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infusoria are of high merit. The microscopic orders of Desmidiaceæ and Diatomaceæ engaged much of his attention. He was professor of chemistry, mineralogy, and geology in the United States military academy at West Point.

* BAILEY, Philip James, author of "Festus," "The Angel World," "The Mystic," and other poems, was born at Basford, near Nottingham, in the year 1816. His education was originally conducted at various schools in his native town; afterwards he matriculated at Glasgow university, but seems to have devoted more time to private and self-suggested studies, than to the public work of his classes. Nevertheless, he must have wrought very hard, as his first and largest poem, finished before his twenty-third year, sparkles in every page with all kinds of scientific, theological, mythological, historical, and philosophical illustration. After a series of preparatory studies, he was called to the English bar in the year 1840, but never practised. He had published "Festus" in the previous year, and was now abandoning himself to the luxuries of a multifarious literature, so that legal pursuits inevitably became distasteful. The enthusiasm which this poem excited on its first appearance, especially in America, was extraordinary. Every critic, great and small, was stirred up to prophesy, and he who had just left his boyhood heard himself saluted even by the wise, as the brother of Milton and Göethe. He seems to have endured this cruelty of popular applause with extreme fortitude, suffering silently without a solitary cry of vanity, and at this moment is one of the most modest and retiring persons in the literary world. In 1850 he published "The Angel World," which is now incorporated with "Festus." His last effort is "The Mystic," which eminently deserves the name. The little that is intelligible is very bad, and indicates an exhaustion of imagination in the author, which is a dangerous prognostic. Whatever may be the ultimate fate of "Festus," considered as a poem; whether it maintain its present high rank, or lose it in the ever-recurring change of public sympathy, opinion, and taste, this much may be said with safety, that it cannot at any time, nor under any circumstances, cease to excite wonder and admiration. The incredible rapidity with which it was composed, the daring novelty of style, the intense continuous earnestness of its thought and sentiment, and the clearness with which it mirrors some of the most characteristic features of its age, render it impossible that it should be forgotten. It possesses a historical as well as a poetical significance; and though it may have failed in its attempt to elucidate many or even any of the problems, which, for the last thirty years, have been violently agitating the greatest minds of Christendom, yet the magnificent manner in which it essays the task will insure it a long, vivid, and reverential remembrance. Only of the very grandest works—those which are inherently sublime, as well as historically valuable, works like the Iliad, the Divina Comedia, and Paradise Lost,—can we pronounce with confidence that they are κτημα ες αει (a possession for ever)! "Festus" is not such a poem as these, and it would be hazardous to predict immortality of any thing lesser; but it exhibits a luxuriance, both of thought and imagery, in the speculative and critical portions, a sweetness and purity of sentiment in the "home scenes," irradiated at times with a bright humour, and everywhere a lofty spiritual feeling, that lift it far out of the region of ordinary and evanescent verse.—J. M. R.

* BAILEY, Samuel, commonly spoken of as "Mr. Bailey of Sheffield," is well known as an author of various works in mental philosophy, political economy, and the science of government. It was in 1829 that his first, and by many considered his best work—"Essays on the Formation and Publication of Opinion"—first appeared; and it had the good fortune to attract the notice of Brougham and Mackintosh, and others, whose commendation was equivalent to lasting fame. When Sir James Mackintosh wished to recommend "that earnestness, and that sincerity—that strong love of truth, and that conscientious solicitude for the formation of just opinions, which are not the least virtues of men"—he felt that it would be an act of injustice not to refer his readers to this work of Mr. Bailey's, "as enforcing that most neglected part of morality." At a subsequent period, Mr. Bailey published "Essays on the Pursuit of Truth, and on the Progress of Knowledge;" and the volume fully sustained, if it did not much extend, his fame as a philosopher. In the same department he published, at various times, "A Review of Berkeley's Theory of Vision," "The Theory of Reasoning," and "Discourses on Various Subjects." Within the last few years he has returned to the studies of his youth, and given to the world his "Letters on the Philosophy of the Human Mind." Mr. Bailey adheres to the school of Reid and Stewart, but he gives it an independent support, and does not hesitate to controvert or supplement the doctrines of these illustrious philosophers. Mr. Bailey has written largely, also, in the region of political economy, and his works are characterized by great penetration of judgment, and thorough mastery in the art of exposition. In his hands the most difficult subject becomes plain. This is well illustrated in his "Rationale of Political Representation"—a work from which much may be learned on the working of the British constitution, and on what is necessary to perfect its working. Mr. Bailey will never, perhaps, be a popular writer, but he will always be looked up to with respect by thoughtful inquirers, and his writings will be resorted to by such for their sound philosophy and practical good sense.—C. W. C.

BAILLER, Pieter van, a Flemish engraver of the seventeenth century; studied at Rome, and on his return to Antwerp reproduced several of the masterpieces of Rubens, Van Dyck, Rembrandt, Guido, and Annibale Caracci.—R. M.

* BAILLÈS, Jacques Marie Joseph, bishop of Luçon in France; born in 1798. He was raised to episcopal dignity in 1845, after having filled successively the office of secretary to the bishopric of Verdun, and that of vicar-general of Toulouse.

BAILLET, Adrien, a French litterateur, born in Picardy in 1649. From his earliest years he showed an extraordinary passion for books; and though his parents were poor, he succeeded in obtaining a liberal education, and in 1674 took orders, and became vicar of Lardieres. He soon resigned this position for the more congenial occupation of librarian to Lamoignon, president of the parliament of Paris. So great was his enthusiasm for his work, that he denied himself every luxury, scarcely ever took exercise, and never slept more than five hours per day. He left many works, the fruit of long and laborious research. His principal undertaking was named "Jugemens des Savans sur les Principaux ouvrages des Auteurs," and was intended to comprise criticisms of all classes of writers—poets, philologists, geographers, historians, men of science, &c., &c. He overtook only a small part of his vast scheme, and even that was assailed by hosts of adverse critics, most prominent among whom was Menage in his Anti-Baillet. Among his other works are—"A Life of Des Cartes;" "History of Holland;" "Curious Account of Muscovy," &c., &c. He died in 1706 —J. B.

BAILLIE, Lady Grisell. See Sir Patrick Hume.

BAILLIE, Joanna, a distinguished poetess, daughter of the Rev. James Baillie and Dorothea Hunter, was born at the manse or parsonage-house at Bothwell, near Glasgow, in the year 1762. She was niece of the great anatomists, William and John Hunter, and sister of Dr. Matthew Baillie. From the first, she lived in a family possessing peculiar mental endowments. When her brother became settled as a physician in London, she took up her abode at Hampstead, where she continued to reside during the remainder of her uneventful life. In 1798, she published a volume of dramas, to which she gave the title of "A Series of Plays, in which it is attempted to delineate the stronger passions of the mind, each passion being the subject of a Tragedy and a Comedy." To this a second volume was added in 1802, and a third in 1812. In 1804 she published a volume of "Miscellaneous Plays;" in 1810 the "Family Legend," a drama founded on a romantic Highland tradition, was acted in Edinburgh, Mrs. Siddons sustaining the principal female character. In 1836 she published three more volumes of dramas, some of which were in continuation of her plan of "Plays on the Passions." Miss Baillie's plays were written, not for the closet, but the stage; she never abandoned the hope that at some time they might become favourite acting plays. In this hope she was disappointed. The success of the "Family Legend," with an Edinburgh audience, was attributable so much to peculiar circumstances, that it is scarcely fair to argue anything from it. John Kemble brought out "De Monfort" in London, and acted the principal part. It was again brought out for Edmund Kean. It was played for eleven nights by Kemble; still it has not kept any permanent hold on the stage. Miss Baillie has published several pieces of poetry, many of them exceedingly graceful. In the year before her death, she superintended a collected edition of her dramatic and poetical works. She died at Hampstead on the 23d of February, 1851, in her eighty-ninth year.—J. A., D.

BAILLIE, John, was born at Inverness in 1766, and in