p
II. of Spain; and "Mercilla" is queen Elizabeth.

BELIAL, sons of, in the Bible _passim_ means the lewd and profligate.
Milton has created the personality of Belial:

Belial came last; than whom a spirit more lewd
Fell not from Heaven, or more gross to love
Vice for itself. To him no temple stood
Or altar smoked; yet who more oft than he
In temples, and at altars, when the priest
Tarns atheist, as did Eli's sons, who filled
With lust and violence the house of God?
In courts and palaces he also reigns,
And in luxurious cities, where the noise
Of riot ascends above their loftiest towers
And injury and outrage; and when night
Darkens the streets, then wander forth the sons
Of Belial, flown with insolence and wine.

Milton, _Paradise Lost_, i. 490

On the other side up rose
Belial, in act more graceful and humane;
A fairer person lost not Heaven; he seemed
For dignity composed, and high exploit.
But all was false and hollow; though his tongue.
Dropt manna, and could make the worse appear
The better reason, to perplex and dash
Maturest counsels; for his thoughts were low
To vice industrious, but to nobler deeds
Timorous and slothful.

Milton, _Paradise Lost_, ii. 108.

BELIA'NIS OF GREECE _(Don)_, the hero of an old romance of chivalry
on the model of _Am'adis de Gaul_. It was one of the books in don
Quixote's library, but was not one of those burnt by the cure as
pernicious and worthless.

"Don Belianis," said the cure, "with its two, three, and four parts,
hath need of a dose of rhubarb to purge off that mass of bile with
which he is inflamed. His Castle of Fame and other impertinences
should be totally obliterated. This done, we would show him lenity in
proportion as we found him capable of reform. Take don Belianis
home with you, and keep him in close confinement."--Cervantes, _Don
Quixote_, I. i. 6 (1605).

BELINDA, niece and companion of lady John Brute. Young, pretty, full
of fun, and possessed of L10,000. Heartfree marries her.--Vanbrugh,
_The Provoked Wife_ (1697).

_Belin'da_, the heroine of Pope's _Rape of the Lock_. This mock heroic
is founded on the following incident:--Lord Petre cut a lock of hair
from the head of Miss Arabella Fermor, and the young lady resented the
liberty as an unpardonable affront. The poet says Belinda wore on her
neck two curls, one of which the baron cut off with a pair of scissors
borrowed of Clarissa, and when Belinda