BEL 
■29*h of, March, and arrived before Belleifle on the 7th of 
April. The ifland was defended by a ftrong fortrefs, con¬ 
tracted by t!ie famous Vauban, near the town of Palais. 
' On the.firfl difembarkment of the troops, they met with a 
very fevere repulfej being compelled precipitately to re¬ 
treat, with the lofs of near 500-men. But the Englifli 
commanders, fecure of the zeal and ardour of their troops, 
determined to make another effort, which was attended 
with happier fuccefs; and a body of marines and grena¬ 
diers, making good their landing on the craggy point of 
Lomeria,' fuliained their pofition with wonderful intre¬ 
pidity againft a very fuperior force, till joined by the re¬ 
mainder of their corps, confiding of near 8000 men. M. 
de St. Croix, the French commandant, then recalled his 
'detachments,' and prepared for a vigorous defence of the 
c ; tade!, the avenues to which lie had fortified with fix ad¬ 
ditional redoubts; which, with much effulion of blood, 
were fuccellively attacked by the Englifh ; who then urg¬ 
ed, with the rnoff perfevering ardour, the fiege of the ci¬ 
tadel. On the 7th of June, a practicable breach being 
made, and a general affault on the point of being ordered, 
M. de St. Croix folicited a capitulation, which was granted 
on the mofi honourable conditions. Thus, at the expence 
of near two thou (and lives, and an enormous fum expended 
in fitting out the expedition, the Enghlh atchieved the 
conqueft of a barren rock ; but acquired, as ufual, the 
nobled laurels of victory. This ifland was redored to the 
French attbe peace of 1763. Lat.47.20.N- Ion. 14.30.E. 
Belleisi.e, a finall ifland of France, in the river Loire, 
in the department of the Mayenne : half a league wed of 
St. Mathurin. 
Belleisi.e, an ifland in the river St. Lawrence, about 
feven leagues in circuit, and on the north-wed fide lias a 
finall harbourfit for (mall-craft, called Lark Hat hour, with¬ 
in a little illand that lies clofe to the (bore; and at the ead 
point it has another fmall harbour or cove, that will only 
admit fifiring fhallops; from whence if is only fixteen miles 
to the coad of Labrador. The narrow channel between 
Newfoundland and the coaft of Labrador is called tire 
Straits of Bcllci/Ie; five leagues north from Newfoundland. 
Lat. 52. N. Ion. 55. 15. W. Greenwich. 
Bellf.isle, an idand near the ead coad of Newfound¬ 
land. Lat. 30. 50. N. Ion. 55. 35. W. Greenwich. 
Bei.leisle en Terra, a town of France, in the de¬ 
partment of the Northern Coad, and chief place of a can¬ 
ton, in the didriCt of Guingamp, lituated on an ifland in 
the river Guer : three leagues wed of Guingamp. 
Belleisle, an ifland of Ireland, in Lough Erne, in 
the county of Fermanagh: fix miles S. E. Ennifkillen. 
BKLLELAY', a town of Germany, in the circle of 
the Upper Rhine and bilhopric of Bale, with a rich abbey ; 
tire cheefe made in the environs is in great efleenr : ten 
miles foilth-fou f h-ead of Porentrui. 
BEL'LEM,. a cape of Spain, on the coad of Galicia, 
between Cape Finiderre and Corunna. 
BEL'LEN, a town of Swifferland, in the canton of 
Schweitz : nine miles north-eafl of Zug. 
BELLENA'VE, a town of France, in the department 
of the Allier, and chief place of a canton, in the didriCt 
of Gannat : three leagues north-wed of Gannat, and two 
and a half fouth-ead of Montmarault. 
BELLENCOM'BRE, a town of France, in the depart¬ 
ment of the Lower-Seine, and chief place of a canton, in 
the didriff of Neitfchatel; three leagues wed of Neufcha- 
tel, and five fouth-fouth-eafl of Dieppe. 
BEL'LENDEN, or Bali.antine (William), a cele¬ 
brated author who fiouriflied in the beginning of the 17th 
century, was profelfbr of belles-lettres at Edinburgh, and 
mader of the requeds to James I. of England. He redded 
almofl conflantly at Paris,' where he publiflied, in 1608, 
his Cicero Princrps, a Angular work; in which he extracted, 
from Cicero’s writings, detachedpaflages, and compriftd 
them into one regular body, containing the rules of mo¬ 
narchical government, with the line of conduft to be pur¬ 
ified, and the virtues proper to be encouraged by, the 
Vol. II. No. 108. 
BEL S73 
prince himfelf: and the treatife, when finiflied, he dedi¬ 
cated, from a principle of patriotifm, to Henry then prince 
of Wales. In 1612, he'proceeded to publifli another work 
of a fimilar nature, which he called Cicero Conful , Senator 
Senatufjue Romanies, in which he treated with much perfpi- 
cuity, and a fund of folid information, on the nature of the 
confular office, and the conditution of the Roman fenate. 
Finding thofe works received, as they deferved, with the 
unanimous approbation of the learned, he let on foot a 
third work, De Statu prifei OrbU , or Hiflory of the pro- 
grefs of Government and Philofophy, from the times be¬ 
fore the flood, to their various degrees of improvement 
under the Hebrews, Greeks, and Romans. Bellenden 
alio wrote another work, publiflied after his death, De 
tribus l.uminibus. Romanorum, whom he conceives to be Ci¬ 
cero, Seneca, and the elder Pliny. 
BELLE PLEINR, a valley of Piedmont, in the Alps, 
lituated partly in the county of Nice, partly in the county 
oi Tenda, a few miles north-wed of Saorgio. 
BELLEREAU', a town of France, in the department 
of the Meurte, and chief place of a canton, in the didriCt 
of Pont-a-Mouilon: two leagues fouth-ead of Pont-a-Mouf- 
fon, and two and a half north of Nancy. 
BELLE'ROPHON, in fabulous hiflory, was the fon of 
Glaucus king of Epirus, who, happening accidently tokili 
his brother, fled to Proetus king of Argos, who gave him 
an hofpitable reception : but Stenobea, his queen, fall¬ 
ing in love with the beautiful dranger, and finding that no¬ 
thing could induce him to injure his benefactor, (he ac~ 
cufed him to her hulband of an attempt to violate her ho¬ 
nour. Proetus, however, not willing to break the laws 
of hofpitality, Cent him to Jobates king of Lylia, the father 
of Sthenobea, with orders to put him to death : whencp 
the proverb Bellerophontis litcras offeret, equivalent to Literce 
Oriee. That prince, at his arrival, was celebrating a fefli— 
val of nine days, which prevented Bellerophon’s deflruc- 
tion. Jobates, however, lent him to fubdue the Solymi, 
the Amazons, and Lyfians, and thought to get rid of him 
by expofing him to thefe dangers ; but by his prudence 
and courage he'came off victorious. Jobates next emplov- 
ed him to deflroy the Chimaera; when Minerva, or, ac¬ 
cording tO'Others, Neptune, in confideration of his inno¬ 
cence, furniflied him with the horfe Pegafus, by whofe 
aflidance he killed the Chimtera. Jobates, on his return, 
being convinced of his truth and integrity, and charmed, 
with his heroic virtues, gave him his daughter Philonoii 
in marriage, and declared him his fucceflor; which when 
Sthenobea heard, die killed herfelf. Bellerophon, after-, 
wards growing vain with his profperity, refolved, by the 
aflidance of Pegafus, to afeend the (kies ; when Jupiter 
checked.his prefumption, by driking him blind in his flight; 
on which he fell to the earth, and wandered till death it*, 
contempt and mifery: but, Pegafus mounting into heaven, 
Jupiter placed him among the condellations. Homer. Ovid. 
BELLES LETTRES,yi [Fr.] Polite literature. It has 
no fmgular. —The exaflnefs of the other, is to admit of 
fomething like difeourfe, efpecially in what regards the 
belles lettres. Tatler. 
Whether we confult the voluminous dictionaries of tie 
French language, or thofe treatifes that profefs to point 
out the method of fludying and teaching the belles lettres, 
we find not, in the one or the other, either a clear defini¬ 
tion or a fuccinCt explication of the words belles lettres , 
nor any fummary of thofe fciences which are comprehend¬ 
ed under that general and collective denomination. It ap¬ 
pears to be a vague term, under which every one may ir. 
elude whatever he thinks proper. Sometimes we are told 
that by the belles lettres is meant, the knowledge of the 
arts of poetry and oratory; fometimes that the true belles 
lettres are natural philofophy, geometry, and other edential 
parts of learning ; and fometimes, that they comprehend 
the art of war, by land and fea : in fliort, they are made 
to include all that we know, and whatever we pleafe ; fio 
that, in treating on the belles lettres, they talk of the 
ufeof the lacraments, &c. (See Rollin on the Belles Let- 
10 N tres.) 
