's director of music, conducted in 1581 the famous ballet comiqiie de la reine, and this sort of entertainment soon became such a favorite that royalty itself participated in its performance. Both Louis XIII. and Louis XIV., when young, are said to have danced in the bullets-(le-cour, which were still at this period accompanied not only by music, but by recita- tion and song; the expressiveness of dancing and pantomime had not yet reached its dis- tinct development. One of the most famous of the court ballets was the Triornplte d'Amoui; produced by Quinault, Benserade, and Lulli in 1681. It was Lulli who is said to have first had women participate in a ballet, even female parts having up to his time been taken by young men. The idea of the ballet in pantomime without words, as we have it, was suggested early in the Eighteenth Century by the Duchess of Maine. The celebrated Noverre put her idea into practice, and developed the .so-called ballet d'action, in which the expressive power of dance and gesture attained by themselves a high degree of dramatic art. During the Eighteenth Century also the famous Vestris family of dancers came to celebrity. Ciaetan Vestris, the first of them, thought so highly of himself as an artist that he was wont to say that there were but three great men in the world — himself, Voltaire, and the King of Prussia. His son. Auguste. was no less distinguished. With the Revolution, the ballet figured prominently in many of the national fotos, and somewhat changed its char- acter. The great dramatic pantomime flourished also with Galeotti in Copenhagen, and in Milan longer than the earlier traditions were main- tained elsewhere. In France, during the Consul- ate, an element of comedy was introduced into the ballet in such works as Mehul's Dattsomanie and the Arlequinades. During the Nineteenth Century the ballet came gradually to its present form. Perhaps the three most itamous dancers of the century were Marie Taglioni, who ap- peared in the Carnival de Venise, in 1827, and became immensely popular; Carlotta Grisi, who was famous in Giselle; and Fanny Ellsler, who was especially a favorite in La Tarantule and Le Diable boiteux.

In the opera of the present day, the ballet is generally more or less integrally incorporated in the play. Thus in Faust, it appears as part of the entertainment with which Faust is di- verted in accordance with the plans of Mephis- topheles. In many instances, however, the ballet has lost its original artistic character, and the forms which it takes are in taste extremely various. Consult: Menestrier, Des ballets anciens et modernes (Paris, 1682); Noverre, Lettres sur la danse et sur les ballets (Lyons, 1760, new ed., Paris, 1807); Castil-Blaze, La danse et les ballets (Paris, 1832); Voss, Der Tanz und seine Geschichte (Berlin, 1868); A. Pougin, Dic- tionnaire historique du theatre (Paris, 1885).

BALL'-FLOWER. A detail of ornament in English Gothic architecture, so named from its resemblance to a ball within a flower, usually with three, sometimes with four, petals. The ball-flower is supposed by some to be an imitation of a pomegranate; by others, of a hawk's bill.

BALLINA, bil'le-nii' (shortened from Ga;l. Bel-aii-atha-aii-feadha, the ford south of the wood, from bel, estuary + atli. ford). A seaport town in the counties of Mayo and Sligo, Ireland, on the Moy. 7 miles south of its entrance into Killala Bay (Map: Ireland, B 2). The Moy runs through the town, is crossed by two bridges, and separates the two counties. Ballina proper is on the Mayo side, the Sligo portion being called Ardnaree. The river is navigable from the sea to a mile and a half below Ballina. Ballina has a brisk trade in agricultural produce, in salmon, and cured provisions ; and coarse linens and snuft' are manufactured. The United States is represented by a consular agent. The river Moy and Lough Conn are favorite angling resorts. Killala Bay was the rendezvous of the French invaders iti 1798. They landed and took Ballina. but three weeks afterwards were defeated at Killala. Population, estimated, 5000.

BALLIOL (bfll'yol) COLLEGE. One of the largest and most important colleges in the University of Oxford. Its original foundation is attributed to Sir John de Balliol of Barnard Castle, Durham (father of the Balliol who contested the crown of Scotland with Bruce), as an act of penance for injuries done to the churches of his neighborhood. Its first scholars were in residence between 1260 and 1266, in a hired house; but while Balliol may claim, on the ground of the longest occupation of the same site and of priority in the benefaction to which it owes its inception, to be the oldest of the Oxford colleges, it was not, until twenty years later, a college in the modern sense of the word; it was originally, like the colleges of Paris at the same time, simply an association of students presided over by a principal of their own election, and did not become an endowed corporation with a permanent home until, in 1282, Devorguilla, wife of John de Balliol, com-