BILLIARDS BINGLEY. 



535 



undoubted rights and privileges. The declaration 

 :s usually called the bill of right*. A similar declara- 

 tion was made in the act of settlement, whereby the 

 crown was limited to the house of Hanover. Similar 

 bills of rights are prefixed to some of the state con- 

 stitions in the United States. But the constitutions of 

 all the states, as well as that of the United States, 

 virtually include in themselves declarations of rights, 

 since they expressly limit the powers of the govern- 

 ment. The same is true of the constitutional charters 

 of those European governments which have adopted 

 constitutions, one of the objects of these being to 

 guarantee certain rights and liberties to the people. 



BILLIARDS ; a very interesting game, contributing 

 also to health by affording the body moderate exer- 

 cise. It was invented in France, and is now played 

 by all European nations and their descendants. The 

 rules for the different games of billiards are too nu- 

 merous to be given here. They are also generally 

 found in billiard rooms. We therefore omit them, 

 although we usually give the rules of games, in order 

 to furnish a means of reference in doubtful cases. 

 They are to be found in Hoyle's Games. 



BILLINGSGATE ; a fish-market in London, established 

 in 1699, and held every lawful day. Every person 

 buying fish in Billingsgate market, may sell the same 

 in any other market place or places within the city of 

 London or elsewhere, by retail, with this condition, 

 that none but fishmongers be permitted to sell in 

 fixed shops or houses. No person or persons shall 

 purchase at Billingsgate any quantity of fish to be 

 divided by lots or in shares amongst any fishmongers 

 or other persons, in order to be afterwards put to sale 

 by retail or otherwise ; nor shall any fishmonger 

 engross, or buy in the said market, any quantity of 

 fish, but what shall be for his own sale or use, under 

 the penalty of 20. No person is to have in his 

 possession, or expose to sale, any spawn of fish, or 

 fish unsizable, or out of season. (36Geo. III. c. 118.) 

 The minimum size of the lobsters to be sold at Bil- 

 lingsgate is fixed by statute. 



No fish of foreign taking or curing', or in foreign 

 vessels, is to be imported into the United Kingdom, 

 under penalty of forfeiture, except turbots and lob- 

 sters, stock-fish, live eels, anchovies, sturgeon, botargo, 

 and caviare. Fresh fish of British taking, and im- 

 ported in British ships, and turbot, however taken or 

 imported, may be landed without report, entry, or 

 warrant. (6 Geo. IV. c. 107.) 



F'rom the character, real or supposed, of the B. 

 fish dealers, the term Billingsgate is applied gene- 

 rally to coarse and violent language. 



BILLINGTON, Elizabeth ; the most celebrated Eng- 

 lish female singer of her day. She was of German 

 origin, but born in England, in 1770, her father, Mr 

 Weichsell, being a native of Saxony. At an early 

 age, she studied the piano forte under Schroeter, and 

 attained to an extraordinary proficiency. At fourteen, 

 she made her first appearance as a singer at Oxford, 

 and two years afterwards married Mr Billington, a 

 performer on the double-bass, whom she accompanied, 

 to Dublin. She made her debut there in the opera 

 of Orpheus and Euridice. From Ireland she returned 

 to London, where she appeared at Co vent-garden, 

 for the first time, as Rosetta, in Arne's Love in a 

 Village, with such success as to secure her an imme- 

 diate engagement at what was then considered the 

 enormous salary of 1000, for the remainder of the 

 season, besides a benefit; the managers afterwards 

 voluntarily giving her the profits of a second night. 

 While in town, she continued to take lessons of Mor- 

 tellari. a celebrated Italian master, theji in London, 

 and, on the closing of the theatre, repaired to Paris, 

 in order to profit by the instructions of Sacchini. In 

 1785, she returned to England, and appeared at the 



concerts of ancient music with madame Mara, whose 

 brilliant performance she, to say the least, fully 

 equaled. From this period, till 1793, no music meet- 

 ing, opera, or concert of reputation, was considered 

 complete without her. In the last named year, she, 

 visited Italy, and performed, accompanied by her 

 brother C. Weichsell, at the theatre of St Carlos at 

 Naples ; Francis Bianchi composing expressly for 

 her his celebrated opera Inez de Castro. Her en 

 gagement here met with an abrupt and melancholy 

 interruption, her husband dying suddenly of apoplexy, 

 just as she was preparing to set out for the theatre. 

 In 1796, she appeared at Venice, and afterwards at 

 Rome, being every where received with the loudest 

 expressions of applause. In 1799, she married Mr 

 Felipent, whom she accompanied to Milan. In 1801, 

 her wonderful powers being then in their meridian, 

 she returned to the London stage, appearing alter- 

 nately at either house, and astonishing the whole 

 musical world by her Mandane a performance that 

 has never since been equaled in English opera. En- 

 gagements now multiplied upon her, and continued 

 incessantly till her final retirement from public life, 

 which took place in 1809. The last exhibition of 

 her powers was in aid of a charitable institution, at 

 Whitehall chapel, the queen, the prince regent, and 

 most of the branches of the royal family, being pre- 

 sent. In 1817, she quitted England for ever, and 

 died, after a short illness, at her villa of St Artien, 

 an estate she had purchased in the Venetian terri- 

 tories. 



BINGEN ; a town on the left shore of the Rhine, 

 where the Nahe joins this river, opposite Rudesheim, 

 famous for its excellent wine. Lon. 7 48' E. ; lat. 

 49 55' N. Population, 3300. Near it the Rhine is 

 compressed into a narrow channel, between rocks, 

 so as to make the navigation difficult. This strait is 

 called Bingenloch (hole of Bingen). The famous 

 Mausethurm, or Tower of Mice, where the avaricious 

 bishop Hatto is said to have been,eaten by mice, as a 

 punishment for usury, exercised in a time of famine, 

 is situated in the vicinity. 



BINGLEY. This Garrick of the Dutch stage was 

 born at Rotterdam, in 1755, of English parents in 

 good circumstances. On leaving school, he was 

 placed in a counting-house. It was not long, how- 

 ever, before he discovered an invincible inclination 

 for the stage, and, at the age of eighteen, joined the 

 company under the direction of the celebrated Corver, 

 who was his first instructer. In 1779, in the twenty- 

 fourth year of his age, he made his debut on the 

 stage of Amsterdam. The public odium was then 

 excited against England, on account of its ships hav- 

 ing captured vessels under the Dutch flag, without 

 any previous declaration of war, and B. was unfa- 

 vourably received on account of his English descent. 

 But he soon conquered this prejudice by his perfor- 

 mance of Achilles, in the tragedy of the same name ; 

 and from that time he continued to be the favourite 

 of the public. He was, also, so well acquainted with 

 the French language, as to appear successfully in the 

 French theatres of Amsterdam and the Hague, by 

 the side of the great French actors, who, while on 

 their tours for the sake of improving themselves, used 

 to visit the Netherlands. In 1796, he was director 

 of a company of actors, who played principally at 

 Rotterdam and the Hague, but, also, visited other 

 cities of Holland. Meanwhile, he was always ready 

 to perform at the theatre in Amsterdam, in such parts 

 as could only be acted by himself. One of his last 

 representations, in which he was assisted by the great 

 actress Wattier Ziesenis, was the part of Farnese, in 

 La l;i iii's tragedy of Maria, acted, in 1818, before the 

 royal family. In the same year, he died at the 

 Hague. 



