Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 02.djvu/802

BELAIR. BELAIR, be-lfa'. A town and county-seat of Harfoi-d County. JId., 21 miles northeast of Baltimore; on the Maryland and Pennsylvania Railroad (Map: Jlaryland, M 2). It is the com- mercial centre of a 'fertile agricultural region, and has some manufactures. Population, in 1890, 1-tlG: in 1900, 901.

BELA'RIUS. In Shakespeare's CymheUiie, an exiled nobleman, who in revenge steals the sons of Cymbelini'. Having rescued Cjanbeline when he. was talcen prisoner. Belarius becomes recon- ciled, and the two young ])rinces are restored to their father.

BEL AND THE DRAG’ON. The title of one of the books of the (1ld Testament Apocry- pha, part of the Greek (Soptuagint) and Latin (Vulgate) translations of the Bible, and so accepted as canonical by many of the early Christian writers and by the present Church of Rome. The original language is likely to have been Aramaic. The book is professedly an ad- dition to the Hook of Daniel, and is designed still further to exalt that hero. It contains two stories, which in general are these, though there are variations: (1) That Daniel convinced the King of Babylon of the fraud jiracticed upon him by the priests of Bel, who pretended that the god ate at night the feasts regularly set in his temple, by having the floor of the temple covered with fine" ashes, unknown to the priests. These came at night as usual, through a secret door, and removed the food, but by morning light their footprints were discovered on the floor. The King in his rage drove away the priests and de- stroyed the idol of Bel. (2) Daniel killed a dragon that was worshiped by the Babyloni- ans" by forcing it to swallow a mixture of pitch, " fat, and hair, with the result that it burst. The people in their rage compelled the King to east Daniel into the lions' den. Thither Habakkuk, the prophet, was carried from his home in Judea with food for Daniel. The King, on finding Daniel still alive on the sixth day, ordered his release and the punishment of his accusers.

BELAS'CO, David (1862 — ). An American playwright. He was born in San Francisco, where lie spent most of his boyhood, and began in 1874 as an actor at the Metropolitan Theatre. Showing talent, however, in the adaptation of pla_-s-s for the local stage, he soon found a wider field. One of his early successes was Hearts of Oak, in which he toured with James A. Hearne. He was for a time stage manager of the iladison Square Theatre, New York City, and afterwards was connected with the Lyceum Theatre. While there he wrote, in collaboration with Henry C. De ilille. The Wife and The Charity Ball, and also, for E. H. Sothern, Lord Chumley. In .lanu- ary, 1893. The Girl I Left Behind Me, which he wrote with Franklin Fyles, was produced at the Empire Theatre, and bad great success. In 1895 came The Heart of Maryland, a melodrama of the Civil War. Among his other plays are Zaza, May Blossom, Men and Women, La Belle liiisse, Vaicrie, and Du Barry, the last suggested at least by Jean Richepin's play of the same name. Of his "recent productions, a farce called yauqhtt/ Anthony (Washington. D. C. December 21, 1899) and a dramatization of John Luther Long's Madame Butterfly (Herald Square Theatre, !March 5, 1900) have been in a somewhat new vein, and were notably well received.

BELAY' (probably from Dutch heleggen, nautical term of same meaning). A term which signifies to stop. A rope is belayed by winding it around a cleat, cavil, bitt. or belaying-pin. To prevent the turns from unwinding they are usvially put on in figure-of-eiglit fashion, one loop around one end of the cleat or pin, the other around the other end.

Belaying-Cavils are large w-ooden belaying- pins, of rectangular section, but with rounded corners, built permanently into pin-rails or fife- rails. They are intended for ropes too large to be conveniently belayed on pins of the ordinary type, or as friction-jjins around which large ropes are taken when lowering heavy weights. Belaying-Cle.4-T. a piece of wood or metal bolted to some part of the structure of a ship for the jjurjjose of bela_ving ropes. The cleat has two horns aromid which rope is belayed as about a belaying-pin; the section of an ordinary cleat is not unlike a letter H, one side of which is bolted to the ship's structure, leaving the other free for belaying purposes.

Belayixg-Pix. a short tar of iron, brass, or wood used for the belaying of ropes. The pin varies in length from 10 to 18 inches, and in diameter from three-quarters of an inch to an inch and a half. The pins are put through holes in wooden rails, called pin-rails, or fife-rails, according as they are out at the side of the ship, or inboard, and partly surrounding a mast; and they are prevented from falling out of the rail by a shoulder a little above the middle of their length.

BELBEIS, bel-bfis'. An Egyptian town situ- ated about 30 miles northeast of Cairo (Map: Egypt, E 2). It is on the caravan route to Syria, and on the railway line connecting Suez with Cairo. Its poimlation is about 8000. In the vicinity of Belbeis are the ruins of Bubastis (q.v.).

BELCH, Sir Toby. A rollicking character in Shakespeare's comedy, Twelfth night, who, with Sir Andrew Aguecheek, the clown, and Maria, lead ilalvolio, the steward, to believe that the Lady Olivia is in love with him.

BELCH'ER, Sir Edward (1799-1877). An English admiral. He entered the navy in 1812, and in 1816 took part in the bombardment of Algiers. In 1825 he accompanied Captain Beechey on his expedition to Bering's Strait, and in 1829 he was raised to the rank of com- mander. In 1836 he was appointed to the com- mand of the Sulphur, and for three years was employed in surveying the west coast of America. Returning by the western route, he rendered im- portant services in the Canton River to Lord Gougli, whose successes over the Chinese were greatly due to Belcher's soundings and recon- naissances. On his return he published a nar- rative of the voyage, and in 1843 was made a post-captain, and knighted. In 1852 he was appointed to the command of an expedition sent out l)y the Government to search for Sir John Franklin. He published The Last of the Arctic Voyages (1855) ; Narrative of c Voyage to the East Indies in ISJfS-.'iS; and otiier works. In 1801 he became rear-admiral of the red. in 1866 vice-admiral, in 1807 K.C.B., and in 1872 rear- admiral.