[1] The origin of the postpositions is discussed in the article
HINDOSTANI.
BIHARI-LAL, a name famous in Hindustani literature as the author of the
_Sat-sai_, a collection of approximately seven hundred distichs, which
is perhaps the most celebrated Hindi work of poetic art, as
distinguished from narrative and simpler styles. The language is the
form of Hindi called _Braj-bhasha_, spoken in the country about Mathura,
where the poet lived. The couplets are inspired by the Krishna side of
Vishnu-worship, and the majority of them take the shape of amorous
utterances of Radha, the chief of the Gopis or cowherd maidens of Braj,
and her divine lover, the son of Vasudeva. Each couplet is independent
and complete in itself, and is a triumph of skill in compression of
language, felicity of description, and rhetorical artifice. The
distichs, in their collected form, are arranged, not in any sequence of
narrative or dialogue, but according to the technical classification of
the sentiments which they convey as set forth in the treatises on Indian
rhetoric.
Little is known of the author beyond what he himself tells us. He was
born in Gwalior, spent his boyhood in Bundelkhand, and on his marriage
settled in his father-in-law's household in Mathura. His father was
named Kesab Ray; he was a twiceborn (_Dwija_) by caste, which is
generally understood to mean that he was a Brahman, though some assert
that he belonged to the mixed caste, now called Ray, sprung from the
offspring of a Brahman father by a Kshatriya mother. A couplet in the
_Sat-sai_ states that it was completed in A.D. 1662. It is certain that
his patron, whom he calls Jai Shah, was the Raja of Amber or Jaipur,
known as Mirza Jai Singh, who ruled from 1617 to 1667 during the reigns
of the emperors Jahangir, Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb. A couplet (No. 705)
appears to refer to an event which occurred in 1665, and in which Raja
Jai Singh was concerned. For this prince the couplets were composed, and
for each _doha_ the poet is said to have received a gold piece worth
sixteen rupees.
The collection very soon became celebrated. As the couplets are
independent one of another, and were put together fortuitously as
composed, many different recensions exist; but the standard is that
settled by an assembly of poets under the direction of Prince A'zam
Shah, the third son of the emperor Aurangzeb (1653-1707), and hence
called the A'zam-shahi; it comprises 726 couplets. The estimation in
which the work is held may be measured by the number of commentators who
have devoted themselves to its elucidation, of whom Dr Grierson mentions
seventeen. Two of them were Musalmans, and two other commentaries were
composed for Musalman patrons. The collection has also twice been
translated into Sanskrit.
The best-known commentary is that of Lallu-ji-Lal, entitled the
_Lala-chandrika_. The author was employed by Dr Gilchrist in the
College of Fort William, where he finished his commentary in 1818. A
critical edition of it has been published by Dr G.A. Grierson
(Calcutta, government of India Press, 1896). (C. J. L.)
BIJAPUR, an ancient city and modern district of British India in the
southern division of Bombay. It is a station on the Southern Mahratta
railway, 60 m. S. of Sholapur. The ancient city was supplied with water
by an elaborate underground system of reservoirs and aqueducts, which
has been restored in part as a famine relief work. The population in.
1901 was 23,811. The city used to be the extensive, splendid and opulent
capital of an independent sovereignty of the same name, but now retains
only the vestiges of its former grandeur. It is still, however, the most
picturesque collection of ruins in India. The city of Bijapur owed its
greatness to Yusuf Adil Shah, the founder of the independent state of
Bijapur. It consists of three distinct portions--the citadel, the fort
and the remains of the city. The citadel, built by Yusuf Adil Shah, a
mile in circuit, is of great strength, well built of the most massive
materials, and encompassed by a ditch 100 yds. wide, formerly supplied
with water, but now nearly filled up with rubbish, so that its original
depth cannot be discovered. Within the citadel are the remains of Hindu
temples, which prove that Bijapur was an important town in
pre-Mahommedan times. The fort, which was completed by Ali Adil Shah in
1566, is surrounded by a wall 6 m. in circumference. This wall is from
30 to 50 ft. high, and is strengthened with ninety-six massive bastions
of various designs. In addition there are ten others at the various
gateways. The width is about 25 ft.; from bastion to bastion runs a
battlemented curtained wall about 10 ft. high. The whole is surrounded
by a deep moat 30 to 40 ft. broad. Inside these walls the Bijapur kings
bade defiance to all comers. Outside the walls are the remains of a vast
city, now for the most part in ruins, but the innumerable tombs,
mosques, caravanserais and other edifices, which have resisted the havoc
of time, afford abundant evidence of the ancient splendour of the place.
Among its many buildings three are specially worthy of mention. The Gol
Gunbaz, or tomb of Sultan Mahommed Adil Shah, which was built 1626-1656,
is one of the most interesting buildings in the world. It is a square
building, 135 ft. each way, which is surmounted by a great circular dome
198 ft. high. The inside area (18,360 ft.) is greater than the Pantheon
at Rome (15,833 sq. ft.). When first built the dome was covered by gold
leaf, and the outer walls were adorned with stucco work picked out in
gold and blue, but to-day there are very few traces of this
ornamentation. Of late years this mosque has been thoroughly restored,
and one portion is now used as a museum in which all objects of interest
discovered in the surrounding country are exhibited. Next to this comes
the Ibrahim Roza, or tomb and mosque of Ibrahim Adil Shah II., which was
completed about 1620 and is supposed to be one of the most exquisite
buildings in the world after the Taj at Agra. It is said to have cost
L1,700,000 and to have occupied thirty-six years in its construction.
The Gagan Mahal, or ancient audience hall, is now a mass of ruins, but
when complete must have been a beautiful building. The archway remains.
It is over 60 ft. span and about 90 ft. high. Through this arch Sikandar
Adil Shah, the last king of Bijapur, was brought bound with silver
chains, while on a raised platform sat Aurangzeb, the Mogul emperor, who
had left Delhi three years previously to conquer the Deccan. This
magnificent palace, where so many scenes historic in the Bijapur dynasty
occurred, is now the abode of hundreds of pigeons. Their cooing is the
only sound that breaks the silence of the old halls.
_History._--The founder of the Bijapur dynasty, Yusuf Adil Shah, is said
by Ferishta to have been a son of the Ottoman sultan Murad II. When on
his accession Mahommed II. gave orders for the strangling of all his
brothers, Yusuf was saved by a stratagem of his mother. He went to
India, where he took service under the Bahmani king of the Deccan, and
ultimately became a person of great importance at the court of Mahmud
II. In 1489 he took advantage of the break-up of the Bahmani power to
establish himself as an independent sultan at Bijapur, his dominions
including Goa on the west coast. He died in 1511 (Goa had been taken by
the Portuguese a few months before), and was succeeded by his son
Ismail, who reigned prosperously till 1534. The next king worth
mentioning is Ali Adil Shah I., who reigned from 1557 to 1579 and,
besides the fort, built the Jama Masjid or great mosque, the aqueducts
and other notable works in the city. His son Ibrahim (d. 1626)
maintained the prosperity of the state; but under his successor,
Mahommed Adil Shah (d. 1656), the rise of the Mahratta power under
Sivaji began to make inroads upon it, and it was exposed to the yet more
formidable ambition of Shah Jahan. On the death of Mahommed the
succession passed to Ali Adil Shah II., and on his death in 1672 to his
infant son, Sikandar Adil Shah, the last of the race. The kingdom had
been for some time rapidly falling to ruin, and in 1686 the Mogul
emperor Aurangzeb, who as Shah Jahan's general had unsuccessfully
besieged the city under Mahommed Adil Shah, took Bijapur and annexed the
kingdom to the Delhi empire. Among the curiosities of the capital is the
celebrated monster gun (Malik-i-Maidan), stated to be the largest piece
of cast bronze ordnance in the world. It was captured from the king of
Ahmednagar by the king of Bijapur about the middle of the 17th century.
An inscription on the gun recording that fact was erased by Aurangzeb,
who substituted the present inscription stating that he conquered
Bijapur in 1686. The city and territory of Bijapur remained annexed to
Delhi till 1724, when the nizam established his independence in the
Deccan, and included Bijapur within his dominions. His sway over this
portion of his acquisitions, however, was of brief duration; for, being
defeated by the Peshwa in 1760, he was compelled to purchase peace by
its cession to the Mahrattas. Upon the fall of the Peshwa in 1818
Bijapur passed into the hands of the British, and was by them included
in the territory assigned to the raja of Satara. In 1848 the territory
of Satara was escheated through the failure of heirs. The city was made
the administrative headquarters of the district in 1885.
The district of Bijapur, formerly called Kaladgi, occupies a barren
plain, sloping eastward from a string of feudatory Mahratta states to
the nizam's dominions. It contains an area of 5669 sq. m., and its
population in 1901 was 735,435, showing a decrease of 8% compared with
an increase of 27% in the preceding decade, and a decrease of 21% in the
period between 1872 and 1881. These changes in population reveal the
effects of famine, which was very severely felt in 1876-1878 and again
in 1899-1000. There is very little irrigation in the district. The
principal crops are millet, wheat, pulse, oil-seeds and cotton. There
are considerable manufactures of cotton and silk goods and blankets, and
several factories for ginning and pressing cotton. The East Deccan line
of the Southern Mahratta railway traverses the district from north to
south.
BIJAWAR, a native state of central India, in the Bundelkhand agency.
Area, 973 sq. m.; pop. (1901) 110,500; revenue, L10,000. Forests cover
nearly half the total area of the state, which is believed to be rich in
minerals, but lack of transport facilities has hindered the development
of its resources.
The state takes its name from the chief town, Bijawar (pop. in 1901,
5220), which was founded by Bijai Singh, one of the Gond chiefs of Garha
Mandla, in the 17th century. It was conquered in the 18th century by
Chhatarsal, the founder of Panna, a Rajput of the Bundela clan, by whose
descendants it is still held. It was confirmed to Ratan Singh in 1811 by
the British government for the usual deed of allegiance. In 1857 Bhan
Pratap Singh rendered signal services to the British during the Mutiny,
being rewarded with certain privileges and a hereditary salute of eleven
guns. In 1866 he received the title of maharaja, and the prefix _sawai_
in 1877. Bhan Pratap was succeeded on his death in 1899 by his adopted
son, Sanwant Singh, a son of the maharaja of Orchha.
BIJNOR, or BIJNAUR, a town and district of British India in the Bareilly
division of the United Provinces. The town is about 3 m. from the left
bank of the Ganges. The population in 1901 was 17,583. There is a large
trade in sugar. The American Methodists have a mission, which maintains
some aided schools, and there is an English high school for boys.
The DISTRICT OF BIJNOR has an area of 1791 sq. m. The aspect of the
country is generally a level plain, but the northern part of it rises
towards the Himalayas, the greatest elevation being 1342 ft. above the
sea-level. The Koh and Ramganga are the principal rivers that flow
through the district, and the Ganges forms its western boundary. In 1901
the population was 779,451, showing a decrease of 2% in the decade. The
country is watered in most parts by streams from the hills, but a series
of small canals has been constructed. Sugar is largely exported. A line
of the Oudh & Rohilkhand railway from Moradabad to Saharanpur runs
through the district.
_History._--Of the early history of Bijnor even after it passed under
Mahommedan rule little is known with any certainty. The district was
ravaged by Timur in 1399, and thenceforward nothing is heard of it till
the time of Akbar, when it formed part of the Delhi empire and so
continued undisturbed, save for occasional raids, so long as the power
of the Moguls survived intact. In the early part of the 18th century,
however, the Rohilla Pathans established their independence in the
country called by them Rohilkhand; and about 1748 the Rohilla chief Ali
Mahommed made his first annexations in Bijnor, the rest of which soon
fell under the Rohilla domination. The northern districts were granted
by Ali Mahommed to Najib Khan, who gradually extended his influence west
of the Ganges and at Delhi, receiving the title of Najib-ud-daula and
becoming paymaster of the royal forces. His success, however, raised up
powerful enemies against him, and at their instigation the Mahrattas
invaded Bijnor. This was the beginning of a feud which continued for
years. Najib, indeed, held his own, and for the part played by him in
the victory of Panipat was made vizier of the empire. After his death in
1770, however, his son Zabita Khan was defeated by the Mahrattas, who
overran all Rohilkhand. In 1772 the nawab of Oudh made a treaty with the
Rohillas, covenanting to expel the Mahrattas in return for a money
payment. He carried out his part of the bargain; but the Rohilla
chieftains refused to pay. In 1774 the nawab concluded with the
government of Calcutta a treaty of alliance, and he now called upon the
British, in accordance with its terms, to supply a brigade to assist him
in enforcing his claims against the Rohillas. This was done; the
Rohillas were driven beyond the Ganges, and Bijnor was incorporated in
the territories of the nawab, who in 1801 ceded it to the East India
Company. From this time the history of Bijnor is uneventful, until the
Mutiny of 1857, when (on the 1st of June) it was occupied by the nawab
of Najibabad a grandson of Zabita Khan. In spite of fighting between the
Hindus and the Mahommedan Pathans the nawab succeeded in maintaining his
position until the 21st of April 1858, when he was defeated by the
British at Nagina; whereupon British authority was restored.
BIKANIR, a native state of India, in the Rajputana agency with an area
of 23,311 sq. m. The natural aspect of the country is one desolate
tract, without a single permanently running stream. Its surface is
overspread with undulating sand-hills of from 20 to 100 ft. above the
average level, and so loose that men and quadrupeds stepping off the
beaten track sink as if in snow. Two streams, the Katli and Ghaggar,
attempt to flow through this dismal region, but are lost in its sands.
Water is very scarce, and is raised from wells of from 250 to 340 ft. in
depth. A few shallow salt lakes are filled by rain water, but they dry
up on the setting in of the hot weather, leaving a thick crust of salt
on their beds, which is used for commercial and domestic purposes. The
inhabitants are very poor. They live chiefly by pasturage--rearing
camels, of which their chief agricultural stock consists, and horses of
a fine breed, which fetch good prices. From the wool which their sheep
yield they manufacture every article of native dress and good blankets.
The other industries are leather work, sugar-refining, goldsmith's work,
ivory carving, iron, brass, copper, stone masonry, tanning, weaving,
dyeing and carpentry. The principal towns are Bikanir, the capital,
Churu, Rajgarh, Ratangarh and Reni. In 1901 the population was 584,627,
showing a decrease of 30% due to the results of famine. The revenue is
L141,000. The military force consists of 500 men, besides the Imperial
Service Corps of the same strength. The schools include a high school
affiliated to the university of Allahabad, a school for the sons of
nobles, and a girls' school called after Lady Elgin. The railway from
Jodhpur has been extended towards Bhatinda in the Punjab; on the
northern border, the Ghaggar canal in the Punjab irrigates about 5000
acres. Drought is of common occurrence. The famine of 1899-1900 was
severely felt. The city of Bikanir has a railway station. The city is
surrounded by a stone wall, 6 ft. thick, 15 to 30 ft. high and 31/2 m. in
circuit, with five gates and three sally-ports. The citadel is half a
mile north-east of the city, and is surrounded by a rampart with
bastions. The population in 1901 was 53,075. There are manufactures of
fine blankets and sugar-candy.
_History._--In the 15th century the territory which now forms the state
of Bikanir was occupied by Rajput clans, partly Jats, partly
Mahommedans. About 1465 Bika, a Rathor Rajput, sixth son of Rao Jodha,
chief of Marwar, started out to conquer the country. By taking advantage
of the rivalries of the clans he succeeded; in 1485 he built the small
fort at the capital which still bears his name, and in 1488 began the
building of the city itself. He died in 1504, and his successors
gradually extended their possessions. In the reign of Akbar the chiefs
of Bikanir were esteemed among the most loyal adherents of the Delhi
empire, and in 1570 Akbar married a daughter of Kalyan Singh. Kalyan's
son, Rai Singh, who succeeded him in 1571, was one of Akbar's most
distinguished generals and the first raja of Bikanir; his daughter
married Selim, afterwards the emperor Jahangir. Two other distinguished
chiefs of the house were Karan Singh (1631-1669), who in the struggle of
the sons of Shah Jahan for the throne threw in his lot with Aurangzeb,
and his eldest son, Anup Singh (1669-1698), who fought with distinction
in the Deccan, was conspicuous in the capture of Golconda, and earned
the title of maharaja. From this time forward the history of Bikanir was
mainly that of the wars with Jodhpur, which raged intermittently
throughout the 18th century. In 1802, during one of these wars,
Elphinstone passed through Bikanir on his way to Kabul; and the
maharaja, Surat Singh (1788-1828), applied to him for British
protection, which was, however, refused. In 1815 Surat Singh's tyranny
led to a general rising of his _thakurs_, and in 1816 the maharaja again
applied for British protection. On the 9th of May 1818 a treaty was
concluded, and order was restored in the country by British troops.
Ratan Singh, who succeeded his father in 1828, applied in vain in 1830
to the British government for aid against a fresh outbreak of his
_thakurs_; but during the next five years dacoity became so rife on the
borders that the government raised a special force to deal with it (the
Shakhawati Brigade), and of this for seven years Bikanir contributed
part of the cost. Henceforth the relations of the maharajas with the
British government were increasingly cordial. In 1842 Ratan Singh
supplied camels for the Afghan expedition; in 1844 he reduced the dues
on goods passing through his country, and he gave assistance in both
Sikh campaigns. His son, Sardar Singh (1851-1872), was rewarded for help
given during the Mutiny by an increase of territory. In 1868 a rising of
the _thakurs_ against his extortions led to the despatch of a British
political officer, by whom affairs were adjusted. Sardar Singh had no
son, and on his death in 1872 his widow and principal ministers selected
Dungar Singh as his successor, with the approval of the British
government. The principal event of his reign was the rebellion of the
_thakurs_ in 1883, owing to an attempt to increase the dues payable in
lieu of military service; this led to the permanent location at Bikanir
of a British political agent. Dungar Singh died in 1887 without a son,
but he had adopted his brother, Ganga Singh (b. 1880), who succeeded as
21st chief of Bikanir with the approval of the government. He was
educated at the Mayo College at Ajmere, and was invested with full
powers in 1898. He attended King Edward's coronation in 1902, and
accompanied the British army in person in the Chinese campaign of 1901
in command of the Bikanir Camel Corps, which also did good service in
Somaliland in 1904. The state owes to this ruler the opening up of new
railways across the great desert, which was formerly passable only by
camels, and the tapping of the valuable coal deposits that occur in the
territory. For his conspicuous services he was given the Kaisar-i-Hind
medal of the first class, made an honorary major in the Indian army, a
G.C.I.E., a K.C.S.I., and A.D.C. to the prince of Wales.
BILASPUR, a town and district of British India in the Chhattisgarh
division of the Central Provinces. The town is situated on the right
bank of the river Arpa. It is said to have been founded by a fisherwoman
named Bilasa in the 17th century, and it still retains her name. The
place, however, came into note only after 1741, the year of the Mahratta
invasion (see below), when a Mahratta official took up his abode there
and began to build a fort which was never completed. In 1862 it was made
the headquarters of the district. The population in 1901 was 18,937. It
is an important junction on the Bengal-Nagpur railway, where the two
lines from the west meet on their way to Calcutta, 255 m. from Nagpur.
The DISTRICT of BILASPUR has an area of 7602 sq. m. It forms the upper
half of the basin of the river Mahanadi. It is almost enclosed on the
north, west and east by ranges of hills, while its southern boundary is
generally open and accessible, well cultivated, and closely dotted with
villages embedded in groups of fruit trees. The principal hills are--(1)
the Maikal range, situated in the north-western extremity of the
district; (2) a chain of hills forming part of the Vindbyan range, on
the north; (3) the Korba hills, an off-shoot of the Vindhyas, on the
eastern boundary; and (4) the Sonakhan block of hills, in the vicinity
of the Mahanadi river. The Mahanadi is the principal river of the
district, and governs the whole drainage and river system of the
surrounding country. It takes its rise in a mountainous region which is
described as the wildest of all wild parts of the Central Provinces,
crosses the Bilaspur boundary near Seorinarain, and after a course of 25
m. in the south-eastern extremity of the district enters Sambalpur
district. Within Bilaspur the river is everywhere navigable for six
months in the year. Minor rivers are the Sakri, Hamp, Tesua, Agar,
Maniari, Arpa, Kharod, Lilagar, Jonk and Bareri. The most important
affluents of the Mahanadi are the Seonath and Hasdu. Besides the natural
water supply afforded by the rivers, Bilaspur abounds in tanks. There
are large forest areas, those belonging to the government covering over
600 sq. m. Sal (_Shorea robusta_) is the chief timber tree.
Bilaspur, which was formerly a very isolated tract, is now traversed in
three directions by lines of the Bengal-Nagpur railway. It suffered
severely from the famine of 1896-1897. In 1897 the general death-rate
was as high as 90 per thousand, rising to 297 in Bilaspur town. It
suffered no less severely in 1900, when in May the number of persons
relieved rose to one-fourth of the total population.
In 1901 the population was 1,012,972, showing a decrease of 13%,
compared with an increase of 14% in the preceding decade. In 1906,
however, the new district of Drug was formed, which took away 739 sq. m.
from Bilaspur; the population on this reduced area of Bilaspur in 1901
was 917,240.
Among the Hindu inhabitants of the district, the Chamars and Pankas
deserve particular notice. The former, who form the shoemaker and
leather-dealing caste of the Hindu community, had always been held in
utter contempt by the other Hindu castes. But between 1820 and 1830 a
religious movement, having for its object their freedom from the
trammels of caste, was inaugurated by a member of the caste, named Ghasi
Das, who preached the unity of God and the equality of men. Ghasi Das
gave himself out as a messenger of God; he prohibited the adoration of
idols, and enjoined the worship of the Supreme Being without any visible
sign or representation. The followers of the new faith call themselves
_Satnamis_, or the worshippers of _Satnam_ or God. They do not keep the
Hindu festivals and they defy the contempt of the Brahmans. Ghasi Das,
the founder of the faith, was their first high priest. He died in 1850;
his son succeeded him, but was assassinated (it was said by the Hindus),
and the grandson succeeded him. The Pankas, who form about a sixth of
the population, are all Kabirpanthis, or followers of Kabir, a religious
reformer of the 15th century. There is no great difference between the
Kabir Pankas and the Satnamis. They both abstain from meat and liquor,
marry at the age of puberty, ordinarily celebrate their ceremonies
through the agency of the elders of their own caste and bury their dead.
The Pankas worship the Supreme Being under the name of _Kabir_, and the
Chamars under the name of _Satnam_; while each community has a high
priest to whom reverence is paid. At present the majority of the Pankas
are cultivators, though formerly all were weavers. The Gonds are the
most numerous among the aboriginal tribes, but so great an intermixture
has taken place between them and the Hindu races that they have lost
their language and most of their ethnical characteristics, such as the
flat forehead, squat nose, prominent nostril, dark skin, &c., and are
scarcely distinguishable from the other classes of the Hindu labouring
population. In addition to some of the Hindu deities which they worship,
the Gonds have their own gods--Bara Deva and Dula Deva. The Kanwars are
the next largest section of the aboriginal population. The upper class
among them claim to be Rajputs, and are divided into numerous septs.
Although an aboriginal tribe, the census returns them as a Hindu caste.
All the northern landholders of Bilaspur belong to this tribe, which
consequently occupies an influential position.
The chief wealth of the district consists in its agricultural produce.
Rice, wheat, pulses, millet, mustard, oil-seeds and cotton are the chief
crops. Rice, the chief export, is sent to Bombay, Berar and northern
India. The tussur silk industry is of considerable importance, and the
silk is reputed the best in the Central Provinces. Sal and other timber
is exported. Lac is sent in large quantities to Calcutta and Mirzapur.
Coal and iron are the chief minerals; sandstone for building purposes is
quarried near Bilaspur and Seorinarain. Among local industries the most
important is the weaving trade.
The early history of the district is very obscure. From remote ages it
was governed by kings of the Haihai dynasty of Ratanpur and Raipur,
known as the Chhattisgarh rajas, on account of thirty-six forts
(_garhs_), of which they were the lords. A genealogical list of kings of
this dynasty was carefully kept up to the fifty-fifth representative in
the year 1741, when the country was seized without a struggle by the
Mahrattas of Nagpur. From 1818 to 1830 Bilaspur came under the
management of the British government, the Mahratta chief of Nagpur being
then a minor. In 1854 the country finally lapsed to the British
government, the chief having died without issue. During the Sepoy mutiny
a hill chief of the district gave some trouble, but he was speedily
captured and executed.
BILBAO, formerly sometimes written BILBOA, the capital of the province
of Biscay, in northern Spain; in 43 deg. 15' N. and 2 deg. 45' W.; on the river
Nervion on Ansa (in Basque _Ibaizabal_), and about 8 m. inland from the
Bay of Biscay. Pop. (1900) 83,306. Bilbao is one of the principal
seaports of Spain, and the greatest of Basque towns. It occupies a small
but fertile and beautiful valley, shut in by mountains on every side
except towards the sea, and containing the fortified haven of
Portugalete, the industrial town of Baracaldo (q.v.), and the villages
of Santurce and Las Arenas, where the Nervion broadens to form the Bay
of Bilbao at its mouth. Bilbao comprises two distinct parts, ancient and
modern. The new town lies on the left bank, while the old town rises on
the right in terraces. Communication across the river is afforded by
five bridges, of which the oldest, San Antonio, is of stone, and dates
from the 14th century. The houses in the principal streets are built of
hewn stone, and are several storeys high, with projecting eaves that
give shelter from both sun and rain. Many of the streets in the old town
are very narrow, and have an appearance of cleanliness and quiet. For a
long time no carts or carriages were permitted to enter the city for
fear of polluting and injuring the pavement, and the transport of goods
was carried on in hand-carts. But after 1876 entirely new districts were
mapped out on the left bank of the Nervion. Fine broad streets, splendid
squares and public gardens, hotels, villas, palatial new public
buildings and numerous schools came into existence. The part of the town
on the right bank is, however, still the great centre of business, the
narrow streets containing the best shops. There, too, are the banks, the
town hall, the theatre, the principal clubs, and the principal churches,
including that of Santiago, which dates from the 14th century. In and
around Bilbao there are more than thirty convents and monasteries, and
at Olaveaga, about a mile off, is the Jesuit university, attended by 850
students. Public education is not, however, entirely in the hands of the
priesthood and nuns; there are an institute, a normal school to train
teachers, a school of arts and handicrafts, a nautical school and
numerous public primary schools for both sexes.
Few Spanish cities grew so rapidly in size, importance and wealth as
Bilbao in the latter half of the 19th century. Its first bank was
founded in 1857; its first railway (Bilbao-Tudela) opened in 1863.
Thenceforward, despite the check it received from the Carlist rebellion
of 1870-1876, and the contemporaneous decline of its wool and
shipbuilding industries, its prosperity increased steadily. The
population, 17,649 in 1870, rose to 50,734 in 1887, 74,076 in 1897, and
83,306 in 1900. This development was due principally to the growth of
the mining and metallurgical industries. From a very early period, as
the Old English word _bilbo_, "a sword," attests, Bilbao was celebrated
for the excellent quality of its steel blades; in modern times it was
the natural headquarters of the important steel and iron trades of the
Basque Provinces. Hence it became the centre of a network of railway
lines unsurpassed in Spain. The harbour works board, constituted in
1877, improved the river channel and the bar; made wharves and
embankments; lighted the lower reaches of the river by electricity, so
as to allow vessels to enter by night; and constructed a breakwater and
counter-mole outside the bar of the river Nervion, between Santurce,
Portugalete and the opposite headland at the village of Algorta, so as
to secure deep anchorage and easy access to the river. The first dry
dock was constructed in 1896; in 1905 it was supplemented by another,
the largest in Spain. The exports are chiefly iron; the imports coal;
large quantities of wine from Navarre and the Ebro valley are also sent
abroad, and the importation of timber of all kinds from Scandinavia and
Finland, and coastwise from Asturias, is of great importance. In the
coasting trade the exports are mostly pig-iron, codfish and some
products of local industries and agriculture. The shipping at Bilbao is
mainly Spanish, owing to the multitude of small vessels employed in the
coasting trade; but from 1880 onwards the majority of foreign ships were
British. In 1904, 3319 vessels of 2,267,957 tons were accommodated at
Bilbao; more than 2000 were Spanish and nearly 700 British. In the same
year new harbour works and lighting arrangements were undertaken on a
large scale, and a movement was initiated for the revival of
shipbuilding. Besides the mining and metallurgic industries, Bilbao has
breweries, tanneries, flour mills, glass works, brandy distilleries, and
paper, soap, cotton and mosaic factories.
Bilbao, or Belvao, as it was often called, was founded by Don Pedro
Lopez de Haro about 1300, and soon rose into importance. It was occupied
by the French in 1795, and from 1808 to 1813; and in 1835 and 1874 it
was unavailingly besieged by the Carlists.
BILBEIS, or BELBES, a town of lower Egypt, on the eastern arm of the
Nile, 36 m. N.N.E. of Cairo by rail. Pop. (1907) 13,485. The Coptic
name, Phelbes, seems to have been derived from Egyptian, but nothing is
known of the place before medieval times. Considered the bulwark of the
kingdom on that side, Bilbeis was by the Moslems defended with strong
fortifications. In 1163-1164 it was besieged for three months by the
crusaders under Amalric, and in 1168 was captured and pillaged by
another army of crusaders. Napoleon in 1798 ordered the restoration of
the fortifications, but they have again fallen into decay. Bilbeis was
the first halting-place of the English cavalry in their march on Cairo
after the fight at Tel-el-Kebir on the 13th of September 1882.
BILBERRY, BLAEBERRY or WHORTLEBERRY, known botanically as _Vaccinium
myrtillus_ (natural order Ericaceae), a low-growing shrub, found in
woods, copses and on heaths, chiefly in hilly districts. The stiff
stems, from half a foot to two feet long, bear small ovate leaves with a
serrate margin, and small, globose, rosy flowers tinged with green. The
berries are dark blue, with a waxy bloom, and about one-third of an inch
in diameter; they are used for tarts, preserves, &c. The plant is widely
distributed throughout the north temperate and extends into the arctic
zone. Cowberry is a closely allied species, _V. Vitis-Idaea_, growing in
similar situations, but not found in the south-eastern portion of
England, distinguished by its evergreen leaves and red acid berry.
BILBO (from the Spanish town Bilbao, formerly called in England
"Bilboa," and famous, like Toledo, for its sword-blades), in the
earliest English use, a sword, especially one of superior temper. In the
plural form (as in Shakespeare's phrase "methought I lay worse than the
mutines in the bilboes") it meant the irons into which offenders were
put on board ship.
BILDERDIJK, WILLEM (1756-1831), Dutch poet, the son of an Amsterdam
physician, was born on the 7th of September 1756. When he was six years
old an accident to his foot incapacitated him for ten years, and he
developed habits of continuous and concentrated study. His parents were
ardent partisans of the house of Orange, and Bilderdijk grew up with
strong monarchical and Calvinistic convictions. He was, says Da Costa,
"anti-revolutionary, anti-Barneveldtian, anti-Loevesteinish,
anti-liberal." After studying at Leiden University, he obtained his
doctorate in law in 1782, and began to practise as an advocate at the
Hague. Three years later he contracted an unhappy marriage with Rebecca
Woesthoven. He refused in 1795 to take the oath to the new
administration, and was consequently obliged to leave Holland. He went
to Hamburg, and then to London, where his great learning procured him
consideration. There he had as a pupil Katharina Wilhelmina
Schweickhardt (1776-1830), the daughter of a Dutch painter and herself a
poet. When he left London in June 1797 for Braunschweig, this lady
followed him, and after he had formally divorced his first wife (1802)
they were married. In 1806 he was persuaded by his friends to return to
Holland. He was kindly received by Louis Napoleon, who made him his
librarian, and a member and eventually president (1809-1811) of the
Royal Institute. After the abdication of Louis Napoleon he suffered
great poverty; on the accession of William of Orange in 1813 he hoped to
be made a professor, but was disappointed and became a history tutor at
Leiden. He continued his vigorous campaign against liberal ideas to his
death, which took place at Haarlem on the 18th of December 1831.
A picture of the Bilderdijk household is given in the letters (vol. v.,
1850) of Robert Southey, who stayed some time with Bilderdijk in 1825.
Madame Bilderdijk had translated _Roderick_ into Dutch (1823-1824). For
his work as a poet see DUTCH LITERATURE. His many-sided activity showed
itself also in historical criticism--_Geschiedenis des Vaderlands_
(1832-1851, 13 vols.), a conservative commentary on Wagenaar's
_Vaderlandsche Historie_; in translations from Sophocles (1779 and
1789), of part of the _Iliad_, of the hymns and epigrams of Callimachus,
and from the Latin poets; in philology--_Taal en Dichtkundige
Verscheidenheden_ (1820-1825, 4 vols.); and in drama--the tragedies,
_Floris de Vijfde_ (1808), _Willem I. van Holland_ (1808), and others.
His most important poetical works are the didactic poem, _De Ziekte der
geleerden_ ("The Disease of the Learned"), 2 vols., 1807; a descriptive
poem in the manner of Delille in _Het Buitenleven_ (1803); and his
fragmentary epic, _De Ondergang der eerste wereld_ (1820). Other volumes
were _Mijne Verlustigung_ (Leiden, 1781), _Bloemtjens_ (1785),
_Mengel-poezij_ (1799, 2 vols.), _Poezij_ (1803-1807, 4 vols.),
_Mengelingen_ (1804-1808, 4 vols.), _Nieuwe Mengelingen_ (1806, 2
vols.), _Hollands Verlossing_ (1813-1814, 2 vols.), _Vaderlandsche
Uitboezemingen_ (Leiden, 1815), _Winterbloemen_ (1811, 2 vols.), &c., in
some of which his wife collaborated.
His poetical works were collected by I. da Costa (Haarlem, 1856-1859,
16 vols.), with a biography of the poet. See also "Mijne
Levensbeschrijving" in _Mengelingen en Fragmenten_ ... (1834); his
_Brieven_ (ed. 1836-1837) by I. da Costa and W. Messchert; Dr R.A.
Kollewijn, _Bilderdijk, Zijn Leven en werken_ ... (2 vols., 1891).
BILEJIK (Byzantine _Belocome_), chief town of the Ertoghrul sanjak of
the Brusa vilayet in Asia Minor, altitude 1900 ft., situated on a hill
21/2 m. from its station on the Ismid-Angora railway. Pop. 10,500
(Moslems, 7200; Christians, 3300). It is an important centre of the silk
industry, and has several silk-spinning factories.
BILFINGER (BUeLFFINGER), GEORG BERNHARD (1693-1750), German philosopher,
mathematician and statesman, son of a Lutheran minister, was born on the
23rd of January 1693, at Kanstatt in Wuerttemberg. As a boy he showed
great aptitude for study, and at first devoted himself to theology, but
under the influence of Wolff's writings he took up mathematics and
philosophy on the lines of Wolff and Leibnitz. Returning to theology, he
attempted to connect it with philosophy in a treatise, _Dilucidationes
philosophicae, de deo, anima humana, mundo_ (Tuebingen, 1725, 1746,
1768). This work, containing nothing original, but giving a clear
representation of Wolff's philosophy, met with great success, and the
author was appointed to the office of preacher at the castle of Tuebingen
and of reader in the school of theology. In 1721, after two years' study
under Wolff, he became professor of philosophy at Halle, and in 1724
professor of mathematics. His friends at Tuebingen disapproved his new
views, and in 1725, on Wolff's recommendation, he was invited by Peter
the Great to lecture in St Petersburg, where he was well received. His
success in winning the prize of a thousand crowns offered for a
dissertation on the cause of gravity by the Academy of Sciences of Paris
secured his return to his native land in 1731. In 1735, largely on
account of his knowledge of military engineering, Duke Charles Alexander
(1733-1737) made him a privy councillor, but his hands were tied owing
to the frivolous atmosphere of the court. On the death of the duke,
however, he became a member of the Regency Council, and devoted himself
with energy and success to the reorganization of the state. In the
departments of education, state-religion, agriculture and commerce, his
administration was uniformly successful, and he became in a real sense
the head of the state. He died at Stuttgart on the 18th of February
1750. After his return from Russia, he won the highest respect at home
and abroad, and Frederick the Great is recorded to have said of him, "He
was a great man whom I shall ever remember with admiration."
Beside the _Dilucidationes_, he wrote:--_De harmonia animi et corporis
humani commentatio_ (Frankfort and Leipzig, 1735; Tuebingen, 1741); _De
origine et permissione mali_ (1724), an account of the Leibnitzian
theodicy.
For his life and times see Tafinger, _Leichenrede_ (Stuttgart, 1750);
Prof. Abel in Moser's _Patriot. Archiv._, 1788, 9, p. 369; Spittler,
_Verm. Schriften_, 13, p. 421; G. Schwab in _Morgenblatt_ (1830). For
his philosophy, see R. Wahl, "Bilfinger's _Monadologie_" (_Zeitschrift
fuer Philos._ vol. 85, pp. 66-92, 202-231 (Leipzig, 1884), E. Zeller,
_Geschichte d. deutsch. Philos. seit Leibnitz_, pp. 283 foll., 294).
BILGE (a corruption of bulge, from Fr. _bouge_, Lat. _bulga_, a bag,
deriving probably from an original Celtic word), the "belly" or widest
part of a cask; the broad horizontal part of a ship's bottom above the
keel; also the lowest interior part of the hull; hence "bilge-water,"
the foul water which collects in the bilge. "Bilge-keels" are pieces of
timber fastened to the bottom of a ship to reduce rolling (see
SHIPBUILDING).
BILHARZIOSIS. In various parts of Africa the inhabitants are liable to
suffer from a form of endemic haematuria caused by the presence of a
parasite in the mucous membrane of the urinary passages. This parasite
was discovered in 1852 by Bilharz, and hence is generally known as
Bilharzia, though it has been more scientifically named Schistosoma
haematobium. The condition to which it gives rise is that of
bilharziosis. (For description and life history of the parasite see
TREMATODES.) In man the parasites and ova have been found in the minute
veins of the bladder, ureter and pelvis of the kidney (more rarely in
other organs), where they infest the mucous and submucous tissues. In an
affected bladder the mucous membrane presents swollen vascular patches
of varying size, or warty prominences on which the urinary salts may be
deposited. The ova often serve as a nucleus for urinary calculi. Similar
changes may take place in the ureter, and the consequent swelling lead
to obstruction to the passage of urine, and if left untreated to
pyelitis and pyonephrosis. If the rectum be affected the mucous membrane
becomes thickened, polypoid growths form and large submucous
haemorrhages may take place.
As to the mode of entrance of this parasite opinion is divided. Some
authorities favour the view that the entrance is through the skin,
urethra or rectum, the result of bathing in infected water; others that
it is taken by the mouth in water or uncooked fish. The symptoms to
which it gives rise are haematuria, pain in the perineal region and a
greater or less degree of anaemia through loss of blood. If the disease
continue, cystitis and its consequent train of symptoms ensue (see
BLADDER AND PROSTATE DISEASES). If the rectum be affected there is
considerable discharge of mucus, and later prolapsus ani may be the
result. But the symptoms vary to a remarkable extent, from the slightest
producing but little discomfort, to the most severe resulting in death.
The liquid extract of male fern is the only drug used with much success.
The symptoms caused by the parasite must be treated as they arise.
Polypoid growths of the rectum must be surgically treated.
BILIN (Czech _Bilina_), a town of Bohemia, Austria, 90 m. N. of Prague
by rail. Pop. (1900) 7871, chiefly German. It is a very old town
situated on the Biela, and contains a 17th-century castle, belonging to
Prince Lobkowitz. In the vicinity of the towns are extensive lignite
mines. Bilin is famous for its mineral springs, the _Biliner
Sauerbrunnen_. They have a temperature of 45.6 deg. F., and contain a large
proportion of bicarbonate of soda. About 4,000,000 bottles of water are
exported annually, and another article of export is the salt recovered
from the water by evaporation. About 5 m. to the S. of the Sauerbrunnen
lies the Boren or Biliner Stein (1763 ft.), a large mass of phonolite or
clinkstone, with rare flora and fine view. The town is indeed surrounded
by basaltic rocks, the largest of them being the Radelstein (2460 ft.),
from which a fine view is obtained.
BILL. There are three words in English with distinct meanings and
derivations. (1) A written, originally sealed, document. The word is
derived from the Early English _bille_, Anglo-Latin _billa_, from Latin
_bulla_, in the medieval sense of "seal." It is a doublet, therefore, of
"bull." (2) A common Teutonic word for a long-handled cutting weapon (O.
Eng. _bil, billes_, sword or falchion, O. Sax. _bill_, M.H.G. _Bil_,
Mod. Ger. _Bille_, a pickaxe; no connexion with Ger. _Beil_, an axe), of
which the name and shape is preserved in the hedging-bills used for
pruning hedges and lopping the branches of trees. For an account of the
weapon see (2) below. (3) The beak of a bird. This may be connected with
(2), but it does not appear in any Teutonic language other than English.
(1) In the sense of a document the word is used in various connexions in
law and commerce.
In the English parliament, and similar legislative bodies, a bill is a
form of statute (q.v.) submitted to either house, which when finally
passed becomes an act. The modern system of legislating by means of bill
and statute appears to have been introduced in the reign of Henry VI.,
superseding the older mode of proceeding by petitions from the Commons,
assented to by the king, and afterwards enrolled by the judges. A bill
consists of a preamble, reciting the necessity for legislation, and
clauses which contain the enactments. (For procedure see PARLIAMENT.)
A _Bill in Chancery_, in former days, in English law, was a written
statement of the plaintiff's case whereby he complained of the wrong
upon which the suit was based and prayed for relief. By the Judicature
Acts 1873 and 1875 its place was taken by a writ and statement of claim
(see PLEADING).
A _Bill of Indictment_ is a presentment against a prisoner, charging him
with an offence, and presented at quarter sessions or assizes to the
grand jury (see INDICTMENT).
A _Bill of Costs_ is an account setting forth the charges and
disbursements incurred by a solicitor in the conduct of his client's
business. The delivery of a bill of costs is by statute a condition
necessary before the solicitor can sue upon it (see COSTS).
A _Bill of Exceptions_ was formerly a statement in writing of objections
to the ruling of a judge, who, at the trial, had mistaken the law,
either in directing the jury, or in refusing or admitting evidence or
otherwise. The bill of exceptions was tendered at any time before the
verdict by counsel of the dissatisfied party, who required the judge to
seal it. The case proceeded to the jury, and judgment being given, the
point raised was brought before a court of error. Bills of exceptions
were confined to civil cases. They were abolished by the Judicature Act
1875, and a "motion for a new trial" substituted (see TRIAL).
A _Bill of Health_ is a document given to the master of a ship by the
consul or other proper authority of the port from which he clears,
describing the sanitary state of the place. A bill of health may be
either "clean," "suspected" or "touched," or "foul." A "clean" bill
imports that at the time the ship sailed, no disease of an infectious or
contagious kind is known to exist, a "suspected" or "touched" bill, that
no such disease has as yet appeared, but that there is reason to fear
it; a "foul" bill, that such a disease actually exists at the time of
the ship's departure. Bills of health are necessary where the
destination of the ship is a country whose laws require the production
of such a bill before the ship is allowed into port, and where, in
default of such production, the ship is subjected to quarantine.
A _Bill of Mortality_ in England was a weekly return issued under the
supervision of the company of parish clerks showing the number of deaths
in a parish. During the Tudor period England suffered much from plague,
and various precautionary measures became necessary. Quarantine or
isolation was the most important, but to carry it out successfully it
was necessary to have early warning of the existence of plague in each
parish or house. For this purpose searchers--usually women--were
appointed, who reported to the clerk the cause of each death in the
parish. He, in turn, sent a report to the parish clerks' hall, from
whence was issued weekly a return of all the deaths from plague and
other causes in the various parishes, as well as a list of those
parishes which were free from plague. Bills of mortality are usually
said to date from 1538, when parish registers were established by
Cromwell (Lord Essex), but there is extant a bill which dates from
August 1535, and one which is possibly even earlier than this. It is
certain that they first began to be compiled in a recognized manner in
December 1603, and they were continued regularly from that date down to
1842, when under the Births and Deaths Registration Act 1836 they were
superseded by the registrar-general's returns. It was not till 1728,
when the _ages_ of the dead were first introduced, that bills of
mortality acquired any considerable statistical value. It was on the
data thus furnished that the science of life insurance was founded.
A _Bill of Particulars_ was, in law, a statement in writing, informing
each party to a suit the precise nature of the case they had to meet. It
contained the plaintiff's cause of action or the defendant's set-off.
Particulars are now usually indorsed on the pleadings (see PLEADING).
A _Bill of Peace_ is, in equity, a suit brought by a person to establish
and perpetuate a right which he claims, and which from its nature may be
controverted by different persons at different times and by different
actions; or where several attempts have already been unsuccessfully made
to overthrow the same right, and justice requires that the party should
be quieted in the right if it is already sufficiently established. Bills
of this nature were usually filed where there was one general right to
be established against a great number of persons, or where one person
claimed or defended a right against many, or where many claimed or
defended a right against one. Thus, a bill might be filed by a parson
for tithes against his parishioners; by parishioners against a parson to
establish a _modus_; by a lord against tenants for an encroachment under
colour of a common right; or by tenants against a lord for disturbance
of a common right. Bills were also filed in cases where the plaintiff
had, after repeated and satisfactory trials, established his right at
law, and yet was in danger of further litigation and obstruction to his
right from new attempts to controvert it. Actions in the nature of bills
of peace are still maintainable.
A _Bill of Sight_ is a document furnished to a collector of customs or
other proper officer by an importer of goods in England, who, being
unable for want of full information to make a perfect entry of goods
consigned to him, describes the same to the best of his knowledge and
information. The goods may then be provisionally landed, but perfect
entry must be made within three days by indorsing on the bill of sight
the necessary particulars. In default of perfect entry within three days
the goods are taken to the king's warehouse, and if perfect entry is not
made within one month and all duties and charges paid, they are sold for
payment thereof. See the Customs Consolidation Act 1876.
A _Bill of Store_ is a license granted by the custom-house to re-import
British goods into the United Kingdom. All British goods re-imported
into the United Kingdom are entered as foreign, unless re-imported
within ten years after their exportation and unless the property in the
goods continues and remains in the person by whom they were exported.
But in such case they may be entered as British goods, by bill of store,
with the exception of corn, grain, meal, flour and hops.
A _Bill of Victualling_ or _Victualling Bill_, in its original meaning,
is a list of all stores for shipment, but now an order from an export
officer of the customs for the shipment from a bonded warehouse or for
drawback of such stores as may be required and allowed with reference to
the number of the crew and passengers on board a ship proceeding on an
oversea voyage. It is made out by the master and countersigned by the
collector of customs. Its object is to prevent frauds on the revenue. No
such stores are supplied for the use of any ship nor any articles taken
on board deemed to be stores unless they are borne upon the victualling
bill, and any such stores relanded at any place in the United Kingdom
without the sanction of the proper officers of the customs will be
forfeited and the master and owner will each be liable to a penalty of
treble the value of the stores or L100. A victualling bill serves as a
certificate of clearance when there is nothing but stores on board the
ship.
See also ADVENTURE, ATTAINDER, INDEMNITY, LETTER OF CREDIT, BILL OF
EXCHANGE, BILL OF RIGHTS and BILL OF SALE; for a _bill of lading_ see
AFFREIGHTMENT. (T. A. I.)
(2) In the sense of a weapon, the primitive forms of a bill suggest
short scythe-blades or hedgers' bill-hooks mounted on tall staves. In
such shape it is found in the hands of the English before the Conquest.
English medieval documents make much confusion between the bill and the
halbert and other forms of staved weapons with cutting heads. Before the
15th century the bill had been reinforced with a pike head above the
curved blade and another jutting at a right angle from the blade's back.
In this form it became a popular English weapon, the "brown bill" of
many ballads. Billmen are not found in the king's host at Crecy and
Calais, the bowmen carrying malls or short swords, and Henry VII.'s
contracts for troops do not name the bill, which may be regarded rather
as the private man's weapon. But when, in the middle of the 15th
century, Walter Strickland, a Westmorland squire, contracts to raise
armed men, it is noticeable that more than half his horsemen carry the
bill as their chief arm, while seventy-one bowmen are to march on foot
with seventy-six billmen. In the 16th century the bill, with the
halbert, fell out of use among regular troops, the pike taking their
place on account of the longer staff, which made it a better defence
against cavalry. It remained during the 17th century as a watchman or
constable's weapon, although rudely-fashioned bills were seen in
Sedgemoor fight. (O. Ba.)
BILLAUD-VARENNE, JACQUES NICOLAS (1756-1819), French revolutionist, was
the son of an _avocat_ at the parlement of Paris. He was badly brought
up by a feeble father, a mother who combined immorality with religion,
and a libertine abbe. At nineteen he donned the robe of an Oratorian,
but did not take the vows, and busied himself with literature rather
than with religion. In 1785 he left the Oratorian college where he was
prefect of studies, came to Paris, married and bought a position as
_avocat_ in the parlement. Early in 1789 he published at Amsterdam a
three-volume work on the _Despotisme des ministres de la France_, and he
adopted with enthusiasm the principles of the Revolution.
At the Jacobin club he became from 1790 one of the most violent of the
anti-royalist orators. After the flight of Louis XVI. to Varennes, he
published a pamphlet, _L'Acephocratie_, in which he demanded the
establishment of a federal republic. On the 1st of July, in a speech at
the Jacobin club he spoke of a republic, and the reference called out
the stormy derision of the partisans of the constitutional monarchy; but
repeating his demand for a republic on the 15th of the same month, the
speech was ordered to be printed and to be sent to the branch societies
throughout France. In the night of the 10th of August 1792 he was
elected one of the "deputy-commissioners" of the sections who shortly
afterwards became the general council of the commune. He was accused,
though proof is lacking, of having been an accomplice in the massacres
in the prison of the Abbaye. Elected a deputy of Paris to the National
Convention, he at once spoke in favour of the immediate abolition of the
monarchy, and the next day demanded that all acts be dated from the year
1 of the republic. At the trial of Louis XVI. he added new charges to
the accusation, proposed to refuse counsel to the king, and voted for
death "within 24 hours." On the 2nd of June 1793 he proposed a decree of
accusation against the Girondists; on the 9th, at the Jacobin club, he
outlined a programme which the Convention was destined gradually to
realize: the expulsion of all foreigners not naturalized, the
establishment of an impost on the rich, the deprivation of the rights of
citizenship of all "anti-social" men, the creation of a revolutionary
army, the licensing of all officers _ci-devant_ nobles, the death
penalty for unsuccessful generals. On the 15th of July he made a violent
speech in the Convention in accusation of the Girondists. Sent in August
as "representative on mission" to the departments of the Nord and of
Pas-de-Calais, he showed himself inexorable to all suspects. On his
return he was added to the Committee of Public Safety, which had decreed
the arrest _en masse_ of all suspects and the establishment of a
revolutionary army, caused the extraordinary criminal tribunal to be
named officially "Revolutionary Tribunal" (on the 29th of October 1793),
demanded the execution of Marie Antoinette and then attacked Hebert and
Danton. Meanwhile he published a book, _Les Elements du republicanisme_,
in which he demanded a division of property, if not equally, at least
proportionally among the citizens. But he became uneasy for his own
safety and turned against Robespierre, whom he attacked on the 8th
Thermidor as a "moderate" and a Dantonist. Surprised and menaced by the
Thermidorian reaction, he denounced its partisans to the Jacobin club.
He was then attacked himself in the Convention for his cruelty, and a
commission was appointed to examine his conduct and that of some other
members of the former Committee of Public Safety. He was arrested, and
as a result of the insurrection of the 12th Germinal of the year 3 (the
1st of April 1795), the Convention decreed his immediate deportation to
French Guiana. After the 18th Brumaire he refused the pardon offered by
the First Consul. In 1816 he left Guiana and took refuge in
Port-au-Prince (Haiti), where he died of dysentery.
In 1821 were published the _Memoires de Billaud-Varenne ecrits a
Port-au-Prince_ (Paris, 2 vols.), but they are probably forgeries. An
interesting autobiographical sketch of his youth, _Tableau du premier
age_, composed in 1786, was published in 1888 in the review, _La
Revolution francaise_. The facts of such a life need no comment. See,
in addition to histories of the Revolution, F.A. Aulard, _Les Orateurs
de la legislative et de la convention_ (2nd ed., 1906). (R. A.*)
BILLET, (1) (Like the Fr. _billet_, a diminutive of _bille_, a writing),
a small paper or "note," commonly used in the 18th and early 19th
centuries as a "billet of invitation." A particular use of the word in
this sense is to denote an order issued to a soldier entitling him to
quarters with a certain person (see BILLETING). From meaning the
official order, the word billet came to be loosely used of the quarters
thus obtained, giving rise to such colloquial expressions as "a good
billet." Hence arises the sense of "billet" as the destination allotted
to anything, for example in the saying of William III. "every bullet has
its billet." Another special sense of the word is that of a
voting-paper, found in the 17th century, especially with reference to
the Act of Billets passed by the Scottish parliament in 1662.
(2) (From the diminutive _billette_ or _billot_ of the Fr. _bille_, the
trunk of a tree), a piece of wood roughly cylindrical, cut for use as
fuel. In medieval England it was used of the club or bludgeon which was
the weapon proper to the serf (Du Cange, s. _Billus_). The name has been
transferred to various objects of a similar shape: to ingots of gold,
for example, or bars of iron; and in heraldry, to a bearing of
rectangular shape. The term is applied in architecture to a form of
ornamental moulding much used in Norman and sometimes in Early English
work. It bears a resemblance to small billets of wood arranged at
regular intervals in a sunk moulding. In French architecture it is found
in early work and there, sometimes, forms the decoration of a
string-course under the gutter, with two or three rows of billets.
BILLETING, the providing of quarters (i.e. board and lodgings) for
soldiers (see BILLET, 1). Troops have at all times made use of the
shelter and local resources afforded by the villages on or near their
line of march. The historical interest of billeting in England begins
with the repeated petitions against it in the reigns of Elizabeth, James
I. and Charles I., which culminated in the Petition of Right. The
billeting of troops was superintended by a civil magistrate of the
district to which the troops were sent or through which they passed. The
magistrate, who acted under an order from the king, too often spared his
friends at the expense of his political or personal opponents. Owing to
the abuses to which the system led, it was declared illegal by the
Petition of Right 1628, and again by an act of 1679. During the reign of
James II., however, orders were frequently issued for billeting, and one
of the grievances in the Bill of Rights was the quartering of soldiers
contrary to law. On the organization of a standing army after the
revolution it was necessary to make legal provision for billeting owing
to the deficiency of barrack accommodation, which sufficed only for 5000
men. Accordingly, the Mutiny Act 1689 authorized billeting among the
various innkeepers and victuallers throughout the kingdom. This statute
was renewed annually from 1689 to 1879, when the Army Discipline Act,
consolidating the provisions of the Mutiny Act, was passed. This statute
was replaced by the Army Act 1881 (renewed annually by a "commencement"
act), which contains the provisions by which billeting is now regulated.
But modern conditions have practically dispensed with the necessity for
billeting; there is extensive barrack accommodation in most parts of the
United Kingdom, and, moreover, troops are entrained or sent by sea when
the distance to be covered is more than one day's march. In Scotland the
provisions as to billeting were assimilated to those in England in 1857,
and in Ireland in 1879. The Army (Annual) Act 1909 provided for the
billeting of the Territorial forces in case of national emergency, on
occupiers of any kind of house at the discretion of the chief officer of
police.
BILLIARDS, an indoor game of skill, played on a rectangular table,[1]
and consisting in the driving of small balls with a stick called a cue
either against one another or into pockets according to the methods and
rules described below. The name probably originated in the Fr. _bille_
(connected with Eng. "billet") signifying a stick. Of the origin of the
game comparatively little is known--Spain, Italy, France and Germany all
being regarded as its original home by various authorities. In an
American text-book, _Modern Billiards_, it is stated that Catkire More
(Conn Cetchathach), king of Ireland in the 2nd century, left behind him
"fifty-five billiard balls, of brass, with the pools and cues of the
same materials." The same writer refers to the travels of Anacharsis
through Greece, 400 B.C., during which he saw a game analogous to
billiards. French writers differ as to whether their country can claim
its origin, though the name suggests this. While it is generally
asserted that Henrique Devigne, an artist, who lived in the reign of
Charles IX., gave form and rule to the pastime, the _Dictionnaire
universel_ and the _Academie des jeux_ ascribe its invention to the
English. Bouillet in the first work says: "Billiards appear to be
derived from the game of bowls. It was anciently known in England,
where, perhaps, it was invented. It was brought into France by Louis
XIV., whose physician recommended this exercise." In the other work
mentioned we read: "It would seem that the game was invented in
England." It was certainly known and played in France in the time of
Louis XI. (1423-1483). Strutt, a rather doubtful authority,
notwithstanding the reputation attained by his _Sports and Pastimes of
the People of England_, considers it probable that it was the ancient
game of Paille-maille (Pall Mall) on a table instead of on the ground or
floor--an improvement, he says, "which answered two good purposes: it
precluded the necessity of the player to kneel or stoop exceedingly when
he struck the bowl, and accommodated the game to the limits of a
chamber." Whatever its origin, and whatever the manner in which it was
originally played, it is certain that it was known in the time of
Shakespeare, who makes Cleopatra, in the absence of Anthony, invite her
attendant to join in the pastime--
"Let us to billiards: come, Charmian."
_Ant. and Cleo._ Act ii. sc. 5.
In Cotton's _Compleat Gamester_, published in 1674, we are told that
this "most gentile, cleanly and ingenious game" was first played in
Italy, though in another page he mentions Spain as its birthplace. At
that date billiards must have been well enough known, for we are told
that "for the excellency of the recreation, it is much approved of and
played by most nations of Europe, especially in England, there being few
towns of note therein which hath not a public billiard table, neither
are they wanting in many noble and private families in the country."
The game was at one time played on a lawn, lik e modern croquet.[2] Some
authorities consider that in this form it was introduced into Europe
from the Orient by the Crusaders. The ball was rolled or struck with a
mallet or cue (with the latter, if Strutt's allusion to "inconveniences"
is correct) through hoops or rings, and these were reproduced for indoor
purposes on a billiard-table, as well as a "king" or pin which had to be
struck. In the original tables, which were square, there was one pocket,
a hole in the centre of the table, as on a bagatelle board, the hoop or
ring being retained. Then came similar pockets along one of the side
cushions sunk in the bed of the table; and eventually the modern table
was evolved, a true oblong or double-square, with pockets opening in the
cushions at each corner and in the middle of each long side. The English
tables are of this type, small bags of netting being attached to the
pockets. The French and American game of billiards is played on a
pocketless table. We shall deal first with the English game.