his utmost against the enemy either in
battle or pursuit. That Byng had not done all he could is undeniable, and
he therefore fell under the law. Neither must it be forgotten that in the
previous war in 1745 an unhappy young lieutenant, Baker Phillips by name,
whose captain had brought his ship into action unprepared, and who, when
his superior was killed, surrendered the ship when she could no longer be
defended, was shot by sentence of a court-martial. This savage punishment
was approved by the higher officers of the navy, who showed great lenity to
men of their own rank. The contrast had angered the country, and the
Articles of War had been amended precisely in order that there might be one
law for all.

The facts of Byng's life are fairly set out in Charnock's _Biogr. Nav._
vol. iv. pp. 145 to 179. The number of contemporary pamphlets about his
case is very great, but they are of no historical value, except as
illustrating the state of public opinion.

(D. H.)

BYNKERSHOEK, CORNELIUS VAN (1673-1743), Dutch jurist, was born at
Middleburg in Zeeland. In the prosecution of his legal studies, and while
holding the offices first of member and afterwards of president of the
supreme court, he found the common law of his country so defective as to be
nearly useless for practical purposes. This abuse he resolved to reform,
and took as the basis of a new system the principles of the ancient Roman
law. His works are very voluminous. The most important of them are _De foro
legatorum_ (1702); _Observationes Juris Romani_ (1710), of which a
continuation in four books appeared in 1733; the treatise _De Dominio
Maris_ (1721); and the _Quaestiones Juris Publici_ (1737). Complete
editions of his works were published after his death; one in folio at
Geneva in 1761, and another in two volumes folio at Leiden in 1766.

BYRD, WILLIAM (1543-1623), English musical composer, was probably a member
of one of the numerous Lincolnshire families of the name who were to be
found at Lincoln, Spalding, Pinchbeck, Moulton and Epworth in the 16th
century. According to Wood, he was "bred up to musick under Thomas Tallis."
He was appointed organist of Lincoln cathedral about 1563, and on the 14th
of September 1568 was married at St Margaret in the Close to Ellen or
Julian Birley. On the 22nd of February 1569 he was sworn in as a member of
the Chapel Royal, but he does not seem to have left Lincoln immediately. In
the Chapel Royal he shared with Tall