BEL 



• cnodal and a coiifiderable pecuniary reward ; and the magi- 

 (I rates of the town font him the freedom of the town in a 

 paid box, and placed liis portrait in the liall amonjj their 

 j)rincipal bcnefaclors. Voltaire alfo wrote a complimentary 

 icltci- to the author, though after Belloi's death he retraded 

 hi» piaifef. This piece was fucceeded by his "Bayard," 

 '• Peter the Cniel," and " Gabrielle de Vergy." But the 

 failure of the fecond of thefe liallcned his death in i 75 j, to 

 the r.'jjret ot numerous friends, who were attached to him 

 by the goodiu-fs of his heart. As a dramatic writer his di- 

 llinjfuilhiiif; excellence confilkd in his knowledge of lla;^e 

 ciTcilt, and of the method of producing it by new and un- 

 common lituations ; but in purfuing thefe he quitted the true 

 !Uid natural pathetic, and aided in degrading the modern 

 theatre. His verfification is often netrligent, and his llyle 

 hard iiiid inflated. Mr. Gaillard of the French academy, 

 publillied a colltClion of his works in 6 vols. [h-o. 1779, with 

 a life of the author prefixed. Nouv. Didt. liiil. 



BELI.ON, or Belland, in Mi'Hidnr, a diftcmper very 

 common iu Derbvlhne and other counties, where they fmclt 

 lead ore, to which !)ealls, and even poultry, as well as men, 

 are fubjett ; and for this reafon a certain fpace round the 

 fmelting-houfes is called bellon-ground, where it is dangerous 

 for any animal to feed. This diforder i? attended with lan- 

 guors, weaknels, and mtolerahle pains, fenlation of gripings 

 in the belly, and generally colbvenefs. It frequently proves 

 fatal. 



The method of cure which has been found mod fuccclT- 

 ful in this ditlemper, is, to give rrmior, or cryftals of tar- 

 tar, in fmall dofes, anj to repeat them frequently, as two or 

 three times a day. 



BELLONA, in Mytkohgy, the goddcfs of war, filler or 

 wife to Mars. 



Hyginus (fub. 274.) fays, that Bellona wasthe inventrefs 

 of the needle, called iu Greek SOMn, and hence her name 

 has been fanirifully derived. Others, with greater probabi- 

 lity, deduce it « Mr'o, wai ; and Bryant (Anal. Anc. My- 

 ihol. vol. i. p. 45.) fuppofes it to be formed from Bcl-on, a 

 compound of Bel, Bal, or Baal, the oiiginal Babylonifli ti- 

 tle appropriated to the fun. This goddcfs was of a favage 

 dilpofition, and delighted in fiaughter and blood ; and (he 

 was not only repreftnted as the attendant of Mars, who pre- 

 pared his chariot and horfes for war, but as taking pleafure 

 in fharing his dangers. She is commonly reprefented in an 

 attitude exprellive of fni-y and diftratlion, her hair being 

 compoled of fnakes clotted with gore, and her garments 

 ftaincd with blood. She is generally exliibited driving the 

 chariot of Mars, with a bloody whip in her hand, and fome- 

 timcs as holding a lighted torch or brand, and at other times 

 a trumpet. Btllo-ia had a tenlple at Rome, near the Porta 

 Carmentalis, in which the fenate gave audience to ambafTa- 

 dors ; and before it llood the pillar or column of war, againft 

 which a lance was thrown whenever war was declared. She was 

 alfo wor(hipped at two places called Coniana, one of which 

 was in Cappaducia, and the other in the kingdom of Pon- 

 tU3 ; and Camden obfeives, that in the time of Severns, there 

 was a temple of Bellona in the city of York. Poets and 

 artilU have often confounded Bellona with Pallas. 



Bellona, in Entomci/ojv. Under this name Cramer de- 

 {cnhti pi'.pilio brujfjlis of Fabricius. The ipecies htlionu of 

 Fabricius and Gmelin is a native of North America, has dcn- 

 tated fulvous wings, fpotted with black ; pollenor ones, be- 

 neath filvcry at the tip, with fix ocellar fulvous fpots. A 

 variety of it & is figured by Cramer under the trivial name 

 of hf^ejii). 



BELLONARII, in jlniiquiiy, priefts of Bellona, the 

 "oddefs of war and battles. 



BEL 



The Bellonarii cut and mangled their bodies with knives 

 and daggers in a cruel manner, to pacify the deity. In this 

 they are fingular, that they offered their own blood, not 

 that of other creatures, in facritice. In the fury and enthufi- 

 afm with which they were fcized on thefe occafions, they 

 ran about raging, uttering prophecies, and foretelling blood 

 and (laughter, devallations of cities, revolutions of ftate, and 

 the like ; whence Martial calls them " tuiba enthcata Bel- 

 lona." Ladant. Inft. lib.i. cap. i. Lucian. hb. i. Tertul. 

 Apol. cap. 9. Minut. Felix, p. 298. In after-times they 

 feem to have abated much of their zeal and tranfport, and to 

 have turned the whole into a kind of farce, contenting them- 

 felves with making figns and appearances of cutting and 

 wounds. Lampridius tells us, the emperor Commodus, out 

 of a fpirit of cruelty, turned the farce again into a tragedy, 

 obliging them aAually to cut and m.ingle their bodies. 

 Lamp, in Comir.od. cap. 9. 



The Bellonarii celebrated fea{l> on the eve of the nones of 

 June, and the ninth of the calends of April, on which occa- 

 sion they chewed a plant called Belbnaria, which produced 

 a kind of fury, and difpofed them to mangle their bodies in 

 the manlier which charafterifed thefe feartf. 



B£LLONL\, fo called by Plumier, after the name of M. 

 Bellon, a phyfician of Caen, in Botany. Lin. gen. 226. 

 Reich. 242. Schreb. 29S. Plum. 31. Juff. 2CO. Clafs and 

 Order, penlandria monogynia. Nat. Ord. Rub'taces. JufT. 

 Gen. Char. Gnl. perianth, one-leafed, fuperior, femiquin- 

 quetid, permanent ; divilions lanceolate, acute. Cor. mono- 

 petalous, whctl-(liaped ; tube very iliort ; border flat, femi- 

 quinquetid, obtule, large. Slum, filaments five, fubulate, 

 ereft, very fhort ; anthers ered, converging, fiiort. P'ljl. 

 germ inferior ; ftyle fubulate, ftraight, longer than the lla- 

 niens ; ftigma acute. Per. caplule turbinate-ovate, wrapped 

 up in the calyx, and beaked with its converging divilions, 

 one-celled. Seeds numerous, roundiffi, fmall. 



E(r. Char. Cor. wheel-fhaped. Capf. one-celled, inferior 

 many-feeded, beaked with the calyx. 



Species, j. V>. afpera. Lin. Spec. 244. Plum. gen. 19 

 ic. 47. Swartz. Piodrom. 42. 2. Obf. 69. " Leaves ovate- 

 ferrate, flowers coi^mbed terminating." A fhrub ten or 

 twelve feet high, from which ilFue many lateral branches. 

 This fpecies is faid to reft wholly upon the authority of 

 Plumier. Mr. Miller fays, that it is very common in feveral 

 of the warm iflands of America, whence he has received the 

 feeds. 2.T>.Jpino/ii. Swartz. Prodr. 42. "Thorny; leaves 

 ovate, angular, tooth-ferrate, peduncles axillary, one-flower- 

 ed." 



Propagalion and Culhire. It is propagated by feeds, 

 which fhould be fown early in the fpring, in a pot filled 

 witli light fre{h earth, and plunged into a hot-bed of tan- 

 ner's bark, and frequently watered. When the plants are 

 come up half an inch high, they (hould be tranfplanted 

 into pots iillcd with light frcfli earth, and plunged again 

 into the hot-bed, watered and (haded till they have taken 

 root ; then air (liould be admitted to them every day in 

 warm weather, and they fhould be frequently watered. 

 When the plants have iilled thefe pots with their roots, they 

 (hould be carefully (haken out of them, and fheir roots 

 trimmed, and put into larger pots tilled with light frcfli earth, 

 and put into the hot-bed again. In warm weather frcfh 

 air (hould be admitted to them every day ; but in autumn 

 they muft be plunged into the bark-llove, and treated Uke 

 other tender exotic plants. Thefe plants will fometimes 

 flower in the fecond year, but thty raidy produce good 

 feeds in this climate. Neverthclefs, they may be propagated 

 by cuttings iu the fummer months, provided they are plant- 

 ed in light earth on a moderate hot-bed, and carefully 



watered 



