B A L 



B A L 



Baldinus, BmcIus, another Italinn ph)TKmn of the 

 fame age, publiflicd, at Florence, " In I.ibnnn Hippocratis, 

 de Aqiiis, Aere, et Locis, Commentaria ;" " Tradatlis de 

 Cucumeribus," 1586, 4to. Haller. Bib. Med. Eluy. Diit. 

 Hill. 



BALDIVIA, or Valdivia, in Geography, the name of 

 a government in the kingdom of Chih, in South America. 

 It was formerly fnbiect to the viceroy of I^ima, but is now 

 annexed to the jiiritdiction of the prefidcnt of Chili. Bal- 

 (livia, or Valdivia, is alio the name of a port town, (Itnated 

 on the north-eall fide of a bay of the fame name, in S. lat. 

 40° 5'. W. long. So° 5'. The town was built by tlie Spa- 

 nifh general Baldivia, about tlie year 1 55 1 ; in 1559, the 

 people of Chili chafed the Spaniards from this fettlement, 

 burned the town, and put the inhabitants to tlie hvord. 

 Near this place are many gold mines, and therefore the Spa- 

 niards have fortified it, regarding it as the key to the South 

 feas ; and tlie fortifications are fupported by the whites of 

 Peru and Chili, who are baniflied hither for their crimes. 

 In 1643, it was taken poffeflion of by the Dutch ; but they 

 were compelled to abandon it, and to leave all their cannon, 

 confining of 30 or 40 pieces, their baggage, and their llores, 

 on receiving intelligence tliat fuccours were tranfinitted from 

 Peru. Valdivia receives from the treafury of Lima an an- 

 nual fupply of 70,000 dollars ; 30,000 in fpecie, the value 

 of 30,000 in clothes for the foldiers, and lo,oco in fpecie 

 which is paid to the king's foldiers at Santiago, in order to 

 purchafe flour and other ncceffarics for the garrifon at Val- 

 divia. Thefe remittances are conveyed in fliips which fail 

 from Valparaifo. The bay has a narrow entrance, and is 

 fpacious within ; it is well fecured from winds by point Ga- 

 lera and Bonifacio, which is remarkable for its high land 

 jull on the north of the bay. The rivers of Baldivia and 

 Guyaquil are the largeil on this coaft ; but neither of them 

 can carry a (hip ot burden lix leagues within land. 



BALDIvIONlE, an old Englifli name for gentian, the 

 root of which is ufed in medicine ; fome alfo have called the 

 viium, or fpignel, by this name. 



BALD-MOUNTAIN, in Geography, a noted promon- 

 tory' in the gnlf of St. Lawrence, in North America, being 

 a mark on the main, about 30 leagues from the neaixll or 

 north-weft point of Anticolli ifland. 



BALDNESS, Calvities, a falling of the hair, efpe- 

 Y cially that of the finciput. 



It duTcrs from alopecia, area, ophiajis, and thiea, as thefe 

 all arife from lomc vice in the nutritious humour ; balihefs, 

 from the detect of it. But the diilinftion is not always 

 obferved by modem phyficians. 



When tlie eyelids fhed their hair, it is called a plihjis. 

 Among the cauies of baldnefs, immoderate veneiy is re- 

 puted one of the chief: old age ufually brings it on of 

 courfe. Some will have the pro.ximate caufe of baldnefs to 

 be the dryiiefs of the bfain, and its (hrinking from the cra- 

 nium ; it liaving'been obierved, that in bald perions there 

 is always a vacuity or empty fpace between the ikuU and 

 the brain. 



Buffon fays, that the crown of the head, and the fpace 

 immediately above the temples, are the parts which firft be- 

 come bald; but that the hair below the temples, and on 

 the inferior part of the back of the head, feldom falls off. 

 He adds, balJncfs is peculiar to man : women, in the moil 

 advanced age, though their hair becomes white, are feldom 

 affected with baldnefs. Children and eunuchs are not 

 ir.ore fubjeft to it than women. It is alleged by Arifto- 

 tle, that no man becomes bald before fiaving intercourfe 

 with women, except fuch as have been bald from their 

 bivth. The ancient wr/lers upbra.d the Jiiliabi-tants of the 



8 



iflands of the Archipelago with the epithet " bald-heads ;" 

 and affert, that thefe iilanders are all brought into the world 

 with this defccl. Buff Nat. Hid. by Smellie, vol. ii. p. 44a. 



Cii/viis, ia/il pate, was a frequent term of reproach 

 among the Roinatis ; among whom this dcfeft was in great 

 difcrcdlt. Hence divers arts to conceal it, as falfc hair, and 3 

 galcricttlus, contrived on purpofe. The later Romans, how- 

 ever, feemed to have been reconciled to baldnefs ; for we 

 .Ind among them a kind of officers or fervants, called gla- 

 bratores, or glabrarii, whofe bufinefs was to take off the 

 hair from all parts, even from the head. In an ancient in- 

 fcription, there is mention of one Diophantus, ti. Cji:sa-. 

 Ris. ORNATOR. c L A 11 K . that is, cniotor glalrcr'ws. See 

 Alopecia. 



BALDO, MouN'T, in Geography, a part of the Alps, 

 in the Aultrlan territories, l)ing on the eaft of the lake 

 Guida, and feparating the country of Tyrol from that of 

 Verona, about 30 miles in circumference. 



BALDOCK, Ralph de, in Biography, an Englilh di- 

 vine of the fourteenth centui7, was educated at Oxford, ap- 

 pointed bifhop of London in. 1 304, chofen in 1307 lord 

 chancellor of England, and in 13 13 died at Stepney. His 

 hillory of the Brltiih aHairs, intitled, " Hiftoria Aiiglica," 

 feen by Leland, is now loft. Biog. Brit. 



Baldock, in Geography, is a neat and pleafant market 

 town of Hertforddiire, in England. It is feated between 

 hills on that great Roman road which bore the name of 

 Ickling-way, or Icknield-ftreet. This town has been confi- 

 derably improved of late years by the ereclion of many re- 

 fpeftable houfes ; and being on a great travelling road, it 

 has a conftant fuceeffion of new company. Here are a 

 good market on Thurfday, and five annual fairs ; the for- 

 mer is plentifully fupplied with barky ; and a great quanti- 

 ty of malt is made in this town. Baldock dates its origin 

 and the foundation of its church to an earl of Pembroke, 

 who granted two hundred acres of wafte land, in the reigil 

 of king Stephen, for that purpofe. This was conferred on 

 the knigiits Templars, who dedicated the church to the Vir- 

 gin Mary, and named the town Balbec, from the name of 

 their former place of refidence in Syria. The knights hof- 

 pitaleis of St. John, and thofe of Jerufalem, alfo eredled 

 buildings at the eaft end of the town, in the parifh of 

 Clothail. On the hills in the vicinity are four ancient en- 

 campments. Here is an alms-houfe founded by William 

 Winn, in 162 I, for twelve poor widows, who are alfo pro- 

 vided with a fmall legacy of forty fliillings annually by the 

 will of the fame worthy founder. According to the returns 

 publiftied by authority of the houfe of commons, this town 

 has 231 honfes, and 1 2S3 inhabitants ; of whom 648 are 

 males, and ('135 are females. 



B-ALDOVINI, Fuancisco, in Biography, an Italian 

 poet, W-.S bora at Florence, in 1634. His firft ftudies were 

 devoted to the law, for which profeflion his father intended 

 him ; but after the death of his parents, he furrendered him- 

 felf wholly to the enchantments of poetry and mulic. On 

 vifiting Rome, he obtained, through the intereft of his un- 

 cle cardinal Flavio Chigi, the place of fecretary to cardinal 

 Jacopo Filippo, and at the ag-e of 40, entered into holy 

 orders. In 1676, he obtained the living of St. Leonardo 

 d'Artimino ; and in 1694, Cofmo III. grand duke oi Tuf- 

 cany, conferred on him the priorftiip of Orbatello, which 

 he changed, in 1699, for that of Santa Fclieita. In the 

 difcharge of his new funftions, he gave equal fatlsfaclion 

 to the court, the religious orders, and his parilhioners, by 

 his exemplary piety, and his rigid attention to the duties of 

 his ftatioii, to which the amiableneTs of his manners. Iris 

 kno.vledge of the world, and his proficiency in learning, 



rendered 



