which was the first of his operas given in Germany. In the same year he brought out "The Daughter of St. Mark" at Drury Lane, and in 1845 "The Enchantress." In 1846 he wrote for the Academie Royale "L'Etoile de Seville;" in the course of the rehearsals of this he was called to London to arrange his engagement as conductor of her Majesty's theatre, which office he filled till the shutting up of that establishment in 1852. "The Bondman" came out at Drury Lane in the autumn of 1846, and Balfe passed the ensuing winter at Vienna, directing the performance of his already popular operas. In 1848 he brought out "The Maid of Honour" at Drury Lane. In 1849 he went to Berlin to reproduce some of his operas, when the king offered him the decoration of the Prussian Eagle, which, as a British subject, he was unable to accept. In 1850 he conducted the national concerts at her Majesty's theatre, a series of performances that disappointed the very high expectations, artistic and pecuniary, of the dilettante who mismanaged them, although they were the occasion of the production of some important works. In 1852 "The Sicilian Bride" was given at Drury Lane, and six months later "The Devil's in it" was brought out at the Surrey theatre. At the close of this year, Balfe went to St. Petersburg with letters from the prince of Prussia, where he was much fêted, and made more money in less time than at any other period. His next work was "Pittore e Duca," written for the carnival of 1855, and given at Trieste with but indifferent success, in consequence of the failure of the prima donna. In 1856 he returned to England after four years' absence; he brought out his daughter as a singer at the performances of the Royal Italian opera at the Lyceum in 1857; and his latest opera, "The Rose of Castile," was produced by the English company, also at this theatre, in the October of the same year. At the state performances given at her Majesty's theatre, to the royal visitors on the occasion of the wedding of the princess of Prussia in 1858, "La Zingabella" (the Italian version of the Bohemian Girl) was selected for the Italian company, and "The Rose of Castile" for the English company, the composer being thus placed as the sole representative of the lyrical art in this country. Balfe now reappeared as a vocalist during an extensive tour, and he wrote the opera of "Satanella" for the inauguration of the Pyne and Harrison management at Covent Garden, Christmas, 1858. He made another visit to Russia in 1859, to introduce his daughter as a singer, whose career had been continued successfully in Italy and England since her first appearance, but was closed at St. Petersburg by her marriage to Sir F. Crauford, the English ambassador. Balfe is now (1860) once more in London, superintending the rehearsals of a new opera at Covent Garden. His single songs and other detached pieces are almost innumerable. Balfe possesses in a high degree the qualifications that make a natural musician, of quickness of ear, readiness of memory, executive facility, almost unlimited and ceaseless fluency of invention, with a felicitous power of producing striking melodies. His great experience added to these has given him the complete command of orchestral resources, and a remarkable rapidity of production. Against these great advantages is balanced the want of conscientiousness, which makes him contented with the first idea that presents itself, regardless of dramatic truth, and considerate of momentary effect rather than artistic excellence; and this it is that, with all his well-merited success with the million, will for ever prevent his works from ranking among the classics of the art. On the other hand, it must be owned that the volatility and spontaneous character of his music would evaporate through elaboration, either ideal or technical; and that the element which makes it evanescent, is that which also makes it universally popular.—G. A. M.
BALFOUR, Alexander, a Scottish novelist, born at Monkie, Forfarshire, in 1767. His parents were poor, and his education but slender. His earlier years were spent in business, in which he was alternately prosperous and unfortunate. In 1818 he entered on his literary career, having settled in Edinburgh as clerk to the publishing house of Messrs. Blackwood. In 1819 he published a novel, entitled "Campbell, or the Scottish Probationer," and edited the poetry of Richard Gall. During the following years he was a contributor of prose and verse to the Edinburgh Magazine; and at different times the following larger works appeared from his pen—"Contemplation, and other Poems," 1820; "The Foundling of Glenthorn, or the Smuggler's Cave," 1823; and "Highland Mary." He died in 1829. A memoir of his life was prefixed to a selection from his writings, edited by Dr. Moir, and entitled "Weeds and Flowers."—J. B.
BALFOUR, Sir Andrew, a celebrated Scottish naturalist, was born at the family seat of Denmiln, in the parish of Abdie in Fife, on 18th January, 1630. He was the fifth son of Sir Michael Balfour. After pursuing his studies at school, he was sent to the university of St. Andrews, where he took the degree of master of arts. Having early shown a taste for botany and natural history, he was led to enter upon medical studies. He visited various universities, as Oxford, Paris, Montpellier, and Padua. At Paris he spent several years acquiring a knowledge of medicine and of natural science. On 20th September, 1661, he took the degree of doctor of medicine at the university of Caen in Normandy. When in France he visited the garden of the duke of Orleans at Blois, and became acquainted with the celebrated Morison, who at that time had charge of the garden. On his return to London he was introduced to Charles II., and was soon after appointed by the king tutor to the young earl of Rochester, with whom he travelled for four years on the Continent. During all his peregrinations botany was his favourite pursuit. When his duties as tutor were finished, he still continued his continental tour, and after travelling for fifteen years, he returned to Scotland with large collections of various objects of natural history. He settled, first at St. Andrews as a physician, and there, it is said, he first introduced the dissection of the human body into Scotland. In 1670 he removed to Edinburgh, and acquired ere long extensive practice. He was made a baronet by Charles II., and was appointed physician in ordinary to his Majesty. He continued to retain his zeal for botany, and, adjoining his house in Edinburgh, he had a small botanic garden, where he cultivated many foreign plants. He was the means of initiating many into the study of natural history, and among the rest Patrick Murray, baron of Livingston. The baron founded at his seat a botanic garden, which soon contained about 1000 species of plants. After the death of the baron, Balfour got the collection at Livingston transferred to Edinburgh, and there uniting it with his own, he founded the botanic garden. With the aid of Sir Robert Sibbald he succeeded in getting the garden put on a respectable footing, and in securing the services of Mr. James Sutherland as intendant. Balfour was also one of the founders of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. He died in 1694, in the 63rd year of his age, and bequeathed his extensive museum and his herbarium to the university of Edinburgh. Brown dedicated the genus Balfouria to him.—J. H. B.
BALFOUR, Francis, a native of Edinburgh, who was for several years a distinguished physician in the service of the East India Company at Calcutta. He has published several works in which he defined a theory, which has been supported by many learned medical observers, that fevers, especially in eastern countries, are very sensibly affected by the lunar influence. The chief of his works are—"On the Influence of the Moon in Fevers," Calcutta, 1784; "The Forms of Herkren," 1785; "On Sol-lunar Influence in Fevers," 1795, &c. &c.—J. B.
BALFOUR, James, of Pilrig, a member of the Scotch bar, was appointed to the chair of moral philosophy in Edinburgh university in 1754, and continued to fill it till 1764, when he was appointed professor of the law of nature and nations, which he held till about 1779. He was born in 1705, and died in 1795. He is the author of three small works. The first, "Delineations of the Nature and Obligations of Morality," published anonymously about 1752 or 1753, is directed against the moral scheme of David Hume (Home). (See reference to it in Burton's life of Hume, vol. i. p. 344.) He begins with the principle that private happiness must be the chief end and object of every man's pursuit, shows how the good of others affords the highest happiness, and then calls in, to sanction natural conscience, the authority of God, who must approve of what promotes the greatest happiness. This does not give morality a sufficiently deep foundation in the constitution of man or the character of God. His second work, "Philosophical Essays," published in 1768, is written against Hume and Lord Kaimes, and is in defence of active power and liberty. In this treatise he boldly opposes the theory of Locke, that all our ideas are derived from sensation and reflection. "It may indeed be allowed, that the first notions of things are given to the mind by means of some sensation or other; but then it may also be true that after such
