i 



|\A. 





i 



mechanical arU, are considered distinct from thorn. Antiquarian ami 

 cfcnioal iwearehes are not always includod among the belles lettres : the 

 Krrn.-h Academy ' dm Inscription* et Belles Lettres,' Menu by it* very 

 title to make a distinction between the two. as the first part .!' the 

 tn!.'. Iiincriptions,' refers to the inve*tigation of ancient or oriental 

 :-tion, medals, Ac. Belle* Icttros may be said to answer to the 

 litmr AHMflHi'iim of tin- l..itin language, and to the English exprassion 

 " |ilite literature." 



IIELl.tiXA. ..no of the group of small planeta revolving? between 

 Mars and Jupiter. [ASTEROID.] 



BELl.O'NA. the goddess of war among the Romans, corresponding 

 in some measure with Enyo of the Qreelu; but as was observed under 

 ARTEMIS, the habit of regarding the names of Greek ami liom-ui 

 deitie as nmvcrtible, is one from which much confusion has arisen in 

 the study of ancient mythology. As was then e\|il;iim -il, the names of 

 a very Urge proportion of the Roman deities have grown out of the 

 language itself. Rellona is properly a feminine adjective, which 

 wi'h the noun dra signifies the goddess of war (from M/um, war). 

 And on the princijile which rung through the Koinan mythology, 

 <>f dividing every object of fear or desire between deities of each 

 sex, Uellona presided over war with 'Mare or Mayors. By Komnii 

 writers she is spoken of as tbe companion of Mars, also as hi- wife. 

 or sister. She is supposed by some to have been originally a .Sabine 

 d'-ity, and her worship to have been introduced by the Sabine settles* 

 in Rom.-. 



The temple of Be]lom was founded, according to Pliny (xxxv. 3), in 

 the year 259 of Rome, by Appius Claudius, the colleague of I'. Sen-ilius 

 Priscus. Livy, however (x. 19), refers the foundation to A]. pins 

 Claudius Cwcus, the colleague of L. Volumnius, in the year of Rome 

 456 ; and the latter is confirmed by an inscription in Gruter (389. 4). 

 Both accounts will be substantially true, if the latter only rebuilt the 

 tempi.-. \Vhen any Roman family had once connected ita name with a 

 public work, those who afterwards bore the name had a pride in keep- 

 ing up the connexion. The temple was situated in the ninth region, 

 between the Carmental Gate and the Klaminian Circus, and con- 

 sequently without the walls of Serving. It was on this account the 

 place usually selected by the Roman senate and consuls for the 

 reception of embassies from hostile powers, and also of their own 

 generals, especially when these came to claim a triumph ; for the 

 intjttriuni, or supreme military authority, wan at once annulled by an 

 entrance into the city, and with it all claim to a triumph. Near the 

 temple was a column, over which a spear was hurled as a declaration of 

 war against any foreign state. (Ovid. ' Fasti,' vi. 201.) This rite was 

 introduced to supply the place of another. According to the . 

 ceremony, a herald, or ferial, proceeded to the frontiers, and hurled a 

 spear of defiance into the hostile territory ; but as th limits of the 

 empire were extended, this became impracticable. 



The goddess was usually represented as wearing a helmet, and bear- 

 ing a shield in one hand, in the other a firebrand, a spear, or a lash. 

 Sometimes she was blowing a trumpet, or uttering a war-cry and 

 rushing to the combat. Her image is seen on the coins of the Bruttii, 

 or Brettii. (Montfaucon, ' Ant. Ex.' L 125.) 



The wildest extravagance marked her worship. Her priests (Bellc- 

 narii), like those of Cybele and Bacchus, affected insanity (.luvenal, iv. 

 123), whirling their heads round with fearful rapidity, and shrieking 

 out words of pretended prophecy. On the 24th of March, which was 

 appropriately called the day of blood (diet eaiiguinw), they exhibited 

 their zeal by making incisions in their arms, and sprinkling all around 

 with their blood. The more prudent among her followers, h. 

 contrived to produce the appearance of wounds without any self- 

 torture, a laxity which the Emperor Commodus corrected by a special 

 precept that the devotees of the goddess should make actual incisions ; 

 but, besides tbe priests officially attached to the worship of the goddess, 

 there were volunteers, who, impostors or enthusiasts, frequented her 

 temple and exhibited the same symptoms of phrenzy. Such scenes 

 iudeed were to be seen in the temples of other deities, but more 

 particularly in that of Bellona. The wretched creatures were called 

 fanatici (from fano, a temple), which though a term of reproach or 

 companion among the educated, was a title of honour in their own 

 estimation, and proudly engraved on public monuments. See an 

 inscription given by (Jruter, 813, 1, " To Q. Cavilius Apollinaris, 

 fanatic of the temple ..f lii-llona." and another in ".I".', 7. 



worship of iifll'in.i was not unlike that of the goddess M:i. in 



tbe (acred cities of ( 'ap|>ad"i -ia. and Pontus called by the common name 



iiana ; and li. nre the Roman writers often use the title of 



lk-llon.1 when peaking of the Cappadocian goddess. Strain in the 



same way calls her Enyo. 



The earliest ortlio,T.iphy of the name of the Roman goddess was 

 I in. -llona, agreeing with </ne//m, the older f..rm of Inllmn. [See article 

 B, for the interchange of ilit before a vowel with 6.] 



l:KI.I.(i\vs. This term is applied not only to the common instru- 

 i use, but aim to any machine which serves to force a current of 

 air against a fire. In general, however, it is more customary t- 

 the term blowing-machine to the larger s|>ccics of apparatn 

 principle of all thaw different adaptation of parts is the same, and is 

 rery similar to that of a foix-iiig-jniinp. By one motion a \ 

 would be mode, if it were not for a valve which opens towards the 

 incipient vacuum, and admits the air : by a contrary motion the air 



just admitted is uxi i.y the v.ilvc which is now el.w.1. but by 



any other orifice. 



Wii.-n a furnace U to be supplied with a perpetual blast of air, it 

 may have two separate bellows, work., I by the same machir. 

 -i. h a w.iy tli.it on,- is discharging air while the other is receiving a 

 new supply. The in. -on < is, that the blast, 



tii..u-h p. i|--iinl. i- not of uniform strength. The blast-furnace* of 

 Home of the great Welsh iron-works are worked by one huge air-pump, 

 which condense* the air in spherical reservoirs, out of which the blast- 

 pipes lead to the furnaces. In cases where a uniform and gentle blast 

 is required, as in the organ, the air is condensed into a reservoir called 

 the wind-chest, which supplies the pipes. [ORGAN.] A patent was 

 obtained some yean ago for a construction by which a p> 

 uniform blast i< ppidiici-d, applicable to the domestic K'll.iws. It con 

 suits in a vaned wheel, which is enclosed in a vessel comniun 

 with a tube, the vessel and tube being, in their longitudinal sect 

 form like that of a retort. A supply of air is obtained by holes in the 

 side of the vessel, so that, on turning the vane by an exterior appa- 

 ratus, the air is driven through the -t thus ere. 

 permanently supplied by the lateral holes. These instrument* are 

 more effective than the bellows in c. numon use ; but they have . 

 little towards superseding the old familiar bellows. 



The oldest representation of bellows is in the Egyptian painting* 

 copied in the work of Rosellini. There are two pairs of bellows, one 

 j on each side of the fire, with which they are connected b\ 

 of WINK! or cane, terminating in pointed metal snouts. A string is 

 attached to each bellows, and the blower takes one string in In 

 hand and the other in his left. He presses with 

 bellows that is filled with air, at the same time raising his other f,,.,t 

 from that which is just exhausted, and also pulling upwards with the 

 string that is attached to it. 



The largest kinds of bellows, with other contrivances for producing 

 a powerful blast of air, will be more conveniently described under 

 UI.OWIM; MAC m.xr. 



I'.KI.TKIN, or BELTANE, the name of a kind of festival, formerly 

 observed in Ireland and Scotland, in most places on the 1st of May. In 

 some parts of the west of Scotland it is observed on St. Peter's day, 

 June 29. In Ireland we find two belteins, one on the Ut of .May. tin- 

 other on the 21st of June. To the beltcin. also. j n all 

 the fires which were formerly lighted in many parts of i 

 Midsummer Kvc. are to be referred. 



lk-ltein signifies the fire of Baal, the worship of whom is supposed to 

 have existed in England, Scotland, and Ireland in the remotest period 

 of druidical superstition. The Phoenician Baal proliably denot 

 Sun [HAAI.], as Ashtaroth did the Moon. Beltcin re the 



fire lighted in honour of the Sun whose return and visible influence 

 upon the productions of the earth was thus celebrated. La na Seal 

 /in", and Him >i" llfiit linn, in the Irish language, are the day and eve 

 of Seal's fire. (' Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland ;' 

 and MacCurtin's ' English-Irish Diet.' 4to, Par. 1732.) 



The following account of the beltein is given in ' Focaloir Gaoid- 

 - ix-Rheoria,' or an Irish-English Dictionary (by o'lii 

 .-, 4to, 1768 : " Be&ltinr, or btil-tint,ignia Beli Dei A 

 is, line-Bell, May-day, so called from large fires which the Hrni.i 

 used to lighten the summits of the highest hills, into which they drove 

 four-footed beasts, using at the same time certain ceremonies to expiate 

 the sins of the people. This pagan ceremony of lighting these fires in 

 honour of the Asiatic god Reins, gave its name to the entire month of 

 May. which is to this day called mi na Beat-line in the Irish language. 

 Dr. Keating, speaking of this fire of Beal says, thai 

 driven through it and not sacrificed, and that the chief design of 

 to keep off all contagious disorders from them for that year: and I 

 says, that all the inhabitants of Ireland quenched their lircs ... 

 day, and kindled them again out of i fire. The 



opinion about the cattle is 00 ls '"g word.- 



old glossary, copied by Mr. Edward I.lmyd : Mr true minim 

 yuitit nn ifi-'i/l/ii r,,,ifin<- .', funnl, : ,(/< ..' 



mini in' li",, '. the main sens" of which i-. th 



Druids lighted two solemn fires every year, and drove all 

 beasts through them in order to preserve them Horn all contagious 

 distempers through the current year." Rrnnd in his 'Popula: 

 quities,' gives an account of ix number of stijienttitioiis observances, and 

 I'd with this custom. 



BELTS. .M'PITKR'S. |.lt IMTKU.] 



BELUS (ba or bj?2, ftfj\os) was the name of the chief deity of 



\loniane and Assyrians, the same OB Baal. ' .).!.' deity ,,f the 



Semitic races [BAAL]. The Chaldee ' ~ ~ . as well as the 



Hebrew Baal (752), moans Lord. The Greeks were apt to substitute 



< Il-lus, and the Romans .luj.it, r. The planet .lupit.er was also 



Wol:-hippcd lllldcl the 11 



star of happiness. Tin- temple of I'.- i Ion was plundci. 



much damaged by 



but the priests being slack in executing the work. h. iu;.n-l..l i,. 

 the whole army in rebuilding the t. mpl,-. According to 

 Herodotus 1 1. 7>. Ili-his was th. \ inns. 



xlvi. 1; Jcr. 1. 2, li. 44; Baruch vi. 40; Herod. L 178, 



