BELLE-ISLE-EN-MER, an island on the W. coast of France, belonging to the department of Morbihan. It is about 10 miles in length by 4 or 5 in breath, and is divided into the four communes of Palais, Bangor, Porte Philippe, and Locmaria. The inhabitants are principally engaged in agriculture and the fisheries, and in the preservation of sardines, anchovies, &c. The breed of draught horses in the island is highly prized. The chief town, Palais, is a military town of the first class, and possesses a port which is accessible to Vessels of 300 tons. It is evident that Belle-isle must have been inhabited from a very early period, as it possesses several rude stone monuments of the class usually called Druidic. The Roman name of the island seems to have been Vindilis, which in the Middle Ages became corrupted to Guedel. In 1572 the monks of the abbey of St Croix at Quimperlé sold the island to the Retz family, in whose favour it was raised to a marquisate in the following year. From 1761 to 1763 it was held by English troops. Under Napoleon I. the refortification of the island was undertaken, but it was never completed. In the state prison of Nouvelle Force at Palais political prisoners have been at various times confined. The population of Palais in 1870 was 3375, of the island rather under 10,000. The lighthouse is situated in 47° 18' 43" N. lat. and 3° 4' 43" W. long.

BELLEAU, Remy, French poet of the Renaissance, and member of the Pleiad, was born at Nogent-le-Rotrou in 1528. He became attached to the Elboeufs, and accompanied the head of the family in the expedition against Naples in 1557, where he did good military service. On his return he was made tutor to the young Charles, marquis d’Elboeuf, who, under Belleau’s training, became a great patron of the muses. Belleau was extremely learned in the newly-discovered literature of Greece and Rome, and joined the young group of poets with ardour. In 1556 he published the first translation of Anacreon which appeared in French, but this work had no great success. He first became famous through his commentaries to Ronsard’s Amours in 1560, notes which evinced delicate taste and prodigious learning. Like Ronsard and Du Bellay, he was extremely deaf. His days passed peacefully in the midst of his books and friends, and terminated on the 6th of March 1577. His body was buried in the nave of the Grands Augustins de Paris, and was borne to the tomb on the pious shoulders of four illustrious poets, Ronsard, J. A. de Baif, Philippes Desportes, and Amadis Jamyn. His greatest work is La Bergerie, a pastoral in prose and verse, written in a faded rococo style, in imitation of Sannazaro, but containing, as Sainte-Beuve says, some adorable things. Belleau was the French Herrick, full of picturesqueness, warmth, and colour, but of doubtful taste and wanting in passion. His skies drop flowers and all his air is perfumed, but one becomes weary at last of this excess of sweetness. Extremely popular in his own age, he became undeservedly forgotten in the next. Regnier said, “Belleau ne parle pas comme on parle à la ville;” and his lyrical beauty was lost on the trim 17th century. His complete ...

BELLENDEN, John, a Scotch poet, and the translator of Boece’s History, was born about the beginning of the 16th century, probably in East Lothian. He appears to have been educated, first at the University of St Andrews and then at that of Paris, where he took the degree of doctor. From his own statement we learn that he had been in the service of James V. from the king’s earliest years, and that the post he held was clerk of accounts. It was at the request of James that he undertook his translations of Boece and of Livy. As a reward for his labours he was appointed to the archdeaconry of Moray, and was also made a canon of Ross. Bellenden, who was a strenuous opponent of the Reformation, is said to have died at Rome in 1550. His translation of Boece, which is a remarkable specimen of Scottish prose, distinguished by its freedom and vigour of expression, appears to have been first published in 1536. The best edition is that superintended by Mr Maitland, 2 vols. 4to, Edin., 1821. The same gentleman edited for the first time (Edin., 1822) Bellenden’s translation of Livy, which extends only to the first five books. The few poetical remains exhibit considerable taste and skill in versification....

BELLEROPHON (B∈λλepo≠Λv or Beλλepoφ0vτης), in Greek Legend, a local hero of Corinth, but partly also connected with, and partly similar to, Perseus, the local hero of the neighbouring Argos, the points of likeness being such as to suggest that they had originally been one and the same hero, while the difference in their exploits might result from the rivalry of the two towns. Both are connected with the sun-god Helios and with the sea-god Poseidon, the symbol of the union being the winged horse Pegasus. Bellerophon was a son of Glaucus of Corinth, who is spoken of as a son of Poseidon, and in some way himself a marine deity. To account for the name, i.e., “slayer of Belleros,” an otherwise unknown hero of this name was invented. But it is by no means certain that « Belleros” is a personal name; it may mean nothing more than “monster.”...

BELLEVILLE, a city of the United States of America, capital of the county of St Clair in Illinois, situated about 14 miles S.E. of St Louis on a rising ground, in the midst of a fertile district. It is a thriving commercial and manufacturing city, well supplied with water, and in the immediate neighbourhood of coal deposits. Its industrial establishments comprise breweries, flour-mills, distilleries, foundries, and a woollen factory, and it possesses a courthouse, banks, a high school, a convent for the education of young ladies, and various other institutions. There is a sufficient number of German inhabitants to maintain one daily and two weekly papers in their native language. Population in 1870, 8146.

BELLEY, the capital of an arrondissement in the department of Ain, France, is situated near the Rhone, 39 miles east of Lyons. It is the seat of a bishopric founded in 412, and contains an episcopal palace, a cathedral, an ecclesiastical school, a museum, and a public library. The principal industries are the weaving of cotton goods and the culture of the silk-worm. Important fairs are held for the sale of cattle and horses. In the vicinity are found the best lithographic stones in France. Belley is a place of considerable antiquity, and preserves the remains of a Roman temple. It was the capital of the district of Bugey, which maintained its separate constitution down to the Revolution. The neighbourhood is remarkable for its objects of interest both natural and historical, such as the cascades of Glandieux, the intermitting fountain of Grouin, and the Carthusian abbeys at Arvières and Portes. Population in 1872, 3902.