BILLINGS. 73 illustrations of historic buildings. Between 1S38 and 1849 he produced illustrations of sev- eral churches and cathedrals, as well as his Architectural Antiquities of the County of Dur- ham. His cliief work was entitled Baronial and Ecclesiastical Antiquities of ficotland (4 vols., 1845-52), with 240 illustrations. fnder his direction the Chapel of Edinburgh Castle and the Douglas Room in Stirling Castle were restored. BILLINGS, William (1740-1800). The first American composer of whom any record is known. He was born in Boston, and set up as a tanner, but subsequently became a singing-mas- ter and composer of psalm-tunes. It is probable that he is correctly regarded as the founder of American church music. Despite a meagre musical training, he evinced some talent for melody, and his collections for church choirs were widely used throughout New England. His patriotic airs, also, were popular among Xew England troops during the Revolutionary War. Best known of his six compilations were The •^inriiny-Master's Assistant (177S), styled "Bil- linas's Best,' and The Psalm-Singer's Amusement (1781). BIL'LINGSGATE (Hilling, presimiably a former proprietor of the land). A gate, wharf, and fish-market, a little below London Bridge. It was opened in 1.558 as a landing-place for provisions, and in 1699 was made "a free and open market for all sorts of fish." The unpol- ished phraseology', native, though not peculiar, to this quarter of London, has given rise to the use of the name Billingsgate as a synonym for coarse or abusive language, such as is jJioverb- ially asi ribed to fishwives. BILTilNGTON, Elizabeth, nee Weichsel (171:18-1818). A celebrated English singer, born in London. She was the daughter of a German musician. At an early age she came forward as a performer on the piano and as a composer; and after marrying her music-master, Thomas Billington, appeared with brilliant success on the operatic stage in Dublin in 1786. Having returned to London, she was engaged at Covent Garden at the then unheard-of salary of flOOO for the season. She perfected her musical edu- cation under Sacchini in Paris, who wrote for her his opera lnr~ di Castro, while she was sing- ing in Xaplps, 1704. She appeared subsequently in Venice and Rome with the gi'eatest success. After her first husband died, in 1799, she mar- ried a Frencliman of the name of Felissent, and returned to London, 1801. where she received £4000 for six months, playing alternatel3- at Co- vent Garden and Drur>- Lane. She retired from the stage in 1811. and died at her villa near Venice. Her private life was very stormy, and she was even accused of poisoning her first hus- band. To a voice of wonderful compass (of tliree octaves), trained in all the art of the Italian school, she added a fascinating personal beantv and grace. Consult G. F. Ferris, Great fUngrrs, Vol. I. (Xew York, 1892). BILLXTON. br-lP'ton', or BLITONG, ble- tong'. One of the Dutch East India Islands, sit- uated between the islands of Banca (ofT the southeast coast of Sumatra) and Borneo. Tt is compact in form and covers an area of 1840 square miles, with a rough surface rising to 3000 feet, and has rich deposits of tin and other min- BILL OF ATTAINDEB. erals. It forms an administrative dependency of Banca, and has a population of (1896) 41,395, of whom many are Cliinese, but only about 100 are Europeans (ilap: East India Islands, Co). The chief town, Janjong-Pandang, is on the northwest coast. BILL OF ATTAIN'DER (for derivation, see AttaixdkrK and BILL OF PAINS AND PENALTIES. Bills by wliioli attainder or pain.-i and penalties are infiicted by legislative enact- ment. The Constitution of the United States ex- pressly declares (Art. I., Sec. 9) that "no bill of attainder or ex-post-facto law shall be passed." ( See Att.ixder. ) In England such bills were formerly generally resorted to when, either from the jieculiar na- ture of the ofl'ense, or in consequence of diffi- culties in the application of the ordinary laws, it was deemed necessary or expedient to inflict such punishment otherwise than through the courts of justice, as in times of public disturb- ance or hen the offense to be punished was not a crime under existing laws. During the reign of Henry VIII., persons of the higliest rank were frequently brought to the scaffold by liills of attainder, as the Earl of Surrey, the Enrl of Essex, and others, who suffered for denying the King's sujiremacy. During other reigns, botli be- fore and after that of Henry VIIL, these bills were more or less in evidence and used, until in 1870, by 33 and 34 Vict. Chapter 23, attainder was practically abolished. There were greater facilities for conviction by this penal legislation than by the ordinary judicial procedure at law; because while in the latter the strict rules of legal evidence must 1)e observed, the injury under a bill of attainder, or of pains and penal- ties, was entirely in the hands of Parliament, which might dispense at its pleasure with sucli rules and forms of law as appeared incon- enient or unsuitable to the purpose in liand. Accordingly, in most of the cases to which we have referred, the bills were passed upon evidence which could neer have been received as sullieient or even admissible -in a court of law: and there are even instances where parties were attainted and punished without there being any evidence against them at all, and even without their being heard in their defense. I'nder the Stuarts the extraoi'dinary mode of proceeding in Parliament was seldom resorted to, and it has been still more .seldom used since the accession of the House of Hanover. In Scotland the Jacobite move- ment after the union with England was pro- ductive of several instances of parliamentary attainder, which, however, resulted merely in the forfeiture of the estates of the attainted pai-tips, and these attainders were likewise un- attended with the harsli, and in too many in- stances capital penalties, which were formerly the inevitable results of treason so discovered. The last instance of liill of attainder for treason was that of Lord Edward Fitzirerald, one of the leaders of the Irish Uclicllion of 1798. In resard to bills of pains and iienallics, perhaps the two most remarkable instances arc those of Bi.shop tterl)iiry, in 1722, and of (Jueen Caroline, wife of George IV.. in 1820. The proceedings of Parliament in passing bills of attainder and of jiains and penalties do not
