B A L 



inj made great proficiency in defigningr after the antiques, 

 after Raphael, Corrtggio, Annibal Caracci, and othtr ad- 

 mired painters, he obtained the prize of merit in the acadc- 

 ir.y of St. Luke, in the year 1 694, when he was only twcntv- 

 eifht yeai-3 of age. From that time his reputation was 

 ellablilTied, and his paintings were admired in every part of 

 Europe, His flyle is fwect and agreeable, not unlike that 

 of Maratti; and men of judgment obferved, with delight 

 and approbation, a certain mixture in his works of the feve- 

 ral manners of Raphael, Correggio, and Caracci. At Ve- 

 nice there are two capital pictures of this mailer; one repre- 

 fentipg the nativity of our faviour, in the church of Santa 

 Maria Mater Domini ; and another, a dead Chrill in the 

 arms of the Virgin, in a chapti belonging to the church of 

 St. Geminiano. We have fome etchings by him, in a bold, 

 mallerly ilyle, but very (light. According to Pilkington, 

 he died in 1720; but Strutt fays, he died in 1 740, at the age 

 of 74. 



BALESTRINA, in Geography, a town of Italy, in the 

 ftate of Genoa, a fief of the empire, nine miles north of 

 Albenga. 



BALET DE LA RoYNE, in Mujic. This dance, more 

 ancient than any mentioned in the long article on the fub- 

 jeCt, in the Encycl. Meth., where it has not been honoured 

 with notice, merited a place, as a ctirinfity, if not for its fu- 

 perior plan and execution. 



Henry III. of France having, in 1581, married his favourite 

 minion, the due de Joyeufe, to mademolfelle de Vandemont, 

 fiftertohis queen Louife de Lorraine, almoll ruined his king- 

 dom in balls, niafquerades, tilts, tournaments, and evei7 fpecies 

 of expenfive fcllivity which could be devifed on the occafion. 



The queen, likewife, in honour of her fifter's nuptials, 

 gave an entertainment at the Louvre, in which a ballet was 

 exhibited, called " Ceres and her Nymph?," which was then 

 a new kind of fpeclacle in France, a-jec une grant'e mnfique, 

 compofed by the celebrated Claude le Jeune. The Entrees 

 de Balels, in this fete, were invented by Baltazar de Beau- 

 joyeux, the famous Piedmontefe performer on the violin, 

 who having publifhed an account of his devifcs in a book 

 ■which is now become extremely fcarce, we dial! prcfent our 

 readers with its title, and a fketch of its contents. 



" Balet comique de la Rovne, faifte aux nopces de mon- 

 fieur le due de Joyeufe et mademcifelle de Vaudemont fa 

 fceur. Par B;rltafar de Beauxjoyeulx, valet de chambre du 

 Roy, et de la Royne fa mere." A Paris, 1582, 410. The 

 types and paper equal in beauty thofe of Elzevir in the next 

 century ; snd the mufical charafters, though cut m wood, 

 are much more clear and neat than any we ever faw of the 

 kind. But as to the mufic itfclf, it is more barbarous, in 

 point of melody, than any we have ever feen on paper. The 

 counterpoint, indeed, is !:ot incorreft ; nor can the French be 

 juftly accufed of ever being deficient in the mechanical rules 

 ef compofition, fince they were firft eftabli'hed; but for fan- 

 cy, air, and rhythm, there is not a palTage in this whole 

 performance, except in a few of the dances, by which we 

 are reminded of tiieir exiftence. But it feems as if dancing 

 could not fubfill without a marked meafure ; indeed, when 

 poetry is fung without meafure, it becomes worfe than 

 profe. In the operas of LsUi and Rameau, the mufic of 

 the datices was always much more pleafing to foreigners than 

 that which was fung, from its being necefiariiy more marked 

 and accented: th;it is, in what was danced fome determined 

 meafure and movement was always perceptible. But in the 

 vocal part of de Beaujoyeux balct, there i's ncjthing.that re- 

 fembles an air, or that feems to imply a feltttlon of notes, 

 or to fu'/geft a reafon for one found being higher or lower, 

 mofe quick or more How, than aaothcr. 



B A L 



But it fhoulj be remembered, that tTie mulic of this old 

 French ballet was net compofed by Baltazarini, the Italian, 

 who only afted as ballet mafter on the occafion, but by 

 MelTrs. de Beaulieu and Salmon, of the king's band, whom 

 his majelty had ordered to afliil him in compofmg and prc- 

 pai-iiig all that was mojl ftrj.a in mufic for this feftival ; " and 

 M. Beaulieu," fays Baltazarini, " whom all profeflTors regard 

 as an excellent mufjcian, has, on this occafion, even fiirpaffed 

 himfelf, affiP.cd by Maiftie Salmon, whom M. Beaulieu and 

 otlifs highly elt;*m in his art." 



We-^'have dwelt the longeron this performance, ae it is the 

 only French theatrical mufic extant of the t-me. And in 

 comparing it with that of LuUi, it appears thiti he did not 

 difdain to comply with the national taile, which liad been 

 long tibblifiied, with refpedt to meafure and melody; he 

 certainly added much to both, but confonned to the genre. 



As it will be no kindncfs to cutious readers to refer them 

 to fo fcarce a book for examples of this mufic, we may ven- 

 ture to mention the Gen. Hilt, of Muf. vol. in. where co'pioii* 

 extracts from it are inferted. 



BALEY, Walter, in Bhgr.iphy, born in the county of 

 Dorfet, in the year 1529, received his education at \Vin- 

 chcller, and went thence to New college, Oxford. Apply- 

 ing himfelf to the ftudy of medicine, in the year 1558 he 

 was licenfed to pracliie. About the fame time he was 

 made a prebendary in the cathedral church of Wells, which 

 office he rcfigiied the following year. He was then ap- 

 pointed Queen's profcITor of phyfic at Oxford. In the year 

 1563, he was created doctor in medicine (Wood's Faili 

 Oxon. vol. i. p. 92.), andfoon after, phyfician to queen Eli- 

 zabeth. For the remainder of his life, which was extended 

 to the age of 63 years, he enjoyed a confidcrable (hare of 

 reputation and prafiice. Of this phyfician we have the 

 following works, three of which were publilhtd in his life- 

 time. " A Difcourfe of three kinds of pepper in common 

 life," 1588, 8vo. " A brief treatife on the prefervation of 

 the eye-fight," in which he attributes great virtues to the 

 herb eye-bright. This was re-publi(hed in 1616, and ia 

 1622 was added to Banifter's treatife of 1 13 difeafes of the 

 eyes and eyelids, but without the name of the author. 

 " Directions for health, natural and artificial, with medicines 

 for all difeafes of the eyes," 1626,. 4to. " A brief difcourfe 

 of certain medicinal waters in the county of Warwick, near 

 Newnham," 1587. In the library of Robert earl of Aylef- 

 bury was a MS. of this author, inritled " Explicatio 

 Galeni de potu convalefcentium, et fcnum, et prxcipue de 

 nofti-ae all et biris paratione." Biograph. Mem. of Med.. 



BALFRUSCH, in Geography, a tnwn of Periia, the 

 capital of the province of Mafandsran, fituate at the fouthcm 

 extremity of the Cafpian fca. Hither the Ruffians and 

 Armetiians convey thtir mtrchandile, though the traffic is 

 much lefs confidcrable than it was, on account of the in'.po- 

 fitions of the khan of Mafanderan. The chief produdtions 

 are filk, rice, and cotton, of which articles there is a large 

 exportation. Merchants from Kafl<in, Ifpahan, Schiras, 

 and Korafan rcfort to Balfrufch, and bring for fale the Per- 

 fian and Indian commodities. N. lat. 33'' 40'. E. long. 

 50= 30'. 



BALGA, a town of PrufTia, in the province of Natangen, 

 25 miles fonlh-weft of Kcnigfberg. 



BALGUV, J<iiiN, m Biography, an Engli(h divine, was 

 born at Sheffield in Yorkfhire, in the year 1686. Having 

 received inlhudlion firit from his father, who was mafter of 

 a free grammar fchool in that place, and after his death 

 from his fixccffor Mr. Daubuz, author of an cfteemed com- 

 mentary on the r<:vt;UtioDS, he was admitted in 1702, of St. 



John's 



