BALAGUER, VICTOR (1824-1901), Spanish politician and author, was born at Barcelona and was educated at the uni versity of his native town. His first dramatic essay Pepin el joro bado, was placed on the Barcelona stage when he was 14 years of age, and at 19 he was publicly "crowned" after the production of his second play Don Enrique el Dadivoso. From 1843 to 1868 he was the chief of the Liberal party in Barcelona, and as pro prietor and editor of El Conseller promoted the growth of local patriotism in Catalonia. In 1857 he wrote his first poem in Catalan—a copy of verses to the Virgin of Montserrat. Hence forward he frequently adopted the pseudonym of "lo Trovador de Montserrat"; in 1859 he helped to restore the "Juegos Florales," and in 1861 was proclaimed rnestre de gay saber. In 1867 he emigrated to Provence. On the expulsion of Queen Isa bella, he returned to Spain, represented Manresa in the Cortes, and in 1871-72 was successively minister of the colonies and of finance. He resigned office at the restoration, but finally fol lowed his party in rallying to the dynasty; he was appointed vice president of congress, and was subsequently a senator. Long before his death he had become alienated from the advanced school of Catalan nationalists, and endeavoured to explain away the severe criticism of Castile in which his Historia de Cataluna y de la Corona de Aragon (186o-63) abounds. This work, like his Historia politica y literaria de los trovadores (1878-79) is in accurate, partial and unscientific ; but both books have done service to the cause of Catalonian nationalism.