B Y N 



in Pxoiiia, aJvantajreoiifly fitinted on tlic confines of Mace- 

 donia and DarJai i... It was taken b) Pliilip, and is men- 

 tioned hy I/ivy. I'olybios. , ^ _ 



BYLOT's 6j\\ in Geography. See Baffin s bay. 



BYLTjE.in '/Irc'unt Geography, a Scythian nation border- 

 ing on the weft of Imaus, according to PtoUmy, and corre- 

 fpondincr to Baltistan or Little Thibet, winch fee. 



BYMASUS, a town of Greece, in Ptconia. Steph. 



Byz. 



BYNG, George, in Biography, lord vifcount Torrmsr- 

 ton, an eminent naval officer, defceiided from an ancient fa- 

 mily in Kent, was born -.n 1663. At the age of 15 he en- 

 tend into the fea-fcrvice ; but quitted it in three years, for 

 the purpofe of ferving under general Kirk, governor of 

 Tangier, who advanced him from the ilaiion of a cadtt, 

 firll to that of an cnfign, and then to a lieutenancy. In 1684, 

 he rtturned to the naval department ; and in the following 

 year, he was in great danger of lofing: his life by engaging 

 and boarding a Zinganian pirate ; which funk with him, fo 

 that he vas taken out of the fea in a wounded ftate, and 

 almoll expiring. In 1688, being on board the fleet that 

 oppofed the landing of the prince of Orange, he was con- 

 fiJentii'lly employed in negociating its furrender to the 

 prince's party. Soon after he was raifed to the pod of 

 captain, and ferved under admirals Rooke and Ruffell in the 

 Channel and Mediterranean. In 1703, he had the com- 

 mand of a third rate at the takhig and burning of the 

 French fleet at Vigo ; and in the following year he was 

 made a rear-admiral, and ferved with fir CloudeQy Shovel in 

 the Mediterranean, by whom he was deputed to negociate a 

 peace with the Algerines. In 1704, he commanded the 

 fquadron that attacked and cannonaded the garriion of 

 Gibraltar, and induced a capitulation ; and he fo much dif- 

 ti.i'juilhed himfelf in the battle of Malaga, that, as a ncom- 

 pc;'ce of his fcrvices, he was knii'hted by queen Anne. In 

 170'i, he was difpatched with a fquadron of 20 fliips of war 

 for the relief of Barcelona, and he performed various im- 

 portant fetvices on the coafts of Spain and Portugal during 

 that and the following year. On his return home he was 

 fignallv pref ivedfrom (hipwreck, when fir Cloudeflj Shovel, 

 under whom he ferved, was loll on the rocks, called the 

 " Bifhop and hi? Cltrks." In 1708, he was advanced to 

 the rank of admaal uf the blue, and commanded a fquadron 

 that was employed to prevent an invafion of Scotland by 

 the pretender, by means of a French army from Dunkirk. 

 He purfued the French fleet to the Scots coaft, and obliged 

 it to return without landing its troops. Soon after bis ar- 

 rival in London, he was appointed to the command of a 

 fleet deftinrd for a dcfcent on the coaft of France, and in 

 the fame ycjr he had the honour of condufting the queen of 

 Portugal to Lifbon, where he received a commiflion appoint- 

 ing him admiral ot the white, and a very valuable prefent 

 from her niajefty of her picture fet in diamonds. In 17^9, 

 he commanded a fquadron in the Mediterranean ; and on 

 his return he was made a lord of the admiralty. But difap- 

 proving the meafures of adminiilration towards the clofe of 

 the queen's reign, he was removed. However, on the ac- 

 cclTion of George I. he was reinflated in his office, and 

 creat.'d a baronet. In 17 17, when an invafion of Great 

 Britrdn was projeftcd by Charles XII. of Sweden, fir George 

 was fert to the Baltic with a fleet, vi'hich aftcd in concert 

 with the Danes, and rem.ained there till the Swedes had 

 abandoned ihcir defign. In the following year the Spa- 

 niards land-d an army in Sicily, and fir George Byng was 

 deputed with, a fleet to counteraft their operations. This 

 was eondufled in a manner that redounded very highly to 

 his reputation and to the honour of the Britifti flag. Upon 

 his arrival ia the bay of Naples, he found that the Spaniards 



B Y R 



had made themfelves mafters of the town of MefTuia, and 

 were engaged in the fiege of the citadel. The Enghni were 

 obliged, by their treaties with the emperor, to defend the 

 Sicilians ; but as England and Spain were not at war, the 

 admiral attempted to negociate with the Spanifti commander 

 a ceffation of hoftilities ; his effe rts, however, were ineflec- 

 tual, and he proceeded, according to his inltruftions, to 

 make ufe of force. Having dcferied the Spanifh fleet, con- 

 fifting of 27 fail of Ihips of the line and frigates, he com- 

 menced the attack ; and in the running fight which enfned, 

 took feven Spanifti (hips, the admiral's being one of them ; 

 and feveral more were afterwards captured and deftroyed by 

 a detachment uivi;r captain Walton, who, in the laconic 

 ftyle of an ofiicer, who valued himfelf more in performing 

 than in defcribing a gallant aftion, informs the admiral, 

 '• We have taken and dcllroyed all the Spanifti ftiips and 

 vefiisls which were upon the coaft, the uumher as per mar- 

 gin." The damage fuftained by the Fnglifti fleet, v\hich, 

 indeed, w'as of fomcwhat fuperior force, was very incon- 

 fiderable. The Spaniards complained of being taken by 

 furprife, and when they had no apprehenfion of hoftilities. 

 The conduft of fir George Byng, however, who executed 

 the orders with which he had been entrufted, was not cen- 

 furable ; and the action was very important to the ftate of 

 political affa'rs at the period in which it occurred. The 

 admiral remained in the Mediterranean, afiifting the Ger- 

 man troops to recover Sicily, and preventing the efcape of 

 the Spanifti troops, till all affairs were fettled, and the court 

 of Soain had acceded to tl:e quadruple alliance. The 

 talents difplayed by the admiral on this occafion, both as a 

 negociator and as a commander, were fuch as to inlure the 

 confidence ot all parties. Upon his return, hisfervices were 

 rewarded with the office of treafurer of the navy, and the 

 rank of rear-ad niral of Great Britain ; and in 1721, he was 

 raifed to an Englifti peerage by the title of vilcount Tor- 

 rinton and baron Byng of Southill, Bedfordfliiie. He was 

 alfo created a knight of the bath in 1723. On the accef- 

 fion of George II. he was placed at the head of the admi 

 ralty, in which ftation he died of an afthma, in January, 

 l/eij' '" f^'^ /O'^'' year of his age. He had levcral children, 

 one of whom was the unfortunate admiral John Byngj 

 executed upon a rigorous feuter.ee, for defect of duty, in 

 1757. Biog. Brit. 



BYNNI, in Ichthyology, a fpecies of Cyprinus, diftin- 

 gnifhed by having thirteen rays in the dorfal fin, the third 

 of which is thick and horny : tail linear, bifid : beards or- 

 cirri, fuur. Forlli. A fifti of a filvcry colour, and oblong oval 

 form, that is very common in the Nile. The length is about 

 one cubit: the flefti excellent. 

 BYRAM. See Bairam. 



BY'RAN, in Geography, a river of North America, form- 

 ing part of the weftern boundary of Connecticut, and falling 

 into Long Ifland found, oppofite to Captain's Iflands. 



Byran, a town in America, in Charles county, Mary- 

 land, about 9 miles N. E. from Fort Tobacco, and 24 S. E. 

 from the Federal city. 



BYRD FORT, lies on the eaftern bank of Monongahela 

 river, on the fouth fide of the mouth of Red-ftone Creekj 

 .95 miles S. from Pittfijurg, and about jy N. W. from- 

 Ohiopyle Falls. Near thisfpot ftandsthe compaft part of the 

 town of Lrownfville. N. lat. ,59° 5S'. W. long. 81° 12'. 



BY'^ROM, John, in Biography, a poetical writer, and in- 

 ventor of a new fhort hand, was born at Kerfal near Man- 

 cheiler, in 1691 ; and having finiflied his courfe of grammar 

 learning at Merchant Taylor's fchool in London, was ad- 

 mitted a pensioner of Trinity college in the univerfity of 

 Cambridge, in 1 708. To logic and philofophy he directed 

 only that degree of attention which was neceflary to qualify 



him 



