17 



BAY8H 



r.r\R LAKE. 



Ml 



The bishop* of Bayonne were styled bishop* of Labour, from the from Dorchester, and 137 mile* S.VT. from l.i union: tin- | 



district of "Labour, "which is comprised between the Adour 

 BMisjfU. and of which Bayoune was the capital. Near the town is 

 the old castlo of Maraa, in which Charles IV. in 1808 resigned to 

 Napoleon his right to the crown of Spain. This castle wan greatly 

 injured by fire in 1825. 



In tin- i'n vanir.n of Prance by the allies under the Duke of Wellington, 

 in 1814, the citadel of Bayonne was invested by a force 

 Lieutenant-General Sir John Hope. On the morning of the 14th 

 of April, several days after hostilities in the north of France the then 

 gnat scene of warfare had been terminated by the abdication of 

 Napoleon, a sortie took place from the entrenched camp formed by 

 the French in front of the citadel. The attack though repulsed 

 caused a severe loss (800 officers and men killed, wounded, or Uken) 

 to the besiegers. Sir John Hope was taken prisoner, and Major- 

 General Hay, the general commanding the line of outposts, was 

 killed. 



It is said that in 1564 Bayonne was the scene of an interview 

 between Catherine de Medici and the Duke of Alba, at which was 

 planned the massacre of the Huguenots, which was carried into effect 

 even yean afterwards on St. Bartholomew's Day. When the 

 massacre took place however, D'Orthez, commandant of Bayonue, 

 refused to execute the orders of the C'jurt. 



The name Bayonne is said to mean in the old Gascon or Basque 

 language ' a port* 



(IHctionnairt de la f ranee ; Walckenoer's Qtograjihie del Gaulet.) 

 BAYSE. [GARONNE.] 

 BAYSWATER. [MIDDLESEX.] 

 BAZA. [GRAXADA.] 

 BAZAS. [GiBoxDE.] 

 BAZOIS. [NifcVRE.1 

 BEACHY HEAD. [SUSSEX.] 



BEACOXSK1KLD, Buckinghamshire, a market-town in the parish 

 of Beaconsfield and hundred of Burnham, in 51 36' N. lat, 0" 38' W. 

 long. ; 31 miles S.S.K. from Buckingham, and 23 milea W. by X. from 

 London : the population of the parish in 1851 was 1634. The living 

 is a rectory in the archdeaconry of Bucks and diocese of Oxford. 



The town is situated upon high ground, whence it has been sup- 

 posed that its name is derived from a beacon that formerly occupied 

 the spot It consists of four streets, the principal of which, forming 

 part of the road from Uxbridge to High Wycombe, is nearly three- 

 quarters of a mile in length. The substratum on which the town 

 stands is chiefly gravel, and the houses are built with flints or brick. 

 The church, dedicated to All Saints, is built of flints and ashlar, and 

 consists of a nave with north and south aisles, chancel, and a large 

 square tower at the west end. The tower, crowned with a small 

 octagonal spire, has demi-octagoual buttresses at each corner, and has 

 windows of the perpendicular style. The windows in the north aisle 

 are pointed, those in the south aisle have the depressed square-headed 

 arches of the Tudor period. The remains of Edmund Burke, who 

 resided and died at Gregories in this parish, are deposited in the 

 church. The churchyard contains a white marble altar-tomb in 

 honour of the poet Waller, to whom the manor belonged. The manor 



of the town :-:,. In 1849 Benmiuster was sop 



from the mother-church of Nethcrbury, and made a distinct parish 

 for ecclesiastical purposes. The living is a vicarage in the archdea- 

 conry of Dorset and diocese of Salisbury. Beaminster Poor-Law I 

 contain* 20 parishes and townships, with an area of 50,329 acres, and 

 a jwpulation in 1851 of 1 



Beominster is situated on the river Bill, which issues from several 

 springs running from the hilla with wl .11 i Mimmudi-d. 



The town U of considerable antiquity. In Domesday Book lie:,. 

 is classed among the lands belonging to the bitihopric of Saruin. Bege- 

 minster was given to Bishop Osmund in 1091, to augment two 

 prebends of his cathedral. The pariah consists of three manors : 

 Beaminster Priino, Beaminater Secunda, and Beaminster Parsouatua, 

 all of which are held on lease by the present lords uuder the churclk 

 of Salisbury. Leland thus describes Beaminster in his time : " It is 

 a pnity market town, and usith much houabandry, and lyith iu one 

 street from north to south, and in another from west to east. There 

 is a faire chapelle of ease in this town. Nctherny [Xutliurbury 

 poroch chirch to it, and Bemiustre U a prebend to th. .-hli .-h of Sares- 

 iiyri." The town was almost entirely destroyed by fire in 1C44, while 

 Prince Maurice was in quarters there. It was rebuilt by the assistance 

 of Parliament, but in 1684 was again consumed; ami, tin. illy, i 

 upwards of 50 houses, besides barns, stables, and otli< . were 



reduced to ruins. To these fires however the town i- 

 ita present very respectable appearance, most of the houses being 

 good modern buildings. The streets are paved ; and we are in- 

 formed that " the town, which had relapsed into darkness from the 

 failure of the old Gas Company, is now very efficiently lighted ith 

 gas." 



The church and the Free school are the principal buildings in the 

 town. The church, which is dedicated to the nativity of the Blessed 

 Virgin, is a large and handsome structure, standing on an eminence on 

 the south aide of the town. It is supported in the inside by gothic arches 

 and pillars of Ham-hill stone. The tower U nearly 100 feet high, and 

 is decorated with sculptures, illustrative of the woollen tra.1.-, f..r 

 | which the town was famous at the time they were executed : there 

 are also figures of one or two of the kings, and a number of roses, of 

 which tradition states that the figures are those of the kings who 

 reigned at the times that repairs were dona to the church, and the 

 roses commemorate the union between the houses of York and Lan- 

 caster. The chancel has recently undergone < alterations, 

 and the whole interior of tho building has been much improved. A 

 new chapel of ease, built in the early English style, and dedicated to 

 the Holy Trinity, has been recently erected at the north-western 

 extremity of the town. This chapel contains 400 sittings, all of 

 which are free and unappropriated. There ore some Dissenting 

 places of worship. The Free school was founded in or about 

 the year 1684 by Mrs. Frances Tucker, for the education of 2(1 

 poorest boys in Beaminster, three or four of whom ore to be appren- 

 ticed to the sea-service. The estate with which this school is endowed 

 was let in the year 1707 at 652. a year, which is now increased to 



was anciently in the possession of the Windsors ; it afterwards, as well 

 as the church, became the property of Bumham Abbey ; and thence 

 passed into the hands of the ancestors of the poet, one of whom died 

 at I'.tiruham as early as 1541. The manor remained in the possession 

 of the poet's descendants until 1832, when it was purchased by Sir 

 OoroOtueley, Bart, the distinrui-died diplomatist. On his death it 

 was sold, in 1848, to John Hargreaves, Esq., of Manchester. H.dl 

 Barn, the family mansion of the poet, is still standing, but not exactly 

 as li-a by the poet, Sir Ooro Ouselcy having built an additional wing 

 to it Oregones, the seat of Burke, was accidentally destroyed by fire 

 in 1813. The rectory -house is very ancient The arms of Burnham 

 Abbey are carved in the spandrels of the arched stone gateway which 

 opens into the court, round three aides of which the building rises. 

 There an also two stone chimney-piece* with the arms of the abbey 

 carved upon them in the Interior ; and. niches for holy water are still 

 pressrved in the inner wall. 



r to the opening of the Great Western railway, Beaconsfield, 

 from its situation on the high road between London snd Oxfoi 

 e**ed a large business in coaching and posting, and tho inhabitants 

 have suffered proportionately from the loss of it IU corn and cattle 

 market* have also declined. The town is remarkable for it salubrity ; 

 not a single cane of cholera occurred in it during either of the visita- 

 tions of that malady. This and the beauty of the neighbourhood, as 

 well as it* proximity to London, seem to render it a suitable place for 

 a Hummer residence, or for those who seek occasional change. There 

 is communication by omnibus with the Slough station of th* Great 

 Western railway, which is eight mile* distant The market-day is 

 Wednesday ; and bin are held on February 13th and Holy Thursday, 

 the latter being for cattle. 



TI ttagna, BriUumia; Lipeoomb's /ftrtory of the Co*ty o/ 



utti; CorrrnmtUnl 

 BEAMI XSTEK, or 



BEA V FORUM, Dorsetshire, a market- 



town and the seat of a Poor-Law Union, in the parish of Nethcrbury 

 and in tho Mdport division of the hundred of Beaminster Forum. 

 The town i* situated in 60' 48' N. lat, 2' 44' W. long., 18 mile* N.W. 



the surplus has been employed iu increasing the number of boys in the 

 school from 20 to 100, and in providing fuel, which is sold 

 at a reduced rate during the winter. Tho Rev. SJITHM. -1 Iln.nl, tho 

 father of Lords Hood and Bridport, was mastc: i 1 7 !.">. 



There is an almshouse, built about. Ivj7 l>y Sir John Strode, and 

 afterwords endowed by him and his daughter, Lady Joan Tuhcn ille, 

 for the maintenance of six p.. 



The inhabitants are chiefly engaged iu the manufacture of sailflot.h, 

 of iron, tin, and copper wares. Tho market is hold on Tin 

 and there are fairs on April 14th, September K'th. ami (Idol.. 

 The quarter sessions were held here iu the reign of KM/-,!- th ::.-! tin- 

 first seven years of Charles I., but they were afterwards removed to 

 Bridport: they ore now held in Dorchester. 



(Hutohin l/,--l,iry and Antiquitict of the County of Dortet ; Com- 

 mttnii-a'i'in from, lirdininttcr.) 



BEAR LAKE, a great sheet of water situated in tho nort 

 part of Xorth America, near the Arctic Circle. Its shape is wry irre- 

 gular, the entire lake being formed by five arms or bays which I 

 common centre. The greatest length is 150 miles, and the greatest 

 breadth 120 miles. The water is transparent and very deep. The surface 

 is supposed to be about 200 feet above the level of the sea. The chief 

 iiilliiont. is the Dease River, which flown in at Deose's Hay. The 

 is by Bear Lake Riwr, which flown in a mnith-u. -i direction for 7n 

 miles to its junction with the Mackciuic River, in 04" 59' N. hit, 

 which |K,int U about 600 miles from the mouth of that river in tin- 

 Arctic Ocean. The breadth of Bear Lake River throughout its whole 

 course is never less than 450 feet, except at one remarkable place, 

 called 'the Kapid,' about midway between the lake and Macki n/ic 

 River, win n- t he river descends between two lofty walls of rock, which 

 are three mile* long and 120 feet high. The stream varies in 

 from one to three fathoms, and flows six miles an hour. It Li joined 

 in its course by several considerable branches of muddy water. 



Groat Bear Lake contains an abundance of fish. At the south-west 

 extremity of the lake, in 65 12' N. lot., 123 13' W. long., i 

 Franklin, one of the Hudson's Bay Company's stations. In most of 

 the overland journeys from Canada to the Arctic shores, such as those 



