. PE.)

BAGE, a town and municipality of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil,
about 176 m. by rail W.N.W. of the city of Rio Grande do Sul. Pop. of the
municipality (1890) 22,692. It is situated in a hilly region 774 ft. above
sea-level, and is the commercial centre of a large district on the
Uruguayan border in which pastoral occupations are largely predominant.
This region is the watershed for southern Rio Grande do Sul, from which
streams flow E. and S.E. to the Atlantic coast, and N.W. and S.W. to the
Uruguay river. The town dates from colonial times, and has always been
considered a place of military importance because of its nearness to the
Uruguay frontier, only 25 m. distant. It was captured by the Argentine
general Lavalle in 1827, and figured conspicuously in most of the civil
wars of Argentina. It is also much frequented by Uruguayan revolutionists.

BAGEHOT, WALTER (1826-1877), English publicist and economist, editor of the
_Economist_ newspaper from 1860 to his death, was born at Langport,
Somerset, on the 3rd of February 1826, his father being a banker at that
place. Bagehot was altogether a remarkable personality, his writings on
different subjects exhibiting the same bent of mind and
characteristics,--philosophic reflectiveness, practical common-sense, a
bright and buoyant humour, brilliant wit and always a calm and tolerant
judgment of men and things. Though he belonged to the Liberal party in
politics he was essentially of conservative disposition, and often spoke
with sarcastic boastfulness to his Liberal friends of the stupidity and
tenacity of the English mind in adhering to old ways, as displayed in city
and country alike. His life was comparatively uneventful, as he early gave
up to literature the energies which might have gained him a large fortune
in business or a great position in the political world. He took his degree
at the London University in 1848, and was called to the bar in 1852, but
from an early date he joined his father in the banking business of Stuckey
& Co. in the west of England, and during a great part of his life, while he
was editor of the _Economist_, he managed the London agency of the bank,
lending its surplus money in "Lombard Street," and otherwise attending to
its London affairs. He became also an underwriter at Lloyd's, taking no
part, however, in the active detailed business, which was done for him by
proxy.

Bagehot's connexion with the _Economist_ began in 1858,