Page:Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography Volume 1.pdf/378

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BAI
346
BAI

was born at Passy, near Paris, in 1771, and died at the French capital in 1842. In his earliest years he showed a disposition for music, and at seven years old received lessons on the violin, the instrument of his predilection, from Polidori, a Florentine. His family went to Paris in 1780, when he was placed under Sainte-Marie, to whose instruction he ascribed the precision and finish for which his playing was remarkable. Soon after he was ten years old, he heard Viotti play, whose performance made so deep an impression upon him, as to become a constant object of emulation; some years later, when he again heard this great artist, and made his personal acquaintance, his boyish impression was more than realized. "I expected," he said, "to find an Achilles, but here is an Agamemnon."

In 1783 his father, who was an advocate, went in an official capacity with his family to Bastia in Corsica; he died shortly after his arrival, when M. de Boucheporn, the intendant, took young Pierre under his protection. With this gentleman's family he passed thirteen months at Rome, where he studied his instrument under Pollani, from whom he acquired his fine broad style of bowing. He now travelled for some years with his patron in the quality of secretary, but never relaxed his assiduous study of the violin. In 1791 he returned to Paris to meet his ideal, Viotti, and to have his own talent acknowledged by him. He relinquished an engagement Viotti had given him at the Italian opera, to enter the office of the minister of finance, and in his leisure he had still time to practise his instrument. He then served for some months as a volunteer in the army. In 1795 he made his first public solo performance at Paris. On the formation of the Conservatoire at Paris, he was appointed professor of the violin, first as a substitute for Rode (then in Russia), and, in consequence of his prolonged absence, at the opening of the institution the professorship was conferred upon Baillot on his own account. In 1805 he visited Russia, and returned to Paris laden with honours, after three years. He was commissioned by the Conservatoire to construct, in conjunction with Rode and Kreutzer, an elementary work for the violin, of which, in deference to his superior literary attainments, his two coadjutors left the chief share to him, and the celebrated "Méthode du Violon" was the result. He had studied composition successively under Catel, Reicha, and Cherubini, and had thus acquired, not only the power to produce some works of very considerable merit, but also that of analysing the creations of the great masters to an extent not often attained by players of solo instruments, and this incited him to the establishment of his renowned quartet performances, which commenced in December, 1814, to be continued every succeeding winter, and in which he displayed especial talent that has scarcely been excelled. In 1815 he visited London, where he played at the concerts of the Philharmonic Society, of which institution he was elected a member. He was, one after the other, appointed to all the places of distinction for his instrument in Paris. In 1833 he published his "Art du Violon," in which, by means of his enlarged experience, he was able to embody a more perfect system than was developed in the "Méthode;" in this work are contained the whole principles of the French school of violin-playing. He wrote some other essays on musical subjects which are extolled for their purity of style, and, besides his concertos, and other solo pieces, several quartets, sonatas, and similar compositions. He is ranked at the head of modern French violinists, being the one who amalgamated into a complete style the various excellencies that distinguish their school.—G. A. M.

BAILLY, Antoine, a French statesman, son of A. D. Bailly, was inspector-general of finance. He wrote two valuable works, one on the finance of France, and another on that of England. They are respectively entitled "Histoire Financière de la France depuis l'origine de la monarchic jusqu'à la fin de," 1786; and "Administration des Finances du royaume—uni de la Grande-Bretagne et d'Irlande," 1837. Died in 1851.

BAILLY, Charles, chamberlain and secretary to Mary Queen of Scots. Died December 27, 1624.

BAILLY, David, a Dutch portrait painter, born at Leyden in 1586; died 1638; studied first under Pieter Bailly, his father, then under Verbourg and Van der Voort, and finally at Rome. Established at Leyden, at his return, he executed many portraits remarkable for finish and design. During his last years he used to make beautiful pen-and-ink drawings of the portraits he intended afterwards to colour.—R. M.

BAILLY DE JUILLY, Edme Louis Barthelemy, a French politician, born at Troyes in 1760. Previous to the outbreak of the Revolution, he was professor at the college of Juilly. In 1792 he became a member of the convention, where he voted against the regicides. He was named secretary in 1794, and on the memorable 20th May of the following year filled the chair of the convention in the absence of its president, Vernier. In 1797, and again in 1798, he narrowly escaped "deportation," as a member of the party in the assembly who were suspected of royalist tendencies. During the consulate and the empire, he was prefect of the department of Lot. Died in 1819.—J. S., G.

BAILLY DE MONTHION, François Gideon, Count, a French general, born in the isle of Bourbon, 27th January, 1776; died in 1846. Being destined for a military career, he entered as sub-lieutenant in the 74th regiment of the line, on the 24th February, 1793, and took part in the campaigns of the Moselle and the Nord. When the convention had decreed the dismissal of all the officers belonging to the nobility, he was compelled to quit the service of the Republic. That season of inaction, however, was not of long duration; for, on the 10th October, 1793, he was appointed aide-de-camp to General Turrean, whom he followed to the armies of the eastern Pyrenees, Ouest, Sambreet-Meuse, and Mayence. He afterwards fought under Turrean upon the Rhine, upon the Danube, and in Italy. He signalized himself at Marengo, and was promoted to the rank of colonel on the field of Austerlitz. On the 4th October, 1812, he was made general-of-division; and from the 8th November, 1813, until the 1st January, 1814, he performed the functions of major-general of the grand army, in the absence, from a temporary illness, of Prince Wagram. He assisted in the campaign of France of 1814; and in 1815, when the kingdom was again threatened with invasion, he took part in the campaign of Belgium and in the battle of Waterloo, where he was wounded. On the 3d of October, 1837, he was raised to the peerage, and received the grand cross of the Legion of Honour.—G. M.

BAILLY, George, a French general, born in 1685; died 22nd March, 1759. He entered the army in 1705, and in 1706 took part in the campaign of Germany. On the 1st May, 1745, he was made field-marshal; on the 1st July, 1746, he obtained the rank of lieutenant-general of artillery, and on the 10th May, 1748, that of lieutenant-general of the king's armies.

BAILLY, Jacques, conservator of the king's pictures; born at Versailles in 1701; died in 1768; was father of Jean Bailly, first mayor of Paris, and left a catalogue of the pictures in the royal cabinet at the Luxembourg.

BAILLY, Jean-Sylvain; born at Paris in 1735; was mayor of Paris in the famous 1790; perished on the scaffold in that ever-terrible year, 1793. We cannot enter here into the dreadful story of the great Revolution, on which it has ever appeared the direst blot that men like Bailly, quiet, humane, and who had sacrificed so much for the French people, should have met the reward of the guillotine. We are still too near the epoch of those fearful tragedies, to be able to estimate that period impartially, or rightly to cast up its accounts. The case of Bailly, however, is peculiar; and some welcome light has been thrown upon it,—welcome, because the most unwelcome thing on earth would he the conclusion, that good and peaceful men were destroyed by the society they had benefited, even though that society had been lashed into demoniac fury. The truth, as seen calmly, is as follows:—Bailly was mayor on the 17th July, 1791; and under his orders the massacre of the Champ de Mars took place. Advisedly, we call this calamity a massacre,—rigorously viewed, it might be termed a premeditated one. The people collected on that day on that famous plain, in belief of their entire security, and they gave the best pledge that could be given that their intentions were social and peaceable. It was meant to be a simple French out-of-door festival. Thousands took their wives; mothers had their children; no man was armed; and the ground was occupied by venders of small refreshments with small stalls. Bailly, as mayor, was deceived by representations made to him, and he let loose the National Guard, or the Bourgeoisie, on the assembled multitudes. No one has ever accused Bailly of doing what he conceived a wrong. He was simply unfit for his position; he did not discern that, after the destruction of royalty and the noblesse, a war of classes had arisen in France. But the people whose blood had flowed could not pardon the crime because of the personal excellence of the criminal. And when the Gironde fell, Bailly fell with it. It is painful to add that, after his con-