Bal´aton, or Plattensee, a lake of Hungary, 55 miles S.W. of Pesth; length, 50 miles; breadth, 3 to 10 miles; area, about 390 sq. miles. Of its thirty-two feeders the Szala is the largest, and the lake communicates with the Danube by the Rivers Sio and Sarviz. It abounds with a species of perch.
Balbec. See Baalbek.
Balbi, Adrien, geographer and statistician, born at Venice in 1782. In 1808 his first work on geography, Prospetto Politico-Geografico, procured his appointment as professor of geography in the College of San Michele at Murano, and he became in 1811 professor of natural philosophy in the Lyceum at Fermo. In 1820 he proceeded to Portugal, and collected there materials for his Essai Statistique sur le Royaume de Portugal et d'Algarve and Variétés Politiques et Statistiques de la Monarchie Portugaise, both published in 1822 at Paris, where he resided till 1832. He then settled in Padua, where he died in 1848. Balbi's admirable Abrégé de Géographie was written at Paris, and translated into the principal European languages.
Balbi, Gaspāro, a Venetian dealer in precious stones, born about the middle of the sixteenth century, who travelled first to Aleppo and thence down the Euphrates and Tigris to the Malabar coast, sailing finally for Pegu, where he remained for two years. His Viaggio all' Indie Orientale, published on his return to Venice in 1590, contains the earliest account of India beyond the Ganges.
Balbo, Cesāre, Italian author and statesman, born in 1789 at Turin. After holding one or two posts under the patronage of Napoleon, he
devoted himself to history, publishing a history of Italy prior to the period of Charlemagne, a compendium of Italian history, &c. His Speranze d'Italia (1843), a statement of the political condition of Italy, and of the practicable ideals to be kept in view, gave him a wide reputation. He died in 1853.
Balbo´a, Vasco Nuñez de, one of the early Spanish adventurers in the New World, born 1475. Having dissipated his fortune, he went to America, and was at Darien with the expedition of Francisco de Enciso in 1510. An insurrection placed him at the head of the colony, but rumours of a western ocean and of the wealth of Peru led him to cross the isthmus. On 25th Sept., 1513, he saw for the first time the Pacific, and after annexing it to Spain, and acquiring information about Peru, returned to Darien. Here he found himself supplanted by a new governor, Pedrarias Davila, with much consequent grievance on the one side, and much jealousy on the other. Balboa submitted, however, and in the following year was appointed Viceroy of the South Sea. Davila was apparently reconciled to him, and gave him his daughter in marriage, but shortly after, in 1517, had him beheaded on a charge of intent to rebel. Pizarro, who afterwards completed the discovery of Peru, served under Balboa.
Balbriggan, a seaport and favourite watering-place, Ireland, county of Dublin; celebrated for its hosiery. Pop. 2273.
Bal´cony, in architecture, is a gallery projecting from the outer wall of a building, supported by columns or brackets, and surrounded by a balustrade. Balconies were not used in Greek and Roman buildings, and in the East the roof of the house has for centuries served similar purposes on a larger scale. Balconies properly so styled came into fashion in Italy in the Middle Ages, and were introduced into Britain in the sixteenth century.
