BAL 



217 



BAL 



Bale 



j 



Baliol. 



slinging, for which the inhabitant3 were particularly 

 celebrated. According to Bochart, the Baleares were 

 peopled by a colony of Phoenicians ; and their name 

 is compounded of the two words JTV 7^2, oal-iareli, 

 signifying skilful . throwing. M. Gebelin suggests, 

 that, as Baal, the oriental name of the sun, came to 

 be generally applied to all elevated objects, Baleares 

 was the proper appellation of those who were famous 

 for throwing stones from slings to a great height. 

 The more received and proper etymology, however, 

 refers the name of these islands to the Greek word 

 /8>.>.s;, to tkroxv. If we may believe the accounts 

 given by ancient historians of the manner in which 

 the Baleares were educated, they could not fail to be- 

 come the most expert slingers in the world. While 

 yet infants, their breakfast was every morning sus- 

 pended by their mothers on a tree, nor were they al- 

 lowed to taste it, till they had struck it down with a 

 stone from a sling. Their dexterity was seconded by 

 great bodily strength, insomuch that the best tem- 

 pered arms were often shivered by the stones which 

 they discharged. They carried to battle three slings 

 of different lengths, which they used according to 

 their different distances from the enemy. 



The Baleares lived for ages in a state of savage sim- 

 plicity. The skins of sheep, or other animals, served 

 to shelter them from the cold ; and caves in the rocks, 

 or holes burrowed out in the ground, were all their 

 abodes. Their fertile soil supplied them with the 

 necessaries of life ; nor had they even an idea of its 

 luxuries, till they were corrupted by their connection 

 with the armies of Carthage. Their manners became 

 then so dissolute, and their propensity so lascivious, 

 that, to allure them into foreign armies, no other temp- 

 tation was necessary than women and wine. Peaceful 

 in their disposition, they lived unmolested by other 

 nations, till some of them having leagued with the pi- 

 rates who infested the seas, drew upon their country 

 the vengeance of the Romans. About the 630th 

 year of the city, Metellus, the consul, was sent to in- 

 vade them. He overran their territories without dif- 

 ficulty, and, to secure his conquest, planted two co- 

 lonies, named Palma and Pollentia, at the east and 

 west extremities of the large island. For his success 

 in this expedition, he was honoured with a triumph, 

 and distinguished by the surname of Balearicus. The 

 two islands, of which the larger (now Majorca) was 

 called Balearis Major, and the smaller (Minorca) 

 Balearis Minor, were about thirty miles distant from 

 each other. They formed a part of the Provincia 

 Tarragonensis ; and, on account of their excellent 

 harbours, and their commodious situation for naviga- 

 tors in that part of the Mediterranean, obtained the 

 appellation of Fortunatw. See Campbell's History 

 of the Balearic Islands. Grasset St Sauvcur, Voyages 

 aux lies Baleares. (^*) 

 BALE. See Basle. 

 BALI. See Balli. 



BALIOL, John, king of Scotland, is remark- 

 able only from his being the successful competitor for 

 the throne of that kingdom, and from his having 

 brought his country to the lowest degree of humilia- 

 tion. On the death of the Maid of Norway, the na- 

 tion was distracted by the claims of various compe- 

 titors for the crown. Bruce and Baliol stood fore- 

 VOL. HI. J'AKT i. 



most on the list ; and, to prevent the civil discord and 

 bloodshed, which must of necessity have ensued from a 

 protracted dispute, they agreed to refer their claims to 

 the arbitration of the king of England. Edward, 

 disappointed in his design upon Scotland, by the pre- 

 mature death of the Maid of Norway, who had been 

 betrothed to his son Edward prince of Wales, had 

 determined, at every hazard, to gain an ascendancy in 

 that kingdom. A favourable opportunity now of- 

 fered itself; and his ambition was equalled by his in- 

 justice. He summoned the competitors to meet him 

 at Norham, where he had assembled his parliament, 

 and where he proposed to determine their respective 

 rights. But what was the astonishment of the Scot- 

 tish chiefs, when, instead of deciding their claims with 

 the disinterested integrity of an umpire, he demanded, 

 as a preliminary, that they should acknowledge him. 

 as the superior and liege lord of the kingdom. To 

 procure proof, that this superiority had always be- 

 longed to the kings of England, he had ransacked 

 the musty chronicles of every abbey in his dominions ; 

 and all he could produce consisted of mere fiction and 

 unsupported allegation. But to supply the place of 

 argument, he had assembled a numerous army on the 

 borders, and seemed determined to support the weak- 

 ness of his proof, by the strength of his power. The 

 love of dominion, and the fear of weakening their 

 cause by offending their umpire, seems to have quench- 

 ed every spark of patriotism in the breasts of the com- 

 petitors. None were found daring enough to resist 

 such usurpation ; and to the dishonour of our coun- 

 try it is recorded, that they all to a man signed a re- 

 cognition of Edward's paramount power in Scotland 

 acknowledging the subjection, and sacrificing the 

 independence of their country. Baliol was chosen 

 by Edward, as the fittest person for assisting him in 

 the prosecution of his ambitious designs. He was 

 crowned at Scone, in 1292, and immediately recogni- 

 zed by the nobility. He then returned to Newcastle, 

 to profess himself a vassal of England, and to do ho- 

 mage for his kingdom. But this was the least part of 

 his humiliation. Edward soon discovered the extent 

 ot his ambition. Instead of being contented with the 

 homage of the sovereign, he began to interfere witli 

 the internal regulations of the kingdom j and even 

 cited Baliol, upon several trivial occasions, to appear 

 at the bar of an English parliament, to answer as a 

 private delinquent. The king of Scotland bore tamely 

 for a while these grievous indignities ; but a train of 

 injuries and insults roused to resistance even the meek 

 spirit of Baliol, who now seemed determined to wash 

 out, by his future conduct, the ignominy of his former 

 meanness and degradation, and to atone to his country' 

 for the injustice which he had done her. He openly 

 renounced his allegiance to the king of England, and 

 entered into a treaty with France to make common 

 cause against Edward. But the resolution of the ti- 

 mid Baliol soon vanished in the midst of dangers. An 

 invasion of his dominions compelled him to implore 

 the clemency of Edward, who demanded from him 

 the most abject and mortifying submission. Stripped 

 of his regal ornaments, and mounted on a sorry horse, 

 with a white rod in his hand, he was carried before 

 his conqueror, to whom he acknowledged his deep 

 penitence for the disloyalty of his conduct, and made 

 2e 



Baliot. 



