manuscript works by him exist in the library of Trinity College, Dublin.
See Munk’s College of Physicians, i. 175; Wood’s Athenae (Bliss), iii. 67; Biographia Britannica, i. 419.
BAINBRIDGE, WILLIAM (1774–1833), commodore in the United States navy, was born on the 7th of May 1774 in Princeton, New Jersey. At the age of fourteen he went to sea in the merchant service, and was in command of a trading schooner at an early age. The American trading vessels of that period were supposed to be excluded by the navigation laws from commerce with the British West Indian Islands, though with the concealed or very slightly disguised assistance of the planters, they engaged in a good deal of contraband commerce. The war between France and Great Britain tended further to make the carrying trade of neutrals difficult. Bainbridge had therefore to expect, and when he could to elude or beat off, much interference on the part of French and British cruisers alike. He is said to have forced a British schooner, probably a privateer, which attacked him when on his way from Bordeaux to St Thomas, to strike, but he did not take possession. On another occasion he is said to have taken a man out of a British ship in retaliation for the impressment of an American seaman by H.M.S. “Indefatigable,” then commanded by Sir Edward Pellew. When the United States navy was organized in 1798 he was included in the corps of naval officers, and appointed to the schooner “Retaliation.” She was on one occasion seized by the French but afterwards released. As captain of the brig “Norfolk” of 18 guns, he was employed in cruising against the French, who were as aggressive against American commerce as the English. He was also sent to carry the tribute which the United States still condescended to pay to the dey of Algiers, in order to secure exemption from capture for its merchant ships in the Mediterranean—a service which he performed punctually, though with great disgust. When the United States found that bribing the pirate Barbary states did not secure exemption from their outrages, and was constrained at last to use force, he served against Algiers and Tunis. His ship, the “Philadelphia,” ran aground on the Tunisian coast, and he was for a time imprisoned. On his release he returned for a time to the merchant service in order to make good the pecuniary loss caused by his captivity. When the war of 1812 broke out between Great Britain and the United States, Bainbridge was appointed to command the United States frigate “Constitution” (44), in succession to Captain Isaac Hull (q.v.). The “Constitution” was a very fine ship of 1533 tons, which had already captured the “Guerrière.” Under Bainbridge she was sent to cruise in the South Atlantic. On the 29th of December 1812 he fell in with H.M.S. “Java,” a vessel of 1073 tons, formerly the French frigate “Renommée” (40). She was on her way to the East Indies, carrying the newly appointed lieutenant-governor of Bombay. She had a very raw crew, including very few real seamen, and her men had only had one day’s gunnery drill. The United States navy paid great attention to its gunnery, which the British navy, misled by its easy victories over the French, had greatly neglected. In these conditions the fate of the “Java” was soon sealed. She was cut to pieces and forced to surrender, after suffering heavy loss, and inflicting very little on the “Constitution.” After the conclusion of the war with Great Britain, Bainbridge served against the Barbary pirates once more. During his later years he served on the board of navy commissioners. He died on the 28th of July 1833. (D. H.)
BAINDIR (anc. Caystrus), a town in Asiatic Turkey in the Aidin vilayet, situated in the valley of the Kuchuk Menderes. Pop. under 10,000, nearly half Christian. It is connected with Smyrna by a branch of the Aidin railway, and has a trade in cotton, figs, raisins and tobacco.
BAINES, EDWARD (1774–1848), English newspaper-proprietor and politician, was born in 1774 at Walton-le-Dale, near Preston, Lancashire. He was educated at the grammar schools of Hawkshead and Preston, and at the age of sixteen was apprenticed to a printer in the latter town. After remaining there four years and a half he removed to Leeds, finished his apprenticeship, and at once started in business for himself. He was always a most assiduous student, and quickly became known as a man of great practical shrewdness and ability, who took a keen interest in political and social movements. His political opinions led him to sympathize with nonconformity and he soon joined the Independents. In 1801 the assistance of party friends enabled him to buy the Leeds Mercury. Provincial newspapers did not at that time possess much influence; it was no part of the editor’s duty to supply what are now called “leading articles,” and the system of reporting was defective. In both respects Baines made a complete change in the Mercury. His able political articles gradually made the paper the organ of Liberal opinion in Leeds, and the connexion of the Baines family with the paper made their influence powerful for many years in this direction. Baines soon began to take a prominent part in politics; he was an ardent advocate of parliamentary reform, and it was mainly by his influence that Macaulay was returned for Leeds in 1832; and in 1834 he succeeded Macaulay as member. He was re-elected in 1835 and 1837, but resigned in 1841. In parliament he supported the Liberal party, but with independent views. Like his son Edward after him, he strongly advocated the separation of church and state, and opposed government interference in national education. His letters to Lord John Russell on the latter question (1846) had a powerful influence in determining the action of the government. He died in 1848. His best-known writings are:—The History, Directory and Gazetteer of the County of York; History, Directory and Gazetteer of the County of Lancaster History of the County Palatine and Duchy of Lancaster. He was also the author of a History of the Wars of Napoleon, which was continued under the title of A History of the Reign of George III.
His Life (1861) has been written by his son, Sir Edward Baines (1800–1890), who was editor and afterwards proprietor of the Leeds Mercury, M.P. for Leeds (1859–1874), and was knighted in 1880; his History of the Cotton Manufacture (1835) was long a standard authority. An elder son, Matthew Talbot Baines (1790–1860), went to the bar, and became recorder of Hull (1837). He became M.P. for Hull in 1847, and in 1849 president of the Poor Law Board. In 1852 he was returned for Leeds, and again became president of the Poor Law Board (till 1855). In 1856 he entered the cabinet as chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster.
BAINI, GIUSEPPE (1775–1844), Italian priest, musical critic and composer of church music, was born at Rome on the 21st of October 1775. He was instructed in composition by his uncle, Lorenzo Baini, and afterwards by G. Jannaconi. In 1814 he was appointed musical director to the choir of the pontifical chapel, to which he had as early as 1802 gained admission in virtue of his fine bass voice. His compositions, of which very few have been published, were very favourable specimens of the severe ecclesiastical style; one in particular, a ten-part Miserere, composed for Holy Week in 1821 by order of Pope Pius VII., has taken a permanent place in the services of the Sistine chapel during Passion Week. Baini held a higher place, however, as a musical critic and historian than as a composer, and his Life of Palestrina (Memorie storico-critiche della vita e delle opere di Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, 1828) ranks as one of the best works of its class. The phrase Il Principe della Musica, which has become finally associated with the name of Palestrina, originates with this biography. Giuseppe Baini died on the 21st of May 1844 in Rome.
BAIRAM, a Perso-Turkish word meaning “festival,” applied in Turkish to the two principal festivals of Islam. The first of these, according to the calendar, is the “Lesser Festival,” called by the Turks Kütshük Bairām (“Lesser Bairam”), or Sheker Bairām (“Sugar Bairam”), and by Arabic-speaking Moslems ‛Īd al-Fitr (“Festival of Fast-breaking”), or Al-‛īd aṣ-ṣaghīr (“Lesser Festival”). It follows immediately the ninth or the fasting-month, Ramaḍān, occupying the first three days of the tenth month, Shawwāl. It is, therefore, also called by Turks Ramazān Bairām, and exhibits more outward signs of rejoicing than the technically “Greater Festival.” Official receptions are held on it, and private visits paid; friends congratulate one another, and presents are given; new clothes
