quest; for it gives the life of Harold, even during the lifetime of Edward the Confessor, the inci- dents of his journey to Normandy, his return and coronation, the Norman expedition, the battle of Hastings, aud Harold's death.
BAY IS'LANDS. A group of small islands
in the Atlantic, situated off the northern coast
of Honduras, Central America. It consists of
the islands of Riuitan, Bonacea or Ciuanaja,
XJtila, Barbareta, and a few others, and consti-
tutes the Department of Islas de la Bahfa. The
islands are somewhat mountainous, but the val-
leys are very fertile. The population is estimated
at nearly 3000, including over .500 Indians. The
group was taken by England in 1852 and re-
turned to Honduras in 1859.
BAY LAGOON'. A navigable fresh-water
lake in the southern part of Luzon, Philippines,
about 45 miles long and 15 miles wide in its
broadest part. It has the island of Talim near'
its centre, and on its shores are a number of im-
portant towns, chief of which are Jlorong and
Santa Cruz. It is connected with Manila Bay
on the west by the Pasig River, about 10 miles
long.
BAY LAU'REL. See Cherbt Laukel.
BAYLE, bal, Pierre (1047-1706). A French
philosopher and critic. He was the author of
ii famous Historical and Critical Dictionary
(Uiclionnaire historiqite et critique), which
passed through eight editions in 40 years
(1097, 1702, 1715, 1720, 1730, 1734, 1738, 1740),
and was twice translated into English (1709,
1734-41). He was born at C'arla, near Foix,
November 18, 1047, of a Protestant family, stud-
ied at Puy-Laurens and Toulouse, and showed
the critical balance of his mind by professing
Catholicism in 1669 and Protestantism in 1070.
He taught for a time in Geneva, and in 1075
became professor of philosophy at the Protestant
Academy of Sedan. On its suppression (1681)
Bayle sought intellectual freedom in Holland,
and settled at Rotterdam, where he received a
salary from the numicipality as an imattached
professor of philosophy. He now published his
first important work, the sensational Pensees
sur la cotnete, and a Critique gcncralc sur I'his-
toire dti Calviniume du Pire Maimbour<i (1082),
somewhat antiquated in style, but in thought
a full generation in advance of his country-
men. In 1084 he began to publish a literary
magazine, Tfnuvelles de la rcpublique des Icttres,
and greeted the revocation of the Edict of Nantes
by two pamphlets, (V que c'est que la France
touie eatholique sous le rcflne dc Louis le
Orand, and Commentairc philosophiquc sur le
Compelle Intrare (1080), which were denounced
for 'preaching the dogma of religious indiffer-
ence and universal toleration,' alike by Protest-
ants and by Catholics, and was disavowed iron-
ically by Bayle, who had the courage of his
convictions, but not of their consequences. Such
tactics, afterwards imitated by Voltaire, make his
authorship of Avis aux rcftifiiiKi (1690) dubious:
but in any case it intensified the ojiposition of
Protestants, who now accused him of atheism,
with the result that Bayle was deprived (1693)
of his municipal pension and authority to teach
in Rotterdam. This act he chose to attribute
to his Cartesian philosophy, the ministers be-
ing, he said, 'obstinate admirers of Aristotle.'
Bayle now devoted himself wholly to compiling
his Dictionary, originally as a work of pure eru-
dition, to trace and rectify error in other works,
but it became in the course of its compilation a.
destructive criticism of received history and sys-
tems, and so an arsenal of rationalism for the
Eighteenth Century. The Dictionary makes no.
pretense to completeness, but it acquires a kind
of unity through its constant insinuation that
the teachings of reason contradict the dogmas of
religion, and that the rational man, in forming
his morality, will consider only himself. In the
articles of the Dictionary, and still more in the
notes to them, Bayle's humor delights in daring
impieties and Rabelaisian obscenities, after the
manner of his time, possibly as a mask for his
insidious dialectic. It popularized his work,
but gave a handle to his enemies, who grew in
number and virulence. To justify himself, he
wrote four dissertations — On Atheists; On
Maniehieans : On Obscenities ; and On Pi/rrho-
nists; but his last work — lleponse aux questions
d'un provincial (1703) and Continuation des
pensees snr la coniete (1704) — showed that he
still thought it, in his own words, "in no wise
sure that the impressions of nature are to be ac-
cepted as the expressions of truth." He died at
Rotterdam, December 28, 1700. Bayle's private
life was dignified and disint<'rested. His libertin-
ism was wholly intellectual. His ideas and
spirit penetrate like yeast the whole Eighteenth
Century. Bayle's W'orls (4 folios, 1727-31, re-
printed with additions, 1737) contains his inter-
esting Correspondnncc. There is a conunentated
edition of the Dictionnaire in 16 vols. (Paris,
1820), and a Selection of Unpublished Corre-
spondence (Choix de la correspondane.e inMit4,
f'openhagen, 1890). The Dictionnaire was trans-
lated (4 vols., 1710; 3d ed., 5 vols., 1734-38).
Consult : Desmaizeaux, La vie de Pierre Bayle
(The Hague, 1732) ; and Feuerbach, Pierre Bayle
(Leipzig, 1848). See also Brunetifre, Etudes
critiques, 5th series (1893); Renoiivier, Philo-
sophie analytiqne de I'histoire, Vol. III. (1897) ;.
and Perrens, Lcs libertins en France au XVII.
siecle (1896).
BAYLEN, bi-lfm'. See Bail^n.
BAYLEY, ba'li, Jame.s Roosev-elt (1814-77).
An American prelate of the Roman Catholic
Church. He was born in New York, graduated
at Washington (now Trinity) College, Hartford;
was ordained a Protestant Episcopal clergyman,
and for some time preached in New York. In
1842 he became a Roman Catholic, and two years
later was ordained by Bishop Hughes. He served
for a time as professor of belles-lettres and act-
ing president of Saint Johr's College, Fordham,
N. Y., and was secretary to Bishop Hughes from
1846 to 1853. w'here he was consecrated Bishop
of Newark, N. J. He founded Seton Hall Col-
lege, and many other institutions. In 1872 he
was made Archbishop of Baltimore. He pub-
lished a History of the J'oniau Catholic Church
on the Island of A'ciP York (1853) ; Pastorals
for the People, and the Memoirs of Simon Ga-
briel Brute, First Bishop of Vinccnnes (1860).
He was much esteemed for his social as well as
for his intellectual gifts.
BAYLEY, Richard (1745-1801). An American physician. He was born in Fairfield, Conn., studied in London hospitals, began to i)ractice in New York in 1772, and in 1775-76 studied in
