BELL, HENRY GLASSFORD, born in Glasgow, a lawyer and literary man, sheriff of Lanarkshire; wrote a vindication of Mary, Queen of Scots, and some volumes of poetry (1803-1874).

BELL, JOHN, of Antermony, a physician, born at Campsie; accompanied Russian embassies to Persia and China; wrote “Travels in Asia,” which were much appreciated for their excellency of style (1690-1780).

BELL, PETER, Wordsworth’s simple rustic, to whom the primrose was but a yellow flower and nothing more.

BELL, ROBERT, journalist and miscellaneous writer, born at Cork; edited “British Poets, from Chaucer to Cowper,” his best-known work, which he annotated, and accompanied with careful memoirs of each (1800-1867).

BELL, SIR CHARLES, an eminent surgeon and anatomist, born in Edinburgh, where he became professor of Surgery; distinguished chiefly for his discoveries in connection with the nervous system, which he published in his “Anatomy of the Brain” and his “Nervous System,” and which gained him European fame; edited, along with Lord Brougham, Paley’s “Evidences of Natural Religion” (1774-1842).

BELL, THOMAS, a naturalist, born at Poole; professor of Zoology in King’s College, London; author of “British Quadrupeds” and “British Reptiles,” “British Stalk-eyed Crustacea,” and editor of “White’s Natural History of Selborne” (1792-1880).

BELL ROCK, or INCHCAPE ROCK, a dangerous reef of sandstone rocks in the German Ocean, 12 m.  SE. of Arbroath, on which a lighthouse 120 ft. high was erected in 1807-10; so called from a bell rung by the sway of the waves, which the abbot of Arbroath erected on it at one time as a warning to seamen.

BELL-THE-CAT, Archibald Douglas, Earl of Arran, so called from his offer to dispose by main force of an obnoxious favourite of the king, James III.

BELLA, STEPHANO DELLA, a Florentine engraver of great merit, engraved over 1000 plates; was patronised by Richelieu in France, and the Medici in Florence (1610-1664).

BELL`AMY, JACOB, a Dutch poet, born at Flushing; his poems highly esteemed by his countrymen (1752-1821).

BELLANGE, a celebrated painter of battle-pieces, born at Paris (1800-1866).

BELLAR`MINE, ROBERT, cardinal, born in Tuscany; a learned Jesuit, controversial theologian, and in his writings, which are numerous, a valiant defender at all points of Roman Catholic dogma; the greatest champion of the Church in his time, and regarded as such by the Protestant theologians; he was at once a learned man and a doughty polemic (1542-1621).

BELLAY, JOACHIM DU, French poet; author of sonnets entitled “Regrets,” full of vigour and poetry; wrote the “Antiquites de Rome”; was called the Apollo of the Pleiade, the best poet and the best prose-writer among them (1524-1560).

BELLE FRANCE, (i. e.  Beautiful France), a name of endearment applied to France, like that of “Merry” applied to England.