e text, "When Adam
delved and Eve span, Who was then a gentleman?" He urged his hearers to
kill the principal lords of the kingdom and the lawyers; and he was
afterwards among those who rushed into the Tower of London to seize Simon
of Sudbury, archbishop of Canterbury. When the rebels dispersed Ball fled
to the midland counties, but was taken prisoner at Coventry and executed in
the presence of Richard II. on the 15th of July 1381. Ball, who was called
by Froissart "the mad priest of Kent," seems to have possessed the gift of
rhyme. He undoubtedly voiced the feelings of the lower orders of society at
that time.

See Thomas Walsingham, _Historia Anglicana_, edited by H. T. Riley (London,
1863-1864); Henry Knighton, _Chronicon_, edited by J. R. Lumby (London,
1889-1895); Jean Froissart, _Chroniques_, edited by S. Luce and G. Raynaud
(Paris, 1869-1897); C. E. Maurice, _Lives of English Popular Leaders in the
Middle Ages_ (London, 1875); C. Oman, _The Great Revolt of 1381_ (Oxford,
1906).

BALL, JOHN (1585-1640), English puritan divine, was born at Cassington,
Oxfordshire, in October 1585. After taking his B.A. degree from St Mary's
Hall, Oxford, in 1608, he went into Cheshire to act as tutor to the
children of Lady Cholmondeley. He adopted Puritan views, and after being
ordained without subscription, was appointed to the small curacy of
Whitmore in Staffordshire. He was soon deprived by John Bridgeman, the high
church bishop of Chester, who put him to much suffering. He became a
schoolmaster and earned a wide and high reputation for his scholarship and
piety. He died on the 20th of October 1640. The most popular of his
numerous works was _A Short Catechisme, containing all the Principal
Grounds of Religion_ (14 editions before 1632). His _Treatise of Faith_
(1632), and _Friendly Trial of the Grounds tending to Separation_ (1640),
the latter of which defines his position with regard to the church, are
also valuable.

BALL, JOHN (1818-1889), Irish politician, naturalist and Alpine traveller,
eldest son of an Irish judge, Nicholas Ball, was born at Dublin on the 20th
of August 1818. He was educated at the Roman Catholic College at Oscott
near Birmingham, and at Christ's College, Cambridge. He showed in early
years a taste for natural science, particularly botany; and after leaving
Cambridge he travelled in Switzerland and elsewhere in Europe, studying his
favourite pursuits, and contributing papers on botany and the Swiss