BELAIR, be-lfa'. A town and county-seat of Harfoi-d County. JId., 21 miles northeast of Baltimore; on the Maryland and Pennsylvania Railroad (Map: Jlaryland, M 2). It is the com- mercial centre of a 'fertile agricultural region, and has some manufactures. Population, in 1890, 1-tlG: in 1900, 901.
BELA'RIUS. In Shakespeare's CymheUiie, an
exiled nobleman, who in revenge steals the sons
of Cymbelini'. Having rescued Cjanbeline when
he. was talcen prisoner. Belarius becomes recon-
ciled, and the two young ])rinces are restored to
their father.
BEL AND THE DRAG’ON. The title of
one of the books of the (1ld Testament Apocry-
pha, part of the Greek (Soptuagint) and Latin
(Vulgate) translations of the Bible, and so
accepted as canonical by many of the early
Christian writers and by the present Church of
Rome. The original language is likely to have
been Aramaic. The book is professedly an ad-
dition to the Hook of Daniel, and is designed still
further to exalt that hero. It contains two
stories, which in general are these, though there
are variations: (1) That Daniel convinced the
King of Babylon of the fraud jiracticed upon him
by the priests of Bel, who pretended that the
god ate at night the feasts regularly set in his
temple, by having the floor of the temple covered
with fine" ashes, unknown to the priests. These
came at night as usual, through a secret door,
and removed the food, but by morning light their
footprints were discovered on the floor. The
King in his rage drove away the priests and de-
stroyed the idol of Bel. (2) Daniel killed a
dragon that was worshiped by the Babyloni-
ans" by forcing it to swallow a mixture of
pitch, " fat, and hair, with the result that it
burst. The people in their rage compelled the
King to east Daniel into the lions' den. Thither
Habakkuk, the prophet, was carried from his
home in Judea with food for Daniel. The King,
on finding Daniel still alive on the sixth day,
ordered his release and the punishment of his
accusers.
BELAS'CO, David (1862 — ). An American
playwright. He was born in San Francisco,
where lie spent most of his boyhood, and began
in 1874 as an actor at the Metropolitan Theatre.
Showing talent, however, in the adaptation of
pla_-s-s for the local stage, he soon found a wider
field. One of his early successes was Hearts of
Oak, in which he toured with James A. Hearne.
He was for a time stage manager of the iladison
Square Theatre, New York City, and afterwards
was connected with the Lyceum Theatre. While
there he wrote, in collaboration with Henry C.
De ilille. The Wife and The Charity Ball, and
also, for E. H. Sothern, Lord Chumley. In .lanu-
ary, 1893. The Girl I Left Behind Me, which he
wrote with Franklin Fyles, was produced at the
Empire Theatre, and bad great success. In 1895
came The Heart of Maryland, a melodrama of the
Civil War. Among his other plays are Zaza,
May Blossom, Men and Women, La Belle liiisse,
Vaicrie, and Du Barry, the last suggested at
least by Jean Richepin's play of the same name.
Of his "recent productions, a farce called yauqhtt/
Anthony (Washington. D. C. December 21, 1899) and a dramatization of John Luther Long's Madame Butterfly (Herald Square Theatre, !March 5, 1900) have been in a somewhat new vein, and were notably well received.
BELAY' (probably from Dutch heleggen,
nautical term of same meaning). A term which
signifies to stop. A rope is belayed by winding
it around a cleat, cavil, bitt. or belaying-pin.
To prevent the turns from unwinding they are
usvially put on in figure-of-eiglit fashion, one
loop around one end of the cleat or pin, the other
around the other end.
Belaying-Cavils are large w-ooden belaying- pins, of rectangular section, but with rounded corners, built permanently into pin-rails or fife- rails. They are intended for ropes too large to be conveniently belayed on pins of the ordinary type, or as friction-jjins around which large ropes are taken when lowering heavy weights. Belaying-Cle.4-T. a piece of wood or metal bolted to some part of the structure of a ship for the jjurjjose of bela_ving ropes. The cleat has two horns aromid which rope is belayed as about a belaying-pin; the section of an ordinary cleat is not unlike a letter H, one side of which is bolted to the ship's structure, leaving the other free for belaying purposes.
Belayixg-Pix. a short tar of iron, brass, or wood used for the belaying of ropes. The pin varies in length from 10 to 18 inches, and in diameter from three-quarters of an inch to an inch and a half. The pins are put through holes in wooden rails, called pin-rails, or fife-rails, according as they are out at the side of the ship, or inboard, and partly surrounding a mast; and they are prevented from falling out of the rail by a shoulder a little above the middle of their length.
BELBEIS, bel-bfis'. An Egyptian town situ-
ated about 30 miles northeast of Cairo (Map:
Egypt, E 2). It is on the caravan route to
Syria, and on the railway line connecting Suez
with Cairo. Its poimlation is about 8000. In
the vicinity of Belbeis are the ruins of Bubastis
(q.v.).
BELCH, Sir Toby. A rollicking character in
Shakespeare's comedy, Twelfth night, who, with
Sir Andrew Aguecheek, the clown, and Maria,
lead ilalvolio, the steward, to believe that the
Lady Olivia is in love with him.
BELCH'ER, Sir Edward (1799-1877). An
English admiral. He entered the navy in 1812,
and in 1816 took part in the bombardment of
Algiers. In 1825 he accompanied Captain
Beechey on his expedition to Bering's Strait,
and in 1829 he was raised to the rank of com-
mander. In 1836 he was appointed to the com-
mand of the Sulphur, and for three years was
employed in surveying the west coast of America.
Returning by the western route, he rendered im-
portant services in the Canton River to Lord
Gougli, whose successes over the Chinese were
greatly due to Belcher's soundings and recon-
naissances. On his return he published a nar-
rative of the voyage, and in 1843 was made a
post-captain, and knighted. In 1852 he was
appointed to the command of an expedition sent
out l)y the Government to search for Sir John
Franklin. He published The Last of the Arctic
Voyages (1855) ; Narrative of c Voyage to the
East Indies in ISJfS-.'iS; and otiier works. In
1801 he became rear-admiral of the red. in 1866
vice-admiral, in 1807 K.C.B., and in 1872 rear-
admiral.
