inal de la
Valette, who took him to Rome. His letters written to his acquaintances and
to many who held a high position at the French court gained for him a great
reputation. Compliments were showered upon him, he became an habitue of the
Hotel de Rambouillet, and his head appears to have been turned a little by
his success. Richelieu was lavish of praise and promises, but never offered
Balzac the preferment he expected. In 1624 a collection of his _Lettres_
was published, and was received with great favour. From the chateau of
Balzac, whither he had retired, he continued to correspond with Jean
Chapelain, Valentin Conrart and others. In 1634 he was elected to the
Academy. He died at Angouleme on the 18th of February 1654. His fame rests
chiefly upon the _Lettres_, a second collection of which appeared in 1636.
_Recueil de nouvelles lettres_ was printed in the next year. His letters,
though empty and affected in matter, show a real mastery of style,
introducing a new clearness and precision into French prose and encouraging
the development of the language on national lines by emphasizing its most
idiomatic elements. Balzac has thus the credit of executing in French prose
a reform parallel to Malherbe's in verse. In 1631 he published an eulogy of
Louis XIII. entitled _Le Prince_; in 1652 the _Socrate chretien_, the best
of his longer works; _Aristippe ou de la Cour_ in 1658; and several
dissertations on style.

His _Oeuvres_ were collected (2 vols.) in 1665 by Valentine Conrart. There
are numerous English translations from Balzac, dating from the 17th
century.

BAM, a town of Persia in the province of Kerman, situated 115 m. S.E. of
the city of Kerman at an elevation of 3600 ft. on both banks of the river
Bam. Pop. about 13,000. It is the capital of the Bam-Narmashir district and
has extensive groves of date-palms and gardens. Outside the town stands the
famous citadel with walls 40 ft. in height. This citadel was, even as late
as the beginning of the 19th century, the strongest fortified place in
Persia, and owed its strength to the Afghans who took Bam in 1719 and were
not finally expelled until 1801. Post and telegraph offices have been
established there since 1903.

BAMBERG, a town and archiepiscopal see of Germany, in the kingdom of
Bavaria. Pop. (1885) 31,521; (1905) 45,308. It lies on an open plain on the
river Regnitz, 2 m. above its junction with the Main, and 39 m. north of
Nuremberg by railway. The upper tow