John, bishop of Offory in Ireland, was born at Cove, near Dunwich in Suffolk, in the year 1495. At 12 years of age he was entered in the monastery of Carmelites at Norwich, and was thence sent to Jesus college in Oxford. He was educated a Roman catholic, but was converted to the Protestant religion by Thomas Lord Wentworth. On the death of Lord Cromwell, favourite of Henry VIII. who protected him from the persecutions of the Roman clergy, he was obliged to retire into the Low Countries, where he continued eight years. Soon after the accession of Edward VI. he was recalled; and being first presented to the living of Bishop's Stocke in Hampshire, in 1552, he was nominated to the see of Offory. During his residence in Ireland he was remarkably industrious in propagating the Protestant doctrines; but to very little purpose, and frequently at the hazard of his life. Once, in particular, they murdered five of his domestics, who were making hay in a meadow near his his house; and would probably have done the same by him, if the sovereign of Kilkenny had not come to his assistance with 100 horse and 300 foot. On the accession of Queen Mary, the tide of opposition became so powerful, that, to avoid affiliation, he embarked for Holland, but was very unfortunate in his escape. First he was taken by a Dutch man of war, and robbed by the captain of all his effects. Then, being forced by tempests of weather into St Ives's in Cornwall, he was confined on suspicion of treason. Being, however, released after a few days confinement, the ship anchored in Dover road, where he was again seized on a false accusation. After his arrival in Holland, he was kept prisoner for three weeks, and at length obtained his liberty on paying 30l. From Holland he travelled to Basil in Switzerland, where he continued till Queen Elizabeth ascended the throne. After his return to England, he was in 1560 made prebendary of Canterbury, probably not choosing to return to his former flock of wolves. He died in November 1563, at Canterbury, in the 68th year of his age. He was so severe a writer against the church of Rome, that his books are particularly prohibited in the expurgatory index published at Madrid, in folio, in the year 1667. He is the earliest dramatic writer in the English language, or at least author of the first pieces of that kind that we find in print. Of his writings in that way no fewer than 21 have been enumerated; only three of them, however, have been seen in print, viz. 1. God's Promises, an interlude; 2. St John Baptist, an interlude; 3. Concerning the Laws of Nature corrupted: the first of which has been reprinted by Doddrey in the first volume of his collection of old plays, and the only copy extant of the last is preserved in St Sepulchre's library in Dublin. As to the rest, they are mentioned by himself as his own, in his account of the writers of Britain before mentioned. He also translated the tragedies of Pammachius. His other works are very numerous; but the chief is his catalogue of British Authors: a book of some merit, as it contains some information which is not elsewhere to be found; but he has destroyed his credit by his intemperate Billinggate abuse of all those who differed from him in religion. The authentic part of his work is transcribed from Leland. The title of it is, Illustrium Majoris Britanniae scriptorum catalogus, à Japheto sanctissimi Noa filio ad an. Dom. 1557.

Commerce. Any goods packed up in cloth, and corded round very tight, in order to keep them from breaking, or preserve them from the weather, is called a bale.—A bale of cotton yarn is from 300 to 400 weight; of raw silk, is from 100 to 400; of lockram or dowlas, either three, three and a half, or four pieces.

Bale-Goods, among the English merchants, are all such as are imported or exported in bales; but the French give that name to certain hardwares and other sorts of merchandise which come to Paris, and are commonly made by bad workmen of indifferent materials.

BALEARES insulae, or the Balearic Islands. The appellation is commonly derived from Balearis, because the inhabitants were excellent flingers. But Bochart makes the name of Punic or Phoenician original, as were the people: Baal-jare, a master, or skilful at throwing; the Phoenicians and Hebrews being dexterous at the use of the sling. The Greeks called these islands Gymneche (Strabo); because in summer the inhabitants went naked (Diodorus, Livy), or rather because only armed with a sling in war (Hesychius). They are two in number, the Greater and the Lesser, or Major and Minor; and hence the modern names Majorca and Minorca. The Major is distant from the Minor 30 miles to the west, in length 40 miles, and in circuit 150 (Pliny). They were subdued by Quintus Metellus, thence surnamed Balearicus, in the year 120 B.C. The Baleares, together with the adjacent islands, were a part of the Provincia Citerior or Tarraconensis, and of the resort of the Conventus Carthaginensis or New Carthage. These islands are called Choerarades by Apollonius, and Choerarades by Strabo, i.e. "rocky." See MAJORCA and MINORCA.