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Roman catholic writers; and he has been charged with 

 difingeniiity and crcduUty by feveral refpeftablt- critics ; 

 among whom we may reckon V.'hartoii and Nicolfon. 

 Granger ( Ciog. Hill. vol. i. p.139, 8vo.) allows, that the 

 intemperate zeal of this prelate often carried him bejond 

 the bounds of decency and candour in his accounts of tlie 

 papiils; neverthclcfs, his fiifferings may furnilh lome a])0- 

 logy for i;is acrimony, and mai*^^ things wiiich he relates, 

 though before d-Jignedly concealed or ingenionlly gloifed 

 over by Roman catholic writers, iniglit pmbably be true. 

 His biographical work, with conhderable allowances for the 

 ftrong bias of party zeal, may be read with advantage. 

 Balcus de Seipfo, apr.d Script. Wliarton, P]-ef. to Anglia 

 Sacra, and HiJ.l. of Englifh Poetry, vol. iii. p. 79. Nicol- 

 fon's Eng. Hiil. Library, p. 156. I'iog. Brit. 



Bale, in Commerce, a term denoting a quantity of mtr- 

 chandife wrapped or packed up in cloth, and corded round 

 very tight, after having been well fecured with hay or 

 ftraw, to keep it from breaking, or to prefervc it from the 

 weather. Moll of the merchandife, capable of this kind of 

 package, that is fent to fairs, or intended for exportation, 

 ought to be in bales; and too much care cannot be taken 

 in packing them, to fecure them from damage. To fell 

 goods in the bale is to fell them in the lump, on (hewing a 

 I'pecimen, without unpacking or taking off the cordage. 

 Thus it is the Eall India company fell their bale-goods. 



Bale-GooA, in the Eq/l India Trade, the bulky goods, as 

 falt-petre, pepper, red-earth, tea, &c. The bale goods 

 Hand oppofed to piece goods. 



Bales of Camkt, at Smyrna, are called taiLs, on account 

 of their flat fquare figure. 



A bale of cotton yarn is from three to four hundred 

 weight; of raw filk, is from one to four hundred; of 

 lockram or dowlas, either three, three and a half, or four 

 pieces, &c. 



Bale of Paper, denotes a certain number of reams packed 

 together in a bundle. 



There are b:\les of more and fewer reams. Thofe fent from 

 Marfeilles to Conftantinople ufually contain twelve reams. 

 A bale or ballon of crown paper manufactured in fome parts 

 of Provence, confills of fourteen reams, and is fold in the 

 Levant for Venice paper. 



Bale of Dice, denotes a little packet or paper, containing 

 fome dozens of dice for playing with. 

 Bale, in Geography. See Basle. 



BALEARES Insul;e, or Balearic //lands, in Ancient 

 Geography, the name by which the two iflands of Majorca 

 and Minorca, and fome others in the Mediterranean fea, 

 were formerly diftinguilhed. They derived their name from 

 that of the inhabitants, who were denominated Balcares, 

 as fome have fuppoied from ;9aAAii», to threw, becanfe they 

 were excellent flingers. Bochart (Geog. Sacr. apud,Op. t. i. 

 col. 634. ) deduces the appellation, as well as the people, 

 from a Punic or Phoenician origin ; and he fays, citing the 

 authorities of Polybius, Strabo, and Stephanus, that the 

 name is formed of the two words HT-'^yil' I'^'kl'^''^^-' denot- 

 ing a viajier of throwing, and thus he adds, the termiQ^'^'H 

 ^^y^, baale chitfm. Gen. xlix. 23. (igm^y Jiilful archers. 

 The Greeks called thefc iflands Gymnajx, either as Livy or 

 Uiodorus fuggeft, becaufe in fummer the inhabitants were 

 yvixmi, naked, or rather, as Hefychius obferves, becaufe they 

 went to battle armed only with a fling. M. Gcbelin inti- 

 mates, that ^Jij/ fignified among the orientals, the fun, and 

 lience it became a denomination for elevated objefts ; lo that 

 the Baleares were perfons who projefted darts or ftoncs from 

 flings to a very great height. Whatever be the preeile ety- 

 mology of the name, the Balearea were famous for their 



r- 

 to 



put 



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dexterity in the ufe of the fling ; and in order to attain per 

 fcdtion, th;y accuftonicd themfclves from their infancy ti 

 this kind of exercife ; infomuch that mothe.-3 did not pu 

 bread into the hands of their children, but obliged them Vi 

 beat it down from a confiderable eminence with their flings. 

 They alfo united force with this addrefs, and tii- teil tem- 

 pered arms were fcarcely proof againft t!ie ftoncs they dif- 

 charged. Wlien they went to battle they carried with them 

 three flings of unequal length, accordnig to the different 

 didances at which they might have occalion to ufc them 

 agamft t!ic enemy. They were originally Phoenicians or 

 Carthaginians, who poflelTed the iflatids called by their name 

 from inch remote antiquity, tliat their firll arrival is prior to 

 every t'.iiQg related of them by every hiltorian now extant, 

 except their peopling the ifland Ebufus or Ertfus, now 

 Yvica, about 160 years, as Diodorus Siculus (1. v. c. 1 & 2.) 

 informs us, after the foundation of Carthage. This ifland, 

 according to Vitruvius, was reckoned to belong to the Ba- 

 learic iflands. We learn from Jullin (1. xhv.), 'that the firft 

 expedition which tiie Carthaginians made to Spain, was in 

 order to alUil the city of Gades (now Cadiz); and as the 

 Carthaginian fleet, failing from Carthage to Gades, might 

 ealily take Ebufus and the other Balearic iflands in its way, 

 there is great reafon to believe, that Gades was relieved, 

 and Ebufus, with the other Balearic iflands, planted or re- 

 duced much about the fame time. The Baleares lived for a 

 long time in the fimplicity of uncultivated nature. Cave* 

 under the rocks, or holes dug in the earth, fervcd them for 

 habitations. They were almoll naked, except that during 

 the cold of winter they covered themfelvcs with flieep-lkins. 

 The foil of their country was fertile, and fnpplied them with 

 the necen"aries of life ; but being very eager for wine, fuch 

 of them as had ferved in the Carthaginian armies did not 

 fail at their return to lay out all the money they had acquired 

 in this article : indeed, they were not allowed to bring mo- 

 ney into their country, as the ufe of it was prohibited in 

 both iflands. They faid, as Diodorus Siculus informs us, 

 that Geiyon's riches had of old been fatal to him, in draw- 

 ing Hercules upon him as an enemy ; and that, taught by 

 this example, they had from the moft remote antiquity al- 

 ways dreaded introducing among them a metal, capable of 

 exciting the avidity of other nations, and thus dangerous to 

 their tranquillity. They were in general a pacific people. 

 However, fome individuals having leagued themfelves with 

 the pirates that infeflcd the feas, Metellus, who was conful 

 of Rome about the year of the city 630. B. C. 124, pro- 

 jefted an expedition for invading their country. In order 

 to fecure his fuccefs, he is faid to have rendered their flings 

 ulelels, by placing flvins on the fides of the decks, which 

 deadened the blows. As foon as the Roman troops landed, 

 the inhabitants fled, and difperfcd themfelves over the coun- 

 try, lo that it was more difficult to find than to defeat then. 

 Metellus, for fecnring his conqueil, planted two colonies, 

 viz. Palma and Pollentia, the one at the eall, and the other 

 at the well extremity of Batearis major. He obtained a tri- 

 umph A. U. C. 631. B. C. I 23, and afl"umed the fui-name of 

 Bidearicus. Flor. 1. iii. c. 8. The largell of thefe iflands was 

 called Balearis major, now Majorca, and the leail Baltarh 

 minor, now Minorca. They weredillant from one another, 

 according to Pliny, thirty miles; and in the latter of the 

 Iwo iflands, the moll confiderable towns were Mago and 

 Jamno. Thefe were at firll caftles or forts ; but being erect- 

 ed near the mouths of two convenient harbours, they be- 

 came confiderable fca-ports, efpecially that of Mago, now 

 known as Port Mahon. The 15aleares fonned a part of the 

 provincia Tarragonenfis, and were denominated " Fortuna- 

 Uc," ou account of their fituatioo and harbours. 



BALEARICA> 



