B A L 
And that, though labour’d, line mult bald appear, 
That brings ungrateful mufic to the ear. Creeck. 
Mean ; naked ; without dignity ; without value ; bare.— 
What ftiould the people do with thefe bald tribunes. Shake- 
fpeare.—Bald was ufed by the northern nations to fignify 
the fame as audax, bold ; and it is dill in ufe. So Bald¬ 
win, and by inverfion Windbald, is ‘ bold conqueror Ethel- 
bald, ‘ nobly bold ;’ and Eadbald, 1 happily bold which 
are of the fame import as Tkrajeas, Tkrajymachus, and 
Tkr'afybulus, See. Gibfon. 
B ALD AC AN'IFEK, corruptly alfo written balcanifer , 
denotes a ftandard-bearer; chiefly in the ancient order of 
Knights Templars. 
B AL'D ACHIN ,/1 [from baldackino, Ital.] A piece of 
architecture, in form of a canopy, fupported with co¬ 
lumns, and ferving as a covering to an altar. It properly 
dignifies a rich lilk, Du Gauge ; and was a canopy carried 
over the holt. 
Baldachin, or Bai.daicin, or Baldekin, popularly 
Baudekin, in middle-age writers, denotes a rich kind of 
cloth-made of gold warp and [ilk woof, varioufly figured. 
It took the denomination from its being formerly brought 
into thefe countries from Baldacio, or Babylon. 
BALD'EGG, a lake of Swiflerland, four miles long 
aad one wide, nine miles fouth-fouth-weft of Bremgarten. 
BALDENAU', a town of Germany, in the circle of tlie 
Lower Rhine, and bifliopric of Treves, fix miles fouth-eaft 
of Traarbach, and thirty-fix fouth-fouth-well of Coblentz. 
BAL'DERDASH,y. [probably of bald, Sax. bold, and 
dajk, to mingle.] Any thing jumbled together without 
judgment; rude mixture ; a confufed difeourfe. 
To Balderdash, v. a. To mixpradulterate any liquor, 
BAL'DERN, a town of Germany in the circle of Swa¬ 
bia, and county of Ottingen, one mile fouth-fouth-eaft of 
Zobing. 
BALD'-HE AD, a cape on the weft coaft of North 
America, in Norton Sound. Lat. 64. 43. N. Ion. 198. 18. 
E. Greenwich. 
BALDINUC'CI (Philip), of Florence; a connoifteur 
in the polite arts, and the continuator of Vafar’s lives of 
the painters. He died in 1696, aged feventy-two. 
BALDI'VIA, or Valdivia, a fea-port town of Chili, 
in America, belonging to the Spaniards. It is fituated 
between the rivers Callaculles and Portero, where they 
fall into the South Sea. S. lat. 40. 5. W. Ion. 80. 5. It 
was built in 1551 by the Spanifli general Baldivia, from 
whom it takes its name. We may judge of its importance 
from the fum granted annually by the king for maintaining 
the garrifon, being no lefs than 300,000 pieces of eight. 
It is defended by four ftrong caftles, mounting 100 pieces 
of fine brafs eannon. Notwithftanding which, it was very 
eafily taken in 1643 by the Dutch, who would probably 
have maintained their conqueft againft all the power of the 
Spanifli viceroy, had they not been obliged to relinquirti 
it through ficknefs and famine. The inhabitants of Bal¬ 
divia amount to about 2000. The trade is lefs confider- 
able than formerly, becaufe the gold mines in the neigh¬ 
bourhood are ftnit up ; yet feveral large ftiips are employed 
in the trade between this port and that of Lima, which 
confifts of gold, corn, hides, and fait provifions, exchanged 
for Haves, fugar, chocolate, and European commodities 
and manufactures. Baldivia alfo gives name to a river and 
bay in the province of Chili. 
B ALD'MONY,/. The fame with Gentian. 
BALD'NESS,y. The want of hair. The iofs of hair. 
Among the caufes of baldnefs, immoderate venery is re¬ 
puted one of the chief. See Alopecia. 
BAL'DO, a mountain, part of the Alps, which fepa- 
rates the country of Tyrol from the country ot Verona, 
thirty miles in circumference. 
BAL'DOCK, a neat, open, and pleafant, market- 
town, in Hertfordfliire, fituated delightfully between the 
hills, diftant from Royfton on the eaft eight miles, and 
JdUchin on the. weft five, and from London, on the great 
B A L 64.7 
north road, thirty-feven miles. Market on Thurfdays, 
chiefly for barley, the town being noted for making nioft 
excellent malt, and the quantity made being exceeded but 
by one town in the kingdom. Here are five fairs in the 
year, viz. March 7, (except in leap-year, and then March 
6;) the laft Thurfday in May; 5th of Auguft ; the 2d and 
3d of OCtober; and December 11 ; all of them chiefly for 
horfes and cheefe. This town was founded, and the church 
built, by the Knights Templars in the days of king Ste¬ 
phen, by a grant of about 200 acres of wafte lands at the 
weft end of the parifh of Wefton, by the earl of Pembroke, 
then lord of Wefton. The church they dedicated to the 
Virgin Mary, and named the town Balbec, from the name 
of their ancient refidence in Syria, which, in procels of 
time, was corrupted to Baldock. The Knight Hofpitalers 
of St. John, and they of Jerufalem likewife, ereCted 
dwellings an the eaft fide of the town, in the parifti of 
Clothall, where veftiges of the buildings are now fre¬ 
quently difeovered. But thefe orders of fuperftition, even 
in the dark days of ignorance and bigotry, were found fie 
rapacious by the people, that they were loon fupprefled. 
Agricola’s-way, now called Ickling-way, runs through 
Baldock eaft and weft; to the eaft the road runs on co> 
Icklington, Cambridgeflfire, (once Agricola’s town,) and 
the other way to the w eft to Icklingford near Hitchin, and 
fo on both ways to the fea-coaft. On the hills on the fouth 
are the remains of a Roman and Danifti encampment, front¬ 
ing two more in Alhwell and Willbury hills, near Ickling¬ 
ford. William Winn, a mercer and citizen of London, 
in 1621, left a fufticiency to build and endow an alms- 
houfe for twelve poor widows, with forty fnillings a-year 
each. John Parker, Efq. gave a rent-charge on his eftate 
of ten pounds a year, to purchafe twenty-fix penny-loaves, 
to be diftributed every Sunday, after it has lain on his grave 
during the time the bell tolls for morning fervice. 
Baldock (Ralph de), bifhop of London in the reigns 
of Edward I. and II. was educated at Moreton-college, 
Oxford ; became dean of St. Paul’s ; was afterwards pro¬ 
moted to the fee of London ; and made lord high chan¬ 
cellor of England. He acquired a very amiable charndler 
both for morals and learning; and w'rote Hijloria Anglica, 
or An Hiftory of the Britifti Affairs down to his own 
time; and A Colleftion of the Statutes and Conftitutions 
of the Church of St. Paul. He died at Stepney, July 24, 
1313. 
BALD'READ, [of bald, bold, and rede, Sax. counfei, 
q. d. that is bold in counfel.J The laft king of Kent. 
BALD'RIC,/! [Of uncertain etymology, unlefs from 
baudier, Fr. a long belt.] A girdle. By iome dictionaries 
it is explained a bracelet; 
A radiant baldric, o’er his fhoulders tied, 
Suftain’d the fword that glitter’d at his fide. Pope . 
The zodiac: 
That like the twins of Jove they feem’d in fight. 
Which deck the baldric of the heavens bright. Spenjer . 
B ALD'WIN, [of bald , Sax. bold, and loinntn, Teut. to 
overcome, i. e. bold conqueror.] A proper name of men. 
Baldwin, archbiftiop of Canterbury, was born of ob- 
feure parents at Exeter, where, in the early part of his 
life, he taught a grammar-fchool ; after which he took 
orders, and was made archdeacon of Exeter: but be re - 
figned that dignity, and became a Ciftertian monk in the 
monaftery of Ford in Devonfhire, of which he was made 
abbot. In 1180, he was confecrated biftiop of Worcefter. 
In 1184, he was promoted to the fee of Canterbury by- 
pope Lucius IIL and by his fucceflor Urban III. was ap¬ 
pointed legate for that diocefe. He laid the foundation of 
a church and monaftery in honour of Thomas a Bccket, 
at Hackington, near Canterbury, for fecular priefts ; but, 
being oppofed by the monks of Canterbury and the pope, 
he was obliged to defift. In 1190 he crowned Richard I. 
at Weftminfter; and foon after followed that prince to the- 
holy land, where he died at the fiege of Ptolemais. He 
WEOtS, 
