was so affected, that in despair he prostrated himself one morning before the statue of Liberty; and there cursing the tyranny that oppressed France, blew out his own brains. (Biog. Univ. Suppl.)

art.

BACH, (Johann Sebastian,) one of the men whose fame, from a beginning almost imperceptible, has been spreading constantly and unceasingly, until it has filled the whole civilized world. So much of new and great was accomplished by him, that all his predecessors dwindled down almost to nothing, and even his contemporary Händel may be considered as belonging to another sphere of musical Bach's style, even in its occasional tartness, is eminently romantic and German; whilst the latter has a large admixture of the antique. The present age only has been capable of appreciating all that this man accomplished towards the elevation and perfection of musical art. Yet Bach held only the modest situation of cantor of the church of St. Thomas at Leipsig; quarrelling with his school director, and living in limited circumstances, whilst the ephemeral crowd of German and Italian songsters and fiddlers absorbed the prodigalities of the rich. Sebastian Bach was descended from a Hungarian family. Veit Bach, a protestant baker in Pressburg, was driven from his native country by religious persecution, and went to Thüringia, then most renowned amongst the German provinces for musical taste. Not far from Gotha is the village of Wechmar. There he baked bread, and played on the cittern. His three grandsons were such skilful musicians, that count Schwarzburg-Arnstadt sent them, at his own expense, to Italy. Some members of the fourth generation were still more conspicuous, and occupied places as court, or town, musicians in the neighbouring parts of Germany. In fact, the fecundity of the Bachs in musical talent is so great, that Dr. Schilling has inserted in his work a large pedigree in which fifty-nine members are mentioned; and Gerber's Musical Lexicon contains twenty-two detailed articles on members of the Bach family, to only a few of whom we can give a place in this work. Sebastian was born in Eisenach, on the 21st March, 1685; his father, John Ambrosius, being also a musician. He received his first instruction from his brother, John Christoph, cantor in Ohrdruff, by whom, however, he was taught little of the ideal or poetic. When his brother wished to withhold from him a parcel of music containing

some of the compositions of Frohberg, Kerl, Pachelbel, &c., John obtained it by stealth, and as the lamp also was taken away, he spent six months in copying it by moonlight. He employed the nights also in practising that, which he could not copy without great difficulty. From his brother, he went to Lüneburg, and he became descant singer to the school, whence the wish of hearing the famous Reinke playing the organ induced him to undertake many a pedestrian journey to Hamburg. În 1703 he was made musician to the court of Weimar ; and in 1704, organist at Arnstadt; in both which places he perfected himself on the organ and in counterpoint, and acquired that astonishing skill in playing the organ, for which he became afterwards conspicuous. He lived about this time three months at Lübeck, where he attended secretly the performances of the famous Buxtehude on the organ. He became successively organist at Mühlhausen, and Weimar; concert-master and leader of the orchestra at Köthen; and finally reached the scene of his most extensive activity, by obtaining the cantorship of the school of St. Thomas at Leipsig; verifying, however, the correctness of that homely proverb, that "a rolling stone will gather no moss." Any one who knows what Bach subsequently accomplished-how his tones have filled, and are still filling every cathedral, nay, every church in the world with their majestic strains-how he has become the unqualified favourite of the serious and thinking: yet not knowing the circumstances in which he lived, would be induced to believe that he moved all his life amongst the higher and educated classes; that the grandeur of palaces had expanded his mind; or that he had been initiated into the mysteries of deep sentiment and internal life amongst the splendid scenery of the south, or the wonders of the Alps. But we know too well, that Bach drew upon nothing but the rich treasury of his own mind. After his reputation was established, the Saxon and Prussian courts took some notice of him. He was invited, in 1717, to Dresden, to be exhibited before, and contend with, the French virtuoso Marchand; and his skill on that occasion was honoured with the rather uncourtierlike epithet of “teufelmässig," devilish. Frederic the Great also invited him to his court, and gave him warm proofs of his satisfaction. With Bach, as with many others, his career was cut short at that moment, when it was

perhaps most promising. Being engaged with his son Friedemann in engraving his compositions, the glare of the plates might have impaired his sight; his health became feeble; he underwent an operation on the eyes; and died by apoplexy 28th July, 1750. The best portrait of him is in the library of the Joachimsthal in Berlin. Sebastian Bach was, without doubt, one of the most extraordinary musicians that ever lived. He was a man, says Marpurg, who combined the talents and accomplishments of many great musicians in his own person. He was most famous as an organist. His contemporaries bestowed upon him the title of "prince of players;" and the compositions he has left, justify the encomiums of the age in which he lived. His works, as might be expected, are very numerous, and it will be sufficient here to mention a few of the principal. Exercises for the Piano, in two parts; Six Hymns for the Organ; Hymns for Four Voices, edited by his son, C. P. E. Bach, in 3 vols, which passed through several editions; the Art of Fugue. This was his last work, and one of the pieces contained in it was unfinished at his death. He also left much in MS. (The authorities for the account of Sebastian Bach are, his Life, by Forkel, Leipsig, 1802, of which there is an English translation; that by Hiller, Leips. 1784; Forkel, Literatur der Musik, Leips. 1792; Marpurg's works; Gerber, Lex. der Tonk.; Schilling, Encyclop.; Ersch und Grüber.)

BACH, (William Friedemann,) called der Hallische Bach (Bach of Halle,) born 1710, died 1784, the eldest son of the great Sebastian. He studied first under his father, who, although not easily to be satisfied, entertained great hopes of him. After having been for some time at the Thomas-Schule, he studied law at Leipsig, but applied himself chiefly to mathematics. In 1747 he came as director of music and organist to Halle; but gave up the situation in 1767, and led a strolling, desultory life, until he died in distress and misery at Berlin. Thus ended a man, whom his contemporaries acknowledged to be the most ingenious fugue and general organ player, and one of the first musical savants of the age. But his eccentricities, intemperance, and absence of mind, were also extravagantly great, and many amusing instances thereof are recorded. His works, which are now rare, are-Sonate pour le Clavic. Halle, 1709. Sei Sonati

per il Cimbalo. He advertised also a small work, “Von Harmonischen Dreiklange," two sonates for two pianos concertante, and a mass for Whit-Sunday, with hautboys, trumpets, and kettles.

BACH, (Carl Philip Emanuel,) called generally the Berlin Bach, second son of Sebastian, born in Weimar in 1714. His father was his only master. In 1740, he became musician to Frederic II., whose performances on the flute he accompanied with the piano. In 1767, he was called to Hamburg as director of music, where he remained until his death (Sept. 14, 1788), and is therefore by some also called the Hamburg Bach. He wrote his own life, which is printed in Burney's Musical Travels, and teems with spirited and ingenious remarks. His works amount to fifty, some of which passed through five editions. Besides his acquirements as a performer and player, he was also a learned, amiable, and respectable man. Haydn had a great regard for him, and said, "Whatever I know, I am indebted for to Charles Philip Emanuel Bach." His compositions for the piano were formerly in every sensible player's hand, amongst which the fantasias, rondos, and sonatas, are as original as beautiful. His celebrated double chorus," Heilig," and especially the chorus-" All lands are full of his glory," are, perhaps, the sublimest things ever composed. The choruses of the Israelites in the Desert, are equally grand. His twenty-four to thirty sinfonias, were the worthy forerunners of those composed afterwards by Haydn. A collection of painted, drawn, and engraved portraits of celebrated musicians, possessed by Emanuel, has been unfortunately dispersed; but his Bach's Archiv, which contains one superior composition of every member of the family (so exuberantly fertile in musical talent,) has been acquired by M. Pölchau, in Berlin, in whose remarkable musical library it is now preserved.

BACH, (Johann Christoph Friedrich,) born in Weimar 1732, died in 1795; also a son of Sebastian. He was master of the orchestra at Bückeburg, whence he was called the Bückeburg Bach. Besides many sonnets and songs, he published, Die Amerikanerinn, a lyric poem of Gerstenberg. Two concerts for the piano. Six violin quatuors, printed in London, &c. His style resembled most that of his elder brother Emanuel.

BACH, (Johann Christian,) born in Leipsig, 1735, youngest son of Sebastian.

slings, and were called "frondeurs." When the troubles were over, Bachaumont retired from public affairs, and gave himself up entirely to the indulgence of his joyous humour. A great number of his good things are inserted in the collections of the time, but few can be identified as belonging to him. He died in 1702. (Biog. Univ.)

BACHAUMONT, (Louis Petit de,) was born at Paris, at the end of the seventeenth century. For a long time he lived with Madame Doublet, at whose house a great deal of company was in the habit of assembling. A sort of journal was made here of all that passed in the world. From this a periodical paper was formed, and edited by Bachaumont. At his death, these papers were collected, and published together, under the title of Mémoires Secrets pour servir à l'Histoire de la République des Lettres. This was continued for a long time afterwards, by different editors; and, finally, the Mémoires with the additions were published with the above title, in thirty-six volumes. Many abridgements of, and selections from it have also appeared. Bachaumont was the author of some other trifles, and he produced an edition of Quintilian. (Biog. Univ. Dict. Hist.)

BACHE, (Benjamin Franklin,) an American, so named after his grandfather, the famous Franklin, whom his father had succeeded as the postmastergeneral of the United States, was in early life in the printing-house of Didot, the well-known French printer, where he went to acquire a knowledge of the business. Returning in 1785, he studied in Philadelphia college; and five years afterwards, commenced the General Advertiser, (afterwards called the Aurora,) a paper which, under the direction of Bache and his successor, exercised considerable influence in opposition to the first two administrations. Bache died in

1799.

BACHELERIE, (Hugues de la,) a troubadour, born at Uzerche, in the Limousin, towards the end of the twelfth century, the contemporary, and it would seem, the friend of Anselm Faydit, who has made him the interlocutor in one of his tensons; and they are also joined together in a poem of Savary de Mauléon. Seven pieces by this poet are preserved, three of which are printed by Raynouard, Choix, tom. iv. (Biog. Univ. Suppl.)

BACHELEY, (James,) a French engraver, born in Pont l'Evêque in Normandy. It was not until he was thirty

years of age that he began to engrave in copper, and went to Paris to study under Le Bas. His clever execution of landscapes and marine pieces, copied from Dutch masters, was much praised. He died in Rouen in 1781. (Ersch und Grüber, Encycl.)

BACHELIER, (Nicolas,) a French sculptor and architect, born at Toulouse in the sixteenth century. While young, he visited Rome, and was there formed in the school of Michael-Angelo. Little is known of him, more than that he was alive in 1553. (Biog. Univ.)

BACHELIER, (J.J.) a French painter of no great merit, born in 1724. He had collected a fortune of about 60,000 francs, which he consecrated to the establishment of a gratuitous school of design, in 1763, aided by the government and by public subscriptions. Bachelier was director of the china-manufactory at Sèvres, and did much towards banishing the bad taste which had previously reigned there. He was the author of several ingenious inventions, and aided Caylus in discovering the process of painting in encaus tic, practised by the ancients. He died in 1805. He was the author of one or two pamphlets. (Biog. Univ.)

BACHER, (George Frederick,) a physician of eminence, was born at Thaun, in Upper Alsatia, and took the degree of doctor of medicine at the university of Besançon in 1733. In the practice of medicine, he particularly devoted himself to the study of dropsical affections, and imagined that he had discovered a spccific for the dropsy. He did not confine the knowledge of his remedy to his own possession, but made it known to his brethren, and thereby subjected its value to a critical test. It was composed of hellebore, myrrh, and charcoal. Time has fully demonstrated the inefficacy of the preparation. He published several works, principally treating on the class of diseases abovementioned. The formulary for Bacher's pills was inserted in many of the public dispensatories.

BACHER, (Alexander Philip,) son of the preceding, was born at Thaun, in 1730, instructed by his father, and took his degree at Besançon in 1764. He afterwards studied at Paris under the most able professors, and in 1772 took a second degree in medicine in this city. He united with M. Demangin, and edited the Journal de Médecine of. M. Roux, from 1776 to 1790; and from 1791 to 1793, when this publication ceased, he undertook the sole management of it. Pe

died October 19, 1807, and according to M. Barbier, left a work, Sur le Droit Public, in two vols, which he had printed in 1803, but which had not been published. It was intended to have been followed by others, and divided into five parts.

BACHER, (Theobald,) born in 1748, was first employed in the military, and afterwards in the civil service of France. At the revolution, he transferred his services to the new authorities, and held various employments under all the governments of the French revolution. He was residing, as an agent for his country, in Germany, at the time of the retreat of the French, in 1813. As the danger came near his residence, he fled away on foot, loaded with so large a quantity of gold, that he was hurt by the weight. He would not ask aid or shelter of any one, in the fear of being robbed, and having taken refuge in a dry ditch for repose, he died there of cold and fatigue. (Biog. Univ. Suppl.)

BACHERACHT, (Henry,) a celebrated Russian physician, born at St. Petersburg, Dec. 27, 1725. His education was conducted at Moscow, and on March 11, 1740, he became a pupil at the hospital of St. Petersburg. In 1743 he was appointed junior surgeon of the Marine Hospital, and in 1746 received permission from the Russian government to travel, and to study at the universities of Leyden and Göttingen. He studied under Albinus, Gaubius, Ray, Allemand, Muschenbroeck, and Haller. At Leyden he graduated, Feb. 20, 1750, and then returned to his native country to engage in practice. In 1751 the empress Elizabeth appointed him physician to the artillery and engineers, which situation he held for twenty-six years, when he was appointed to the imperial marine department. The precise date of his death is unknown, but is conjectured to have been about 1795. He communicated several memoirs to the Economic Society of St. Petersburg, some of which have been printed in the Transactions of that institution. He was the first in Russia to practise inoculation for the small-pox in accordance with the method of Baron Dimsdale. He published various medical works, in Latin, Russian, and German.

BACHERELLI, (Vincenzio, 17261745,) a native of Florence, in the gallery of which city his portrait is placed. Lanzi, Stor. Pitt. i. 236, says he has not discovered any other of his works. M.

Heinecken, Dict. des Artistes, says, he was a disciple of Gabliani, and that his style was portrait. Pazzi gave his life in the work entitled, Serie, in which there is the portrait of Baccherelli painted by himself, and engraved by Pazzi.

BACHET DE MEZIRIAC, (Claude Gaspar,) an eminent French scholar and mathematician, was born at Bourg in Bresse, on the 9th of October, 1581. He commenced his studies at Paris, and at the age of twenty was admitted into the order of Jesuits, but shortly after returned to a secular life. About this time he visited Italy, and spent a few years at Rome. Although he lived in a very retired manner, yet such was the extent of his reputation that he was proposed as preceptor to Louis XIII., upon which account he left the court in great haste, and declared afterwards that he was never so much afraid of anything in his life as being elected to so responsible an office. The French Academy, in 1635, elected him one of their members, although he was absent at the time. He died at Bourg, the place of his birth, on the 25th of February, 1638, aged fiftyseven years. He published-1. Problèmes plaisans et délectables qui se font par les Nombres, 8vo, Lyons, 1613 and 1624, containing some of the earliest of those curious and singular properties afterwards augmented by Ozanam, Hutton, and others. 2. Diophanti Alexandrini Arithmeticorum libri sex et de Numeris Multangulis liber unus, Gr. et Lat. fol. Paris, 1621. An excellent edition, and illustrated with notes, but amended and augmented by Fermat, in 1670. 3. Chansons Dévotes et Saintes, Dijon, 1615, 8vo, and Lyons, 1618, 12mo. 4. The Epistles of Ovid, translated into French verse, Bourg en Bresse, 1626, 8vo, and often republished; the first edition is very rare. Bachet's French poetry is considered poor.

BACHIACCA. See UBERTINI.

BACHIENE, (Wilhelm Albert,) a Dutch geographer, more celebrated in this capacity than as a divine, was professor of astronomy and geography, and also pastor at Maestricht. He was born at Leerdam, in 1712; studied at Utrecht; and before attaining the offices first mentioned, was chaplain of the garrison at Namen, and afterwards pastor at Kuilenberg. He left this place for Maestricht in 1759, and died there in 1783. His geographical labours were chiefly in connexion with the elucidation of the Bible; for which end he wrote Sacred Geo