Encyclopaedia Britannica > Volume 3, Athens-BOI

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In 1747 he undertook a journey to Vienna, in company
with the bishop of Volterra, to whom he acted in the
capacity of secretary. He was introduced to the emperor,
and took the opportunity of dedicating to that monarch
his Specimen Litteraturce Florentine, which was then
printing at Florence. On his return he took orders, and
settled at Rome, passing the whole of his time in the library
of the Vatican, and in those of the Cardinals Passionei
and Corsini. The famous obelisk of Augustus, at that
time disinterred from the ruins of the Campus Martius,
was described by Bandini in a learned folio volume Be
Obelisco Augusti. Shortly after he was compelled to leave
Rome on account of his health and returned to Florence,
where he was appointed librarian to the valuable library
bequeathed to the public by the Abb6 Marucelli. In 1756
he was preferred by the emperor to a prebend at Florence,
and appointed principal librarian to the Laurentian library.
During forty-four years he continued to discharge the
duties of this situation, and died in 1800, generally
esteemed and regretted. On his deathbed he founded a
public school, and bequeathed the remainder of his fortune
to other charitable purposes. The most important of his
numerous works are the Catalog us Codd. MSS. Graze.,
Lat., Ital., Bib., Laurent., 8 vols., 1767-1778, and the
Vita e Letters d1 Amerigo Vespucci, 1745.
BANDON, or Bandonbkidge, an inland town and
parliamentary borough of Ireland, in the county of Cork,
and twenty miles by rail from the county town, is situated
on both sides of the River Bandon, which is here crossed
by a bridge of six arches. It has two churches, a hand¬
some Roman Catholic chapel, Protestant and Methodist
places of worship, a convent, two market-houses, a spacious
quay on the south side of the river, an infirmary, a hospital,
a dispensary, several public libraries and reading-rooms, an
endowed school, a court-house, a bridewell, and barracks.
Its manufactures of woollen and cotton goods have much
declined; but there are distilleries, breweries, tanneries,
and flour-mills. Population in 1871, 6131.
BANFF, the county town of Banffshire, is a place of
great antiquity; according to tradition, it was at times
the residence of Malcolm Canmore. It was visited by
David I. and his son Henry; and there is a charter of
Malcolm IV., signed at Banff the eleventh year of his
reign, which corresponds with 1163. The church was
given to the monastery of Arbroath by William the Lion,
and a convent of Carmelite or White Friars is men¬
tioned in a charter by Robert I., 1324. The town is said
to have lost many of its ancient grants, but these, it is
added, were renewed in 1324 by King Robert the Bruce,
and in 1372 by Robert II. The natural situation of the
town is beautiful, having its south-eastern exposure on a
gentle slope, the wide blue sea on its N., the River Deveron
on the E., and on the S. the richly-wooded country with
the magnificent mansion and grounds of the earl of Fife.
The streets are well and regularly built and paved, and are
remarkable for their cleanliness. The principal buildings
are Banff Castle, a plain modern building, belonging to the
earl of Seafield, erected upon the site of an old castle, in
which Archbishop Sharp was born; the county court
buildings; the town-house, surmounted by a spire 100
feet high; a prison; parish church, Episcopal church and
parsonage, Free church, United Presbyterian, Independent,
Methodist, and Roman Catholic places of worship; Chal¬
mers’ Hospital; a mason lodge, of tasteful architecture; the
academy, a modern edifice of Grecian design, capable of
containing 600 scholars, to which there is attached an
extensive museum. There are large and well-conducted
seminaries for young ladies, also several libraries, a
club-room, branch banks and a savings-bank, public
baths, hotels, custom-house, gas and water works, &c.
-BAN 311
The Banffshire Journal, a weekly newspaper, with an ex¬
tensive circulation, is published on Tuesdays. At one period
Banff carried on a considerable manufactory of stockings
and linen yarn. A branch of the Great North of Scotland
Railway, which leaves Inveramsay Junction and terminates
at Macduff, is the direct communication from Aberdeen,
and has a station at Bridge of Banff. Another line of
railway, which has its terminus at the harbour of Banff,
runs in connection with Portsoy, and joins the Great North
of Scotland Railway at Grange, near Keith. The principal
exports are grain, cattle, salmon, herrings, haddocks, pork,
butter, and potatoes. The river fishing is the property of
the earl of Fife, with a sea-line extending a considerable
distance on each side of the river mouth. The burgh is
under the jurisdiction of a provost, three bailies, and five
councillors, who manage all the town’s affairs. Mr Alexander
Cassie of London, a native of Banff, some thirty years ago,
left to the poor of the town about £20,000, the interest
of which is divided twice a year among the poor. A few
years ago, Mr Alexander Chalmers of Clunie, a general
merchant and shipowner in Banff, left about £70,000 to
build and endow a hospital for sick and destitute. The
building, which is near the harbour, has somewhat the
appearance of Donaldson’s Hospital at Edinburgh.
The town of Macduff, which is fast rising into import¬
ance, has a good harbour, branch banks, &c. It is about a
mile to the E. of Banff, with which it has communication by
a stone bridge of seven arches across the Deveron. Its trade
in shipping, &c., is more extensive than that of Banff, to
which burgh it was united by the Reform Act. It was an
old burgh of barony, called Doune, but soon after it was
acquired by the Duff family its name was changed to Mac¬
duff. A harbour was then erected, and in 1783 it was made
a burgh by George III. Macduff is locally situated within
the parish of Gamrie, and has an independent municipal
government. Banff and Macduff unite with Elgin, Cullen,
Inverurie, Kintore, and Peterhead, in sending a member to
parliament. Population within the parliamentary bound¬
aries in 1871,about 4000; municipality, 3557. The weekly
market-day of Banff is Friday, on which day a corn market
is held; and there are two annual fairs.
BANFFSHIRE, a maritime county in the N.E. of Scot¬
land, lying between lat. 57° 6' and 57° 42' N., and long.
2° 15' and 3° 40' N., and bounded on the N. by the Moray
Firth, E. and S. by Aberdeenshire, and W. by Morayshire
and part of Inverness-shire. It has an area of 686 square
miles, or 439,219 statute acres, its extent from N. to S.
being 50 miles, and from E. to W. 32 miles,—its average
breadth not exceeding 14 miles. It contains 21 parishes,
and parts of 10 others. Its royal and parliamentary
burghs are Banff, Macduff, and Cullen; and its principal
harbours are at Banff, Macduff, Cullen, Portsoy, Buckie,
and Portgordon. The parliamentary burghs are contri¬
butory to Elgin, and the county returns a member to par¬
liament. The parliamentary constituency in 1874-5 was
1737. Many of the schoolmasters, with those of the coun¬
ties of Aberdeen and Moray, share in Dick’s bequest.
The surface of Banffshire presents a very diversified aspect.
The lower district is mostly a fine open country of a rich,
deep, and highly-cultivated soil, agreeably diversified with
gentle risings and young plantations. The upper district
is mountainous and, at a distance, wears a bleak, forbidding
appearance. But the scene changes on a nearer approach.
Extensive farms are found embosomed in its fertile and
well-cultivated glens. Some of the mountains are covered
with trees in full luxuriance of growth ; some presenting a
beautiful intermixture of rock and copse, while others are
covered with brown heath. The Spey flows along its
western, and the Deveron along its eastern boundary ; and
both yield a considerable revenue from their salmon-fish-