a strong town of Sweden, and capital of a government of the same name, seated on a rock in a small island. Long. 11.10. E. Lat. 57.52. N.

BALE, an ancient village of Campania, in Italy, situated between the promontory of Misenum and Puteoli, on the Sinus Batanus, and famous for its natural hot baths, which served the wealthier Romans for the purposes both of medicine and pleasure. The variety of these baths, the softness of its climate, and the beauty of its landscape, captivated the minds of opulent nobles, whose passion for bathing knew no bounds. Abundance of linen, and disuse of unguents, render the practice less necessary in modern life; but the ancients performed no exercise and engaged in no study without previous ablutions, which at Rome required an enormous expense in aqueducts, stores, and attendants; and therefore a place where waters naturally heated to every degree of temperature bubble spontaneously out of the ground, in the pleasantest of all situations, formed a treasure which could not be overlooked. Such was Baie in the highest perfection; its easy communication with Rome was also a great advantage. Hither retired for temporary relaxation the mighty rulers of the world, to recruit their strength and revive their spirits, fatigued with bloody campaigns and civil contests. Their habitations at first were small and modest; but increasing luxury soon added palace to palace with such expedition, that ground could no longer be had for new erections; while enterprising architects, supported by boundless wealth, carried their foundations into the sea, and drove that element back from its ancient limits. From being a place of occasional resort for a season, Baie now grew up into a regular city; and whoever found himself disqualified by age or infirmity for any longer sustaining an active part on the political theatre; whoever, from indolence of disposition, sought a place where the pleasures of a town were combined with the sweets of rural life; whoever wished to withdraw from the dangerous neighbourhood of a court, and the baneful eye of informers, flocked hither to enjoy life untainted with fear or trouble. Such a confluence of wealthy inhabitants rendered Baie as much a miracle of art as it had before been of nature; and its splendour may still be inferred from its innumerable ruins, heaps of marbles, mosaics, stucco, and other precious fragments of taste. It flourished in undiminished magnificence till the days of Theodoric the Goth; but the destruction of these enchanted palaces followed quickly upon the irruption of the northern conquerors, who overturned the Roman power, sacked and burned all before them, and destroyed or dispersed the whole race of nobility. Loss of fortune left the Romans neither the means nor indeed the thought of supporting such expensive establishments, which can only be enjoyed in perfection during peace and prosperity. No sooner had opulence failed, and the guardian hand of man been withdrawn, than the sea rushed back upon its old domain; moles and buttresses were torn asunder and washed away; and promontories, with the proud towers that once crowned their brows, were undermined and tumbled into the deep. Yet, in its ruined state, and stripped of all its ornaments, Baie still presents many striking objects for the admiration of the traveller and the pencil of the artist. Long. 14.45. E. Lat. 41.6. N.

BAJAZET I. sultan of the Turks, a renowned warrior, but a tyrant, was conquered by Timour, otherwise called Tamerlane, and exposed by him in an iron cage; the fate it is said which he had destined for his adversary if he had proved the victor. The iron cage, however, so long and so often repeated as a moral lesson, has been rejected as a fable by modern writers, who appeal to the Persian history of Sherefeddin Ali in support of their scepticism. Of this work a French version has been given, and from it Mr Gibbon has collected the following more specious narrative of this memorable transaction:—"No sooner was Timour informed that the captive Ottoman was at the door of his tent, than he graciously stepped forwards to receive him, seated him by his side, and mingled with just reproaches a soothing pity for his rank and misfortune. 'Alas,' said the emperor, 'the decree of fate is now accomplished by your own fault: it is the web which you have woven, the thorns of the tree which yourself have planted. I wished to spare, and even to assist, the champion of the Moslems; you braved our threats; you despised our friendship; you forced us to enter your kingdom with our invincible armies. Behold the event. Had you vanquished, I am not ignorant of the fate which you reserved for myself and my troops. But I disdain to retaliate: your life and honour are secure; and I shall express my gratitude to God by my clemency to man.' The royal captive showed some signs of repentance, accepted the humiliation of a robe of honour, and embraced with tears his son Mousa, who, at his request, was sought and found among the captives of the field. The Ottoman princes were lodged in a splendid pavilion; and the respect of the guards could be surpassed only by their vigilance. On the arrival of the haram from Boursa, Timour restored the queen Despina and her daughter to their father and husband; but he piously required that the Servian princess, who had hitherto been indulged in the profession of Christianity, should embrace without delay the religion of the prophet. In the feast of victory, to which Bajazet was invited, the Mogul emperor placed a crown on his head and a sceptre in his hand, with a solemn assurance of restoring him with an increase of glory to the throne of his ancestors. But the effect of this promise was disappointed by the sultan's untimely death: amidst the care of the most skilful physicians, he expired of an apoplexy at Aksehir, the Antioch of Pisidia, about nine months after his defeat. The victor dropped a tear over his grave; his body, with royal pomp, was conveyed to the mausoleum which he had erected at Boursa; and his son Mousa, after receiving a rich present of gold and jewels, of horses and arms, was invested by a patent in red ink with the kingdom of Anatolia. Such is the portrait of a generous conqueror, which has been extracted from his own memorials, and dedicated to his son and grandson, nineteen years after his decease; and, at a time when the truth was remembered by thousands, a manifest falsehood would have implied a satire on his real conduct. On the other hand, of the harsh and ignominious treatment of Bajazet there is also a variety of evidence. The Turkish annals in particular, which have been consulted or transcribed by Leucalvius, Pocock, and Cantemir, unanimously deplore the captivity of the iron cage; and some credit may be allowed to national historians, who cannot stigmatize the Tartar without uncovering the shame of their king and country." From these opposite premises, Mr Gibbon thinks a fair and moderate conclusion may be deduced. He is satisfied that Sherefeddin Ali has faithfully described the first ostentatious interview, in which the conqueror, whose spirits were harmonized by success, affected the character of generosity. But his mind was insensibly alienated by the unseasonable arrogance of Bajazet; the complaints of his enemies, the Anatolian princes, were just and vehement; and Timour betrayed a design of leading his royal captive in triumph to Samarcand. An attempt to facilitate his escape by digging a mine underneath the tent, provoked the Mogul emperor to impose a harsher restraint; and in his perpetual marches an iron cage on a waggon might be invented, not as a wanton insult, but as a rigorous precaution. Timour had read in some fabulous history a similar treatment of one of his predecessors, a king of Persia; and Bajazet was condemned to represent the person and expiate the guilt of the Roman Caesar. But the strength of his mind and body fainted under the trial, and his premature death might without injustice be ascribed to the severity of Timour.