hese fables, originally invented by Tzetzes or Caesios, a Greek poet,
born at Constantinople in 1120.

BELISE (2 _syl_.), sister of Philaminte (3 _syl_.), and, like her,
a _femme savante_. She imagines that every one is in love with
her.--Moliere, _Les Femmes Savantes_ (1672).

BELL (_Adam_), a wild, north-country outlaw, noted, like Robin Hood,
for his skill in archery. His place of residence was Englewood Forest,
near Carlisle; and his two comrades were Clym of the Clough [_Clement
of the Cliff_] and William of Cloudesly (3 _syl_.). William was
married, but the other two were not. When William was captured at
Carlisle, and was led to execution, Adam and Clym rescued him, and
all three went to London to crave pardon of the king, which, at the
queen's intercession, was granted them. They then showed the king
specimens of their skill in archery, and the king was so well pleased
that he made William a "gentleman of fe," and the two others yeomen of
the bedchamber.--Percy, _Reliques_ ("Adam Bell," etc.), I. ii. I.

_Bell_. Anne, Charlotte, and Emily Bronte assumed the _noms de plume_
of Acton, Currer, and Ellis Bell (first half of the nineteenth
century). Currer Bell or Bronte married the Rev. Arthur Bell Nicholls.
She was the author of _Jane Eyre_.

It will be observed that the initial letter of both names is in every
case preserved throughout--_Acton_ (Anne), _Currer_ (Charlotte),
_Ellis_ (Emily), and _Bell_ (Bronte).

_Bell_ (_Bessy_). Bessy Bell and Mary Gray were the daughters of two
country gentlemen near Perth. When the plague broke out in 1666 they
built for themselves a bower in a very romantic spot called Burn
Braes, to which they retired, and were supplied with food, etc., by a
young man who was in love with both of them. The young man caught
the plague, communicated it to the two young ladies, and all three
died.--Allan Eamsay, _Bessy Bell and Mary Gray_ (a ballad).

_Bell (Peter)_, the subject of a "tale in verse" by Wordsworth.
Shelley wrote a burlesque upon it, entitled _Peter Bell the Third._

_Bell (The Old Chapel_) J. G. Saxe's poem under this title is founded
upon a legend of a boy, who, wandering in a churchyard, hears a
musical articulate murmur from a disused bell hidden by matted grass.

Its very name and date concealed
Beneath a cankering crust. (1859.)

BELL-THE-CAT, sobriquet of Archibald Douglas, great-earl of Angus, who
died in 1514.

The mice, being much annoyed by the persecuti