n the _Roman de la Rose_ was
said to contain the whole argument of that celebrated work, and Colletet
says it was on everybody's lips. He also wrote a celebrated sonnet in
praise of the massacre of Saint Bartholomew. Baif was the author of two
comedies, _L'Eunuque_, 1565 (published 1573), a free translation of
Terence, and _Le Brave_ (1567), an imitation of the _Miles Gloriosus_, in
which the characters of Plautus are turned into Frenchmen, the action
taking place at Orleans. Baif published a collection of Latin verse in
1577, and in 1576 a popular volume of _Mimes, enseignemens et proverbes_.
He died in 1589. His father, Lazare de Baif,[2] published a translation of
the _Electra_ of Sophocles in 1537, and afterwards a version of the
_Hecuba_; he was an elegant writer of Latin verse, and is commended by
Joachim du Bellay as having introduced certain valuable words into the
French language.

The _Oeuvres en rime_ (5 vols., 1881-1890) of J. A. de Baif form part of
the _Pleiade francaise_ of M. Ch. Marty-Laveaux. See also Becq de
Fouquieres, _Poesies choisies de J. A. de Baif_ (1874), with a valuable
introduction; and F. Brunetiere, _Hist. de la litt. francaise classique_
(1904, bk. iii. pp. 398-422).

[1] For an account of this academy see Edouard Fremy, _Les Origines de
l'Academie Francaise_ (1887).

[2] See L. Pinvert, _Lazare de Baif_, 1496?-1547 (1900).

BAIKAL (known to the Mongols as _Dalai-nor_, and to the Turkish tribes as
_Bai-kul_), a lake of East Siberia, the sixth in size of all the lakes of
the world and the largest fresh-water basin of Eurasia. It stretches from
S.W. to N.E. (51deg 29' to 55deg 50' N. lat. and 103deg 40' to 110deg E.
long.), separating the government of Irkutsk from that of Transbaikalia,
and has a length of 386 m. and a width of from 20 m. to 50 m. Its southern
extremity penetrates into the high plateau of Asia, and the lake lies
entirely in the Alpine zone which fringes that plateau on the north-west.
Its area is 13,200 sq. m., _i.e._ nearly as great as Switzerland. The
length of its coast-line is 525 m. along the western, and 640 m. along the
eastern shore. Its altitude has been estimated at 1587 ft. (Chersky) and at
1679 ft. (Suess)--118 ft. above the level of the Angara at Irkutsk
(_Zapiski Russ. Geog. Soc._ xv., 1885); but 1500 ft. would seem to be a
more correct altitude (_Izvestia East Sib. Branch_, xxviii. 1, 1897). Its
level is subject to slight oscillations, and after a heavy f