Bale thought it best to withdraw to Dublin, whence he set sail for Holland. He was taken prisoner by the captain of a Dutch man-of-war, which was driven by stress of weather to St. Ives in Cornwall. There Bale was apprehended on a charge of high treason, but was released. The same fortune befell him at Dover. When he arrived in Holland he was again imprisoned, and only escaped by paying 300l. From Holland he made his way to Basel, where he remained in quiet till the accession of Elizabeth in 1559. He again returned to England an old and worn-out man. He did not feel himself equal to the task of returning to his turbulent diocese of Ossory, but accepted the post of prebendary of Canterbury, and died in Canterbury in 1563.
Bale was a man of great theological historical learning, and of an active mind. But he was a coarse and bitter controversialist and awakened equal bitterness amongst his opponents. None of the writers of the reformation time in England equalled Bale in acerbity. He was known as 'Bilious Bale.' His controversial spirit was a hindrance to his learning, as he was led away by his prejudices into frequent misstatements. The most important work of Bale was a history of English literature, which iirst appeared in 1548 under the title 'Illustrium Majoris Britanniæ Scriptorum Summarium in quinque centurias divisum.' It is a valuable catalogue of the writings of the authors of Great Britain chronologically arranged. Bale's second exile gave him time to carry on his work till his own day, and two editions were issued in Basel, 1557-1559. This work owes much to the 'Collectanea' and 'Commentarii' of John Leland, and is disfigured by misrepresentations and inaccuracies. Still its learning is considerable, and it deserves independent consideration, as it was founded on an examination of manuscripts in monastic libraries, many of which have since been lost. The plays of Bale are doggerel, and are totally wanting in decorum. A few of them are printed in Dodsley's 'Old Plays,' vol. i., and in the 'Harleian Miscellany,' vol. i. The most interesting of his plays, 'Kynge Johan,' was printed by the Camden Society in 1838. It is a singular mixture of history and allegory, the events of the reign of John being transferred to the struggle between protestantism and popery in the writer's own day. His polemical writings were very numerous, and many of them were published under assumed names. Tanner (Bibl. Brit.) gives a catalogue of eighty-five printed and manuscript works attributed to Bale, and Cooper (Athenæ Cantabrigienses) extends the number to ninety.
Besides Bale's works above mentioned, the following are the most important: 1. 'Acta Romanorum Pontificum usque ad tempora Pauli IV,' Basle, 8vo, 1538; Frankfort, 1567; Leyden, 1615. 2. 'The Pageant of the Popes, containing the lyves of all the Bishops of Rome from the beginning to the yeare 1555, Englished with additions by J. S. [John Studley]' London, 1574. 3. 'A Tragedie or Enterlude manifesting the chiefe promises of God unto man, by all ages in the olde lawe from the fall of Adam to the Incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christe,' 1538, reprinted in Dodsley. 4. 'New Comedy or Enterlude concerning the three lawes of Nature, Moises and Christe, corrupted by the Sodomytes, Pharyses and Papistes,' 1538, London, 1562. 5. 'Yet a Course at the Romyshe Foxe,' Zurich, 1543. 6. 'A Mysterye of Iniquyte, contayned within the heretycall Genealogye of Ponce Pantolabus, is here both dysclosed and confuted,' Geneva, 1545. 7. 'The Apologye of Johan Bale agaynste a ranke Papyst,' 1550.
[The materials for Bale's life are chiefly supplied by himself in scattered mentions in his many writings, and especially in 'The Vocacyon of John Bale to the Byshopperycke of Oseorie' (Harleian Miscellany, vol. vi). The Parker Society published (1849) the Select Works of John Bale to which is prefixed a biographical notice by Kev. H. Christmas. The fullest account of Bale is given in Cooper's Athenæ Cantabrigienses.]
BALE, ROBERT (fl. 1461), chronicler, known as Robert Bale the Elder, is said to have been born in London. He practised as a lawyer, and was elected notary of the city of London, and subsequently a judge in the civil courts. He wrote a chronicle of the city of London, and collected the stray records of its usages, liberties, &c. The following is a list of his writings according to John Bale :— 1. 'Londinensis Urbis Chrouicon.'
2. 'Instrumenta Libertatum Londini.'
3. 'Gesta Regis Edwardi Tertii.'
4. 'Alphabetum Sanctorum Angliæ.'
5. 'De Præfectis et Consulibus Londini.'
[Bale's (John) Scriptor. lllust. Major. Brit. Cat. Cent. xi. No. 58]
BALE, ROBERT (d. 1503), a Carmelite monk, was a native of Norfolk, and when very young entered the Carmelite monastery at Norwich. Having a great love of learning, he spent a portion of every year in the Carmelite houses at Oxford or Cambridge. He became prior of the monastery of his order at Burnham, and died 11 Nov. 1503. Bale enjoyed a high reputation for learning,
