BAYLE

bayle, pierre (1647-1706), french philosopher and man of letters, was born on the 18th of november 1647, at le carla-le-comte, near pamiers (ariege). educated by his father, a calvinist minister, and at an academy at puylaurens, he afterwards entered a jesuit college at toulouse, and became a roman catholic a month later (1669). after seventeen months he resumed his former religion, and, to avoid persecution, fled to geneva, where he became acquainted with cartesianism. for some years he acted under the name of bele as tutor in various parisian families, but in 1675 he was appointed to the chair of philosophy at the protestant university of sedan. in 1681 the university at sedan was suppressed, but almost immediately afterwards bayle was appointed professor of philosophy and history at rotterdam. here in 1682 he published his famous _pensees diverses sur la comete de 1680_ and his critique of maimbourg's work on the history of calvinism. the great reputation achieved by this critique stirred the envy of bayle's colleague, p. jurieu, who had written a book on the same subject. in 1684 bayle began the publication of his _nouvelles de la republique des lettres_, a kind of journal of literary criticism. in 1690 appeared a work entitled _avis important aux refugies_, which jurieu attributed to bayle, whom he attacked with animosity. after a long quarrel bayle was deprived of his chair in 1693. he was not depressed by this misfortune, especially as he was at the time closely engaged in the preparation of the _historical and critical dictionary_ (_dictionnaire historique et critique_). the remaining years of bayle's life were devoted to miscellaneous writings, arising in many instances out of criticisms made upon his _dictionary_. he died in exile at rotterdam on the 28th of december 1706. in 1906 a statue in his honour was erected at pamiers, "la reparation d'un long oubli." bayle's erudition, despite the low estimate placed upon it by leclerc, seems to have been very considerable. as a constructive thinker, he did little. as a critic he was second to none in his own time, and even yet one can admire the delicacy and the skill with which he handles his subject. the _nouvelles de la republique des lettres_ (see louis p. betz, _p. bayle und die nouvelles de la republique des lettres_, zurich, 1896) was the first thorough-going attempt to popularize literature, and it was eminently successful. the _dictionary_, however, is bayle's masterpiece. editions.--_historical and critical dictionary_ (1695-1697; 1702, enlarged; best that of p. des maizeaux, 4 vols., 1740); _les oeuvres de bayle_ (3 vols., the hague); see des maizeaux, _vie de bayle_; l.a. feuerbach, _pierre bayle_ (1838); damiron, _la philosophie en france au xvii^e siecle_ (1858-1864); sainte-beuve, "du genie critique et de bayle" (_revue des deux mondes_, 1st dec. 1835); a. deschamps, _la genese du scepticisme erudit chez bayle_ (liege, 1878); j. denis, _bayle et jurieu_ (paris, 1886); f. brunetiere, _la critique litteraire au xviii^e siecle_ (vol. i., 1890), and _la critique de bayle_ (1893); emile gigas, _choix de la correspondance inedite de pierre bayle_ (paris, 1890, reviewed in _revue critique_, 22nd dec. 1890); de bude, _lettres inedites adressees a j.a. turretini_ (paris, 1887); j.f. stephen, _horae sabbaticae_ (london, 1892, 3rd ser. pp. 174-192); a. cazes, _p. bayle, sa vie, ses idees_, &c. (1905). baylo (lat. _bajulus_ or _baillivus_; cf. ital. _balio_, fr. _bailli_, eng. _bailiff_), in diplomacy, the title borne by the venetian representative at constantinople. his functions were originally in the nature of those of a consul-general, but from the 16th century onwards he had also the rank and functions of a diplomatic agent of the first class. "under the name of bayle," says a. de wicquefort, "he performs also the functions of consul and judge; not only between members of his own nation, but also between all the other merchants who trade in the levant under the flag of st mark." (see diplomacy.)