B U L 



87 



u the whole province. Four or five French houses 

 ;t Adrianople, received direct from Mar- 

 seilles the manufactures of France, for which they 

 returned the productions of Bulgan-i l>y the ports of 

 .! Kodo^o. '1 , however, has suf- 



fered greatly by the present war ; and the commu- 

 tiun with France by sea has been almost entirely 

 destroyed. 



The inhabitants of this province, who were for- 

 merly distinguished for their military achievements, 

 are now dispirited by oppression, and sunk in igno- 

 rance, indolence, and filth. Its political state is 

 now that of the worst state of the feudal system ; 

 its numerous lords hold their estates from the pacha or 

 governor, and they arc bound to bring so many armed 

 men into the field, whenever summoned by their chief. 

 Agriculture is here very imperfect ; and this coun- 

 try is indebted for its excellent productions, more to 

 the fertility of the soil, than the exertions of its in- 

 habitants. Their towns, in general, cover a great 

 extent of ground, and consist of miserable cottages, 

 each surrounded with a large garden ; and their 

 streets exhibit nothing but desolation and dirtiness. 

 The Bulgarian ladies are extremely fond of orna- 

 ments, particularly of small pieces of coin, which 

 some wear strung together like fish scales, and plated 

 upon shreds of gold thread, tied in bunches ; and 

 others interlace them with their braids of hair. Ac- 

 cording to .the account of an intelligent traveller 

 who lately visited that country, " they have many 

 of gold ; and it is asserted, the more rare of the im- 

 perial or ancient Greek coins have been frequently 

 discovered by travellers so applied, and as having 

 been transmitted from the remotest generations. They 

 wear them, too, sewn on ribbands appendant to their 

 head-dress, and hanging down to their heels. They 

 cherish, as a very favourite ornament, broad clasps 

 of silver gilt, fastened about two thirds round each 

 arm, as bracelets. ' So religiously are their coins 

 preserved, that no rank of life is scarcely so mean 

 as to be deprived of them ; and it is not uncommon 

 to see even children, naked and hungry, decorated 

 with these pieces of money, the value of which 

 would clothe and feed them for a year." The moun- 

 tains are the retreats of numerous banditti, who in- 

 fest the whole country, and seize all they can meet 

 with as plunder ; and such is the perpetual alarm 

 which they excite, that the shepherd and husband- 

 man seldom venture into the field without a pistol 

 and dagger at their girdle. The Bulgarians are 

 mostly Christians of the Greek church, but they are. 

 ignorant and superstitious. They have one patriarch 

 and three archbishops, subject to the patriarch of 

 Constantinople. In the hills south of Sophia, are 

 the ruins of an ancient gate, consisting of two stone 

 pillars, with an arch over them, which is said to have 

 been constructed by the Emperor Trajan, in com- 

 memoration of his having marched his army along a 

 road formed by himselfthrough steep rocks and 

 precipices, before impervious ; and throughout the 

 whole of the country, sepulchral tumuli are to be 

 seen, which mark the slaughter of the inhabitants, 

 and the progress of the Turkish victories. See Peu- 

 chet Dictionnairey Sec. ; An Itinerary from London 

 to Constantinople, p. 60, in Philips's Coll. of Voy- 



B U L 



age*, &c. vol. i. ; Gibbon's Roman Empire, vol. 

 ix. x. xi. ; and Anc. Un. Hist. vol. xix. (/>) 



BULGARIA, GHKAT, or the duchy of Bui- 

 gar, a province of Asia, in Russian Tartary, now 

 incorporated with the- Russian empire, and forming 

 a part of the government of Caucasus. It is bound- 

 ed by the kingdom of Cassan on the north ; by Bas- 

 kiria on the east ; by the river Samara on the south* 

 which separates it from the kingdom of Astracan ; 

 and ia terminated by the Volga on the wet. This 

 province is but little known. It takes its name from 

 the capital Bulgar, which is situated near the Volga, 

 and is merely the remains of the ancient city of Bri- 

 acchinow, and now consists of only about lOOhousei, 

 inhabited by peasants. Numerous rivers intersect 

 the country, and lose themselves in the Volga ; and 

 the mountains furnish precious stones, iron, and crys- 

 tal. See Peuchet Dictionnaire, &c. (p) 



BULL, GEORGE, Bishop of St David's, war 

 born at Wells, in Somersetshire, in the year 1634-. 

 At the age of four, he was left, by the death of his 1 

 father, in independent circumstances. Having been 

 early destined for the church, he received a liberal 

 and appropriate education ; and such was his pro- 

 gress in classical learning, that he became fit for the 

 university at the age of fourteen. He was sent to 

 Exeter College, in Oxford. There he spent the 

 greater part of his time in pleasure and amusement ; 

 but contrived, notwithstanding, to acquire intellec- 

 tual reputation and respectable patronage among his 

 superiors. In consequence of refusing to take the 

 oath of allegiance to the Commonwealth, he was obli- 

 ged to leave the university, about seven months after 

 he entered it. He retired to North Cadbury, where 

 he continued for four or five years; during which time, 

 one of his sisters had the merit of weaning him fronr 

 the vanities to which he had been addicted, and indu- 

 cing him to prosecute the studies that were peculiar to 

 his views in life. At the age of twenty-one, he was or- 

 dained deacon and priest by Dr Skinner, the ejected 

 bishop of Oxford ; and soon after became minister of 

 St George's, near Bristol. In that situation he dis- 

 charged his pastoral duties with singular assiduity and 

 zeal, preaching twice every Sunday, visiting his pa- 

 rishioners from house to house, and labouring by all 

 the means in his power to instruct and reform them. 

 In the livings which he afterwards held, he was cha- 

 racterised by the same exemplary attention to the 

 improvement and interests of his people ; and was so 

 much respected and beloved by them, that he pre- 

 vailed on many to return to the bosom of the church, 

 which at that troublous period was an object of 



feneral and inveterate dislike. While rector of Sud- 

 ington St Mary, in Gloucestershire, which he held 

 for twenty-seven years, he was extremely diligent in 

 theological study, and composed the greatest pro- 

 portion of his works. In 1669, he published his ce- 

 lebrated book, entitled, Harmon'nt Apostolica. The 

 object of this treatise is, 1. To explain and defend 

 St James's doctrine of justification by works ; and, 

 2. To demonstrate the agreement of St Paul with 

 St James. It is frequently referred to by Arminian 

 and Pelagian writers, in support of their notions re- 

 specting the mode of our acceptance with God, and 

 is perhaps as good as any thing on that view of the 

 m 



Balaam, 



Bull. 



