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BEL

discovered from the traces of his countenance. He expressed him-self with great persp.cuity ; and the words which he lirst made useof to explain his thoughts were generally so proper, that thereappeared no rasure in his writings.

BELLATR1X, in astronomy, a ruddy glittering star of theSecond magnitude, in the left shoulder of Orion.

BELLI! LAR It. a town of Ireland, in Sligo .

BELLEFOREST, Francis de, a French author, bom in theprovince of Guienne, in 1530.

BELLEGARDE. a strong town of France , on the frontiers ofCatalonia .

Bkllegar.de, a town of France, in the department of Saone and Loire, 15 miles N. E. of Chalons .

BELLE-ISLE, an island of France , 113 miles from the coast ofthe department of Morbihan , in the province of Britanny. It isthe largest of the French European islands, being 13 miles long,5 broad, and between 12 and 13 leagues in circumference.

Belle-Isle, an island of North America , at the N. End ofNewfoundland . Lon. 56. 25. W. Lat. 51. 55. N.

BELLENDEN, or BALLANT1NE, William, a Scotchwriter, who flourished in the beginning of the 17th century, wasprofesjpr of humanity at Edinburgh , and master ot the requeststo James I. of England. But both are supposed to have been onlynominal, since lie appears to have resided almost ’constantly atParis , where by the favour of his sovereign he was enabled to livein easy circumstances. There he published in 1608, his Ciceropriuceps, a singular work ; which he dedicated, from a principle ofpatriotism and gratitude, to the son of his master, Ilenry Prince otWales . In 1612, he published a work of a similar nature, calledCicero Consul, .Senator Senatusque Romunus, in which he treatedwith much perspicuity, and a fund of solid information, on thenature of the Consular Office, and the constitution of the RomanSenate . Finding these works received, as they deserved, with theunanimous approbation of the learned, he conceived a plan of athird work, De Statu prisci Orbis, which was to contain a historyof the progress of government and philosophy, from the times be-fore the flood to their various degrees of improvement under theHebrews, Greeks, and Romans. He proceeded sp far as to printa few copies of this work, in 1615, when it seems to have beensuggested that his treatises, De Statu Principis, De Statu Reipub-lica-, and De Statu Orbis, being on subjects nearly resemblingeach other, there might lie a propriety in uniting them into onework, by republishing the two former, and infilling the whole Bel-lendcnus de Statu. These pieces were reprinted in 1787, by (helearned Dr. S. Parr, who inscribed them to Mr. Burke, LordNorth , and Mr. Fox, whose respective portraits are prefixed toeach dedication, and whose talents and virtues he celebrates ami■defends in a preface of 76 pages, containing a very free and bolddiscussion of our public men and measures in very classicallanguage, and a strong and satirical representation, under borrowednames of antiquity, of the chiefs of the other party, or Mr. Pitt’sministry. Bellenden wrote another work, published after hisdeath, De tribus Lumiuibus Romannrum, whom he conceives tobe Cicero , Seneca, and the elder 1’linv. 'File editor gives an ac-count of this work, from whence he took his idea of drawing hischaracters of the three luminaries of Great Britain . lie marks theproficiency in Greek and Roman literature which once distin-guished the Scotch, before the civil dissensions drove theirbrightest geniuses abroad, and celebrates the ardour for philosophyand literature so prevalent in North Britain at present. Dr. Mid-dleton has been charged with borrowing not only the matter, butthe arrangement of his Life of Cicero, from Bellenden, without theleast acknowledgment,and the editor confesses himself oft Id-opinion.

BELLENTS, a city of Switzerland, near lake Lugano .

BELLER, BELLAY, or BELI.EY, a town of trance, in thedepartment of Ain, 12 or 16 miles N. W. of Chamberry. Lon.5. 50. E. Lat. 45. 47. N.

BELLEROP1ION, or BELLEROPIIONTES, in fabuloushistory, the son of Glaucits king of Epire, happening accidentallyto kill his brother, fled to Prietos king of Argos, who gave hima hospitable reception : hut Sthenohea, his queen, falling in lovewith the beautiful stranger, and finding that nothing could inducehim to injure his benefactor, she accused him to her husband ofan attempt to violate her honour. Prretus, however, not beingwilling to act contrary to the laws of hospitality, sent him to

Iobates king of Lysia, and the father of Sthenohea, with lettersdesiring him to put him to death. That prince, at the receipt ofthese letters, was celebrating a festival of nine days, which pre-vented Bellerophon ’s destruction. Iobates, however, sent him inthe mean time to subdue the Solymi, the Amazons , and Lysians,and thought to get rid of him by exposing him to the greatestdangers ; but by his prudence and courage he came off victorious.Iobates next employed him to destroy the Chimiera; when Mi-nerva,. or, according to others, Neptune, in consideration of hisinnocence, furnished him with the horse Pegasus , by whose as-sistance he killed the Chimatra. Iobates, on his return, beingconvinced of his truth and integrity, and charmed with his heroicvirtues, gave him his daughter Philonoe in marriage, and de-clared him his successor : which when Sthenohea heard, she killedherself.

BELLES LETTRES, or polite literature, a very compre-hensive expression, though not easily defined. Our industriouspredecessors, the editors of the “ Encyclopaedia Britannica,”justly complain that they cannot find either a clear definition, or asuccinct explanation, of the words Belles Leltres, nor any sum-mary of those scienc es which are comprehended under this generaland collective denomination. However they are generally con-sidered as including that extensive ramification of the subjectivesciences, which are peculiarly calculated to improve tire heart,and enlarge the mind, in contradistinction from those objective, orihysical sciences, which principally (end to increase the know-edge of the senses, while they explain the nature of externalobjects. Among these, which constitute the Belles Lettres, areenumerated, the arts of speech comprehending grammar, rhetoric,poetry, criticism, &c. also ornamental gardening, elegant archi-tecture, music, gymnastic arts, drawing, printing, &c. Bee Rollinon the Belles Lettres, and Blair’s Lectures.

BELL-FLOWER , in botany. See Campanula.

Beli.-Eoundery. See Foundf.ry.

BELLING, applied to hops, denotes their openingand expand*-ing to their customary siiape, supposed to bear some relation tothat of a bell.

BELLINGHAM, a town of Northumberland , 14 miles N. N.W. of Hexham .

BET.L1NZONA, a town of Italy , in the Milanese, near thelake Maggtore. Lon. 9. 0. E. Lat. 46. 8. N.

BELL1S, in botany, the daisy : a genus of the svngenesia or-der, and polygamia superflua class; natural Older, Composite dis-coides. Receptacle naked and conic; no pappus; calyx hemis-pheric with equal scales; seeds ovated. There are two species,and many varieties.

B. Perennis, the common daisy, with a naked stalk, and oneflower, grows naturally in pasture lands in most parts of Europe .Its leaves have a subtile subadd taste; and are recommended asvulneraries, and in asthmas and hectic fevers, as well as in suchdisorders as are occasioned by drinking cold liquors, when thebody has been much heated.

B. IIortensis, or garden-daisy, is only a variety of this spe-cies. It has a large double ilower. The varieties cultivated ingardens are ; 1. the red and white garden-daisy: 2. the doublevariegated garden-daisy: 3. the childing, or hen and chickengarden-daisy : and 4. the cock’s comb daisy, with red and whiteflowers.

BELLIUM, a genus of the syngenesia, polygamia superfluaclass and order. Calyx with equal leaflets; seeds conic withchaffy eight-leafed eroan,awned down; receptacle naked. Thereare two species, natives of Italy and the Levant, in many respectsresembling the daisy in habit and appearance.

BELLON, a distemper common in countries where they smeltlead ore. It is attended with languor, intolerable pains, and sen-sations of gripings in the belly, and generally costiveness. It fre-quently proves fatal. The method oi cure which has been foundmost successful in this distemper, is, to give cremor, or crystals oftartar, in small doses, and to repeat them two or three times a-dav.Beasts, poultry, &c. as well as men, are subject to this disorder.

BELLONA, in Pagan mythology, the goddess of war, is ge-nerally reckoned the sister of Mars, and some represent her asboth his sister and wife. She is said to have teen the inventress ofthe needle; aud from that instrument is supposed to have taken 1her name, signifying a needle.

BELLONARIL