BALLAST. 



BALLET. 



803 



in the old ballad of Chevy Chase ; but that metre has not, by modern 

 authorities, been held as a necessary constituent of a ballad. 



BALLAST (Danish, Baglaxt ; German, Dutch, and Swedish, Bal- 

 last; French, Lett ; Italian, Savorra ; Spanish, Latre ; Portuguese, 

 Lastro ; Russian, Balast), a term used to denote any heavy material 

 placed in a ship's hold with the object of sinking her deeper in the 

 water, and of thereby rendering her capable of carrying sail without 

 danger of being overset. Ships are said to be in ballast when they 

 sail without a cargo, having on board only the stores and other articles 

 requisite for the use of the vessel and crew, as well as of any pas- 

 sengers who may be proceeding with her upon the voyage. In favour 

 of vessels thus circumstanced it is usual to dispense with many forma- 

 lities at the custom-houses of the ports of departure and entry, and to 

 remit the payment of certain dues and port charges which are levied 

 upon ships having cargoes on board. 



A foreign vessel proceeding from a British port may take on board 

 chalk as ballast, and shall not be considered as other than a ship in 

 ballast, in consequence of her having on board a small quantity of 

 goods of British manufacture for the private use of the master and 

 crew, and not by way of merchandise ; but such goods must not 

 exceed in value 201. for the master, 101. for the mate, and 51. for each 

 of the crew. 



Regulations have at various times been made in different ports and 

 countries, determining the modes in which ships may be supplied with 

 ballast, and in what manner they may discharge the same ; such regula- 

 tions being necessary to prevent injury to harbours. It has likewise been 

 sometimes attempted to convert the supply of materials for ballast 

 into a monopoly. In vol. xx. of Rymer's ' Fcedera,' p. 93, of the year 

 1636, we find a proclamation by King Charles I., ordering " that none 

 shall buy any ballast out of the river Thames but a person appointed 

 by him for that purpose;" and this appointment was sold for the 

 king's profit. Since that time, the soil of the river Thames, from 

 Ixmdon Bridge to the sea, has been vested in the corporation of the 

 Trinity House, and a fine of 101. may be recovered from any person for 

 every ton of ballast which he may take out of the river, within those 

 limits, without the authority of that corporation. 



The ballast of all ships or vessels coming into the Thames must be 

 unladen into a lighter, and if any ballast be thrown into the river, the 

 master of the vessel whence it is thrown is liable to a fine of 201. Some 

 regulation similar to this is usually enforced in every port. 



Some art is required in properly ballasting a ship. The quantity 

 required by different vessels of the same tonnage varies according to 

 then" shape or build. If any great quantity of heavy ballast, such as 

 lead or iron, is deposited in the bottom of the hold, the centre of 

 gravity will be placed so low that the vessel will labour and roll 

 violently in the sea, and in bad weather will be in danger of being 

 dismasted : it will besides impair her sailing qualities. A ship thus 

 ballasted ia said to be too stiff. On the contrary, when a ship has too 

 little ballast, or this is so disposed as to raise the centre of gravity too 

 high, equal danger will arise : she is then said to be too crank. The 

 art of properly ballasting ships consists in placing the centre of gravity 

 so as to be neither too high nor too low, and as this will in a great 

 measure depend upon the shape of the vessel, it is not possible to give 

 any particular directions concerning it, but the task should be confided 

 to experienced hands. 



A ship, being under proper and convenient sail, is said to be in 

 ' sailing trim ' when the ballast (or cargo) is so disposed, both before and 

 abaft the ship's centre, as to incline her head to approach more nearly 

 tin- ]M>int from which the wind blows : this is called liiffin;/ nji into the 

 :md in such case the ship is said to need or carry a little mather- 

 helm. Errors in the mode of ballasting or trimming a ship can gene- 

 rally be remedied by increasing or diminishing the quantity of head or 

 after sail. 



Ships that take on board cargoes of light goods require also some 

 portion of ballast in order to lower them sufficiently hi the water, and 

 by adjusting the centre of gravity, to enable them to carry with safety 

 the necessary press of sail. [FREIGHT.] 



By the Mercantile Marine Act of 1854, ballast rates, together with 

 lighthouse tolls, &c., are to form the ' Mercantile Marine Fund.' [LIGHT- 

 HOUSE.] 



The most important use of ballast in relation to English shipping is, 

 probably, in the colliery trade; owing to the fact, that the vessels 

 which bring coal to London have very little cargo to take back to the 

 Tyne, Wear, and Tees. There are five systems of collier-ballasting 

 'I: sand ballast, bag-water ballast, bottom-water ballast, hold- 

 water ballast, and tank-water ballast. The first three are employed in 

 ordinary sailing colliers, the fourth and fifth being more exceptional. 

 Sand ballatt was the earliest, easiest, and most obvious. Sag -water 

 ballast was invented by Dr. White, of Newcastle, and was found to be 

 cheaper in the end than sand. The bags are arranged on the floor of 

 the, vessel, and are connected with a canvas hose; this hose, through 

 the intervention of a large stop-cock, communicates with the water 

 outside the vessel; to fill the bags, the cock is simply turned; to 

 empty them, the water is allowed to flow into the hold, whence it is 

 pumped out with the bilge-water. Bottom-water ballast consists of 

 water filling the intermediate sjnce between the true bottom and a 

 fake bottom of the vessel. Htm-water ballait is contained in an iron 

 water-hold placed amidships, and capable of containing 200 tons or 



more. The hold is so constructed, with a hatchway, &c., as to be 

 available for cargo when not filled with water-ballast. These ballast 

 water-holds were first adopted by Mr. Scott Russell, in two iron screw 

 colliers built by him. Tank-water ballast is used in the following way : 

 a series of fore-and-aft tanks are supplied with water from a tank in 

 the fore-peak, and the discharge is effected by pumps worked by a 

 small auxiliary engine. Engineers and persons engaged in the colliery 

 trade are not yet agreed as to the relative merits of these five kinds of 

 ballasting ; but there is a general agreement that sand ballast will be, 

 and ought to be, superseded by water. 



(Hume's Laics of the Customs; Report of Committee of House of 

 Lords on Lights and Harbour Duel ; Mortimer's Dictionary ; M'Culloch's 

 Dictionary.) 



BALLAST-OFFICE CORPORATION, DUBLIN, or more correctly, 

 the Corporation for Preserving and Improving the Port of Dublin. 

 This Board was created, in 1786, by the Act 26 Geo. III. c. 19 of the 

 Irish parliament, and consists of twenty-three members, namely : " The 

 lord mayor and sheriffs, for the time being, of the city of Dublin, 

 three aldermen, chosen by the Board of Aldermen from their own 

 body, and seventeen members who were appointed, in the first instance, 

 by the Act of Incorporation, and who are, on all future vacancies, 

 empowered to elect new members, but leaving the city members as 

 members of the Board." 



This self-elected body is endowed with extensive powers to enable 

 it to carry on the works and to improve the port of Dublin ; besides 

 which, it has an exclusive right, similar to that exercised by the Cor- 

 poration of the Trinity House in London, of supplying with ballast all 

 vessels sailing from the port of Dublin. In 1810 the management of 

 all the light-houses on the coast of Ireland was transferred from the 

 Commissioners of Customs to the Ballast-Office Corporation in Dublin, 

 which, however, exercises this part of its duty subject to the control 

 and direction of the elder brethren of the Trinity House in London. 



The Ballast-Board has greatly improved the port of Dublin, by re- 

 building the walls of the river Liffey, and by deepening its channel. 

 In the beginning of 1834 a very extensive work of the latter kind was 

 undertaken, in the execution of which powerful steam machinery has 

 been employed. Since 1820 the Board has expended, for the erection 

 of light-houses and the building of floating-lights, a very large sum, 

 which has been defrayed out of the surplus dues. 



BALLET, a theatrical representation, in which a story is told by 

 gesture, accompanied by characteristic or illustrative music, and to 

 which dancing (as mere saltation), scenery, decorations, &c., are the 

 accessories. 



We are indebted for the word, and even for its pronunciation, to the 

 French, who had it from the Italian, ballare, to dance ; the latter 

 having been derived from &a\\lfiv, which has the game meaning. 



The French enumerate three kinds of ballet, namely, the In/let 

 t/'action, or ballet-pantomime ; the opfra-ballet ; and the amiedie-ballet. 

 The two last are not now hi use : the first is that above described, and the 

 only tnie ballet ; for those which consist of little else than steps, leaps, 

 pirouettes, and entrechats, are unworthy of the name, and in fact are 

 divertissement, in which, as Rousseau remarks, there is no subject, no 

 connection, and the best performers tell you nothing, but that they 

 dance well. 



" A ballet," says M. Noverre, who by Garrick was called ' The 

 Shakspere of Dance," " perfect in all its parts is a picture, drawn from 

 life, of the manners, dresses, ceremonies, and customs of all nations. 

 It must therefore be a complete pantomime, and through the eyes 

 speak to the very soul of the spectator ; and being a regular repre- 

 sentation, ought, as far as is possible, to be under the general rules of 

 the drama. If it does not point out with perspicuity, and without the 

 aid of a programme, the passions and incidents it is intended to describe, 

 it is a divertissement, a succession of dances, and nothing better." 

 (' Lettres sur Li Danse,' Lyon, 1760.) 



Appropriate music is a constituent part of a good ballet ; it supplies 

 the language which action alone cannot speak, and is grave or lively, 

 energetic or tender, according to the passion or sentiment meant to be 

 pourtrayed on the stage. By its rhythm it also regulates the motion 

 of the dancer (for all the performers in the ballet are indiscriminately 

 called dancers), whose every action and step ought to be more or less 

 measured. Aristotle, in his ' Poetik ' (cap. iii.), goes so far as to say, 

 that there are dancers who by rhythm applied to gesture express man- 

 ners, passions, and actions. A composer of good ballet-music is care- 

 fully attentive to locality and to nationality. Almost every civilised 

 nation has, in addition to a general style of melody, a style peculiarly 

 its own ; and by a judicious adoption of this, an incalculable addition 

 is made to the interest and the reality of the scene, through the power- 

 ful medium of association. Gluck did not hesitate to introduce, in his 

 ' Iphigenia in Tauris,' the real air of a cannibal nation, to which ho 

 made certain barbarians dance. The occasional and cautious use too of 

 melodies which recall to mind any thing, whether in the shape of nar- 

 rative or sentiment, analogous to what is representing on the (stage, is 

 practically found to heighten the effect of the action. But in having 

 recourse to such means great judgment must be shown ; for if the 

 composer be not sensible and experienced, he runs considerable danger 

 of exciting ideas very foreign to those which he intended to raise. 



To the ancients, what we call the pantomime-ballet was well known. 

 The Rev. Robert Nares, author of ' Remarks on the Ballet of Cupid 



