_Ba´laam_, a "citizen of sober fame," who lived near the monument of London. While poor he was "religious, punctual, and frugal;" but when he became rich and got knighted, he seldom went to church, became a courtier, "took a bribe from France," and was hung for treason.--Pope, _Moral Essays_, iii. BALAAM AND JOSAPHAT, a religious novel by Johannes Damascenus, son of Almansur. (For plot, see JOSAPHAT.) BALACK, Dr. Burnet, bishop of Salisbury, who wrote a history called _Burnet's Own Time_, and _History of the Reformation_.--Dryden and Tate, _Absalom and Achitophel_, ii. BALAFRÉ (_Le_), _alias_ Ludovic Lesly, an old archer of the Scottish Guard at Plessis les Tours, one of the castle palaces of Louis XI. Le Balafré is uncle to Quentin Durward.--Sir W. Scott, _Quentin Durward_ (time, Edward IV.). ¤¤¤ Henri, son of Francois second duke of Gruise, was called _Le Balafré_ ("the gashed"), from a frightful scar in the face from a sword-cut in the battle of Dormans (1575). BALÂM´, the ox on which the faithful feed in paradise. The fish is called Nûn, the lobes of whose liver will suffice for 70,000 men. BALAN´, brother of Balyn or Balin le Savage, two of the most valiant knights that the world ever produced.--Sir T. Malory, _History of Prince Arthur_, i. 31 (1470). _Balan_, "the bravest and strongest of all the giant race." Am´adis de Gaul rescued Gabrioletta from his hands.--Vasco de Lobeira, _Amadis de Gaul_, iv. 129 (fourteenth century). BALANCE (_Justice_), father of Sylvia. He had once been in the army, and as he had run the gauntlet himself, he could make excuses for the wild pranks of young men.--G. Farquhar, _The Recruiting Officer_ (1704). BA´LAND OF SPAIN, a man of gigantic strength, who called himself Fierabras.--_Mediaeval Romance_. BALATSU-USUR, the name given to the captive Jew Daniel in Babylon, meaning "May Bel protect his life!" Prostrate upon his royal face, prostrate before the court, the queen, the people--down like a pleading conscience or a suppliant faith, Nebuchadrezzar the Great lay in the dust, and worshipped him right royally. "_Thou_ art the Master of the Magicians!" said the king. "For thou commandest the power of thy God and thou controllest the spirit of man!" ... Plain moral purity and religious fervor had done for the young man what a lifetime of political scheming had failed to do for many a grey-headed disappointed adventurer. Then, as in all ages, intrigue regarded the success of sincerity with astonishment.--_The Master of the Magicians_, by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps and Herbert D. Ward (1890). BALCHRIS´TIE (_Jenny_), housekeeper to the laird of Dumbiedikes.--Sir W. Scott, _Heart of Midlothian_ (time, George II.). BALDASSA´RE (4 _syl._) chief of the monastery of St. Jacopo di Compostella.--Donizetti's opera, _La Favorite_ (1842).