BELED                  114 
 
 
dom, and thus turned a foe into a fast 
friend.-Klopstock, The Messiah, v. (1747). 
 
  Belerma, the lady whom Durandart6 
served for seven years as a knight-errant 
and peer of France. When, at length, he 
died at Roncesvall~s, he prayed his cousin 
Montesi'nos to carry his heart to Belerma. 
  I saw a procession of beautiful damsels in 
mourning, with white turbans on their heads. 
In the rear came a lady with a veil so long that 
it reached the ground: her turban was twice as 
large as the largest of the others; her eyebrows 
were joined, her nose was rather flat, her mouth 
wide, but her lips of a vermilion color. Her 
teeth were thin-set and irregular, though very 
white; and she carried in her hand a fine linen 
cloth, containing a heart. Montesinos informed 
me that this lady was Belerma.-Cervantes, Don 
Quixote, II. ii. 6 (1615). 
 
  Bele'ses (3 syl.), a Chald.Tan soothsayer 
and Assyrian satrap, who told Arba'ces (3 
syl.) governor of Me'dia, that he would one 
day sit on the throne of Nineveh and As- 
syria. His prophecy came true, and Bel- 
es~s was rewarded with the government of 
Babylon.-Byron, Sardanapalus (1819). 
 
  Bel'field (Brothers). The elder brother 
is a squire in Cornwall, betrothed to Sophia 
(daughter of sir Benjamin Dove), who 
loves  his younger   brother Bob. The 
younger brother is driven to sea by the 
cruelty of the squire, but on his return re- 
news his acquaintance with Sophia. He 
is informed of her unwilling betrothal to 
the elder brother, who is already married 
to Violetta, but parted from her. Violetta 
returns home in the same ship as Bob Bel- 
field, becomes reconciled to her husband, 
and the younger brother marries Sophia. 
-Rich. Cumberland, The Brothers (1769). 
 
   Bel'ford, a friend of Lovelace (2 syl.). 
 They made a covenant to pardon every 
 sort of liberty which they took with 
 
 
each other.-Richardson, Clarissa Harlowe 
(1749). 
 
  Belford (Major), the friend of colonel 
Tamper, and the plighted husband of 
Mdlle. Florival.-G. Colman, sen., The Deuce 
is in Him (1762). 
 
  Beige (2 syl.), the mother of seventeen 
sons. She applied to queen Mercilla for 
aid against Geryon'eo, who had deprived 
her of all her offspring except five.-Spen- 
ser, Fagry Queen, v. 10 (1596). 
  *** "Belge" is Holland, the "seventeen 
sons" are the seventeen provinces which 
once belonged to her; "Geryoneo "is Philip 
II. of Spain; and "Mercilla" is queen 
Elizabeth. 
 
  Belgrade' (2 syl.), the camp-sutler; so 
called because she commenced her career 
at the siege of Belgrade. Her dog's name 
was Clumsey. 
 
  Be'lial, last or lowest in the hierarchy 
of hell. (See RIMMON.) Moloch was the 
fiercest of the infernal spirits, and Belial 
the most timorous and slothful. The lewd 
and profligate, disobedient and rebellious, 
are called in Scripture "sons of Belial." 
Belial came last, than whom a spirit more lewd 
Fell not from heaven, or more gross to love 
Vice for itself (i. 490, etc.) ... though his tongue 
Dropt manna, and could make the worse appear 
The better reason ... but to nobler deeds 
Timorous and slothful. 
         Milton, Paradise Lost, ii. 112 (1665). 
 
   *** Belial means "the lawless one," that 
 is, one who puts no restraint on his evil 
 propensities. 
 
   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 
 
 
BELIANIS