are thought to be undoubtedly older than the time of that emperor. In these baths were discovered the famous Nozze Aldobrandini (q.v.); and there are still remaining interesting arabesques, though their color and outline are fast fading away. They were a favorite study of Raphael.

"That part of these interesting ruins which has been excavated is near the Colosseum. We passed the mouths of nine long corridors and entered

the portal of what is called the House of Mæcenas, a name so justly dear to every admirer of taste and literature, that we did not feel disposed too scru pulously to question the grounds of the belief that we actually stood within the walls of that classic habitation where Horace and Virgil and Ovid and Augustus must have so often met." Eaton.

Battersea Park.

A pleasureground on the right bank of the Thames, facing Chelsea Hospital, London, laid out with ornamental plantations, a fine sheet of water, a sub-tropical garden of four acres, cricket-grounds, etc.

The district of Battersea, thought to be a corruption of Peter's Eye (or Island), was once a portion of the inheritance of St. Peter's Abbey, Westminster. It had great celebrity for the asparagus which was raised.

there

Battery, The. A park of 10 acres in New York City, at the south end of Manhattan Island. A fine view of the Bay is obtained from the promenade which runs along the water-front. The immigrant station here was originally built for a fort in 1807, was granted to the city in 1823, and afterwards became an operahouse. In it were held civic receptions of Marquis Lafayette, Gen. Jackson, President Tyler, and others, and here (while an oppera-house) appeared Jenny Lind, Sontag, Parodi, Jullien, and oth

ers.

See CASTLE GARDEN.

"He [Peter Stuyvesant] fortified the city, too, with pickets and palisadoes, extending across the island from river to river, and, above all, cast up mud batteries, or redoubts, on the point of the island where it divided the beautiful bosom of the bay. These latter

redoubts, in process of time, came to be pleasantly overrun by a carpet of grass and clover, and overshadowed by wide-spreading elms and sycamores, among the branches of which the birds would build their nests and rejoice the ear with their melodious notes. Under these trees, too, the old burghers would smoke their afternoon pipe, contemplating the golden sun as he sank in the west, an emblem of the tranquil end toward which they were declining. Here, too, would the young men and maidens of the town take their evening stroll, watching the silver moonbeams as they trembled along the calm bosom of the bay, or lit up the sail of some gliding bark, and peradventure interchanging the soft vows of honest affection, for to evening strolls in this favored spot were traced most of the marriages in New Amsterdam. Such was the origin of that renowned prom. enade, THE BATTERY, which, though ostensibly devoted to the stern purposes of war, has ever been consecrated to the sweet delights of peace."

Irving (Knickerbocker).

What would a Boston or New York mother think of taking chairs for her whole family, grown-up daughters and all, in the Mall, or upon the Battery, and spending the day in the very midst of the gayest promenade of the city? People of all ranks do it here [in Paris].

N. P. Willis.

Where nowadays the Battery lies, New York had just begun, A new-born babe, to rub its eyes, In Sixteen Sixty-One. E. C Stedman. The visitor, I may say without flattery, Finds few, if any, ports to match the view

(When the wind's up, the walk is slightly spattery)

Of bustling, white-winged craft and laughing blue,

Which fixes him enchanted on the Battery,

So full of life, forever fresh and new. T G. Appleton. Battle between Constantine and Maxentius. A well-known fresco representing the battle between the Emperor Constantine and Maxentius at the Ponte Molle, near Rome. The design of this composition was by Raphael (1483-1520), but it was executed by Giulio Romano (1492-1546). It is in a room, called after this picture the Sala di Costantino, in the Vatican, Rome. Battle Hill. An eminence in Greenwood Cemetery, commanding a grand view of the cities of

New York and Brooklyn, and the Bay. Battle Monument. A memorial structure in Baltimore, Md., built in 1815, to commemorate the soldiers who were engaged in the defence of the city against the British troops in September, 1814. The total height of the monument is 72 feet.

Battle of Austerlitz. A celebrated picture by François Gérard (17701836), the eminent French painter. It is of great size (30 feet wide by 16 feet high), and is much admired. It was painted by request of Napoleon I.

Battle of Bunker Hill. A wellknown picture by John Trumbull (1756-1843).

"Not surpassed [this and his Death of Montgomery'] by any similar works in the last century, and thus

far stand alone in American historical paintings." Harper's Magazine.

Battle of Cadore. A picture by Titian (1477-1576), no longer existing, but of which there is a drawing in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy.

Battle of Darius and Alexander. A celebrated mosaic found at Pompeii, and now preserved in the Museum at Naples, Italy.

Battle of Gettysburg. An immense picture by Peter F. Rothermel (b. 1817), the American artist. It was painted under commission from the State of Pennsylvania, and is much admired. It is now in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia.

Battle of Hercules with the Centaurs. A marble bas-relief by Michael Angelo (1475-1564). Battle of Isly. A noted picture by Horace Vernet (1789-1863), the celebrated French painter. Battle of Lepanto. A picture by Titian (1477-1576), believed to have been painted by him at the age of ninety-four. At Madrid, Spain.

Battle of the Amazons. A celebrated picture by Peter Paul Ru

bens (1577-1640). In the Munich gallery.

Battle of the Huns. [Ger. Hunnenschlacht.] A celebrated picture by Wilhelm von Kaulbach (18051874), regarded as a masterpiece. In the museum at Berlin, Prussia. It is "founded upon the tradition of the battle before the gates of Rome, between the Romans and the spirits of the Huns who were slain, which, rising in the air, continued the fight."

Battle of the Issus. A famous mosaic, representing the battle between Alexander and Darius at the river Issus. This mosaic was discovered at Pompeii in 1831, and is the finest ancient relic of the kind in existence. It is now in the Museum at Naples, Italy.

Battle of the Standard. A celebrated cartoon by Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1520). The subject is the victory of the Florentines under the Patriarch of Aquileja, at Anghiari, over Niccolò Piccinino, general of Filippo Visconti. The cartoon is no longer in existence. There is a sketch by Rubens, and an engraving taken from it by Edelinck, called the "Battle of the Standard."

"Leonardo's work, both cartoon and painting, partook of the evil desti. ny, which, not unaccountably, presided over all he did. He repeated the same process so fatal to, the Last Supper, only apparently with still fewer pre. cautions, painted in oil on so defective a ground that the surface gave way under his own hand, and the work, for which he had already received a considerable sum, was finally abandoned.” Eastlake.

Battle of Waterloo. A picture by Sir William Allan (1782-1850). In the possession of the Duke of Wellington.

Baumann's Cave. A curious cavern in the Harz Mountains, Germany, very interesting in a geological regard, on account of the fossil remains that have been discovered in it.

Bavaria. A colossal bronze statue by Ludwig Schwanthaler (1802

1848). It is 54 feet in height, larger than any other work of modern sculpture. In the Hall of Fame at Munich, Bavaria. Bavon, St. See ST. BAVON. Bay of Baie. A picture by Joseph Mallord William Turner (17751851), the English landscape painter, and regarded one of his best works. In the National Gallery, London.

Bayenthurm. A picturesque Gothic tower of the fourteenth century in Cologne, Germany. From its position, projecting into the river Rhine, it serves as a sort of barrier against the drifting ice. Bayeux Tapestry. [Fr. Tapisserie de Bayeux.] This tapestry, now preserved at Bayeux near Caen, France, is traditionally said to have been wrought by Matilda, queen of William the Conqueror. It is the oldest known work of the kind. It is 214 feet long by 19 inches wide, and represents the history of the conquest of England by William of Normandy, in a series of scenes, the subject of each of which is indicated by a Latin inscription. The series extends from the visit of Harold to the Norman court to his death at Hastings.

"The most celebrated, if not the most ancient piece of needlework tapestry-real tapestry, being entirely wrought by the needle, as was usual in the earliest period of its historywhich time has spared us, is the 'Bayeux tapestry,' and called at Bayeux the Toilet of Queen Matilda,' or of Duc Guillaume."" L. Jewitt.

"Of Norman armor and arms in England, the Bayeux apestry affords every detail, and may be looked upon as a valuable storehouse of informa. tion."

L. Jewitt. Beacon Hill. An eminence north of the Common in Boston, Mass.,

now covered with streets and houses. It was so called from the circumstance, that, in the early days of the city, beaconfires were lighted here to arouse the people in case of danger. And, sunlike, from her Beacon height The dome-crowned city spreads her rays. Holmes.

Beacon Street. A well-known street of residences in Boston, Mass. It was originally known as the lane leading to the alinshouse, at which it terminated.

"The name of Beacon Street was applied very early to that portion north and east of the State House, and to the westerly part before the Revolu tion. At this time there were not more than three houses between Charles Street and the upper end of the Common. The rest of the hill was covered with small cedars and native shrubbery with here and there a cowpath through which the herds ranged unmolested." Drake.

Beacon Street, very like Piccadilly, as it runs along the Green Park, and there is the Green Park opposite to this l'iccadilly, called Boston Common.

Anthony Trollope.

The lack-lustre eye, rayless as a Beaconstreet door plate in August, all at once fills with light; the face flings itself wide open. like the church-portals when the bride and bridegroom enter. Holmes.

The bore is the same, eating dates under the cedars of Lebanon, as over a plate of baked beans in Beacon Street.

Holmes.

Bean Feast. A well-known picture by Jacob Jordaens (15931678), of which there are numerous specimens, the best being that in the Vienna Gallery.

Bears of Berne. The armorial device of the city of Berne, Switzerland, is a bear (the name itself signifying bear), and the animal is a favorite effigy throughout the city. In addition many living bears are still kept and supported at public expense. At the time of the French Revolution the bears of Berne were carried as prisoners to Paris.

I have forgotten the famous bears, and all else. Holmes.

Beatrice. A picture by Ary Scheffer (1795-1858), well known through engravings.

Beatrice Cenci. 1. The subject of a well-known and exquisite portrait by Guido Reni, in the Barberini Palace at Rome. It is said, according to the family tradition, to have been taken on the night before her execution. Other accounts represent that it was painted from memory, after Guido had seen her on the scaffold.

The tragic story has been treated by Shelley in his poem entitled with her naine.

"I think no other such magical effect can ever have been wrought by pencil.... The picture can never be copied. Guido himself could never have done it over again. The copyists get all sorts of expression, gay as well as grievous; some copies have a coquettish air, a half-backward glance, thrown alluringly at the spectator; but nobody ever did catch, or ever will, the vanishing charm of that sorrow. I hated to leave the picture, and yet was glad when I had taken my last glimpse, because it so perplexed and troubled me not to be able to get hold of its secret." Hawthorne.

"The picture of Beatrice Cenci represents simply a female head; a very youthful, girlish, perfectly beautiful face. The whole face is very quiet, there is no distortion or disturb. ance of any single feature, nor is it easy to see why the expression is not cheerful, or why a single touch of the artist's pencil should not brighten it into joyousness. But, in fact, it is the very saddest picture ever painted or conceived; it involves an unfathomable depth of sorrow, the sense of which comes to the observer by a sort of intuition." Hawthorne.

"The picture of Beatrice Cenci is a picture almost impossible to be forgotten. Through the transcendent sweetness and beauty of the face there is a something shining out that haunts Dickens.

me."

2. A life-size statue by Harriet Hosmer (b. 1831). In the Mercantile Library, St. Louis, Mo. Beaudesert Park. The seat of the

Marquis of Anglesea, near Rugeley, England.

Beaumarchais, Boulevart. One of the boulevards of Paris, so called from the author of that name, who built here a fine mansion. See BOULEVARDS.

Beauvais Cathedral. A fine Gothic church in Beauvais, France. It was begun in 1225, and has the loftiest choir in the world. Beaux Arts, Académie des. [Academy of Fine Arts.] One of the five academies embraced in the Institut, the most important learned society of France. It is de

voted to painting, sculpture, architecture, engraving, and music, and is, accurately speaking, the most ancient of the academies in Paris, traces of an association among painters being found as early as the fourteenth century. It was regularly founded by the Cardinal Mazarin in 1655. See INSTI

TUT.

or

Bed of Justice. [Fr. Lit de Justice.] Formerly the seat throne occupied by the French monarchs when they attended parliament. Afterwards the term was applied to parliament itself. The last Bed of Justice was held at Versailles by Louis XVI., Aug. 5, 1788.

Was not every soul, or rather every body, of these Guardians of our Liberties, naked, or nearly so, last night; "a forked Radish with a head fantastically carved "? And why might he not, did our stern fate so order it, walk out to St. Stephen's, as well as into bed, in that no-fashion; and there, with other similar Radishes, hold a Bed of Justice? Carlyle.

Bed of Ware. See GREAT BED OF WARE.

Bedford Coffee-house.

A noted

house in Covent Garden, London, formerly much frequented. Goldsmith, John and Henry Fielding, Hogarth, Churchill, Foote, Garrick, and others resorted to the Bedford. It is no longer standing.

4"Almost every one you meet is a polite scholar and a wit."

Connoisseur, 1754.

bridge, and the Isle of Ely, consisting of about 400,000 acres, a large portion of it being marshy ground. It was drained and reclaimed in the seventeenth century by the Duke of Bedford and others. It produces fine crops of grain, flax, and cole-seed.

Bedford Square. A well-known square in London, near Oxford Street.

Bedlam. See BETHLEM HOSPITAL.
Bednall-green.
See BETHNAL
GREEN.

Bee Hive House. A building in Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, used as a seraglio of the Mormon leaders. It derives its name from an emblematic bee-hive carved over the entrance.

is

Beef-steak Society [Club]. 1. The first club with this name thought to have been established at London in the time of Queen Anne. The meetings "composed of the chief wits and great men of the nation" seem to have been noted for their jovial character. The first Providore of the Club was Dick Estcourt, the actor, who was valued for his gayety and humor, and who wore, as the badge of the Club, a small golden gridiron.

2. The Sublime Society of the Steaks was established in 1735 by Henry Rich. According to an early rule of the Society the diet was restricted to beef-steaks, port-wine, and punch. The meetings were first held in a room at the Covent Garden Theatre, but later at various places, and finally at a room in the Lyceum Theatre "ornamented with gridirons as thick as Henry the Seventh's Chapel with the portcullis of the founder. Every thing assumes the shape, or is distinguished by the representation, of their emblematic implement, the gridiron. The cook is seen at his office through the bars of a spacious gridiron, and the original gridiron of the Society (the survivor of two terrific fires) holds a conspicuous position in the centre

of the ceiling." Many persons distinguished for rank or social powers have been "Steaks," as the members were accustomed to call themselves, and many are included in the list of guests of the Society.

"On Saturday, the 14th of May [1785], the Prince of Wales was ad mitted a member of the Beef-steak Club [Society]. His. Royal Highness having signified his wish of belonging to that Society, and there not being a vacancy, it was proposed to make him an honorary member; but that being declined by his Royal Highness, it was agreed to increase the number from 24 to 25, in consequence of which his Royal Highness was unanimously elected. The Beef-steak Club [Society] has been instituted just 50 years, and consists of some of the most classical and sprightly wits in the kingdom."

Annual Register, 1785.

"The Beef-steak and October Clubs are neither of them averse to eating or drinking, if we may form a judgment of them from their respective titles." Spectator.

3. A Beef-steak Club became an institution in almost every theatre. Dr. Johnson's club in Ivy Lane was at first a Beef-steak Club. About 1749 a Beef-steak Club was founded at the Theatre Royal, Dublin, and was presided over by the celebrated Peg Woffington." There was also a Beef-steak Club at the Bell Tavern, Houndsditch. In 1733-34 there existed in London the Rump-steak, or Liberty Club, a political club in opposition to Sir Robert Walpole. Beersheba. See DAN.

Beethoven. A statue by Thomas Crawford (1813-1857). In the Music Hall, Boston, Mass. Befana, La. A wooden figure placed outside the doors of houses in Italy at the opening of Lent. This name is perhaps derived from La Befana (a corruption of Epiphany, Gr. 'Enidávia), which in Italy is a common personification of the Epiphany, differently represented as a saint, as a fairy, and as the bugbear of naughty children, and who at Epiphany is supposed to go about at night like