(_By permission of G. Bell & Sons._)]
See E.A. Freeman, _Norman Conquest_, vol. iii. (ed. 1875), with
summary of the discussion to date; _Archaeologia_, vols. xvii.--xix.;
Dawson Turner, _Tour in Normandy_ (1820); C.A. Stothard's
illustrations in _Vetusta Monumenta_, vol. vi.; _Gentleman's
Magazine_, 1837; Bolton Corney, _Researches and Conjectures on the
Bayeux Tapestry_ (1836-1838); A. de Caumont, "Un mot sur ... la
tapisserie de Bayeux," in _Bulletin monumental de Vinstilut des
provinces_, vol. viii. (1841); J. Laffetay, _Notice historique et
descriptive sur la tapisserie_ ... (1874); J. Comte, _Tapisserie de
Bayeux_; F.R. Fowke, _The Bayeux Tapestry_ (ed. 1898); Marignan,
_Tapisserie de Bayeux_ (1902); G. Pans, "Tapisserie de Bayeux," in
_Romania_, vol. xxxi.; Lanore, "La Tapisserie de Bayeux," in
_Bibliotheque de l'ecole des chartes_, vol. lxiv. (1903); and J.H.
Round, "The Bayeux Tapestry," in _Monthly Review_, xvii. (1904).
(J. H. R.)
BAYEZID I. (1347-1403), Ottoman sultan, surnamed YILDERIM or
"LIGHTNING," from the great rapidity of his movements, succeeded his
father Murad I. on the latter's assassination on the field of Kossovo,
1389, and signalized his accession by ordering at once the execution of
his brother Yakub, who had distinguished himself in the battle. His arms
were successful both in Europe and Asia, and he was the first Ottoman
sovereign to be styled "sultan," which title he induced the titular
Abbasid caliph to confer on him. After routing the chivalry of
Christendom at the battle of Nikopoli in 1396, he pursued his victorious
career in Greece, and Constantinople would doubtless have fallen before
his attack, had not the emperor Manuel Palaeologus bought him off by
timely concessions which reduced him practically to the position of
Bayezid's vassal. But his conquests met with a sudden and overpowering
check at the hands of Timur (Tamerlane). Utterly defeated at Angora by
the Mongol invader, Bayezid became his prisoner, and died in captivity
some months later, in March 1403.
Bayezid first married Devlet Shah Khatun, daughter of the prince of
Kermian, who brought him in dowry Kutaiah and its dependencies. Two
years before his accession he also married a daughter of the emperor
John Palaeologus.
BAYEZID II. (1447-1512), sultan of Turkey, was the son of Mahommed II.,
whom he succeeded in 1481, but only after gaining over the janissaries
by a large donative, which henceforth became for centuries the
invariable prerogative of that undisciplined body on the accession of a
new sultan. Before he could establish himself on the throne a long
struggle ensued with his brother Prince Jem. Being routed, Jem fled for
refuge to the knights of St John at Rhodes, who, in spite of a
safe-conduct granted to him, accepted a pension from Bayezid as the
price for keeping him a close prisoner. (See AUBUSSON, PIERRE D'.)
So long as Jem lived he was a perpetual menace to the sultan's peace,
and there was considerable rivalry among the sovereigns of Europe for
the possession of so valuable an instrument for bringing pressure to
bear upon the Porte for the purpose of extracting money or concessions.
By common consent the prince was ultimately entrusted to Pope Innocent
VIII., who used him not only to extract an annual tribute out of the
sultan, but to prevent the execution of Bayezid's ambitious designs in
the Mediterranean. His successor, Alexander VI., used him for a more
questionable purpose, namely, not only to extract the arrears of the
pension due for Jem's safe-keeping, but, by enlarging on Charles V.'s
intention of setting him up as sultan, to persuade Bayezid to aid him
against the emperor. There appears, however, to be no truth in the
report that Bayezid succeeded in bribing the pope to have Jem poisoned.
The prince, who had lived on excellent terms with Alexander, died at
Naples in February 1495, possibly as the result of excesses in which he
had been deliberately encouraged by the pope.
Whether as a result of his fear of the rivalry of Jem, or of his
personal character, Bayezid showed little of the aggressive spirit of
his warlike predecessors; and Machiavelli said that another such sultan
would cause Turkey to cease being a menace to Europe. He abandoned the
attack on Rhodes at the first check, made concessions, for the sake of
peace, to Venice and reduced the tribute due fiom Ragusa. His wars were
of the nature of raids, on the Dalmatian coast and into Croatia,
Hungary, Moldavia and Poland. The threat of the growing power in the
Aegean of Venice, which had acquired Cyprus in 1489, at last roused him
to a more serious effort; and in 1499 the war broke out with the
republic, which ended in 1502 by the annexation to Turkey of Lepanto and
Modon, Coron and Navarino in the Morea. Bayezid himself conducted the
siege of Modon in 1500.
The comparative inactivity of Bayezid in the direction of Europe was
partly due to preoccupation elsewhere. In the south he was threatened by
the dangerous rivalry of Kait Bey, the Mameluke sultan of Egypt, who had
extended his power northwards as far as Tarsus and Adana. In 1488 he
gained a great victory over the Ottomans, and in 1491 a peace was made
which was not again broken till after Bayezid's death. On the side of
Persia too, where the decisive battle of Shurur (1502) had raised to
power Ismail, the first of the modern line of shahs, danger threatened
the sultan, and the latter years of his reign were troubled by the
spread, under the influence of the new Persian power, of the Shi'ite
doctrine in Kurdistan and Asia Minor. The forces destined to maintain
his authority in Asia had been entrusted by Bayezid to his three sons,
Ahmed, Corcud and Selim; and the sultan's declining years were
embittered by their revolts and rivalry. Soon after the great earthquake
of 1509, which laid Constantinople in ruins, Selim, the ungovernable
pasha of Trebizond, whose vigorous rule in Asia had given Europe an
earnest of his future career as sultan, appeared before Adrianople,
where Bayezid had sought refuge. The sultan had designated Ahmed as his
successor, but Selim, though temporarily defeated, succeeded in winning
over the janissaries. On the 25th of April 1512 Bayezid was forced to
abdicate in his favour, and died a few days later.
See J.B. Bury in the _Cambridge Modern History_, vol. i. chap. iii.
and bibliography p. 700.
BAY ISLANDS (ISLAS DE LA BAHIA), a small archipelago in the Caribbean
Sea, off the coast of Honduras, of which country it forms an
administrative district. Pop. (1905) about 3000, including 500 Indians.
The archipelago consists of Roatan or Ruatan, Guanaja or Bonacca,
Utilla, Barbareta, Helena, Morat, the Puercos or Hog Islands, and many
_cays_ or islets. The Bay Islands have a good soil, a fine climate and
an advantageous position. Roatan, the largest, is about 30 m. long by 9
m. broad, with mountains rising to the height of 900 ft., covered with
valuable woods and abounding with deer and wild hogs. Its chief towns
are Coxen Hole and Puerto Real. Its trade is chiefly with New Orleans in
plantains, cocoa-nuts, pineapples and other fruit. Guanaja is 9 m. long
by 5 m. broad; it lies 15 m. E.N.E. of Roatan. Wild hogs abound in its
thickly-wooded limestone hills. The other islands are comparatively
small, and may, in some cases, be regarded as detached parts of Roatan,
with which they are connected by reefs. Guanaja was discovered in 1502
by Columbus, but the islands were not colonized until the 17th century,
when they were occupied by British logwood cutters from Belize, and
pearlers from the Mosquito Coast. Forts were built on Roatan in 1742,
but abandoned in 1749. In 1852 the islands were annexed by Great
Britain. In 1859 they were ceded to Honduras.
BAYLE, PIERRE (1647-1706), French philosopher and man of letters, was
born on the 18th of November 1647, at le Carla-le-Comte, near Pamiers
(Ariege). Educated by his father, a Calvinist minister, and at an
academy at Puylaurens, he afterwards entered a Jesuit college at
Toulouse, and became a Roman Catholic a month later (1669). After
seventeen months he resumed his former religion, and, to avoid
persecution, fled to Geneva, where he became acquainted with
Cartesianism. For some years he acted under the name of Bele as tutor in
various Parisian families, but in 1675 he was appointed to the chair
of philosophy at the Protestant university of Sedan. In 1681 the
university at Sedan was suppressed, but almost immediately afterwards
Bayle was appointed professor of philosophy and history at Rotterdam.
Here in 1682 he published his famous _Pensees diverses sur la comete de
1680_ and his critique of Maimbourg's work on the history of Calvinism.
The great reputation achieved by this critique stirred the envy of
Bayle's colleague, P. Jurieu, who had written a book on the same
subject. In 1684 Bayle began the publication of his _Nouvelles de la
republique des lettres_, a kind of journal of literary criticism. In
1690 appeared a work entitled _Avis important aux refugies_, which
Jurieu attributed to Bayle, whom he attacked with animosity. After a
long quarrel Bayle was deprived of his chair in 1693. He was not
depressed by this misfortune, especially as he was at the time closely
engaged in the preparation of the _Historical and Critical Dictionary_
(_Dictionnaire historique et critique_). The remaining years of Bayle's
life were devoted to miscellaneous writings, arising in many instances
out of criticisms made upon his _Dictionary_. He died in exile at
Rotterdam on the 28th of December 1706. In 1906 a statue in his honour
was erected at Pamiers, "la reparation d'un long oubli." Bayle's
erudition, despite the low estimate placed upon it by Leclerc, seems to
have been very considerable. As a constructive thinker, he did little.
As a critic he was second to none in his own time, and even yet one can
admire the delicacy and the skill with which he handles his subject. The
_Nouvelles de la republique des lettres_ (see Louis P. Betz, _P. Bayle
und die Nouvelles de la republique des lettres_, Zurich, 1896) was the
first thorough-going attempt to popularize literature, and it was
eminently successful. The _Dictionary_, however, is Bayle's masterpiece.
EDITIONS.--_Historical and Critical Dictionary_ (1695-1697; 1702,
enlarged; best that of P. des Maizeaux, 4 vols., 1740); _Les Oeuvres
de Bayle_ (3 vols., The Hague); see des Maizeaux, _Vie de Bayle_; L.A.
Feuerbach, _Pierre Bayle_ (1838); Damiron, _La Philosophie en France
au XVII^e siecle_ (1858-1864); Sainte-Beuve, "Du genie critique et de
Bayle" (_Revue des deux mondes_, 1st Dec. 1835); A. Deschamps, _La
Genese du scepticisme erudit chez Bayle_ (Liege, 1878); J. Denis,
_Bayle et Jurieu_ (Paris, 1886); F. Brunetiere, _La Critique
litteraire au XVIII^e siecle_ (vol. i., 1890), and _La Critique de
Bayle_ (1893); Emile Gigas, _Choix de la correspondance inedite de
Pierre Bayle_ (Paris, 1890, reviewed in _Revue critique_, 22nd Dec.
1890); de Bude, _Lettres inedites adressees a J.A. Turretini_ (Paris,
1887); J.F. Stephen, _Horae Sabbaticae_ (London, 1892, 3rd ser. pp.
174-192); A. Cazes, _P. Bayle, sa vie, ses idees_, &c. (1905).
BAYLO (Lat. _bajulus_ or _baillivus_; cf. Ital. _balio_, Fr. _bailli_,
Eng. _bailiff_), in diplomacy, the title borne by the Venetian
representative at Constantinople. His functions were originally in the
nature of those of a consul-general, but from the 16th century onwards
he had also the rank and functions of a diplomatic agent of the first
class. "Under the name of bayle," says A. de Wicquefort, "he performs
also the functions of consul and judge; not only between members of his
own nation, but also between all the other merchants who trade in the
Levant under the flag of St Mark." (See DIPLOMACY.)
BAYLY, THOMAS HAYNES (1797-1839), English songwriter and dramatist, was
born at Bath on the 13th of October 1797. He was educated at Winchester
and at St Mary Hall, Oxford, with a view to entering the church. While
on a visit to Dublin, however, he discovered his ability to write
ballads, and on his return to England in 1824 he quickly gained a wide
reputation with "I'd be a butterfly," following this up with "We
met--'twas in a crowd," "She wore a wreath of roses," "Oh, no, we never
mention her," and other light and graceful songs for which his name is
still remembered. He set some of his songs to music himself; a
well-known example is "Gaily the troubadour." Bayly also wrote two
novels, _The Aylmers_ and _A Legend of Killarney_, and numerous plays.
His most successful dramatic piece was _Perfection_, which was produced
by Madame Vestris and received high praise from Lord Chesterfield. Bayly
had married in 1826 an Irish heiress, but her estates were mismanaged
and the anxiety caused by financial difficulties undermined his health.
He died on the 22nd of April 1839.
His _Collected Works_ (1844) contain a memoir by his wife.
BAYNES, THOMAS SPENCER (1823-1887), English editor and man of letters,
the son of a Baptist minister, was born at Wellington, Somerset, on the
24th of March 1823. He studied at Edinburgh University, where he was a
pupil of Sir William Hamilton, whose assistant he became and of whose
views on logic he became the authorized exponent. This teaching was
embodied in his _Essay on the New Analytic of Logical Forms_, published
in 1850, the same year in which he took his London University degree.
This was followed in the next year by a translation of Arnauld's _Port
Royal Logic_. In 1850 he had become editor of the _Edinburgh Guardian_,
but after four years' work his health gave way. He spent two years in
Somerset and then went to London, becoming, in 1858, assistant editor of
the _Daily News_. In 1864 he was appointed professor of logic
metaphysics and English literature at the university of St Andrews, and
in 1873 the editorship of the ninth edition of the _Encyclopaedia
Britannica_ was entrusted to him. He conducted it singly until 1881,
when the decline of his health rendered it necessary to provide him with
a coadjutor in the person of Prof. W. Robertson Smith. Baynes, however,
continued to be engaged upon the work until his death on the 31st May
1887, shortly before its completion. His article on Shakespeare
(_Encyclopaedia Britannica_, 9th ed.) was republished in 1894, along
with other essays on Shakespearian topics and a memoir by Prof. Lewis
Campbell.
BAYONET, a short thrusting weapon, fixed to the muzzle or fore-end of a
rifle or musket and carried by troops armed with the latter weapons. The
origin of the word is disputed, but there is some authority for the
supposition that the name is derived from the town of Bayonne, where the
short dagger called _bayonnette_ was first made towards the end of the
15th century. The elder Puysegur, a native of Bayonne, says (in his
_Memoirs_, published posthumously in Paris, 1747) that when he was
commanding the troops at Ypres in 1647 his musketeers used bayonets
consisting of a steel dagger fixed in a wooden haft, which fitted into
the muzzle of the musket--in fact plug-bayonets. Courts-martial were
held on some English soldiers at Tangier in 1663-1664 for using their
daggers on their comrades. As bayonets were at first called daggers, and
as there were few or no pikemen in Tangier until 1675, the probable
conclusion is that the troops in Tangier used plug-bayonets. In 1671
plug-bayonets were issued to the French regiment of fusiliers then
raised. They were issued to part of an English dragoon regiment raised
in 1672 and disbanded in 1674, and to the Royal Fusiliers when raised in
1685. The danger incurred by the use of this bayonet (which put a stop
to all fire) was felt so early that the younger Puysegur saw a
ring-bayonet in 1678 which could be fixed without stopping the fire. The
English defeat at Killiecrankie in 1689 was due (among other things) to
the use of the plug-bayonet; and shortly afterwards the defeated leader,
General Mackay, introduced a ring-bayonet of his own invention. A trial
with badly-fitting socket or zigzag bayonets was made after the battle
of Fleurus, 1690, in the presence of Louis XIV., who refused to adopt
them. Shortly after the peace of Ryswick (1697) the English and Germans
abolished the pike and introduced these bayonets, and plates of them are
given in Surirey de St Remy's _Memoires d'Artillerie_, published in
Paris in that year; but owing to a military cabal they were not issued
to the French infantry until 1703. Henceforward the bayonet became, with
the musket or other firearm, the typical weapon of infantry. This
bayonet remained in the British service until 1805, when Sir John Moore
introduced a bayonet fastened to the musket by a spring clip. The
triangular bayonet (so called from the cross-section of its blade) was
used in the British army until the introduction of the magazine rifle,
when it was replaced by the sword-bayonet or dagger-bayonet.
Sword-bayonets--weapons which could be used as sword or dagger apart
from the rifle--had long been in use by special troops such as engineers
and rifles, and many ingenious attempts have been made to produce a
bayonet fitted for several uses. A long curved sword-bayonet with a
saw-edged back was formerly used by the Royal Engineers, but all troops
are now supplied with the plain sword-bayonet. The bayonet is usually
hung in a scabbard on the belt of the soldier and only fixed during the
final stages of a battle; the reason for this is that the "jump" of the
rifle due to the shock of explosion is materially altered by the extra
weight at the muzzle, which thus deranges the sighting. In the short
Lee-Enfield rifle of 1903, the bayonet, not being directly attached to
the barrel, does not influence accuracy, but with the long rifles, when
the bayonet is fixed, the sight must be raised by two or three
graduations to ensure correct elevation. In the Russian army troops
almost invariably carry the bayonet (triangular) fixed; the model (1891)
of Italian carbine has an inseparable bayonet; the United States rifle
(the new short model of 1903) has a knife bayonet, the model of 1905,
which is 20.5875 in. long, with the lower edge of the blade sharpened
along its entire length and the upper edge sharpened 5 in. from the
point; this bayonet is carried in a wooden and leather scabbard attached
to the cartridge belt. The British bayonet (pattern 1903) has a blade 1
ft. in length. The length of the rifle and bayonet together, considered
as an _arme blanche_, varies considerably, that of the French Lebel
pattern of 1886 being 6 ft., as against the 4 ft. 8-3/4 in. of the
British short Lee-Enfield of 1903. The German rifles (1898) have a
length with bayonet of 5 ft. 9-3/4 in.; the Russian (1894) 5 ft. 9 in.;
and the Japanese 5 ft. 5-1/2 in. In 1908 a new British bayonet was
approved, 5 in. longer than its predecessor of 1903, the shape of the
point being modified to obtain the thrusting effect of a spear or lance
head.
BAYONNE, a town of south-western France, capital of an arrondissement in
the department of Basses-Pyrenees, 66 m. W.N.W. of Pau on the Southern
railway. Pop. (1906) 21,779. Bayonne, a first-class fortified place, is
situated at the confluence of the Adour and its left-hand tributary, the
Nive, about 3 m. from the sea. The two rivers divide the town into three
nearly equal parts, communicating with each other by bridges. Grand
Bayonne lies on the left bank of the Nive; the two squares which lie
close together at the mouth of that river constitute the most animated
quarter of the town. Petit Bayonne lies between the right bank of the
Nive and the Adour; Saint Esprit, dominated by a citadel which is one of
the finest works of Vauban, occupies the right bank of the Adour. The
last is inhabited partly by a colony of Jews dating at least from the
early 16th century. To the north-west of the town are the Allees
Marines, fine promenades which border the Adour for a mile and a
quarter, and the Allees Paulmy, skirting the fortifications. The
cathedral of Ste Marie in Grand Bayonne is an imposing Gothic structure
of the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries. It consists of a choir with
deambulatory and apsidal chapels (the oldest part of the church), a
transept, nave and aisles. The towers at the west end were only
completed during the general restoration which took place in the latter
half of the 19th century. A fine cloister of the 13th century adjoins
the south side of the church. Ste Marie contains glass windows of the
15th and 16th centuries and other rich decoration. The Vieux-Chateau,
also in Grand Bayonne, dates from the 12th and 15th centuries and is
built upon a portion of the old Roman fortifications; it is used for
military purposes. The Chateau Neuf (15th and 16th centuries) serves as
barracks and prison. Bayonne is the seat of a bishopric and of a
sub-prefect; it has tribunals of first instance and of commerce, a
chamber of commerce, a lycee, a school of music, a library, an art
museum with a large collection of the works of the painter Leon Bonnat,
and a branch of the Bank of France. There are consulates of the chief
nations of Europe, of the United States of America and of several
Central and South American republics. The town also possesses an
important military arsenal and military hospital. The commerce of
Bayonne is much more important than its industries, which include the
manufacture of leather and of chocolate. The port consists of an outer
harbour, the so-called "rade" (roadstead) and the port proper, and
occupies the course of the Adour from its mouth, which is obstructed by
a shifting bar, to the Pont St Esprit, and the course of the Nive as far
as the Pont Mayou. Above these two bridges the rivers are accessible
only to river navigation. Vessels drawing from 16 to 22 ft. can make the
port in normal weather. In the five years 1901-1905 the average value of
the imports was L502,000, of the exports L572,000; for the five years
1896-1900 the average value of imports was L637,000, of exports
L634,000. Exports include timber, mine-props, turpentine, resinous
material from the Pyrenees and Landes and zinc ore; leading imports are
the coal and Spanish minerals which supply the large metallurgical works
of Le Boucau at the mouth of the river, the raw material necessary for
the chemical works of the same town, wine, and the cereals destined for
the flour mills of Pau, Peyrehorade and Orthez. During the early years
of the 20th century the shipping of the port increased considerably in
tonnage. In 1900 there entered 741 vessels, tonnage 277,959; and cleared
743, tonnage 276,992. In 1907 there entered 661 vessels, tonnage,
336,773; cleared 650, tonnage 335,849.
In the 3rd century Bayonne (_Lapurdum_) was a Roman military post and
the principal port of Novempopulana. In the middle ages it belonged to
the dukes of Aquitaine and then to the kings of England, one of whom,
John, granted it full communal rights in 1216. In 1451 it offered a
strenuous opposition to the French, by whom it was eventually occupied.
By this time its maritime commerce had suffered disaster owing to the
silting up of its port and the deflection of the Adour. New
fortifications were constructed under Louis XII. and Francis I., and in
1523 the town was able to hold out against a Spanish army. In 1565 it
was the scene of an interview between Charles IX. and Catherine de'
Medici on the one hand and Elizabeth, queen of Spain, and the duke of
Alva on the other. It is thought that on this occasion the plans were
formed for the massacres of St Bartholomew, a crime in which Bayonne
took no part, in 1572. In 1808 Napoleon met Charles IV., king of Spain,
and his son Ferdinand at the Chateau de Marrac, near the town, and
induced them to renounce their rights to the crown of Spain, which fell
to Napoleon's brother Joseph. In 1814, after a severe siege, Bayonne was
occupied by the English (see PENINSULAR WAR).
See J. Balasque and E. Dulaurens, _Etudes historiques sur la ville de
Bayonne_ (3 vols., Bayonne, 1862-1875); E. Ducere, _Bayonne historique
et pittoresque_ (Bayonne, 1893), _Histoire topographigue et
anecdotique des rues de Bayonne_ (Bayonne, 1894); H. Leon, _Histoire
des juifs de Bayonne_ (Paris, 1893).
BAYONNE, a city of Hudson county, New Jersey, U.S.A., occupying the
peninsula (about 5-1/2 m. long and about 3/4 m. wide) between New York
harbour and Newark Bay, and immediately adjoining the south boundary of
Jersey City, from which it is partly separated by the Morris Canal. It
is separated from Staten Island only by the narrow strip of water known
as the Kill van Kull, and it has a total water frontage of about 10 m.
Pop. (1890) 19,033; (1900) 32,722, of whom 10,786 were foreign-born
(3168 Irish, 1868 Russian, 1656 German); (1910) 55,545. Land area about
4 sq. m. Bayonne is served by the Central of New Jersey and by the
Lehigh Valley railways (the latter for freight only), and by electric
railway lines to Newark and Jersey City. The principal public buildings
are the city hall, the public library, the post-office and the city
hospital. Besides having a considerable share in the commerce of the
port of New York, Bayonne is an important manufacturing centre; among
its manufactures are refined petroleum, refined copper and nickel (not
from the ore), refined borax, foundry and machine-shop products, tubular
boilers, electric launches and electric motors, chemicals (including
ammonia and sulphuric and nitric acids), iron and brass products, wire
cables and silk goods. In 1905 the value of its factory product was
$60,633,761, an increase of 57.1% over that of 1900, Bayonne ranking
third in 1905 among the manufacturing cities of the state. It is the
principal petroleum-distributing centre on the Atlantic seaboard, the
enormous refineries and storehouses of the Standard Oil Company, among
the largest in the world, being located here; there are connecting pipe
lines with the Ohio and Pennsylvania oil fields, and with New York,
Baltimore, Philadelphia and Washington. Much coal is shipped from the
city. Bayonne, which comprises several former villages (Bayonne, Bergen
Point, Pamrapo and Centerville), was settled about 1665-1670 by the
Dutch. Originally a part of Bergen, it was set off as a township in
1861. It was chartered as a city in 1869.
BAYOU (pronounced bai-yoo, probably a corruption of Fr. _boyau_, gut),
an "ox-bow" lake left behind by a river that has abandoned its old
channel in the lower stages of its course. Good examples are found in
Palmyra Lake, in the Mississippi valley below Vicksburg, and in Osage
river, Missouri. As a river swings from side to side in a series of
curves which widen laterally where the current is slow and the country
more or less level, there is a tendency in flood times for the water to
impinge more strongly upon the convex bank where the curve leaves the
main channel. This bank will be eaten away, and the process will be
repeated until the base of the "isthmus" is cut through, and the
descending channel meets the returning curve, which is thus left
stranded and filled with dead water, while the stream runs directly past
it in the shorter course cut by the flood waters that deepen the new
channel, and leave an isolated ox-bow lake in the old curve.
BAYREUTH, or BAIREUTH, a town of Bavaria, Germany, district of Upper
Franconia, 58 m. by rail N.N.E. from Nuremberg. Pop. (1900) 29,384. In
Richard-Wagner-strasse is Wagner's house, with his grave in the garden.
Franz Liszt (1811-1886) is buried here, as well as Jean Paul Friedrich
Richter, who is commemorated by a monument (1841). His house was in
Friedrichstrasse. Most of the buildings are of comparatively modern
date, the city having suffered severely from the Hussites in 1430 and
from a conflagration in 1621. There should be mentioned the palace of
Duke Alexander of Wurttemberg, the administrative offices, the statue of
King Maximilian II. (1860) and the collections of the historical society
Among the ecclesiastical buildings, the _Stadt-Pfarrkirche_, dating from
1439, and containing the monuments of the margraves of Bayreuth, is the
most important. Bayreuth is a railway junction and has an active trade,
chiefly in grain and horses. It manufactures woollen, linen and cotton
goods, leather, delft and other earthenware, and tobacco, and has also
several breweries and distilleries. The village of St Georgen is a
suburb to the north east noted for its marble works; and about 2 m. to
the east is the Hermitage, a fanciful building, erected in 1715 by the
margrave George William (d. 1726), with gardens containing terraces,
statues and fountains. Bayreuth was formerly the capital of a
principality of the same name, which was annexed in 1791 to the kingdom
of Prussia. In 1807 it was ceded by Prussia to France, which kept
possession of it till 1810, when it was transferred to Bavaria.
_The Wagner Theatre._--Among the many advantages which Wagner gained
from his intimacy with Ludwig II., king of Bavaria, not the least was
the practical support given to his plan of erecting a theatre for the
ideal performance of his own music-dramas. The first plan of building a
new theatre for the purpose in Munich itself was rejected, because
Wagner rightly felt that the appeal of his advanced works, like the
Nibelungen trilogy, would be far stronger if the comparatively small
number of people who wished to hear them were removed from the
distractions of a large capital; Bayreuth possessed the desired
seclusion, being on a line of railway that could not be approached from
any quarter without changing. The municipality furthered Wagner's scheme
in every way, and in May 1872 the foundation stone of the Festspielhaus
was laid, the event being commemorated by a notable performance of
Beethoven's Choral Symphony in the old opera-house. The funds for the
erection of the theatre were raised in part by the issue of 1000
certificates of patronage (_Patronatscheine_), but the bulk of the sum
was raised by founding "Wagner Societies" from St Petersburg to Cairo,
from London to New York; these societies sprang up with such success
that the theatre was opened in the summer of 1876 with the first
complete performance of _Der Ring des Nibelungen_. The theatre, which
stands on a height a little under a mile from the town, is built from
the plans of Gustav Semper, the idea of the design being Wagner's own,
an experiment indeed, but one which succeeded beyond all expectation.
The seats are arranged on a kind of sloping wedge, in such a manner that
every one has an almost equally good view of the stage, for there are no
boxes, and the only galleries are quite at the back, one, the
_Furstenloge_, being reserved for distinguished guests, the other, above
it, for the townspeople. Immediately in front of the foremost row of
seats a hood or sloping screen of wood covers a part of the orchestra,
and another hood of similar shape starts from the front of the stage at
a slightly lower level. Thus there is left a space between the two hoods
through which the sound of the orchestra ascends with wonderfully
blended effect; the conductor, sitting at the highest point of the
orchestra, though under the screen, has a complete view of the stage as
well as of his instrumentalists, and the sound of the orchestra is sent
most forcibly in the direction of the stage, so that the voices are
always well supported.
As an important addition to the work of the theatre, a permanent
school has been established at Bayreuth for the sake of training young
musicians to take part in the festival performances, which were at
first exclusively, and then partially, undertaken by artists from
other German and foreign theatres. The special feature upon which most
stress has been laid, ever since Wagner's death in 1883, has been not
so much the musical as the dramatic significance of the works; it is
contended by the inmost circle of Wagnerian adherents that none but
they can fully realize the master's intentions or hand down his
traditions. What is called the "Bayreuth Idea" is set forth in much
detail from this point of view by Houston Stewart Chamberlain, in his
_Richard Wagner_ (1897 and 1900).
BAZA, a town of southern Spain, in the province of Granada; in the Hoya
de Baza, a fruitful valley of the Sierra Nevada, not far from the small
river Gallego, and at the terminus of a railway from Lorca. Pop. (1900)
12,770. The dome-shaped mountain of Javaleon (4715 ft.) overlooks the
town from the north-west. The ancient collegiate church of San Maximo
occupies the traditional site of a cathedral founded by the Visigothic
king Reccared about 600, and afterwards converted into a mosque. There
is a brisk local trade in farm produce, and in the linen, hempen goods
and pottery manufactured in Baza. The town nearly doubled its population
in the last quarter of the 10th century. Sulphurous springs exist in the
vicinity.
Baza is the Roman _Basti_, the medieval _Basta_ or _Bastiana_; and
numerous relics of antiquity, both Roman and medieval, have been found
in the neighbourhood. Its bishopric was founded in 306. Under Moorish
rule (c. 713-1489) it was one of the three most important cities in
the kingdom of Granada, with an extensive trade, and a population
estimated at 50,000. In 1489, after a stubborn defence lasting seven
months, it was captured by the Spaniards under Isabella of Castile,
whose cannon still adorn the _Alameda_ or public promenade. On the 10th
of August 1810 the French under Marshal Soult defeated a large Spanish
force close to the town.
BAZAAR (Pers. _bazar_, market), a permanent market or street of shops,
or a group of short narrow streets of stalls under one roof. The word
has spread westward into Arabic, Turkish and, in special senses, into
European languages, and eastward it has invaded India, where it has been
generally adopted. In southern India and Ceylon bazaar means a single
shop or stall. The word seems to have early reached South Europe
(probably through Turkish), for F. Balducci Pegolotti in his mercantile
handbook (c. 1340) gives "bazarra" as a Genoese word for market-place.
The Malayan peoples have adopted the word as _pazar_. The meaning of the
word has been much extended in English, where it is now equivalent to
any sale, for charitable or mere commercial purposes, of mixed goods and
fancy work.
BAZAINE, ACHILLE FRANCOIS (1811-1888), marshal of France, was born at
Versailles on the 13th of February 1811. He entered the army as a
private soldier in 1831, with a view to service in Algeria, and received
a commission as sub-lieutenant in 1833. By his gallantry in action he
won the cross of the Legion of Honour, and he was promoted lieutenant in
1835. He served two campaigns with the Foreign Legion against the
Carlists in Spain in 1837-38, returning to Africa as captain in 1839.
During the succeeding decade he saw continual active service in Africa,
and rose to be a brigadier-general with the charge of the district of
Tlemcen. In the Crimean War he commanded a brigade, and maintained his
reputation in the trenches before Sevastopol. On the capture of the
south side he was appointed governor of the place, and was promoted
general of division. He also commanded the French forces in the
expedition to Kinburn. In Lombardy in 1859 he was wounded when in
command of a division at Melegnano, and took a conspicuous part in the
battle of Solferino. For his services in the campaign he received the
grand cross of the Legion of Honour, of which he was already (1855) a
commander. He commanded with great distinction the first division under
General (afterwards marshal) Forey in the Mexican expedition in 1862,
succeeded him in supreme command in 1863, and became marshal and senator
of France in the following year. He at first pursued the war with great
vigour and success, entering Mexico in 1863 and driving President Juarez
to the frontier. The marshal's African experience as a soldier and as an
administrator stood him in good stead in dealing with the guerrilleros
of the Juarez party, but he was less successful in his relations with
Maximilian, with whose court the French headquarters was in constant
strife. Here, as later in his own country, Bazaine's policy seems to
have been directed, at least in part, to his own establishment in the
role of a mayor of the palace. His own army thought that he aspired to
play the part of a Bernadotte. His marriage to a rich Mexican lady,
whose family were supporters of Juarez, still further complicated his
relations with the unfortunate emperor, and when at the close of the
American Civil War the United States sent a powerful war-trained army to
the Mexican frontier, the French forces were withdrawn (see MEXICO,
_History_). Bazaine skilfully conducted the retreat and embarkation at
Vera Cruz (1867). On his return to Paris he was but coldly received by
his sovereign; public opinion was, however, in his favour, and he was
held to have been made a scapegoat for the faults of others.
At the outbreak of the Franco-German War (q.v.) Marshal Bazaine was
placed in command of the III. corps of the Army of the Rhine. He took no
part in the earlier battles, but Napoleon III. soon handed over the
chief command of the army to him. How far his inaction was the cause of
the disaster of Spicheren is a matter of dispute. The best that can be
said of his conduct is that the evil traditions of warfare on a small
scale and the mania for taking up "strong positions," common to the
French generals of 1870, were in Bazaine's own case emphasized by his
personal dislike for the "schoolmaster" Frossard, lately the Prince
Imperial's tutor and now commander of the army corps posted at
Spicheren. Frossard himself, the leader of the "strong positions"
school, could only blame his own theories for the paralysis of the rest
of the army, which left the corps at Spicheren to fight unsupported.
Bazaine, indeed, when called upon for help, moved part of his corps
forward, but only to "take up strong positions," not to strike a blow on
the battlefield. A few days later he took up the chief command, and his
tenure of it is the central act in the tragedy of 1870. He found the
army in retreat, ill-equipped and numerically at a great disadvantage,
and the generals and staffs discouraged and distrustful of one another.
There was practically no chance of success. The question was one of
extricating the army and the government from a disastrous adventure, and
Bazaine's solution of it was to bring back his army to Metz. For the
events which led up to the battles before Metz and the investment of
Bazaine's whole army in the fortress, see FRANCO-GERMAN WAR and METZ,
_Battles_.
It seems to be clearly established that the charges of treason to which
later events gave so strong a colour had, as yet, no foundation in fact.
Nor, indeed, can his unwillingness to leave the Moselle region, while
there was yet time to slip past the advancing enemy, be considered even
as proof of special incompetence. The resolution to stay in the
neighbourhood of Metz was based on the knowledge that if the slow-moving
French army ventured far out it would infallibly be headed off and
brought to battle in the open by superior numbers. In "strong positions"
close to his stronghold, however, Bazaine hoped that he could inflict
damaging repulses and heavy slaughter on the ardent Germans, and in the
main the result justified the expectation. The scheme was creditable,
and even heroic, but the execution throughout all ranks, from the
marshal to the battalion commanders, fell far short of the idea. The
minutely cautious methods of movement, which Algerian experience had
evolved suitable enough for small African desert columns, which were
liable to surprise rushes and ambushes, reduced the mobility of a large
army, which had favourable marching conditions, to 5 m. a day as against
the enemy's rate of 15. When, before he had finally decided to stay in
Metz, Bazaine attempted half-heartedly to begin a retreat on Verdun, the
staff work and organization of the movement over the Moselle was so
ineffective that when the German staff calculated that Bazaine was
nearing Verdun, the French had in reality barely got their artillery and
baggage trains through the town of Metz. Even on the battlefield the
marshal forbade the general staff to appear, and conducted the fighting
by means of his personal orderly officers. After the cumbrous army had
passed through Metz it encountered an isolated corps of the enemy, which
was commanded by the brilliant leader Constantin von Alvensleben, and
promptly attacked the French. At almost every moment of the day victory
was in Bazaine's hands. Two corps of the Germans fought all day for bare
existence. But Bazaine had no confidence in his generals or his troops,
and contented himself with inflicting severe losses on the most
aggressive portions of the German army. Two days later, while the French
actually retreated on Metz--taking seven hours to cover 5 to 6 m.--the
masses of the Germans gathered in front of him, intercepting his
communication with the interior of France. This Bazaine expected, and
feeling certain that the Germans would sooner or later attack him in his
chosen position, he made no attempt to interfere with their
concentration. The great battle was fought, and having inflicted severe
punishment on his assailants, Bazaine fell back within the entrenched
camp of Metz. But although he made no appeals for help, public opinion,
alarmed and excited, condemned the only remaining army of France,
Marshal MacMahon's "Army of Chalons," to rescue Bazaine at all costs.
The adventure ended at Sedan, and with Sedan the Third Empire collapsed.
Up to this point Bazaine had served his country perhaps as well as
circumstances allowed, and certainly with enough skill and a sufficient
measure of success to justify his appointment. His experience, wide as
it was, had not fitted him for the command of a large army in a delicate
position. Since his Mexican expedition, moreover, he had himself fallen
into a state of moral and physical lethargy, which, imperceptible on the
field of battle, because his reputation for impassive bearing under fire
was beyond question, was only too obvious in the staff offices, where
the work of manoeuvring the army and framing plans and orders was
chiefly done. But, in spite of these defects, it cannot be asserted that
any one of Bazaine's subordinates would have done better, with the
possible exception of Ladmirault, and Ladmirault was one of the junior
corps commanders.
Bazaine, therefore, in the main justified his reputation for ability. He
was now to justify his reputation for intriguing and underhand
diplomacy. If in Mexico he aspired to the role of mayor of the palace,
it was far more so in Metz, where, as commander of the only organized
army of France, he conceived himself to be the ruler of the country's
destiny. Accordingly he engaged in a series of diplomatic intrigues,
some of which to this day have never been properly cleared up.
Negotiations passed between the outer world and the besieged commander,
the purport of which remains still to some extent obscure, but it is
beyond question that he proposed with the permission of the Germans to
employ his army in "saving France from herself." The scheme, however,
collapsed, and the army of the Rhine became prisoners of war to the
number of 140,000. At the moment of the surrender a week's further
resistance would have enabled the levies of the National Defence
government to crush the weak forces of the Germans on the Loire and to
relieve Paris. But the army of Prince Frederick Charles, set free by the
surrender, hurried up in time to check and to defeat the great effort at
Orleans (q.v.). The responsibility for this crushing blow was naturally
enough, and justly enough, placed on Bazaine's shoulders, and although,
when he returned from captivity, the marshal enjoyed a brief immunity,
he was in 1873 brought to trial before a military court. He was found
guilty of negotiating with and capitulating to the enemy before doing
all that was prescribed by duty and honour, and sentenced to degradation
and death, but very strongly recommended to mercy. His sentence was
commuted to twenty years' seclusion, and the humiliating ceremonies
attending degradation were dispensed with. He was incarcerated in the
Ile Sainte-Marguerite and treated rather as an exile than as a convict;
thence he escaped in 1874 to Italy. He finally took up his abode in
Madrid, where he was treated with marked respect by the government of
Alfonso XII. He died there on the 23rd of September 1888. He published
_Episodes de la guerre de 1870_ (Madrid, 1883). He also wrote _L'Armee
du Rhin_ (Paris, 1872).
See the bibliography appended to the article FRANCO-GERMAN WAR; also
memoir by C. Pelletan in _La Grande Encyclopedie_; for Bazaine's
conduct see _Bazaine et l'armee du Rhin_ (1873); J. Valfrey, _Le
Marechal et l'armee du Rhin_ (1873); Count A. de la Guerroniere,
_L'Homme de Metz_ (1871); Rossel, _Les Derniers Jours de Metz_ (1871).
See also the article BOURBAKI for the curious Regnier episode
connected with the surrender of Metz.
BAZALGETTE, SIR JOSEPH WILLIAM (1819-1891), English engineer, was born
at Enfield on the 28th of March 1819. At the age of seventeen he was
articled to an engineer, and a few years later he began to practise
successfully on his own account. His name is best known for the
engineering works he carried out in London, especially for the
construction of the main drainage system and the Thames embankment. In
1848 the control of London drainage, which had hitherto been divided
among eight distinct municipal bodies, was consolidated under twelve
commissioners, who were in 1849 superseded by a second commission. Under
the latter Bazalgette accepted an appointment which he continued to hold
under the three successive commissions which in the course of a year or
two followed the second one, and when finally in 1855 these bodies were
replaced by the Metropolitan Board of Works, he was at once appointed
its chief engineer. His plans were ready, but the work was delayed by
official obstruction and formality until 1858. Once begun, however, it
was vigorously pushed on, and in 1865 the system was formally opened. It
consisted of 83 m. of large intercepting sewers, draining more than 100
sq. m. of buildings, and calculated to deal with 420 million gallons a
day. The cost was L4,600,000. Almost simultaneously Bazalgette was
engaged on the plans for the Thames embankment. The section between
Westminster and Vauxhall on the Surrey side was built between 1860 and
1869, and the length between Westminster and Blackfriars was declared
open by the prince of Wales in 1870. The Chelsea embankment followed in
1871-1874, and in 1876 Northumberland Avenue was formed. The total
outlay on the scheme exceeded L2,000,000. Bazalgette was also
responsible for various other engineering works in the metropolitan
area, designing, for example, new bridges at Putney and Battersea, and
the steam ferry between north and south Woolwich. He also prepared plans
for a bridge over the river near the Tower and for a tunnel under it at
Blackwall, but did not live to see either of these projects carried out.
He died on the 15th of March 1891 at Wimbledon.
BAZARD, AMAND (1791-1832), French socialist, the founder of a secret
society in France corresponding to the Carbonari of Italy, was born at
Paris. He took part in the defence of Paris in 1815, and afterwards
occupied a subordinate situation in the prefecture of the Seine. About
1820 he united some patriotic friends into a society, called _Amis de la
verite_. From this was developed a complete system of Carbonarism, the
peculiar principles of which were introduced from Italy by two of
Bazard's friends. Bazard himself was at the head of the central body,
and, while taking a general lead, contributed extensively to the
Carbonarist journal, _L'Aristarque_. An unsuccessful outbreak at Belfort
ruined the society, and the leaders were compelled to conceal
themselves. Bazard, after remaining for some time in obscurity in Paris,
came to the conclusion that the ends of those who wished well to the
people would be most easily attained, not through political agitation,
but by effecting a radical change in their social condition. This train
of thinking naturally drew him towards the socialist philosophers of the
school of Saint-Simon, whom he joined. He contributed to their journal,
_Le Producteur_; and in 1828 began to give public lectures on the
principles of the school (see SAINT-SIMON). His opposition to the
emancipation of women brought about a quarrel with Enfantin (q.v.) in
1831, and Bazard found himself almost deserted by the members of the
society. He attacked Enfantin violently, and in a warm discussion
between them he was struck down by apoplexy. After lingering for a few
months he died on the 29th of July 1832.
BAZAS, a town of south-western France, in the department of Gironde,
38-1/2 m. S.S.E. of Bordeaux by rail. Pop. (1906) town, 2505; commune,
4684. The town, which was the seat of a bishop from at least the
beginning of the 6th century till 1790, has a Gothic church (formerly
the cathedral) dating from the 13th to the 16th centuries. There are
remains of ramparts (15th and 16th centuries) and several old houses of
the 16th century. The vineyards of the vicinity produce white wine. The
town is capital of an arrondissement, and carries on tanning, &c., and
trade in the well-known Bazadais cattle.
Bazas (_Cossio_) was capital of the ancient tribe of the _Vasates_, and
under the Romans one of the twelve cities of Novempopuluna. In later
times it was capital of the district of Bazadais. It was the scene of
much bloodshed during the religious wars of the 16th century.
BAZIGARS, a nomad gipsy-folk of India, found throughout the peninsula,
and variously known as Bazigars, Panchpiri, Nats, Bediyas, &c. They live
a life apart from the surrounding Hindu population, and still preserve a
certain ethnical identity, scarcely justified by any indications given
by their physique. They make a living as jugglers, dancers,
basket-weavers and fortune-tellers; and in true European gipsy fashion
each clan has its king.
BAZIN, RENE (1853- ), French novelist and man of letters, was born at
Angers on the 26th of December 1853. He studied law in Paris, and on his
return to Angers became professor of law in the Catholic university
there. He contributed to Parisian journals a series of sketches of
provincial life and descriptions of travel, but he made his reputation
by _Une Tache d'encre_ (1888), which received a prize from the Academy.
Other novels of great charm and delicacy followed: _La Sarcelle bleue_
(1892); _Madame Corentine_ (1893); _Humble Amour_ (1894); _De toute son
ame_ (1897); _La Terre qui meurt_ (1899); _Les Oberle_ (1901), an
Alsatian story which was dramatized and acted in the following year;
_L'Ame alsacienne_ (1903); _Donatienne_ (1903); _L'Isolee_ (1905); _Le
Ble qui leve_ (1907); _Memoires d'une vieille fille_ (1908). _La Terre
qui meurt_, a picture of the decay of peasant farming and a story of La
Vendee, is an indirect plea for the development of provincial France. A
volume of _Questions litteraires et sociales_ appeared in 1906. Rene
Bazin was admitted to the Academy on the 28th of April 1904.
BAZIRE, CLAUDE (1764-1794), French revolutionist, was deputy for the
Cote d'Or in the Legislative Assembly, and made himself prominent by
denouncing the court and the "Austrian committee" of the Tuileries. On
the 20th of June 1792 he spoke in favour of the deposition of the king.
In the Convention he sat with the Mountain, opposed adjourning the trial
of Louis XVI., and voted for his death. He joined in the attack upon the
Girondists, but, as member of the committee of general security, he
condemned the system of the Terror. He was implicated by Francois Chabot
in the falsification of a decree relative to the East India Company, and
though his share seems to have been simply that he did not reveal the
plot, of which he knew but part, he was accused before the Revolutionary
Tribunal at the same time as Danton and Camille Desmoulins, and was
executed on the 5th of April 1794.
BDELLIUM ([Greek: bdellion], used by Pliny and Dioscorides as the name
of a plant which exuded a fragrant gum), a name applied to several gums
or gum-resins that simulate and are sometimes found as adulterants of
true myrrh (q.v.).
BEACH, a word of unknown origin; probably an old dialect word meaning
shingle, hence, by transference, the place covered by shingle. Beach
sometimes denotes the material thrown up by the waves, sometimes the
long resulting ridge, but more frequently the area between high and low
water, or even the area between land and sea covered with material
thrown up by exceptional storms.
The actual character of beach material depends upon the nature and
structure of the rocks inshore, the strength and direction of currents,
and the force of the waves. The southern shore of the Isle of Wight
furnishes a good example. The island ends westward in the well-known
"Needles," consisting of chalk with flints. The disintegration of this
rock by wave action separates the finer chalk, which is carried seawards
in suspension, from the hard flint, which is piled in rough shingle upon
the shore. The currents sweep constantly eastward up channel, and the
rough flint shingle is rolled along by wave action toward the Ventnor
rampart, and ground finer and finer until it arrives as a very fine
flinty gravel at Ventnor pier. The sweep of Sandown Bay follows, where
the cliffs are composed for the most part of greensand, and here the
beach at low water is sandy and smooth. The eastern end of the island is
again composed of chalk with flints, and here the beach material as at
the western end consists of very coarse flint shingle. In this, as in
similar cases, the material has been dragged seawards from the land by
constant action of the undertow that accompanies each retreating tide
and each returning wave. The resulting accumulated ridge is battered by
every storm, and thrown above ordinary high-water mark in a ridge such
as the Chesil Bank or the long grass-grown mound that has blocked the
old channel of the Yar and diverted its waters into Yaverland Bay.
Sandown furnishes an instructive example of the power of the eastward
currents carrying high-storm waves. The groins built to preserve the
foreshore are piled to the top with coarse shingle on the western side,
while there is a drop of over 8 ft. on to the sands east of the wall,
many thousands of tons of shingle having been moved bodily by the waves
and deposited against each groin. The force of the waves has been
measured on the west coast of Scotland and found to be as much as 3 tons
per square foot. Against these forces the preservation of the shore from
the advance of the sea becomes an extremely difficult and often a
hopeless undertaking, since blocks of rock over 100 tons in weight have
been moved by the waves. The beach is therefore unstable in its
position. It advances in front of the encroaching sea, burying former
beaches under the sand and mud of the now deeper water, or it retreats
when the sea is withdrawn from the land or the land rises locally,
leaving the old shingle stranded in a "raised beach," but its formation
is in all cases due to the form and structure of the shore, the sapping
action of the waves, the backward drag of the undertow plastering the
shore with material, which is in turn bombarded by waves and swept by
currents that cover the finer debris of the undertow with a layer of
coarse fragments that are re-sorted by the daily action of currents and
tides.
BEACHY HEAD, a promontory on the coast of Sussex, England, S.W. of
Eastbourne, about 3 m. from the centre of the town. It consists of a
perpendicular chalk cliff 532 ft. high, and forms the eastern
termination of the hill-range known as the South Downs. The old Bell
Tout lighthouse, 285 ft. above high-water mark, erected in 1831 on the
second cliff to the westward, in 0 deg. 10' 18" E., 50 deg. 43' 30" N.,
has been superseded by a new lighthouse built in the sea at the foot of
the head itself.
_Battle of Beachy Head._--This naval battle, known to the French as
Bevisier (a corruption of Pevensey), was fought on the 30th of June
1690. An allied force of 37 British sail of the line, under command of
the earl of Torrington (Arthur Herbert), and of 22 Dutch under C.
Evertsen, was at anchor under the headland, while a French fleet of over
70 sail, commanded by the comte de Tourville, was anchored some miles
off to the south-west. The French fleet had orders to co-operate with an
expected Jacobite rising in England. Torrington, to whom the general
direction of the allied fleet belonged, was much disturbed by the
enemy's superiority in number, and on the 26th had written to the
Council of Regency suggesting that he ought to retire to the Gunfleet at
the mouth of the Thames, and observe the enemy from a distance till he
could be reinforced. The council, which had the support of Admiral
Russell, afterwards earl of Orford, considered that a retreat to the
Gunfleet would have fatal consequences, by which they no doubt meant
that it would leave the French free to land troops for the support of
the Jacobites. They therefore ordered Herbert not to lose sight of the
enemy, but rather to fight if he could secure an advantage of position.
The admiral, who was on very bad terms with the council, elected to
treat this as a peremptory order to fight. At daybreak on the 30th he
got under way and bore down on the enemy. The wind was at north-east and
gave him the weather-gage. As his fleet was only 57 sail in all he was
not able to engage the enemy from end to end, but as the French were
arranged in a line from east to west he could have fallen on the end
nearest him, and could have guarded himself by telling off a part of his
ships to watch the remainder. Torrington preferred to bring his fleet
down in such a way that his van, consisting of the Dutch ships, should
be opposite the enemy's van, his centre opposite their centre, and his
rear should engage their rear. The inferiority of the allies in numbers
made it therefore inevitable that there should be gaps between the
different divisions. As the fleets actually did come to action, the
Dutch with a few English ships pressed on the French van, their leading
ship being abreast of the ninth or tenth Frenchman. Torrington took his
station opposite the rear of the French centre, leaving a great gap
between himself and the ships in the van. Being apprehensive that the
French centre would tack and pass this gap so as to put him between two
fires, he kept a long way off so as to be free to manoeuvre against them
if they made the attempt. The English rear division, consisting of the
English blue squadron under Sir Ralph Delaval, fought a close action
with the French opposite to them. In the meantime the French ships,
ahead of the leading Dutchman, succeeded in turning to windward and
putting part of Evertsen's squadron between two fires. The Dutch ships
suffered heavily, and one of them which was dismasted drifted among the
French and was taken. More severe loss would have followed if the better
average seamanship of the English and Dutch had not stood them in good
stead. The tide turned from flood to ebb during the action, and the
surface current which in the Channel sets to the west with the ebb began
to carry the fleets with it. The Dutch and English dropped anchor. The
French, who were not equally alert, did not and were carried westward.
When the tide turned the allies retreated to the Thames, abandoning
several of the most damaged ships in Pevensey Bay. The pursuit of the
French was ineffective, for Tourville persisted in keeping his ships in
line of battle, which forced them to regulate their speed by the slowest
among them. Torrington was tried for his conduct but acquitted.
A full account of the battle of Beachy Head, written with ample
quotation of documents, and for the purpose of vindicating Herbert,
will be found in Admiral Colomb's _Naval Warfare_ (London, 1899).
(D. H.)
BEACON (from the O. Eng. _beacn_, a sign, cf. "beckon," another form of
the same word), a signal, especially a fire lit on a high hill,
structure or building for the purpose of sending a message of alarm or
of important news over long distances. Such was the courier-fire
([Greek: aggaros pur]) that brought the news of the fall of Troy to
Argos (Aeschylus, _Agamemnon_), or the chain of signals that told of the
approach of the Spanish Armada, or which circled the British Isles in
the jubilee years of 1887 and 1897. The word occurs in many names for
lofty and conspicuous hills, such as Dunkery Beacon in Somerset, the
highest point on Exmoor. On many such hills the remains of old beacon
towers and cressets are still found. The word is used generally of a
lighthouse, but technically it means either a small unattended light, a
superstructure on a floating buoy, such as a staff and cage, or staff
and globe, or an unlighted structure, forming a conspicuous object at
sea, used in each case to guide or warn sailors. (See LIGHTHOUSE and
BUOY.)