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OBITUARIES, FOREIGN. (BARNETT BIGGAR.) 



laud, but distinguished himself most of all by bring- 

 ing forward bills in 1861 and 1864 for enlarging the 

 electoral franchise, and in 1865 by drawing to his 

 measure the support of the Liberal ministers and pav- 

 ing the way for the subsequent parliamentary reforms. 

 Owing to differences with his constituents he lost his 

 seat in 1874. He was knighted in 1880. Sir Edward 

 Baines was a working journalist for seventy years. 

 Besides a life of his father, he published a " History 

 of the English Cotton Manufacture" (1835), and lect- 

 ures and tracts on social and political questions. 



Barnett, John, an English musician, born near Bed- 

 ford, July 15, 1802; died April 17, 1890. He was 

 the son of a German father ana a Hungarian mother 

 sang in Drury Lane and Covent Garden theatres as a 

 child ; studied the piano and composition under Fer- 

 dinand Ries, Kalkbrenner, Sento Perer, William 

 Huxley, and Xarcier Schneider, and in 1834 produced 

 the " Mountain Sylph," the first successful English 

 opera, which was followed in 1836 by " Fair Rosa- 

 mond," and in 1839 by " Farinelli." In addition to 

 these operas he composed " The Pet of the Petti- 

 coats," "The Carnival of Naples," " Before Break- 

 fast," "Mr. Mallett," and 4f Win and wear her," 

 light musical dramas that were all popular, and near- 

 ly a thousand songs and ballads, among which the 

 best known are " Rise, Gentle Moon," " Not a Drum 

 was heard," and the " Light Guitar." He married in 

 1839 a daughter of Robert Lindley, a famous violon- 

 cellist, and resided for the rest of 'his life at Chelten- 

 ham, devoting his attention chiefly to the study of the 

 voice and the best method of vocal training, on which 

 he published an important treatise. 



Bauernfeld, Eduard von, an Austrian poet, born in 

 1802 ; died in Dobling, near Vienna, Aug. 9, 1890. 

 He was the son of poor parents, and in 1825 obtained 

 a clerkship in the office of the State Lottery. He was 

 not known as a writer till the revolutionary epoch of 

 1848, when he became the laureate of the popular 

 cause and wrote pieces for the royal theatre, in which 

 the ideas of liberty and equality that had been banned 

 under the iron rule of Metternich were glowingly 

 eulogized. When the reaction triumphed, he was 

 told that he must either cease to write or leave the 

 Government service, and in 1851 he chose to give up 

 his appointment and devote himself to literature. He 

 wrote a great number of graceful plays picturing the 

 joyous life of the Viennese, full of tender sentiment 

 and homely humor, and in spirit and style racy of the 

 scenes, customs, thoughts, and feelings of the people 

 of his native town. In youth he was a friend of Franz 

 Schubert, for whose opera " Graf von Gleichen," he 

 wrote the libretto. His most famous plays are : u Der 

 deutsche Krieger," " Der neue Mensch," ' Der Kate- 

 gorische Imperativ," and " Moderne Jugend." He 

 was buried at the expense of the city in the inclosure 

 reserved for its illustrious dead, by the side of the 

 tombs of Beethoven and Schubert. 



Baxter, William Edward, an English politician, bom 

 in Dundee in 1825 ; died in London, Aug. 10, 1890. 

 He' studied at Edinburgh University, and succeeded 

 Joseph Hume as member of Parliament for Montrose 

 in 1855. He declined office several times before he 

 became Secretary to the Admiralty under Mr. Glad- 

 stone in 1868 in an administration pledged to econo- 

 my. In 1871-'73 he was Secretary to the Treasury. 

 He was a conspicuous friend of the United States dur- 

 ing the war of secession, and has always been a vig- 

 orous opponent of the ecclesiastical establishments in 

 England and Scotland. Mr. Baxter was a merchant 

 in the foreign trade at Dundee, and was also the au- 

 thor of " Impressions of Central and Southern Eu- 

 rope" (1850); "The Tagus and the Tiber" (1852); 

 "America and the Americans" (1855); "Hints to 

 Thinkers, or Lectures for the Times" (1860) ; " Free 

 Italy" (1874); and "A Winter in India" (1882). 



Belcastel, Jean Baptiste de Lacoste de, a French Le- 

 gitimist politician, born in 1821 ; died in Colomiers, 

 near Toulouse, Jan. 21, 1890. His life had been taken 

 up with agricultural occupations till 1871, when he 

 was elected to the Chamber. There he became the 



leader of the Extreme Right, which opposed not only 

 Thiers, but the MacMahon septennate. In 1873 he 

 headed the fifty Deputies who made a pilgrimage to 

 Paray - le - Monial. He secured the adoption of a 

 clause in the new Constitution directing that prayers 

 should be offered in the churches at the opening of 

 every session of the Parliament. This clause was 

 soon stricken out. M. de Belcastel was a member of 

 the Senate from 1876 till 1879, when he failed to be 

 re-elected, and retired from political life. The ear- 

 nestness of his convictions was admired by those who 

 least sympathized with his mediaeval ideas. 



Belot, Adolphe, a French novelist, born at Point-a- 

 Pitre, Guadaloupe, Nov. 6, 1821; died in Paris, Dec. 

 18,1890. After traveling through the United States 

 and South America and studying law in Paris, he be- 

 gan to practice as an advocate at Nancy, but altered 

 his mind and entered on a literary career, although 

 his first novel, "Chatinient" (Paris, 1855), was not 

 successful, nor his first play, a comedy in one act 

 called " A la campagne," produced two years later. 

 The novel, which he published at his own charge, was 

 pecuniarily profitable, tor while he was absent on a 

 second journey through the United States the edition 

 was bought by deluded purchasers who wanted the 

 " Chatiments " of Victor Hugo. His second play was 

 " Le Testament de Cesar Girodot," a comedy in three 

 acts, written with the assistance of Charles Edmond 

 Villetard, which from its first production at the Odeon 

 Theatre, on Sept. 30, 1859, till the present day has 

 never ceased to arrfuse the theatre-going^ public of 

 Paris. Belot wrote novels, some of which passed 

 through one hundred editions, which he dramatized 

 Some of his plays reached two hundred representa- 

 tions. One of his novels, published in the " Figaro," 

 was suppressed as being immoral. The most cele- 

 brated of them is " Madame Giraud, ma femme " 

 (1870). A series of four connected novels entitled 

 u Les Mysteres mondains," "Les Baigneuses de 

 Trouville," "Madame Vitel et Mademoiselle Le- 

 lievre," and " Une niaison centrale desfcmmes," was 

 his most ambitious work of fiction. More popular 

 were: "Le Parricide" (1873); " Mcmoires d'un 

 caissier" (1874); " Helene et Mathilde," "Deux 

 femmes," and " Folies de jeunesse." " Dacolard et 

 Lubin " is a sequel to " Le Parricide." " La Sultane 

 Parisienne" was translated into English (London, 

 1879). " Fremont jeune et Risler aine " is a drama 

 founded on Alphonse Daudet's novel of the same 

 name. Among his most famous works are : " Drame 

 de la Rue de Paix," " L' Article 47," " Miss Multon," 

 " La Femme de feu," " La Fcmme de glace," " La 

 Venus noire," " Un secret de famille," " La Ven- 

 geance du mari," " Les Parents terribles," " Les 

 Maris a systeme." His " Etrangleurs de Paris" is 

 a famous piece that was first acted at the Porte St. 

 Martin Theatre on March 17, 1880. Belot earned a 

 vast sum of money by his plays and novels. He was 

 made a knight of the Legion of Honor in 18G7. 



Biggar, Joseph Gillis, an Irish politician, born in 

 Belfast in 1828; died in London, Feb. 19, 1890. He 

 entered his father's business in youth, and in 1861 

 succeeded as head of the firm, which dealt in bacon 

 and provisions. He engaged in politics from 1869, 

 and was elected a member of Parliament for County 

 Cavan in 1874. He became a member of the supreme 

 council of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, with 

 the object, however ? of checking the progress of the 

 physical-force doctrine and leading the organization 

 into the channel of constitutional agitation. He 

 ranged himself by the side of Charles Stewart Par- 

 nell when the latter entered Parliament in the follow- 

 ing year. On April 22, 1875, he introduced, in con- 

 tending against the passage of the Peace Preservation 

 bill, the redoubtable tactics that came to be known as 

 obstruction by occupying the time of the House for 

 four hours in reading and commenting on the evidence 

 taken by the Westmeath Commission. He took an 

 active part in the Land League movement, and was 

 one of the original treasurers of the League. In 

 August, 1877, he was expelled from the Fenian or- 



