BALL`ANTYNE, JAMES, a native of Kelso, became a printer in Edinburgh, printed all Sir Walter Scott’s works; failed in business, a failure in which Scott was seriously implicated (1772-1833).

BALLANTYNE, JOHN, brother of preceding, a confidant of Sir Walter’s in the matter of the anonymity of the Waverley Novels; an inimitable story-teller and mimic, very much to the delight of Sir Walter (1774-1821).

BALLARAT` (40), a town in Victoria, and since 1851 the second city in the province, about 100 m.  NW. of Melbourne; the centre of the chief gold-fields in the colony, the precious metal being at first washed out of the soil, and now crushed out of the quartz rocks and dug out of deep mines; it is the seat of both a Roman Catholic and a Church of England bishopric.

BALL`ATER, a clean Aberdeenshire village on the Dee, a favourite summer resort, stands 668 ft. above sea-level.

BALMAT, JACQUES, of Chamounix, a celebrated Alpine guide (1796-1834).

BALMAWHAPPLE, a prejudiced Scotch clergyman in “Waverley.”

BAL`MEZ, an able Spanish Journalist, author of “Protestantism and Catholicism compared in their Effects on the Civilisation of Europe” (1810-1848).

BALMOR`AL, a castle on the upper valley of the Dee, at the foot of Braemar, 521/2 m. from Aberdeen, 9 m. from Ballater; the Highland residence of Queen Victoria, on a site which took the fancy of both the Queen and the Prince Consort on their first visit to the Highlands.

BALMUNG, the sharp-cutting sword of Siegfried, so sharp that a smith cut in two by it did not know he was so cut till he began to move, when he fell in pieces.

BALNAVES, HENRY, coadjutor of John Knox in the Scottish Reformation, and a fellow-sufferer with him in imprisonment and exile; afterwards contributed towards formulating the creed of the Scotch Church; born at Kirkcaldy, and educated in Germany; d. 1579.

BALSALL, a thriving suburb of Birmingham, engaged in hardware manufacture.

BALTIC PROVINCES, Russian provinces bordering on the Baltic.

BALTIC SEA, an inland sea in the N. of Europe, 900 m. long and from 100 to 200 m. broad, about the size of England and Wales; comparatively shallow; has no tides; waters fresher than those of the ocean, owing to the number of rivers that flow into it and the slight evaporation that goes on at the latitude; the navigation of it is practically closed from the middle of December to April, owing to the inlets being blocked with ice.

BALTIMORE (550), the metropolis of Maryland, on an arm of Chesapeake Bay, 250 m. from the Atlantic; is picturesquely situated; not quite so regular in design as most American cities, but noted for its fine architecture and its public monuments.  It is the seat of the John Hopkins University.  The industries are varied and extensive, including textiles, flour, tobacco, iron, and steel.  The staple trade is in bread-stuffs; the exports, grain, flour, and tobacco.