dour; now in ruins, the most
conspicuous of which is the Great Temple to Baal, one of the most
magnificent ruins of the East, covering an area of four acres.

BAALISM, the name given to the worship of natural causes, tending to
the obscuration and denial of the worship of God as Spirit.

BABA, ALI, the character in the "Arabian Nights" who discovers and
enters the den of the Forty Thieves by the magic password "SESAME"
(q. v.), a word which he accidentally overheard.

BABA, CAPE, in Asia Minor, the most western point in Asia, in
Anatolia, with a town of the name.

BABBAGE, CHARLES, a mathematician, born in Devonshire; studied at
Cambridge, and professor there; spent much time and money over the
invention of a calculating machine; wrote on "The Economy of Manufactures
and Machinery," and an autobiography entitled "Passages from the Life of
a Philosopher"; in his later years was famous for his hostility to street
organ-grinders (1791-1871).

BABBINGTON, ANTONY, an English Catholic gentleman; conspired against
Elizabeth on behalf of Mary, Queen of Scots, confessed his guilt, and was
executed at Tyburn in 1586.

BAB-EL-MANDEB (i. e. the Gate of Tears), a strait between Asia and
Africa forming the entrance to the Red Sea, so called from the strong
currents which rush through it, and often cause wreckage to vessels
attempting to pass it.

BABER, the founder of the Mogul empire in Hindustan, a descendant of
Tamerlane; thrice invaded India, and became at length master of it in
1526; left memoirs; his dynasty lasted for three centuries.

BABES IN THE WOOD, Irish banditti who infested the Wicklow Mountains
in the 18th century, and were guilty of the greatest atrocities. See
CHILDREN.

BABIS, a modern Persian sect founded in 1843, their doctrines a
mixture of pantheistic with Gnostic and Buddhist beliefs; adverse to
polygamy, concubinage, and divorce; insisted on the emancipation of
women; have suffered from persecution, but are increasing in numbers.

BABOEUF, FRANCOIS NOEL, a violent revolutionary in France,
self-styled Gracchus; headed an insurrection against the Directory,
"which died in the birth, stifled by the soldiery"; convicted of
conspiracy, was guillotined, after attempting to commit suicide
(1764-1797).

BABOO, or BABU, name applied to a native Hindu gentleman who
has some knowledge of English.

BABOON, LEWIS, the name Arbuthnot gives to Louis XIV. in his
"History of John Bull."