was elected a member of the Academy. Consult Mémoires du Duc de Belleisle (London, 1760); Letters (trans., London, 1759).
BELLE ISLE, bei' M' ( Fr., beautiful island),
or BELL ISLAND. A small island situated in
the eastern part of Conception Bay, near the
southeast extremity of Newfoundland. The soil
is fertile and there are fishing interests and rich
deposits of brown hematite iron ore. from which
there is an average daily output of 3000 tons.
Population, 1500.
BELLE ISLE, NORTH, or BELLE ISLE.
An island in latitude 52° N., longitude 55° 20'
W., lying near the middle of the eastern entrance
to the strait of the same name, which separates
northern 'Newfoundland from southeastern Labrador (Map; Newfoundland, El). It is nearly
15 miles from either coast, and has an area of
about 15 square miles. It has at its southern
extremity a lighthouse with a fixed light, at an
altitude of 470 feet, and visible for a distance
of 28 miles. Below this light, at a height of 128
feet, is a second fixed light. A signal-gun is also
fired every half-hour in foggy weather.
BELLE ISLE, SOUTH BELLE ISLE, or BELL ISLAND. An island in latitude 50° 45' N., longitude 55° 30' W., off the east coast of the northern projection of Newfoundland, 16 miles east of Canada Bay (Map: Newfoundland, B 2). It is a fishing-station, and its area is about 15 square miles.
BELLE ISLE, Strait of. The northern
entrance to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence from the
Atlantic Ocean, separating southeastern Labra-
dor from northern Newfoundland (Map: New-
foundland, D 1). It is about 80 miles long, and
from 10 to 15 miles wide. It offers dangers to
navigation, yet is traversed by ocean vessels, and
lies in the main route from the Saint Lawrence
River to England. See also Belle Isle, North.
BELLE-ISLE-EN-MER, bel'el'a:^'mfir' ( Fr.,
beautiful ishind in the sea). An island belong-
ing to the Department of Morbihan, France,
in the Atlantic, 8 miles south of Quiberon Point
(Map: France, C 4). Its length is 11 miles
and its greatest breadth 7 miles. Population,
about 10,000, chiefly engaged in pilchard and
sardine fishing. Salt is also made on the island,
and excellent draught-horses are bred; agricul-
ture is well developed. The chief town is Le
Palais, a seaport and fortified place. The island
contains many interesting relics of antiquity,
and is of great interest historically. Admiral
Hawke defeated the French fleet off Belle-Isle in
1759, and the English took the island in 1761.
BELLE JARDINIÈRE, La, Mi b6l zhiir'de'-
nvHr' (Fr., the beautiful gardener). A painting
by Raphael of the year 1507. The subject is the
"Madonna and Child," the Beloved Disciple
being near. The work is now in the Louvre.
BELLE MIGNONNE, La, la bel me'nyfin'
(Fr., the pretty darling). A gruesome boudoir
decoration of Eighteenth-Century France. It
was a skull made as attractive as possible, while
yet serving to remind the devotee of the inev-
itable end.
BELLENDEN, Edith. A character in Old Mortality, a novel by Scott. She is engaged to the Cavalier Lord Evandale, but is in love with the Covenanter Morion, and him she finally marries.
BELLENDEN, or BALLENDEN, or BALLENTYNE, John. A Scottish ecclesiast, poet, and translator, born about the beginning of the Sixteenth Century. He was educated at Saint Andrews University, and in Paris, where he took the degree of D.D. at the Sorbonne. Bellenden is best remembered by his translations of Boeco's Scotorum Historiæ (done in 1533), and of the first five books of Livy (also done in 1533), interesting as specimens of the Scottish prose of that period, and remarkable for the ease and vigor of their style. To both of these works are prefixed poetical prohemes or prologues. Bellenden's Croniklis of Scotland professes to be a translation of Boece, but is a very free one, and contains numerous passages not to be found in the original, so that it is in some respects to be considered almost an original work. The author enjoyed great favor for a long time at the Court of James V., at whose request he made these translations. As the reward of his performances he received grants of considerable value from the treasury, and afterwards was made Archdeacon of Moray and Canon of Ross. He opposed the Reformation, and, becoming involved in ecclesiastical controversy, left his country. According to Lord Dundrennan, Bellenden was alive in 1587, but according to others be died much earlier. The translation or 'traductioun' of Livv was first published in 1822 by Mr. Thomas Maitland (afterwards Lord Dundrennan), uniform with his edition of the Croniklis.
BELLENDEN, William. A Scottish author in the time of Queen Mary and James VI. His personal history is meagre and obscure: all that we know being the testimony of Dempster (Hist. Eccl.) that he was a professor in the University of Paris and an advocate in the Parlement there, and that he was employed in that city in a diplomatic capacity by Queen Mary, and also by her son, who conferred on him the appointment of Master of Requests. His first work, entitled Ciceronis Princeps, etc., was published in Paris in 1608; his next, Ciceronis Consul, Senator, Populusque, Romanus, in 1612. Both these works are compilations from the writings of Cicero. His next work, De Statu Prisci Orbis, appeared in 1615, and consists of a condensed sketch of the history and progress of religion, government, and philosophy in ancient times. These three works he republished in a collected form the year after, under the title De Statu Libri Tres. His crowning labor, De Tribus Luminibus Romanorum, was published after his death. The 'three luminaries' were Cicero, Seneca, and Pliny, out of whose works he intended to compile, on the same plan as his previous works, a comprehensive digest of the civil and religious history, and the moral and physical science of the Romans. The first of these alone was completed, and forms a remarkable monument of Bellenden's industry and ability. "Bellenden," says Hallam, "seems to have taken a more comprehensive view of history, and to have reflected more philosophically on it, than perhaps any one had done before." Bellenden's works furnished the materials for Dr. Middleton's Life of Cicero, though that learned divine abstains from any allusion to the forgotten Scot, from whom he plundered wholesale. Warton first denounced the theft, which was afterwards
