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).

BALCHRISTIE (Jenny), housekeeper to the laird of Dumbiedikes.—­Sir W. Scott, Heart of Midlothian (time, George II.).

BALDASSARE (4 syl.) chief of the monastery of St. Jacopo di Compostella.—­Donizetti’s opera, La Favorite (1842).

BALDER, the god of light, peace, and day, was the young and beautiful son of Odin and Frigga.  His palace, Briedablik ("wide-shining"), stood in the Milky Way.  He was slain by Hoeder, the blind old god of darkness and night, but was restored to life at the general request of the gods.—­Scandinavian Mythology.

  Balder the beautiful,
  God of the summer sun.

  Longfellow, Tegnier’s Death.

(Sydney Dobell has a poem entitled Balder, published in 1854.)

BALDERSTONE (Caleb), the favorite old butler of the master of Ravenswood, at Wolf’s Crag Tower.  Being told to provide supper for the laird of Bucklaw, he pretended that there were fat capon and good store in plenty, but all he could produce was “the hinder end of a mutton ham that had been three times on the table already, and the heel of a ewe-milk kebbuck [cheese]” (ch. vii.).—­Sir W. Scott, Bride of Lammermoor (time, William III.).

BALDRICK, an ancestor of the lady Eveline Berenger “the betrothed.”  He was murdered, and lady Eveline assured Rose Flammock that she had seen his ghost frowning at her.—­Sir W. Scott, The Betrothed (time, Henry II.).

BALDRINGHAM (The lady Ermengarde of), great-aunt of lady Eveline Berenger “the betrothed.”—­Sir W. Scott, The Betrothed (time, Henry II.).

BALDWIN, the youngest and comeliest of Charlemagne’s paladins, nephew of sir Roland.

Baldwin, the restless and ambitious duke of Bologna, leader of 1200 horse in the allied Christian army.  He was Godfrey’s brother, and very like him, but not so tall.—­Tasso, Jerusalem Delivered (1575).

 He is introduced by sir Walter Scott in Count Robert of Paris.

Baldwin.  So the Ass is called in the beast-epic entitled Reynard the Fox (the word means “bold friend").  In pt. iii. he is called “Dr.”  Baldwin (1498).

Baldwin, tutor of Rollo ("the bloody brother”) and Otto, dukes of Normandy, and sons of Sophia.  Baldwin was put to death by Rollo, because Hamond slew Gisbert the chancellor with an axe and not with a sword.  Rollo said that Baldwin deserved death “for teaching Hamond no better.”—­Beaumont and Fletcher, The Bloody Brother (1639).