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ed an empire which extended to the shores of the Mediterranean. Babylon, which, even earlier, was the seat of scientific, particularly of astronomical and astrological knowledge, was the capital of this empire. Commerce and industry introduced wealth, and this produced a love of luxury and magnificence. The manufactures of linen, cotton and silk were especially celebrated. Learning was confined to the priests, who are mentioned under the name of Chaldeans. Under Nabonidas, the empire declined, until Cyrus put an end to it by destroying the capital, in 536, and united Babylonia with Persia. It shared the fate of Persia until A. D. 640, when it was conquered by the followers of Mohammed, who built Bagdad on the Tigris in 762. This became the seat of the caliphs, who were expelled, in 1258, by Holagou, a prince of the Tartars. In 1534, Bagdad fell into the power of the Turkish victors, from whom Shah Abbas took it in 1613. It came, with Babylonia, anew under the dominion of the Turks, in 1639, who possess it at the present day.— Of the ruins of Babylon, which engage the attention of travellers in modern times, the most correct accounts are contained in the Memoir on the Ruins of Babylon, by Claude James Rich, resident of the East India company at the court of the pacha of Bagdad (3d edition, with copperplates, London, 1818). Rich, Niebuhr and Rennel suppose ancient Babylon to have been situated in the Turkish pachalic Bagdad, near the village Hill or Hella, which lies in 32° 28′ N. lat., on the eastern bank of the Euphrates, and contains 6-7000 inhabitants. In the neighborhood are a number of old, ruined canals. Idols, vessels, intaglios, &c., and even ruins of large buildings, are still seen there. Della Valle and Rennel think one of them to be the tower of Belus. The greatest height of this is 141 feet, and the sides are directed to the four cardinal points. Another ruin of a castle contains many caves and passages. A third, a huge oblong edifice, on the western side of the Euphrates, is called by the Arabians Birs Nimrud. This was first described by Rich. He takes it for the tower of Belus, the top of which was to serve as an observatory. Of this opinion is also Ker Porter. Grotefend has done much towards deciphering the arrowheaded inscriptions. The material is entirely brick, as described by Herodotus. Of the old city walls not a trace has been discovered. As to the rest, these ruins

bear the character of grandeur, but not of beauty. The ornaments still existing are clumsy and tasteless.

BACCALAUREUS (anciently, baccalarius, bachelor) denoted, in the middle ages, 1. a warrior of lower rank (bachelier), under a knight banneret; 2. transferred to the clergy, it signified a canon of the lowest rank; 3. a candidate who had passed three academical courses and examinations, and was himself entitled to give lectures without being reckoned among the independent lecturers. This was, consequently, the lowest academical degree. After the first examination, he was called baccalaureus simplex; after the second (or Biblical), baccalaureus currens ; after the third (philosophical and dogmatical), baccalaureus formatus. The baccalaureus could now become a licentiate, i. e., acquire all the rights of a teacher. In France, this institution remained until the revolution. In England, it is even now in existence, and the baccalaureus, created according to the regular forms, is called a formed bachelor; one who is created by an extraordinary diploma, a current bachelor.-In the universities of Cambridge and Oxford, a bachelor of arts must keep a certain number of terms; and a bachelor of divinity must be a master of arts. There are, also, at these universities, bachelors of laws, of medicine and of music.-In France, since the 1st of October, 1822, he who wishes to become baccalaureus must have attended, at least one year, the philosophical course, in one of the royal colleges, institutes of education or divinity schools, in which philosophy is taught. Those candidates, likewise, who have been educated and instructed in the house of their father, of their brother, or uncle, can be admitted to the baccalaureat des lettres. The candidates for the academical degree of baccalaureus are examined in all that is taught in the higher classes of the royal colleges, that is, in Greek and Latin authors, rhetoric, history, philosophy, the elements of mathematics and natural history.-Bachelor of arts is a degree commonly conferred, in the U. States, on students who have completed the course of study established at the several colleges in this country.

BACCHANALIA. (See Bacchus and Or

by Jupiter. Before his birth, however, she became a victim of the craft of Juno. Jupiter hastened to save the unborn fruit of his embrace, and concealed it, till mature, in his own thigh. He afterwards committed the infant to Mercury, who carried him to Ino and Athamas, and finally to the nymphs of Nysa, in India, where he grew and prospered. His teacher was Silenus, afterwards his constant companion. In the vales of Nysa, Bacchus invented the preparation of a beverage from grapes, and taught the planting of vines. To spread the knowledge of his invention, he travelled over almost the whole known world, and received in every quarter divine honors. Drawn by lions (some say panthers, tigers or lynxes), he began his march, which resembled a triumphal pomp, with a great suite of men and women, Sileni, Satyrs, and Mænades. Inspired by the presence of the god, rejoicing, brandishing the thyrsus, and crowned with vines and ivy, they danced around him, shouting, "Evoe! Eleleus!" over hill and valley, accompanied by the tones of Phrygian flutes and timbrels. The The bans would not acknowledge his divinity, and Pentheus armed himself against him. Bacchus resolved to punish the crime, and inspired the women with a fury which drove them from their dwellings, to wander on mount Cithæron. Pentheus himself was torn in pieces by his own mother and her sisters, to whom he appeared a wild beast. He punished the daughters of Mynias, who derided his feasts, with frenzy and transformation. At Naxos, some Tuscan sailors attempted to carry him off to Italy, supposing him, from his purple robe, to be the son of a king. They fettered him; but the fetters fell off, vines and ivy entwined the vessel, and kept it fixed in the midst of the sea: the god transformed himself to a lion, and the seamen, seized with madness, leaped into the waves, where they were changed into dolphins. On the other hand, he rewarded such as received him hospitably, and rendered him worship; as, for instance, Midas (q. v.), who restored to him the faithful Silenus. His love was shared by ́several; but Ariadne, whom he found deserted upon Naxos, alone was elevated to the dignity of a wife, and became a sharer of his immortality. To confer the same favor on his mother, Semele, he descended into the realms of Pluto, and conducted her to Olympus, where she was henceforth called Thyone. In the dreadful war with the giants, he fought heroically,

and saved the gods from impending ruin. According to some, he escaped the dangers which surrounded him in this conflict, by transforming himself into a lion. During the rejoicings for victory, Jupiter joyfully cried to him, " Evan, evoe!" (Well done, my son!) with which words Bacchus was afterwards usually saluted. We find him represented with the round, soft and graceful form of a maiden, rather than with that of a young man. An ornament peculiar to him is the tiara. His long, waving hair is knitted behind in a knot, and wreathed with sprigs of ivy and vineleaves. He is usually naked; sometimes he has an ample mantle hung negligently round his shoulders; sometimes a fawnskin hangs across his breast. The bearded Bacchus is properly of Indian or Egyptian origin. The golden horns (the symbol of invincible force) upon his head were hidden by the Greek sculptors, or shown but little. The feasts consecrated to Bacchus were termed Bacchanalia, Dionysia, or, in general, Orgia. They were celebrated with particular solemnity in Athens, where the years were universally reckoned by them. During their continuance, the least violence towards a citizen was a capital crime. The great Dionysia were celebrated in spring. The most important part of the celebration was a procession, representing the triumph of Bacchus. This was composed of the above-mentioned train of Bacchantes, of both sexes, who, inspired by real or feigned intoxication, wandered about, rioting and dancing, and gave themselves up to the most extravagant licentiousness. They were masked, clothed in fawn-skins, crowned with ivy, and bore in their hands drinking cups and spears entwined with ivy (thyrsi). Amidst this mad crowd marched, in beautiful order, the delegated bodies of the Phratia (corporations of citizens). They bore upon their heads consecrated baskets, which contained first-fruits of every kind, cakes of different shape, and various mysterious symbols. This procession was usually in the night-time. The day was devoted to spectacles and other recreations. At a very early hour, they went to the theatre of Bacchus, where musical or dramatical performances were exhibited. All over Athens reigned licentiousness and revelry. These feasts passed from the Greeks to the Romans, who celebrated them with still greater dissoluteness, till the senate abolished them, B. C. 187. (On the worship of Bacchus, the Dionysiaca, &c., see the prize essay of P. N. Rolle, Recherches

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sur le Culte de Bacchus, Paris, 1824, 3 vols.)

BACCHYLIDES; born in Iulis, a city of the island Cos; the last of the 10 great lyric poets of Greece, whom the Alexandrine canon declared classical. The nephew of Simonides, and a contemporary of Pindar, he is placed as a poet beside them. Hiero, at whose court he lived, esteemed him very highly, and preferred him even to Pindar. Of his odes, hymns, pæans, triumphal songs, the few fragments which remain are collected in some editions of Pindar, and in the Analecta of Brunck: there are many traces of him in the odes of Horace. Without having the impetuous, eagleflight of Pindar, he was neither destitute of fire and energy, nor of grace and rich

ness.

BACCIO DELLA PORTA, Francisco Bartolomeo, better known under the name of Fra Bartolomeo di San Marco,* born in 1469, at Savignano, near Prato, in Tuscany, learned, in Florence, the first principles of painting from Cosimo Roselli, made rapid progress, and acquired, by studying the works of Leonardo da Vinci, that beauty and grandeur of style, that vigor of coloring and of outline, by which his later productions are distinguished. At this time, he undertook his famous fresco in the church-yard of the hospital Santa Maria Nuova, representing the last judgment, which was finished by his friend Albertinelli. Seduced by the preaching of the fanatical Savonarola, he abandoned every thing to follow him, and shut himself up, with a great number of his followers, in the monastery of San Marco, when this turbulent preacher of sedition was pursued by the officers of justice. The monastery was besieged, and B. made a vow to become a monk, if he should happily escape this peril. In consequence of this vow, he took the Dominican habit in the same monastery, 1500, and assumed the name of Fra Bartolomeo. This event agitated him so much, that, for the space of four years, he did not touch his pencil, and employed it afterwards only on devotional subjects. The pictures which he executed at this period are superior to his earlier productions. Raphael visited Florence in 1504, and contributed to the brilliant success of Fra Bartolomeo. The latter learned perspective from his friend, and gave him, in return, instruction in coloring. Some years afterwards, he visited Michael An*Fra is the abbreviation of frate (brother), and is often put before the names of monks.

gelo and Raphael at Rome, and had the rare modesty to do homage to their great talents by confessing his own inferiority. After his return to Florence, he executed several religious pictures, among which were a saint Mark and saint Sebastian, two compositions which obtain the admiration of every connoisseur. His style is severe and elevated, but, at the same time, very graceful in youthful figures; his coloring possesses vigor and brilliancy, and comes near to that of Titian and Giorgione. But he particularly excels in drapery, which none before him represented with equal truth, fulness and ease. He died in 1517. His disciples were Cecchino del Frate Benedetto, Ciamfanini, Gabriel Rustucci and Fra Paolo of Pistoia, who inherited his designs. His excellent pictures are preserved in the gallery of the grand duke at Florence and in the palace of Pitti.

BACCIOCCHI, Felix Pascal, formerly prince of Lucca and Piombino, husband of Elisa Bonaparte, sister of Napoleon, born May 18, 1762, in Corsica, of a noble but poor family, entered the army as a cadet, and was a captain when Bonaparte commanded the army in Italy. At this time his marriage took place, in consequence of which he was made colonel of the 26th regiment of light infantry, afterwards president of the electoral college of Ardennes, and, in 1804, a senator, without having distinguished himself, either from want of ability or of opportunity. In 1805, he received the title of prince, from the principality of Lucca and Piombino, assigned to his wife, whom, after the revolution of 1814 and 1815, he accompanied into banishment. From that time he lived with her and his son, under the surveillance of the Austrian government, at Trieste.-His wife, Marie Anne Elisa Bonaparte, born at Ajaccio, Jan. 8, 1777, and educated in the royal institution for noble ladies at St. Cyr, had lived with her mother, at Marseilles, during the revolution. In 1797, she married captain Bacciocchi, according to the wish of her mother, but without the consent of her brother, who was then general-in-chief. In 1799, she went to Paris, and resided there with her brother Lucien, who awakened in her a taste for poetry and the fine arts. She collected around her the most accomplished men of the capital, among whom were the chevalier de Boufflers, Laharpe, the viscount Châteaubriand and the marquis de Fontanes. Generous as she ever was towards distinguished talent, she conferred particular

obligations on the two last. Fontanes was patronised by Napoleon, chiefly, through her recommendation. Conscious of her intellectual superiority, she kept her husband in a very subordinate situation. It was she, in fact, who governed the principalities of Lucca and Piombino, and, as grand duchess of Tuscany, she enacted the part of a queen. When this Semiramis of Lucca, as a witty writer styles her, reviewed the troops of the duchy, her husband discharged the office of aide-de-camp. She introduced many improvements, though not properly as sisted by the officers intrusted with her confidence. In 1814, she retired to Bologna, but was obliged, in the following year, to reside in Austria. Here she lived, at first, with her sister Carolina; afterwards, with her family, under the inspection of the government, at Trieste, where she called herself the countess Compignano. Elisa Bacciocchi died of a nervous fever, August 7, 1820, at her country seat, Villa Vicentina, near Trieste. She was deposited in the chapel of her own palace, in a tomb built by herself. In Trieste, she was distinguished for charity and benevolence. Notwithstanding her wish, that her daughter Napoleona Elisa, born June 3, 1806, and her son, should be put under the care of her brother Jerome, her husband remained their legal guardian. BACH, John Sebastian, among the German musical composers of the last century, one of the most famous, and the greatest of this name, so distinguished in musical literature, born in 1685, at Eisenach, died in 1750, at Leipsic. He received his first instruction on the harpsichord, at Ordruff, from his elder brother, John Christopher. After the death of his brother, he studied music at Lüneburg, and made himself familiar with the French style, while in the chapel of the duke at Halle; in 1703, entered into the service of the duke of Weimar; went, in 1704, to Arnstadt, where he made great proficiency; was, in 1707, organist at Mühlhausen; in 1708, organist of the court in Weimar; and, in 1714, master of the concert at the same place; afterwards, in 1717, chapelmaster at Cöthen; in 1723, chanter and director of music at St. Thomas' school at Leipsic; and, in 1736, composer at the royal and electoral court of Saxony. His life has been written by Forkel. As a player on the harpsichord and organ, Sebastian Bach had no equal among his contemporaries. His compositions breathe an original inspiration, uncontaminated by foreign taste, and are chiefly of the

religious kind. They consist of cantatas and motettos, and many pieces for the organ and the piano.-B.'s family came from Presburg, in Hungary, which Sebastian's father, John Ambrosius, himself a good musician, left on account of religious difficulties, and settled in Germany. More than 50 musical performers have proceeded from this family. Sebastian himself had 11 sons, all distinguished as musicians. The most renowned were the following: Wilhelm Friedemann, born in 1710, at Weimar, died master of the chapel of Hesse-Darmstadt, at Berlin, in 1784. He was one of the most scientific harmonists, and most skilful organists. -Charles Philip Emanuel, born in 1714, at Weimar, died in 1788, at Hamburg. After having studied law at Leipsic, he went to Berlin, as a musician in the Prussian service, and was, finally, director of the orchestra at Hamburg. He has composed mostly for the piano, and has published melodies for Gellert's hymns. His vocal compositions are excellent. His essay on the true manner of playing on the harpsichord is, even now, a classical work in its kind.-John Christopher Frederic, born at Weimar, 1732, died in 1795, master of the chapel at Buckeburg, a great organist, is known also by the music he has published.-John Christian, born in 1735, at Leipsic, died in London, 1782, was, on account of the graceful and agreeable style in which he wrote, a favorite composer with the public.

BACHARACH; a small place, of 1200 inhabitants, on the Rhine, three leagues from Bingen. It contains the ruins of the castle Stahleck, also those of a church, and another church, still existing, in the true Byzantine style. It produces excellent wine, which was once so highly esteemed, that pope Pius II (Æneas Sylvius) ordered every year a quantity to Rome, and the emperor Wenceslaus granted to Nuremberg some important privileges for a moderate quantity of this delicious beverage. The view from the ruins of the castle is one of the sublimest on the Rhine.

BACHAUMONT, François le Coigneux de, born at Paris, 1624, died there, 1702, was early employed as counsellor of the parliament of Paris, of which his father was president. In the disturbances of 1648, he took part against the court, and from him originated the name of the Fronde. He said that the parliament reminded him of the school-boys who played with slings in the boulevards of Paris, and dispersed at the sight of a police officer, but collected again as soon as he was out

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of sight. The comparison pleased; the enemies of Mazarin adopted hat-cords in the form of a sling (fronde), and were called Frondeurs. In the war of the Fronde, B. found frequent occasion to exercise his wit, in epigrams, against the court. After the troubles were past, he devoted himself to pleasure and to poetry. Similarity of taste and character produced an intimate friendship between him and La Chapelle, and they composed, in common, that charming account of a Journey, which met with so much favor among the friends of light and sportive poetry. He has written, also, many gay songs, which, however, are too much scattered to allow of a complete collection being made. M. Lefevre de St. Marc has published one, but does not pretend that all the pieces are genuine.

BACHELOR. (See Baccalaureus.)

BACK; a word often used in sea-terms. To back an anchor; to carry out a small anchor, ahead of the large one, in order to support the latter.-To back and fill, is an operation generally performed in narrow rivers, when a vessel has the tide in her favor, and the wind against her.To back the sails, is to arrange them in a situation that will occasion the vessel to retreat, or to move astern, in consequence of the tide or current being in her favor, and the wind contrary, but light.-Back the main-topsail; the command to brace that sail in such a manner, that the wind may exert its force against the fore-part of the sail, and, by thus laying it aback, materially retard the vessel's course. BACKGAMMON ; a game played with dice, by two persons, on a table divided into two parts, upon which there are 24 black and white spaces, called points. Each player has 15 men, black and white, to distinguish them. The word is of Welsh origin, signifying little battle.Laws of the game. 1. If a man is taken from any point, it must be played. 2. A man is not played, till it is placed upon a point and quitted. 3. If a player has only 14 men in play, there is no penalty attending it. 4. If he bears any number of men before he has entered a man taken up, and which, of course, he was obliged to enter, such men, so borne, must be entered again in the adversary's table, as well as the man taken up. 5. If he has mistaken his throw, and played it, and his adversary has thrown, it is not in the choice of either of the players to alter it, unless both parties agree to it. (See Hoyle's Games, improved from the latest and best authorities.)

BACKEREEL, or BACQUERELLI, William ; a Dutch historical painter, born at Ant

werp, and a disciple of Rubens at the same time with Vandyke. Sandrart observes, that, in his time, there were seven or eight eminent painters of this name in Italy and the Low Countries.

BACKHUYSEN, Ludolf, one of the most celebrated painters of the Dutch school, particularly in sea-pieces, born in 1631, at Embden, was first employed as a clerk by his father, who was secretary to the statesgeneral. He afterwards entered a mercantile house at Amsterdam, and, without instruction, began to sketch the vessels which arrived in the harbor. These attempts met with applause, and led him to devote himself entirely to painting. He received instruction from von Everdingen, and soon acquired, by his assiduity, and his frequent visits to the rooms of the best artists, an extraordinary degree of facility and skill; but what most contributed to his rapid progress was, the zeal with which he studied nature. On the approach of a storm, he was accustomed to embark in a light boat, and calmly observe the motions of the waves, the tremendous shock of the breakers, and the tossings of the agitated vessels. The terrified sailors often forced him to the shore, in spite of his earnest entreaties. Full of what he had seen, he then hastened home, without speaking a word, or allowing his attention to be distracted by any other object, and completed, with admirable exactness in the most minute particulars, the sketches which he had already made. This courageous zeal procured his pictures the first rank in their class. Several princes visited his rooms, and Peter the Great even wished to take lessons of him. The burgomasters of Amsterdam commissioned him to execute a sea-piece, for which they paid 1300 florins, and which they presented, in 1665, to Louis XIV. This beautiful picture is still in Paris. In all his paintings, the utmost truth prevails. His colors are excellent, and his stroke is remarkably well suited to imitate the water and its motions. his skies are light, and of a great variety. B. also attempted poetry, and gave instruction in penmanship. His gayety and strength of mind did not quit him even during the long sufferings which put an end to his life, in 1709, at the age of 78 years. His pictures will always retain a high value. At the sale of the pictures of P. de Smeth, in Amsterdam, 1810, four pieces of Backhuysen were sold for 550, 805, 980, and 1400 florins.

BACON, Anthony, the son of sir Nicholas, and elder brother to the celebrated