in fabulous history, the son of Glaucus, king of Epirus. Happening accidentally to kill his brother, he fled to Prectus, king of Argos, who gave him a hospitable reception; but Sthenoboea, his queen, falling in love with the beautiful stranger, and finding that nothing could induce the latter to injure his benefactor, accused him to her husband of an attempt to violate her honour. Prectus, however, being unwilling to act contrary to the laws of hospitality, sent him to Iobates, king of Lysia, the father of Sthenoboea, with letters desiring him to be put to death; whence the proverb Bellerophontis literas affert, equivalent to Literae Uriae. On the receipt of these letters, the Lysian prince was celebrating a festival of nine days, which prevented Bellerophon's destruction. In the meanwhile, however, Iobates sent him to subdue the Solymi, the Amazons, and Lysians; thinking doubtless to get rid of

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1 Clement has described this work in terms of too extensive import: "Guillaume Bellenden, grand admirateur de Cicéron, s'est donné la torture pour écrire l'Histoire des Empereurs et des Consuls Romains, avec les propres termes de cet ancien orateur, dont il a été constamment les ouvrages à la marge; et comme il n'osait pas s'étendre à son gré, en écrivant d'une manière si bornée, il a ajouté des notes à la fin de chaque livre, dans lesquelles il explique plus amplement ses idées." (Bibliothèque curieuse historique et critique, ou Catalogue raisonné de Livres difficiles à trouver, tom. ii, p. 72.)

2 Middleton's Hist. of the Life of M. T. Cicero, vol. i, p. xx.

3 Warton's Essay on the Genius and Writings of Pope, vol. ii, p. 324.

4 "Permodeste autem fero," says Dr Parr, "potuisse illum, qui ingenii tam acris elegantissime esset, laudibus Bellendenum meritis ac debitis privare. Fidelissime enim confidimus, Middletonum non modo ex Bellendeni opere supellectilem sibi sublegisse satis laetam atque amplam, sed libri ipsius propria forma, qua res ferret, adumbrasse." (Pref., p. iii.)

5 Morabin, Histoire de Cicéron, avec des Remarques historiques et critiques. Paris, 1745, 2 tomes, 4to.

6 "L'auteur avait dessiné de faire la même chose sur Pline l'ancien, et sur Sénèque; mais il n'y a eu d'imprimé que ce qui regarde Cicéron, et l'ouvrage même n'est pas commun." (Lenglet du Fresnoy, Méthode pour étudier l'Histoire, tom. xi, p. 72, edit. 1772.) him by exposure to the greatest dangers, without incurring the odium of direct murder; but the prudence and courage of Bellerophon disappointed this calculation, and he came off victorious. Iobates next employed him to destroy the Chimera; when, in consideration of his innocence, Minerva, or, according to others, Neptune, furnished him with the horse Pegasus, by the assistance of which he killed this monster. On his return, Iobates, convinced of his truth and integrity, and charmed with his heroic virtues, gave Bellerophon his daughter Philonoe in marriage, and declared him his successor in the kingdom; intelligence which drove Sthenoboea to despair and suicide. But Bellerophon grew vain of his prosperity, and resolving by the assistance of Pegasus to ascend the skies, Jupiter checked his presumption by striking him blind in his flight; on which he fell down to the earth, and wandered about till his death in contempt and misery, while Pegasus mounting into heaven, was placed by Jupiter among the constellations.

**BELLES LETTRES.** Neither the voluminous dictionaries of the French language, nor those treatises which profess to point out the method of studying and teaching the belles lettres, have thought proper to give a precise definition, or an intelligible explanation, of the meaning they attach to the words, nor any summary of those sciences which are comprehended under this general denomination. The terms, indeed, appear to be so vague, that any one may include under them whatever he thinks proper. Sometimes we are told that, by the belles lettres, is meant a knowledge of the arts of oratory and poetry; sometimes that the true belles lettres include natural philosophy, geometry, and other essential parts of learning; sometimes that they comprehend the art of war, in its various branches, together with all that we know, and whatever we please; and one author, in treating of the belles lettres, introduces a discourse on the seven sacraments of the Roman Catholic church. Others, again, comprehend under the term all those instructive and pleasing sciences which chiefly occupy the memory and the understanding, and do not form part either of the superior sciences, of the fine arts, or of the mechanical professions; considering history, chronology, geography, genealogy, blazonry, philology, and such like subjects, as constituting the belles lettres. But it were endless to attempt to enumerate all the parts of literature and science which different learned men have comprehended under this title; nor would it be of any use to pretend to fix the true import of a term which is rapidly passing into desuetude.

**BELLEVOIS** was a painter of sen-pieces, and known as such, though no particulars of his life have been handed down. He died in 1684.

**BELLEY,** an arrondissement of the department of Ain, in France, 540 square miles in extent, and comprehending nine cantons and 118 communes, with a population of 75,230 persons. The capital is a city of the same name, containing an episcopal palace, and 3770 inhabitants. Long. 5. 35. 14. E. Lat. 45. 45. 29. N.