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Transcriber's notes:

(1) Numbers following letters (without space) like C2 were originally
      printed in subscript. Letter subscripts are preceded by an
      underscore, like C_n.

(2) Characters following a carat (^) were printed in superscript.

(3) Side-notes were relocated to function as titles of their respective
      paragraphs.

(4) Macrons and breves above letters and dots below letters were not
      inserted.

(5) [root] stands for the root symbol; [alpha], [beta], etc. for greek
      letters.

(6) The following typographical errors have been corrected:

    ARTICLE BERKELEY, SIR WILLIAM: "His first term as governor, during
      which he seems to have been extremely popular with the majority of
      the colonists, was notable principally for his religious
      intolerance and his expulsion of the Puritans, who were in a great
      minority." 'expulsion' amended from 'expulson'.

    ARTICLE BESTUZHEV-RYUMIN, ALEXIUS PETROVICH: "To prevent
      underground intrigues, Bestuzhev now proposed the erection of a
      council of ministers, to settle all important affairs ..."
      'underground' amended from 'undergound'.




          ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA

  A DICTIONARY OF ARTS, SCIENCES, LITERATURE
           AND GENERAL INFORMATION

              ELEVENTH EDITION


            VOLUME III, SLICE VI

          Bent, James to Bibirine




ARTICLES IN THIS SLICE:


  BENT, JAMES THEODORE              BERRYER, ANTOINE PIERRE
  BENT                              BERSERKER
  BENTHAM, GEORGE                   BERT, PAUL
  BENTHAM, JEREMY                   BERTANI, AGOSTINO
  BENTINCK, LORD WILLIAM            BERTAT
  BENTINCK, LORD WILLIAM CAVENDISH  BERTAUT, JEAN
  BENTIVOGLIO, GIOVANNI             BERTH
  BENTIVOGLIO, GUIDO                BERTHELOT, MARCELLIN PIERRE EUGÈNE
  BENTLEY, RICHARD (scholar)        BERTHIER, LOUIS ALEXANDRE
  BENTLEY, RICHARD (publisher)      BERTHOLLET, CLAUDE LOUIS
  BENTON, THOMAS HART               BERTHON, EDWARD LYON
  BENTON HARBOR                     BERTHOUD, FERDINAND
  BENUE                             BERTILLON, LOUIS ADOLPHE
  BEN VENUE                         BERTIN
  BENZALDEHYDE                      BERTINORO, OBADIAH
  BENZENE                           BERTINORO
  BENZIDINE                         BERTOLD
  BENZOIC ACID                      BERTOLD VON REGENSBURG
  BENZOIN (ketone-alcohol)          BERTRAM, CHARLES
  BENZOIN (balsamic resin)          BERTRAND, HENRI GRATIEN
  BENZOPHENONE                      BERTRICH
  BENZYL ALCOHOL                    BÉRULLE, PIERRE DE
  BEOTHUK                           BERVIE
  BEÖTHY, ÖDÖN                      BERWICK, JAMES FITZJAMES
  BEOWULF                           BERWICKSHIRE
  BEQUEST                           BERWICK-UPON-TWEED
  BÉRAIN, JEAN                      BERYL
  BÉRANGER, PIERRE JEAN DE          BERYLLIUM
  BERAR                             BERYLLONITE
  BÉRARD, JOSEPH FRÉDÉRIC           BERZELIUS, JÖNS JAKOB
  BERAT                             BES
  BERAUN                            BESANÇON
  BERBER                            BESANT, SIR WALTER
  BERBERA                           BESENVAL DE BRONSTATT, PIERRE VICTOR
  BERBERINE                         BESKOW, BERNHARD VON
  BERBERS                           BESNARD, PAUL ALBERT
  BERCEUSE                          BESOM
  BERCHEM, NICOLAAS                 BESSARABIA
  BERCHTA                           BESSARION, JOHANNES
  BERCHTESGADEN                     BESSBOROUGH, EARLS OF
  BERCK                             BESSÈGES
  BERDICHEV                         BESSEL, FRIEDRICH WILHELM
  BERDYANSK                         BESSEL FUNCTION
  BEREA                             BESSEMER, SIR HENRY
  BEREKHIAH NAQDAN                  BESSEMER
  BERENGARIUS                       BESSIÈRES, JEAN BAPTISTE
  BÉRENGER, ALPHONSE THOMAS         BESSUS
  BERENICE (princesses)             BEST, WILLIAM THOMAS
  BERENICE (seaport of Egypt)       BESTIA
  BERESFORD, LORD DE LA POER        BESTUZHEV-RYUMIN, ALEXIUS PETROVICH
  BERESFORD, JOHN                   BESTUZHEV-RYUMIN, MIKHAIL PETROVICH
  BERESFORD, WILLIAM BERESFORD      BET and BETTING
  BEREZINA                          BETAÏNE
  BEREZOV                           BETEL NUT
  BEREZOVSK                         BETHANY
  BERG                              BETHEL
  BERGAMASK                         BÉTHENCOURT, JEAN DE
  BERGAMO                           BETHESDA (Jerusalem)
  BERGAMOT, OIL OF                  BETHESDA (Wales)
  BERGEDORF                         BETH-HORON
  BERGEN                            BETHLEHEM (Palestine)
  BERGEN-OP-ZOOM                    BETHLEHEM (Pennsylvania, U.S.A.)
  BERGERAC                          BETHLEHEMITES
  BERGHAUS, HEINRICH                BETHLEN, GABRIEL
  BERGK, THEODOR                    BETHNAL GREEN
  BERGLER, STEPHAN                  BÉTHUNE {family)
  BERGMAN, TORBERN OLOF             BÉTHUNE, CONON DE
  BERGSCHRUND                       BÉTHUNE (town of France)
  BERGUES                           BETROTHAL
  BERHAMPUR (Bengal, India)         BETTERMENT
  BERHAMPUR (Madras, India)         BETTERTON, THOMAS
  BERI-BERI                         BETTIA
  BERING, VITUS                     BETTINELLI, SAVERIO
  BERING ISLAND, SEA and STRAIT     BETTWS Y COED
  BERING SEA ARBITRATION            BETTY, WILLIAM HENRY WEST
  BERIOT, CHARLES AUGUSTE DE        BETUL
  BERJA                             BETWA
  BERKA                             BEUDANT, FRANÇOIS SULPICE
  BERKELEY (English family)         BEUGNOT, JACQUES CLAUDE
  BERKELEY, GEORGE                  BEULÉ, CHARLES ERNEST
  BERKELEY, MILES JOSEPH            BEURNONVILLE, PIERRE DE RUEL
  BERKELEY, SIR WILLIAM             BEUST, FRIEDRICH FERDINAND VON
  BERKELEY (California, U.S.A.)     BEUTHEN (Niederbeuthen)
  BERKELEY (town of England)        BEUTHEN (Oberbeuthen)
  BERKHAMPSTEAD                     BEVEL
  BERKSHIRE, THOMAS HOWARD          BEVERLEY, WILLIAM ROXBY
  BERKSHIRE                         BEVERLEY
  BÊRLAD                            BEVERLY
  BERLICHINGEN, GOETZ               BEVIS OF HAMPTON
  BERLIN, ISAIAH                    BEWDLEY
  BERLIN (German city)              BEWICK, THOMAS
  BERLIN (New Hampshire, U.S.A.)    BEXHILL
  BERLIN (Ontario, Canada)          BEXLEY, NICHOLAS VANSITTART
  BERLIN (carriage)                 BEXLEY
  BERLIOZ, HECTOR                   BEY
  BERM                              BEYBAZAR
  BERMONDSEY                        BEYLE, MARIE HENRI
  BERMUDAS                          BEYRICH, HEINRICH ERNST VON
  BERMUDEZ                          BEYSCHLAG, WILLIBALD
  BERN (Swiss canton)               BEZA, THEODORE
  BERN (Swiss city)                 BEZANT
  BERNARD, SAINT                    BEZANTÉE
  BERNARD OF CHARTRES               BEZBORODKO, ALEKSANDER ANDREEVICH
  BERNARD, CHARLES DE               BEZEL
  BERNARD, CLAUDE                   BÉZIQUE
  BERNARD, JACQUES                  BEZWADA
  BERNARD, MOUNTAGUE                BHAGALPUR
  BERNARD, SIMON                    BHAMO
  BERNARD, SIR THOMAS               BHANDARA
  BERNARDIN OF SIENA, ST            BHANG
  BERNAUER, AGNES                   BHARAHAT
  BERNAY                            BHARAL
  BERNAYS, JAKOB                    BHARATPUR
  BERNBURG                          BHATGÁON
  BERNERS, JOHN BOURCHIER           BHATTIANA
  BERNERS, JULIANA                  BHAU DAJI
  BERNHARD OF SAXE-WEIMAR           BHAUNAGAR
  BERNHARDT, SARAH                  BHEESTY
  BERNHARDY, GOTTFRIED              BHERA
  BERNI, FRANCESCO                  BHILS
  BERNICIA                          BHIMA
  BERNICIAN SERIES                  BHIWANI
  BERNINI, GIOVANNI LORENZO         BHOPAL
  BERNIS, FRANÇOIS PIERRE DE        BHOPAWAR
  BERNKASTEL                        BHOR
  BERNOULLI                         BHUJ
  BERNSTEIN, AARON                  BHUTAN
  BERNSTORFF, ANDREAS PETER         BIANCHINI, FRANCESCO
  BERNSTORFF, CHRISTIAN GÜNTHER     BIARRITZ
  BERNSTORFF, JOHANN HARTWIG ERNST  BIAS  (Sage of Greece)
  BEROSSUS                          BIAS (something oblique)
  BERRY, CHARLES ALBERT             BIBACULUS, MARCUS FURIUS
  BERRY, CHARLES FERDINAND          BIBER, HEINRICH JOHANN FRANZ VON
  BERRY, JOHN                       BIBERACH
  BERRY                             BIBIRINE




BENT, JAMES THEODORE (1852-1897), English traveller, was the son of
James Bent of Baildon House, near Leeds, Yorkshire, where he was born on
the 30th of March 1852. He was educated at Repton school and Wadham
College, Oxford, where he graduated in 1875. In 1877 he married Mabel,
daughter of R.W. Hall-Dare of Newtownbarry, Co. Wexford, and she became
his companion in all his travels. He went abroad every year and became
thoroughly acquainted with Italy and Greece. In 1879 he published a book
on the republic of San Marino, entitled _A Freak of Freedom_, and was
made a citizen of San Marino; in the following year appeared _Genoa: How
the Republic Rose and Fell_, and in 1881 a _Life of Giuseppe Garibaldi_.
He spent considerable time in the Aegean archipelago, of which he wrote
in _The Cyclades: or Life among the Insular Greeks_ (1885). From this
period Bent devoted himself particularly to archaeological research. The
years 1885-1888 were given up to investigations in Asia Minor, his
discoveries and conclusions being communicated to the _Journal of
Hellenic Studies_ and other magazines and reviews. In 1889 he undertook
excavations in the Bahrein Islands of the Persian Gulf, and found
evidence that they had been a primitive home of the Phoenician race.
After an expedition in 1890 to Cilicia Trachea, where he obtained a
valuable collection of inscriptions, Bent spent a year in South Africa,
with the object, by investigation of some of the ruins in Mashonaland,
of throwing light on the vexed question of their origin and on the early
history of East Africa. He made the first detailed examination of the
Great Zimbabwe. Bent described his work in _The Ruined Cities of
Mashonaland_ (1892). In 1893 he investigated the ruins of Axum and other
places in the north of Abyssinia, partially made known before by the
researches of Henry Salt and others, and _The Sacred City of the
Ethiopians_ (1893) gave an account of this expedition. Bent now visited
at considerable risk the almost unknown Hadramut country (1893-1894),
and during this and later journeys in southern Arabia he studied the
ancient history of the country, its physical features and actual
condition. On the Dhafar coast in 1894-1895 he visited ruins which he
identified with the Abyssapolis of the frankincense merchants. In
1895-1896 he examined part of the African coast of the Red Sea, finding
there the ruins of a very ancient gold-mine and traces of what he
considered Sabean influence. While on another journey in South Arabia
(1896-1897), Bent was seized with malarial fever, and died in London on
the 5th of May 1897, a few days after his return. Mrs Bent, who had
contributed by her skill as a photographer and in other ways to the
success of her husband's journeys, published in 1900 _Southern Arabia,
Soudan and Sakotra_, in which were given the results of their last
expedition into that region. The conclusions at which Bent arrived as to
the Semitic origin of the ruins in Mashonaland have not been accepted by
archaeologists, but the value of his pioneer work is undeniable (see
ZIMBABWE).




BENT. 1. (From "to bend"), primarily the result of bending; hence any
inclination from the straight, as in curved objects like a hook or a
bow; this survives in the modern phrase "to follow one's own bent," i.e.
to pursue a certain course in a direction deviating from the normal, as
also in such phrases as Chaucer's "Downward on a hill under a bent,"
indicating a hollow or declivity in the general configuration of the
land. From the bending of a bow comes the idea of tension, as in Hamlet,
"they fool me to the top of my bent," i.e. to the utmost of my capacity.
2. (From the O. Eng. _beonet_, a coarse, rushy grass growing in wet
places; cf. the Ger. _Binse_, a reed), the name ("bent" or "bennet")
popularly applied to several kinds of grass and surviving in the form
"bent-grass."




BENTHAM, GEORGE (1800-1884), English botanist, was born at Stoke near
Portsmouth on the 22nd of September 1800. His father, Sir Samuel Bentham
(1757-1831), was the only brother of Jeremy Bentham, the publicist, and
of scarcely inferior ability though in a different direction. Devoting
himself in early life to the study of naval architecture, Sir Samuel
went to Russia to visit the naval establishments in the Baltic and Black
Seas. He was induced to enter the service of the empress Catherine II.,
built a flotilla of gunboats and defeated the Turkish fleet. For this he
was made, in addition to other honours, colonel of a cavalry regiment.
On the death of the empress he returned to England to be employed by the
admiralty, and was sent (1805-1807) again to Russia to superintend the
building of some ships for the British navy. He attained the rank, under
the admiralty, of inspector-general of naval works. He introduced a
multitude of improvements in naval organization, and it was largely
through his recommendation that M.I. Brunel's block-making machinery was
installed at Portsmouth.

George Bentham had neither a school nor a college education, but early
acquired the power of giving sustained and concentrated attention to any
subject that occupied him--one essential condition of the success he
attained as perhaps the greatest systematic botanist of the 19th
century. Another was his remarkable linguistic aptitude. At the age of
six to seven he could converse in French, German and Russian, and he
learnt Swedish during a short residence in Sweden when little older. At
the close of the war with France, the Benthams made a long tour through
that country, staying two years at Montauban, where Bentham studied
Hebrew and mathematics in the Protestant Theological School. They
eventually settled in the neighbourhood of Montpellier where Sir Samuel
purchased a large estate.

The mode in which George Bentham was attracted to the botanical studies
which became the occupation of his life is noteworthy; it was through
the applicability to them of the logical methods which he had imbibed
from his uncle's writings, and not from any special attraction to
natural history pursuits. While studying at Angoulême a copy of A.P. de
Candolle's _Flore française_ fell into his hands and he was struck with
the analytical tables for identifying plants. He immediately proceeded
to test their use on the first that presented itself. The result was
successful and he continued to apply it to every plant he came across. A
visit to London in 1823 brought him into contact with the brilliant
circle of English botanists. In 1826, at the pressing invitation of his
uncle, he agreed to act as his secretary, at the same time entering at
Lincoln's Inn and reading for the bar. He was called in due time and in
1832 held his first and last brief. The same year Jeremy Bentham died,
leaving his property to his nephew. His father's inheritance had fallen
to him the previous year. He was now in a position of modest
independence, and able to pursue undistractedly his favourite studies.
For a time these were divided between botany, jurisprudence and logic,
in addition to editing his father's professional papers. Bentham's first
publication was his _Catalogue des plantes indigènes des Pyrénées et du
Bas Languedoc_ (Paris, 1826), the result of a careful exploration of the
Pyrenees in company with G.A. Walker Arnott (1799-1868), afterwards
professor of botany in the university of Glasgow. It is interesting to
notice that in it Bentham adopted the principle from which he never
deviated, of citing nothing at second-hand. This was followed by
articles on various legal subjects: on codification, in which he
disagreed with his uncle, on the laws affecting larceny and on the law
of real property. But the most remarkable production of this period was
the _Outline of a New System of Logic, with a Critical Examination of Dr
Whately's Elements of Logic_ (1827). In this the principle of the
quantification of the predicate was first explicitly stated. This
Stanley Jevons declared to be "undoubtedly the most fruitful discovery
made in abstract logical science since the time of Aristotle." Before
sixty copies had been sold the publisher became bankrupt and the stock
went for wastepaper. The book passed into oblivion, and it was not till
1873 that Bentham's claims to priority were finally vindicated against
those of Sir William Hamilton by Herbert Spencer. In 1836 he published
his _Labiatarum genera et species_. In preparing this work he visited,
between 1830-1834, every European herbarium, several more than once. The
following winter was passed in Vienna, where he produced his
_Commentationes de Leguminosarum generibus_, published in the annals of
the Vienna Museum. In 1842 he removed to Pontrilas in Herefordshire. His
chief occupation for some succeeding years was his contributions to the
_Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis_, which was being
carried on by his friend, A.P. deCandolle. In all these dealt with some
4730 species.

In 1854 he found the maintenance of a herbarium and library too great a
tax on his means. He therefore offered them to the government on the
understanding that they should form the foundation of such necessary
aids to research in the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. At the same time
he contemplated the abandonment of botanical work. Fortunately, he
yielded to the persuasion of Sir William Hooker, John Lindley and other
scientific friends. In 1855 he took up his residence in London, and
worked at Kew for five days a week, with a brief summer holiday, from
this time onwards till the end of his life. As his friend Asa Gray
wrote: "With such methodical habits, with freedom from professional or
administrative functions, which consume the time of most botanists, with
steady devotion to his chosen work, and with nearly all authentic
material and needful appliances at hand or within reach, it is not so
surprising that he should have undertaken and have so well accomplished
such a vast amount of work, and he has the crowning merit and happy
fortune of having completed all that he undertook." The government, in
1857, sanctioned a scheme for the preparation of a series of Floras or
descriptions in the English language of the indigenous plants of British
colonies and possessions. Bentham began with the _Flora Hongkongensis_
in 1861, which was the first comprehensive work on any part of the
little-known flora of China. This was followed by the _Flora
Australiensis_, in seven volumes (1863-1878), the first flora of any
large continental area that had ever been finished. His greatest work
was the _Genera Plantarum_, begun in 1862, and concluded in 1883 in
collaboration with Sir Joseph Hooker, "the greater portion being," as
Sir Joseph Hooker tells us, "the product of Bentham's indefatigable
industry." As age gradually impaired his bodily powers, he seemed at
last only to live for the completion of this monumental work.

When the last revise of the last sheet was returned to the printer, the
stimulus was withdrawn, and his powers seemed suddenly to fail him. He
began a brief autobiography, but the pen with which he had written his
two greatest works broke in his hand in the middle of a page. He
accepted the omen, laid aside the unfinished manuscript and patiently
awaited the not distant end. He died on the both of September 1884,
within a fortnight of his 84th birthday.

The scientific world received the _Genera Plantarum_ with as unanimous
an assent as was accorded to the _Species Plantarum_ of Linnaeus.
Bentham possessed, as Professor Daniel Oliver remarked, "an insight of
so special a character as to deserve the name of genius, into the
relative value of characters for practical systematic work, and as a
consequence of this, a sure sifting of essentials from non-essentials in
each respective grade." His preparation for his crowning work had been
practically lifelong. There are few parts of the world upon the botany
of which he did not touch. In the sequence and arrangement of the great
families of flowering plants, different views from those of Bentham may
be adopted. But Bentham paved the way by an intimate and exact statement
of the structural facts and their accurate relationship, which is not
likely to be improved. In method and style, in descriptive work, Bentham
was a supreme master. This, to quote Professor Oliver again, is
"manifest not only in its terseness, aptness and precision, but
especially in the judicious selection of diagnostic marks, and in the
instinctive estimate of probable range in variation, which long
experience and innate genius for such work could alone inspire."
     (W. T. T.-D.)




BENTHAM, JEREMY (1748-1832), English philosopher and jurist, was born on
the 15th of February 1748 in Red Lion Street, Houndsditch, London, in
which neighbourhood his grandfather and father successively carried on
business as attorneys. His father, who was a wealthy man and possessed
at any rate a smattering of Greek, Latin and French, was thought to have
demeaned himself by marrying the daughter of an Andover tradesman, who
afterwards retired to a country house near Reading, where young Jeremy
spent many happy days. The boy's talents justified the ambitious hopes
which his parents entertained of his future. When three years old he
read eagerly such works as Rapin's _History_ and began the study of
Latin. A year or two later he learnt to play the violin and to speak
French. At Westminster school he obtained a reputation for Greek and
Latin verse writing; and he was only thirteen when he was matriculated
at Queen's College, Oxford, where his most important acquisition seems
to have been a thorough acquaintance with Sanderson's logic. He became a
B.A. in 1763, and in the same year entered at Lincoln's Inn, and took
his seat as a student in the queen's bench, where he listened with
rapture to the judgments of Lord Mansfield. He managed also to hear
Blackstone's lectures at Oxford, but says that he immediately detected
the fallacies which underlay the rounded periods of the future judge.

Bentham's family connexions would naturally have given him a fair start
at the bar, but this was not the career for which he was preparing
himself. He spent his time in making chemical experiments and in
speculating upon legal abuses, rather than in reading Coke upon
Littleton and the Reports. On being called to the bar he "found a cause
or two at nurse for him, which he did his best to put to death," to the
bitter disappointment of his father, who had confidently looked forward
to seeing him upon the woolsack. The first fruits of Bentham's studies,
the _Fragment on Government_, appeared in 1776. This masterly attack
upon Blackstone's praises of the English constitution was variously
attributed to Lord Mansfield, Lord Camden and Lord Ashburton. One
important result of its publication was that, in 1781, Lord Shelburne
(afterwards first marquess of Lansdowne) called upon its author in his
chambers at Lincoln's Inn. Henceforth Bentham was a frequent guest at
Bowood, where he saw the best society and where he met Miss Caroline Fox
(daughter of the second Lord Holland), to whom he afterwards made a
proposal of marriage. In 1785 Bentham started, by way of Italy and
Constantinople, on a visit to his brother, Samuel Bentham, a naval
engineer, holding the rank of colonel in the Russian service; and it was
in Russia that he wrote his _Defence of Usury_. Disappointed after his
return to England in 1788 in the hope which he had entertained, through
a misapprehension of something said by Lord Lansdowne, of taking a
personal part in the legislation of his country, he settled down to the
yet higher task of discovering and teaching the principles upon which
all sound legislation must proceed. The great work, upon which he had
been engaged for many years, the _Principles of Morals and
Legislation_, was published in 1789. His fame spread widely and rapidly.
He was made a French citizen in 1792; and his advice was respectfully
received in most of the states of Europe and America, with many of the
leading men of which he maintained an active correspondence. In 1817 he
became a bencher of Lincoln's Inn. His ambition was to be allowed to
prepare a code of laws for his own or some foreign country. During
nearly a quarter of a century he was engaged in negotiations with the
government for the erection of a "Panopticon," for the central
inspection of convicts; a plan suggested to him by a building designed
by his brother Samuel, for the better supervision of his Russian
shipwrights. This scheme, which it was alleged would render
transportation unnecessary, was eventually abandoned, and Bentham
received in 1813, in pursuance of an act of parliament, £23,000 by way
of compensation. It was at a later period of his life that he propounded
schemes for cutting canals through the isthmus of Suez and the isthmus
of Panama. In 1823 he established the _Westminster Review_. Emboldened
perhaps by the windfall of 1813, Bentham in the following year took a
lease of Ford Abbey, a fine mansion with a deer-park, in Dorsetshire;
but in 1818 returned to the house in Queen's Square Place which he had
occupied since the death of his father in 1792. It was there that he
died on the 6th of June 1832 in his eighty-fifth year. In accordance
with his directions, his body was dissected in the presence of his
friends, and the skeleton is still preserved in University College,
London.

Bentham's life was a happy one of its kind. His constitution, weakly in
childhood, strengthened with advancing years so as to allow him to get
through an incredible amount of sedentary labour, while he retained to
the last the fresh and cheerful temperament of a boy. An ample inherited
fortune permitted him to pursue his studies undistracted by the
necessity for earning a livelihood, and to maximize the results of his
time and labour by the employment of amanuenses and secretaries. He was
able to gather around him a group of congenial friends and pupils, such
as the Mills, the Austins and Bowring, with whom he could discuss the
problems upon which he was engaged, and by whom several of his books
were practically rewritten from the mass of rough though orderly
memoranda which the master had himself prepared. Thus, for instance, was
the _Rationale of Judicial Evidence_ written out by J.S. Mill and the
_Book of Fallacies_ by Bingham. The services which Dumont rendered in
recasting as well as translating the works of Bentham were still more
important.

The popular notion that Bentham was a morose visionary is far removed
from fact. It is true that he looked upon general society as a waste of
time and that he disliked poetry as "misrepresentation"; but he
intensely enjoyed conversation, gave good dinners and delighted in
music, in country sights and in making others happy. These features of
Bentham's character are illustrated in the graphic account given by the
American minister, Richard Rush, of an evening spent at his London house
in the summer of the year 1818. "If Mr Bentham's character is peculiar,"
he says, "so is his place of residence. It was a kind of blind-alley,
the end of which widened into a small, neat courtyard. There by itself
stands Mr Bentham's house. Shrubbery graced its area and flowers its
window-sills. It was like an oasis in the desert. Its name is the
Hermitage. Mr Bentham received me with the simplicity of a philosopher.
I should have taken him for seventy or upwards. Everything inside the
house was orderly. The furniture seemed to have been unmoved since the
days of his fathers, for I learned that it was a patrimony. A parlour,
library and dining-room made up the suite of apartments. In each was a
piano, the eccentric master of the whole being fond of music as the
recreation of his literary hours. It is a unique, romantic-like
homestead. Walking with him into the garden, I found it dark with the
shade of ancient trees. They formed a barrier against all intrusion. The
company was small but choice. Mr Brougham; Sir Samuel Romilly; Mr Mill,
author of the well-known work on India; M. Dumont, the learned Genevan,
once the associate of Mirabeau, were all who sat down to table. Mr
Bentham did not talk much. He had a benevolence of manner suited to the
philanthropy of his mind. He seemed to be thinking only of the
convenience and pleasure of his guests, not as a rule of artificial
breeding as from Chesterfield or Madame Genlis, but from innate feeling.
Bold as are his opinions in his works, here he was wholly unobtrusive of
theories that might not have commended the assent of all present. When
he did converse it was in simple language, a contrast to his later
writings, where an involved style and the use of new or universal words
are drawbacks upon the speculations of a genius original and profound,
but with the faults of solitude. Yet some of his earlier productions are
distinguished by classical terseness."--(_Residence at the Court of
London_, p. 286.) Bentham's love of flowers and music, of green foliage
and shaded walks, comes clearly out in this pleasant picture of his home
life and social surroundings.

Whether or no he can be said to have founded a school, his doctrines
have become so far part of the common thought of the time, that there is
hardly an educated man who does not accept as too clear for argument
truths which were invisible till Bentham pointed them out. His
sensitively honourable nature, which in early life had caused him to
shrink from asserting his belief in Thirty-nine articles of faith which
he had not examined, was shocked by the enormous abuses which confronted
him on commencing the study of the law. He rebelled at hearing the
system under which they flourished described as the perfection of human
reason. But he was no merely destructive critic. He was determined to
find a solid foundation for both morality and law, and to raise upon it
an edifice, no stone of which should be laid except in accordance with
the deductions of the severest logic. This foundation is "the greatest
happiness of the greatest number," a formula adopted from Priestly or
perhaps first from Beccaria. The phrase may, however, be found in
writers of an earlier date than these, e.g. in Hutcheson's _Enquiry_,
published in 1725. The pursuit of such happiness is taught by the
"utilitarian" philosophy, an expression used by Bentham himself in 1802,
and therefore not invented by J.S. Mill, as he supposed, in 1823. In
order to ascertain what modes of action are most conducive to the end in
view, and what motives are best fitted to produce them, Bentham was led
to construct marvellously exhaustive, though somewhat mechanical, tables
of motives. With all their elaboration, these tables are, however,
defective, as omitting some of the highest and most influential springs
of action. But most of Bentham's conclusions may be accepted without any
formal profession of the utilitarian theory of morals. They are, indeed,
merely the application of a rigorous common sense to the facts of
society. That the proximate ends at which Bentham aimed are desirable
hardly any one would deny, though the feasibility of the means by which
he proposes to attain them may often be questioned, and much of the new
nomenclature in which he thought fit to clothe his doctrines may be
rejected as unnecessary. To be judged fairly, Bentham must be judged as
a teacher of the principles of legislation. With the principles of
private morals he really deals only so far as is necessary to enable the
reader to appreciate the impulses which have to be controlled by law.

As a teacher of legislation he inquires of all institutions whether
their utility justifies their existence. If not, he is prepared to
suggest a new form of institution by which the needful service may be
rendered. While thus engaged no topic is too large for his mental grasp,
none too small for his notice; and, what is still rarer, every topic is
seen in its due relation to the rest. English institutions had never
before been thus comprehensively and dispassionately surveyed. Such
improvements as had been necessitated were mere makeshifts, often made
by stealth. The rude symmetry of the feudal system had been long ago
destroyed by partial and unskilful adaptations to modern commercial
life, effected at various dates and in accordance with various theories.
The time had come for deliberate reconstruction, for inquiring whether
the existence of many admitted evils was, as it was said to be,
unavoidable; for proving that the needs of society may be classified and
provided for by contrivances which shall not clash with one another
because all shall be parts of a consistent whole. This task Bentham
undertook, and he brought to it a mind absolutely free from professional
or class feeling, or any other species of prejudice. He mapped out the
whole subject, dividing and subdividing it in accordance with the
principle of "dichotomy." Having reached his ultimate subdivisions he
subjects each to the most thorough and ingenious discussion. His earlier
writings exhibit a lively and easy style, which gives place in his later
treatises to sentences which are awkward from their effort after
unattainable accuracy, and from the newly-invented technical
nomenclature in which they are expressed. Many of Bentham's phrases,
such as "international," "utilitarian," "codification," are valuable
additions to our language; but the majority of them, especially those of
Greek derivation, have taken no root in it. His neology is one among
many instances of his contempt for the past and his wish to be clear of
all association with it. His was, indeed, a typically logical, as
opposed to a historical, mind. For the history of institutions which,
thanks largely to the writings of Sir Henry Maine, has become a new and
interesting branch of science, Bentham cared nothing. Had he possessed
such a knowledge of Roman law as is now not uncommon in England, he must
doubtless have taken a different view of many subjects. The logical and
historical methods can, however, seldom be combined without confusion;
and it is perhaps fortunate that Bentham devoted his long life to
showing how much may be done by pursuing the former method exclusively.
His writings have been and remain a storehouse of instruction for
statesmen, an armoury for legal reformers. "Pillé par tout le monde," as
Talleyrand said of him, "il est toujours riche." To trace the results of
his teaching in England alone would be to write a history of the
legislation of half a century. Upon the whole administrative machinery
of government, upon criminal law and upon procedure, both criminal and
civil, his influence has been most salutary; and the great legal
revolution which in 1873 purported to accomplish the fusion of law and
equity is not obscurely traceable to the same source. Those of Bentham's
suggestions which have hitherto been carried out have affected the
matter or contents of the law. The hopes which have been from time to
time entertained, that his suggestions for the improvement of its form
and expression were about to receive the attention which they deserved,
have hitherto been disappointed. The services rendered by Bentham to the
world would not, however, be exhausted even by the practical adoption of
every one of his recommendations. There are no limits to the good
results of his introduction of a true method of reasoning into the moral
and political sciences.

  Bentham's _Works_, together with an Introduction by J. Hill Burton,
  selections from his correspondence and a biography, were published by
  Dr Bowring, in eleven closely printed volumes (1838-1843). This
  edition does not include the _Deontology_, which, much rewritten, had
  been published by Bowring in 1834. Translations of the _Works_ or of
  separate treatises have appeared in most European languages. Large
  masses of Bentham's MSS., mostly unpublished, are preserved at
  University College, London (see T. Whittaker's _Report_, 1892, on
  these MSS., as newly catalogued and reclassified by him in 155
  parcels); also in the British Museum (see E. Nys, _Études de droit
  international et de droit politique_, 1901, pp. 291-333). See farther
  on the life and writings of Bentham: J.H. Burton, _Benthamiana_
  (1843); R. von Mohl, _Geschichte und Literatur der
  Staatswissenschaften_, bk. iii. (1858), pp. 595-635; R.K. Wilson,
  _History of Modern English Law_ (1875), pp. 133-170; J.S. Mill,
  _Dissertations_ (1859), vol. i. pp. 330-392; L. Stephen, _The English
  Utilitarians_ (1900), vol. i.; _A Fragment on Government_, edited by
  F.C. Montague (1891); _The Law Quarterly Review_ (1895), two articles
  on Bentham's influence in Spain; A.V. Dicey, _Law and Opinion in
  England_ (1905), pp. 125-209; C.M. Atkinson, _Jeremy Bentham_ (1905).
       (T. E. H.)




BENTINCK, LORD WILLIAM (1774-1839), governor-general of India, was the
second son of the 3rd duke of Portland and was born on the 14th of
September 1774. He entered the army, rose to the rank of
lieutenant-colonel and was present at Marengo. In 1803 he was nominated
governor of Madras, where he quarrelled with the chief justice, Sir
Henry Gwillim, and several members of his council. The sepoy mutiny at
Vellore in 1807 led to his recall. His name was considered at this time
for the post of governor-general, but Lord Minto was selected instead;
and it was not until twenty years later that he succeeded Lord Amherst
in that office. His governor-generalship (1827-1835) was notable for
many reforms, chief among which were the suppression of the Thugs
(q.v.), the abolition of suttee, and the making of the English language
the basis of education in India. It was on this last subject that Lord
Macaulay's famous minute was written. Lord William's administration was
essentially peaceful, but progressive and successful. He died at Paris
on the 17th of June 1839.

  See Demetrius C. Boulger, _Lord William Bentinck_, in the "Rulers of
  India" series (1892).




BENTINCK, LORD WILLIAM GEORGE FREDERICK CAVENDISH, better known as LORD
GEORGE BENTINCK (1802-1848), British politician, was the second
surviving son of the fourth duke of Portland, by Henrietta, sister of
Viscountess Canning, and was born on the 27th of February 1802. He was
educated at home until he obtained his commission as cornet in the 10th
hussars at the age of seventeen. He practically retired from the army in
1822 and acted for some time as private secretary to his uncle George
Canning. In 1828 he succeeded his uncle Lord William Bentinck as member
for Lynn-Regis, and continued to represent that constituency during the
remaining twenty years of his life. His failures as a speaker in
parliament seem to have discouraged him from the attempt to acquire
reputation as a politician, and till within three years of his death he
was little known out of the sporting world. As one of the leaders on
"the turf," however, he was distinguished by that integrity, judgment
and indomitable determination which, when brought to bear upon weightier
matters, quickly gave him a position of first-rate importance in the
political world. On his first entrance into parliament he belonged to
the moderate Whig party, and voted in favour of Catholic emancipation,
as also for the Reform Bill, though he opposed some of its principal
details. Soon after, however, he joined the ranks of the opposition,
with whom he sided up to the important era of 1846. When, in that year,
Sir Robert Peel openly declared in favour of free trade, the advocates
of the corn-laws, then without a leader, after several ineffectual
attempts at organization, discovered that Lord George Bentinck was the
only man of position and family (for Disraeli's time was not yet come)
around whom the several sections of the opposition could be brought to
rally. His sudden elevation took the public by surprise; but he soon
gave convincing evidence of powers so formidable that the Protectionist
party under his leadership was at once stiffened into real importance.
Towards Peel, in particular, his hostility was uncompromising.
Believing, as he himself expressed it, that that statesman and his
colleagues had "hounded to the death his illustrious relative" Canning,
he combined with his political opposition a degree of personal animosity
that gave additional force to his invective. On entering on his new
position, he at once abandoned his connexion with the turf, disposed of
his magnificent stud and devoted his whole energies to the laborious
duties of a parliamentary leader. Apart from the question of the
corn-laws, however, his politics were decidedly independent. In
opposition to the rest of his party, he supported the bill for removing
the Jewish disabilities, and was favourable to the scheme for the
payment of the Roman Catholic clergy in Ireland by the landowners. The
result was that on December 23rd, 1847, he wrote a letter resigning the
Protectionist leadership, though he still remained active in politics.
But his positive abilities as a constructive statesman were not to be
tested, for he died suddenly at Welbeck on the 21st of September 1848.
It was to be left to Disraeli to bring the Conservative party into
power, with Protection outside its programme.

  See _Lord George Bentinck: a Political Biography_ (1851), by B.
  Disraeli (Lord Beaconsfield).




BENTIVOGLIO, GIOVANNI (1443-1508), tyrant of Bologna, descended from a
powerful family which exercised great influence in Bologna during the
15th century, was born after the murder of his father, then chief
magistrate of the commune. In 1462 Giovanni contrived to make himself
master of the city, although it was nominally a fief of the church under
a papal legate. He ruled with a stern sway for nearly half a century,
but the brilliance of his court, his encouragement of the fine arts and
his decoration of the city with sumptuous edifices, to some extent
compensated the Bolognese for the loss of their liberty. Cesare Borgia
(q.v.) contemplated the subjugation of Bologna in 1500, when he was
crushing the various despots of Romagna, but Bentivoglio was saved for
the moment by French intervention. In 1502 he took part in the
conspiracy against Cesare, but, when the latter obtained French
assistance, he abandoned his fellow-conspirators and helped Borgia to
overcome them. During the brief pontificate of Pius III., who succeeded
Alexander VI. in 1503, Bentivoglio enjoyed a respite, but the new pope,
Julius II., was determined to reduce all the former papal states to
obedience. Having won Louis XII. of France to his side, he led an army
against Bologna, excommunicated Bentivoglio and forced him to abandon
the city (November 1506). The deposed tyrant took refuge with the
French, whom he trusted more than the pope, and died at Milan in 1508.

  BIBLIOGRAPHY.--P. Litta, _Le Famiglie celebri Italiane_, vol, iii.
  (Milan, 1834); P. Villari, _Machiavelli_ (Eng. trans., London, 1892);
  M. Creighton, _History of the Papacy_ (London, 1897); A. von Reumont,
  _Geschichte der Stadt Rom_, vol. iii. (Berlin, 1868).     (L. V.*)




BENTIVOGLIO, GUIDO (1579-1644), Italian cardinal, statesman and
historian, was born at Ferrara in 1579. After studying at Padua, he went
to reside at Rome, and was received with great favour by Pope Clement
VIII., who made him his private chamberlain. The next pope, Paul V.,
created him archbishop of Rhodes in 1607, and appointed him as nuncio to
Flanders and afterwards to France; on his return to Rome in 1621 he was
created cardinal and entrusted by Louis XIII. with the management of
French affairs at the papal court. He became the intimate friend of Pope
Urban VIII., who appointed him to the suburban see of Palestrina in
1691. An able writer and skilful diplomatist, Bentivoglio was marked out
as Urban's successor, but he died suddenly on the 7th of September 1644
at the opening of the conclave. Bentivoglio's principal works
are:--_Della Guerra di Fiandria_ (best edition, Cologne, 1633-1639),
translated into English by Henry, earl of Monmouth (London, 1654);
_Relazioni di G. Bentivoglio in tempo delle sue Nunziature di Fiandria e
di Francia_ (Cologne, 1630); _Lettere diplomatiche di Guido Bentivoglio_
(Brussels, 1631, frequently reprinted, best edition by L. Scarabelli, 2
vols., Turin, 1852). The complete edition of his works was published at
Venice in 1668 in 4to. A selection of his letters has been adopted as a
classic in the Italian schools.




BENTLEY, RICHARD (1662-1742), English scholar and critic, was born at
Oulton near Wakefield, Yorkshire, on the 27th of January 1662. His
grandfather had suffered in person and estate in the royalist cause, and
the family were in consequence in reduced circumstances. Bentley's
mother, the daughter of a stonemason in Oulton, was a woman of excellent
understanding and some education, as she was able to give her son his
first lessons in Latin. From the grammar school of Wakefield Richard
Bentley passed to St John's College, Cambridge, being admitted subsizar
in 1676. He afterwards obtained a scholarship and took the degree of
B.A. in 1680 (M.A. 1683). He never succeeded to a fellowship, being
appointed by his college, before he was twenty-one, headmaster of
Spalding grammar school. In this post he did not remain long, being
selected by Dr Edward Stillingfleet, dean of St Paul's, to be domestic
tutor to his son. This appointment introduced Bentley at once to the
society of the most eminent men of the day, threw open to him the best
private library in England, and brought him into familiar intercourse
with Dean Stillingfleet, a man of sound understanding, who had not
shrunk from exploring some of the more solid and abstruse parts of
ancient learning. The six years which he passed in Stillingfleet's
family were employed, with the restless energy characteristic of the
man, in exhausting the remains of the Greek and Latin writers, and
laying up those stores of knowledge upon which he afterwards drew as
circumstances required.

In 1689 Stillingfleet became bishop of Worcester, and Bentley's pupil
went to reside at Oxford in Wadham College, accompanied by his tutor.
Bentley's introductions and his own merits placed him at once on a
footing of intimacy with the most distinguished scholars in the
university, Dr John Mill, Humphrey Hody, Edward Bernard. Here he
revelled in the MS. treasures of the Bodleian, Corpus and other college
libraries. He projected and occupied himself with collections for vast
literary schemes. Among these are specially mentioned a _corpus_ of the
fragments of the Greek poets and an edition of the Greek lexicographers.
But his first publication was in connexion with a writer of much
inferior note. The Oxford (Sheldonian) press was about to bring out an
edition (the _editio princeps_) from the unique MS. in the Bodleian of
the Greek _Chronicle_ (a universal history down to A.D. 560) of John of
Antioch (date uncertain, between 600 and 1000), called John Malalas or
"John the Rhetor"; and the editor, Dr John Mill, principal of St Edmund
Hall, had requested Bentley to look through the sheets and make any
remarks on the text. This originated Bentley's _Epistola ad Millium_,
which occupies less than one hundred pages at the end of the Oxford
_Malalas_ (1691). This short tractate at once placed Bentley at the head
of all living English scholars. The ease with which, by a stroke of the
pen, he restores passages which had been left in hopeless corruption by
the editors of the _Chronicle_, the certainty of the emendation and the
command over the relevant material, are in a style totally different
from the careful and laborious learning of Hody, Mill or E. Chilmead. To
the small circle of classical students (lacking the great critical
dictionaries of modern times) it was at once apparent that there had
arisen in England a critic whose attainments were not to be measured by
the ordinary academical standard, but whom these few pages had sufficed
to place by the side of the great Grecians of a former age.
Unfortunately this mastery over critical science was accompanied by a
tone of self-assertion and presumptuous confidence which not only
checked admiration, but was calculated to rouse enmity. Dr Monk, indeed,
Bentley's biographer, charged him (in his first edition, 1830) with an
indecorum of which he was not guilty. "In one place," writes Dr Monk,
"he accosts Dr Mill as [Greek: o Ioannidion] (Johnny), an indecorum
which neither the familiarity of friendship, nor the licence of a dead
language, can justify towards the dignified head of a house." But the
object of Bentley's apostrophe was not his correspondent Dr Mill, but
his author John Malalas, whom in another place he playfully appeals to
as "Syrisce." From this publication, however, dates the origin of those
mixed feelings of admiration and repugnance which Bentley throughout his
career continued to excite among his contemporaries.

In 1690 Bentley had taken deacon's orders in the Church. In 1692 he was
nominated first Boyle lecturer, a nomination which was repeated in 1694.
He was offered the appointment a third time in 1695 but declined it,
being by that time involved in too many other undertakings. In the first
series of lectures ("A Confutation of Atheism") he endeavours to present
the Newtonian physics in a popular form, and to frame them (especially
in opposition to Hobbes) into a proof of the existence of an intelligent
Creator. He had some correspondence with Newton, then living in Trinity
College, on the subject. The second series, preached in 1694, has not
been published and is believed to be lost. Andrew Kippis, the editor of
the _Biographia Britannica_, mentions MS. copies of them as in
existence. Scarcely was Bentley in priest's orders before he was
preferred to a prebendal stall in Worcester cathedral. In 1693 the
keepership of the royal library becoming vacant, great efforts were made
by his friends to obtain the place for Bentley, but through court
interest the post was given to Mr Thynne. An arrangement, however, was
made, by which the new librarian resigned in favour of Bentley, on
condition that he received an annuity of £130 for life out of the
salary, which only amounted to £200. To these preferments were added in
1695 a royal chaplaincy and the living of Hartlebury. In the same year
Bentley was elected a fellow of the Royal Society, and in 1696 proceeded
to the degree of D.D. The recognition of continental scholars came in
the shape of a dedication, by Graevius, prefixed to a dissertation of
Albert Rubens, _De Vita Flavii Mallii Theodori_, published at Utrecht in
1694.

While these distinctions were being accumulated upon Bentley, his energy
was making itself felt in many and various directions. He had official
apartments in St James's Palace, and his first care was the royal
library. He made great efforts to retrieve this collection from the
dilapidated condition into which it had been allowed to fall. He
employed the mediation of the earl of Marlborough to beg the grant of
some additional rooms in the palace for the books. The rooms were
granted, but Marlborough characteristically kept them for himself.
Bentley enforced the law against the publishers, and thus added to the
library nearly 1000 volumes which they had neglected to deliver. He was
commissioned by the university of Cambridge to obtain Greek and Latin
founts for their classical books, and accordingly he had cast in Holland
those beautiful types which appear in the Cambridge books of that date.
He assisted Evelyn in his _Numismata_. All Bentley's literary
appearances at this time were of this accidental character. We do not
find him settling down to the steady execution of any of the great
projects with which he had started. He designed, indeed, in 1694 an
edition of Philostratus, but readily abandoned it to G. Olearius,
(Öhlschläger), "to the joy," says F.A. Wolf, "of Olearius and of no one
else." He supplied Graevius with collations of Cicero, and Joshua Barnes
with a warning as to the spuriousness of the _Epistles of Euripides_,
which was thrown away upon that blunderer, who printed the epistles and
declared that no one could doubt their genuineness but a man _perfrictae
frontis aut judicii imminuti_. Bentley supplied to Graevius's
_Callimachus_ a masterly collection of the fragments with notes,
published at Utrecht in 1697.

The _Dissertation on the Epistles of Phalaris_, the work on which
Bentley's fame in great part rests, originated in the same casual way.
William Wotton, being about to bring out in 1697 a second edition of his
book on _Ancient and Modern Learning_, claimed of Bentley the fulfilment
of an old promise to write a paper exposing the spuriousness of the
_Epistles of Phalaris_. This paper was resented as an insult by the
Christ Church editor of Phalaris, Charles Boyle, afterwards earl of
Orrery, who in getting the MS. in the royal library collated for his
edition (1695) had had a little quarrel with Bentley. Assisted by his
college friends, particularly Atterbury, Boyle wrote a reply, "a
tissue," says Dr Alexander Dyce (in his edition of Bentley's Works,
1836-1838), "of superficial learning, ingenious sophistry, dexterous
malice and happy raillery." The reply was hailed by the public as
crushing and went immediately into a second edition. It was incumbent on
Bentley to rejoin. This he did (1699) in what Porson styles "that
immortal dissertation," to which no answer was or could be given,
although the truth of its conclusions was not immediately recognized.
(See PHALARIS.)

In the year 1700 Bentley received that main preferment which, says De
Quincey, "was at once his reward and his scourge for the rest of his
life." The six commissioners of ecclesiastical patronage unanimously
recommended Bentley to the crown for the mastership of Trinity College,
Cambridge. This college, the most splendid foundation in the university
of Cambridge, and in the scientific and literary reputation of its
fellows the most eminent society in either university, had in 1700
greatly fallen from its high estate. It was not that it was more
degraded than the other colleges, but its former lustre made the abuse
of endowments in its case more conspicuous. The eclipse had taken place
during the reaction which followed 1660, and was owing to causes which
were not peculiar to Trinity, but which influenced the nation at large.
The names of John Pearson and Isaac Barrow, and, greater than either,
that of Newton, adorn the college annals of this period. But these were
quite exceptional men. They had not inspired the rank and file of
fellows of Trinity with any of their own love for learning or science.
Indolent and easy-going clerics, without duties, without a pursuit or
any consciousness of the obligation of endowments, they haunted the
college for the pleasant life and the good things they found there,
creating sinecure offices in each other's favour, jobbing the
scholarships and making the audits mutually pleasant. Any excuse served
for a banquet at the cost of "the house," and the celibacy imposed by
the statutes was made as tolerable as the decorum of a respectable
position permitted. To such a society Bentley came, obnoxious as a St
John's man and an intruder, unwelcome as a man of learning whose
interests lay outside the walls of the college. Bentley replied to their
concealed dislike with open contempt, and proceeded to ride roughshod
over their little arrangements. He inaugurated many beneficial reforms
in college usages and discipline, executed extensive improvements in the
buildings, and generally used his eminent station for the promotion of
the interests of learning both in the college and in the university. But
this energy was accompanied by a domineering temper, an overweening
contempt for the feelings and even for the rights of others, and an
unscrupulous use of means when a good end could be obtained. Bentley, at
the summit of classical learning, disdained to associate with men whom
he regarded as illiterate priests. He treated them with contumely, while
he was diverting their income to public purposes. The continued drain
upon their purses--on one occasion the whole dividend of the year was
absorbed by the rebuilding of the chapel--was the grievance which at
last roused the fellows to make a resolute stand. After ten years of
stubborn but ineffectual resistance within the college, they had
recourse in 1710 to the last remedy--an appeal to the visitor, the
bishop of Ely (Dr Moore). Their petition is an ill-drawn invective, full
of general complaints and not alleging any special delinquency.
Bentley's reply (_The Present State of Trinity College, &c._, 1710) is
in his most crushing style. The fellows amended their petition and put
in a fresh charge, in which they articled fifty-four separate breaches
of the statutes as having been committed by the master. Bentley, called
upon to answer, demurred to the bishop of Ely's jurisdiction, alleging
that the crown was visitor. He backed his application by a dedication of
his _Horace_ to the lord treasurer (Harley). The crown lawyers decided
the point against him; the case was heard (1714) and a sentence of
ejection from the mastership ordered to be drawn up, but before it was
executed the bishop of Ely died and the process lapsed. The feud,
however, still went on in various forms. In 1718 Bentley was deprived by
the university of his degrees, as a punishment for failing to appear in
the vice-chancellor's court in a civil suit; and it was not till 1724
that the law compelled the university to restore them. In 1733 he was
again brought to trial before the bishop of Ely (Dr Greene) by the
fellows of Trinity and was sentenced to deprivation, but the college
statutes required the sentence to be exercised by the vice-master (Dr
Walker), who was Bentley's friend and refused to act. In vain were
attempts made to compel the execution of the sentence, and though the
feud was kept up till 1738 or 1740 (about thirty years in all) Bentley
remained undisturbed.

During the period of his mastership, with the exception of the first two
years, Bentley pursued his studies uninterruptedly, although the results
in the shape of published works seem incommensurable. In 1709 he
contributed a critical appendix to John Davies's edition of Cicero's
_Tusculan Disputations_. In the following year he published his
emendations on the _Plutus_ and _Nubes_ of Aristophanes, and on the
fragments of Menander and Philemon. The last came out under the name of
"Phileleutherus Lipsiensis," which he made use of two years later in his
_Remarks on a late Discourse of Freethinking_, a reply to Anthony
Collins the deist. For this he received the thanks of the university, in
recognition of the service thereby rendered to the church and clergy.
His _Horace_, long contemplated and in the end written in very great
haste and brought out to propitiate public opinion at a critical period
of the Trinity quarrel, appeared in 1711. In the preface he declared his
intention of confining his attention to criticism and correction of the
text, and ignoring exegesis. Some of his 700 or 800 emendations have
been accepted, but the majority of them are now rejected as unnecessary
and prosaic, although the learning and ingenuity shown in their support
are remarkable. In 1716, in a letter to Dr Wake, archbishop of
Canterbury, he announced his design of preparing a critical edition of
the New Testament. During the next four years, assisted by J.J.
Wetstein, an eminent biblical critic, who claimed to have been the first
to suggest the idea to Bentley, he collected materials for the work, and
in 1720 published _Proposals for a New Edition of the Greek Testament_,
with specimens of the manner in which he intended to carry it out. He
proposed, by comparing the text of the Vulgate with that of the oldest
Greek MSS., to restore the Greek text as received by the church at the
time of the council of Nice. A large number of subscribers to the work
was obtained, but it was never completed. His _Terence_ (1726) is more
important than his _Horace_, and it is upon this, next to the
_Phalaris_, that his reputation mainly rests. Its chief value consists
in the novel treatment of the metrical questions and their bearing on
the emendation of the text. To the same year belong the _Fables_ of
Phaedrus and the _Sententiae_ of Publius Syrus. The _Paradise Lost_
(1732), undertaken at the suggestion of Queen Caroline, is generally
regarded as the most unsatisfactory of all his writings. It is marred by
the same rashness in emendation and lack of poetical feeling as his
Horace; but there is less excuse for him in this case, since the English
text could not offer the same field for conjecture. He put forward the
idea that Milton employed both an amanuensis and an editor, who were to
be held responsible for the clerical errors, alterations and
interpolations which Bentley professed to detect. It is uncertain
whether this was a device on the part of Bentley to excuse his own
numerous corrections, or whether he really believed in the existence of
this editor. Of the contemplated edition of Homer nothing was published;
all that remains of it consists of some manuscript and marginal notes in
the possession of Trinity College. Their chief importance lies in the
attempt to restore the metre by the insertion of the lost digamma. Among
his minor works may be mentioned: the _Astronomica_ of Manilius (1739),
for which he had been collecting materials since 1691; a letter on the
Sigean inscription on a marble slab found in the Troad, now in the
British Museum; notes on the _Theriaca_ of Nicander and on Lucan,
published after his death by Cumberland; emendations of Plautus (in his
copies of the editions by Pareus, Camerarius and Gronovius, edited by
Schröder, 1880, and Sonnenschein, 1883). _Bentleii Critica Sacra_
(1862), edited by A.A. Ellis, contains the epistle to the Galatians (and
excerpts), printed from an interleaved folio copy of the Greek and Latin
Vulgate in Trinity College. A collection of his _Opuscula Philologica_
was published at Leipzig in 1781. The edition of his works by Dyce
(1836-1838) is incomplete.

He had married in 1701 Joanna, daughter of Sir John Bernard of Brampton
in Huntingdonshire. Their union lasted forty years. Mrs Bentley died in
1740, leaving a son, Richard, and two daughters, one of whom married in
1728 Mr Denison Cumberland, grandson of Richard Cumberland, bishop of
Peterborough. Their son was Richard Cumberland, the dramatist.
Surrounded by his grandchildren, Dr Bentley experienced the joint
pressure of age and infirmity as lightly as is consistent with the lot
of humanity. He continued to amuse himself with reading; and though
nearly confined to his arm-chair, was able to enjoy the society of his
friends and several rising scholars, J. Markland, John Taylor, his
nephews Richard and Thomas Bentley, with whom he discussed classical
subjects. He was accustomed to say that he should live to be eighty,
adding that a life of that duration was long enough to read everything
worth reading. He fulfilled his own prediction, dying of pleurisy on the
14th of July 1742. Though accused by his enemies of being grasping, he
left not more than £5000 behind him. A few Greek MSS., brought from
Mount Athos, he left to the college library; his books and papers to his
nephew, Richard Bentley. Richard, who was a fellow of Trinity, at his
death in 1786 left the papers to the college library. The books,
containing in many cases valuable manuscript notes, were purchased by
the British Museum.

Of his personal habits some anecdotes are related by his grandson,
Richard Cumberland, in vol. i. of his _Memoirs_ (1807). The hat of
formidable dimensions, which he always wore during reading to shade his
eyes, and his preference of port to claret (which he said "would be port
if it could") are traits embodied in Pope's caricature (_Dunciad_, b.
4), which bears in other respects little resemblance to the original. He
did not take up the habit of smoking till he was seventy. He held the
archdeaconry of Ely with two livings, but never obtained higher
preference in the church. He was offered the (then poor) bishopric of
Bristol but refused it, and being asked what preferment he would
consider worth his acceptance, replied, "That which would leave him no
reason to wish for a removal."

Bentley was the first, perhaps the only, Englishman who can be ranked
with the great heroes of classical learning, although perhaps not a
great classical scholar. Before him there were only John Selden, and, in
a more restricted field, Thomas Gataker and Pearson. But Selden, a man
of stupendous learning, wanted the freshness of original genius and
confident mastery over the whole region of his knowledge. "Bentley
inaugurated a new era of the art of criticism. He opened a new path.
With him criticism attained its majority. Where scholars had hitherto
offered suggestions and conjectures, Bentley, with unlimited control
over the whole material of learning, gave decisions" (Mähly). The modern
German school of philology does ungrudging homage to his genius.
Bentley, says Bunsen, "was the founder of historical philology." And
Jakob Bernays says of his corrections of the _Tristia_, "corruptions
which had hitherto defied every attempt even of the mightiest, were
removed by a touch of the fingers of this British Samson." The English
school of Hellenists, by which the 18th century was distinguished, and
which contains the names of R. Dawes, J. Markland, J. Taylor, J. Toup,
T. Tyrwhitt, Richard Porson, P.P. Dobree, Thomas Kidd and J.H. Monk, was
the creation of Bentley. And even the Dutch school of the same period,
though the outcome of a native tradition, was in no small degree
stimulated and directed by the example of Bentley, whose letters to the
young Hemsterhuis on his edition of Julius Pollux produced so powerful
an effect on him, that he became one of Bentley's most devoted admirers.

Bentley was a source of inspiration to a following generation of
scholars. Himself, he sprang from the earth without forerunners, without
antecedents. Self-taught, he created his own science. It was his
misfortune that there was no contemporary gild of learning in England by
which his power could be measured, and his eccentricities checked. In
the _Phalaris_ controversy his academical adversaries had not sufficient
knowledge to know how absolute their defeat was. Garth's couplet--

  "So diamonds take a lustre from their foil,
   And to a Bentley 'tis we owe a Boyle"--

expressed the belief of the wits or literary world of the time. The
attacks upon him by Pope, John Arbuthnot and others are evidence of
their inability to appreciate his work. To them, textual criticism
seemed mere pedantry and useless labour. It was not only that he had to
live with inferiors, and to waste his energy in a struggle forced upon
him by the necessities of his official position, but the wholesome
stimulus of competition and the encouragement of a sympathetic circle
were wanting. In a university where the instruction of youth or the
religious controversy of the day were the only known occupations,
Bentley was an isolated phenomenon, and we can hardly wonder that he
should have flagged in his literary exertions after his appointment to
the mastership of Trinity. All his vast acquisitions and all his
original views seem to have been obtained before 1700. After this period
he acquired little and made only spasmodic efforts--the _Horace_, the
_Terence_ and the _Milton_. The prolonged mental concentration and
mature meditation, which alone can produce a great work, were wanting to
him.

  F.A. Wolf, _Literarische Analekten_, i. (1816); Monk, _Life of
  Bentley_ (1830); J. Mähly, _Richard Bentley, eine Biographie_ (1868);
  R.C. Jebb, _Bentley_ ("English Men of Letters" series, 1882), where a
  list of authorities bearing on Bentley's life and work is given. For
  his letters see _Bentlei et doctorum virorum ad eum Epistolae_ (1807);
  _The Correspondence of Richard Bentley_, edited by C. Wordsworth
  (1842). See also J.E. Sandys, _History of Classical Scholarship_, ii.
  401-410 (1908); and the _Bibliography of Bentley_, by A.T. Bartholomew
  and J.W. Clark (Cambridge, 1908).




BENTLEY, RICHARD (1794-1871), British publisher, was born in London in
1794. His father owned the _General Evening Post_ in conjunction with
John Nichols, to whom Richard Bentley, on leaving St Paul's school, was
apprenticed to learn the printing trade. With his brother SAMUEL
(1785-1868), an antiquarian of some repute, he set up a printing
establishment, but in 1829 he began business as a publisher in
partnership with Henry Colburn in New Burlington Street. Colburn retired
in 1832 and Bentley continued business on his own account. In 1837 he
began _Bentley's Miscellany_, edited for the first three years of its
existence by Charles Dickens, whose _Oliver Twist_, with Cruikshank's
illustrations, appeared in its pages. Bentley and his son GEORGE
(1828-1895), as Richard Bentley & Son, published works by R.H. Barham,
Theodore Hook, Isaac D'Israeli, Judge Haliburton and others; also the
"Library of Standard Novels" and the "Favourite Novel Library." In the
latter series Mrs Henry Wood's _East Lynne_ appeared. In 1866 the firm
took over the publication of _Temple Bar_, with which _Bentley's
Miscellany_ was afterwards incorporated. Richard Bentley died on the
10th of September 1871. His son, George Bentley, and his grandson,
Richard Bentley, junior, continued the business until it was absorbed
(1898) by Macmillan & Co.

  See also _R. Bentley & Son_ (Edinburgh, 1886), a history of the firm
  reprinted from _Le Livre_ (October, 1885).




BENTON, THOMAS HART (1782-1858), American statesman, was born at
Hillsborough, Orange county, North Carolina, on the 14th of March 1782.
His father, an Englishman of refinement and scholarship, died in 1790,
leaving the boy under the influence of a very superior mother, from whom
he received lessons in book learning, piety and temperance quite unusual
in the frontier country. His home studies, facilitated by his father's
fine library, were supplemented by a brief stay at the university of
North Carolina (Chapel Hill) in 1799. The family removed, probably in
this year, to a large tract of land which had been acquired by the
father on the outskirts of the Indian country (at Benton Town, now
Leipers Fork) near Franklin, Tennessee. The following years, during
which Benton was at various times school teacher, farmer, lawyer and
politician, were the distinctively formative period of his life. His
intense democracy and many features of his boldly cast personality were
perfectly representative of the border people among whom he lived;
although his education, social standing and force of character placed
him above his fellows. In 1809 he served a term as state senator.
Between 1815 and 1817 he transferred his interests to St Louis,
Missouri, and in 1820 was elected United States senator from the new
state. His senatorial career of thirty years (1821-1851) was one of
extreme prominence. A friendship early formed in Tennessee for Andrew
Jackson was broken in 1813 by an armed fracas between the principals and
their friends, but after the presidential election of 1824 Benton became
a Jacksonian Democrat and Jackson's close friend, and as such was long
the Democratic leader in the Senate, his power being greatest during
Jackson's second term. He continued to be the administration's
right-hand man under Van Buren, but gradually lost influence under Polk,
with whom he finally broke both personally and politically.

The events of Benton's political life are associated primarily with
three things: the second United States Bank, westward expansion and
slavery. In the long struggles over the bank, the deposits and the
"expunging resolution" (i.e. the resolution to expunge from the records
of the Senate the vote of censure of President Jackson for his removal
of the government deposits from the bank), Benton led the Jackson
Democrats. His opposition to a national bank and insistence on the
peculiar virtues of "hard money," whence his sobriquet of "Old Bullion,"
went back to his Tennessee days. In all that concerned the expansion of
the country and the fortunes of the West no public man was more
consistent or more influential than Benton, and none so clear of vision.
Reared on the border, and representing a state long the farthermost
outpost across the Mississippi in the Indian country, he held the
ultra-American views of his section as regarded foreign relations
generally, and the "manifest destiny" of expansion westward especially.
It was quite natural that he should advocate the removal westward of the
Indian tribes, should urge the encouragement of trade with Sante Fé (New
Mexico), and should oppose the abandonment in the Spanish treaty of 1819
of American claims to Texas. He once thought the Rocky Mountains the
proper western limit of the United States (1824), but this view he soon
outgrew. He was the originator of the policy of homestead laws by which
the public lands were used to promote the settlement of the west by
home-seekers. No other man was so early and so long active for
transcontinental railways. But Benton was not a land-grabber, whether in
the interest of slavery or of mere jingoism. In the case of Oregon, for
instance, he was firmly against joint occupation with Great Britain, but
he was always for the boundary of 49° and never joined in the
campaign-jingo cry of "Fifty-four Forty or Fight." It was he who chiefly
aided Polk in withdrawing from that untenable position. He despised
pretexts and intrigues. Both in the case of Oregon and in that of Texas,
though one of the earliest and most insistent of those who favoured
their acquisition, yet in the face of southern and western sentiment he
denounced the sordid and devious intrigues and politics connected with
their acquisition, and kept clear of these. For the same reason he
opposed the Mexican War, though not its prosecution once begun. In the
Texas question slavery was prominent. Toward slavery Benton held a
peculiarly creditable attitude. A southerner, he was a slaveholder; but
he seems to have gradually learned that slavery was a curse to the
South, for in 1844 he declared that he would not introduce it into Texas
lands "where it was never known," and in 1849 proclaimed that his
personal sentiments were "against the institution of slavery." In the
long struggle over slavery in the territories, following 1845, he was
for the extreme demands of neither section; not because he was timorous
or a compromiser,--no man was less of either,--but because he stood
unwaveringly for justice to both sections, never adopting exaggerated
views that must or even could be compromised. The truth is that he was
always a westerner before he was a southerner and a union man before all
things else; he was no whit less national than Webster. Hence his
distrust and finally hatred of Calhoun, dating from the nullification
episode of 1832-1833. As the South under Calhoun's lead became
increasingly sectional and aggressive, Benton increasingly lost sympathy
with her. Though he despised political inaction Abolitionists, and hated
their propaganda as inimical to the Union, he would not therefore close
the national mails to Abolition literature, nor abridge the right of
petition. No statesman was more prescient of the disunion tendencies of
Calhoun's policies, and as early as 1844 he prophetically denounced the
treason to the Union toward which the South was drifting. He would not
drift with her for the sake of slavery, and this was his political
undoing. In 1851 Missouri rejected him in his sixth candidacy for the
Senate, after he had been an autocrat in her politics for thirty years.
In 1852 he was elected to the House of Representatives, but his
opposition to the repeal of the Missouri Compromise caused his defeat in
1854. An unsuccessful campaign for the governorship of Missouri in 1856
ended his political career. He died at Washington on the 10th of April
1858.

Benton's entire career was eminently creditable, and he is, besides, one
of the most picturesque figures in American political history. His
political principles--whether as regarded lobbying, congressional
jobbing, civil service or great issues of legislation and foreign
affairs--were of the highest. He was so independent that he had great
dislike for caucuses, and despised party platforms--although he never
voted any but the Democratic ticket, even when his son-in-law, J.C.
Frémont, was the Republican presidential candidate in 1856; nor would he
accept instructions from the Missouri legislature. His career shows no
truckling to self-interest, and on large issues he outgrew partisanship.
Although palpably inferior to each of his great senatorial colleagues,
Webster, Clay and Calhoun, in some gifts, yet if character, qualities
and career be taken in the whole his were possibly the most creditable
of all. Benton was austere, aggressive and vain; besides, he had a fatal
deficiency of humour. Nevertheless he had great influence, which was a
deserved tribute to his ability and high character. An indefatigable
student, he treated all subjects capably, and especially in questions of
his country's history and the exploration of the West had few
equals--in the latter none. He acted always with uncalculating boldness,
and defended his acts with extraordinary courage and persistence. Benton
wrote a _Thirty Years' View ... of the American Government_ (2 vols.,
1854-1856), characteristic of the author's personality; it is of great
value for the history of his time. He also compiled an _Abridgment of
the Debates of Congress_, 1789-1850 (16 vols., 1857-1861), likewise of
great usefulness; and published a bitter review of the Dred Scott
decision full of extremely valuable historical details--_Historical and
Legal Examination of ... the Dred Scott Case_ (1857). All were written
in the last eight years of his life and mostly in the last three.

  The best biography is that by W.M. Meigs, _Life of Thomas Hart Benton_
  (Philadelphia and London, 1904). See also Theodore Roosevelt's _Thomas
  Hart Benton_ (Boston, 1887), in the "American Statesmen" series, which
  admirably brings out Benton's significance as a western man; and
  Joseph M. Rogers's _Thomas Hart Benton_ (Philadelphia, 1905) in the
  "American Crisis" series.




BENTON HARBOR, a city of Berrien county, Michigan, U.S.A., on the Saint
Joseph river, about 1 m. from Lake Michigan (with which it is connected
by a ship canal), near the S.W. corner of the state, and 1 m. N.E. of St
Joseph. Pop. (1890) 3692; (1900) 6562, of whom 795 were foreign-born;
(1904) 6702; (1910) 9185. It is served by the Père Marquette, the
Michigan Central, and the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St Louis
railways, by electric railways to St Joseph and Niles, Mich., and South
Bend, Indiana, and for a part of the year by steamboat lines to Chicago
and Milwaukee. One mile south-east of the city are a sanitarium and the
Eastman mineral springs; within the city also there are springs and
bath-houses. Near the city is a communistic religious community, the
Israelite House of David, founded in 1903, the members believe that they
are a part of the 144,000 elect (Revelation, vii, xiv) ultimately to be
redeemed. Benton Harbor has a large trade in fruit (peaches, grapes,
pears, cherries, strawberries, raspberries and apples) and other market
garden produce raised in the vicinity. The city's manufactures include
fruit baskets, preserved fruits, cider, vinegar, pickles, furniture,
lumber and stationers' supplies, particularly material for the
"loose-leaf ledger" system of accounting. Benton Harbor, which was known
as Bronson Harbor until 1865, was incorporated as a village in 1869, was
chartered as a city in 1891, and in 1903 received a new charter.




BENUE, a river of West Africa, the largest and most important affluent
of the Niger (q.v.), which it joins after a course of over 800 m. in a
general east to west direction from its source in the mountains of
Adamawa. Through the Tuburi marshes there is a water connexion between
the Benue (Niger) and Shari (Lake Chad) systems.




BEN VENUE, a mountain in south-west Perthshire, Scotland, 10 m. W. of
Callander. Its principal peaks are 2393 and 2386 ft. high, and, owing to
its position near the south-eastern shore of Loch Katrine, its imposing
contour is one of the most familiar features in the scenery of the
Trossachs, the mountain itself figuring prominently in _The Lady of the
Lake_. On its northern base, close to the lake, Sir Walter Scott placed
the Coir-nan-Uriskin, or "Goblin's Cave." Immediately to the south of
the cave is the dell called Beal(ach)-nam-Bo, or "Cattle Pass," through
which were driven to the refuge of the Trossachs the herds lifted by the
Highland marauders in their excursions to the lands south of Loch
Lomond. The pass, though comparatively unvisited, offers the grandest
scenery in the district.




BENZALDEHYDE (oil of bitter almonds), C6H5CHO, the simplest
representative of the aromatic aldehydes. It was first isolated in 1803
and was the subject of an important investigation by J. v. Liebigin 1837
(_Annalen_, 1837, 22, p. 1). It occurs naturally in the form of the
glucoside amygdalin (C20H27NO11), which is present in bitter almonds,
cherries, peaches and the leaves of the cherry laurel; and is obtained
from this substance by hydrolysis with dilute acids:

  C20H27NO11 + 2H2O = HCN + 2C6H12O6 + C6H5CHO.

It occurs free in bitter almonds, being formed by an enzyme
decomposition of amygdalin (q.v.). It may also be prepared by oxidizing
benzyl alcohol with concentrated nitric acid; by distilling a mixture of
calcium benzoate and calcium formate; by the condensation of
chlor-oxalic ester with benzene in the presence of aluminium chloride,
the ester of the ketonic acid formed being then hydrolysed and the
resulting acid distilled:

  C6H6 + Cl·CO·COOC2H5 = C6H5CO·COOC2H5 + HCl,
           C6H5CO·COOH = C6H5CHO + CO2;

by the action of anhydrous hydrocyanic acid and hydrochloric acid on
benzene, an aldime being formed as an intermediate product:

  C6H6 + HCN + HCl = C6H5CH : NH·HCl,
                 Benzaldine hydrochloride

  C6H5CH : NH·HCl + H2O = NH4Cl + C6H5CHO;

and by the action of chromium oxychloride on toluene dissolved in carbon
bisulphide (A. Etard, _Berichte_, 1884, 17, pp. 1462, 1700).

Technically it is prepared from toluene, by converting it into benzyl
chloride, which is then heated with lead nitrate:

  C6H5CH2Cl + Pb(NO3)2 = 2NO2 + PbCl·OH + C6H5CHO,

or, by conversion into benzal chloride, which is heated with milk of
lime under pressure.

  C6H5CHCl2 + CaO = CaCL2 + C6H5CHO.

E. Jacobsen has also obtained benzaldehyde by heating benzal chloride
with glacial acetic acid:

  C6H5CHCl2 + CH3COOH = CH3COCl + HCl + C6H5CHO.

Benzaldehyde is a colourless liquid smelling of bitter almonds. Its
specific gravity is 1.0636 (0/0° C.), and it boils at 179.1° C. (751.3
mm). It is only slightly soluble in water, but is readily volatile in
steam. It possesses all the characteristic properties of an aldehyde;
being readily oxidized to benzoic acid; reducing solutions of silver
salts; forming addition products with hydrogen, hydrocyanic acid and
sodium bisulphite; and giving an oxime and a hydrazone. On the other
hand, it differs from the aliphatic aldehydes in many respects; it does
not form an addition product with ammonia but condenses to
hydrobenzamide (C6H5CH)3N2; on shaking with alcoholic potash it
undergoes simultaneous oxidation and reduction, giving benzoic acid and
benzyl alcohol (S. Cannizzaro); and on warming with alcoholic potassium
cyanide it condenses to benzoin (q.v.).

The oxidation of benzaldehyde to benzoic acid when exposed to air is not
one of ordinary oxidation, for it has been observed in the case of many
compounds that during such oxidation, as much oxygen is rendered
"active" as is used up by the substance undergoing oxidation; thus if
benzaldehyde is left for some time in contact with air, water and
indigosulphonic acid, just as much oxygen is used up in oxidizing the
indigo compound as in oxidizing the aldehyde. A. v. Baeyer and V.
Villiger (_Berichte_, 1900, 33, pp. 858, 2480) have shown that benzoyl
hydrogen peroxide C6H5·CO·O·OH is formed as an intermediate product and
that this oxidizes the indigo compound, being itself reduced to benzoic
acid; they have also shown that this peroxide is soluble in benzaldehyde
with production of benzoic acid, and it must be assumed that the
oxidation of benzaldehyde proceeds as shown in the equations:

  C6H5CHO + O2 = C6H5·CO·O·OH,
  C6H5CO·O·OH + C6H5CHO = 2C6H5COOH.

  Further see G. Bodlander, _Ahrens Sammlung_, 1899, iii. 470; W.P.
  Jorissen, _Zeit. fur phys. Chem._, 1897, 22, p. 56; C. Engler and W.
  Wild, _Berichte_, 1897, 30, p. 1669.

The oxime of benzaldehyde (C6H5CH:N·OH), formed by the addition of
hydroxylamine to the aldehyde, exhibits a characteristic behaviour when
hydrochloric acid gas is passed into its ethereal solution, a second
modification being produced. The former (known as the [alpha] or
benz-anti-aldoxime) melts at 34-35° C.; the latter ([beta] or
benz-syn-aldoxime) melts at 130° C. and is slowly transformed into the
[alpha] form. The difference between the two forms has been explained by
A. Hantzsch and A. Werner (_Berichte_, 1890, 23, p. 11) by the assumption
of the different spatial arrangement of the atoms (see STEREO-ISOMERISM).
On account of the readiness with which it condenses with various
compounds, benzaldehyde is an important synthetic reagent. With aniline it
forms benzylidine aniline C6H5CH:N·C6H5, and with acetone, benzal acetone
C6H5CH : CH·CO·CH3. Heated with anhydrous sodium acetate and acetic
anhydride it gives cinnamic acid (q.v.); with ethyl bromide and sodium it
forms triphenyl-carbinol (C6H5)3C·OH; with dimethylaniline and anhydrous
zinc chloride it forms leuco-malachite green C6H5CH[C6H4N(CH3)2]2; and
with dimethylaniline and concentrated hydrochloric acid it gives
dimethylaminobenzhydrol, C6H5CH(OH)C6H4N(CH3)2. Heated with sulphur it
forms benzoic acid and stilbene:

  2C7H6O + S = C6H5COOH + C6H6CHS,
  2C6H5CHS = 2S + C14H12.

Its addition compound with hydrocyanic acid gives mandelic acid
C6H5CH(OH)·COOH on hydrolysis; when heated with sodium succinate and
acetic anhydride, phenyl-iso-crotonic acid C6H5CH : CH·CH2COOH is
produced, which on boiling is converted into [alpha]-naphthol C10H7OH.
It can also be used for the synthesis of pyridine derivatives, since A.
Hantzsch has shown that aldehydes condense with aceto-acetic ester and
ammonia to produce the homologues of pyridine, thus:

             R                       R
             |                       |
  ROOC·CH2   CHO   CH2·COOR   ROOC·C-CH-C·COOR
       |   +     +  |       =     ||   ||      + 3H2O.
   H3C·CO    NH3   CO·CH3     H3C·C-NH-C·CH3

On nitration it yields chiefly meta-nitro-benzaldehyde, crystallizing in
needles which melt at 58° C. The ortho-compound may be obtained by
oxidizing ortho-nitrocinnamic acid with alkaline potassium permanganate
in the presence of benzene; or from ortho-nitrobenzyl chloride by
condensing it with aniline, oxidizing the product so obtained to
ortho-nitrobenzylidine aniline, and then hydrolysing this compound with
an acid (_Farben fabrik d. Meister, Lucius und Brüning_). It
crystallizes in yellowish needles, which are volatile in steam and melt
at 46° C. It is used in the artificial production of indigo (see _German
Patent_ 19768).

Para-nitrobenzaldehyde crystallizes in prisms melting at 107° C. and is
prepared by the action of chromium oxychloride on para-nitrotoluene, or
by oxidizing para-nitrocinnamic acid. By the reduction of
ortho-nitrobenzaldehyde with ferrous sulphate and ammonia,
ortho-aminobenzaldehyde is obtained. This compound condenses in alkaline
solution with compounds containing the grouping -CH2-CO- to form
quinoline (q.v.) or its derivatives; thus, with acetaldehyde it forms
quinoline, and with acetone, [alpha]-methyl quinoline. With urea it
gives quinazolone

       CH
   /\ /  \\N
  |  |    |
  |  |    CO ,
   \/ \  /
       NH

and with mandelic nitrile and its homologues it forms oxazole
derivatives (S.S. Minovici, _Berichte_, 1896, 29, p. 2097).




BENZENE, C6H6, a hydrocarbon discovered in 1825 by Faraday in the liquid
produced in the compression of the illuminating gas obtained by
distilling certain oils and fats. E. Mitscherlich prepared it in 1834 by
distilling benzoic acid with lime; and in 1845 Hofmann discovered it in
coal-tar. It was named "benzin" or "benzine" by Mitscherlich in 1833,
but in the following year Liebig proposed "benzol" (the termination _ol_
being suggested by the Lat. _oleum_, oil); the form "benzene" was due to
A.W. Hofmann. The word "benzine" is sometimes used in commerce for the
coal-tar product, but also for the light petroleum better known as
petroleum-benzine; a similar ambiguity is presented by the word
"benzoline," which is applied to the same substances as the word
"benzine." "Benzene" is the term used by English chemists, "benzol" is
used in Germany, and "benzole" in France.

Benzene is manufactured from the low-boiling fractions of the coal-tar
distillate (see COAL-TAR). The first successful fractionation of
coal-tar naphtha was devised by C.B. Mansfield (1819-1855), who
separated a benzol distilling below 100° from a less volatile naphtha by
using a simple dephlegmator. At first, the oil was manufactured
principally for combustion in the Read-Holliday lamp and for dissolving
rubber, but the development of the coal-tar colour industry occasioned a
demand for benzols of definite purity. In the earlier stages 30%, 50%
and 90% benzols were required, the 30% being mainly used for the
manufacture of "aniline for red," and the 90% for "aniline for blue."
(The term "30% benzol" means that 30% by volume distils below 100°.) A
purer benzol was subsequently required for the manufacture of aniline
black and other dye-stuffs. The process originally suggested by
Mansfield is generally followed, the success of the operation being
principally conditioned by the efficiency of the dephlegmator, in which
various improvements have been made. The light oil fraction of the
coal-tar distillate, which comes over below 140° and consists
principally of benzene, toluene and the xylenes, yields on fractionation
(1) various volatile impurities such as carbon disulphide, (2) the
benzene fraction boiling at about 80° C., (3) the toluene fraction
boiling at 100°, (4) the xylene fraction boiling at 140°. The fractions
are agitated with strong sulphuric acid, and then washed with a caustic
soda solution. The washed products are then refractionated. The toluene
fraction requires a more thorough washing with sulphuric acid in order
to eliminate the thiotolene, which is sulphonated much less readily than
thiophene.

Benzene is a colourless, limpid, highly refracting liquid, having a
pleasing and characteristic odour. It may be solidified to rhombic
crystals which melt at 5.4° C. (Mansfield obtained perfectly pure
benzene by freezing a carefully fractionated sample.) It boils at 80.4°,
and the vapour is highly inflammable, the flame being extremely smoky.
Its specific gravity is 0.899 at 0° C. It is very slightly soluble in
water, more soluble in alcohol, and completely miscible with ether,
acetic acid and carbon disulphide. It is an excellent solvent for gums,
resins, fats, &c.; sulphur, phosphorus and iodine also dissolve in it.
It sometimes separates with crystals of a solute as "benzene of
crystallization," as for example with triphenylmethane, thio-p-tolyl
urea, tropine, &c.

Benzene is of exceptional importance commercially on account of the many
compounds derivable from it, which are exceedingly valuable in the arts.
Chemically it is one of the most interesting substances known, since it
is the parent of the enormous number of compounds styled the "aromatic"
or "benzenoid" compounds. The constitution of the benzene ring, the
isomerism of its derivatives, and their syntheses from aliphatic or
open-chain compounds, are treated in the article CHEMISTRY. A summary of
its chemical transformations may be given here, and reference should be
made to the articles on the separate compounds for further details.

Passed through a red-hot tube, benzene vapour yields hydrogen, diphenyl,
diphenylbenzenes and acetylene; the formation of the last compound is an
instance of a reversible reaction, since Berthelot found that acetylene
passed through a red-hot tube gave some benzene. Benzene is very stable
to oxidants, in fact resistance to oxidation is a strong characteristic
of the benzene ring. Manganese dioxide and sulphuric acid oxidize it to
benzoic and o-phthalic acid; potassium chlorate and sulphuric acid
breaks the ring; and ozone oxidizes it to the highly explosive white
solid named ozo-benzene, C6H6O6. Hydriodic acid reduces it to
hexamethylene (cyclo-hexane or hexa-hydro-benzene); chlorine and bromine
form substitution and addition products, but the action is slow unless
some carrier such as iodine, molybdenum chloride or ferric chloride for
chlorine, and aluminium bromide for bromine, be present. It is readily
nitrated to nitrobenzene, two, and even three nitro groups being
introduced if some dehydrator such as concentrated sulphuric acid be
present. Sulphuric acid gives a benzene sulphonic acid.




BENZIDINE (DIPARA-DIAMINO-DIPHENYL), NH2·C6H4·C6H4·NH2, a chemical base
which may be prepared by the reduction of the corresponding
dinitro-diphenyl, or by the reduction of azo-benzene with tin and
hydrochloric acid. In this latter case hydrazo-benzene C6H5NH·NH·C6H5 is
first formed and then undergoes a peculiar re-arrangement into benzidine
(see H. Schmidt and G. Schultz, _Annalen_, 1881, 207, p. 320; O.N. Witt
and Hans v. Helmont, _Berichte_, 1894, 27, p. 2352; P. Jacobson,
_Berichte_, 1892, 25, p. 994). Benzidine crystallizes in plates (from
water) which melt at 122° C., and boil above 360° C., and is
characterized by the great insolubility of its sulphate. It is a di-acid
base and forms salts with the mineral acids. It is readily brominated
and nitrated; when the nitration is carried out in the presence of
sulphuric acid, the nitro-groups take up the meta position with regard
to the amino-groups. Benzidine finds commercial application since its
tetrazo compound couples readily with amino-sulphonic acids, phenol
carboxylic acids, and phenol and naphthol-sulphonic acids to produce
substantive cotton dyes (see DYEING). Among such dyestuffs are
chrysamine or flavophenine, obtained from salicylic acid and diazotized
benzidine, and congo red obtained from sodium naphthionate and
diazotized benzidine. On the constitution of benzidine see G. Schultz
(_Annalen_, 1874, 174, p. 227).

_The Benzidine and Semidine Change._--Aromatic hydrazo compounds which
contain free para positions are readily converted by the action of
acids, acid chlorides and anhydrides into diphenyl derivatives; thus, as
mentioned above, hydrazo-benzene is converted into benzidine, a small
quantity of diphenylin being formed at the same time. The two products
are separated by the different solubilities of their sulphates. This
reaction is known as the _benzidine transformation_. If, however, one of
the para positions in the hydrazo compound is substituted, then either
diphenyl derivatives or azo compounds are formed, or what is known as
the _semidine change_ takes place (P. Jacobson, _Berichte_, 1892, 25, p.
992; 1893, 26, p. 681; 1896, 29, p. 2680; _Annalen_, 1895, 287, p. 97;
1898, 303, p. 290). A para mono substituted hydrazo compound in the
presence of a hydrochloric acid solution of stannous chloride gives
either a para diphenyl derivative (the substituent group being
eliminated), an ortho-semidine, a para-semidine, or a diphenyl base,
whilst a decomposition with the formation of amines may also take place.
The nature of the substituent exerts a specific influence on the
reaction; thus with chlorine or bromine, ortho-semidines and the
diphenyl bases are the chief products; the dimethylamino, -N(CH3)2, and
acetamino, -NHCOCH3, groups give the diphenyl base and the para-semidine
respectively. With a methyl group, the chief product is an
ortho-semidine, whilst with a carboxyl group, the diphenyl derivative is
the chief product. The ortho- and para- semidines can be readily
distinguished by their behaviour with different reagents; thus with
nitrous acid the ortho-semidines give azimido compounds, whilst the
para-semidines give complex diazo derivatives; with formic or acetic
acids the ortho-semidines give anhydro compounds of a basic character,
the para-semidines give acyl products possessing no basic character. The
carbon disulphide and salicylic aldehyde products have also been used as
means of distinction, as has also the formation of the stilbazonium
bases obtained by condensing ortho-semidines with benzil (O.N. Witt,
_Berichte_, 1892, 25, p. 1017).

Structurally we have:--

    __          __         __   __              __   __NH2
   /  \_NH·NH _/  \-->NH2 /  \_/  \NH2 and NH2 /  \_/  \
   \__/        \__/       \__/ \__/            \__/ \__/
     Hydrobenzene.        Benzidine.          Diphenylin.
    __          __      __      __      __      __
  R/  \_NH·NH _/  \--> /  \_NH_/  \or R/  \_NH_/  \NH2
   \__/        \__/    \__/    \__/    \__/    \__/
                      Ortho-semidine.  Para-semidine.

                                         __NH2__
                                     or /  \_/  \NH2.
                                        \__/ \__/
                                       R




BENZOIC ACID, C7H6O2 or C6H5COOH, the simplest representative of the
aromatic acids. It occurs naturally in some resins, especially in gum
benzoin (from _Styrax benzoin_), in dragon's blood, and as a benzyl
ester in Peru and Tolu balsams. It can be prepared by the oxidation of
toluene, benzyl alcohol, benzaldehyde and cinnamic acid; by the
oxidation of benzene with manganese dioxide and concentrated sulphuric
acid in the cold (L. Carius, _Ann_. 1868, 148, p. 51); by hydrolysis of
benzonitrile or of hippuric acid; by the action of carbon dioxide on
benzene in the presence of aluminium chloride (C. Friedel and J.M.
Crafts, _Ann. chim. phys._ 1888 [6], 14, p. 441); by the action of
carbon dioxide on monobrombenzene in the presence of sodium; by
condensing benzene and carbonyl chloride in presence of aluminium
chloride, the benzoyl chloride formed being subsequently hydrolysed; and
similarly from benzene and chlorformamide:--

  C6H6 + Cl·CONH2 = HCl + C6H5CONH2,

the benzamide being then hydrolysed. It may also be prepared by boiling
benzyl chloride with dilute nitric acid (G. Lunge, _Berichte_, 1877, 10,
p. 1275); by fusing sodium benzene sulphonate with sodium formate:
C6H5SO3Na + HCO2Na = C6H5COONa + NaHSO3; by heating calcium phthalate
with calcium hydroxide to 330°-350° C.; by heating benzotrichloride with
water in a sealed tube, and from the hippuric acid which is found in the
urine of the herbivorae. For this purpose the urine is concentrated and
the hippuric acid precipitated by the addition of hydrochloric acid; it
is then filtered and boiled for some time with concentrated hydrochloric
acid, when it is hydrolysed into benzoic and amido-acetic acid. It is
made commercially by boiling benzotrichloride (obtained from toluene)
with milk of lime, the calcium benzoate so obtained being then
decomposed by hydrochloric acid

  2C6H5CCl3 + 4Ca(OH)2 = (C6H5COO)2Ca + 3CaCl2 + 4H2O.

Benzoic acid crystallizes in glistening leaflets (from water) which melt
at 121.4° C. and boil at 249.2° C. (H. Kopp). Its specific heat is
0.1946. It sublimes readily and is volatile in steam. It is readily
soluble in hot water and the ordinary organic solvents, but is only
slightly soluble in cold water. When heated with lime, it is decomposed,
benzene being formed; if its vapours are passed over heated zinc dust,
it is converted into benzaldehyde (A. Baeyer, _Ann_. 1866, 140, p. 296).
Distillation of its calcium salt gives benzophenone (q.v.) with small
quantities of other substances, but if the calcium salt be mixed with
calcium formate and the mixture distilled, benzaldehyde is produced. By
the action of sodium amalgam on an aqueous solution of the acid, benzyl
alcohol, tetrahydrobenzoic acid and hexahydrobenzoic acid are formed.
The salts of benzoic acid are known as the benzoates and are mostly
soluble in water. They are readily decomposed by mineral acids with the
production of benzoic acid, and on addition of ferric chloride to their
neutral solutions give a reddish-brown precipitate of ferric benzoate.

Benzoic anhydride, (C6H5CO)2O, is prepared by the action of benzoyl
chloride on sodium benzoate, or by heating benzoyl chloride with
anhydrous oxalic acid (R. Anschütz, _Ann_. 1884, 226, p. 15). It
crystallizes in needles, melting at 42° C., and boiling at 360° C. It is
insoluble in water but readily soluble in alcohol and ether.

Benzoyl chloride, C6H5COCl, is formed by distilling a mixture of
phosphorus pentachloride and benzoic acid; by the action of chlorine on
benzaldehyde, or by passing a stream of hydrochloric acid gas over a
mixture of benzoic acid and phosphorus pentoxide heated to 200° C. (C.
Friedel, _Ber._ 1869, 2, p. 80). It is a colourless liquid of very
unpleasant smell, which boils at 198° C., and solidifies in a freezing
mixture, the crystals obtained melting at -1° C. It shows all the
characteristic properties of an acid chloride.

Ethyl benzoate, C6H5COOC2H5, is best prepared by boiling benzoic acid
and alcohol with a small quantity of sulphuric acid for some hours (E.
Fischer and A. Speier, _Berichte_, 1896, 28, p. 3252). It is a
colourless liquid of boiling point 213° C.

_Benzamide_, C6H5CONH2, is prepared by the action of benzoyl chloride on
ammonia or ammonium carbonate, or from ethyl benzoate and ammonia. It
crystallizes (from water) in glistening leaflets which melt at 130° C.
and boil at 288° C. Its silver salt behaves as if it were the salt of an
imido benzoic acid, since it yields benzimido ethyl ether
C6H5·C( : NH)·OC2H5 with ethyl iodide (J. Tafel and C. Enoch, _Berichte_,
1890, 23, p. 1550).

Chlor-, brom-, iodo- and fluor-benzoic acids are known and can be
obtained by oxidizing the corresponding halogen toluenes, or from the
amido acids, or by substitution. Nitration of benzoic acid gives chiefly
meta-nitro-benzoic acid. The ortho- and para-nitro-benzoic acids can be
obtained by oxidizing ortho-and para-nitro-cinnamic acids.
Ortho-amino-benzoic acid, C6H4·NH2·COOH (anthranilic acid), is closely
related to indigo (q.v.).

Gum benzoin, which contains from 12 to 20% of benzoic acid, is used in
medicine as the essential constituent of benzoated lard, _Adeps
benzoatus_, which owes its antiseptic properties to benzoic acid; and in
friar's balsam, _Tinctura benzoini composita_, which is an ancient and
valuable medicament, still largely used for inhalation in cases of
laryngitis, bronchitis and other inflammatory or actually septic
conditions of the respiratory tract. It owes its value to the benzoic
acid which it contains. A fluid drachm of friar's balsam may be added to
a pint of water at a temperature of about 140° F., and the resultant
vapour may be inhaled from the spout of a kettle or from a special
inhaler. Benzoic acid itself, ammonium benzoate and sodium benzoate are
all administered internally in doses of from five to thirty grains. The
ammonium salt is most often employed, owing to the stimulant character
of the ammonium base. The acid itself is a powerful antiseptic. When
administered internally, it causes the appearance of hippuric acid in
the urine. This is due to its combination in the body with glycocoll.
The combination probably occurs in the kidney. The hippuric acid in the
urine acts as a stimulant and disinfectant to the urinary mucous
membrane. Benzoic acid is also excreted by the bronchi and tends to
disinfect and stimulate the bronchial mucous membrane. Hence the value
of friar's balsam. The acid and its salts are antipyretic and were used
in Germany instead of salicylates in rheumatic fever. But the most
important fact is that ammonium benzoate is largely used--often in
combination with urinary anodynes such as tincture of hyoscyamus--as a
urinary antiseptic in cases of cystitis (inflammation of the bladder)
and pyelitis (inflammation of the pelvis of the kidney).




BENZOIN, C6H5CHOH·CO·C6H5, a ketone-alcohol, which may be prepared by
boiling an alcoholic solution of benzaldehyde with potassium cyanide; by
reducing benzil (C6H5CO·CO·C6H5) with zinc and acetic acid; or by the
oxidation of hydrobenzoin (C6H5·CHOH·CHOH·C6H5). It is a colourless,
crystalline solid, readily soluble in alcohol and ether, melting at 137°
C. and boiling at 343-344° C. On passing the vapour of benzoin over
heated lead oxide, it is converted into benzil and benzophenone. Owing
to the readiness with which it is oxidized, it acts as a reducing agent,
giving a red precipitate of cuprous oxide with Fehling's solution in the
cold. Chlorine and nitric acid oxidize it to benzil; chromic acid
mixture and potassium permanganate, to benzoic acid and benzaldehyde. On
heating with zinc dust, desoxy-benzoin (C6H5CO·CH2·C6H5) is obtained;
sodium amalgam converts it into hydrobenzoin; and fuming hydriodic acid
at 130° C. gives dibenzyl (C6H5CH2·CH2·C6H5). By fusion with alkali it
is converted into benzil; and with an alcoholic solution of benzaldehyde
in presence of ammonia it forms amarine (triphenyl dihydro-glyoxaline).
In the presence of sulphuric acid it condenses with nitriles to oxazoles
(q.v.).




BENZOIN, or GUM BENJAMIN (supposed to be from Arab. _luban_,
frankincense, the first syllable being dropped in Romanic as if it were
the article), a balsamic resin obtained from _Styrax benzoin_, a tree of
considerable size, native to Sumatra and Java, and from other species of
_Styrax_. It is obtained by making incisions in the bark of the trees,
and appears to be formed as the result of the wound, not to be secreted
normally. There are several varieties of benzoin in commerce: (1) Siam
benzoin, which apparently does not come from _Styrax benzoin_, is the
finest and most aromatic, and occurs in the form of small "tears,"
rarely exceeding 2 in. in length by ½ in. in thickness, and of "blocks"
made up of these tears agglomerated by a clear reddish-brown resin. The
odour of Siam benzoin is partly due to the presence of vanillin, and the
substance contains as much as 38% of benzoic acid but no cinnamic acid.
(2) Sumatra benzoin occurs only in masses formed of dull red resin
enclosing white tears. It contains about 20% of cinnamic acid in
addition to 18 or even more of benzoic. (3) Palembang benzoin, an
inferior variety, said to be obtained from _Styrax benzoin_ in Sumatra,
consists of greyish translucent resinous masses, containing small white
opaque tears. It does not appear to contain cinnamic acid. Large
quantities of benzoin are used as incense. Its medicinal uses depend on
the contained benzoic acid (q.v.).




BENZOPHENONE (DIPHENYL KETONE), C6H5·CO·C6H5, the simplest
representative of the true aromatic ketones. It may be prepared by
distilling calcium benzoate; by condensing benzene with benzoyl chloride
in the presence of anhydrous aluminium chloride; by the action of
mercury diphenyl on benzoyl chloride, or by oxidizing diphenylmethane
with chromic acid. It is a dimorphous substance existing in two
enantiotropic forms, one melting at 26° C. and the other at 48° C: (Th.
Zmcke, _Berichte_, 1871, 4, p. 576). It boils at 306.1° C., under a
pressure of 760.32 mm. It is reduced by sodium amalgam to _benzhydrol_
or _diphenyl carbinol_ C6H5·CHOH·C6H5; a stronger reducing agent, such
as hydriodic acid in the presence of amorphous phosphorus converts it
into _diphenylmethane_ (C6H5)2-CH2. Potash fusion converts it into
benzene and benzoic acid. With phenylhydrazine it forms a hydrazone, and
with hydroxylamine an oxime, which exists in one form only; if, however,
one of the phenyl groups in the oxime be substituted in any way then two
stereo-isomeric oximes are produced (cf. STEREO-ISOMERISM); thus
parachlorbenzophenone oxime exists in two different forms (V. Meyer and
K.F. Auwers, _Berichte_, 1890, 23, p. 2403). Many derivatives are known,
thus ortho-amino-benzophenone, melting at 106° C., can be obtained by
reduction of the corresponding nitro compound; it condenses under the
influence of heated lead monoxide to an acridine derivative and with
acetone in presence of caustic soda it gives a quinoline.
_Tetramethyl-diamido-benzophenone_ or _Michler's ketone_,
CO[C6H4N·(CH3)2]3, melting at 173°, is of technical importance, as by
condensation with various substances it can be made to yield dye-stuffs.
It is prepared by the action of carbonyl chloride on dimethyl aniline in
the presence of aluminium chloride: COCl2 + 2C6H5N(CH3)2 = 2HCl +
CO[C6H4N(CH3)2]2.




BENZYL ALCOHOL (PHENYL CARBINOL), C6H5CH2OH, occurs as a benzoic ester
in Peru balsam, as cinnamic ester in Tolu balsam, as acetic ester in
essential oil of jasmine, and also in storax. It may be synthetically
prepared by the reduction of benzoyl chloride; by the action of nitrous
acid on benzylamine; by boiling benzyl chloride with an aqueous solution
of potassium carbonate, or by the so-called "Cannizzaro" reaction, in
which benzaldehyde is shaken up with caustic potash, one half of the
aldehyde being oxidized to benzoic acid, and the other half reduced to
the alcohol. (_Berichte_, 1881, 14, p. 2394).

 2C6H5CHO + KOH = C6H5COOK + C6H5CH2OH.

It is a colourless liquid, with a faint aromatic smell, and boils at
206° C. On oxidation with nitric acid it is converted into benzaldehyde,
whilst chromic acid oxidizes it to benzoic acid. Reduction by means of
hydriodic acid and phosphorus at 140° C. gives toluene, whilst on
distillation with alcoholic potash, toluene and benzoic acid are formed.




BEOTHUK, a tribe of North American Indians formerly dwelling in the
interior of Newfoundland. A certain mystery attaches to them, since
investigation of the few words of their language which have survived
suggests that they were of distinct stock. The name (of Micmac origin)
is said to mean simply "red men." They were bitterly hostile to the
French settlers, and were hunted down and killed off until 1820, when a
few survivors made their escape into Labrador. The last of them is
believed to have died in 1829.




BEÖTHY, ÖDÖN (1796-1854), Hungarian deputy and orator, was born at
Grosswardein, his father being a retired officer and deputy
lord-lieutenant of the county of Bihar. At the age of sixteen he served
in the war against Napoleon, and was present at the great battle of
Leipzig. Like so many others of his compatriots, he picked up Liberal
ideas abroad. He was sent to parliament by his county in 1826 and again
in 1830, but did not become generally known till the session of
1832-1836, when along with Deák he, as a liberal Catholic, defended the
Protestant point of view in "the mixed marriages question." He was also
an energetic advocate of freedom of speech. After parliament rose he
carried his principles to their logical conclusion by marrying a
Protestant lady and, being denied a blessing on the occasion by an
indignant bishop, publicly declared that he could very well dispense
with such blessings. In 1841 he was elected deputy lord-lieutenant of
his county to counteract the influence of the lord-lieutenant, Lajos
Tisza, and powerfully promoted the popular cause by his eloquence and
agitation. After 1843 the conservatives succeeded in excluding him both
from parliament and from his official position in the county; but during
the famous "March Days" (1848) he regained all his authority, becoming
at the same time a commander of militia, a deputy and lord-lieutenant.
At the first session of the Upper House (5th of July 1848), he moved
that it should be radically reformed, and during the war of Independence
he energetically served the Hungarian government as a civil commissioner
and lord justice. Towards the end of the war he reappeared as a deputy
at the Szeged diet, and on the flight of the government took refuge
first with Richard Cobden in London and subsequently in Jersey, where he
made the acquaintance of Victor Hugo. Thence he went to Hamburg, to meet
his wife, and died there on the 7th of December 1854. Beöthy was a man
of extraordinary ability and character, and an excellent debater. He
also exercised as much influence socially over his contemporaries as
politically, owing to his unfailing tact and pleasant wit.

  See Antal Csengery, _Hungarian Orators and Statesmen_ (Hung.,
  Budapest, 1851).     (R. N. B.)




BEOWULF. The epic of Beowulf, the most precious relic of Old English,
and, indeed, of all early Germanic literature, has come down to us in a
single MS., written about A.D. 1000, which contains also the Old English
poem of Judith, and is bound up with other MSS. in a volume in the
Cottonian collection now at the British Museum. The subject of the poem
is the exploits of Beowulf, son of Ecgtheow and nephew of Hygelac, king
of the "Geatas," i.e. the people, called in Scandinavian records Gautar,
from whom a part of southern Sweden has received its present name
Götland.

_The Story._--The following is a brief outline of the story, which
naturally divides itself into five parts.

1. Beowulf, with fourteen companions, sails to Denmark, to offer his
help to Hrothgar, king of the Danes, whose hall (called "Heorot") has
for twelve years been rendered uninhabitable by the ravages of a
devouring monster (apparently in gigantic human shape) called Grendel, a
dweller in the waste, who used nightly to force an entrance and
slaughter some of the inmates. Beowulf and his friends are feasted in
the long-deserted Heorot. At night the Danes withdraw, leaving the
strangers alone. When all but Beowulf are asleep, Grendel enters, the
iron-barred doors having yielded in a moment to his hand. One of
Beowulf's friends is killed; but Beowulf, unarmed, wrestles with the
monster, and tears his arm from the shoulder. Grendel, though mortally
wounded, breaks from the conqueror's grasp, and escapes from the hall.
On the morrow, his bloodstained track is followed until it ends in a
distant mere.

2. All fear being now removed, the Danish king and his followers pass
the night in Heorot, Beowulf and his comrades being lodged elsewhere.
The hall is invaded by Grendel's mother, who kills and carries off one
of the Danish nobles. Beowulf proceeds to the mere, and, armed with
sword and corslet, plunges into the water. In a vaulted chamber under
the waves, he fights with Grendel's mother, and kills her. In the vault
he finds the corpse of Grendel; he cuts off the head, and brings it back
in triumph.

3. Richly rewarded by Hrothgar, Beowulf returns to his native land. He
is welcomed by Hygelac. and relates to him the story of his adventures,
with some details not contained in the former narrative. The king
bestows on him lands and honours, and during the reigns of Hygelac and
his son Heardred he is the greatest man in the kingdom. When Heardred is
killed in battle with the Swedes, Beowulf becomes king in his stead.

4. After Beowulf has reigned prosperously for fifty years, his country
is ravaged by a fiery dragon, which inhabits an ancient burial-mound,
full of costly treasure. The royal hall itself is burned to the ground.
The aged king resolves to fight, unaided, with the dragon. Accompanied
by eleven chosen warriors, he journeys to the barrow. Bidding his
companions retire to a distance, he takes up his position near the
entrance to the mound--an arched opening whence issues a boiling stream.
I The dragon hears Beowulf's shout of defiance, and rushes forth,
breathing flames. The fight begins; Beowulf is all but overpowered, and
the sight is so terrible that his men, all but one, seek safety in
flight. The young Wiglaf, son of Weohstan, though yet untried in battle,
cannot, even in obedience to his lord's prohibition, refrain from going
to his help. With Wiglaf's aid, Beowulf slays the dragon, but not before
he has received his own death-wound. Wiglaf enters the barrow, and
returns to show the dying king the treasures that he has found there.
With his last breath Beowulf names Wiglaf his successor, and ordains
that his ashes shall be enshrined in a great mound, placed on a lofty
cliff, so that it may be a mark for sailors far out at sea.

5. The news of Beowulf's dear-bought victory is carried to the army.
Amid great lamentation, the hero's body is laid on the funeral pile and
consumed. The treasures of the dragon's hoard are buried with his ashes;
and when the great mound is finished, twelve of Beowulf's most famous
warriors ride around it, celebrating the praises of the bravest,
gentlest and most generous of kings.

_The Hero._--Those portions of the poem that are summarized above--that
is to say, those which relate the career of the hero in progressive
order--contain a lucid and well-constructed story, told with a vividness
of imagination and a degree of narrative skill that may with little
exaggeration be called Homeric. And yet it is probable that there are
few readers of Beowulf who have not felt--and there are many who after
repeated perusal continue to feel--that the general impression produced
by it is that of a bewildering chaos. This effect is due to the
multitude and the character of the episodes. In the first place, a very
great part of what the poem tells about Beowulf himself is not presented
in regular sequence, but by way of retrospective mention or narration.
The extent of the material thus introduced out of course may be seen
from the following abstract.

When seven years old the orphaned Beowulf was adopted by his grandfather
king Hrethel, the father of Hygelac, and was regarded by him with as
much affection as any of his own sons. In youth, although famed for his
wonderful strength of grip, he was generally despised as sluggish and
unwarlike. Yet even before his encounter with Grendel, he had won renown
by his swimming contest with another youth named Breca, when after
battling for seven days and nights with the waves, and slaying many
sea-monsters, he came to land in the country of the Finns. In the
disastrous invasion of the land of the Hetware, in which Hygelac was
killed, Beowulf killed many of the enemy, amongst them a chieftain of
the Hugas, named Daeghrefn, apparently the slayer of Hygelac. In the
retreat he once more displayed his powers as a swimmer, carrying to his
ship the armour of thirty slain enemies. When he reached his native
land, the widowed queen offered him the kingdom, her son Heardred being
too young to rule. Beowulf, out of loyalty, refused to be made king, and
acted as the guardian of Heardred during his minority, and as his
counsellor after he came to man's estate. By giving shelter to the
fugitive Eadgils, a rebel against his uncle the king of the "Sweon" (the
Swedes, dwelling to the north of the Gautar), Heardred brought on
himself an invasion, in which he lost his life. When Beowulf became
king, he supported the cause of Eadgils by force of arms; the king of
the Swedes was killed, and his nephew placed on the throne.

_Historical Value._--Now, with one brilliant exception--the story of the
swimming-match, which is felicitously introduced and finely told--these
retrospective passages are brought in more or less awkwardly, interrupt
inconveniently the course of the narrative, and are too condensed and
allusive in style to make any strong poetic impression. Still, they do
serve to complete the portraiture of the hero's character. There are,
however, many other episodes that have nothing to do with Beowulf
himself, but seem to have been inserted with a deliberate intention of
making the poem into a sort of cyclopaedia of Germanic tradition. They
include many particulars of what purports to be the history of the royal
houses, not only of the Gautar and the Danes, but also of the Swedes,
the continental Angles, the Ostrogoths, the Frisians and the
Heathobeards, besides references to matters of unlocalized heroic story
such as the exploits of Sigismund. The Saxons are not named, and the
Franks appear only as a dreaded hostile power. Of Britain there is no
mention; and though there are some distinctly Christian passages, they
are so incongruous in tone with the rest of the poem that they must be
regarded as interpolations. In general the extraneous episodes have no
great appropriateness to their context, and have the appearance of being
abridged versions of stories that had been related at length in poetry.
Their confusing effect, for modern readers, is increased by a curiously
irrelevant prologue. It begins by celebrating the ancient glories of the
Danes, tells in allusive style the story of Scyld, the founder of the
"Scylding" dynasty of Denmark, and praises the virtues of his son
Beowulf. If this Danish Beowulf had been the hero of the poem, the
opening would have been appropriate; but it seems strangely out of place
as an introduction to the story of his namesake.

However detrimental these redundancies may be to the poetic beauty of
the epic, they add enormously to its interest for students of Germanic
history or legend. If the mass of traditions which it purports to
contain be genuine, the poem is of unique importance as a source of
knowledge respecting the early history of the peoples of northern
Germany and Scandinavia. But the value to be assigned to _Beowulf_ in
this respect can be determined only by ascertaining its probable date,
origin and manner of composition. The criticism of the Old English epic
has therefore for nearly a century been justly regarded as indispensable
to the investigation of Germanic antiquities.

The starting-point of all _Beowulf_ criticism is the fact (discovered by
N.F.S. Grundtvig in 1815) that one of the episodes of the poem belongs
to authentic history. Gregory of Tours, who died in 594, relates that in
the reign of Theodoric of Metz (511-534) the Danes invaded the kingdom,
and carried off many captives and much plunder to their ships. Their
king, whose name appears in the best MSS. as Chlochilaicus (other copies
read Chrochilaicus, Hrodolaicus, &c.), remained on shore intending to
follow afterwards, but was attacked by the Franks under Theodobert, son
of Theodoric, and killed. The Franks then defeated the Danes in a naval
battle, and recovered the booty. The date of these events is ascertained
to have been between 512 and 520. An anonymous history written early in
the eighth century (_Liber Hist. Francorum_, cap. 19) gives the name of
the Danish king as Chochilaicus, and says that he was killed in the land
of the Attoarii. Now it is related in _Beowulf_ that Hygelac met his
death in fighting against the Franks and the Hetware (the Old English
form of Attoarii). The forms of the Danish king's name given by the
Frankish historians are corruptions of the name of which the primitive
Germanic form was Hugilaikaz, and which by regular phonetic change
became in Old English _Hygelac_, and in Old Norse Hugleikr. It is true
that the invading king is said in the histories to have been a Dane,
whereas the Hygelac of Beowulf belonged to the "Geatas" or Gautar. But a
work called _Liber Monstrorum_,[1] preserved in two MSS. of the 10th
century, cites as an example of extraordinary stature a certain
"Huiglaucus, king of the Getae," who was killed by the Franks, and whose
bones were preserved on an island at the mouth of the Rhine, and
exhibited as a marvel. It is therefore evident that the personality of
Hygelac, and the expedition in which, according to _Beowulf_, he died,
belong not to the region of legend or poetic invention, but to that of
historic fact.

This noteworthy result suggests the possibility that what the poem tells
of Hygelac's near relatives, and of the events of his reign and that of
his successor, is based on historic fact. There is really nothing to
forbid the supposition; nor is there any unlikelihood in the view that
the persons mentioned as belonging to the royal houses of the Danes and
Swedes had a real existence. It can be proved, at any rate, that several
of the names are derived from the native traditions of these two
peoples. The Danish king Hrothgar and his brother Halga, the sons of
Healf-dene, appear in the _Historia Danica_ of Saxo as Roe (the founder
of Roskilde) and Helgo, the sons of Haldanus. The Swedish princes
Eadgils, son of Ohthere, and Onela, who are mentioned in _Beowulf_, are
in the Icelandic _Heimskringla_ called Adils son of Ottarr, and Ali; the
correspondence of the names, according to the phonetic laws of Old
English and Old Norse, being strictly normal. There are other points of
contact between _Beowulf_ on the one hand and the Scandinavian records
on the other, confirming the conclusion that the Old English poem
contains much of the historical tradition of the Gautar, the Danes and
the Swedes, in its purest accessible form.

Of the hero of the poem no mention has been found elsewhere. But the
name (the Icelandic form of which is Bjolfr) is genuinely Scandinavian.
It was borne by one of the early settlers in Iceland, and a monk named
Biuulf is commemorated in the _Liber Vitae_ of the church of Durham. As
the historical character of Hygelac has been proved, it is not
unreasonable to accept the authority of the poem for the statement that
his nephew Beowulf succeeded Heardred on the throne of the Gautar, and
interfered in the dynastic quarrels of the Swedes. His swimming exploit
among the Hetware, allowance being made for poetic exaggeration, fits
remarkably well into the circumstances of the story told by Gregory of
Tours; and perhaps his contest with Breca may have been an exaggeration
of a real incident in his career; and even if it was originally related
of some other hero, its attribution to the historical Beowulf may have
been occasioned by his renown as a swimmer.

On the other hand, it would be absurd to imagine that the combats with
Grendel and his mother and with the fiery dragon can be exaggerated
representations of actual occurrences. These exploits belong to the
domain of pure mythology. That they have been attributed to Beowulf in
particular might seem to be adequately accounted for by the general
tendency to connect mythical achievements with the name of any famous
hero. There are, however, some facts that seem to point to a more
definite explanation. The Danish king "Scyld Scefing," whose story is
told in the opening lines of the poem, and his son Beowulf, are plainly
identical with Sceldwea, son of Sceaf, and his son Beaw, who appear
among the ancestors of Woden in the genealogy of the kings of Wessex
given in the _Old English Chronicle_. The story of Scyld is related,
with some details not found in _Beowulf_, by William of Malmesbury, and,
less fully, by the 10th-century English historian Ethelwerd, though it
is told not of Scyld himself, but of his father Sceaf. According to
William's version, Sceaf was found, as an infant, alone in a boat
without oars, which had drifted to the island of "Scandza." The child
was asleep with his head on a _sheaf_, and from this circumstance he
obtained his name. When he grew up he reigned over the Angles at
"Slaswic." In _Beowulf_ the same story is told of Scyld, with the
addition that when he died his body was placed in a ship, laden with
rich treasure, which was sent out to sea unguided. It is clear that in
the original form of the tradition the name of the foundling was Scyld
or Sceldwea, and that his cognomen _Scefing_ (derived from _sceaf_, a
sheaf) was misinterpreted as a patronymic. Sceaf, therefore, is no
genuine personage of tradition, but merely an etymological figment.

The position of Sceldwea and Beaw (in Malmesbury's Latin called Sceldius
and Beowius) in the genealogy as anterior to Woden would not of itself
prove that they belong to divine mythology and not to heroic legend. But
there are independent reasons for believing that they were originally
gods or demi-gods. It is a reasonable conjecture that the tales of
victories over Grendel and the fiery dragon belong properly to the myth
of Beaw. If Beowulf, the champion of the Gautar, had already become a
theme of epic song, the resemblance of name might easily suggest the
idea of enriching his story by adding to it the achievements of Beaw. At
the same time, the tradition that the hero of these adventures was a son
of Scyld, who was identified (whether rightly or wrongly) with the
eponymus of the Danish dynasty of the Scyldings, may well have prompted
the supposition that they took place in Denmark. There is, as we shall
see afterwards, some ground for believing that there were circulated in
England two rival poetic versions of the story of the encounters with
supernatural beings: the one referring them to Beowulf the Dane, while
the other (represented by the existing poem) attached them to the legend
of the son of Ecgtheow, but ingeniously contrived to do some justice to
the alternative tradition by laying the scene of the Grendel incident at
the court of a Scylding king.

As the name of Beaw appears in the genealogies of English kings, it
seems likely that the traditions of his exploits may have been brought
over by the Angles from their continental home. This supposition is
confirmed by evidence that seems to show that the Grendel legend was
popularly current in this country. In the schedules of boundaries
appended to two Old English charters there occurs mention of pools
called "Grendel's mere," one in Wiltshire and the other in
Staffordshire. The charter that mentions the Wiltshire "Grendel's mere"
speaks also of a place called _Beowan ham_ ("Beowa's home"), and another
Wiltshire charter has a "Scyld's tree" among the landmarks enumerated.
The notion that ancient burial mounds were liable to be inhabited by
dragons was common in the Germanic world: there is perhaps a trace of it
in the Derbyshire place-name Drakelow, which means "dragon's barrow."

While, however, it thus appears that the mythic part of the Beowulf
story is a portion of primeval Angle tradition, there is no proof that
it was originally peculiar to the Angles; and even if it was so, it may
easily have passed from them into the poetic cycles of the related
peoples. There are, indeed, some reasons for suspecting that the
blending of the stories of the mythic Beaw and the historical Beowulf
may have been the work of Scandinavian and not of English poets. Prof.
G. Sarrazin has pointed out the striking resemblance between the
Scandinavian legend of Bödvarr Biarki and that of the Beowulf of the
poem. In each, a hero from Gautland slays a destructive monster at the
court of a Danish king, and afterwards is found fighting on the side of
Eadgils (Adils) in Sweden. This coincidence cannot well be due to mere
chance; but its exact significance is doubtful. On the one hand, it is
possible that the English epic, which unquestionably derived its
historical elements from Scandinavian song, may be indebted to the same
source for its general plan, including the blending of history and myth.
On the other hand, considering the late date of the authority for the
Scandinavian traditions, we cannot be sure that the latter may not owe
some of their material to English minstrels. There are similar
alternative possibilities with regard to the explanation of the striking
resemblances which certain incidents of the adventures with Grendel and
the dragon bear to incidents in the narratives of Saxo and the Icelandic
sagas.

_Date and Origin._--It is now time to speak of the probable date and
origin of the poem. The conjecture that most naturally presents itself
to those who have made no special study of the question, is that an
English epic treating of the deeds of a Scandinavian hero on
Scandinavian ground must have been composed in the days of Norse or
Danish dominion in England. This, however, is impossible. The forms
under which Scandinavian names appear in the poem show clearly that
these names must have entered English tradition not later than the
beginning of the 7th century. It does not indeed follow that the extant
poem is of so early a date; but its syntax is remarkably archaic in
comparision with that of the Old English poetry of the 8th century. The
hypothesis that _Beowulf_ is in whole or in part a translation from a
Scandinavian original, although still maintained by some scholars,
introduces more difficulties than it solves, and must be dismissed as
untenable. The limits of this article do not permit us to state and
criticize the many elaborate theories that have been proposed respecting
the origin of the poem. All that can be done is to set forth the view
that appears to us to be most free from objection. It may be premised
that although the existing MS. is written in the West-Saxon dialect, the
phenomena of the language indicate transcription from an Anglian (i.e. a
Northumbrian or Mercian) original; and this conclusion is supported by
the fact that while the poem contains one important episode relating to
the Angles, the name of the Saxons does not occur in it at all.

In its original form, _Beowulf_ was a product of the time when poetry
was composed not to be read, but to be recited in the halls of kings and
nobles. Of course an entire epic could not be recited on a single
occasion; nor can we suppose that it would be thought out from beginning
to end before any part of it was presented to an audience. A singer who
had pleased his hearers with a tale of adventure would be called on to
tell them of earlier or later events in the career of the hero; and so
the story would grow, until it included all that the poet knew from
tradition, or could invent in harmony with it. That _Beowulf_ is
concerned with the deeds of a foreign hero is less surprising than it
seems at first sight. The minstrel of early Germanic times was required
to be learned not only in the traditions of his own people, but also in
those of the other peoples with whom they felt their kinship. He had a
double task to perform. It was not enough that his songs should give
pleasure; his patrons demanded that he should recount faithfully the
history and genealogy both of their own line and of those other royal
houses who shared with them the same divine ancestry, and who might be
connected with them by ties of marriage or warlike alliance. Probably
the singer was always himself an original poet; he might often be
content to reproduce the songs that he had learned, but he was doubtless
free to improve or expand them as he chose, provided that his inventions
did not conflict with what was supposed to be historic truth. For all we
know, the intercourse of the Angles with Scandinavia, which enabled
their poets to obtain new knowledge of the legends of Danes, Gautar and
Swedes, may not have ceased until their conversion to Christianity in
the 7th century. And even after this event, whatever may have been the
attitude of churchmen towards the old heathen poetry, the kings and
warriors would be slow to lose their interest in the heroic tales that
had delighted their ancestors. It is probable that down to the end of
the 7th century, if not still later, the court poets of Northumbria and
Mercia continued to celebrate the deeds of Beowulf and of many another
hero of ancient days.

Although the heathen Angles had their own runic alphabet, it is unlikely
that any poetry was written down until a generation had grown up trained
in the use of the Latin letters learned from Christian missionaries. We
cannot determine the date at which some book-learned man, interested in
poetry, took down from the lips of a minstrel one of the stories that he
had been accustomed to sing. It may have been before 700; much later it
can hardly have been, for the old heathen poetry, though its existence
might be threatened by the influence of the church, was still in
vigorous life. The epic of Beowulf was not the only one that was reduced
to writing: a fragment of the song about Finn, king of the Frisians,
still survives, and possibly several other heroic poems were written
down about the same time. As originally dictated, _Beowulf_ probably
contained the story outlined at the beginning of this article, with the
addition of one or two of the episodes relating to the hero
himself--among them the legend of the swimming-match. This story had
doubtless been told at greater length in verse, but its insertion in its
present place is the work of a poet, not of a mere redactor. The other
episodes were introduced by some later writer, who had heard recited, or
perhaps had read, a multitude of the old heathen songs, the substance of
which he piously sought to preserve from oblivion by weaving it in an
abridged form, into the texture of the one great poem which he was
transcribing. The Christian passages, which are poetically of no value,
are evidently of literary origin, and may be of any date down to that of
the extant MS. The curious passage which says that the subjects of
Hrothgar sought deliverance from Grendel in prayer at the temple of the
Devil, "because they knew not the true God," must surely have been
substituted for a passage referring sympathetically to the worship of
the ancient gods.

An interesting light on the history of the written text seems to be
afforded by the phenomena of the existing MS. The poem is divided into
numbered sections, the length of which was probably determined by the
size of the pieces of parchment of which an earlier exemplar consisted.
Now the first fifty-two lines, which are concerned with Scyld and his
son Beowulf, stand outside this numbering. It may reasonably be inferred
that there once existed a written text of the poem that did not include
these lines. Their substance, however, is clearly ancient. Many
difficulties will be obviated if we may suppose that this passage is the
beginning of a different poem, the hero of which was not Beowulf the son
of Ecgtheow, but his Danish namesake. It is true that Beowulf the
Scylding is mentioned at the beginning of the first numbered section;
but probably the opening lines of this section have undergone alteration
in order to bring them into connexion with the prefixed matter.

  BIBLIOGRAPHY.--The volume containing the _Beowulf_ MS. (then, as now,
  belonging to the Cottonian collection, and numbered "Vitellius A.
  xv.") was first described by Humphrey Wanley in 1705, in his catalogue
  of MSS., published as vol. iii. of G. Hickes's _Thesaurus Veterum
  Linguarum Septentrionalium_. In 1786 G.J. Thorkelin, an Icelander,
  made or procured two transcripts of the poem, which are still
  preserved in the Royal Library at Copenhagen, and are valuable for the
  criticism of the text, the MS. having subsequently become in places
  less legible. Thorkelin's edition (1815) is of merely historic
  interest. The first edition showing competent knowledge of the
  language was produced in 1833 by J.M. Kemble. Since then editions have
  been very numerous. The text of the poem was edited by C.W.M. Grein in
  his _Bibliothek der angelsächsischen Poesie_ (1857), and again
  separately in 1867. Autotypes of the MS. with transliteration by
  Julius Zupitza, were issued by the Early English Text Society in 1882.
  The new edition of Grein's _Bibliothek_, by R.P. Wülker, vol. i.
  (1883), contains a revised text with critical notes. The most
  serviceable separate editions are those of M. Heyne (7th ed., revised
  by A. Socin, 1903), A.J. Wyatt (with English notes and glossary,
  1898), and F. Holthausen (vol. i., 1905).

  Eleven English translations of the poem have been published (see C.B.
  Tinker, _The Translations of Beowulf_, 1903). Among these may be
  mentioned those of J.M. Garnett (6th ed., 1900), a literal rendering
  in a metre imitating that of the original; J. Earle (1892) in prose;
  W. Morris (1895) in imitative metre, and almost unintelligibly
  archaistic in diction; and C.B. Tinker (1902) in prose.

  For the bibliography of the earlier literature on _Beowulf_, and a
  detailed exposition of the theories therein advocated, see R.P.
  Wülker, _Grundriss der angelsächsischen Litteratur_ (1882). The views
  of Karl Müllenhoff, which, though no longer tenable as a whole, have
  formed the basis of most of the subsequent criticism, may be best
  studied in his posthumous work, _Beovulf, Untersuchungen über das
  angelsächsische Epos_ (1889). Much valuable matter may be found in B.
  ten Brink, _Beowulf, Untersuchungen_ (1888). The work of G. Sarrazin,
  _Beowulf-studien_ (1888), which advocates the strange theory that
  _Beowulf_ is a translation by Cynewulf of a poem by the Danish singer
  Starkadr, contains, amid much that is fanciful, not a little that
  deserves careful consideration. The many articles by E. Sievers and S.
  Bugge, in _Beiträdge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und
  Litteratur_ and other periodicals, are of the utmost importance for
  the textual criticism and interpretation of the poem.     (H. Br.)


FOOTNOTE:

  [1] Printed in Berger de Xivrey, _Traditions Tératologiques_ (1836),
    from a MS. in private hands. Another MS., now at Wolfenbüttel, reads
    "Hunglacus" for Huiglaucus, and (ungrammatically) "gentes" for
    _Getis_.




BEQUEST (from O. Eng. _becwethan_, to declare or express in words; cf.
"quoth"), the disposition of property by will. Strictly, "bequest" is
used of personal, and "devise" of real property. (See LEGACY; WILL OR
TESTAMENT.)




BÉRAIN, JEAN (1638-1711), known as "the Elder," Belgian draughtsman and
designer, painter and engraver of ornament, was born in 1638 or 1639 at
Saint Mihiel (Meuse) and died in Paris on the 24th of January 1711. In
1674 he was appointed _dessinateur de la chambre et du cabinet de Roi_,
in succession to Gissey, whose pupil he is believed to have been. From
1677 onward he had apartments, near to those of André Charles Boulle
(q.v.), for whom he made many designs, in the Louvre, where he died.
After the death of Le Brun he was commissioned to compose and supervise
the whole of the exterior decoration of the king's ships. Without
possessing great originality he was inventive and industrious, and knew
so well how to assimilate the work of those who had preceded him
(especially Raffaelle's arabesques) and to adapt it to the taste of the
time that his designs became the rage. He furnished designs for the
decorations and costumes used in the opera performances, for court
festivals, and for public solemnities such as funeral processions, and
inspired the ornamentations of rooms and of furniture to such an extent
that a French writer says that nothing was done during his later years
which he had not designed, or at least which was not in his manner. He
was, in fact, the oracle of taste and the supreme pontiff whose fiat was
law in all matters of decoration. His numerous designs were for the most
part engraved under his own superintendence, and a collection of them
was published in Paris in 1711 by his son-in-law, Thuret, clockmaker to
the king. There are three books, _Oeuvre de J. Bérain, Ornements
inventés par J. Bérain_ and _Oeuvres de J. Bérain contenant des
ornements d'architecture_. His earliest known works show him as
engraver--twelve plates in the collection of _Diverses pièces de
serrurerie inventées par Hughes Brisville el gravées par Jean Bérain_
(Paris, 1663), and in 1667 ten plates of designs for the use of
gunsmiths. M. Guilmard in _Les Maîtres ornemanistes_, gives a complete
list of his published works.

His son JEAN BÉRAIN, "the Younger" (1678-1726), was born in Paris, where
he also died. He was his father's pupil, and exercised the same official
functions after his death. Thus he planned the funeral ceremonies at St
Denis on the death of the dauphin, and afterwards made the designs for
the obsequies of Louis XIV. He is perhaps best known as an engraver. He
engraved eleven plates of the collection _Ornements de peinture et de
sculpture qui sont dans la galerie d'Apollon au chasteau du Louvre, et
dans le grand appartement du roy au palais des Tuileries_ (Paris, 1710),
which have been wrongly attributed to his father, the _Mausolei du duc
de Bourgogne_, and that of _Marie-Louise Gabrielle de Savoie, reine
d'Espagne_ (1714), &c. His work is exceedingly difficult to distinguish
from his father's, the similarity of style being remarkable.

CLAUDE BÉRAIN, brother of the elder Jean, was still living in 1726. He
was engraver to the king, and executed a good number of plates of
ornament and arabesque of various kinds, some of which are included in
his more distinguished brother's works.    (J. P. B.)




BÉRANGER, PIERRE JEAN DE (1780-1857), French song-writer, was born in
Paris on the 19th of August 1780. The aristocratic _de_ was a piece of
groundless vanity on the part of his father, who had assumed the name of
Béranger de Mersix. He was descended in truth from a country innkeeper
on the one side, and, on the other, from a tailor in the rue
Montorgueil. Of education, in the narrower sense, he had but little.
From the roof of his first school he beheld the capture of the Bastille,
and this stirring memory was all that he acquired. Later on he passed
some time in a school at Péronne, founded by one Bellenglise on the
principles of Rousseau, where the boys were formed into clubs and
regiments, and taught to play solemnly at politics and war. Béranger was
president of the club, made speeches before such members of Convention
as passed through Péronne, and drew up addresses to Tallien or
Robespierre at Paris. In the meanwhile he learned neither Greek nor
Latin--not even French, it would appear; for it was after he left
school, from the printer Laisney, that he acquired the elements of
grammar. His true education was of another sort. In his childhood, shy,
sickly and skilful with his hands, as he sat at home alone to carve
cherry stones, he was already forming for himself those habits of
retirement and patient elaboration which influenced the whole tenor of
his life and the character of all that he wrote. At Péronne he learned
of his good aunt to be a stout republican; and from the doorstep of her
inn, on quiet evenings, he would listen to the thunder of the guns
before Valenciennes, and fortify himself in his passionate love of
France and distaste for all things foreign. Although he could never read
Horace save in a translation, he had been educated on _Télémaque_,
Racine and the dramas of Voltaire, and taught, from a child, in the
tradition of all that is highest and most correct in French.

After serving his aunt for some time in the capacity of waiter, and
passing some time also in the printing-office of one Laisney, he was
taken to Paris by his father. Here he saw much low speculation, and many
low royalist intrigues. In 1802, in consequence of a distressing
quarrel, he left his father and began life for himself in the garret of
his ever memorable song. For two years he did literary hackwork, when he
could get it, and wrote pastorals, epics and all manner of ambitious
failures. At the end of that period (1804) he wrote to Lucien Bonaparte,
enclosing some of these attempts. He was then in bad health, and in the
last state of misery. His watch was pledged. His wardrobe consisted of
one pair of boots, one greatcoat, one pair of trousers with a hole in
the knee, and "three bad shirts which a friendly hand wearied itself in
endeavouring to mend." The friendly hand was that of Judith Frère, with
whom he had been already more or less acquainted since 1796, and who
continued to be his faithful companion until her death, three months
before his own, in 1857. She must not be confounded with the Lisette of
the songs; the pieces addressed to her (_La Bonne Vieille, Maudit
printemps_, &c.) are in a very different vein. Lucien Bonaparte
interested himself in the young poet, transferred to him his own pension
of 1000 francs from the Institute, and set him to work on a _Death of
Nero_. Five years later, through the same patronage, although
indirectly, Béranger became a clerk in the university at a salary of
another thousand.

Meanwhile he had written many songs for convivial occasions, and "to
console himself under all misfortunes"; some, according to M. Boiteau,
had been already published by his father, but he set no great store on
them himself; and it was only in 1812, while watching by the sick-bed of
a friend, that it occurred to him to write down the best he could
remember. Next year he was elected to the _Caveau Moderne_, and his
reputation as a song-writer began to spread. Manuscript copies of _Les
Gueux, Le Sénateur_, above all, of _Le Roi d'Yvetot_, a satire against
Napoleon, whom he was to magnify so much in the sequel, passed from hand
to hand with acclamation. It was thus that all his best works went
abroad; one man sang them to another over all the land of France. He was
the only poet of modern times who could altogether have dispensed with
printing.

His first collection escaped censure. "We must pardon many things to the
author of _Le Roi d'Yvetot_," said Louis XVIII. The second (1821) was
more daring. The apathy of the Liberal camp, he says, had convinced him
of the need for some bugle call of awakening. This publication lost him
his situation in the university, and subjected him to a trial, a fine of
500 francs and an imprisonment of three months. Imprisonment was a small
affair for Béranger. At Sainte Pélagie he occupied a room (it had just
been quitted by Paul Louis Courier), warm, well furnished, and
preferable in every way to his own poor lodging, where the water froze
on winter nights. He adds, on the occasion of his second imprisonment,
that he found a certain charm in this quiet, claustral existence, with
its regular hours and long evenings alone over the fire. This second
imprisonment of nine months, together with a fine and expenses amounting
to 1100 francs, followed on the appearance of his fourth collection. The
government proposed through Laffitte that, if he would submit to
judgment without appearing or making defences, he should only be
condemned in the smallest penalty. But his public spirit made him refuse
the proposal; and he would not even ask permission to pass his term of
imprisonment in a _Maison de santé_, although his health was more than
usually feeble at the time. "When you have taken your stand in a contest
with government, it seems to me," he wrote, "ridiculous to complain of
the blows it inflicts on you, and impolitic to furnish it with any
occasion of generosity." His first thought in La Force was to alleviate
the condition of the other prisoners.

In the revolution of July he took no inconsiderable part. Copies of his
song, _Le Vieux Drapeau_, were served out to the insurgent crowd. He had
been for long the intimate friend and adviser of the leading men; and
during the decisive week his counsels went a good way towards shaping
the ultimate result. "As for the republic, that dream of my whole life,"
he wrote in 1831, "I did not wish it should be given to us a second time
unripe." Louis Philippe, hearing how much the song-writer had done
towards his elevation, expressed a wish to see and speak with him; but
Béranger refused to present himself at court, and used his favour only
to ask a place for a friend, and a pension for Rouget de l'Isle, author
of the famous _Marseillaise_, who was now old and poor, and whom he had
been already succouring for five years.

In 1848, in spite of every possible expression of his reluctance, he was
elected to the Constituent Assembly, and that by so large a number of
votes (204,471) that he felt himself obliged to accept the seat. Not
long afterwards, and with great difficulty, he obtained leave to resign.
This was the last public event of Béranger's life. He continued to
polish his songs in retirement, visited by nearly all the famous men of
France. He numbered among his friends Chateaubriand, Thiers, Jacques
Laffitte, Michelet, Lamennais, Mignet. Nothing could exceed the
amiability of his private character; so poor a man has rarely been so
rich in good actions; he was always ready to receive help from his
friends when he was in need, and always forward to help others. His
correspondence is full of wisdom and kindness, with a smack of
Montaigne, and now and then a vein of pleasantry that will remind the
English reader of Charles Lamb. He occupied some of his leisure in
preparing his own memoirs, and a certain treatise on _Social and
Political Morality_, intended for the people, a work he had much at
heart, but judged at last to be beyond his strength. He died on the 16th
July 1857. It was feared that his funeral would be the signal for some
political disturbance; but the government took immediate measures, and
all went quietly. The streets of Paris were lined with soldiers and full
of townsfolk, silent and uncovered. From time to time cries
arose:--"_Honneur, honneur à Béranger!_"

The songs of Béranger would scarcely be called songs in England. They
are elaborate, written in a clear and sparkling style, full of wit and
incision. It is not so much for any lyrical flow as for the happy turn
of the phrase that they claim superiority. Whether the subject be gay or
serious, light or passionate, the medium remains untroubled. The special
merits of the songs are merits to be looked for rather in English prose
than in English verse. He worked deliberately, never wrote more than
fifteen songs a year and often less, and was so fastidious that he has
not preserved a quarter of what he finished. "I am a good little bit of
a poet," he says himself, "clever in the craft, and a conscientious
worker to whom old airs and a modest choice of subjects (_le coin où je
me suis confiné_) have brought some success." Nevertheless, he makes a
figure of importance in literary history. When he first began to
cultivate the _chanson_, this minor form lay under some contempt, and
was restricted to slight subjects and a humorous guise of treatment.
Gradually he filled these little chiselled toys of verbal perfection
with ever more and more of sentiment. From a date comparatively early he
had determined to sing for the people. It was for this reason that he
fled, as far as possible, the houses of his influential friends and came
back gladly to the garret and the street corner. Thus it was, also, that
he came to acknowledge obligations to Emile Debraux, who had often stood
between him and the masses as interpreter, and given him the key-note of
the popular humour. Now, he had observed in the songs of sailors, and
all who labour, a prevailing tone of sadness; and so, as he grew more
masterful in this sort of expression, he sought more and more after what
is deep, serious and constant in the thoughts of common men. The
evolution was slow; and we can see in his own works examples of every
stage, from that of witty indifference in fifty pieces of the first
collection, to that of grave and even tragic feeling in _Les Souvenirs
du peuple_ or _Le Vieux Vagabond_. And this innovation involved another,
which was as a sort of prelude to the great romantic movement. For the
_chanson_, as he says himself, opened up to him a path in which his
genius could develop itself at ease; he escaped, by this literary
postern, from strict academical requirements, and had at his disposal
the whole dictionary, four-fifths of which, according to La Harpe, were
forbidden to the use of more regular and pretentious poetry. If he still
kept some of the old vocabulary, some of the old imagery, he was yet
accustoming people to hear moving subjects treated in a manner more free
and simple than heretofore; so that his was a sort of conservative
reform, preceding the violent revolution of Victor Hugo and his army of
uncompromising romantics. He seems himself to have had glimmerings of
some such idea; but he withheld his full approval from the new movement
on two grounds:--first, because the romantic school misused somewhat
brutally the delicate organism of the French language; and second, as he
wrote to Sainte-Beuve in 1832, because they adopted the motto of "Art
for art," and set no object of public usefulness before them as they
wrote. For himself (and this is the third point of importance) he had a
strong sense of political responsibility. Public interest took a far
higher place in his estimation than any private passion or favour. He
had little toleration for those erotic poets who sing their own loves
and not the common sorrows of mankind, "who forget," to quote his own
words, "forget beside their mistress those who labour before the Lord."
Hence it is that so many of his pieces are political, and so many, in
the later times at least, inspired with a socialistic spirit of
indignation and revolt. It is by this socialism that he becomes truly
modern and touches hands with Burns.

  AUTHORITIES.--_Ma biographie_ (his own memoirs) (1858); _Vie de
  Béranger_, by Paul Boiteau (1861); _Correspondance de Béranger_,
  edited by Paul Boiteau (4 vols., 1860); _Béranger et Lamennais_, by
  Napoléon Peyrat (1857); _Quarante-cinq lettres de Béranger publiées
  par Madame Louise Colet_ (almost worthless) (1857); _Béranger, ses
  amis, ses ennemis et ses critiques_, by A. Arnould (2 vols., 1864); J.
  Janin, _Béranger et son temps_ (2 vols., 1866); also Sainte-Beuve's
  _Portraits contemporains_, vol. i.; J. Carson, _Béranger et la légende
  napoleonienne_ (1897) A bibliography of Béranger's works was published
  by Jules Brivois in 1876.     (R. L. S.)




BERAR, known also as the HYDERABAD ASSIGNED DISTRICTS, formerly a
province administered on behalf of the nizam of Hyderabad by the British
government, but since the 1st of October 1903 under the administration
of the commissioner-general for the Central Provinces (q.v.). The origin
of the name Berar is not known, but may perhaps be a corruption of
Vidarbha, the name of a kingdom in the Deccan of which, in the period of
the Mahabharata, Berar probably formed part. The history of Berar
belongs generally to that of the Deccan, the country falling in turn
under the sway of the various dynasties which successively ruled in
southern India, the first authentic records showing it to have been part
of the Andhra or Satavahana empire. On the final fall of the Chalukyas
in the 12th century, Berar came under the sway of the Yadavas of
Deogiri, and remained in their possession till the Mussulman invasions
at the end of the 13th century. On the establishment of the Bahmani
dynasty in the Deccan (1348) Berar was constituted one of the four
provinces into which their kingdom was divided, being governed by great
nobles, with a separate army. The perils of this system becoming
apparent, the province was divided (1478 or 1479) into two separate
governments, named after their capitals Gawil and Mahur. The Bahmani
dynasty was, however, already tottering to its fall; and in 1490
Imad-ul-Mulk, governor of Gawil, who had formerly held all Berar,
proclaimed his independence and proceeded to annex Mahur to his new
kingdom. Imad-ul-Mulk was by birth a Kanarese Hindu, but had been
captured as a boy in one of the expeditions against Vijayanagar and
reared as a Mussulman. He died in 1504 and his direct descendants held
the sultanate of Berar until 1561, when Burhan Imad Shah was deposed by
his minister Tufal Khan, who assumed the kingship. This gave a pretext
for the intervention of Murtaza Nizam Shah of Ahmednagar, who in 1572
invaded Berar, imprisoned and put to death Tufal Khan, his son
Shams-ul-Mulk, and the ex-king Burhan, and annexed Berar to his own
dominions. In 1595 Sultan Murad, son of the emperor Akbar, besieged
Ahmednagar, and was bought off by the formal cession of Berar.

Murad, founding the city of Shahpur, fixed his seat at Berar, and after
his death in 1598, and the conquest of the Deccan by Akbar, the province
was united with Ahmednagar and Khandesh under the emperor's fifth son,
Daniyal (d. 1605), as governor. After Akbar's death (1605) Berar once
more became independent under the Abyssinian Malik Ambar (d. 1626), but
in the first year of Shah Jahan's reign it was again brought under the
sway of the Mogul empire. Towards the close of the 17th century the
province began to be overrun by the Mahrattas, and in 1718 the Delhi
government formally recognized their right to levy blackmail (_chauth_)
on the unhappy population. In 1724 the Nizam-ul-Mulk Asaf Jah
established the independent line of the nizams of Hyderabad, and
thenceforth the latter claimed to be _de jure_ sovereigns of Berar, with
exception of certain districts (Mehkar, Umarkhed, &c.) ceded to the
peshwa in 1760 and 1795. The claim was contested by the Bhonsla rajas,
and for more than half a century the miserable country was ground
between the upper and the nether millstone.

This condition of things was ended by Wellesley's victories at Assaye
and Argaon (1803), which forced the Bhonsla raja to cede his territories
west of the Wardha, Gawilgarh and Narnala. By the partition treaty of
Hyderabad (1804) these ceded territories in Berar were transferred to
the nizam, together with some tracts about Sindkhed and Jalna which had
been held by Sindhia. By a treaty of 1822, which extinguished the
Mahratta right to levy _chauth_, the Wardha river was fixed as the
eastern boundary of Berar, the Melghat and adjoining districts in the
plains being assigned to the nizam in exchange for the districts east of
the Wardha held by the peshwa.

Though Berar was no longer oppressed by its Mahratta taskmasters nor
harried by Pindari and Bhil raiders, it remained long a prey to the
turbulent elements let loose by the sudden cessation of the wars. From
time to time bands of soldiery, whom the government was powerless to
control, scoured the country, and rebellion succeeded rebellion till
1859, when the last fight against open rebels took place at Chichamba
near Risod. Meanwhile the misery of the country was increased by the
reckless raising of loans by the nizam's government and the pledging of
the revenues to a succession of great farmers-general. At last the
British government had to intervene effectively, and in 1853 a new
treaty was signed with the nizam, under which the Hyderabad contingent
was to be maintained by the British government, while for the pay of
this force and in satisfaction of other claims, certain districts were
"assigned" to the East India Company. It was these "Hyderabad Assigned
Districts" which were popularly supposed to form the province of Berar,
though they coincided in extent neither with the Berar of the nizams nor
with the old Mogul province. In 1860, by a new treaty which modified in
the nizam's favour that of 1853, it was agreed that Berar should be held
in trust by the British government for the purposes specified in the
treaty of 1853.

Under British control Berar rapidly recovered its prosperity. Thousands
of cultivators who had emigrated across the Wardha to the peshwa's
dominions, in order to escape the ruinous fiscal system of the nizam's
government, now returned; the American Civil War gave an immense
stimulus to the cotton trade; the laying of a line of railway across the
province provided yet further employment, and the people rapidly became
prosperous and contented.

  See _Imperial Gazetteer of India_ (Oxford, 1908), and authorities
  there quoted.




BÉRARD, JOSEPH FRÉDÉRIC (1789-1828), French physician and philosopher,
was born at Montpellier. Educated at the medical school of that town, he
afterwards went to Paris, where he was employed in connexion with the
_Dictionnaire des sciences médicales_. He returned in 1816, and
published a work, _Doctrine médicale de l'école de Montpellier_ (1819),
which is indispensable to a proper understanding of the principles of
the Vitalistic school. In 1823 he was called to a chair of medicine at
Paris, which he held for three years; he was then nominated professor of
hygiene at Montpellier. His health gave way under his labours, and he
died in 1828. His most important book is his _Doctrines des rapports du
physique et du moral_ (Paris, 1823). He held that consciousness or
internal perception reveals to us the existence of an immaterial,
thinking, feeling and willing subject, the self or soul. Alongside of
this there is the vital force, the nutritive power, which uses the
physical frame as its organ. The soul and the principle of life are in
constant reciprocal action, and the first owes to the second, not the
formation of its faculties, but the conditions under which they are
evolved. He showed himself unable to understand the points of view of
those whom he criticized, and yet his own theories, midway between
vitalism and animism, are entirely destitute of originality.

  To the _Esprit des doctrines médicales de Montpellier_, published
  posthumously (Paris, 1830), the editor, H. Pétiot, prefixed an account
  of his life and works; see also Damiron, _Phil. en France au XIX^e
  siècle_ (Paris, 1834); C.J. Tissot, _Anthropologie générale_ (1843).




BERAT (Slav. _Byelgorod_; Turk. _Arnaut-Beligradi_), the capital of a
sanjak in the vilayet of Iannina, southern Albania, Turkey; on the river
Ergene, Ergeni or Osum, a left-hand tributary of the Semeni. Pop. (1900)
about 15,000. Berat is a fortified town, situated in a fertile valley,
which produces wine, olive-oil, fruit and grain. It is the see of an
Orthodox metropolitan, and the inhabitants, of whom two-thirds are
Albanian and the remainder principally Greek, are equally divided in
religion between Christianity and Islam.




BERAUN (Czech _Beroun_), a town of Bohemia, Austria, 27 m. S.W. of
Prague by rail. Pop. (1900) 9693, mostly Czech. It is situated at the
confluence of the Beraun with the Litawa river, and is the seat of
important textile industry, sugar-refining, corn-milling and brewing.
Lime-kilns and the manufacture of cement, and smelting and iron works
are carried on in the environs. Beraun is a place of immemorial
antiquity. It was originally called _na Brodé_ (by the ford), and
received the name of Bern, Berun or Verona in the 13th century, when it
obtained the privileges of a city from the emperor Charles IV., who was
specially attached to the place, calling it "Verona mea." Under his
patronage the town rapidly prospered. In 1421 Zizka stormed the town,
which later on was retaken and devastated by the troops of Duke Leopold,
bishop of Passau. During the Thirty Years' War it was sacked by the
Imperialists, the Saxons and the Swedes in turn; and in the first
Silesian war the same fate befell it at the hands of the French and
Bavarians.




BERBER, a town and mudiria (province) of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. The
town is on the right bank of the Nile, 1140 ft. above sea-level, in 18°
1' N., 33° 59' E., and 214 m. by rail N.W. of Khartum. Pop. about 6000.
Berber derived its importance from being the starting-point of the
caravan route, 242 m. long, across the Nubian desert to the Red Sea at
Suakin, a distance covered in seven to twelve days. It was also one of
the principal stopping-places between Cairo and Khartum. The caravan
route to the Red Sea was superseded in 1906 by a railway, which leaves
the Wadi Halfa-Khartum line at the mouth of the Atbara. Berber thus lost
the Red Sea trade. It remains the centre and market-place for the
produce of the Nile valley for a considerable distance. East of the town
is an immense plain, which, if irrigated, would yield abundant crops.

Berber, or El Mekerif, is a town of considerable antiquity. Before its
conquest by the Egyptians in 1820 its ruler owed allegiance to the kings
of Sennar. It was captured by the Mahdists on the 26th of May 1884, and
was re-occupied by the Anglo-Egyptian army on the 6th of September 1897.
It was the capital of the mudiria until 1905, in which year the
headquarters of the province were transferred to Ed Damer, a town near
the confluence of the Nile and Atbara. At the northern end of the
mudiria is Abu Hamed (q.v.), important as a railway junction for Dongola
mudiria. The best-known of the tribes inhabiting the province are the
Hassania, Jaalin, Bisharin and Kimilab. During the Mahdia most of these
tribes suffered severely at the hands of the dervishes. In 1904 the
total population of the province was estimated at 83,000. It has since
considerably increased. The riverain population is largely engaged in
agriculture, the chief crops cultivated being durra, barley, wheat and
cotton.




BERBERA, chief town and principal port of the British Somaliland
protectorate, North-East Africa, 155 m. S. of Aden, in 10° 26' N., 45°
4' E. Berbera stands at the head of a deep inlet which forms the only
completely sheltered haven on the south side of the Gulf of Aden. It is
the residence of the commissioner of the protectorate and the
headquarters of the Somaliland battalion of the King's African Rifles.
The harbour is eleven to thirteen fathoms deep at the entrance
(indicated by a lighthouse), decreasing to five fathoms near the shore.
Ocean-going steamers find ample accommodation. There are two piers and
numerous warehouses. The town is built in two divisions--the native town
to the east, the new town, laid out by the Egyptians (1875-1877), to the
west. The majority of the better-class houses are of rubble,
one-storeyed and flat-roofed. The public buildings include the fort,
hospital and barracks. There are a Roman Catholic mission-house and
convent and a government school. The affairs of the town are
administered by a municipality. The water-supply is brought to the town
by an aqueduct from the hills some 8 m. distant. The bulk of the
inhabitants are Somali, who have abandoned a nomadic life and adopted
largely the ways of the Arab and Indian traders. The permanent
population is under 10,000; but from October to April the population
rises to 30,000 or more by the arrival of caravans from Ogaden and
Dolbahanta. The traders bring with them tents on the backs of camels and
these are pitched near the native town. Their merchandise consists of
sheep and goats, gum and resin, skins and ostrich feathers. The trade is
almost entirely with Aden, of which Berbera may be considered a
commercial dependency. The value of the goods brought in yearly by
caravan exceeds on the average £100,000. The total trade of the port for
the five years 1901-1902 to 1905-1906 averaged over £200,000 a year. The
chief articles of import are cotton goods (European white longcloth and
American grey shirting), rice and jowari, flour, dates, sugar and
tobacco (the last from Rotterdam). Berbera is said to have been founded
by the Ptolemies among the _Barbari_ of the adjacent coast lands. It
fell subsequently into the possession of Arabs and was included in the
Mahommedan state of Adel. At the time of the visit to the town of R.F.
Burton and J.H. Speke (1854) it was governed by its own sheiks. In 1870
it was claimed by the khedive Ismail, but was not permanently occupied
by Egypt until 1875. In 1884 it passed into the possession of Great
Britain (see SOMALILAND, § 2, _History_).




BERBERINE, C20H17NO4, an alkaloid occurring together with the alkaloids
oxyacanthine C18H19NO3, berbamine C18H19NO3, hydrastine C21H21NO6, and
canadine C20H21NO4, in _Berberis vulgaris_; it also occurs in other
plants, _Berberis aristata, B. aquifolium, Hydrastis canadensis_, &c. It
is a yellow, crystalline solid, insoluble in ether and chloroform,
soluble in 4½ parts of water at 21°, and moderately soluble in alcohol.
It is a monacid base; the hydrochloride, C20H17NO4·HCl, is insoluble in
cold alcohol, ether and chloroform, and soluble in 500 parts of water;
the acid sulphate, C20H17NO4·H2SO4 dissolves in about 100 parts of
water. Canadine is a tetrahydroberberine.

Its constitution was worked out by W.H. Perkin (_J.C.S._, 1889, 55, p.
63; 1890, 57, p. 991). This followed from a study of the decomposition
products, there being obtained hemipinic acid (CH3O)2C6H2(COOH)2, and a
substance which proved to be [omega]-amino-ethyl-piperonyl carboxylic
acid, CH2O2:C6H2·COOH·CH2·CH2NH2. His formula was modified by Gadamer
(_Abs. J.C.S._, 1902, 1, p. 555), who made the free base an aldehyde,
but the salts of an _iso_-quinolinium type. This formula, which
necessitates the presence of two asymmetric carbon atoms in an alkyl
tetrahydroberberine, has been accepted by M. Freund and F. Mayer (_Abs.
J.C.S._, 1907, 1, p. 632), who showed that two racemic propyl
tetrahydroberberines are produced when propyl dihydroberberine is
reduced.




BERBERS,

  Ethnology.

the name under which are included the various branches of the
indigenous "Libyan" race of North Africa. Since the dawn of history the
Berbers have occupied the tract between the Mediterranean and the Sahara
from Egypt to the Atlantic. The origin of the name is doubtful. Some
believe it to be derived from the word [Greek: barbaroi] (barbarians),
employed first by the Greeks and later by the Romans. Others attribute
the first use of the term to the Arab conquerors. However this may be,
tribal titles, _Barabara_ and _Beraberata_, appear in Egyptian
inscriptions of 1700 and 1300 B.C., and the Berbers were probably
intimately related with the Egyptians in very early times. Thus the true
ethnical name may have become confused with _Barbari_, the designation
naturally used by classical conquerors. To the Egyptians they were known
as "Lebu," "Mashuasha," "Tamahu," "Tehennu" and "Kahaka"; a long list of
names is found in Herodotus, and the Romans called them Numidae, Gaetuli
and Mauri, terms which have been derived respectively from the Greek
[Greek: nomades] (nomads), the name Gued'oula, of a great Berber tribe,
and the Hebrew _mahur_ (western). To speak of more modern times there
can be enumerated the Zouaoua and Jebalia (Tripoli and Tunisia); the
Chauwia, Kabyles and Beni-Mzab (Algeria); the Shlûh (Chlouah), Amazîgh
and Berbers (Morocco); the Tuareg, Arnóshagh, Sorgu, &c. (Sahara).
These tribes have many sub-tribes, each with a distinctive name. Among
the Azgar, an important division of the Tuareg, one of the noble or free
tribes, styled Aouraghen, is said to descend from a tribe named Avrigha.
The Avrigha, or Afrigha, in ancient times occupied the coast lands near
Carthage, and some scholars derive the word Africa from their name (see
AFRICA, ROMAN). In regard to the ethnic relations of the Berbers there
has been much dispute. The antiquity of their type is evidenced by the
monuments of Egypt, where their ancestors are pictured with the same
comparatively blond features which many of them still display. The
aborigines of the Canary Islands, the Guanches, would seem almost
certainly, from the remains of their language, to have been Berbers. But
the problem of the actual origin of the Berber race has not yet been
solved. Perhaps the most satisfactory theory is that of Sergi, who
includes the Berbers in the "Mediterranean Race." General L.L.C.
Faidherbe regards them as indigenous Libyans mingled with a fair-skinned
people of European origin. Dr Franz Pruner-Bey, Henri Duveyrier and
Prof. Flinders Petrie maintain that they are closely related to the
ancient Egyptians. Connexion has been traced between the early Libyan
race and the Cro-Magnon and other early European races and, later, the
Basque peoples, Iberians, Picts, Celts and Gauls. The megalithic
monuments of Iberia and Celtic Europe have their counterparts in
northern Africa, and it is suggested that these were all erected by the
same race, by whatever name they be known, Berbers and Libyans in
Africa, Iberians in Spain, Celts, Gauls and Picts in France and Britain.


  Characteristics.

In spite of a history of foreign conquest--Phoenician, Greek, Roman,
Vandal, Arab and French--the Berber physical type and the Berber
temperament and nationality have persisted since the stone age. The
numerous invasions have naturally introduced a certain amount of foreign
blood among the tribes fringing the Mediterranean, but those farther
inland have preserved their racial purity to a surprising degree. Though
considerable individual differences of type may be found in every
village, the Berbers are distinctively a "white" race, and the majority
would, if clad in European costume, pass unchallenged as Europeans. Dark
hair and brown or hazel eyes are the rule; blue-eyed blonds are found,
but their frequency has been considerably overstated. The invaders who
have most affected the Berber race are the Arabs, but the two races,
with a common religion, often a common government, with the same tribal
groupings, have failed to amalgamate to any great extent. This fact has
been emphasized by Dr R.G. Latham, who writes: "All that is not Arabic
in the kingdom of Morocco, all that is not Arabic in the French
provinces of Algeria, and all that is not Arabic in Tunis, Tripoli and
Fezzan, is Berber." The explanation lies in a profound distinction of
character. The Arab is a herdsman and a nomad; the Berber is an
agriculturist and a townsman. The Arab has built his social structure on
the Koran, which inculcates absolutism, aristocracy, theocracy; the
Berber, despite his nominal Mahommedanism, is a democrat, with his
_Jemáa_ or "Witangemot" and his _Kanum_ or unwritten code, the Magna
Carta of the individual's liberty as opposed to the community's good.
The _Kanum_ forbids no sort of exercise of individual will, so long as
it is not inimical to the right or rights of other individuals. The
Arabizing of the Berbers is indeed limited to little beyond the
conversion of the latter to Islam. The Arab, transported to a soil which
does not always suit him, so far from thriving, tends to disappear,
whereas the Berber becomes more and more aggressive, and yearly
increases in numbers. At present he forms at least three-fifths of the
population in Algeria, and in Morocco the proportion is greater. The
difference between the Berber and the Arab of the Barbary States is
summed up by Dr Randall MacIver in the following words:--"The Berber
gives the impression of being, as he is, the descendant of men who have
lived in sturdy independence, self-governing and self-reliant. The Arab
is the degenerate offspring of a race which only from its history and
past records can claim any title to respect. Cringing, venal,
avaricious, dishonest, the Arab combines all the faults of a vicious
nature with those which a degraded religion inculcates or encourages.
The Berber, on the other hand, is straightforward, honest, by no means
averse to money-making, but not unscrupulous in the methods which he
employs to this end, intelligent in a degree to which the ordinary Arab
never approaches, and trustworthy as no Arab can be."


  Government.

The Berber's village is his state, and the government is vested in an
assembly, the _Jemáa_, formed of all males old enough to observe the
fast of Ramadan. By them are determined all matters of peace or war,
legislation, taxation and justice. The executive officer is the _Amin_,
a kind of mayor, elected from some influential family in which the
dignity is often in practice hereditary. He owes his position to the
good-will of his fellows, receives no remuneration, and resigns as soon
as he loses the confidence of the people. By him are appointed certain
_Temman_ (sing. _Tamen_) who act as overseers, though without executive
powers, in the various quarters of the village. The poorest Berber has
as great a voice in affairs as the richest. The undue power of the
_Jemáa_ is checked by vendetta and a sort of lynch law, and by the
formation of parties (_sofs_), within or without the assembly, for
trade, political and other purposes. The Berbers are a warlike people
who have never been completely subjugated. Every boy as soon as he
reaches sixteen is brought into the _Jemáa_ and given weapons which he
carries till he is sixty. Though each village is absolutely independent
as far as its internal affairs are concerned, two or more are often
connected by administrative ties to form an _Arsh_ or tribe. A number of
these tribes form a _Thakebilt_ or confederation, which is an extremely
loose organization. An exception to this form of government is
constituted by the Tuareg, whose organization, owing to their peculiar
circumstances of life, is monarchical. Wars are declared by special
messengers; the exchange of sticks or guns renders an armistice
inviolable. In some tribes a tablet, on which is inscribed the name of
every man fit to bear arms, is placed in the mosque. The Berbers, though
Mahommedans, do not often observe the prescribed ablutions; they break
their fast at Ramadan; and eat wild boar's flesh and drink fig brandy.
On the other hand, saints, both male and female, are paid more reverence
by Berbers than by Arabs. Around their tombs their descendants settle,
and thus sacred villages, often of considerable size, spring up. Almost
every village, too, has its saint or prophet, and disputes as to their
relative sanctity and powers cause fierce feuds. The hereditary caste
known as Marabouts are frequently in open opposition to the absolute
authority of the _Jemáa_. They are possessed of certain privileges, such
as exemption from the chief taxes and the duty of bearing arms. They,
however, often take a foremost part in tribal administration, and are
frequently called upon to perform the office of arbitrators in questions
of disputed policy, &c. In the _Jemáa_, too, the Marabout at times takes
the place of honour and keeps order. The Berbers, if irreligious, are
very superstitious, never leaving their homes without exorcizing evil
spirits, and have a good and evil interpretation for every day of the
week. Many Berbers still retain certain Christian and Jewish usages,
relics of the pre-Islamitic days in North Africa, but of their primitive
religion there is no trace. They are seldom good scholars, but those
under French rule take all the advantage they can of the schools
instituted by the government. Their social tendencies are distinctly
communistic; property is often owned by the family in common, and a man
can call upon the services of his fellow villagers for certain purposes,
as the building of a house. Provision for the poor is often made by the
community.


  Customs.

The dress of the Berbers was formerly made of home-woven cloth, and the
manufacture of woollen stuffs has always been one of the chief
occupations of their women. The men wear a tunic reaching to the knees,
the women a longer garment. For work the men use a leather apron, and in
the cold season and in travelling a burnous, usually a family heirloom,
old and ragged; the women, in winter, throw a coloured cloth over their
shoulders. The men's hair is cut short but their beards are allowed to
grow. In some districts there are peculiar customs, such as the wearing
of small silver nose-rings, seen in El-Jofra. The Berbers' weapons are
those of the Arab: the long straight sword, the slightly curved and
highly ornamented dagger, and the long gun. Berbers are not great
town-builders. Their villages, however, are often of substantial
appearance: with houses of untrimmed stones, occasionally with two
storeys, built on hills, and invariably defended by a bank, a stone wall
or a hedge. Sometimes their homes are mere huts of turf, or of clay
tiles, with mortar made from lime and clay or cow-dung. The sloping roof
is covered with reeds, straw or stones. The living room is on the right,
the cattle-stall on the left. The dwelling is surrounded by a garden or
small field of grain. The second storey is not added till a son marries.
In the villages of the western Atlas the greater part of the upper
storey consists of a sort of rough verandah. In this mountain district
the natives spend the winter in vaults beneath the houses, and, for the
sake of warmth, the tenements are built very close. Agriculture, which
is carried on even in the mountain districts by means of laboriously
constructed terraces, is antiquated in its methods. The plough, often
replaced on the steeper slopes by the hoe, is similar to that depicted
in ancient Egyptian drawings, and hand irrigation is usual. A sickle,
toothed like a saw, is used for reaping. Corn is trodden by oxen, and
kept in osier baskets narrowing to the top, or clay granaries. The
staple crop is barley, but wheat, lentils, vetches, flax and gourds are
also cultivated. Tobacco, maize and potatoes have been introduced; and
the aloe and prickly pear, called in Morocco the Christian fig, are also
found. The Kabyles understand grafting, have fine orchards and grow
vines. The Beni-Abbas tribe in the Algerian Atlas is famed for its
walnuts, and many tribes keep bees, chiefly for the commercial value of
the wax. The Berber diet largely consists of cucumbers, gourds,
water-melons and onions, and a small artichoke (_Cynara humilis_) which
grows wild. At the beginning and end of their meal they drink a strongly
sweetened liquid made from green tea and mint. Tea-drinking probably
became a habit in Morocco about the beginning of the 19th century;
coffee came by way of Algiers. At feasts the food is served on large
earthenware dishes with high basket-work covers, like bee-skeps but
twice as high.


  Industries.

The Berbers have many industries. They mine and work iron, lead and
copper. They have olive presses and flour mills, and their own millstone
quarries, even travelling into Arab districts to build mills for the
Arabs. They make lime, tiles, woodwork for the houses, domestic utensils
and agricultural implements. They weave and dye several kinds of cloth,
tan and dress leather and manufacture oil and soap. Without the
assistance of the wheel the women produce a variety of pottery utensils,
often of very graceful design, and decorated with patterns in red and
black. Whole tribes, such as the Beni-Sliman, are occupied in the iron
trade; the Beni-Abbas made firearms before the French conquest, and even
cannon are said to have been made by boring. Before it was proscribed by
the French, the manufacture of gunpowder was general. The native
jewellers make excellent ornaments in silver, coral and enamel. In some
places wood-carving has been brought to considerable perfection; and
native artists know how to engrave on metal both by etching and the
burin. In its collective industry the Berber race is far superior to the
Arab. The Berbers are keen traders too, and, after the harvest, hawk
small goods, travelling great distances.


  Women.

A Berber woman has in many ways a better position than her Arab sister.
True, her birth is regarded as an event of no moment, while that of a
boy is celebrated by great rejoicings, and his mother acquires the right
to wear on her forehead the _tafzint_, a mark which only the women who
have borne an heir can assume. Her husband buys and can dismiss her at
will. She has most of the hard work to do, and is little better than a
servant. When she is old and past work, especially if she has not been
the mother of a male child, she is often abandoned. But she has a voice
in public affairs; she has laws to protect her, manages the household
and goes unveiled; she has a right to the money she earns; she can
inherit under wills, and bequeath property, though to avoid the
alienation of real property, succession to it is denied her. But most
characteristic of her social position is the Berber woman's right to
enter into a sacred bond or agreement, represented by the giving of the
_anaya_. This is some symbolic object, stick or what not, which passes
between the parties to a contract, the obligations under which, if not
fulfilled by the contracting parties during their lives, become
hereditary. Female saints, too, are held in high honour; and the Berber
pays his wife the compliment of monogamy. The Kabyle women have stood
side by side with their husbands in battle. Among many Berber tribes the
law of inheritance is such that the eldest daughter's son succeeds.
South of Morocco proper, Gerhard Rohlfs, who travelled extensively in
the region (c. 1861-1867), states that a Berber religious corporation,
the _Savia Kartas_, was ruled over by a woman, the chief's wife. The
Berbers consult their women in many matters, and only one woman is
really held in low esteem. She, curiously, is the _kuata_ or
"go-between," even though her services are only employed in the
respectable task of arranging marriages. Berber women are intelligent
and hard-working, and, when young, very pretty and graceful. The
Berbers, unlike the Arabs, do not admire fat women. Among the Kabyles
the adulteress is put to death, as are those women who have illegitimate
children, the latter suffering with their mothers.


  Language.

Though Arabic has to a considerable extent displaced the Berber
language, the latter is still spoken by millions of people from Egypt to
the Atlantic and from the Mediterranean to the Sudan. It is spoken
nowhere else, though, as has been said, place-names in the Canary
Islands and other remains of the aboriginal language there prove it to
have been the native tongue. Although the Berber tongue shows a certain
affinity with Semitic in the construction both of its words and
sentences Berber is quite distinct from the Semitic languages; and a
remarkable fact is that in spite of the enormous space over which the
dialects are spread and the thousands of years that some of the Berber
peoples have been isolated from the rest, these dialects show but slight
differences from the long-extinct Hamitic speech from which all are
derived. Whatever these dialects be called, the Kabyle, the Shilha, the
Zenati, the Tuareg or Tamashek, the Berber language is still essentially
one, and the similarity between the forms current in Morocco, Algeria,
the Sahara and the far-distant oasis of Siwa is much more marked than
between the Norse and English in the sub-Aryan Teutonic group. The
Berbers have, moreover, a writing of their own, peculiar and little used
or known, the antiquity of which is proved by monuments and inscriptions
ranging over the whole of North Africa.

The various spoken dialects, though apparently very unlike each other,
are not more dissimilar than are Portuguese, Spanish, French and
Italian, and their differences are doubtless attributable to the lack of
a literary standard. Even where different words are used, there is
evidence of a common stem from which the various branches have sprung.
The great difficulty of satisfactory comparison arises from the fact
that few of the Beber dialects possess any writings. The _Tawahhid_ (The
Unity of God), said to have been written in Moroccan Berber and believed
to be the oldest African work in existence, except Egyptian and
Ethiopic, was the work of the Muwahhadi leader, Ibn Tumart the Mahdi, at
a time when the officials of the Kairawan mosque were dismissed because
they could not speak Berber. Most of the writings found, however, have
been in the form of inscriptions, chiefly on ornaments. A collection of
the various signs of the alphabet has shown thirty-two letters, four
more than Arabic. De Slane, in his notes on the Berber historian Ibn
Khaldun, shows the following points of similarity to the Semitic
class:--its tri-literal roots, the inflections of the verb, the
formation of derived verbs, the genders of the second and third
persons, the pronominal affixes, the aoristic style of tense, the whole
and broken plurals and the construction of the phrase. Among the
peculiar grammatical features of Berber may be mentioned two numbers (no
dual), two genders and six cases, and verbs with one, two, three and
four radicals, and imperative and aorist tense only. As might be
expected the Berber tongue is most common in Morocco and the western
Sahara--the regions where Arab dominion was least exercised. When Arabic
is mentioned as the language of Morocco it is seldom realized how small
a proportion of its inhabitants use it as their mother tongue. Berber is
the real language of Morocco, Arabic that of its creed and government.

  BIBLIOGRAPHY.--General A. Hanoteau and A. Letourneux, _La Kabylie et
  les coutumes kabyles_ (3 vols., Paris, 1872-1873); D. Randall-MacIver
  and Antony Wilkin, _Libyan Notes_ (London, 1901); Antony Wilkin,
  _Among the Berbers of Algeria_ (London, 1900); G. Sergi, _The
  Mediterranean Race_ (London, 1901), and _Africa, Antropologia della
  Stirpe Comitica_ (Turin, 1897); Henri Duveyrier, _Exploration du
  Sahara_ (1864), _Les Progrès de la géographie en Algérie_ (1867-1871),
  _Bull. de la Soc. Khédiviale de Géog_. (1876); E. Renan, "La Société
  Berbère," _Revue des deux mondes_, vol. for 1873; M.G. Olivier,
  "Recherches sur l'origine des Berbères," _Bull. de l'Acad. d'Hippone_
  (1867-1868); F.G. Rohlfs, _Reise durch Marokko_ (1869); _Quer durch
  Afrika_ (1874-1875); General Faidherbe, _Collection complète des
  inscriptions numidiques (lybiques)_ (1870), and _Les Dolmens
  d'Afrique_ (1873); H.M. Flinders Petrie in _The Academy_, 20th of
  April 1895; Jules Lionel, _Races berbères_ (1894); Sir H.H. Johnston,
  "A Journey through the Tunisian Sahara," _Geog. Journal_, vol. xi.,
  1898; De Slane's translation of Ibn Khaldun, _Hist, des Berbères_
  (Algiers, 1852); W.Z. Ripley, _Races of Europe_ (London, 1900); Dr
  Malbot, "Les Chaouias" in _L'Anthropologie_, 1897 (p. 14); General
  Faidherbe and Dr Paul Topinard, _Instructions sur l'anthropologie de
  l'Algérie_ (Paris, 1874); E.T. Hamy, _La Nécropole berbère d'Henchir
  el-'Assel_ (Paris, 1896), and _Cités et nécropoles berbères de
  l'Enfida (Tunisie moyenne) (ib._ 1904).

  Berber dictionaries:--_Venture de Paradis_ (Paris, 1844); Brosselard
  (_ib._ 1844); Delaporte (_ib._ 1844, by order of minister of war);
  J.B. Creusat, _Essai de dictionnaire français-kabyle_ (Algiers, 1873);
  A. Hanoteau, _Essai de grammaire de la langue tamachek, &c._ (Paris,
  1860); Minutoli, _Siwah Dialect_ (Berlin, 1827).

  Folklore, &c.:--J. Rivière, _Recueil de contes populaires de la
  Kabylie_ (1882); R. Basset, _Contes populaires berbères_ (1887); P. le
  Blanc de Prébois, _Essai de contes kabyles, avec traduction en
  français_ (Batna, 1897); H. Stumine, _Marchen der Berbern van
  Tamazratt in Südtunisien_ (Leipzig, 1900).




BERCEUSE (Fr. for a "lullaby," from _berceau_, a cradle), a cradle-song,
the German _Wiegenlied_, a musical composition with a quiet rocking
accompaniment.




BERCHEM (or BERGHEM), NICOLAAS (1620-1683), Dutch painter, was born at
Haarlem. He received instruction from his father (Pieter Claasz van
Haarlem) and from the painters Van Goyen, Jan Wils and Weenix. It is not
known why he called himself Berchem (or Berighem, and other variants).
His pictures, of which he produced an immense number, were in great
demand, as were also his etchings and drawings. His landscapes are
highly esteemed; and many of them have been finely engraved by John
Visscher. His finest pictures are at the Amsterdam Museum and at the
Hermitage, St Petersburg.




BERCHTA (English Bertha), a fairy in South German mythology. She was at
first a benevolent spirit, the counterpart of Hulda in North German
myth. Later her character changed and she came to be regarded as a
witch. In Pagan times Berchta had the rank of a minor deity.




BERCHTESGADEN, a town of Germany, beautifully situated on the
south-eastern confines of the kingdom of Bavaria, 1700 ft. above the sea
on the southern declivity of the Untersberg, 6 m. S.S.E. from
Reichenhall by rail. Pop. (1900) 10,046. It is celebrated for its
extensive mines of rock-salt, which were worked as early as 1174. The
town contains three old churches, of which the early Gothic abbey church
with its Romanesque cloister is most notable, and some good houses.
Apart from the salt-mines, its industries include toys and other small
articles of wood, horn and ivory, for which the place has long been
famous. The district of Berchtesgaden was formerly an independent
spiritual principality, founded in 1100 and secularized in 1803. The
abbey is now a royal castle, and in the neighbourhood a hunting-lodge
was built by King Maximilian II. in 1852.




BERCK, a bathing resort of northern France, in the department of
Pas-de-Calais, 25 m. S. of Boulogne by rail. Pop. (1906) 7638. It
comprises two parts--Berck-Ville, 1½ m. from the shore, and Berck-Plage,
the latter with a fine sandy beach. There are two children's hospitals,
the climate proving peculiarly beneficial in the treatment of scrofulous
affections. About 150 boats are employed in the fisheries, and herrings
form the staple of an active trade. Boat-building and fish-curing are
carried on.




BERDICHEV, a town of W. Russia, in the government of Kiev, 116 m. S.W.
of Kiev by rail and not far from the borders of Volhynia. The cathedral
of the Assumption, finished in 1832, is the principal place of worship.
The fortified Carmelite monastery, founded in 1627, was captured and
plundered by Chmielnicki, chief of the Zaporogian Cossacks, in 1647, and
disestablished in 1864. An extensive trade is carried on in peltry, silk
goods, iron and wooden wares, salt fish, grain, cattle and horses. Four
fairs are held yearly, the most important being on the 12th of June and
the 15th of August. The numerous minor industries include the
manufacture of tobacco, soap, candles, oil, bricks and leather. Pop.
(1867) 52,563; (1897) 53,728, Jews forming about 80%. In the treaty of
demarcation between the Lithuanians and the Poles in 1546 Berdichev was
assigned to the former. In 1768 Pulaski, leader of the confederacy of
Bar, fled, after the capture of that city, to Berdichev, and there
maintained himself during a siege of twenty-five days. The town belongs
to the Radziwill family.




BERDYANSK, a seaport town of Russia, in the government of Taurida, on
the north coast of the Sea of Azov, in 46° 45' N. lat. and 36° 40' E.
long. The principal industries are in bricks and tiles, tallow and
macaroni. The roads are protected from every wind except the south,
which occasions a heavy surf; but against this a mole was constructed in
1863. The chief articles of export are cereals, flour, wool, hemp, skins
and fish; and the imports include hardwares, fruits, oil and petroleum.
In the immediate neighbourhood are salt-lagoons. Pop. (1867) 12,223;
(1900) 29,168.




BEREA, a town of Madison county, Kentucky, U.S.A., 131 m. by rail S. of
Cincinnati. Pop. (1900) 762. Berea is served by the Louisville &
Nashville railway. It is pleasantly situated on the border between the
Blue Grass and the Mountain regions. The town is widely known as the
seat of Berea College, which has done an important work among the
mountaineers of Kentucky and of Tennessee. The college has about 70
acres of ground (and about 4000 acres of mountain land for forestry
study), with a large recitation hall, a library, a chapel (seating 1400
persons), a science hall, an industrial hall, a brick-making plant, a
woodwork building, a printing building, a tabernacle for commencement
exercises and other buildings. In 1908 Berea had 65 instructors and 1150
students; and it paid the tuition of 141 negro students in Fisk
University (Nashville, Tennessee) and in other institutions. The school
out of which Berea College has developed was founded in the anti-slavery
interests in 1855. An attempt was made to procure for it a college
charter in 1859, but the slavery interests caused it to be closed before
the end of that year and it was not reopened until 1865, the charter
having then been obtained, as Berea College. Negroes as well as whites
were admitted until 1904, when education of the two races at the same
institution was prohibited by an act of the state legislature (upheld by
the U.S. Supreme Court in 1908). This act did not, however, prohibit an
institution from maintaining separate schools for the two races,
provided these schools were at least 25 m. apart, and a separate school
for the negroes was at once projected by Berea.




BEREKHIAH NAQDAN, Jewish fabulist, author of a collection of _Fox
Fables_, written in Hebrew. As his title implies (Naqdan=punctuator of
the Biblical text), Berekhiah was also a grammarian. He further wrote an
ethical treatise and was the author of various translations. His date is
disputed. Most authorities place him in the 13th century, but J. Jacobs
has identified him with Benedictus le Puncteur, an English Jew of the
12th century.




BERENGARIUS [BERENGAR] (d. 1088), medieval theologian, was born at Tours
early in the 11th century; he was educated in the famous school of
Fulbert of Chartres, but even in early life seems to have exhibited
great independence of judgment. Appointed superintendent of the
cathedral school of his native city, he taught with such success as to
attract pupils from all parts of France, and powerfully contributed to
diffuse an interest in the study of logic and metaphysics, and to
introduce that dialectic development of theology which is designated the
scholastic. The earliest of his writings of which we have any record is
an _Exhortatory Discourse_ to the hermits of his district, written at
their own request and for their spiritual edification. It shows a clear
discernment of the dangers of the ascetic life, and a deep insight into
the significance of the Augustinian doctrine of grace. Sometime before
1040 Berengar was made archdeacon of Angers. It was shortly after this
that rumours began to spread of his holding heretical views regarding
the sacrament of the eucharist. He had submitted the doctrine of
transubstantiation (already generally received both by priests and
people, although in the west it had been first unequivocally taught and
reduced to a regular theory by Paschasius Radbert in 831) to an
independent examination, and had come to the conclusion that it was
contrary to reason, unwarranted by Scripture, and inconsistent with the
teaching of men like Ambrose, Jerome and Augustine. He did not conceal
this conviction from his scholars and friends, and through them the
report spread widely that he denied the common doctrine respecting the
eucharist. His early friend and school companion, Adelmann, archdeacon
of Liége, wrote to him letters of expostulation on the subject of this
report in 1046 and 1048; and a bishop, Hugo of Langres, wrote (about
1049) a refutation of the views which he had himself heard Berengar
express in conversation. Berengar's belief was not shaken by their
arguments and exhortations, and hearing that Lanfranc, the most
celebrated theologian of that age, strongly approved the doctrine of
Paschasius and condemned that of "Scotus" (really Ratramnus), he wrote
to him a letter expressing his surprise and urging him to reconsider the
question. The letter, arriving at Bec when Lanfranc was absent at Rome
(1050), was sent after him, but was opened before it reached him, and
Lanfranc, fearing the scandal, brought it under the notice of Pope Leo
IX. Because of it Berengar was condemned as a heretic without being
heard, by a synod at Rome and another at Vercelli, both held in 1050.
His enemies in France cast him into prison; but the bishop of Angers and
other powerful friends, of whom he had a considerable number, had
sufficient influence to procure his release. At the council of Tours
(1054) he found a protector in the papal legate, the famous Hildebrand,
who, satisfied himself with the fact that Berengar did not deny the real
presence of Christ in the sacramental elements, succeeded in persuading
the assembly to be content with a general confession from him that the
bread and wine, after consecration, were the body and blood of the Lord,
without requiring him to define how. Trusting in Hildebrand's support,
and in the justice of his own cause, he presented himself at the synod
of Rome in 1059, but found himself surrounded by zealots, who forced him
by the fear of death to signify his acceptance of the doctrine "that the
bread and wine, after consecration, are not merely a sacrament, but the
true body and the true blood of Christ, and that this body is touched
and broken by the hands of the priests, and ground by the teeth of the
faithful, not merely in a sacramental but in a real manner." He had no
sooner done so than he bitterly repented his weakness; and acting, as he
himself says, on the principle that "to take an oath which never ought
to have been taken is to estrange one's self from God, but to retract
what one has wrongfully sworn to, is to return back to God," when he got
safe again into France he attacked the transubstantiation theory more
vehemently than ever. He continued for about sixteen years to
disseminate his views by writing and teaching, without being directly
interfered with by either his civil or ecclesiastical superiors, greatly
to the scandal of the multitude and of the zealots, in whose eyes
Berengar was "ille apostolus Satanae," and the academy of Tours the
"Babylon nostri temporis." An attempt was made at the council of
Poitiers in 1076 to allay the agitation caused by the controversy, but
it failed, and Berengar narrowly escaped death in a tumult. Hildebrand,
now pope as Gregory VII., next summoned him to Rome, and, in a synod
held there in 1078, tried once more to obtain a declaration of his
orthodoxy by means of a confession of faith drawn up in general terms;
but even this strong-minded and strong-willed pontiff was at length
forced to yield to the demands of the multitude and its leaders; and in
another synod at Rome (1079), finding that he was only endangering his
own position and reputation, he turned unexpectedly upon Berengar and
commanded him to confess that he had erred in not teaching a change _as
to substantial reality_ of the sacramental bread and wine into the body
and blood of Christ. "Then," says Berengar, "confounded by the sudden
madness of the pope, and because God in punishment for my sins did not
give me a steadfast heart, I threw myself on the ground, and confessed
with impious voice that I had erred, fearing the pope would instantly
pronounce against me the sentence of condemnation, and, as a necessary
consequence, that the populace would hurry me to the worst of deaths."
He was kindly dismissed by the pope not long after, with a letter
recommending him to the protection of the bishops of Tours and Angers,
and another pronouncing anathema on all who should do him any injury or
call him a heretic. He returned home overwhelmed with shame and bowed
down with sorrow for having a second time been guilty of a great
impiety. He immediately recalled his forced confession, and besought all
Christian men "to pray for him, so that his tears might secure the pity
of the Almighty." He now saw, however, that the spirit of the age was
against him, and hopelessly given over to the belief of what he had
combated as a delusion. He withdrew, therefore, into solitude, and
passed the rest of his life in retirement and prayer on the island of St
Côme near Tours. He died there in 1088.

Berengar left behind him a considerable number of followers. All those
who in the middle ages denied the substantial presence of the body and
blood of Christ in the eucharist were commonly designated Berengarians.
They differed, of course, in many respects, even in regard to the nature
of the supper. Berengar's own views on the subject may be thus summed
up:--1. That bread and wine should become flesh and blood and yet not
lose the properties of bread and wine was, he held, contradictory to
reason, and therefore irreconcilable with the truthfulness of God. 2. He
admitted a change (_conversio_) of the bread and wine into the body of
Christ, in the sense that to those who receive them they are transformed
by grace into higher powers and influences--into the true, the
intellectual or spiritual body of Christ. The unbelieving receive the
external sign or _sacramentum_; but the believing receive in addition,
although invisibly, the reality represented by the sign, the _res
sacramenti_. 3. He rejected the notion that the sacrament of the altar
was a constantly renewed sacrifice, and held it to be merely a
commemoration of the one sacrifice of Christ. 4. He dwelt strongly on
the importance of men looking away from the externals of the sacrament
to the spirit of love and piety. The transubstantiation doctrine seemed
to him full of evil, from its tendency to lead men to overvalue what was
sensuous and transitory. 5. He rejected with indignation the miraculous
stories told to confirm the doctrine of transubstantiation. 6. Reason
and Scripture seemed to him the only grounds on which a true doctrine of
the Lord's supper could be rested. He attached little importance to mere
ecclesiastical tradition or authority, and none to the voice of
majorities, even when sanctioned by the decree of a pope. In this, as in
other respects, he was a precursor of Protestantism.

  The opinions of Berengar are to be ascertained from the works written
  in refutation of them by Adelmann, Lanfranc, Guitmund, &c.; from the
  fragments of the _De sacr. coena adv. Lanfr. liber_, edited by
  Stäudlin (1820-1829); and from the _Liber posterior_, edited by A.F.
  and F.T. Vischer (1834). See the collection of texts by Sudendorf
  (1850); the _Church Histories_ of Gieseler, ii. 396-411 (Eng. trans.),
  and Neander, vi. 221-260 (Eng. trans.); A. Harnack's _History of
  Dogma_, Hauréau's _Histoire de la philosophie scolastique_, i.
  225-238; Hermann Reuter, _Geschichte der religiosen Aufklarung des
  Mittelalters_, vol. i. (Berlin, 1875); L. Schwabe, _Studien zur
  Geschichte des Zweilen Abendmahlstreits_ (1887); and W. Broecking,
  "Bruno von Angers und Berengar von Tours," in _Deutsche Zeitichrift
  für Geschichtewissenschaft_ (vol. xii., 1895).




BÉRENGER, ALPHONSE MARIE MARCELLIN THOMAS (1785-1866), known as Bérenger
de la Drôme, French lawyer and politician, son of a deputy of the third
estate of Dauphiné to the Constituent Assembly, was born at Valence on
the 31st of May 1785. He entered the magistracy and became _procureur
general_ at Grenoble, but resigned this office on the restoration of the
Bourbons. He now devoted himself mainly to the study of criminal law,
and in 1818 published _La Justice criminelle en France_, in which with
great courage he attacked the special tribunals, provosts' courts or
military commissions which were the main instruments of the Reaction,
and advocated a return to the old common law and trial by jury. The book
had a considerable effect in discrediting the reactionary policy of the
government; but it was not until 1828, when Bérenger was elected to the
chamber, that he had an opportunity of exercising a personal influence
on affairs as a member of the group known as that of constitutional
opposition. His courage, as well as his moderation, was again displayed
during the revolution of 1830, when, as president of the parliamentary
commission for the trial of the ministers of Charles X., he braved the
fury of the mob and secured a sentence of imprisonment in place of the
death penalty for which they clamoured.

His position in the chamber was now one of much influence, and he had a
large share in the modelling of the new constitution, though his effort
to secure a hereditary peerage failed. Above all he was instrumental in
framing the new criminal code, based on more humanitarian principles,
which was issued in 1835. It was due to him that, in 1832, the right, so
important in actual French practice, was given to juries to find
"extenuating circumstances" in cases when guilt involved the death
penalty. In 1831 he had been made a member of the court of appeal (_cour
de cassation_), and the same year was nominated a member of the academy
of moral and political sciences. He was raised to the peerage in 1839.
This dignity he lost owing to the revolution of 1848; and as a
politician his career now ended. As a judge, however, his activity
continued. He was president of the high courts of Bourges and Versailles
in 1840. Having been appointed president of one of the chambers of the
court of cassation, he devoted himself entirely to judicial work until
his retirement, under the age limit, on the 31st of May 1860. He now
withdrew to his native town, and occupied himself with his favourite
work of reform of criminal law. In 1833 he had shared in the foundation
of a society for the reclamation of young criminals, in which he
continued to be actively interested to the end. In 1851 and 1852, on the
commission of the academy of moral sciences, he had travelled in France
and England for the purpose of examining and comparing the penal systems
in the two countries. The result was published in 1855 under the title
_La Répression pénale, comparaison du système pénitentiaire en France et
en Angleterre._ He died on the 15th of May 1866.

His son, RENÊ BÊRENGER (1830-   ), continued the work of his father, and
at the outbreak of the revolution of 1870 was _avocat général_ of Lyons.
He served as a volunteer in the Franco-German War, being wounded at
Nuits on the 28th of December. Returned to the National Assembly by the
department of Drõme, he was for a few days in 1873 minister of public
works under Thiers. He then entered the senate, of which he was
vice-president from 1894 to 1897. He founded in 1871 a society for the
reclamation of discharged prisoners, and presided over various bodies
formed to secure improvement of the public morals. He succeeded Charles
Lucas in 1890 at the Academy of Moral and Political Science.




BERENICE, or BERNICE, the Macedonian forms of the Greek Pherenice, the
name of (A) five Egyptian and (B) two Jewish princesses.

(A) 1. BERENICE, daughter of Lagus, wife of an obscure Macedonian
soldier and subsequently of Ptolemy Soter, with whose bride Eurydice she
came to Egypt as a lady-in-waiting. Her son, Ptolemy Philadelphus, was
recognized as heir over the heads of Eurydice's children. So great was
her ability and her influence that Pyrrhus of Epirus gave the name
Berenicis to a new city. Her son Philadelphus decreed divine honours to
her on her death. (See Theocritus, _Idylls_ xv. and xvii.)

2. BERENICE, daughter of Ptolemy Philadelphus, wife of Antiochus Theos
of Syria, who, according to agreement with Ptolemy (249), had divorced
his wife Laodice and transferred the succession to Berenice's children.
On Ptolemy's death, Antiochus repudiated Berenice and took back Laodice,
who, however, at once poisoned him and murdered Berenice and her son.
The prophecy in Daniel xi. 6 seq. refers to these events.

3. BERENICE, the daughter of Magas, king of Cyrene, and the wife of
Ptolemy III. Euergetes. During her husband's absence on an expedition to
Syria, she dedicated her hair to Venus for his safe return, and placed
it in the temple of the goddess at Zephyrium. The hair having by some
unknown means disappeared, Conon of Samos, the mathematician and
astronomer, explained the phenomenon in courtly phrase, by saying that
it had been carried to the heavens and placed among the stars. The name
_Coma Berenices_, applied to a constellation, commemorates this
incident. Callimachus celebrated the transformation in a poem, of which
only a few lines remain, but there is a fine translation of it by
Catullus. Soon after her husband's death (221 B.C.) she was murdered at
the instigation of her son Ptolemy IV., with whom she was probably
associated in the government.

4. BERENICE, also called CLEOPATRA, daughter of Ptolemy X., married as
her second husband Alexander II., grandson of Ptolemy VII. He murdered
her three weeks afterwards.

5. BERENICE, daughter of Ptolemy Auletes, eldest sister of the great
Cleopatra. The Alexandrines placed her on the throne in succession to
her father (58 B.C.). She married Seleucus Cybiosactes, but soon caused
him to be slain, and married Archelaus, who had been made king of Comana
in Pontus (or in Cappadocia) by Pompey. Auletes was restored and put
both Berenice and Archelaus to death in 55 B.C.

(B) 1. BERENICE, daughter of Salome, sister of Herod I., and wife of her
cousin Aristobulus, who was assassinated in 6 B.C. Their relations had
been unhappy and she was accused of complicity in his murder. By
Aristobulus she was the mother of Herod Agrippa I. Her second husband,
Theudion, uncle on the mother's side of Antipater, son of Herod I.,
having been put to death for conspiring against Herod, she married
Archelaus. Subsequently she went to Rome and enjoyed the favour of the
imperial household.

2. BERENICE, daughter of Agrippa I., king of Judaea, and born probably
about A.D. 28. She was first married to Marcus, son of the alabarch[1]
Alexander of Alexandria. On his early death she was married to her
father's brother, Herod of Chalcis, after whose death (A.D. 48) she
lived for some years with her brother, Agrippa II. Her third husband was
Polemon, king of Cilicia, but she soon deserted him, and returned to
Agrippa, with whom she was living in 60 when Paul appeared before him at
Caesarea (Acts xxvi.). During the devastation of Judaea by the Romans,
she fascinated Titus, whom along with Agrippa she followed to Rome as
his promised wife (A.D. 75). When he became emperor (A.D. 79) he
dismissed her finally, though reluctantly, to her own country. Her
influence had been exercised vainly on behalf of the Jews in A.D. 66,
but the burning of her palace alienated her sympathies. For her
influence see Juvenal, _Satires_, vi., and Tacitus, _Hist._ ii. 2.


FOOTNOTE:

  [1] Alabarch or Arabarch (Gr. [Greek: alabarchys], or [Greek:
    arabarchys]), the name of the head magistrate of the Jews in
    Alexandria under the Ptolemaic and Roman rules.




BERENICE, an ancient seaport of Egypt, on the west coast of the Red Sea,
in 23° 56' N., 35° 34' E. Built at the head of a gulf, the _Sinus
Immundus_, or Foul Bay, of Strabo, it was sheltered on the north by Ras
Benas (_Lepte Extrema_). The port is now nearly filled up, has a
sand-bar at its entrance and can be reached only by small craft. Most
important of the ruins is a temple; the remnants of its sculptures and
inscriptions preserve the name of Tiberius and the figures of many
deities, including a goddess of the emerald mines. Berenice was founded
by Ptolemy II. (285-247 B.C.) in order to shorten the dangerous Red Sea
voyages, and was named in honour of his mother. For four or five
centuries it became the entrepot of trade between India, Arabia and
Upper Egypt. From it a road, provided with watering stations, leads
north-west across the desert to the Nile at Coptos. In the neighbourhood
of Berenice are the emerald mines of Zabara and Saket.




BERESFORD, LORD CHARLES WILLIAM DE LA POER (1846-  ), British admiral,
second son of the 4th marquess of Waterford, was born in Ireland, and
entered the "Britannia" as a naval cadet in 1859. He became lieutenant
in 1868, and commander in 1875. In 1874 he was returned to parliament as
Conservative M.P. for Waterford, retaining his seat till 1880, and he
was already known in this period as a gallant officer, with a special
interest in naval administration. In 1875-1876 he accompanied the then
prince of Wales on his visit to India as naval A.D.C.; from 1878 to 1881
he was commander of the royal yacht "Osborne." He was in command of the
gunboat "Condor" in the Mediterranean when the Egyptian crisis of 1882
occurred; and he became a popular hero in England in connexion with the
bombardment of Alexandria (July 11), when he took his ship close in to
the forts and engaged them with such conspicuous gallantry that the
admiral ordered a special signal "Well done, Condor!" He was promoted
captain for his services, and, after taking an active part in the
re-establishment of order in Alexandria, he served again in Egypt on
Lord Wolseley's staff in the expedition of 1884-85, commanding the naval
brigade at Abu Klea, Abu Kru and Metemmeh, and, with the river steamer
"Safieh," rescuing Sir C. Wilson and his party, who had been wrecked on
returning from Khartum (Feb. 4, 1885). In November 1885 he was again
returned to parliament as member for East Marylebone (re-elected 1886),
and in Lord Salisbury's ministry of 1886 he was appointed a lord of the
admiralty. The press agitation in favour of a stronger navy was now in
full swing, and it was well known that in Lord Charles Beresford it had
an active supporter; but very little impression was made on the
government, and in 1888 he resigned his office on this question, a
dramatic step which had considerable effect. In the House of Commons he
advocated an expenditure of twenty millions sterling on the fleet, and
the passing of the Naval Defence Act in 1889 was largely due to his
action. At the end of 1889 he became captain of the cruiser "Undaunted"
in the Mediterranean, and when this ship was paid off in 1893 he was
appointed in command of the steam reserve at Chatham, a post he held for
three years. In 1897 he became rear-admiral, and again entered
parliament, winning a by-election at York; he retained his seat till
1900, but was mainly occupied during these years by a mission to China
on behalf of the Associated Chambers of Commerce; he published his book
_The Break-up of China_ in 1899. In 1902 he was returned to parliament
for Woolwich, but resigned on his appointment to command the Channel
squadron (1903-1905); in 1905 he was given the command of the
Mediterranean fleet, and from 1906 to 1909 was commander-in-chief of the
Channel fleet; in 1906 he became a full admiral. At sea he had always
shown himself a remarkable disciplinarian, possessed of great influence
over his men, and his reputation as one who would, if necessary, prove a
great fighting commander was second to none; and, even when serving
afloat and therefore unable to speak direct to the public, he was in the
forefront of the campaign for increased naval efficiency. During the
administration (1903-1910) of Sir John Fisher (see FISHER, BARON) as
first sea lord of the admiralty it was notorious that considerable
friction existed between them, and both in the navy and in public a
great deal of party-spirit was engendered in the discussion of their
opposing views. When Lord Charles Beresford's term expired as
commander-in-chief in March 1909 he was finally "unmuzzled," and the
attack which for some years his supporters had made against Sir J.
Fisher's administration came to a head at a moment coinciding with the
new shipbuilding crisis occasioned by the revelations as to the increase
of the German fleet. He himself came forward with proposals for a large
increase in the navy and a reorganization of the administrative system,
his first step being a demand for an inquiry, to which the government
promptly assented (May) in the shape of a small Committee under the
prime minister. Its report (August), however, gave him no satisfaction,
and he proceeded with his public campaign, bitterly attacking the
ministerial policy. In January 1910, at the general election, he was
returned as Conservative M.P. for Portsmouth; but meanwhile Sir John
Fisher's term of office came to an end, and in his successor, Admiral
Sir Arthur Knyvet Wilson (b. 1842), the navy obtained a first sea lord
who commanded universal confidence.




BERESFORD, JOHN (1738-1805), Irish statesman, was a younger son of Sir
Marcus Beresford, who, having married Catherine, sole heiress of James
Power, 3rd earl of Tyrone, was created earl of Tyrone in 1746. After the
death of the earl in 1763, Beresford's mother successfully asserted her
claim _suo jure_ to the barony of La Poer. John Beresford, born on the
14th of March 1738, thus inherited powerful family connexions. He was
educated at Trinity College, Dublin, was called to the Irish bar, and
entered the Irish parliament as member for Waterford in 1760. His
industry, added to the influence of his family, procured his admission
to the privy council in 1768, and his appointment as one of the
commissioners of revenue two years later. In 1780 he became first
commissioner of revenue, a position which gave him powerful influence in
the Irish administration. He introduced some useful reforms in the
machinery of taxation; and he was the author of many improvements in the
architecture of the public buildings and streets of Dublin. He was first
brought into conflict with Grattan and the popular party, in 1784, by
his support of the proposal that the Irish parliament in return for the
removal of restrictions on Irish trade should be bound to adopt the
English navigation laws. In 1786 he was sworn a member of the English
privy council, and the power which he wielded in Ireland through his
numerous dependants and connexions grew to be so extensive that a few
years later he was spoken of as the "king of Ireland." He was a vehement
opponent of the increasing demand for relief of the Roman Catholics; and
when it became known that Lord Fitzwilliam was to succeed Lord
Westmorland as lord lieutenant in 1795 for the purpose of carrying out a
conciliatory policy, Beresford expressed strong hostility to the
appointment. One of Fitzwilliam's first acts was to dismiss Beresford
from his employment but with permission to retain his entire official
salary for life, and with the assurance that no other member of his
family would be removed. Beresford immediately exerted all his influence
with his friends in England, to whom he described himself as an injured
and persecuted man; he appealed to Pitt, and went in person to London to
lay his complaint before the English ministers. There is little doubt
that the recall of Lord Fitzwilliam (q.v.), which was followed by such
momentous consequences in the history of Ireland, was, as the viceroy
himself believed, mainly due to Beresford's dismissal. There had been a
misunderstanding on the point between Pitt and Fitzwilliam. The latter,
whose veracity was unimpeachable, asserted that previous to his coming
to Ireland he had informed the prime minister of his intention to
dismiss Beresford, and that Pitt had raised no objection. Pitt denied
all recollection of any such communication, and on the contrary
described the dismissal as "an open breach of the most solemn
promise."[1] In a letter to Lord Carlisle, justifying his action,
Fitzwilliam mentioned that malversation had been imputed to Beresford.
Beresford sent a challenge to Fitzwilliam, but the combatants were
interrupted on the field and Fitzwilliam then made an apology.

When Lord Camden replaced Fitzwilliam in the viceroyalty in March 1795,
Beresford resumed his former position. On the eve of the rebellion in
1798 his letters to Lord Auckland gave an alarming description of the
condition of Ireland, and he counselled strong measures of repression.
When first consulted by Pitt on the question of the union Beresford
appears to have disliked the idea; but he soon became reconciled to the
policy and warmly supported it. After the union Beresford continued to
represent Waterford in the imperial parliament, and he remained in
office till 1802, taking an active part in settling the financial
relations between Ireland and Great Britain. He died near Londonderry on
the 5th of November 1805. John Beresford was twice married: in 1760 to a
foreign lady, Constantia Ligondes, who died in 1772; and, secondly, in
1774 to Barbara Montgomery, a celebrated beauty who figures in Sir
Joshua Reynolds's picture of "The Graces." He had large families by both
marriages. His son, John Claudius, kept a riding school in Dublin, which
acquired an evil reputation as the chief scene of the floggings by which
evidence was extorted of the conspiracy which came to a head in 1798. He
took a prominent part in the Irish House of Commons, where he
unsuccessfully moved the reduction of the proposed Irish contribution to
the imperial exchequer in the debates on the Act of Union, of which,
unlike his father, he was to the last an ardent opponent.

  See _Correspondence of the Right Hon. John Beresford_, edited by W.
  Beresford (2 vols., London, 1854); Edward Wakefield, _An Account of
  Ireland_ (2 vols., London, 1812); Earl Stanhope, _Life of William
  Pitt_ (4 vols., London, 1861); W.E.H. Lecky, _History of Ireland in
  the Eighteenth Century_, vols. iii., iv., v. (5 vols., London, 1892).
       (R. J. M.)


FOOTNOTE:

  [1] Stanhope, _Life of Pitt_, ii, 301.




BERESFORD, WILLIAM CARR BERESFORD, VISCOUNT (1768-1854), British general
and Portuguese marshal, illegitimate son of the first marquess of
Waterford, was born on the 2nd of October 1768. He entered the British
army in 1785, and while in Nova Scotia with his regiment in the
following year lost the sight of one eye by a shooting accident. He
first distinguished himself at Toulon in 1793, receiving two years later
the command of the 88th regiment (Connaught Rangers). In 1799 his
regiment was ordered to India, and a few months later Beresford left
with Sir David Baird's expedition for Egypt, and was placed in command
of the first brigade which led the march from Kosseir across the desert.
When, on the evacuation of Egypt in 1803, he returned home, his
reputation was established. In 1805 he accompanied Sir David Baird to
South Africa, and was present at the capture of Cape Town and the
surrender of the colony. From South Africa he was despatched to South
America. He had little difficulty in capturing Buenos Aires with only a
couple of regiments. But this force was wholly insufficient to hold the
colony. Under the leadership of a French _émigré_, the chevalier de
Timers, the colonists attacked Beresford, and at the end of three days'
hard fighting he was compelled to capitulate. After six months'
imprisonment he escaped, and reached England in 1807, and at the end of
that year he was sent to Madeira, occupying the island in the name of
the king of Portugal. After six months in Madeira as governor and
commander-in-chief, during which he learnt Portuguese and obtained an
insight into the Portuguese character, he was ordered to join Sir Arthur
Wellesley's army in Portugal. He was first employed as commandant in
Lisbon, but accompanied Sir John Moore on the advance into Spain, and
took a conspicuous part in the battle of Corunna (see PENINSULAR WAR).
In February 1809 Beresford was given the task of reorganizing the
Portuguese army. In this task, by systematic weeding-out of inefficient
officers and men, he succeeded beyond expectation. By the summer of 1810
he had so far improved the _moral_ and discipline of the force that
Wellington brigaded some of the Portuguese regiments with English ones,
and at Busaco Portuguese and English fought side by side. Beresford's
services in this battle were rewarded by the British government with a
knighthood of the Bath and by the Portuguese with a peerage.

In the spring of 1811 Wellington was compelled to detach Beresford from
the Portuguese service. The latter was next in seniority to General
(Lord) Hill who had gone home on sick leave, and on him, therefore, the
command of Hill's corps now devolved. Unfortunately Beresford never
really gained the confidence of his new troops. At Campo Mayor his light
cavalry brigade got out of hand, and a regiment of dragoons was
practically annihilated. He invested Badajoz with insufficient forces,
and on the advance of Soult he was compelled to raise the siege and
offer battle at Albuera. His personal courage was even more than usually
conspicuous, but to the initiative of a junior staff officer, Colonel
(afterwards Viscount) Hardinge, rather than to Beresford's own
generalship, was the hardly-won victory to be attributed. Beresford then
went back to his work of reorganizing the Portuguese army. He was
present at the siege of Badajoz and at the battle of Salamanca, where he
was severely wounded (1812). In 1813 he was present at the battle of
Vittoria, and at the battles of the Pyrenees, while at the battle of the
Nivelle, the Nive and Orthez he commanded the British centre, and later
he led a corps at the battle of Toulouse. At the close of the Peninsular
War he was created Baron Beresford of Albuera and Cappoquin, with a
pension of £2000 a year, to be continued to his two successors.

In 1819 the revolution in Portugal led to the dismissal of the British
officers in the Portuguese service. Beresford therefore left Portugal
and placed the question of the arrears of pay of his army before the
king at Rio Janeiro. On his return the new Portuguese government refused
to allow him to land, and he accordingly left for home. On arriving in
England he turned his attention to politics, and strongly supported the
duke of Wellington in the House of Lords. In 1823 his barony was made a
viscounty, and when the duke of Wellington formed his first cabinet in
1828 he gave Beresford the office of master-general of the ordnance. In
1830 Beresford retired from politics, and for some time subsequently he
was occupied in a heated controversy with William Napier, the historian
of the Peninsular War, who had severely criticised his tactics at
Albuera. On this subject Wellington's opinion of Beresford is to the
point. The duke had no illusions as to his being a great general, but he
thought very highly of his powers of organization, and he went so far as
to declare, during the Peninsular War, that, in the event of his own
death, he would on this ground recommend Beresford to succeed him. The
last years of Beresford's life were spent at Bedgebury, Kent, where he
had purchased a country estate. He died on the 8th of January 1854.




BEREZINA, a river of Russia, in the government of Minsk, forming a
tributary of the Dnieper. It rises in the marshes of Borizov and flows
south, inclining to east, for 350 m. (250 m. navigable), for the most
part through low-lying but well-wooded country. As a navigable river,
and forming a portion of the canal system which unites the Black Sea
with the Baltic, it is of importance for commerce, but is subject to
severe floods. It was just above Borizov that Napoleon's army forced the
passage of the Berezina, with enormous losses, on the 26th-28th of
November 1812, during the retreat from Moscow.




BEREZOV. a town of Asiatic Russia, in the government of Tobolsk, 700 m.
N. of the city of that name, situated on three hills on the left bank of
the Sosva, 26 m. above its mouth in the Ob, in 63° 55' N. lat. and 65°
7' E. long. It has more than once suffered from conflagrations--for
example, in 1710 and 1808. Prince Menshikov, the favourite of Peter the
Great and Catherine I., died here an exile, in 1729. In 1730 his enemy
and rival, Prince Dolgoruki, was interned here with his family; and in
1742 General Ostermann was sent to Berezov with his wife and died there
in 1747. The yearly mean temperature is 25° Fahr., the maximum cold
being 4.7°. It has a cathedral, near which lie buried Mary Menshikov,
once betrothed to the tsar Peter II., and some of the Dolgorukis. There
is some trade in furs, mammoth bones, dried and salted fish. Pop. (1897)
1073.




BEREZOVSK, a village of east Russia, in the government of Perm, on the
eastern slope of the Urals, 8 m. N.E. of Ekaterinburg. It is the centre
of an important gold-mining region (5 m. by 2½) of the same name. The
mines have been known since 1747. The inhabitants also manufacture
boots, cut stone and carry on cabinet-making.




BERG (_Ducatus Montensis_), a former duchy of Germany, on the right bank
of the Rhine, bounded N. by the duchy of Cleves, E. by the countship of
La Marck and the duchy of Westphalia, and S. and W. by the bishopric of
Cologne. Its area was about 1120 sq. m. The district was raised in 1108
to the rank of a countship, but did not become a duchy till 1380, after
it had passed into the possession of the Jülich family. In 1423 the
duchy of Jülich fell to Adolf of Berg, and in 1437 the countship of
Ravensberg was united to the duchies. The male line of the dukes of
Jülich-Berg-Ravensberg became extinct in 1511, and the duchy passed by
marriage to John III. (d. 1539), duke of Cleves and count of La Marck,
whose male line became extinct with the death of John William, bishop of
Münster, in 1609. Of the latter's four sisters, the eldest (Marie
Eleonore) was married to Albert Frederick, duke of Prussia, the second
(Anna) to Philip Louis, count palatine of Neuburg, the third (Magdalena)
to John, count palatine of Zweibrücken, and the fourth (Sybille) to
Charles of Habsburg, margrave of Burgau. The question of the succession
led to a prolonged contest, which was one of the causes of the Thirty
Years' War. It was settled in 1614 by a partition, under which Berg,
with Jülich, was assigned to the count palatine of Neuburg, in whose
line it remained till 1742, when it passed to the Sultzbach branch of
the house of Wittelsbach. On the death of Charles Theodore, the last of
this line, in 1799, Jülich and Berg fell to Maximilian Joseph of
Zweibrücken (Maximilian I. of Bavaria), who ceded the duchies in 1806 to
Napoleon. Berg was bestowed by Napoleon, along with the duchy of Cleves
and other possessions, on Joachim Murat, who bore the title of
grand-duke of Berg; and after Murat's elevation to the throne of Naples,
it was transferred to Louis, the son of the king of Holland. By the
congress of Vienna in 1815 it was made over to Prussia.

  See B. Schönneshöfer, _Geschichte des Bergischen Landes_ (Elberfeld,
  1895); Stokvis, _Manuel d'histoire, &c._ vol. iii. (Leiden,
  1890-1893); and R. Göcke, _Das Grossherzogtum Berg unter Joachim
  Murat, Napoleon I^er und Louis Napoleon, 1806-1813_ (Cologne, 1877).




BERGAMASK, or BERGOMASK (from the town of Bergamo in North Italy), a
clumsy rustic dance (cf. Shakespeare, _Midsummer Night's Dream_, v. 360)
copied from the natives of Bergamo, reputed to be very awkward in their
manners.




BERGAMO (anc. _Bergomum_), a city and episcopal see of Lombardy, Italy,
capital of the province of Bergamo, situated at the foot of the Alps, at
the junction of the Brembo and Serio, 33½ m. N.E. of Milan by rail, and
26 m. direct. Pop. (1901) town, 25,425; commune, 46,861. The town
consists of two distinct parts, the older Città Alta, upon a hill 1200
ft. above sea-level, strongly fortified by the Venetians, and the new
town (Città Bassa) below, the two being connected by a funicular
railway. The most interesting building of the former is the fine
Romanesque church of S. Maria Maggiore, founded in 1137 and completed in
1355, with a baroque interior and some interesting works of art.
Adjoining it to the north is the Cappella Colleoni, with a richly
sculptured polychrome façade, and a modernized interior, containing the
fine tombs of Bartolommeo Colleoni (c. 1400-1475), a native of Bergamo,
and his daughter Medea. The work was executed in 1470-1476 by Giovanni
Antonio Amadeo, who was also employed at the Certosa di Pavia. The
market-place (now Piazza Garibaldi) contains the Gothic Palazzo Vecchio
or Broletto; close by are the cathedral (1614) and a small baptistery of
1340, rebuilt in 1898. The lower town contains an important
picture-gallery, consisting of three collections of works of north
Italian masters, one of which was bequeathed in 1891 by the art critic
Giovanni Morelli. Bergamo has fine modern buildings and numerous silk
and cotton factories. It also has a considerable cattle market, though
its yearly Fiera di S. Alessandro (the patron saint) has lost some of
its importance. Railways radiate from it to Lecco, Ponte della Selva,
Usmate (for Monza or Seregno), Treviglio (on the main line from Milan to
Verona and Venice) and (via Rovato) to Brescia, and steam tramways to
Treviglio, Sarnico and Soncino.

The ancient Bergomum was the centre of the tribe of the Orobii; it
became, after their subjection to Rome, a Roman municipality with a
considerable territory, and after its destruction by Attila, became the
capital of a Lombard duchy. From 1264 to 1428 it was under Milan, but
then became Venetian, and remained so until 1797. Remains of the Roman
city are not visible above ground, but various discoveries made are
recorded by G. Mantovani in _Not. Scav_., 1890, 25.     (T. As.)




BERGAMOT, OIL OF, an essential oil obtained from the rind of the fruit
of the Citrus bergamia. The bergamot is a small tree with leaves and
flowers like the bitter orange, and a round fruit nearly 3 in. in
diameter, having a thin lemon-yellow smooth rind. The tree is cultivated
in southern Calabria, whence the entire supply of bergamot oil is drawn.
Machinery is mostly used to express the oil from the fruit, which is
gathered in November and December. The oil, which on standing deposits a
stearoptene, bergamot camphor or bergaptene, is a limpid greenish-yellow
fluid of a specific gravity of 0.882 to 0.886, and its powerful but
pleasant odour is mainly due to the presence of linalyl acetate, or
_bergamiol_, which can be artificially prepared by heating linalol with
acetic anhydride. The chief use of bergamot oil is in perfumery. The
word apparently is derived from the Italian town Bergamo. The name
Bergamot, for a variety of pear, is an entirely different word, supposed
to be a corruption of the Turkish _beg-armudi_ ( = prince's pear; cf.
Ger. _Fürstenbirn_).




BERGEDORF, a town of Germany, in the territory of Hamburg, on the river
Bille, 10 m. by rail E. by S. from the city. Pop. (1900) 23,728. It
produces vegetables and fruit for the Hamburg markets, and carries on
tanning, glass manufacture, brewing and brick-making. It received civic
rights in 1275, belonged to Lübeck and Hamburg conjointly from 1420 to
1868, and in the latter year was purchased by Hamburg. The surrounding
district, exceptionally fertile marshland, is known as Die Vierlande,
being divided into four parishes, whence the name is derived.




BERGEN, a city and seaport of Norway, forming a separate county (_amt_),
on the west coast, in lat. 60° 23' N. (about that of the Shetland
Islands). Pop. (1900) 72,179. It lies at the head of the broad Byfjord,
and partly on a rocky promontory (Nordnaes) between the fine harbour
(Vaagen) and the Puddefjord. Its situation is very beautiful, the moist
climate (mean annual rainfall, 74 in.) fostering on the steep
surrounding hills a vegetation unusually luxuriant for the latitude.
Behind the town lie the greater and lesser Lungegaard Lakes, so that the
site is in effect a peninsula. The harbour is crowded with picturesque
timber-ships and fishing-smacks, and is bordered by quays. The principal
street is Strandgaden, on the Nordnaes, parallel with the harbour,
communicating inland with the _torv_ or marketplace, which fronts the
harbour and contains the fish and fruit market. The portion of the city
on the mainland rises in an amphitheatre. The houses, of wood or stucco,
are painted in warm reds and yellows. On the banks of the lesser
Lungegaard Lake is the small town park, and above the greater lake the
pleasant Nygaards park, with an aquarium adjoining. Among the principal
buildings are the cathedral (rebuilt in the 16th century), and several
other churches, among which the Mariae Kirke with its Romanesque nave is
the earliest; a hospital, diocesan college, naval academy, school of
design and a theatre. An observatory and biological station are
maintained. The museums are of great interest. The Vestlandske fishery
and industrial museum also contains a picture gallery, and exhibition of
the Bergen Art Union (_Kunstforening_). The Bergen museum contains
antiquities and a natural history collection. The Hanseatic museum is
housed in a carefully-preserved _gaard_, or store-house and offices of
the Hanseatic League of German merchants, who inhabited the German
quarter (Tydskenbryggen) and were established here in great strength
from 1445 to 1558 (when the Norwegians began to find their presence
irksome), and brought much prosperity to the city in that period. The
Bergenhus and Fredriksberg forts defend the north and south entries of
the harbour respectively. The first was originally built in the 13th
century by King Haakon Haakonsson, and subsequently enlarged; and still
bears marks of an English attack when a Dutch fleet was driven to
shelter here in 1665. Near it are remains of another old fort, the
Sverresborg. Electric trams ply in the principal streets.

Bergen is the birthplace of the poets Ludvig Holberg (1684-1754) and
Johan Welhaven (1807-1873), of Johan Dahl the painter (1788-1857), of
Ole Bull (1810-1880) and Edvard Grieg the musicians. There are statues
to Holberg and Bull, and also to Christie, president of the Storthing
(parliament) in 1815 and 1818.

Bergen ranks first of the Norwegian ship-owning centres, having risen to
this position from fifth in 1879. The trade, however, is exceeded by
that of Christiania. The staple export trade is in fish and their
products: other exports are butter, copper ore and hides. The principal
imports are coal, machinery, salt, grain and provisions. The
manufactures are not extensive, but the preparation of fish products,
shipbuilding, weaving and distillery, with manufactures of paper,
pottery, tobacco and ropes are carried on. Bergen is an important centre
of the extensive tourist traffic of Norway. Regular steamers serve the
port from Hull and Newcastle (about 40 hours), from Hamburg, and from
all the Norwegian coast towns. Many local steamers penetrate the fjords,
touching at every village and _gaard_. Bergen is the nearest port to the
famous Hardanger Fjord, and is the starting-point of a remarkable
railway which runs through many tunnels and fine scenery towards
Vossevangen or Voss. In 1896 a beginning was made with the continuation
of this line through the mountains to connect with Christiania. In the
first 50 m. from Voss the line ascends 4080 ft., passing through a
tunnel 5796 yds. long.

Bergen (formerly Björgvin) was founded by King Olaf Kyrre in 1070-1075,
and rapidly grew to importance, the Byfjord becoming the scene of
several important engagements in the civil wars of subsequent centuries.
The famous Hansa merchants maintained a failing position here till 1764.
The town suffered frequently from fire, as in 1702 and 1855, and the
broad open spaces (_Almenninge_) which interrupt the streets are
intended as a safeguard against the spread of flames.

  See Y. Nielsen, _Bergen fra die äldste tider indtil nutiden_
  (Christiania, 1877); H. Jager, _Bergen og Bergenserne_ (Bergen, 1889).




BERGEN-OP-ZOOM, a town in the province of North Brabant, Holland,
situated on both sides of the small river Zoom, near its confluence with
the East Scheldt, 38½ m. by rail E. by N. of Flushing. It is connected
by steam tramway with Antwerp (20 m. S.) and with the islands of Tholen
and Duiveland to the north-west. Pop. (1900) 13,663. The houses are well
built, the market-places and squares handsome and spacious. It possesses
a port and an arsenal, and contains a fine town hall, with portraits of
the ancient margraves of Bergen-op-Zoom, a Latin school, and an academy
of design and architecture. The remains of the old castle of the
margraves have been converted into barracks. The tower is still standing
and is remarkable for its increase in size as it rises, which causes it
to rock in a strong wind. The church contains a monument to Lord Edward
Bruce, killed in a duel with Sir Edward Sackville, afterwards earl of
Dorset, in 1613. There are numerous tile-works and potteries of fine
ware; and a considerable trade is carried on in anchovies and oysters
caught in the Scheldt. A large sugar-beet industry has also sprung up
here in modern times.

Bergen-op-Zoom is a very old town, but little is known of its early
history beyond the fact that it was taken by the Normans in 880. In the
13th century it became the seat of Count Gerhard of Wesemael, who
surrounded it with walls and built a castle. By the end of the 15th
century it had become one of the most prosperous towns of Holland, on
account of its fisheries and its cloth-trade. In 1576 the town joined
the United Netherlands, and was shortly afterwards fortified. In 1588 it
was successfully defended against the duke of Parma by an English and
Dutch garrison commanded by Colonel Morgan, and in 1605 it was suddenly
attacked by Du Terail. In 1622 the Spaniards, under Spinola, made
another attempt to take the town, but were forced to abandon the
enterprise after a siege of ten weeks and the loss of 1200 men. Towards
the end of the 17th century the fortifications were greatly strengthened
by Coehoorn, and in 1725 they were further extended. In 1747, however,
the town was taken by the French, under Marshal Löwendahl, who surprised
it by means of a subterranean passage. Restored at the end of the war,
it was again taken by the French under Pichegru in 1795. The English,
under Sir Thomas Graham, afterwards Lord Lynedoch, in March 1814 made an
attempt to take it by a _coup de main_, but were driven back with great
loss by the French, who surrendered the place, however, by the treaty of
peace in the following May.

The lordship of Bergen-op-Zoom appears, after the definite union of the
Low Countries with the Empire in 924, as an hereditary fief of the
Empire, and the succession of its lords may be traced from Henry
(1098-1125), who also held Breda. In 1533 it was raised to a margraviate
by the emperor Charles V., and was held by various families until in
1799 it passed, through the Sultzbach branch of the Wittelsbachs, to the
royal house of Bavaria, by whom it was renounced in favour of the
Batavian republic in 1801.




BERGERAC, a town of south-western France, capital of an arrondissement
in the department of Dordogne, on the right bank of the Dordogne, 60 m.
E. of Bordeaux on the railway to Cahors. Pop. (1906) town, 10,545;
commune, 15,623. The river is rendered navigable by a large dam and
crossed by a fine bridge which leads to the suburb of La Madeleine.
Apart from a few old houses in the older quarter by the river, the town
contains no monuments of antiquarian interest. There is a handsome
modern church built in the middle of the 19th century. Bergerac is the
seat of a sub-prefect and has tribunals of first instance and of
commerce and a communal college. Wine of fine quality is grown in the
district and is the chief source of the commerce of the town, which is
mainly carried on with Libourne and Bordeaux. There is trade in grain,
truffles, chestnuts, brandy and in the salmon of the Dordogne. The town
has flour-mills, iron-works, tanneries, distilleries and
nursery-gardens, and it has manufactures of casks and of vinegar. There
are quarries of millstone in the vicinity. In the 16th century Bergerac
was a very flourishing and populous place, but most of its inhabitants
having embraced Calvinism it suffered greatly during the religious wars
and by the revocation of the edict of Nantes (1685). It was in 1577 the
scene of the signing of the sixth peace between the Catholics and
Protestants. Its fortifications and citadel were demolished by Louis
XIII. in 1621.




BERGHAUS, HEINRICH (1797-1884), German geographer, was born at Kleve on
the 3rd of May 1797. He was trained as a surveyor, and after
volunteering for active service under General Tauenzien in 1813, joined
the staff of the Prussian trigonometrical survey in 1816. He carried on
a geographical school at Potsdam in company with Heinrich Lange, August
Petermann, and others, and long held the professorship of applied
mathematics at the Bauakademie. But he is most famous in connexion with
his cartographical work. His greatest achievement was the
_Physikalischer Atlas_ (Gotha, 1838-1848), in which work, as in others,
his nephew HERMANN BERGHAUS (1828-1890) was associated with him. He had
also a share in the re-issue of the great _Stieler Handatlas_
(originally produced by Adolf Stieler in 1817-1823). and in the
production of other atlases. His written works were numerous and
important, including _Allgemeine Länder- und Völkerkunde_ (Stuttgart,
1837-1840), _Grundriss der Geographie in fünf Bückern_ (Berlin, 1842),
_Die Völker des Erdballs_ (Leipzig, 1845-1847), _Was man van der Erde
weiss_ (Berlin, 1856-1860), and various large works on Germany. In 1863
he published _Briefwechsel mit Alexander van Humboldt_ (Leipzig). He
died at Stettin on the 17th of February 1884.




BERGK, THEODOR (1812-1881), German philologist, was born at Leipzig on
the 22nd of May 1812. After studying at the university of his native
town, where he profited by the instruction of G. Hermann, he was
appointed in 1835 to the lectureship in Latin at the orphan school at
Halle. After holding posts at Neustrelitz, Berlin and Cassel, he
succeeded (1842) K.F. Hermann as professor of classical literature at
Marburg. In 1852 he went to Freiburg, and in 1857 returned to Halle. In
1868 he resigned his professorship, and settled down to study and
literary work in Bonn. He died on the 20th of July 1881, at Ragatz in
Switzerland, where he had gone for the benefit of his health. Bergk's
literary activity was very great, but his reputation mainly rests upon
his work in connexion with Greek literature and the Greek lyric poets.
His _Poetae Lyrici Graeci_ (1843. 5th ed. 1900, &c.), and _Griechische
Litteraturgeschichte_ (1872-1887, completed by G. Hinrichs and R.
Peppmüller) are standard works. He also edited Anacreon (1834), the
fragments of Aristophanes (1840), Aristophanes (3rd ed., 1872),
Sophocles (and ed., 1868), a lyric anthology (4th ed., 1890). Among his
other works may be mentioned: _Augusti Rerum a se gestarum Index_
(1873); _Inschriften römischer Schleudergeschosse_ (1876); _Zur
Geschichte und Topographie der Rheinlande in römischer Zeit_ (1882);
_Beiträge zur römischen Chronologie_ (1884).

  His _Kleine philologische Schriften_ have been edited by Peppmüller
  (1884-1886), and contain, in addition to a complete list of his
  writings, a sketch of his life. See Sandys, _Hist. of Class. Schol_
  iii. 146 (1908).




BERGLER, STEPHAN, German classical scholar, was born about 1680 at
Kronstadt in Transylvania. The date of his death is uncertain. After
studying at Leipzig, he went to Amsterdam, where he edited Homer and the
_Onomasticon_ of Julius Pollux for Wetzstein the publisher.
Subsequently, at Hamburg, he assisted the great bibliographer J.A.
Fabricius in the production of his _Bibliotheca Graeca_ and his edition
of Sextus Empiricus. He finally found a permanent post in Bucharest as
secretary to the prince of Walachia, Alexander Mavrocordato, whose work
[Greek: Peri ton kathaekonton] (_De Officiis_) he had previously
translated for Fritzsch, the Leipzig bookseller, by whom he had been
employed as proof-reader and literary hack. In the prince's library
Bergler discovered the introduction and the first three chapters of
Eusebius's _Demonstratio Evangelica_. He died in Bucharest, and was
buried at his patron's expense. According to another account, Bergler,
finding himself without means, drifted to Constantinople, where he came
to an untoward end (c. 1740). He is said to have become a convert to
Islam; this report was probably a mistake for the undisputed fact that
he embraced Roman Catholicism. Bergler led a wild and irregular life,
and offended his friends and made many enemies by his dissipated habits
and cynical disposition. In addition to writing numerous articles for
the Leipzig _Acta Eruditorum_, Bergler edited the editio princeps of the
Byzantine historiographer Genesius (1733), and the letters of Alciphron
(1715), in which seventy-five hitherto unpublished letters were for the
first time included.




BERGMAN, TORBERN OLOF (1735-1784), Swedish chemist and naturalist, was
born at Katrineberg, Vestergötland, Sweden, on the 20th of March 1735.
At the age of seventeen he entered the university of Upsala. His father
wished him to read either law or divinity, while he himself was anxious
to study mathematics and natural science; in the effort to please both
himself and his father he overworked himself and injured his health.
During a period of enforced abstinence from study, he amused himself
with field botany and entomology, to such good purpose that he was able
to send Linnaeus specimens of several new kinds of insects, and in 1756
he succeeded in proving that, contrary to the opinion of that
naturalist, _Coccus aquaticus_ was really the ovum of a kind of leech.
In 1758, having returned to Upsala, he graduated there, and soon
afterwards began to teach mathematics and physics at the university,
publishing papers on the rainbow, the aurora, the pyroelectric phenomena
of tourmaline, &c. In 1767 Johann Gottschalck Wallerius (1709-1785)
having resigned the chair of chemistry and mineralogy, Bergman
determined to become a candidate, though he had paid no particular
attention to chemistry. As evidence of his attainments he produced a
memoir on the manufacture of alum, but his pretensions were strongly
opposed, and it was only through the influence of Gustavus III., then
crown prince and chancellor of the university, that he gained the
appointment, which he held till the end of his life. He died at Medevi
on Lake Vetter on the 8th of July 1784. Bergman's most important
chemical paper is his _Essay on Elective Attractions_ (1775), a study of
chemical affinity. In methods of chemical analysis, both by the blowpipe
and in the wet way, he effected many improvements, and he made
considerable contributions to mineralogical and geological chemistry,
and to crystallography. He also made observations of the transit of
Venus in 1761, and published a _Physical Description of the Earth_ in
1766.

  His works were collected and printed in 6 vols. as _Opuscula Physica
  et Chemica_ in 1779-1790, and were translated into French, German and
  English.




BERGSCHRUND (Ger. _Berg_, mountain; _Schrund_, cleft or crevice), a
gaping crack in the upper part of a snowfield or glacier, near the rock
wall, caused by the glacier moving bodily away from the mountain-side as
the mass settles downwards. The crack is roughly parallel to the
rock-face of the upper edge of the glacier basin, and extends downwards
to the solid rock beneath the glacier where at the bottom of this huge
crevasse there are blocks of ice, and large pieces of rock torn off by
the lower portion of the glacier from the rock wall and floor.




BERGUES, a town of northern France, in the department of Nord, at the
junction of the canal of the Colme with canals to Dunkirk and Furnes (in
Belgium), 5 m. S.S.E. of Dunkirk by rail. Pop. (1906) 4499. The town has
a belfry, the finest in French Flanders, dating from the middle of the
16th century and restored in the 19th century. The church of St Martin
is a brick building of the 17th century in the Gothic style with a
modern façade. The town hall, dating from the latter half of the 19th
century, contains a municipal library and an interesting collection of
pictures. The industries of the town include brewing and malting, and
the manufacture of brushes and oil.




BERHAMPUR, a town of British India, the headquarters of Murshidabad
district, in Bengal, situated on the left bank of the river Bhagirathi,
5 m. below Murshidabad city. Pop. (1901) 24,397. Berhampur was fixed
upon after the battle of Plassey as the site of the chief military
station for Bengal; and a huge square of brick barracks was erected in
1767, at a cost of £300,000. Here was committed the first overt act of
the mutiny, on the 25th of February 1857. No troops are now stationed
here, and the barracks have been utilized for a jail, a lunatic asylum
and other civic buildings. A college, founded by government in 1853, was
made over in 1888 to a local committee, being mainly supported by the
munificence of the rani Svarnamayi. In the municipality of Berhampur is
included the remnant of the once important, but now utterly decayed city
of Cossimbazar (q.v.).




BERHAMPUR, a town of British India, in the presidency of Madras. Pop.
(1901) 25,729. It is the headquarters of Ganjam district, and is
situated about 9 m. from the sea. It is a station on the East Coast
railway, which connects Calcutta with Madras. Berhampur had a military
cantonment, sometimes distinguished as Baupur, containing a wing of a
native regiment; but the troops have been transferred elsewhere. There
is some weaving of silk cloth, and export trade in sugar. The college,
originally founded by government, is now maintained by the raja of
Kallikota. Silk-weaving and sugar-manufacture are carried on.




BERI-BERI, a tropical disease of the greatest antiquity, and known to
the Chinese from an extremely remote period. It gradually dropped out of
sight of European practice, until an epidemic in Brazil in 1863, and the
opening up of Japan, where it prevailed extensively, and the
investigations into the disease in Borneo, brought it again into notice.
The researches of Scheube and Bälz in Japan, and of Pekelharing and
Winkler in the Dutch Indies, led to its description as a form of
peripheral neuritis (see also NEUROPATHOLOGY). The geographical
distribution of beri-beri is between 45° N. and 35° S. It occurs in
Japan, Korea and on the Chinese coast south of Shanghai; in Manila,
Tongking, Cochin China, Burma, Singapore, Malacca, Java and the
neighbouring islands; also in Ceylon, Mauritius, Madagascar and the east
coast of Africa. In the Western hemisphere it is found in Cuba, Panama,
Venezuela and South America. It has been carried in ships to Australia
and to England. Sir P. Manson has "known it originate in the port of
London in the crews of ships which had been in harbour for several
months," and he suggests that when peripheral neuritis occurs in
epidemic form it is probably beri-beric.

The cause is believed by many authorities to be an infective agent of a
parasitic nature, but attempts to identify it have not been entirely
successful. It is "not obviously communicable from person to person"
(Manson), but may be carried from place to place. It clings to
particular localities, buildings and ships, in which it has a great
tendency to occur; for instance, it is apt to break out again and again
on certain vessels trading to the East. It haunts low-lying districts
along the coast, and the banks of rivers. Moisture and high temperature
are required to develop its activity, which is further favoured by bad
ventilation, overcrowding and underfeeding. Another strongly supported
hypothesis is that it is caused by unwholesome diet. The experience of
the Japanese navy points strongly in this direction. Beri-beri was
constantly prevalent among the sailors until 1884, when the dietary was
changed. A striking and progressive diminution at once set in, and
continued until the disease wholly disappeared. Major Ronald Ross
suggested that beri-beri was really arsenical poisoning. A natural
surmise is that it is due to some fungoid growth affecting grain, such
as rice, maize or some other food stuff commonly used in the localities
where beri-beri is prevalent, and among sailors. The conditions under
which their food is kept on board certain ships might explain the
tendency of the disease to haunt particular vessels. Dr Charles Hose is
the principal advocate of this theory. Having had much experience of
beri-beri in Sarawak, he associates it with the eating of mouldy rice, a
germ in the fungus constituting the poison. But Dr Hose's views as to
rice have been strongly opposed by Dr Hamilton Wright and others.

The most susceptible age is from 15 to 40. Children under 15 and persons
over 50 or 60 are rarely attacked. Men are more liable than women. Race
has no influence. Previous attacks powerfully predispose.

The symptoms are mainly those of peripheral neuritis with special
implication of the phrenic and the pneumogastric nerves. There is
usually a premonitory stage, in which the patient is languid, easily
tired, depressed, and complains of numbness, stiffness and cramps in the
legs; the ankles are oedematous and the face is puffy. After this,
pronounced symptoms set in rapidly, the patient suddenly loses power in
the legs and is hardly able to walk or stand; this paresis is
accompanied by partial anaesthesia, and by burning or tingling
sensations in the feet, legs and arms; the finger-tips are numb, the
calf muscles tender. These symptoms increase, the oedema becomes
general, the paralysis more marked; breathlessness and palpitation come
on in paroxysms; the urine is greatly diminished. There is no fever,
unless it is of an incidental character, and no brain symptoms arise.
The patient may remain in this condition for several days or weeks, when
the symptoms begin to subside. On the disappearance of the oedema the
muscles of the leg are found to be atrophied. Recovery is very slow, but
appears to be certain when once begun. When death occurs it is usually
from syncope through over-distension of the heart. The mortality varies
greatly, from 2 to 50% of the cases. The disease is said to be extremely
fatal among the Malays. After death there is found to be serious
infiltration into all the tissues, and often haemorrhages into the
muscles and nerves, but the most important lesion is degeneration of the
peripheral nerves. The cerebrospinal centres are not affected, and the
degeneration of the nerve-fibres is more marked the farther they are
from the point of origin. The implication of the phrenic and
pneumogastric nerves, and of the cardiac plexus, accounts for the
breathlessness, palpitation and heart failure; that of the vaso-motor
system for the oedema and diminution of urine, and that of the spinal
nerves for the loss of power, the impairment and perversion of
sensation. According as these nerves are variously affected the symptoms
will be modified, some being more prominent in one case and some in
another.

  AUTHORITIES.--See Sir Patrick Manson, _Tropical Diseases_ (new ed.,
  1907), for a critical discussion of the subject, see _The Times_ of
  28th October 1905; a full bibliography is given by Manson in Allbutt
  and Rolleston's _System of Medicine_ (1907).




BERING (BEHRING), VITUS (1680-1741), Danish navigator, was born in 1680
at Horsens. In 1703 he entered the Russian navy, and served in the
Swedish war. A series of explorations of the north coast of Asia, the
outcome of a far-reaching plan devised by Peter the Great, led up to
Bering's first voyage to Kamchatka. In 1725, under the auspices of the
Russian government, he went overland to Okhotsk, crossed to Kamchatka,
and built the ship "Gabriel." In her he pushed northward in 1728, until
he could no longer observe any extension of the land to the north, or
its appearance to the east. In the following year he made an abortive
search for land eastward, and in 1730 returned to St Petersburg. He was
subsequently commissioned to a further expedition, and in 1740
established the settlement of Petropavlosk in Kamchatka; and built two
vessels, the "St Peter" and "St Paul," in which in 1741 he led an
expedition towards America. A storm separated the ships, but Bering
sighted the southern coast of Alaska, and a landing was made at Kayak
Island or in the vicinity. Bering was forced by adverse conditions to
return quickly, and discovered some of the Aleutian Islands on his way
back. He was afflicted with scurvy, and became too ill to command his
ships, which were at last driven to refuge on an uninhabited island in
the south-west of Bering Sea, where Bering himself and many of his
company died. This island bears his name. Bering died on the 19th of
December 1741. It was long before the value of his work was recognized;
but Captain Cook was able to prove his accuracy as an observer.

  See G.F. Müller, _Sammlung russischer Geschichten_, vol. iii. (St
  Petersburg, 1758); P. Lauridsen, _Bering og de Russishe
  Opdagelsesrejser_ (Copenhagen, 1885).




BERING ISLAND, SEA and STRAIT. These take their name from the explorer
Vitus Bering. The island (also called Avatcha), which was the scene of
his death, lies in the south-western part of the sea, off the coast of
Kamchatka, being one of the Commander or Komandor group, belonging to
Russia. It is 69 m. long and 28 m. in extreme breadth; the area is 615
sq. m. The extreme elevation is about 300 ft. The smaller Copper Island
lies near. The islands are treeless, and the climate is severe, but
there is a population of about 650. Bering Sea is the northward
continuation of the Pacific Ocean, from which it is demarcated by the
long chain of the Aleutian Islands. It is bounded on the east by Alaska,
and on the west by the Siberian and Kamchatkan coast. Its area is
estimated at 870,000 sq. m. In the north and east it has numerous
islands (St Lawrence, St Matthew, Nunivak and the Pribiloff group) and
is shallow; in the south-west it reaches depths over 2000 fathoms. The
seal-fisheries are important (see BERING SEA ARBITRATION). The sea is
connected with the Arctic Ocean northward by Bering Strait, at the
narrowest part of which East Cape (Deshnev) in Asia approaches within
about 56 m. of Cape Prince of Wales on the American shore. North and
south of these points the coasts on both sides rapidly diverge. They are
steep and rocky, and considerably indented. The extreme depth of the
strait approaches 50 fathoms, and it contains two small islands known as
the Diomede Islands. These granite domes, lacking a harbour, lie about a
mile apart, and the boundary line between the possessions of Russia and
the United States passes between them. They are occupied by a small
tribe of about 80 Eskimo, who have from early times plied the trade of
middlemen between Asia and America. They call the western island
Nunárbook and the eastern Ignálook. Haze and fogs greatly prevail in the
strait, which is never free of ice.

[Illustration: Map of Bering Sea.]

The earliest names associated with the exploration of Bering Strait are
those of Russians seeking to extend their trading facilities. Isai
Ignatiev made a voyage eastward from the Kolyma river in 1646, and Simon
Dezhnev in 1648 followed his route and prolonged it, rounding the East
or Dezhnev Cape, and entering the strait. The post of Anadyrsk was
founded on the river Anadyr, and overland communications were gradually
opened up. A Russian named Popov first learnt a rumour of the existence
of islands east of Cape Dezhnev, and of the proximity of America, and
presently there followed the explorations of Vitus Bering. In 1731 the
navigator Michael Gvosdev was driven by storm from a point north of Cape
Dezhnev to within sight of the Alaskan coast, which he followed for two
days. Under Bering on his last voyage (1741) was Commander Chirikov of
the "St Paul," and after being separated from his leader during foggy
weather this officer reached the Alaskan coast and explored a
considerable stretch of it. Lieutenant Waxel and William Steller, a
naturalist, left at the head of Bering's party after his death, by their
researches laid the foundation of the important fur trade of these
waters. The Aleutian Islands gradually became known in the pursuit of
this trade, through Michael Novidiskov (1745) and his successors, and it
was not until Captain James Cook, working from the south, explored the
sea and strait in 1778 that the tide of discovery set farther northward.




BERING SEA ARBITRATION. The important fishery dispute between Great
Britain and the United States, which was closed by this arbitration,
arose in the following circumstances.

In the year 1867 the United States government had purchased from Russia
all her territorial rights in Alaska and the adjacent islands. The
boundary between the two powers, as laid down by the treaty for
purchase, was a line drawn from the middle of Bering Strait south-west
to a point midway between the Aleutian and Komandorski Islands dividing
Bering Sea into two parts, of which the larger was on the American side
of this line. This portion included the Pribiloff Islands, which are the
principal breeding-grounds of the seals frequenting those seas. By
certain acts of congress, passed between 1868 and 1873, the killing of
seals was prohibited upon the islands of the Pribiloff group and in "the
waters adjacent thereto" except upon certain specified conditions. No
definition of the meaning of the words "adjacent waters" was given in
the act. In 1870 the exclusive rights of killing seals upon these
islands was leased by the United States to the Alaska Commercial
Company, upon conditions limiting the numbers to be taken annually, and
otherwise providing for their protection. As early as 1872 the
operations of foreign sealers attracted the attention of the United
States government, but any precautions then taken seem to have been
directed against the capture of seals on their way through the passages
between the Aleutian Islands, and no claim to jurisdiction beyond the
three-mile limit appears to have been put forward. On the 12th of March
1881, however, the acting secretary of the United States treasury, in
answer to a letter asking for an interpretation of the words "waters
adjacent thereto" in the acts of 1868 and 1873, stated that all the
waters east of the boundary line were considered to be within the waters
of Alaska territory. In March 1886 this letter was communicated to the
San Francisco customs by Mr Daniel Manning, secretary of the treasury,
for publication. In the same summer three British sealers, the
"Carolena," "Onward" and "Thornton," were captured by an American
revenue cutter 60 m. from land. They were condemned by the district
judge on the express ground that they had been sealing within the limits
of Alaska territory. Diplomatic representations followed, and an order
for release was issued, but in 1887 further captures were made and were
judicially supported upon the same grounds. The respective positions
taken up by the two governments in the controversy which ensued may be
thus indicated. The United States claimed as a matter of right an
exclusive jurisdiction over the sealing industry in Bering Sea; they
also contended that the protection of the fur seal was, upon grounds
both of morality and interest, an international duty, and should be
secured by international arrangement. The British government repudiated
the claim of right, but were willing to negotiate upon the question of
international regulation. Between 1887 and 1890 negotiations were
carried on between Russia, Great Britain and the United States with a
view to a joint convention. Unfortunately the parties were unable to
agree as to the principles upon which regulation should be based. The
negotiations were wrecked upon the question of pelagic sealing. The only
seal nurseries were upon the Pribiloff Islands, which belonged to the
United States, and the Komandorski group, which belonged to Russia.
Consequently to prohibit pelagic sealing would have been to exclude
Canada from the industry. The United States, nevertheless, insisted that
such prohibition was indispensable on the grounds--(1) that pelagic
sealing involved the destruction of breeding stock, because it was
practically impossible to distinguish between the male and female seal
when in the water; (2) that it was unnecessarily wasteful, inasmuch as a
large proportion of the seals so killed were lost. On the other hand, it
was contended by Great Britain that in all known cases the extermination
of seals had been the result of operations upon land, and had never been
caused by sealing exclusively pelagic. The negotiations came to nothing,
and the United States fell back upon their claim of right. In June 1890
it was reported that certain American revenue cutters had been ordered
to proceed to Bering Sea. Sir Julian Pauncefote, the British ambassador
at Washington, having failed to obtain an assurance that British vessels
would not be interfered with, laid a formal protest before the United
States government.

Thereupon followed a diplomatic controversy, in the course of which the
United States developed the contentions which were afterwards laid
before the tribunal of arbitration. The claim that Bering Sea was _mare
clausum_ was abandoned, but it was asserted that Russia had formerly
exercised therein rights of exclusive jurisdiction which had passed to
the United States, and they relied _inter alia_ upon the ukase of 1821,
by which foreign vessels had been forbidden to approach within 100
Italian miles of the coasts of Russian America. It was pointed out by
Great Britain that this ukase had been the subject of protest both by
Great Britain and the United States, and that by treaties similar in
their terms, made between Russia and each of the protesting powers,
Russia had agreed that their subjects should not be troubled or molested
in navigating or fishing in any part of the Pacific Ocean. The American
answer was that the Pacific Ocean did not include Bering Sea. They also
claimed an interest in the fur seals, involving the right to protect
them outside the three-mile limit. In August 1890 Lord Salisbury
proposed that the question at issue should be submitted to arbitration.
This was ultimately assented to by the secretary of state, James
Gillespie Blaine, on the understanding that certain specific points,
which he indicated, should be laid before the arbitrators. On the 29th
of February 1892 a definitive treaty was signed at Washington. Each
power was to name two arbitrators, and the president of the French
Republic, the king of Italy, the king of Norway and Sweden were each to
name one. The points submitted were as follows:--(1) What exclusive
jurisdiction in the sea now known as Bering Sea, and what exclusive
rights in the seal fisheries therein, did Russia assert and exercise
prior to and up to the time of the cession of Alaska to the United
States? (2) How far were her claims of jurisdiction as to the seal
fisheries recognized and conceded by Great Britain? (3) Was the body of
water now known as Bering Sea included in the phrase "Pacific Ocean," as
used in the treaty of 1825 between Great Britain and Russia, and what
rights, if any, in Bering Sea were held exclusively exercised by Russia
after the said treaty? (4) Did not all the rights of Russia as to
jurisdiction and as to the seal fisheries in Bering Sea east of the
water boundary, in the treaty between the United States and Russia of
the 30th of March 1867, pass unimpaired to the United States under that
treaty? (5) Had the United States any and what right of protection over,
or property in, the fur seals frequenting the islands of Bering Sea when
such seals are found outside the three-mile limit? In the event of a
determination in favour of Great Britain the arbitrators were to
determine what concurrent regulations were necessary for the
preservation of the seals, and a joint commission was to be appointed by
the two powers to assist them in the investigation of the facts of seal
life. The question of damages was reserved for further discussion, but
either party was to be at liberty to submit any question of fact to the
arbitrators, and to ask for a finding thereon. The tribunal was to sit
at Paris. The treaty was approved by the Senate on the 29th of March
1892, and ratified by the president on the 22nd of April.

The United States appointed as arbitrator Mr John M. Harlan, a justice
of the Supreme Court, and Mr John T. Morgan, a member of the Senate. The
British arbitrators were Lord Hannen and Sir John Thompson. The neutral
arbitrators were the baron de Courcel, the marquis Visconti Venosta, and
Mr Gregers Gram, appointed respectively by the president of the French
Republic, the king of Italy, and the king of Norway and Sweden. The
sittings of the tribunal began in February and ended in August 1893. The
main interest of the proceedings lies in the second of the two claims
put forward on behalf of the United States. This claim cannot easily be
stated in language of precision; it is indicated rather than formulated
in the last of the five points specially submitted by the treaty. But
its general character may be gathered from the arguments addressed to
the tribunal. It was suggested that the seals had some of the
characteristics of the domestic animals, and could therefore be the
subject of something in the nature of a right of property. They were so
far amenable to human control that it was possible to take their
increase without destroying the stock. Sealing upon land was legitimate
sealing; the United States being the owners of the land, the industry
was a trust vested in them for the benefit of mankind. On the other
hand, pelagic sealing, being a method of promiscuous slaughter, was
illegitimate; it was _contra bonos mores_ and analogous to piracy.
Consequently the United States claimed a right to restrain such
practices, both as proprietors of the seals and as proprietors and
trustees of the legitimate industry. It is obvious that such a right was
a novelty hitherto unrecognized by any system of law. Mr J.C. Carter,
therefore, as counsel for the United States, submitted a theory of
international jurisprudence which was equally novel. He argued that the
determination of the tribunal must be grounded upon "the principles of
right," that "by the rule or principle of right was meant a moral rule
dictated by the general standard of justice upon which civilized nations
are agreed, that this international standard of justice is but another
name for international law, that the particular recognized rules were
but cases of the application of a more general rule, and that where the
particular rules were silent the general rule applied." The practical
result of giving effect to this contention would be that an
international tribunal could make new law and apply it retrospectively.
Mr Carter's contention was successfully combated by Sir Charles Russell,
the leading counsel for Great Britain.

The award, which was signed and published on the 15th of August 1893,
was in favour of Great Britain on all points. The question of damages,
which had been reserved, was ultimately settled by a mixed commission
appointed by the two powers in February 1896, the total amount awarded
to the British sealers being $473,151.26.     (M. H. C.)




BERIOT, CHARLES AUGUSTE DE (1802-1870), Belgian violinist and composer.
Although not definitely a pupil of Viotti or Baillot he was much
influenced by both. He was very successful in his concert tours, and
held appointments at the courts of Belgium and France. From 1843 to 1852
he was violin professor at the Brussels conservatoire. Then his eyesight
began to fail, and in 1858 he became blind. His compositions are still
often played, and are good, clean displays of technique.




BERJA, a town of southern Spain, in the province of Almeria; on the
south-eastern slope of the Sierra de Gádor, 10 m. N.E. of Adra by road.
Pop. (1900) 13,224. Despite the lack of a railway Berja has a
considerable trade. Lead is obtained among the mountains, and the more
sheltered valleys produce grain, wine, oil, fruit and esparto grass.
These, with the paper, linen and cotton goods manufactured locally in
small quantities, are exported from Adra.




BERKA, a town and watering-place of Germany, in the grand-duchy of
Saxe-Weimar, on the Ilm and the Weimar-Kranichfeld railway, 8 m. S. of
Weimar. Pop. 2300. It has sulphur baths, which are largely frequented in
the summer. Berka was once celebrated for its Cistercian nunnery,
founded in 1251. Two m. down the Ilm is the curious castle of Burgfarth,
partly hewn out of the solid rock.




BERKELEY, the name of an ancient English family remarkable for its long
tenure of the feudal castle built by the water of Severn upon the lands
from which the family takes its name. It traces an undoubted descent
from Robert (d. 1170) son of Harding. Old pedigree-makers from the 14th
century onward have made of Harding a younger son of a king of Denmark
and a companion of the Conqueror, while modern historians assert his
identity with one Harding who, although an English thane, is recorded by
Domesday Book in 1086 as a great landowner in Somerset. This Harding the
thane was son of Elnod or Alnod, who is recognized as Eadnoth the
Staller, slain in beating off the sons of Harold when they attacked his
county. But if Harding the Berkeley ancestor be the Harding who, as the
queen's butler, witnesses King Edward's Waltham charter of 1062, his
dates seem strangely apart from those of Robert his son, dead a hundred
and eight years later. Of Robert fitz Harding we know that he was a
Bristol man whose wealth and importance were probably increased by the
trade of the port. A partisan of Henry, son of the empress, that prince
before his accession to the throne granted him, by his charter at
Bristol in the earlier half of 1153, the Gloucestershire manor of
Bitton, and a hundred librates of land in the manor of Berkeley, Henry
agreeing to strengthen the castle of Berkeley, which was evidently
already in Robert's hands. In his rhymed chronicle Robert of Gloucester
tells how--

  "A bourgois at Bristowe--Robert Harding
   Vor gret tresour and richesse--so wel was mid the king
   That he gat him and is eirs--the noble baronie
   That so riche is of Berkele--mid al the seignorie."

Later in the same year the duke of Normandy granted to Robert fitz
Harding Berkeley manor and the appurtenant district called
"Berkelaihernesse," to hold in fee by the service of one knight or at a
rent of 100 s. Being at Berkeley, the duke confirmed to Robert a grant
of Bedminster made by Robert, earl of Gloucester, and in the first year
of his reign as king of England he confirmed his own earlier grant of
the Berkeley manor. About this time Robert, who had founded St
Augustine's Priory in Bristol, gave to the Black Canons there the five
churches in Berkeley and Berkeley Herness. In their priory church he was
buried in 1170, Berkeley descending to his son and heir Maurice.

Berkeley had already given a surname to an earlier family sprung from
Roger, its Domesday tenant, whose descendants seem to have been ousted
by the partisan of the Angevin. But if there had been a feud between the
families it was ended by a double alliance, a covenant having been made
at Bristol about November 1153 in the presence of Henry, duke of
Normandy, whereby Maurice, son of Robert fitz Harding, was to marry the
daughter of Roger of Berkeley, Roger's own son Roger marrying the
daughter of Robert. In his certificate of 1166 Robert tells the king
that, although he owes the service of five knights for Berkeley, Roger
of Berkeley still holds certain lands of the honour for which he does no
service to Robert. This elder line of Berkeley survived for more than
two centuries on their lands of Dursley and Cubberley, but after his
father's death Maurice, son of Robert, is styled Maurice of Berkeley.
Robert of Berkeley, the eldest son of Maurice, paid in 1190 the vast sum
of £1000 for livery of his great inheritance, but, rising with the
rebellious barons against King John, his castle was taken into the
king's hands. Seizin, however, was granted in 1220 to Thomas his brother
and heir, but the estate was again forfeit in the next generation for a
new defection, although the wind of the royal displeasure was tempered
by the fact that Isabel de Creoun, wife of Maurice, lord of Berkeley,
was the king's near kinswoman. Thomas, son of Maurice, was allowed to
succeed his father in the lands, and, having a writ of summons to
parliament in 1295, he is reckoned the first hereditary baron of the
line.

Even in the age of chivalry the lords of Berkeley were notable warriors.
Thomas, who as a lad had ridden on the barons' side at Evesham, followed
the king's wars for half a century of his long life, flying his banner
at Falkirk and at Bannockburn, in which fight he was taken by the Scots.
His seal of arms is among those attached to the famous letter of
remonstrance addressed by the barons of England to Pope Boniface VIII.
Maurice, his son, joined the confederation against the two Despensers,
and lay in prison at Wallingford until his death in 1326, the queen's
party gaining the upper hand too late to release him. But as the queen
passed by Berkeley on her way to seize Bristol, she gave back the
castle, which had been kept by the younger Despenser, to Thomas, the
prisoner's heir, who, with Sir John Mautravers, soon received in his
hold the deposed king brought thither secretly. The chroniclers agree
that Thomas of Berkeley had no part in the murder of the king, whom he
treated kindly. It was when Thomas was away from the castle that
Mautravers and Gournay made an end of their charge. Through the
providence of this Thomas the Berkeley estates were saved to the male
line of his house, a fine levied in the twenty-third year of Edward III.
so settling them. Thomas of Berkeley fought at Creçy and Calais,
bringing six knights and thirty-two squires to the siege in his train,
with thirty mounted archers and two hundred men on foot. His son and
heir-apparent, Maurice of Berkeley, was the hero of a misadventure
recorded by Froissart, who tells how a young English knight, displaying
his banner for the first time on the day of Poitiers, rode after a
flying Picard squire, by whom he was grievously wounded and held to
ransom. Froissart errs in describing this knight as Thomas lord of
Berkeley, for the covenant made in 1360 for the release of Maurice is
still among the Berkeley muniments, the ransom being stated at £1080.

Being by his mother a nephew of Roger Mortimer, earl of March, the
paramour of Queen Isabel, Maurice Berkeley married Elizabeth, daughter
of Hugh Despenser, the younger of Edward II.'s favourites and the
intruder in Berkeley Castle. With his son and heir Thomas of Berkeley,
one of the commissioners of parliament for the deposing of Richard II.
and a warden of the Welsh marches who harried Owen of Glendower, the
direct male line of Robert fitz Harding failed, and but for the
settlement of the estates Berkeley would have passed from the family. On
this Thomas's death in 1417 Elizabeth, his daughter and heir, and her
husband, Richard Beauchamp, earl of Warwick, the famous traveller,
statesman and jouster, seized Berkeley Castle. Earl and countess only
withdrew after James Berkeley, the nephew and heir male, had livery of
his lands by the purchased aid of Humphrey of Gloucester. But the
Beauchamps returned more than once to vain attacks on the stout walls of
Berkeley, and a quarrel of two generations ended with the pitched battle
of Nibley Green. Fought between the retainers of William, Lord Berkeley,
son of James, and those who followed Thomas Talbot, Viscount Lisle,
grandson of the illustrious Talbot and great-grandson of the countess of
Warwick, this was the last private battle on English ground between two
feudal lords. Young Lisle was shot under the beaver by an arrow, and the
feud ended with his death, all claims of his widow being settled with an
annuity of £100. Bitter as was the long quarrel, it kept the Berkeleys
from casting their interest into the Wars of the Roses, in which most of
their fellows of the ancient baronage sank and disappeared.

The victorious Lord Berkeley, whose children died young, was on ill
terms with his next brother, and made havoc of the great Berkeley
estates by grants to the Crown and the royal house, for which he was
rewarded with certain empty titles. Edward IV. gave him a viscount's
patent in 1481, and Richard III. created him earl of Nottingham in 1483.
His complacence extending to the new dynasty, Henry VII. made him earl
marshal in 1485 and marquess of Berkeley in 1487. For this last patent
he, by a settlement following a recovery suffered, gave the king and his
heirs male Berkeley Castle and all that remained to him of his
ancestors' lands, enjoying for his two remaining years a bare life
interest. At his death in 1491 the king took possession, bringing his
queen with him on a visit to Berkeley.

Here follows a curious chapter of the history of the Berkeley peerage.
When Thomas, Lord Berkeley, died in 1417, it might have been presumed
that his dignity would descend to his heir, the countess of Warwick.
Nevertheless, his nephew and heir male was summoned as a baron from
1421, apparently by reason of his tenure of the castle and its lands.
When the marquess of Berkeley was dead without surviving issue, the
castle having passed to the crown, Maurice, the brother and heir, had no
summons. Yet this Maurice's son, another Maurice, had a summons as a
baron, although not "with the room in the parliament chamber that the
lords of Berkeley had of old time." The old precedence was restored when
Thomas, brother and heir of this baron, was summoned. This Thomas, who
had a command at Flodden, held his ancestors' castle as constable for
the king. A final remainder under the marquess's settlement brought back
castle and lands on the failure in 1553 of the heirs male of the body of
Henry VII., and Henry, Lord Berkeley, had special livery of them in his
minority. Yet although seized of the castle he took a lower seat in the
parliament house than did his grandfather who was not so seized, being
given place after Abergavenny, Audley and Strange.

By these things we may see that peerage law in old time rested upon the
pleasure of the sovereign and upon no ascertained and unvarying custom.
Of the power behind that pleasure this Henry, Lord Berkeley, had one
sharp reminder. He was, like most of his line, a keen sportsman, and,
returning to Berkeley to find that a royal visit had made great
slaughter among his deer, he showed his resentment by disparking
Berkeley Park. Thereat Queen Elizabeth sent him a warning in round Tudor
fashion. Let him beware, she wrote, for the earl of Leicester coveted
the castle by the Severn.

At the Restoration, George, Lord Berkeley, who had been one of the
commissioners to invite Charles II.'s return from the Hague, petitioned
for a higher place in parliament, claiming a barony by right of tenure
before 1295, but his claim was silenced by his advancement on September
11, 1679, to be viscount of Dursley and earl of Berkeley. James, the 3rd
earl, an active sea captain who was all but lost in company with Sir
Cloudesley Shovel, became knight of the Garter and lord high admiral and
commander-in-chief in the Channel, he and his house being loyal
supporters of the Hanoverian dynasty.

The last and most curious chapter of the history of the Berkeley honours
was opened by Frederick Augustus, the 5th earl of Berkeley (1745-1810).
This peer married at Lambeth, on the 16th of May 1796, one Mary Cole,
the daughter of a small tradesman at Wotton-under-Edge, with whom he had
already lived for several years, several children having been born to
them. In order to legitimatize the issue born before the marriage, the
earl in 1801 made declaration of an earlier marriage contracted
privately at Berkeley in 1785. On his death in 1811 the validity of this
alleged marriage was tested by the committee of privileges of the House
of Lords, and it was shown without doubt that the evidence for it, a
parish register entry, was a forgery.

Under the will of his father, Colonel William Berkeley, the eldest
illegitimate son, had the castle and estates, and on the failure of his
claim to the earldom he demanded a writ of summons as a baron by reason
of his tenure of the castle. No judgment was given in the matter, the
king in council having declared in 1669 that baronies by tenure were
"not in being and so not fit to be revived." But Colonel Berkeley's
political influence afterwards procured him (1831) a peerage as Lord
Segrave of Berkeley, and ten years later an earldom with the title of
Fitzhardinge. He died without issue in 1857. His brother, Sir Maurice
Fitzhardinge Berkeley, who succeeded to Berkeley under the terms of the
5th earl's will, revived the claims, and was likewise given a new barony
(1861) as Lord Fitzhardinge, a title in which he was succeeded by two of
his sons, the 3rd baron (b. 1830) being in 1909 owner of the Berkeley
and Cranford estates. The earldom of Berkeley was never assumed by the
eldest legitimate son of the 5th earl, and was in 1909 enjoyed by Randal
Thomas Mowbray Berkeley, 8th earl, grandson of admiral Sir George
Cranfield Berkeley, second son of the 4th earl. In 1893 Mrs Milman (d.
1899), daughter and heir of Thomas Moreton Fitzhardinge Berkeley, 6th
earl _de jure_, was declared by letters patent under the great seal to
have succeeded to the ancient barony of Berkeley created by the writ of
1421; and she was succeeded by her daughter.

Many branches have been thrown out by this family during its many
centuries of existence. Of these the most important descended from
Maurice of Berkeley, the baron who died in Wallingford hold in 1326. His
second son Maurice was ancestor of the Berkeleys of Stoke Giffard, whose
descendant, Norborne Berkeley, claimed the barony of Botetourt and had a
summons in 1764, dying without issue in 1770. Sir Maurice Berkeley of
Bruton, a cadet of Stoke Giffard, was forefather of the Viscounts
Fitzhardinge, the Lords Berkeley of Stratton (1658-1773) and the earls
of Falmouth, all extinct, the Berkeleys of Stratton bequeathing their
great London estate, including Berkeley Square and Stratton Street, to
the main line. Edward Berkeley of Pylle in Somerset, head of a cadet
line of the Bruton family, married Philippa Speke, whose mother was
Joan, daughter of Sir John Portman of Orchard Portman, baronet. His
grandson William, on succeeding to the Orchard Portman and Bryanston
estates, took the additional name of Portman, and from him come the
Viscounts Portman of Bryanston (1873). From James, Lord Berkeley, who
died in 1463, descended Rowland Berkeley, a clothier of Worcester, who
bought the estates of Spetchley. Rowland's second son, Sir Robert
Berkeley, the king's bench justice who supported the imposition of
ship-money, was ancestor of the Berkeleys of Spetchley, now the only
branch of the house among untitled squires.

  See John Smyth's _Lives of the Berkeleys_, compiled c. 1618, edited by
  Sir John Maclean (1883-1885); J.H. Round's introduction to the
  Somerset Domesday, V.C.H. series; G.E. C(okayne)'s _Complete Peerage_;
  Jeayes's _Descriptive Catalogue of the Charters and Muniments at
  Berkeley Castle_ (1892); _Dictionary of National Biography_;
  _Transactions of Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society_,
  3 vols., viii., xlv., _et passim_; _The Red Book of the Exchequer_,
  Chronicles of Roger of Wendover, Matthew Paris, Adam of Murimuth,
  Robert of Gloucester, Henry of Huntingdon, &c. (Rolls Series); British
  Museum Charters, &c.     (O. Ba.)




BERKELEY, GEORGE (1685-1753), Irish bishop and philosopher, the eldest
son of William Berkeley (an officer of customs who had, it seems, come
to Ireland in the suite of Lord Berkeley of Stratton, lord lieutenant,
1670-1672, to whom he was related), was born on the 12th of March 1685,
in a cottage near Dysert Castle, Thomastown, Ireland. He passed from the
school at Kilkenny to Trinity College, Dublin (1700), where, owing to
the peculiar subtlety of his mind and his determination to accept no
doctrine on the evidence of authority or convention, he left the beaten
track of study and was regarded by some as a dunce, by others as a
genius. During his career at Dublin the works of Descartes and Newton
were superseding the older text-books, and the doctrines of Locke's
_Essay_ were eagerly discussed. Thus he "entered on an atmosphere which
was beginning to be charged with the elements of reaction against
traditional scholasticism in physics and in metaphysics" (A.C. Fraser).
He became a fellow in 1707. His interest in philosophy led him to take a
prominent share in the foundation of a society for discussing the new
doctrines, and is further shown by his _Common Place Book_, one of the
most valuable autobiographical records in existence, which throws much
light on the growth of his ideas, and enables us to understand the
significance of his early writings. We find here the consciousness of
creative thought focused in a new principle which is to revolutionize
speculative science. There is no sign of any intimate knowledge of
ancient or scholastic thought; to the doctrines of Spinoza, Leibnitz,
Malebranche, Norris, the attitude is one of indifference or lack of
appreciation, but the influence of Descartes and specially of Locke is
evident throughout. The new principle (nowhere in the _Common Place
Book_ explicitly stated) may be expressed in the proposition that no
existence is conceivable--and therefore possible--which is not either
conscious spirit or the ideas (i.e. objects) of which such spirit is
conscious. In the language of a later period this principle may be
expressed as the absolute synthesis of subject and object; no object
exists apart from Mind. Mind is, therefore, prior both in thought and in
existence, if for the moment we assume the popular distinction. Berkeley
thus diverted philosophy from its beaten track of discussion as to the
meaning of matter, substance, cause, and preferred to ask first whether
these have any significance apart from the conscious spirit. In the
pursuit of this inquiry he rashly invaded other departments of science,
and much of the _Common Place Book_ is occupied with a polemic, as
vigorous as it is ignorant, against the fundamental conceptions of the
infinitesimal calculus.

In 1707 Berkeley published two short mathematical tracts; in 1709, in
his _New Theory of Vision_, he applied his new principle for the first
time, and in the following year stated it fully in the _Principles of
Human Knowledge_. In these works he attacked the existing theories of
externality which to the unphilosophical mind is proved by visual
evidence. He maintained that visual consciousness is merely a system of
arbitrary signs which symbolize for us certain actual or possible
tactual experience--in other words a purely conventional language.

The contents of the visual and the tactual consciousness have no element
in common. The visible and visual signs are definitely connected with
tactual experiences, and the association between them, which has grown
up in our minds through custom or habit, rests upon, or is guaranteed
by, the constant conjunction of the two by the will of the Universal
Mind. But this synthesis is not brought forward prominently by Berkeley.
It was evident that a similar analysis might have been applied to
tactual consciousness which does not give externality in its deepest
significance any more than the visual; but with deliberate purpose
Berkeley at first drew out only one side of his argument. In the
_Principles of Human Knowledge_, externality in its ultimate sense as
independence of all mind is considered. Matter, as an abstract,
unperceived substance or cause, is shown to be impossible, an unreal
conception; true substance is affirmed to be conscious spirit, true
causality the free activity of such a spirit, while physical
substantiality and causality are held to be merely arbitrary, though
constant, relations among phenomena connected subjectively by suggestion
or association, objectively in the Universal Mind. In ultimate analysis,
then, nature is conscious experience, and forms the sign or symbol of a
divine, universal intelligence and will.

In 1711 Berkeley delivered his _Discourse on Passive Obedience_, in
which he deduces moral rules from the intention of God to promote the
general happiness, thus working out a theological utilitarianism, which
may be compared with the later expositions of Austin and J.S. Mill. From
1707 he had been engaged as college tutor; in 1712 he paid a short visit
to England, and in April 1713 he was presented by Swift at court. His
abilities, his courtesy and his upright character made him a universal
favourite. While in London he published his _Dialogues_ (1713), a more
popular exposition of his new theory; for exquisite facility of style
these are among the finest philosophical writings in the English
language. In November he became chaplain to Lord Peterborough, whom he
accompanied on the continent, returning in August 1714. He travelled
again in 1715-1720 as tutor to the only son of Dr St George Ashe
(?1658-1718, bishop successively of Cloyne, Clogher and Derry). In 1721,
during the disturbed state of social relations consequent on the
bursting of the South Sea bubble he published an _Essay towards
preventing the Ruin of Great Britain_, which shows the intense interest
he took in practical affairs. In the same year he returned to Ireland as
chaplain to the duke of Grafton, and was made divinity lecturer and
university preacher. In 1722 he was appointed to the deanery of Dromore,
a post which seems to have entailed no duties, as we find him holding
the offices of Hebrew lecturer and senior proctor at the university. The
following year Miss Vanhomrigh, Swift's Vanessa, left him half her
property. It would appear that he had only met her once at dinner. In
1724 he was nominated to the rich deanery of Derry, but had hardly been
appointed before he was using every effort to resign it in order to
devote himself to his scheme of founding a college in the Bermudas, and
extending its benefits to the Americans. With infinite exertion he
succeeded in obtaining from government a promise of £20,000, and after
four years spent in preparation, sailed in September 1728, accompanied
by some friends and by his wife, daughter of Judge Forster, whom he had
married in the preceding month. Three years of quiet retirement and
study were spent in Rhode Island, but it gradually became apparent that
government would never hand over the promised grant, and Berkeley was
compelled to give up his cherished plan. Soon after his return he
published the fruits of his studies in _Alciphron, or the Minute
Philosopher_ (1733), a finely written work in the form of dialogue,
critically examining the various forms of free-thinking in the age, and
bringing forward in antithesis to them his own theory, which shows all
nature to be the language of God. In 1734 he was raised to the bishopric
of Cloyne. The same year, in his _Analyst_, he attacked the higher
mathematics as leading to freethinking; this involved him in a hot
controversy. The _Querist_, a practical work in the form of questions on
what would now be called social or economical philosophy, appeared in
three parts, 1735, 1736, 1737. In 1744 was published the _Siris_, partly
occasioned by the controversy as to the efficacy of tar-water in cases
of small-pox, but rising far above the circumstance from which it took
its rise, and revealing hidden depths in the Berkeleian metaphysics. In
1751 his eldest son died, and in 1752 he removed with his family to
Oxford for the sake of his son George, who was studying there. He died
suddenly in the midst of his family on the 14th of January 1753, and was
buried in Christ Church, Oxford.

  In the philosophies of Descartes and Locke a large share of attention
  had been directed to the idea of matter, which was held to be the
  abstract, unperceived background of real experience, and was supposed
  to give rise to our ideas of external things through its action on the
  sentient mind. Knowledge being limited to the ideas produced could
  never extend to the unperceived matter, or substance, or cause which
  produced them, and it became a problem for speculative science to
  determine the grounds for the very belief in its existence. Philosophy
  seemed about to end in scepticism or in materialism. Now Berkeley put
  this whole problem in a new light by pointing out a preliminary
  question. Before we deduce results from such abstract ideas as cause,
  substance, matter, we must ask what in reality do these mean--what is
  the actual content of consciousness which corresponds to these words?
  Do not all these ideas, when held to represent something which exists
  absolutely apart from all knowledge of it, involve a contradiction? In
  putting this question, not less than in answering it, consists
  Berkeley's originality as a philosopher. The essence of the answer is
  that the universe is inconceivable apart from mind--that existence, as
  such, denotes conscious spirits and the objects of consciousness.
  Matter and external things, in so far as they are thought to have an
  existence beyond the circle of consciousness, are impossible,
  inconceivable. External things are things known to us in immediate
  perception. To this conclusion Berkeley seems, in the first place, to
  have been led by the train of reflection that naturally conducts to
  subjective or egoistic idealism. It is impossible to overstep the
  limits of self-consciousness; whatever words I use, whatever notions I
  have, must refer to and find their meaning in facts of consciousness.
  But this is by no means the whole or even the principal part of
  Berkeley's philosophy; it is essentially a theory of causality, and
  this is brought out gradually under the pressure of difficulties in
  the first solution of the early problem. To merely subjective
  idealism, sense percepts differ from ideas of imagination in degree,
  not in kind; both belong to the individual mind. To Berkeley, however,
  the difference is fundamental; sense ideas are not due to our own
  activity; they must therefore be produced by some other will-by the
  divine intelligence. Sense experience is thus the constant action upon
  our minds of supreme active intellect, and is not the consequence of
  dead inert matter. It might appear, therefore, that sensible things
  had an objective existence in the mind of God; that an idea so soon as
  it passes out of our consciousness passes into that of God. This is an
  interpretation, frequently and not without some justice, put upon
  Berkeley's own expression. But it is not a satisfactory account of his
  theory. Berkeley is compelled to see that an immediate perception is
  not a _thing_, and that what we consider permanent or substantial is
  not a sensation but a group of qualities, which in ultimate analysis
  means sensations either immediately felt or such as our experience has
  taught us would be felt in conjunction with these. Our belief in the
  reality of a thing may therefore be said to mean assurance that this
  association in our minds between actual and possible sensations is
  somehow guaranteed. Further, Berkeley's own theory would never permit
  him to speak of possible sensations, meaning by that the ideas of
  sensations called up to our minds by present experience. He could
  never have held that these afforded any explanation of the permanent
  existence of real objects. His theory is quite distinct from this,
  which really amounts to nothing more than subjective idealism.
  External things are produced by the will of the divine intelligence;
  they are caused, and caused in a regular order; there exists in the
  divine mind archetypes, of which sense experience may be said to be
  the realization in our finite minds. Our belief in the permanence of
  something which corresponds to the association in our minds of actual
  and possible sensations means belief in the orderliness of nature; and
  _that_ is merely assurance that the universe is pervaded and regulated
  by mind. Physical science is occupied in endeavouring to decipher the
  divine ideas which find realization in our limited experience, in
  trying to interpret the divine language of which natural things are
  the words and letters, and in striving to bring human conceptions into
  harmony with the divine thoughts. Instead, therefore, of fate or
  necessity, or matter, or the unknown, a living, active mind is looked
  upon as the centre and spring of the universe, and this is the essence
  of the Berkeleian metaphysics.

  The deeper aspects of Berkeley's new thought have been almost
  universally neglected or misunderstood. Of his spiritual empiricism
  one side only has been accepted by later thinkers, and looked upon as
  the whole. The subjective mechanism of association which with Berkeley
  is but part of the true explanation, and is dependent on the objective
  realization in the divine mind, has been received as in itself a
  satisfactory theory. _Suni Cogitationes_ has been regarded by thinkers
  who profess themselves Berkeleians as the one proposition warranted by
  consciousness; the empiricism of his philosophy has been eagerly
  welcomed, while the spiritual intuition, without which the whole is to
  Berkeley meaningless, has been cast aside. For this he is himself in
  no small measure to blame. The deeper spiritual intuition, present
  from the first, was only brought into clear relief in order to meet
  difficulties in the earlier statements, and the extension of the
  intuition itself beyond the limits of our own consciousness, which
  completely removes his position from mere subjectivism, rests on
  foundations uncritically assumed, and at first sight irreconcilable
  with certain positions of his system. The necessity and universality
  of the judgments of causality and substantiality are taken for
  granted; and there is no investigation of the place held by these
  notions in the mental constitution. The relation between the divine
  mind and finite intelligence, at first thought as that of agent and
  recipient, is complicated and obscure when the necessity for
  explaining the permanence of real things comes forward. The divine
  archetypes, according to which sensible experience is regulated and in
  which it finds its real objectivity, are different in kind from mere
  sense ideas, and the question then arises whether in these we have not
  again the "things as they are," which Berkeley at first so
  contemptuously dismissed. He leaves it undetermined whether or not our
  knowledge of sense things, which is never entirely presentative,
  involves some reference to this objective course of nature or thought
  of the divine mind. And if so, what is the nature of the notions
  necessarily implied in the simplest knowledge of a _thing_, as
  distinct from mere sense feeling? That in knowing objects certain
  thoughts are implied which are not presentations or their copies is at
  times dimly seen by Berkeley himself; but he was content to propound a
  question with regard to those notions, and to look upon them as merely
  Locke's ideas of relation. Such ideas of relation are in truth the
  stumbling-block in Locke's philosophy, and Berkeley's empiricism is
  equally far from accounting for them.

  With all these defects, however, Berkeley's new conception marks a
  distinct stage of progress in human thought. His true place in the
  history of speculation may be seen from the simple observation that
  the difficulties or obscurities in his scheme are really the points on
  which later philosophy has turned. He once for all lifted the problem
  of metaphysics to a higher level, and, in conjunction with his
  successor, Hume, determined the form into which later metaphysical
  questions have been thrown.

  BIBLIOGRAPHY.--The standard edition of Berkeley's works is that of A.
  Campbell Eraser in 4 vols. (i.-iii. _Works_; iv. _Life_, _Letters and
  Dissertation_) published by the Clarendon Press (1871); this edition,
  revised throughout and largely re-written, was re-published by the
  same author (1901). Another complete edition edited by G. Sampson,
  with a biographical sketch by A.J. Balfour, and a useful
  bibliographical summary, appeared in 1897-1898. Prof. Fraser also
  published an excellent volume of selections (5th ed., 1899), and a
  short general account in a volume on Berkeley in the _Blackwood
  Philos. Class._ For Berkeley's theory of vision see manuals of
  psychology (e.g. G.F. Stout, Wm. James); for his ethical views H.
  Sidgwick, _Hist, of Ethics_ (5th ed., 1902); A. Bain, _Mental and
  Moral Science_ (1872). See also Sir L. Stephen, _English Thought in
  the 18th Century_ (3rd ed., 1902); J.S. Mill's _Dissertations_, vols.
  ii. and iv.; T. Huxley, _Critiques and Addresses_, pp. 320 seq.; G.S.
  Fullerton, _System of Metaphysics_ (New York, 1904); John Watson,
  _Outline of Philos._ (New York, 1898); J. McCosh, _Locke's Theory of
  Knowledge_ (1884); T. Lorenz, _Ein Beitrag zur Lebensgeschichte G.
  Berkeleys_ (1900) and _Weitere Beiträge z. Leb. G.B.'s_ (1901);
  histories of modern philosophy generally.     (R. Ad.; J. M. M.)




BERKELEY, MILES JOSEPH (1803-1889), English botanist, was born on the
1st of April 1803, at Biggin Hall, Northamptonshire, and educated at
Rugby and Christ's College, Cambridge, of which he became an honorary
fellow. Taking holy orders, he became incumbent of Apethorpe in 1837,
and vicar of Sibbertoft, near Market Harborough, in 1868. He acquired an
enthusiastic love of cryptogamic botany in his early years, and soon was
recognized as the leading British authority on fungi and plant
pathology. He was especially famous as a systematist in mycology, some
6000 species of fungi being credited to him, but his _Introduction to
Cryptogamic Botany_, published in 1857, and his papers on "Vegetable
Pathology" in the _Gardener's Chronicle_ in 1854 and onwards, show that
he had a very broad grasp of the whole domain of physiology and
morphology as understood in those days. Moreover, it should be pointed
out that Berkeley began his work as a field naturalist and collector,
his earliest objects of study having been the mollusca and other
branches of zoology, as testified by his papers in the _Zoological
Journal_ and the _Magazine of Natural History_, between 1828 and 1836.
As a microscopist he was an assiduous and accurate worker, as is shown
by his numerous drawings of the smaller algae and fungi, and his
admirable dissections of mosses and hepaticae. His investigations on the
potato murrain, caused by _Phytophthora infestans_, on the grape mildew,
to which he gave the name _Oidium Tuckeri_, and on the pathogenic fungi
of wheat rust, hop mildew, and various diseases of cabbage, pears,
coffee, onions, tomatoes, &c., were important in results bearing on the
life-history of these pests, at a time when very little was known of
such matters, and must always be considered in any historical account of
the remarkable advances in the biology of these organisms which were
made between 1850 and 1880; and when it is remembered that this work was
done without any of the modern appliances or training of a properly
equipped laboratory, the real significance of Berkeley's pioneer work
becomes apparent. It is as the founder of British mycology, however,
that his name will live in the history of botany, and his most important
work is contained in the account of native British fungi in Sir W.
Hooker's _British Flora_ (1836), in his _Introduction to Cryptogamic
Botany_ (1857), and in his _Outlines of British Fungology_ (1860). His
magnificent herbarium at Kew, which contains over 9000 specimens, and is
enriched by numerous notes and sketches, forms one of the most important
type series in the world. Berkeley died at Sibbertoft on the 30th of
July 1889. He was a man of refined and courteous bearing, an
accomplished classical student, with the simple and modest habits that
befit a man of true learning.

  A list of his publications will be found in the _Catalogue of
  Scientific Papers_ of the Royal Society, and sketches of his life in
  _Proc. Roy. Soc._, 1890, 47, 9, by Sir Joseph Hooker, and _Annals of
  Botany_, 1897, 11, by Sir W.T. Thiselton-Dyer.     (H. M. W.)




BERKELEY, SIR WILLIAM (c. 1608-1677), British colonial governor in
America, was born in or near London, England, about 1608, the youngest
son of Sir Maurice Berkeley, an original member of the London Company of
1606, and brother of John, first Lord Berkeley of Stratton, one of the
proprietors of the Carolinas. He graduated at Oxford in 1629, and in
1632 was appointed one of the royal commissioners for Canada, in which
office he won the personal favour of Charles I., who appointed him a
gentleman of the privy chamber. During this period he tried his hand at
literary work, producing among other things a tragi-comedy entitled _The
Lost Lady_ (1638). In August 1641 he was appointed governor of Virginia,
but did not take up his duties until the following year. His first term
as governor, during which he seems to have been extremely popular with
the majority of the colonists, was notable principally for his religious
intolerance and his expulsion of the Puritans, who were in a great
minority. During the Civil War in England he remained loyal to the king,
and offered an asylum in Virginia to Charles II. and the loyalists. On
the arrival of a parliamentary fleet in 1652, however, he retired from
office and spent the following years quietly on his plantation. On the
death, in 1660, of Samuel Matthews, the last parliamentary governor, he
was chosen governor by the Virginia assembly, and was soon
recommissioned by Charles II. His natural arrogance and tyranny seems to
have increased with years, and the second period of his governorship was
a stormy one. Serious frontier warfare with the Indians was followed
(1676) by Bacon's Rebellion (see VIRGINIA), brought on by Berkeley's
misrule, and during its course all his worst traits became evident. His
cruelty and barbarity in punishing the rebels did not meet with the
approval of Charles II., who is said to have remarked that "the old fool
has put to death more people in that naked country than I did here for
the murder of my father." Berkeley was called to England in 1677
ostensibly to report on the condition of affairs in the colony, and a
lieutenant-governor (Herbert Jeffreys) was put in his place. Berkeley
sailed in May, but died soon after his arrival, at Twickenham, and was
buried there on the 13th of July 1677. In addition to the play mentioned
he wrote _A Discourse and View of Virginia_ (London, 1663).




BERKELEY, a city of Alameda county, California, U.S.A., on the E. shore
of San Francisco Bay, named after Bishop Berkeley on account of his line
"Westward the course of empire takes its way." Pop. (1890) 5101; (1900)
13,214, of whom 3216 were foreign-born; (1910) 40,434. It is served by
the Southern Pacific and the Santa Fé railway systems, both
transcontinental; and is connected by electric lines (and ferry) with
San Francisco, and by five electric lines with Oakland. Its attractive
situation and pleasant outlooks have made it a favourite residential
suburb of San Francisco, which lies at a distance of 7 m. across the
bay. Berkeley is the seat of the California state university (see
CALIFORNIA, UNIVERSITY OF), opened in 1873; the inter-related Berkeley
Bible Seminary (1896, Disciples of Christ); Pacific Theological Seminary
(established in 1866 at Oakland, in 1901 at Berkeley, Congregational);
Seminary of the Pacific Coast Baptist Theological Union, and Unitarian
Theological School--all associated with the University of California;
and the state institution for the deaf, dumb and blind. The site of
Berkeley was a farming region until its selection for the home of the
university. Berkeley was incorporated as a town in 1878.




BERKELEY, a market town of Gloucestershire, England, near the river
Severn, in that portion of its valley known as the Vale of Berkeley, on
a branch from the Midland railway. Pop. (1901) 774. It is pleasantly
situated on a gentle eminence, in a rich pastoral vale to which it gives
name, celebrated for its dairies, producing the famous cheese known as
"double Gloucester." The town has a handsome church (Early English and
Decorated), a grammar school, and some trade in coal, timber, malt and
cheese. Berkeley was the birthplace of Dr Edward Jenner (1749), who is
buried in the church. Berkeley Castle, on an eminence south-east of the
town, is one of the noblest baronial castles existing in England, and
one of the few inhabited. The Berkeley Ship Canal connects Gloucester
with docks at Sharpness, avoiding the difficult navigation of the upper
part of the Severn estuary.

The manor of Berkeley gives its name to the noble family of Berkeley
(q.v.). According to tradition, a nunnery to which the manor belonged
existed here before the Conquest, and Earl Godwin, by bringing about its
dissolution, obtained the manor. All that is certainly known, however,
is that in Domesday the manor is assigned to one Roger, who took his
surname from it. His descendants seem to have been ousted from their
possessions during the 12th century by Robert fitz Harding, an Angevin
partisan, who already held the castle when, in 1153, Henry, duke of
Normandy (who became King Henry II. in the following year), granted him
the manor. Under an agreement made in the same year, Maurice, son of
Robert fitz Harding, married a daughter of Roger of Berkeley. Their
descendants styled themselves of Berkeley, and in 1200 the town was
confirmed to Robert of Berkeley with toll, soc, sac, &c., and a market
on whatever day of the week he chose to hold it. This charter was
confirmed to Thomas, Lord Berkeley, in 1330, and in 1395-1396 Lord
Berkeley received a grant of another fair on the vigil and day of
Holyrood. The descendants of the Berkeley family still hold the manor
and town. Berkeley Castle was the scene of the death of Edward II. The
king was at first entrusted to the care of Lord Berkeley, who, being
considered too lenient, was obliged to give up his prisoner and castle
to Sir John Mautravers and Thomas Gournay. The town has no charter, but
is mentioned as a borough in 1284-1285. It was governed by a mayor and
twelve aldermen, but by 1864 their privileges had become merely nominal,
and the corporation was dissolved in 1885 under the Municipal
Corporations Act. Berkeley was formerly noted for the manufacture of
clothing, but the trade had decreased by the 16th century, for Leland,
writing about 1520, says "the town of Berkeley is no great thing.... It
hath very much occupied and yet somewhat doth clothing."

  See John Fisher, _History of Berkeley_ (1864).




BERKHAMPSTEAD (GREAT BERKHAMPSTEAD), a market town in the Watford
parliamentary division of Hertfordshire, England, 28 m. N.W. from London
by the London & North-Western railway. Pop. of urban district (1901)
5140. It lies pleasantly in the narrow well-wooded valley of the
Bulbourne, and is close to the Grand Junction canal. The church of St
Peter, a large cruciform structure, exhibits all the Gothic styles, and
earlier fragments are traceable. There are several brasses of interest.
The poet William Cowper was born in the rectory in 1731. The large
grammar school is a foundation of 1541. Straw-plaiting and the
manufacture of small wooden wares are the principal industries, and
there are large chemical works. Of the castle earthworks and fragments
of walls remain. The name of the town is Great Berkhampstead (or
Berkhamsted), in distinction from Little Berkhampstead near Hatfield in
this county.

Berkhampstead (Beorhhamstede, Berchehamstede) was undoubtedly of some
importance in Saxon times since there were fifty-two burgesses there at
the time of the Conquest. In 1156 Henry II. granted the men and
merchants of the town the same laws and customs as they had in the time
of Edward the Confessor, and that they should be quit of toll throughout
England, Normandy, Aquitaine and Anjou. Berkhampstead rose to importance
with its castle, which is said to have been built by Robert, count of
Mortain, and when the castle fell into ruin after 1496 the town also
began to decay. In 1618, however, the burgesses received an
incorporation charter; but after the civil wars the corporate body began
to fail through poverty, and in the 18th century had ceased to exist.
The burgesses returned two members to parliament in 1320 and again in
1338 and 1341, but were never represented again. Before the 13th century
the burgesses held a weekly market on Sunday and a yearly fair on St
James's day, but in 1218 Henry III. altered the market day to Monday.
Roofing tiles were manufactured in Berkhampstead as early as the 13th
century, and in Elizabeth's reign the making of malt was the chief
industry.




BERKSHIRE, THOMAS HOWARD, 1ST EARL OF (1587-1669), 2nd son of Thomas
Howard, 1st earl of Suffolk and of Catherine, daughter of Sir Henry
Knevet, Kt., widow of Richard Rich, was baptized on the 8th of October
1587. He succeeded to his mother's estate of Charlton in Wiltshire, was
created K.B. in 1605, became master of the horse to Prince Charles, and
was created Lord Howard of Charlton and Viscount Andover in 1622, K.G.
in 1625, and earl of Berkshire in 1626. In 1634 he was chosen high
steward of the university of Oxford. He was a commissioner for
negotiating the treaty of Ripon in 1640, and accompanied the king to
York in 1642. While attempting to execute the king's commission of array
in Oxfordshire in August he was taken prisoner by Hampden at Watlington
and imprisoned in the Tower, but after being censured by the Lords was
liberated in September. In 1643 he was made governor of the prince of
Wales, a post for which he was in no way fitted, and in which he showed
himself factious and obstructive. He accompanied the prince to Scilly
and to Jersey, but on the latter's departure for France went to Holland.
At the Restoration he was made a privy councillor and received rewards.
He died on the 16th of July 1669, and was buried in Westminster Abbey.
According to Clarendon "his affection for the crown was good; his
interest and reputation less than anything but his understanding." He
married Elizabeth, daughter and co-heir of William, earl of Exeter, by
whom he had nine sons and four daughters. Of these Charles succeeded him
as 2nd earl of Berkshire; Thomas succeeded the latter; and Philip was
ancestor of John, 15th earl of Suffolk and 8th earl of Berkshire, and so
of the later earls of Suffolk and Berkshire.




BERKSHIRE [abbreviated _Berks_, pronounced _Barkshire_], a southern
county of England, bounded N. by Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, E. by
Surrey, S. by Hampshire, W. by Wiltshire, and N.W. for a short distance
by Gloucestershire. Its area is 721.9 sq. m. Its entire northern
boundary is formed by the river Thames, in the basin of which
practically the whole county is included. In the north-west a narrow and
broken line of hills, pierced in the west by the Cole stream, which here
forms the county boundary, extends past Faringdon and culminates in a
height over 500 ft. at Cumnor Hurst, which, with Wytham Hill, fills a
deep northward bend of the Thames, and overlooks the city of Oxford from
the west. The range separates the Thames valley from the Vale of White
Horse which is traversed by the small river Ock, and bounded on the
south by a line of hills known as the White Horse Hills or Berkshire
Downs, richly wooded along their base, and rising sharply to bare
rounded summits. In White Horse Hill on the western confines of the
county a height of 856 ft. is reached. The line of these hills is
continued north-eastward by the Chiltern Hills in Oxfordshire, but a
division between the two is made by the Thames in a narrow valley or gap
at Goring. Southward the Downs are scored with deep narrow valleys, the
chief of which are those of the Lambourn and the Pang. The last stream
runs eastward directly to the Thames; but the Lambourn and others join
the Kennet, which drains a beautiful sylvan valley to the Thames at
Reading. Another line of downs closely confines the vale of Kennet on
the south from Newbury upwards, and although the greater part of these
does not fall within the county, their highest point, Inkpen Beacon
(1011 ft.), does so. The Enborne stream, rising here, and flowing
parallel to the Kennet until turning north to join it, is for a
considerable distance the county boundary. Between Reading and Windsor
the Thames makes a northward bend, past Henley and Marlow, in the form
of three sides of a square. Within the bend slight hills border the
river, but south of these, and in the Loddon valley south of Reading,
the county is low and flat. In the south-east of the county, however,
there is a high sandy plateau, forming part of Bagshot Heath, over 400
ft. in elevation, and extending into Surrey. Fir-woods are
characteristic of this district, and northward towards the Thames
extends the royal park of Windsor, which is magnificently timbered. The
proportion to the total area of the county which is under woods is,
however, by no means so great as in the adjacent counties of Surrey and
Hampshire. There is fine trout-fishing in the Kennet and some of its
feeders.

_Geology._--The dominant feature of the county, the Chiltern and White
Horse Hills, owes its form to the Chalk, which spreads from Ashbury and
Hungerford on the west to Henley and Maidenhead on the east. In the
northern face of the escarpment we find the Lower Chalk with a hard bed,
the Totternhoe Stone; on the southern slope lies the Chalk-with-Flints.
At Kintbury it is quarried for the manufacture of whiting. At the foot
of the Chalk escarpment is the Upper Greensand with a narrow crop
towards the west which is broken up into patches eastwards. Looking
northward from the Chalk hills, the low-lying ground is occupied
successively by the Gault Clay, the Kimmeridge Clay, and finally by the
Oxford Clay, which extends beyond the Thames into Oxfordshire. This
low-lying tract is relieved by an elevated ridge of Corallian beds,
between the Kimmeridge Clay and the Gault. It extends from near
Faringdon past Abingdon to Cumnor and Wytham Hill. At Faringdon there
are some interesting gravels of Lower Greensand age, full of the fossil
remains of sponges. South of the Chalk, the county is occupied by Eocene
rocks, mottled clays, well exposed in the brickfields about Reading, and
hence called the Reading beds. At Finchampstead, Sunninghill and Ascot,
these deposits are overlaid by the more sandy beds of the Bagshot
series. Between the two last named formations is a broad outcrop of
London Clay. Numerous outliers of Eocene rest on the Chalk beyond the
main line of boundary. The Chalk of Inkpen Beacon is brought up to the
south side of the Tertiary rocks by a synclinal fold; similarly, an
anticline has brought up the small patch of Chalk in Windsor Park.
Clay-with-Flints lies in patches and holes on the chalk, and flint
gravels occur high up on either side of the Thames. Fairly thick beds of
peat are found in the alluvium of the Kennet at Newbury.

_Industries._--About seven-ninths of the total area is under
cultivation; a large proportion of this being in permanent pasture, as
much attention is paid to dairy-farming. Butter and cheese are largely
produced, and the making of condensed milk is a branch of the industry.
Many sheep are pastured on the Downs, important sheep-markets being held
at the small town of East or Market Ilsley; and an excellent breed of
pigs is named after the county. The parts about Faringdon are specially
noted for them. Oats are the principal grain crop; although a
considerable acreage is under wheat. Turnips and swedes are largely
cultivated, and apples and cherries are grown. Besides the royal castle
of Windsor, fine county seats are especially numerous.

The only manufacturing centre of first importance is Reading, which is
principally famous for its biscuit factories. The manufacture of
clothing and carpets is carried on at Abingdon; but a woollen industry
introduced into the county as early as the Tudor period is long extinct.
Engineering works and paper mills are established at various places; and
boat-building is carried on at Reading and other riverside stations.
There are extensive seed warehouses and testing grounds near Reading;
and the Kennet and Windsor ales are in high repute. Whiting is
manufactured from chalk at Kintbury on the Kennet.

_Communications._--Communications are provided principally by the Great
Western railway, the main line of which crosses the county from east to
west by Maidenhead, Reading and Didcot. A branch line serves the Kennet
valley from Reading; and the northern line of the company leaves the
main line at Didcot, a branch from it serving Abingdon. The Basingstoke
branch runs south from Reading, and lines serve Wallingford from
Cholsey, and Faringdon from Uffington. Communication with the south of
England is maintained by a joint line of the South Western and South
Eastern & Chatham companies terminating at Reading, and there are
branches of the Great Western and South Western systems to Windsor. The
Lambourn valley light railway runs north-west to Lambourn from Newbury.
Wide water-communications are afforded by the Thames, and the Kennet is
in part canalized, to form the eastern portion of the Kennet and Avon
canal system, connecting with the Bristol Avon above Bath.

_Population and Administration._--The area of the ancient county is
462,208 acres; with a population in 1891 of 239,138, and in 1901 of
256,509. The area of the administrative county is 462,367 acres. The
county contains twenty hundreds. The municipal boroughs are Abingdon
(pop. 6480), Maidenhead (12,980), Newbury (11,061), Reading, the county
town and a county borough (72,217), Wallingford (2808), Windsor or New
Windsor (14,130), Wokingham (3551). Wantage (3766) is an urban district.
Among lesser towns may be mentioned Faringdon in the north-west (2900),
Hungerford on the Kennet (2906), and Lambourn in the valley of that name
(2071), the villages of Bray (2978), Cookham (3874) and Tilehurst
(2545), which, like others on the banks of the Thames, have grown into
residential towns; and Sandhurst (2386). The county is in the Oxford
circuit, and assizes are held at Reading. It has one court of quarter
sessions, and is divided into twelve petty sessional divisions. The
boroughs of Abingdon, Newbury, Maidenhead, Reading, Wallingford and
Windsor have separate commissions of the peace, and Abingdon, Newbury,
Reading and Windsor have separate courts of quarter sessions. There are
198 civil parishes. Berkshire forms an archdeaconry in the diocese of
Oxford; a small portion, however, falls within the diocese of Salisbury.
There are 202 ecclesiastical parishes or districts, wholly or in part
within the county. There are three parliamentary divisions, Northern or
Abingdon, Southern or Newbury, and Eastern or Wokingham, each returning
one member; while the parliamentary borough of Reading returns one
member, and parts of the borough of Oxford and Windsor are included in
the county. There are several important educational establishments in
the county. Radley College near Abingdon, Wellington College near
Sandhurst, and Bradfield College, at the village of that name, 8 m. west
of Reading, are among the more important modern public schools for boys.
Bradfield College was founded in 1850, and is well known for the
realistic performances of classical Greek plays presented by the
scholars in an open theatre designed for the purpose. Abingdon and
Reading schools rank among the lesser public schools. At Reading is a
university extension college, and in the south-east of the county is the
Sandhurst Royal Military College.

_History._--During the Heptarchy Berkshire formed part of the kingdom of
Wessex, and interesting relics of Saxon occupation have been discovered
in various parts of the county. Of these the most remarkable are the
burial grounds at Long Wittenham and Frilford, and there is evidence
that the Lambourn valley was occupied in early Saxon times. The cinerary
urns found in Berkshire undoubtedly contain the ashes of the Anglians
who came south under Penda in the 7th century. The fortification called
Cherbury Castle, not far from Denchworth, is said to have been first
made up by Canute.

At the time of the Norman invasion Berkshire formed part of the earldom
of Harold, and supported him stanchly at the battle of Hastings. This
loyalty was punished by very sweeping confiscations, and at the time of
the Domesday survey no estates of any importance were in the hands of
Englishmen. When Alfred divided the country into shires, this county
received the name of Berrocscir, as Asser says, "from the wood of
Berroc, where the box-tree grows most plentifully."[1] At the time of
the survey it comprised twenty-two hundreds; at the present day there
are only twenty, of which eleven retain their ancient names. Many
parishes have been transferred from one hundred to another, but the
actual boundary of the county is practically unchanged. Part of the
parishes of Shilton and Langford formed detached portions of the shire,
until included in Oxfordshire in the reign of William IV. Portions of
Combe and Shalbourne parishes have also been restored to Hampshire and
Wiltshire respectively, while the Wiltshire portion of Hungerford has
been transferred to Berkshire. The county was originally included in the
see of Winchester, but in A.D. 909 it was removed to the newly-formed
see of "Wiltshire," afterwards united with Sherborne. In 1075 the seat
of the bishopric was removed to Salisbury, and in 1836 by an order in
council Berkshire was transferred to the diocese of Oxford. The
archdeaconry is of very early origin and is co-extensive with the
county. Formerly it comprised four rural deaneries, but the number has
lately been increased to nine. Much of the early history of the county
is recorded in the _Chronicles_ of the abbey of Abingdon, which at the
time of the survey was second only to the crown in the extent and number
of its possessions. The abbot also exercised considerable judicial and
administrative powers, and his court was endowed with the privileges of
the hundred court and was freed from liability to interference by the
sheriff. Berkshire and Oxfordshire had a common sheriff until the reign
of Elizabeth, and the shire court was held at Grauntpont. The assizes
were formerly held at Reading, Abingdon and Newbury, but are now held
entirely at Reading.

At the time of the Domesday survey the chief lay-proprietor was Henry de
Ferrers, ancestor of the earls of Derby, but it is remarkable that none
of the great Berkshire estates has remained with the same family long.
Thomas Fuller quaintly observes that "the lands of Berkshire are very
skittish and apt to cast their owners." The De la Poles succeeded to
large estates by a marriage with the heiress of Thomas Chaucer, son of
the poet, but the family became extinct in the male line, and the
estates were alienated. The same fate befell the estates of the Achards,
the Fitzwarrens and later the families of Norris and Befils.

The natural advantages of this county have always encouraged
agricultural rather than commercial pursuits. The soil is especially
adapted for sheep-farming, and numerous documents testify to the
importance and prosperity of the wool-trade in the 12th century. At
first this trade was confined to the export of the raw material, but the
reign of Edward III. saw the introduction of the clothing industry, for
which the county afterwards became famous. This trade began to decline
in the 17th century, and in 1641 the Berkshire clothiers complained of
the deadness of their trade and the difficulty of getting ready money,
attributing the same to delay in the execution of justice. The malting
industry and the timber trade also flourished in the county until the
19th century. Agriculturally considered, the Vale of the White Horse is
especially productive, and Camden speaks of the great crops of barley
grown in the district.

Owing to its proximity to London, Berkshire has from early times been
the scene of frequent military operations. The earliest recorded
historical fact relating to the county is the occupation of the district
between Wallingford and Ashbury by Offa in 758. In the 9th and 10th
centuries the county was greatly impoverished by the ravages of the
Danes, and in 871 the invaders were defeated by Æthelwulf at Englefield
and again at Reading. During the disorders of Stephen's reign
Wallingford was garrisoned for Matilda and was the scene of the final
treaty in 1153. Meetings took place between John and his barons in 1213
at Wallingford and at Reading, and in 1216 Windsor was besieged by the
barons. At the opening of the civil war of the 17th century, the
sheriff, on behalf of the inhabitants of Berkshire, petitioned that the
county might be put in a posture of defence, and here the royalists had
some of their strongest garrisons. Reading endured a ten days' siege by
the parliamentary forces in 1643, and Wallingford did not surrender
until 1646. Newbury was the site of two battles in 1643 and 1644.

In 1295, Berkshire returned two members to parliament for the county and
two for the borough of Reading. Later the boroughs of Newbury,
Wallingford, Windsor and Abingdon secured representation, and from 1557
until the Reform Act of 1832 the county was represented by a total of
ten members. By this act Abingdon and Wallingford were each deprived of
a member, but the county returned three members instead of two. Since
the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 the county has returned three
members for three divisions, and Windsor and Reading return one member
each, the remaining boroughs having lost representation.

_Antiquities._--The remains of two great Benedictine monasteries at
Abingdon and Reading are scanty. The ecclesiastical architecture of the
county is not remarkable, excepting a few individual churches. Thus for
Norman work the churches of Shellingford and Cholsey may be noted,
together with the very small chapel, of early date, at Upton near
Didcot. The church of Blewbury in the same locality is in the main
transitional Norman, and retains some of its original vaulting. Of Early
English churches there are several good examples, notably at Uffington,
with its unusual angular-headed windows, Buckland near Faringdon, and
Wantage. The tower of St Helen's, Abingdon, well illustrates this
period. The cruciform church of Shottesbrooke, with its central spire,
is a beautiful and almost unaltered Decorated building; and St George's
chapel in Windsor Castle is a superb specimen of Perpendicular work.
Apart from Windsor, Berkshire retains no remarkable medieval castles or
mansions.

  AUTHORITIES.--Chief of the older works are: Elias Ashmole.
  _Antiquities of Berkshire_ (3 vols., 1719, 2nd ed., London, 1723; 3rd
  ed., Reading, 1736); D. and S. Lysons, _Magna Britannia_, vol. i.
  Other works are: Marshall, _Topographical and Statistical Details of
  the County of Berkshire_ (London, 1830); Earl of Carnarvon,
  _Archaeology of Berkshire_ (London, 1859); C. King, _History of
  Berkshire_ (London, 1887); Lowsley, _Glossary of Berkshire Words_
  (London, 1888), and _Index to Wills in the Court of the Archdeacon of
  Berkshire, 1508-1652_ (Oxford, 1893); _Victoria County History,
  Berkshire_. See also _The Berks Archaeological Society's Quarterly
  Journal_, and _Berkshire Notes and Queries_.


FOOTNOTE:

  [1] The derivation from Bibroci, a British tribe in the time of
    Caesar, which probably inhabited Surrey or Middlesex, seems
    philologically impossible.




BÊRLAD, the capital of the department of Tutova, Rumania, on the river
Bêrlad, which waters the high plains of Eastern Moldavia. Pop. (1900)
24,484, about one-fourth of whom are Jews. At Bêrlad the railway from
Jassy diverges, one branch skirting the river Sereth, the other skirting
the Pruth; both reunite at Galatz. Among a maze of narrow and winding
streets Bêrlad possesses a few good modern buildings, including a fine
hospital, administered by the St Spiridion Foundation of Jassy. Bêrlad
has manufactures of soap and candles, and some trade in timber and
farm-produce, while the annual horse-fairs are visited by dealers from
all parts of the country. In the vicinity are traces of a Roman camp.




BERLICHINGEN, GOETZ or GOTTFRIED VON (1480-1562), German knight, was
born at the castle of Jagsthausen now in Württemberg. In 1497 he entered
the service of Frederick IV., margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach, and in
1498 fought for the emperor Maximilian I. in Burgundy, Lorraine and
Brabant, and next year in Switzerland. About 1500 he raised a company of
freelances, and at their head took part in various private wars. In
1505, whilst assisting Albert IV., duke of Bavaria, at the siege of
Landshut, his right hand was shot away, and an iron one was substituted
which is still shown at Jagsthausen. In spite of this "Goetz with the
iron hand" continued his feuds, their motive being mainly booty and
ransom. In 1512 an attack near Forchheim on some merchants returning
from the great fair at Leipzig, caused him to be put under the ban of
the empire by Maximilian, and he was only released from this in 1514
upon a promise to pay 14,000 gulden. In 1516 he made a raid into Hesse
and captured Philip IV., count of Waldeck, whom he compelled to pay a
ransom of 8400 gold gulden, and in 1518 was again placed under the ban.
He fought for Ulrich I., duke of Württemberg, when he was attacked by
the Swabian League in 1519, and after a spirited resistance was
compelled, through want of ammunition and provisions, to surrender the
town of Möckmuhl. In violation of the terms of the capitulation he was
held prisoner, and handed over to the citizens of Heilbronn, but owing
to the efforts of Sickingen and Georg von Frundsberg was released in
1522, upon paying 2000 gulden, and swearing not to take vengeance on the
League. When the Peasants' War broke out in 1525 Goetz was compelled by
the rebels of the Odenwald district to act as their leader. He accepted
the position, according to his own account, partly because he had no
choice, partly in the hope of curbing the excesses of the insurgents;
but, finding himself in this respect powerless, after a month of nominal
leadership, he took the first opportunity of escaping to his castle. For
his part in the rebellion he was called to account before the diet of
Speier, and on the 17th of October 1526 was acquitted by the imperial
chamber. In spite of this the Swabian League seized the opportunity of
paying off old scores against him. Lured to Augsburg, under promise of
safe conduct, to clear himself of the charges made against him on behalf
of the League, he was there treacherously seized on the 28th of November
1528, and kept a close prisoner for two years. In 1530 he was liberated
on repeating his oath of 1522, and undertaking not to leave the
neighbourhood of his castle of Hornberg on the Neckar. He appears to
have remained there quietly until 1540 when the emperor Charles V.
released him from his oath. In 1542 he fought against the Turks in
Hungary, and in 1544 accompanied Charles when he invaded France. He
returned to Hornberg, where he passed his time until his death on the
23rd of July 1562. He was twice married and left three daughters and
seven sons. The counts von Berlichingen-Rossach, of Helmstadt near
Heidelberg, one of the two surviving branches of the family, are his
descendants. The other branch, that of the Freiherrn von
Berlichingen-Jagsthausen, is descended from Goetz's brother Hans. "Goetz
von Berlichingen" is the title of Goethe's play, which, published in
1773, marked an epoch in the history of German drama (see GOETHE).

  See R. Pallmann, _Der historische Goetz von Berlichingen_ (Berlin,
  1894); F.W.G. Graf von Berlichingen-Rossach, _Geschichte des Ritters
  Goetz von Berlichingen und seiner Familie_ (Leipzig, 1861). Goetz's
  _Autobiography_, valuable as a record of his times, was first
  published by Pistorius at Nuremberg (1731), and again at Halle (1886).




BERLIN, ISAIAH (1725-1799), an eminent rabbi of Breslau; he was the
author of acute notes on the Talmud which had their influence in
advancing the critical study of that work.




BERLIN, the largest city of the German empire, the capital of the
kingdom of Prussia. It is the principal residence of the German emperor
and king of Prussia, the seat of the imperial parliament (_Reichstag_)
and the Prussian diet (_Landtag_) and of the state offices of the
empire, except of the supreme court of justice (_Reichsgericht_), which
is fixed at Leipzig. It lies in a flat, sandy plain, 110 ft. above
sea-level, on both banks of the navigable Spree, which intersects it
from S.E. to N.W. The highest elevation in the immediate neighbourhood
is the Kreuzberg (200 ft.), a hill in the southern suburb of Schöneberg,
which commands a fine view of the city. The situation of Berlin, midway
between the Elbe and the Oder, with which rivers it is connected by a
web of waterways, at the crossing of the main roads from Silesia and
Poland to the North Sea ports and from Saxony, Bohemia and Thuringia to
the Baltic, made it in medieval days a place of considerable commercial
importance. In modern times the great network of railways, of which it
is the centre and which mainly follow the lines of the old roads,
further established its position. Almost equidistant from the remotest
frontiers of Prussia, from north to south, and from east to west, 180 m.
from Hamburg and 84 from Stettin, its situation, so far from being
prejudicial to its growth and prosperity, as was formerly often
asserted, has been, in fact, the principal determining factor in its
rapid rise to the position of the greatest industrial and commercial
city on the continent of Europe. In point of wealth and population it
ranks immediately after London and Paris.

The boundaries of the city have not been essentially extended since
1860, and though large and important suburbs have crept up and
practically merged with it, its administrative area remains unchanged.
It occupies about 29 sq. m., and has a length from E. to W. of 6 and a
breadth from N. to S. of 5½ m., contains nearly 1000 streets, has 87
squares and open spaces, 73 bridges and a population (1905) of 2,033,900
(including a garrison of about 22,000). If, however, the outer police
district, known as "Greater Berlin," embracing an area of about 10 m.
radius from the centre, be included, the population amounts to about 3¼
millions.

Berlin is essentially a modern city, the quaint two-storied houses,
which formerly characterized it, having given place to palatial business
blocks, which somewhat dwarf the streets and squares, which once had an
air of stately spaciousness. The bustle of the modern commercial city
has superseded the austere dignity of the old Prussian capital. Thus the
stranger entering it for the first time will find little to remind him
of its past history. The oldest part of Berlin, the city and Alt-Kölln,
built along the arms of the Spree, is, together with that portion of the
town lying immediately west, the centre of business activity. The west
end and the south-west are the residential quarters, the north-west is
largely occupied by academic, scientific and military institutions, the
north is the seat of machinery works, the north-east of the woollen
manufactures, the east and south-east of the dyeing, furniture and metal
industries, while in the south are great barracks and railway works.

In 1870 Berlin was practically bounded on the south by the Landwehr
Canal, but it has since extended far beyond, and the Tempelhofer Feld,
where military reviews are held, then practically in the country, is now
surrounded by a dense belt of houses. The Landwehr Canal, leaving the
Spree near the Schlesische Tor (gate), and rejoining it at
Charlottenburg, after a course of 6 m., adds not a little to the charm
of the southern and western districts, being flanked by fine boulevards
and crossed by many handsome bridges. The object of this canal was to
relieve the congestion of the water traffic in the heart of Berlin. It
was superseded, however, in its turn by a new broad and deep canal
opened in 1906, lying from 3 to 4 m. farther south. This, the Teltow
Canal, leaves the Spree above Berlin at Köpenick, and running south of
Rixdorf, Südende and Gross-Lichterfelde, enters the Havel at Teltow.
This important engineering work was planned not only to afford a more
convenient waterway between the upper Spree and the Havel (and thus to
the Elbe), but was to remove from the city to its banks and vicinity
those factories of which the noxious gases and other poisonous
emanations were regarded as dangerous to the health of the community. A
dislocation of the manufacturing factors has therefore been in progress,
which with the creation of a "trans Tiberim" (as in ancient Rome) is, in
many respects, altering the character and aspect of the metropolis.

The effect upon Berlin of the successful issue of the Franco-Prussian
War of 1870-71 was electrical. The old Prussian capital girded itself at
once to fulfil its new rôle. The concentration upon the city of a large
garrison flushed with victory, and eager to emulate the vanquished foe
in works of peace, and vie with them in luxury, was an incentive to
Berliners to put forth all their energy. Besides the military, a
tremendous immigration of civilian officials took place as the result of
the new conditions, and, as accommodation was not readily available,
rents rose to an enormous figure. Doubts were often expressed whether
the capital would be able to bear the burden of empire, so enormous was
the influx of new citizens. It is due to the magnificent services of the
municipal council that the city was enabled to assimilate the hosts of
newcomers, and it is to its indefatigable exertions that Berlin has in
point of organization become the model city of Europe. In no other has
public money been expended with such enlightened discretion, and in no
other has the municipal system kept pace with such rapid growth and
displayed greater resource in emergencies. In 1870 the sanitary
conditions of Berlin were the worst of any city of Europe. It needed a
Virchow to open the eyes of the municipality to the terrible waste of
life such a state of things entailed. But open sewers, public pumps,
cobble-paved roads, open market-places and overcrowded subterranean
dwellings are now abolished. The city is excellently drained,
well-paved, well-lighted and furnished with an abundant supply of
filtered water, while the cellar dwellings have given place to light and
airy tenements, and Berlin justly claims to rank among the cleanest and
healthiest capitals in Europe. The year 1878 marks a fresh
starting-point in the development of the city. In that year Berlin was
the meeting-place of the congress which bears its name. The recognition
of Germany as a leading factor in the world's counsels had been given,
and the people of Berlin could indulge in the task of embellishing the
capital in a manner befitting its position. From this time forward,
state, municipal and private enterprise have worked hand in hand to make
the capital cosmopolitan. The position it has at length attained is due
not alone to the enterprise of its citizens and the municipality. The
brilliancy of the court and the triumph of the sense of unity in the
German nation over the particularism of the smaller German states have
conduced more than all else to bring about this result. It has become
the chief pleasure town of Germany; and though the standard of morality,
owing to the enormous influx of people bent on amusement, has become
lower, yet there is so much healthy, strenuous activity in intellectual
life and commercial rivalry as to entitle it, despite many moral
deficiencies, to be regarded as the centre of life and learning in
Germany. Dr A. Shadwell (_Industrial Efficiency_, London, 1906)
describes it as representing "the most complete application of science,
order and method of public life," adding "it is a marvel of civic
administration, the most modern and most perfectly organized city that
there is."

_Streets._--The social and official life of the capital centres round
Unter den Linden, which runs from the royal palace to the Brandenburger
Tor. This street, one of the finest and most spacious in Europe, nearly
a mile in length, its double avenue divided by a favourite promenade,
planted with lime trees, presents Berlin life in all its varying
aspects. Many historical events have taken place in this famous
boulevard, notably the entry of the troops in 1871, and the funeral
pageant of the emperor Willaim I. South of Unter den Linden lies the
Friedrichstadt, with its parallel lines of straight streets, including
the Behren-strasse--(the seat of finance)--the Wilhelm-strasse, with the
palace of the imperial chancellor, the British embassy, and many
government offices--the official quarter of the capital--and the busy
Leipziger-strasse, running from the Potsdamer-platz to the
Dönhoff-platz. This great artery and Unter den Linden are crossed at
right angles by the Friedrich-strasse, 2 m. long, flanked by attractive
shops and restaurants, among them the beer palaces of the great
breweries. In the city proper, the König-strasse and the
Kaiser-Wilhelm-strasse, the latter a continuation of Unter den Linden,
are the chief streets; while in the fashionable south-west quarter
Viktoria-strasse, Bellevue-strasse, Potsdamer-strasse and
Kurfürsten-strasse and the Kurfürstendamm are the most imposing. Among
the most important public squares are the Opern-platz, around or near
which stand the opera house, the royal library, the university and the
armoury; the Gendarmen-markt, with the royal theatre in its centre, the
Schloss-platz; the Lustgarten, between the north side of the royal
palace, the cathedral and the old and new museums; the Pariser-platz
with the French embassy, at the Brandenburg Gate; the Königs-platz, with
the column of Victory, the Reichstagsgebäude and the Bismarck and Moltke
monuments; the Wilhelms-platz; the circular Belle-Alliance-platz, with a
column commemorating the battle of Waterloo; and, in the western
district, the spacious Lützow-platz.

_Bridges._--Of the numerous bridges, the most remarkable are the
Schloss-brücke, built after designs by Schinkel in 1822-1824, with eight
colossal figures of white marble, representing ideal stages in a
warrior's life, the work of Drake, Albert Wolff and other eminent
sculptors; the Kurfürsten--or Lange-brücke, built 1692-1695, and
restored in 1895, with an equestrian statue of the great elector, and
the Kaiser-Wilhelm-brücke (1886-1889) connecting the Lustgarten with the
Kaiser-Wilhelm-strasse in the inner town. In the modern residential
quarter are the Potsdamer-Viktoria-brücke, which carries the traffic
from two converging streets into the outer Potsdamer-strasse, and the
Herkules-brucke connecting the Lützow-platz with the Tiergarten. The
first three cross the Spree and the last two the Landwehr Canal.

_Churches._--Berlin, until the last half of the 10th century, was in
respect of its churches probably the poorest of the capitals of
Christendom, and the number of worshippers on an average Sunday was then
less than 2% of the population. The city now contains over a hundred
places of worship, of which ten are Roman Catholic, and nine Jewish
synagogues. Of the older Evangelical churches but four date from medieval
days, and of them only the Marien-kirche, with a tomb of Field marshal
O.C. von Sparr (1605-1665), and the Nikolai-kirche are particularly
noteworthy. Of a later date, though of no great pretensions to
architectural merit, are the Petri-kirche with a lofty spire, the
Französische-kirche and the Neue-kirche with dome-capped towers, on the
Gendarmen-markt, and the round, Roman Catholic St Hedwigs--kirche behind
the Opera-house. The Garrison church in the centre of the city, which was
erected in 1722 and contained numerous historical trophies, was destroyed
by fire in 1908. Of modern erections the new cathedral (_Dom_), on the
Spree, which replaces the old building pulled down in 1853, stands first.
It is a clumsy, though somewhat imposing edifice of sandstone in Italian
Renaissance style, and has a dome rising, with the lantern, to a height
of 380 ft. The Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtnis-kirche (in the suburb
Charlottenburg) with a lofty spire, the Dankes-kirche (in commemoration
of the emperor William I.'s escape from the hand of the assassin,
Nobiling, in 1878) in Wedding, and the Kaiser-Friedrich-Gedächtnis-kirche
on a grassy knoll in the north of the Tiergarten are also worthy of
notice. In the Monbijou Park, on the north bank of the Spree, is the
pretty English church of St George. The main Jewish synagogue, a fine
building in oriental style, erected in 1866, stands in a commanding
position in the Oranienburger-strasse and is remarkable for its stained
glass. Berlin was a walled city until 1867-1868. Of the former nineteen
city gates only one remains, the Brandenburg Gate (1789-1793), an
imitation of the Propylaea at Athens. It is 201 ft. broad and nearly 65
ft. high, and is supported by twelve Doric columns, each 44 ft. in
height, and surmounted by a car of victory (Auriga), which, taken by
Napoleon to Paris in 1807, was brought back by the Prussians in 1814. The
gate has been enlarged by two lateral colonnades, each supported by
sixteen columns.

_Public Buildings._--In secular buildings Berlin is very rich. Entering
the city at the Potsdam Gate, traversing a few hundred yards of the
Leipziger-strasse, turning into Wilhelm-strasse, and following it to
Unter den Linden, then beginning at the Brandenburg Gate and proceeding
down Unter den Linden to its end, one passes, among other buildings, the
following, many of them of great architectural merit--the admiralty, the
ministry of commerce, the ministry of war, the ministry of public works,
the palace of Prince Frederick Leopold, the palace of the imperial
chancellor, the foreign office, the ministry of justice, the residences
of the ministers of the interior and of public worship, the French and
the Russian embassies, the arcade, the palace of the emperor William I.,
the university, the royal library, the opera, the armoury, the palace of
the emperor Frederick III., the Schloss-brücke, the royal palace, the
old and new museums and the national gallery. At a short distance from
this line are the new town-hall, the mint, the imperial bank and the
royal theatre. Berlin differs from all other great capitals in this
respect that with the exception of the royal palace, which dates from
the 16th century, all its public buildings are modern. This palace,
standing in the very heart of the city, is a huge quadrangular building,
with four courts, and is surmounted by a dome 220 ft. high. It contains
more than 600 rooms and halls; among the latter the Weisse-saal used for
great court pageants, the halls of the chapters of the Black and the Red
Eagle orders, a picture gallery and a chapel. The first floor
overlooking the Schloss-platz is the Berlin residence of the emperor,
and that square is embellished by a huge fountain (Neptuns-brunnen) by
R. Begas. Facing the west portal is the monument to the emperor William
I., and before the north gate, opening upon the Lustgarten, are the
famous bronze groups, the "horse-tamers" by Clodt, the gift of the
emperor Nicholas I. of Russia. The establishment of the imperial
government in Berlin naturally brought with it the erection of a large
number of public buildings, and the great prosperity of the country, as
well as the enhanced national feeling, has enabled them to be built on a
scale of splendour befitting the capital of an empire. First in
importance is the Reichstagsgebäude (see ARCHITECTURE, plate ix. fig.
47), in which the federal council (_Bundesrat_) and the imperial
parliament (_Reichstag_) hold their sittings. A special feature is the
library, which is exceedingly rich in works on constitutional law. A new
house has also been built for the Prussian parliament (_Landtag_) in the
Albrecht-strasse. Other new official buildings are the patent office on
the site of the old ministry of the interior; the new ministry of posts
(with post museum) at the corner of the Mauer-strasse and
Leipziger-strasse; the central criminal court in Moabit; the courts of
first instance on the Alexander-platz; the ministry of police, and the
_Reichsversicherungsamt_, the centre for the great system of state
insurance. In addition to these, many buildings have been restored and
enlarged, chief among them being the armoury (_Zeughaus_), the war
office and the ministry of public works, while the royal mews
(_Marstall_) has been entirely rebuilt with an imposing façade.

Among the public monuments comes first, in excellence, Ranch's
celebrated statue of Frederick the Great, which stands in Unter den
Linden opposite the palace of the emperor William I.; and in size the
monument to the emperor William I. (by R. Begas), erected opposite the
west portal of the royal palace. The space for the site was gained by
pulling down the old houses composing the Schlossfreiheit and damming
the Spree. The monument, which cost £200,000, is surmounted by an
equestrian statue of the emperor in a martial cloak, his right hand
resting on a field marshal's baton, reining in his charger, which is led
by a female genius of peace. The high pedestal on which these figures
stand is surrounded by an Ionic colonnade. The equestrian statue of the
great elector on the Lange-brücke has been already mentioned. In the
Lustgarten is a statue of Frederick William III., by Wolff; in the
Tiergarten, Drake's marble monument to the same ruler; and in the
mausoleum in the park in Charlottenburg he and his queen, Louisa, are
sculptured in marble by Rauch. Here also lie the emperor William I. and
the empress Augusta under marble effigies by Encke. A second group of
monuments on the Wilhelms-platz commemorates the generals of the Seven
Years' War; and a third in the neighbourhood of the opera-house the
generals who fought against Napoleon I. On the Kreuzberg a Gothic
monument in bronze was erected by Frederick William III. to commemorate
the victories of 1813-1815; and in the centre of the Königs-platz stands
a lofty column in honour of the triumphs of 1864, 1866 and 1870-1871,
surmounted by a gilded figure of Victory. Literature, science and art
are represented in different parts of the city by statues and busts of
Rauch, Schinkel, Thaer, Beuth, Schadow, Winckelmann, Schiller, Hegel and
Jahn. On the Königs-platz between the column of Victory and the
Reichstagsgebäude, and immediately facing the western façade of the
latter, is the bronze statue of Bismarck, unveiled in 1901, a figure 20
ft. in height standing on a granite base. From the south side of the
Königs-platz crossing the Tiergarten and intersecting the avenue from
the Brandenburg Gate to Charlottenburg runs the broad Sieges-allee
adorned by thirty-two groups of marble statuary representing famous
rulers of the house of Hohenzollern, the gift of the emperor William II.
to the city. The Tiergarten, the beautiful west-end park with its
thickets of dense undergrowth and winding lanes and lakes has lost
somewhat of its sylvan character owing to building encroachments on the
north side and the laying out of new rides and drives. It has, in
addition to those above enumerated, statues of Queen Louisa, Goethe and
Lessing.

_Communications._--Berlin is the centre of the North German network of
railways. No fewer than twelve main lines concentrate upon it. Internal
communication is provided for by the Ringbahn, or outer circle, which
was opened in 1871, and by a well-devised system connects the termini of
the various main lines. The through traffic coming from east and west is
carried by the Stadtbahn, or city railway, which also connects with and
forms an integral part of the outer circle. This line runs through the
heart of the city, and was originally a private enterprise. Owing,
however, to the failure of the company, the work was taken in hand by
the state, and the line opened in 1878. It has four tracks--two for the
main-line through traffic, and two for local and suburban service, and
is carried at a height of about 20 ft. above the streets. Its length is
12 m., the total cost 3¾ millions sterling. The chief stations are
Zoologischer Garten, Friedrich-strasse, Alexander-platz and Schlesischer
Bahnhof. Lying apart from the system are the Lehrter Bahnhof for Hamburg
and Bremen, the Stettiner for Baltic ports, and the Görlitzer, Anhalter
and Potsdamer termini for traffic to the south, of which the last two
are fine specimens of railway architecture. Internal communication is
also provided for by an excellent system of electric tram-lines, by an
overhead electric railway running from the Zoologischer Garten to the
Schlesische Tor with a branch to the Potsdam railway station, and by an
underground railway laid at a shallow depth under the Leipziger-strasse.
Most of the cabs (victorias and broughams) have fare-indicators.
Steamboats ply above and below the city.

_Industry, Trade and Commerce._--It is in respect of its manufacture and
trade that Berlin has attained its present high pitch of economic
prosperity. More than 50% of its working population are engaged in
industry, which embraces almost all branches, of which new ones have
lately sprung into existence, whilst most of the older have taken a new
lease of life. The old wool industry, for example, has become much
extended, and now embraces products such as shawls, carpets, hosiery,
&c. Its silk manufactures, formerly so important, have, however,
gradually gone back. It is particularly in the working of iron, steel
and cloth, and in the by-products of these, that Berlin excels. The
manufacture of machinery and steam-engines shows an enormous
development. No fewer than 100 large firms, many of them of world-wide
reputation, are engaged in this branch alone. Among the chief articles
of manufacture and production are railway plant, sewing machines,
bicycles, steel pens, chronometers, electric and electric-telegraph
plant, bronze, chemicals, soap, lamps, linoleum, china, pianofortes,
furniture, gloves, buttons, artificial flowers and ladies' mantles, the
last of an annual value exceeding £5,000,000. It has extensive breweries
and vies in the amount of the output of this production with Munich.
Berlin is also the great centre and the chief market for speculation in
corn and other cereals which reach it by water from Poland, Austria and
South Russia, while in commerce in spirits it rivals Hamburg. It is also
a large publishing centre, and has become a serious rival to Leipzig in
this regard.

The Börse, where 4000 persons daily do business, is the chief market in
Germany for stocks and shares, and its dealings are of great influence
upon the gold market of the world. Numerous banks of world-wide
reputation, doing an extensive international business, have their seats
in Berlin, chief among them, in addition to the Reichs-bank, being the
Berliner Kassen-Verein, the Diskonto-Gesellschaft, the Deutsche Bank,
and the Boden-Kredit Bank.

_Learning and Art._--Berlin is becoming the centre of the intellectual
life of the nation. The Friedrich Wilhelm University, although young in
point of foundation, has long outstripped its great rival Leipzig in
numbers, and can point with pride to the fact that its teaching staff
has yielded to none in the number of illustrious names. It was founded
in 1810, when Prussia had lost her celebrated university of Halle, which
Napoleon had included in his newly created kingdom of Westphalia. It was
as a weapon of war, as well as a nursery of learning, that Frederick
William III. and the great men who are associated with its origin,
called it into existence. Wilhelm von Humboldt was at that time at the
head of the educational department of the kingdom, and men like Fichte
and Schleiermacher worked on the popular mind. Within the first ten
years of its existence it counted among its professors such names as
Neander, Savigny, Eichhorn, Böckh, Bekker, Hegel, Raumer, Niebuhr and
Buttmann. Later followed men like Hengstenberg, Homeyer,
Bethmann-Hollweg, Puchta, Stahl and Heffter; Schelling, Trendelenburg,
Bopp, the brothers Grimm, Zumpt, Carl Richter; later still, Twesten and
Dorner, Gneist and Hinschius; Langenbeck, Bardeleben, Virchow, Du-Bois
Reymond; von Ranke, Curtius, Lipsius, Hofmann the chemist, Kiepert the
geographer; Helmholtz, van't Hoff, Koch, E. Fischer, Waldeyer and von
Bergmann among scientists and surgeons; Mommsen, Treitschke and Sybel
among historians, Harnack among theologians, Brunner among jurists.
Taking ordinary, honorary, extraordinary professors and licensed
lecturers (_Privat-docenten_) together, its professorial strength
consisted, in 1904-1905, of 23 teachers in the faculty of theology, 32
in that of law, 175 in that of medicine and 227 in that of
philosophy--altogether 457. The number of matriculated students during
the same period was 7154, as against 5488 in the preceding summer term.
The number of matriculated students is usually greater in winter than in
summer; the reason of the disproportion being that in the summer
university towns having pleasant surroundings, such as Bonn, Heidelberg,
Kiel and Jena, are more frequented. Berlin is essentially a Prussian
university--of students from non-German states, Russia sends most, then
the United States of America, while Great Britain is credited with
comparatively few. It is, however, in the ugly palace of Prince Henry
of Prussia, which was given for the purpose in the days of Prussian
poverty and distress, that the university is still housed, and although
some internal rearrangement has been effected, no substantial
alterations have been made to meet the ever-increasing demand for
lecture-room accommodation. The garden towards Unter den Linden is
adorned by a bronze statue of Helmholtz; the marble statues of Wilhelm
and Alexander von Humboldt, which were formerly placed on either side of
the gate, have been removed to the adjacent garden. Technical education
is provided in the magnificent buildings erected at a cost of £100,000
in Charlottenburg, which are equipped with all the apparatus for the
teaching of science. Among other institutions of university rank and
affiliated to it are the school of mines, the agricultural college, the
veterinary college, the new seminary for oriental languages, and the
high school for music. The geodetic institute has been removed to
Potsdam. The university is, moreover, rich in institutions for the
promotion of medical and chemical science, for the most part housed in
buildings belonging to the governing body. There should also be
mentioned the Royal Academy of Sciences, founded in 1700. The name of
Leibnitz is associated with its foundation, and it was raised to the
rank of a royal academy by Frederick the Great in 1743. The Royal
Academy of Arts is under the immediate protection of the king, and is
governed by a director and senate. There is also an academy of vocal
music.

_Schools._--Berlin possesses fifteen _Gymnasia_ (classical schools, for
the highest branches of the learned professions), of which four are
under the direct supervision of the provincial authorities and have the
prefix _königlich_ (royal), while the remaining eleven are municipal and
under the control of the civic authorities. They are attended by about
7000 scholars, of whom a fourth are Jews. There are also eight
_Real-gymnasia_ (or "modern" schools), numerous _Real-schulen_
(commercial schools), public high schools for girls, and commodious and
excellently organized elementary schools.

_Museums._--The buildings of the royal museum are divided into the old
and new museums. The former is an imposing edifice situated on the
north-east side of the Lustgarten, facing the royal palace. It was built
in the reign of Frederick William III. from designs by Schinkel. Its
portico supported by eighteen colossal Ionic columns is reached by a
wide flight of steps. The back and side walls of the portico are covered
with frescoes, from designs by Schinkel, representing the world's
progress from chaos to organic and developed life. The sides of the
flight of steps support equestrian bronze groups of the Amazon by Kiss,
and the Lion-slayer by Albert Wolff. Under the portico are monuments of
the sculptors Rauch and Schadow, the architect Schinkel, and the art
critic Winckelmann. The interior consists of a souterrain, and of a
first floor, entered from the portico through bronze doors, after
designs by Stiller, weighing 7½ tons, and executed at a cost of £3600.
This floor consists of a rotunda, and of halls and cabinets of
sculpture. The second floor, which formerly contained the national
gallery of paintings, is occupied by a collection of northern
antiquities and by the Schliemann treasures.

The new museum, connected with the old museum by a covered corridor, is,
in its internal arrangements and decorations, one of the finest
structures in the capital. The lowest of its three floors contains the
Egyptian museum; on the first floor plaster casts of ancient, medieval
and modern sculpture are found, while the second contains a cabinet of
engravings. On the walls of the grand marble staircase, which rises to
the full height of the building, Kaulbach's cyclus of stereochromic
pictures is painted, representing the six great epochs of human
progress, from the confusion of tongues at the Tower of Babel and the
dispersion of the nations to the Reformation.

The national gallery, a fine building surrounded by a Corinthian
colonnade and lying between the royal museums and the Spree, contains a
number of modern German paintings. Behind these buildings, again, is the
Pergamum museum, which houses a unique collection, the result of the
excavations at Pergamum. Still farther away, on a triangular plot of
land enclosed by the two arms of the Spree and the metropolitan railway,
stands the Kaiser Friedrich museum (1904). This edifice, in the Italian
baroque style, surmounted by a dome, possesses but little architectural
merit, and its position is so confined that great ingenuity had to be
employed in its internal arrangements to meet the demands of space, but
its collection of pictures is one of the finest in Europe. Hither were
removed, from the old and new museums, the national gallery of pictures,
the statuary of the Christian epoch and the numismatic collection. The
gallery of paintings, on the first floor, is distributed into the
separate schools of Germany, Italy, Flanders and Holland, while another
of the central rooms embraces those of Spain, France and England. The
collection, which in 1874 contained 1300 paintings, was then enriched by
the purchase by the Prussian government for £51,000 of the Suermondt
collection which, rich in pictures of the Dutch and Flemish schools,
contained also a few by Spanish, Italian and French masters. The gallery
as a whole has been happily arranged, and there are few great painters
of whom it does not contain one or more examples. The Kunst-gewerbe
museum, at the corner of the Königgrätzer-strasse and Albrecht-strasse,
contains valuable specimens of applied art.

_Theatres._--In nothing has the importance of Berlin become more
conspicuous than in theatrical affairs. In addition to the
old-established Opernhaus and Schauspielhaus, which are supported by the
state, numerous private playhouses have been erected, notably the
Lessing and the Deutsches theatres, and it is in these that the modern
works by Wildenbruch, Sudermann, and Hauptmann have been produced, and
it may be said that it is in Berlin that the modern school of German
drama has its home. In music Berlin is not able to vie with Leipzig,
Dresden or Munich, yet it is well represented by the Conservatorium,
with which the name of Joachim is connected, while the more modern
school is represented by Xaver Scharwenka.

_Government, Administration and Politics._--On the 1st of April 1881
Berlin was divided off from the province of Brandenburg and since forms
a separate administrative district. But the chief presidency
(_Oberpräsidium_), the Consistory, the provincial school-board, and the
board of health of the province of Brandenburg remain tribunals of last
instance to which appeals lie from Berlin. The government is partly
semi-military (police) and partly municipal. The ministry of police (a
branch of the home office) consists of six departments: (1) general; (2)
trade; (3) building; (4) criminal; (5) passports; (6) markets. It
controls the fire brigade, has the general inspection over all
strangers, and is responsible for public order. The civil authority
(_Magistrat_) consists of a chief mayor (_Oberbürgermeister_), a mayor
(_Bürgermeister_), and a city council (_Stadtrat_). The
_Oberbürgermeister_, who is _ex officio_ a member of the Prussian Upper
House, and the _Bürgermeister_ are elected by the common council
(_Stadtverordnetenversammlung_) of 144 members, i.e. three delegates
chosen by manhood suffrage for each ward of the city; but the election
is subject to the veto of the king without reason given. The _Stadtrat_
consists of 32 members, of whom 15 are paid officials (including 2
syndics, 2 councillors for building, and 2 for education), while 17
serve gratuitously. For general work the _Magistrat_ and the
_Stadtverordnetenversammlung_ coalesce, and committees are appointed for
various purposes out of the whole body, these being usually presided
over by members of the _Magistrat_. Their jurisdiction extends to
water-supply, the drainage, lighting and cleaning of the streets, the
care of the poor, hospitals and schools. Politically the city is divided
into six Reichstag and four Landtag constituencies, returning six and
nine members respectively, and it must be noted that in the case of the
Landtag the allocation of seats dated from 1860, so that the city, in
proportion to its population, was in 1908 much under-represented. It
should have had twenty-five members instead of nine.

[Illustration: Map of Berlin and Environs.]

_Population._--The stupendous growth of the population of Berlin during
the last century is best illustrated by the following figures. In 1816
it contained 197,717 inhabitants; in 1849, 431,566; in 1871, 826,341;
in 1880, 1,122,330; 1890, 1,578,794, and in 1905, 2,033,900. The
birth-rate is about 30, and the death-rate 20 per 1000 inhabitants a
year. Illegitimate births amount to about 15% of the whole. According to
religion, about 84% are Protestants, 10% Roman Catholics and 5% Jews,
but owing to the great number of Jews who for social and other reasons
ostensibly embrace the Christian faith, these last figures do not
actually represent the number of Jews by descent living in the city.

_Environs._--Marvellous as has been the transformation in the city
itself, no less surprising results have been effected since 1875 in the
surroundings of Berlin. On the east, north and west, the city is
surrounded at a distance of some 5 m. from its centre by a thick belt of
pine woods, the Jungfernheide, the Spandauer Forst, and the Grunewald,
the last named stretching away in a south-westerly direction as far as
Potsdam, and fringing the beautiful chain of Havel lakes. These forests
enjoyed until quite recent times an unenviable notoriety as the
camping-ground and lurking-place of footpads and other disorderly
characters. After the opening of the circular railway in 1871, private
enterprise set to work to develop these districts, and a "villa colony"
was built at the edge of the Grunewald between the station West-end and
the Spandauer Bock. From these beginnings, owing mainly to the expansion
of the important suburb of Charlottenburg, has resulted a complete
transformation of the eastern part of the Grunewald into a picturesque
and delightful villa suburb, which is connected by railway,
steam-tramway and a magnificent boulevard--the Kurfürstendamm--with the
city. Nowadays the little fishing villages on the shores of the lakes,
notably the Wannsee, cater for the recreation of the Berliners, while
palatial summer residences of wealthy merchants occupy the most
prominent sites. Suburban Berlin may be said to extend practically to
Potsdam.

_Traffic._--The public streets have a total length of about 350 m., and
a large staff of workmen is regularly employed in maintaining and
cleaning the public roads and parks. The force is well controlled, and
the work of cleaning and removing snow after a heavy fall is thoroughly
and efficiently carried out. The less important thoroughfares are mostly
paved with the so-called Vienna paving, granite bricks of medium size,
while the principal streets, and especially those upon which the traffic
is heavy, have either asphalt or wood paving.

_Water-Supply and Drainage._--The water-supply is mainly derived from
works on the Müggel and Tegeler lakes, the river water being carefully
filtered through sand. The drainage system is elaborate, and has stood
the test of time. The city is divided into twelve radial systems, each
with a pumping station, and the drainage is forced through five mains to
eighteen sewage farms, each of which is under careful sanitary
supervision, in respect both of the persons employed thereon, and the
products, mainly milk, passing thence to the city for human consumption.
Only in a few isolated cases has any contamination been traced to fever
or other zymotic germs. In this connexion it is worth noting that the
infectious diseases hospital has a separate system of drainage which is
carefully disinfected, and not allowed to be employed for the purposes
of manure.

_Hospitals._--In no other city of the world is the hospital organization
so well appointed as in Berlin, or are the sick poor tended with greater
solicitude. State, municipal and private charity here again join hands
in the prompt relief of sickness and cases of urgency. The municipal
hospitals are six in number, the largest of which is the Virchow
hospital, situate in Moabit and opened in 1906. It is arranged on the
pavilion system, contains 2000 beds, and is one of the most splendidly
equipped hospitals in the world. The cost amounted to £900,000. Next
comes that of Friedrichshain, also built on the pavilion system, while
the state controls six (not including the prison infirmaries) of which
the world-renowned Charité in the Luisen-strasse is the principal. The
hospitals of the nursing sisters (Diakonissen Anstalten) number 8, while
there are 60 registered private hospitals under the superintendence of
responsible doctors and under the inspection of government.

_Charities._--Berlin is also very richly endowed with charitable
institutions for the relief of pauperism and distress. In addition to
the municipal support of the poor-houses there are large funds derived
from bequests for the relief of the necessitous and deserving poor;
while night shelters and people's kitchens have been organized on an
extensive scale for the temporary relief of the indigent unemployed. For
the former several of the arches of the city railway have been utilized,
and correspond in internal arrangement to like shelters instituted by
the Salvation Army in London and various other cities.

_Markets._--Open market-places in Berlin are things of the past, and
their place has been taken by airy and commodious market halls. Of
these, 14 in number, the central market, close to the Alexander-platz
station of the city railway with which it is connected by an admirable
service of lifts for the rapid unloading of goods, is the finest. It has
a ground area of about 17,000 sq. yds., and is fitted with more than
2000 stalls. The other markets are conveniently situated at various
accessible places within the city, and the careful police supervision to
which they are subjected, both in the matter of general cleanliness, and
in the careful examination of all articles of food exposed for sale, has
tended to the general health and comfort of the population.

The central cattle market and slaughter-houses for the inspection and
supply of the fresh meat consumed in the metropolis occupy an extensive
area in the north-east of the city on the Ringbahn, upon which a station
has been erected for the accommodation of meat trains and passengers
attending the market. The inspection is rigorously carried out, and only
carcases which have been stamped as having been certified good are
permitted to be taken away for human consumption.

_History._--The etymology of the word "Berlin" is doubtful. Some derive
it from Celtic roots--_ber_, small, short, and _lyn_, a lake; others
regard it as a Wend word, meaning a free, open place; others, again,
refer it to the word _werl_, a river island. Another authority derives
it from the German word _Brühl_, a marshy district, and the Slavonic
termination _in_; thus Brühl, by the regular transmutation Bührl
(compare Ger. _bren_-nen and Eng. burn), Bürhlin. More recent research,
however, seems to have established the derivation from _Wehr_, dam.

Similar obscurity rests on the origin of the city. The hypotheses which
carried it back to the early years of the Christian era have been wholly
abandoned. Even the margrave Albert the Bear (d. 1170) is no longer
unquestionably regarded as its founder, and the tendency of opinion now
is to date its origin from the time of his great-grandsons, Otto III.
and John I. When first alluded to, what is now Berlin was spoken of as
two towns, Kölln and Berlin. The first authentic document concerning the
former is from the year 1237, concerning the latter from the year 1244,
and it is with these dates that the trustworthy history of the city
begins. In 1307 the first attempt was made to combine the councils of
Kölln and Berlin, but the experiment was abandoned four years later, and
the two towns continued their separate existence till 1432, when the
establishment of a common council for both led to disturbances of which
the outcome was that Frederick II. the Iron in 1442 abolished this
arrangement, seriously curtailed the privileges of both towns, and began
the building of a castle at Kölln. A feud between the elector and the
Berliners ended in the defeat of the latter, who in 1448 were forced to
accept the constitution of 1442. From this time Berlin became and
continued to be the residence of the Hohenzollerns, the elector John
Cicero (1486-1499) being the first to establish a permanent court inside
the walls. It was not, however, until the time of King Frederick William
I. that the sovereigns ceased to date their official acts from Kölln. In
1539, under the elector Joachim II., Berlin embraced the Lutheran
religion. Henceforth the history of Berlin was intimately bound up with
the house of Hohenzollern. The conversion of the elector John Sigismund
in 1613 to the Reformed (Calvinist) faith was hotly resented by the
Berliners and led to bloody riots in the city. The Thirty Years' War all
but ruined the city, the population of which sank from some 14,000 in
1600 to less than 8000 in 1650. It was restored and the foundations of
its modern splendour were laid by the Great Elector, by the time of
whose death (1688) the population had risen to some 20,000. During this
period several suburbs had begun to grow up, Friedrichswerder in 1667
and the Dorotheenstadt, so named in 1676 after the electress Dorothea
its founder. In 1688 Frederick III. (afterwards King Frederick I.) began
the Friedrichstadt, completed by Frederick William I. Under Frederick
I., who did much to embellish the city as the royal _Residenzsiadt_, the
separate administrations of the quarters of Berlin, Kölln,
Friedrichstadt, Friedrichswerder and Dorotheenstadt were combined, and
the separate names were absorbed in that of Berlin. The fortifications
begun in 1658 were finally demolished under Frederick the Great in 1745,
and the Neue Friedrich-strasse, the Alexander-strasse and the
Wall-strasse were laid out on their site.

Twice during the Seven Years' War Berlin was attacked by the enemy: in
1757 by the Austrians, who penetrated into the suburbs and levied a
heavy contribution, and in 1760 by the Russians, who bombarded the city,
penetrated into it, and only retired on payment of a ransom of 1,500,000
thalers (£225,000). After the disastrous campaign of Jena, Berlin
suffered much during the French occupation (24th October 1806 to 1st
December 1808). In spite of these misfortunes, however, the progress of
the city was steady. In 1809 the present municipal government was
instituted. In 1810 the university was founded. After the alliance of
Prussia and Russia in 1812 Berlin was again occupied by the French, but
in March 1813 they were finally driven out. The period following the
close of the war saw great activity in building, especially in the
erection of many noble monuments and public buildings, e.g. those by the
architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel. The most notable event in the history
of Berlin during the 19th century, prior to the Franco-German War, was
the March revolution of 1848 (see GERMANY: _History_, and FREDERICK
WILLIAM IV., king of Prussia). The effect of the war of 1870-71 on the
growth of Berlin has been sufficiently indicated already.

  AUTHORITIES.--For the history of Berlin see the publications of the
  "Verein für die Geschichte Berlins"; the _Berlinische Chronik nebst
  Urkundenbuch_, and the periodicals _Der Bar_ (1875, &c.) and
  _Mitteilungen_ (1884, &c.). Of histories may be mentioned A.
  Streckfuss, _500 Jahre Berliner Geschichte_ (new ed. by Fernbach,
  1900); _Berlin im 19ten Jahrhundert_ (4 vols., 1867-1869), and
  _Statistisches Jahrbuch der Stadt Berlin_ (1904-1905); Fidiein,
  _Historisch-diplomatische Beiträge zur Geschichte der Stadt Berlin_ (5
  vols., 1837-1842); Brockhaus, _Konversations-Lexikon_ (1904); Meyer,
  _Konversations-Lexikon_ (1904); Baedeker, _Fuhrer durch Berlin_;
  Woeri, _Fuhrer durch Berlin_; J. Pollard, _The Corporation of Berlin_
  (Edinburgh, 1893); A. Shaclwell, _Industrial Efficiency_ (London,
  1906); _Berliner Jahrbuch für Handel und Industrie_ (1905); and O.
  Schwebel, _Geschichte der Stadt Berlin_ (Berlin, 1888).     (P. A. A.)


BERLIN, CONGRESS AND TREATY OF. The events that led up to the assembling
of the congress of Berlin, the outcome of which was the treaty of the
13th of July 1878, are described elsewhere (see EUROPE: _History_;
TURKEY: _History_; RUSSO-TURKISH WAR). Here it must suffice to say that
the terms of the treaty of San Stefano (3rd March 1878), by which the
Russo-Turkish War had been brought to a conclusion, seemed to those of
the other powers who were most interested scarcely less fatal to the
Ottoman dominion than that Russian occupation of Constantinople which
Great Britain had risked a war to prevent. By this instrument Bulgaria
was to become a practically independent state, under the nominal
suzerainty of the sultan, bounded by the Danube, the Black Sea, the
Aegean and Albania, and cutting off the latter from the remnant of
Rumelia which, with Constantinople, was to be left to the Turks. At the
same time the other Christian principalities, Servia and Montenegro,
were largely increased in size and their independence definitively
recognized; and the proposals of the powers with regard to Bosnia and
Herzegovina, communicated to the Ottoman plenipotentiaries at the first
sitting of the conference of Constantinople (23rd December 1876), were
to be immediately executed. These provisions seemed to make Russia
permanently arbiter of the fate of the Balkan peninsula, the more so
since the vast war indemnity of 1,400,000,000 roubles exacted in the
treaty promised to cripple the resources of the Ottoman government for
years to come.

The two powers whose interests were most immediately threatened by the
terms of the peace were Austria and Great Britain. The former
especially, refusing to be bribed by the Russian offer of Bosnia and
Herzegovina, saw herself cut off from all chance of expansion in the
Balkan peninsula and threatened with the establishment there of the
paramount power of Russia, a peril it had been her traditional policy to
avert. On the 5th of February, accordingly, Count Andrássy issued a
circular note, addressed to the signatory powers of the treaty of Paris
of 1856 and the London protocol of 1871, suggesting a congress for the
purpose of establishing "the agreement of Europe on the modifications
which it may become necessary to introduce into the above-mentioned
treaties" in view of the preliminaries of peace signed by Russia and
Turkey. This appeal to the sanctity of international engagements,
traditional in the diplomatic armoury of Austria, and strengthened by so
recent a precedent as that of 1871, met with an immediate response. On
the 1st of April Lord Salisbury had already addressed a circular note to
the British embassies refusing on behalf of the British government to
recognize any arrangements made in the peace preliminaries, calculated
to modify European treaties, "unless they were made the subject of a
formal agreement among the parties to the treaty of Paris," and quoting
the "essential principle of the law of nations" promulgated in the
London protocol. By Great Britain therefore the Austrian proposal was at
once accepted. Germany was very willing to fall in with the views of her
Austrian ally and share in a council in which, having no immediate
interests of her own, Bismarck could win new laurels in his rôle of
"honest broker." In these circumstances Russia could not but accept the
principle of a congress. She tried, however, to limit the scope of its
powers by suggesting the exclusion of certain clauses of the treaty from
its reference, and pointed out (circular of Prince Gorchakov, April 9th)
that Russia had not been the first nor the only Power to violate the
treaties in question. The answer of Lord Beaconsfield was to mobilize
the militia and bring Indian troops to the Mediterranean; and finally
Russia, finding that the diplomatic support which she had expected from
Bismarck failed her, consented to submit the whole treaty without
reserve to the congress.

On the 3rd of June Count Münster, in the name of the German government,
issued the formal invitation to the congress. The congress met, under
the presidency of Prince Bismarck, at Berlin on the 13th of June. Great
Britain was represented by Lord Beaconsfield, Lord Salisbury and Lord
Odo Russell, ambassador at Berlin; Germany by Prince Bismarck, Baron
Ernst von Bülow and Prince Chlodwig von Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst,
ambassador at Paris; Austria by Count Andrássy, Count Louis Károlyi and
Baron Heinrich Karl von Haymerle, ambassador at Rome; France by William
H. Waddington, the Comte de Saint-Vallier, ambassador at Berlin, and
Félix Hippolyte Desprez, director of political affairs in the department
for foreign affairs; Russia by the chancellor, Prince Gorchakov, Count
Peter Shuvalov, ambassador to the court of St James's, and Paul
d'Oubril, ambassador at Berlin; Turkey by Alexander Catheodory Pasha,
minister of public works, All Pasha, _mushir_ of the Ottoman armies, and
Sadullah Bey, ambassador at Berlin. The bases of the conferences had, of
course, been settled beforehand, and the final act of the congress was
signed by the plenipotentiaries mentioned above exactly a month after
the opening of the congress, on the 13th of July.

The treaty of Berlin consists in all of sixty-four articles, of which it
will be sufficient to note those which have had a special bearing on
subsequent international developments. So far as they affect the
territorial boundaries fixed by the treaties of Paris and San Stefano it
will be sufficient to refer to the sketch map in the article EUROPE:
_History_. By Art. I. Bulgaria was "constituted an autonomous and
tributary principality under the suzerainty of H.I.M. the Sultan"; it
was to have "a Christian government and a national militia," Art. II.
fixed the boundaries of the new state and provided for their
delimitation by a European commission, which was "to take into
consideration the necessity for H.I.M. the Sultan to be able to defend
the Balkan frontiers of Eastern Rumelia." Arts. III. to XII. provide for
the election of a prince for Bulgaria, the machinery for settling the
new constitution, the adjustment of the relations of the new Bulgarian
government to the Ottoman empire and its subjects (including the
question of tribute, the amount of which was, according to Art. XII., to
be settled by agreement of the signatory powers "at the close of the
first year of the working of the new organization"). By Art. X.
Bulgaria, so far as it was concerned, was to take the place of the
Sublime Porte in the engagements which the latter had contracted, as
well towards Austria-Hungary as towards the Rustchuck-Varna Railway
Company, for working the railway of European Turkey in respect to the
completion and connexion, as well as the working of the railways
situated in its territory.

By Art. XIII. a province was formed south of the Balkans which was to
take the name of "Eastern Rumelia," and was to remain "under the direct
military and political control of H.I.M. the Sultan, under conditions of
administrative autonomy." It was to have a Christian governor-general.
Arts. XIV. to XXIII. define the frontiers and organization of the new
province, questions arising out of the Russian occupation, and the
rights of the sultan. Of the latter it is to be noted that the sultan
retained the right of fortifying and occupying the Balkan passes (Art.
XV.) and all his rights and obligations over the railways (Art. XXI.).

Art. XXV., which the events of 1908 afterwards brought into special
prominence, runs as follows: "The provinces of Bosnia and Herzegovina
shall be occupied and administered by Austria-Hungary. The government of
Austria-Hungary, not desiring to undertake the administration of the
sanjak of Novi-Bazar, ... the Ottoman administration will continue to
exercise its functions there. Nevertheless, in order to assure the
maintenance of the new political state of affairs, as well as freedom
and security of communications, Austria-Hungary reserves the right of
keeping garrisons and having military and commercial roads in the whole
of this part of the ancient vilayet of Bosnia."

By Art. XXVI. the independence of Montenegro was definitively
recognized, and by Art. XVIII. she received certain accessions of
territory, including a strip of coast on the Adriatic, but under
conditions which tended to place her under the tutelage of
Austria-Hungary. Thus, by Art. XXIX. she was to have neither ships of
war nor a war flag, the port of Antivari and all Montenegrin waters were
to be closed to the war-ships of all nations; the fortifications between
the lake and the coast were to be razed; the administration of the
maritime and sanitary police at Antivari and along the Montenegrin
littoral was to be carried on by Austria-Hungary "by means of light
coast-guard boats"; Montenegro was to adopt the maritime code in force
in Dalmatia, while the Montenegrin merchant flag was to be under
Austro-Hungarian consular protection. Finally, Montenegro was to "come
to an understanding with Austria-Hungary on the right to construct and
keep up across the new Montenegrin territory a road and a railway."

By Art. XXXIV. the independence of Servia was recognized, subject to
conditions (as to religious liberty, &c.) set forth in Art. XXXV. Art.
XXXVI. defined the new boundaries.

By Art. XLIII. the independence of Rumania, already proclaimed by the
prince (May 22/June 3 1877), was recognized. Subsequent articles define
the conditions and the boundaries.

Arts. LII. to LVII. deal with the question of the free navigation of the
Danube. All fortifications between the mouths and the Iron Gates were to
be razed, and no vessels of war, save those of light tonnage in the
service of the river police and the customs, were to navigate the river
below the Iron Gates (Art. LII.). The Danube commission, on which
Rumania was to be represented, was maintained in its functions (Art.
LIII.) and provision made for the further prolongation of its powers
(Art. LIV.).

Art. LVIII. cedes to Russia the territories of Ardahan, Kars and Batoum,
in Asiatic Turkey. By Art. LIX. "H.M. the emperor of Russia declares
that it is his intention to constitute Batoum a free port, essentially
commercial."

By Art. LXI. "the Sublime Porte undertakes to carry out, without further
delay, the improvements and reforms demanded by local requirements in
the provinces inhabited by the Armenians, and to guarantee their
security against the Circassians and Kurds." It was to keep the powers
informed periodically of "the steps taken to this effect."

Art. LXII. made provision for the securing religious liberty in the
Ottoman dominions.

Finally, Art. LXIII. declares that "the treaty of Paris of 30th March
1856, as well as the treaty of London of 13th March 1871, are maintained
in all such of their provisions as are not abrogated or modified by the
preceding stipulations."

  For the full text of the treaty in the English translation see E.
  Hertslet, _Map of Europe by Treaty_, vol. iv. p. 2759 (No. 530); for
  the French original see _State Papers_, vol. lxix. p. 749.
       (W. A. P.)




BERLIN, a city of Coos county, New Hampshire, U.S.A., on the
Androscoggin river, in the N. part of the state, about 98 m. N.W. of
Portland, Maine. Pop. (1890) 3729; (1900) 8886, of whom 4643 were
foreign-born; (1910 census) 11,780. The area of the city in 1906 was
57.81 sq. m. Berlin is served by the Grand Trunk and Boston & Maine
railways. It is situated in the heart of the White Mountains and 16 m.
from the base of Mt. Washington. Berlin Falls, on the picturesque
Androscoggin river, furnishes an immense water-power, the development of
which for manufacturing purposes accounts for the rapid growth of the
city. The forests of northern New England and of the province of Quebec
supply the raw material for the extensive saw-mills and planing-mills,
the pulp- and paper-mills, and the sulphite fibre mills, said to be the
largest in existence. In 1905 the city's factory products were valued at
$5,989,119, of which 78.5% was the value of the paper and wood pulp
manufactured. Berlin was first settled in 1821, was incorporated as a
township in 1829, and was chartered as a city in 1897.




BERLIN, a city and port of entry, Ontario, Canada, and capital of
Waterloo county, 58 m. W. of Toronto, on the Grand Trunk railway. It is
the centre of a prosperous farming and manufacturing district, inhabited
chiefly by German immigrants and their descendants. An electric railway
connects it with the town of Waterloo (pop. 4100) 2 m. to the north,
which has important flour and woollen mills and distilleries. Berlin is
a flourishing manufacturing town, and contains a beet sugar refinery,
automobile, leather, furniture, shirt and collar, felt, glove, button
and rubber factories. Pop. (1881) 4054; (1901) 9747.




BERLIN, a four-wheeled carriage with a separate hooded seat behind,
detached from the body of the vehicle; so called from having been first
used in Berlin. It was designed about 1670, by a Piedmontese architect
in the service of the elector of Brandenburg. It was used as a
travelling carriage, and Swift refers to it in his advice to authors
"who scribble in a berlin." As an adjective, the word is used to
indicate a special kind of goods, originally made in Berlin, of which
the best known is Berlin wool. A Berlin warehouse is a shop for the sale
of wools and fancy goods (cf. Italian warehouse). The spelling "berlin"
is also used by Sir Walter Scott for the "birlinn," a large Gaelic
rowing-boat.




BERLIOZ, HECTOR (1803-1869), French musical composer, was born on the
11th of December 1803 at Côte-Saint-André, a small town near Grenoble,
in the department of Isère. His father, Louis Berlioz, was a physician
of repute, and by his desire Hector for some time devoted himself to the
study of medicine. At the same time he had music lessons, and, in
secret, perused numerous theoretical works on counterpoint and harmony,
with little profit it seems, till the hearing and subsequent careful
analysis of one of Haydn's quartets opened a new vista to his unguided
aspirations. A similar work written by Berlioz in imitation of Haydn's
masterpiece was favorably received by his friends. From Paris, where he
had been sent to complete his medical studies, he at last made known to
his father the unalterable decision of devoting himself entirely to art,
the answer to which confession was the withdrawal of all further
pecuniary assistance. In order to support life Berlioz had to accept the
humble engagement of a singer in the chorus of the Gymnase theatre.
Soon, however, he became reconciled to his father and entered the
Conservatoire, where he studied composition under Reicha and Lesueur.
His first important composition was an opera called _Les Francs-Juges_,
of which, however, only the overture remains extant. In 1825 he left the
Conservatoire, and began a course of self-education, founded chiefly on
the works of Beethoven, Gluck, Weber and other German masters. About
this period Berlioz saw for the first time the talented Irish actress
Henrietta Smithson, who was then charming Paris by her impersonations of
Ophelia, Juliet and other Shakespearean characters. The enthusiastic
young composer became deeply enamoured of her at first sight, and tried,
for a long time in vain, to gain the love or even the attention of his
idol. To an incident of this wild and persevering courtship Berlioz's
first symphonic work, _Épisode de la vie d'un artiste_, owes its origin.
By the advice of his friends Berlioz once more entered the
Conservatoire, where, after several unsuccessful attempts, his cantata
_Sardanapalus_ gained him the first prize for foreign travel (1830), in
spite of the strong personal antagonism of one of the umpires. During a
stay in Italy Berlioz composed an overture to _King Lear_, and _Le
Retour à la vie_--a sort of symphony, with intervening poetical
declamation between the single movements, called by the composer a
melologue, and written in continuation of the _Épisode de la vie d'un
artiste_, along with which work it was performed at the Paris
Conservatoire in 1832. Paganini on that occasion spoke to Berlioz the
memorable words: "Vous commencez par où les autres ont fini." Miss
Smithson, who also was present on the occasion, consented to become the
wife of her ardent lover in 1833. The marriage was a tempestuous
mistake. In 1840 he separated from his wife, who died in 1854. Six
months later Berlioz married Mademoiselle Récio. His second wife did not
live very long, nor was there much that was edifying in this marriage.
Between the date of his first marriage and 1840 came out his dramatic
symphonies _Harold en Italie_, _Funèbre et triomphale_, and _Roméo et
Juliette_; his opera _Benvenuto Cellini_ (1837); his _Requiem_, and
other works. In the course of time Berlioz won his due share of the
distinctions generally awarded to artistic merit, such as the ribbon of
the Legion of Honour and the membership of the Institute. But these
distinctions he owed, perhaps, less to a genuine admiration of his
compositions than to his successes abroad and his influential position
as the musical critic of the _Journal des Débats_ (a position which he
held from 1838 to 1864, and which he never used or abused to push his
own works). In 1842 Berlioz went for the first time to Germany, where he
was hailed with welcome by the leading musicians of the younger
generation, Robert Schumann foremost amongst them. The latter paved the
way for the French composer's success by a comprehensive analysis of the
_Épisode_ in his musical journal, the _Neue Zeitschrift für Musik_. In
1846 he produced his magnificent cantata _La Damnation de Faust_.
Berlioz gave successful concerts at Leipzig and other German cities, and
repeated his visit on various later occasions--in 1852 by invitation of
Liszt, to conduct his opera, _Benvenuto Cellini_ (hissed off the stage
in Paris), at Weimar; and in 1855 to produce his oratorio-trilogy,
_L'Enfance du Christ_, in the same city. This latter work had been
previously performed at Paris, where Berlioz mystified the critics by
pretending to have found the last chorus amongst the manuscript scores
of a composer of the 17th century, Pierre Ducré by name. In 1855 his _Te
Deum_ was written for the opening of the Paris exhibition. Berlioz also
made journeys to Vienna (1866) and St Petersburg (1867), where his works
were received with great enthusiasm. In 1861 he produced his work
_Béatrice et Bénédict_, and in 1863 _Les Troyens_. He died in Paris on
the 8th of March 1869.

It is not only as a composer that the life of Berlioz is full of
interest, although in this respect his achievement is singularly
significant for the comprehension of the modern spirit in music. But it
is as the symbol of French romanticism in the whole domain of aesthetic
perception that his pre-eminence has come to be recognized. His
_Mémoires_ (begun in London in 1848 and finished in 1865) illustrate
this romantic spirit at its highest elevation as well as at its lowest
depths. Victor Hugo was a romantic, Musset was a romantic, but Berlioz
was romanticism itself. As a boy he is in despair over the despair of
Dido, and his breath is taken away at Virgil's "Quaesivit coelo lucem
ingemuitque reperta." At the age of twelve he is in love with "Estelle,"
whom he meets fifty years afterwards. The scene is described by himself
(1865) with minute fidelity--a scene which Flaubert must have known by
heart when he wrote its parallel in the novel _L'Éducation
sentimentale_. The romance of this meeting between the man--old,
isolated, unspeakably sad, with the halo of public fame burning round
him--and the woman--old also, a mother, a widow, whose beauty he had
worshipped when she was eighteen--is striking. In a frame of chastened
melancholy and joy at the sight of Estelle, Berlioz goes to dine with
Patti and her family. Patti, on the threshold of her career, pets
Berlioz with such uncontrollable affection, that as the composer wrote a
description of his feelings he was overwhelmed at the bitterness of
fate. What would he not have given for Estelle to show him such
affection! Patti seemed to him like a marvellous bird with diamond wings
flitting round his head, resting on his shoulder, plucking his hair and
singing her most joyous songs to the accompaniment of beating wings. "I
was enchanted but not moved. The fact is that the young, beautiful,
dazzling, famous virtuoso who at the age of twenty-two has already seen
musical Europe and America at her feet, does not win the power of love
in me; and the aged woman, sad, obscure, ignorant of art, possesses my
soul as she did in the days gone by, as she will do until my last day."
If this episode touches the sublime, it may be urged with almost equal
truth that his description of the exhumation of his two wives and their
reburial in a single tomb touches the ridiculous. And yet the scene is
described with a perception of all the detail which would call for the
highest praise in a novelist. Perhaps some parallel between the splendid
and the ridiculous in this singular figure may be seen in the comparison
of Nadar's caricature with Charpentier's portrait of the composer.

The profound admiration of Berlioz for Shakespeare, which rose at
moments to such a pitch of folly that he set Shakespeare in the place of
God and worshipped him, cannot be explained simply on the ground that
Henrietta Smithson was a great Shakespearean actress. Unquestionably the
great figures in English literature had a profound attraction for him,
and while the romantic spirit is obvious in his selections from Byron
and Scott, it can also be traced in the quality of his enthusiasm for
Shakespeare. It is in his music more than in his literary attitude,
however, that is disclosed something in addition to the pure romance of
Schumann--something that places him nearer in kind to Wagner, who
recognized in him a composer from whose works he might learn something
useful for the cultivation of his own ideals. As a youth the power of
Beethoven's symphonies made a deep impression on Berlioz, and what has
been described as the "poetical idea" in Beethoven's creations ran riot
in the young medical student's mind. He thus became one of the most
ardent and enlightened originators of what is now known as "programme
music." Technically he was a brilliant musical colourist, often
extravagant, but with the extravagant emotionalism of genius. He was a
master of the orchestra; indeed, his treatment of the orchestra and his
invention of unprecedented effects of _timbre_ give him a solitary
position in musical history; he had an extraordinary gift for the use of
the various instruments, and himself propounded a new ideal for the
force to be employed, on an enormous scale.

His literary works include the _Traité d'instrumentation_ (1844);
_Voyage musical en Allemagne et en Italie_ (1845); _Les Soirées
d'orchestre_ (1853); _Les Grotesques de la musique_ (1859); _À travers
chant_ (1862); _Mémoires_ (1870); _Lettres intimes_ (1882). For a full
list of his musical works, Grove's _Dictionary_ should be consulted.

  The new critical edition of the complete musical works (published by
  Breitkopf and Hartel) is in ten series. I. Symphonies: _Fantastique_,
  Op. 14; _Funébre et triomphale_, Op. 15, for military band and chorus;
  _Harold en Italie_, Op. 16, with viola solo; _Roméo et Juliette_, with
  chorus and soli. II. Overtures (ten, including the five belonging to
  larger works). III. Smaller instrumental works, of which only the
  Funeral March for _Hamlet_ is important. IV. Sacred music: the _Grande
  Messe des morts_, Op. 5; the _Te Deum_, Op. 22; _L'Enfance du Christ_,
  Op. 25, and four smaller pieces, V. Secular cantatas, including _Hunt
  scênes de Faust_, Op. I; _Lélio, ou le retour à la vie_, Op. 146
  (sequel to _Symphonie fantastique_), and _La Damnation de Faust_, Op.
  24. VI. Songs and lyric choruses with orchestra, two vols. VII. Songs
  and lyric choruses with pianoforte, 2 vols. including arrangements of
  the orchestral songs. VIII. Operas: _Benvenuto Cellini_; _Les Troyens_
  (five acts in two parts, _La Prise de Troie_ and _Les Troyens à
  Carthage_); Recitatives for the dialogue in Weber's _Freischutz_. IX.
  Arrangements, including the well-known orchestral version of Weber's
  _Invitation à la danse_. X. Fragments and new discoveries.

  Adolphe Julien's biography of Berlioz (1888) first gave a careful
  account of the details of his life. See also the books by R. Pohl
  (1884), P. Galibert (1890), E. Hippeau (1890), G. Noufflard (1885), L.
  Mesnard (1888), Louise Pohl (1900), and D. Bernard (trans. by H.M.
  Dunstan, 1882). An illuminating essay on Berlioz is in Filson Young's
  _Mastersingers_ (1902). See also the essay in W.H. Hadow's _Studies in
  Modern Music_ (1st series, 1908). Berlioz's _Traité d'instrumentation_
  has been translated into German and brought up to date by Richard
  Strauss (Peters' edition [1906]).




BERM (probably a variant of "brim"), a narrow ledge of ground, generally
the level banks of a river. In parts of Egypt the whole area reached by
the Nile is included in the berm. Thus of the lands near Berber, Mr C.
Dupuis writes (in Sir William Garstin's _Report on the Upper Nile_,
1904), "In most places there is a well-defined alluvial berm of recent
formation and varying width, up to perhaps a couple of kilometres." In
military phraseology the berm is the space of ground between the base of
a rampart and the ditch.




BERMONDSEY, a south-eastern metropolitan borough of London, England,
bounded N. and E. by the Thames, S.E. by Deptford, S.W. by Camberwell,
and W. by Southwark. Pop. (1901) 130,760. It is a district of poor
streets, inhabited by a labouring population employed in leather and
other factories, and in the Surrey Commercial Docks and the wharves
bordering the river. The parish of Rotherhithe or Redriff has long been
associated with a seafaring population. A tunnel connecting it with the
opposite shore of the river was opened in June 1908. The neighbouring
Thames Tunnel was opened in 1843, but, as the tolls were insufficient to
maintain it, was sold to the East London Railway Company in 1865. The
Herold Institute, a branch of the Borough Polytechnic, Southwark, is
devoted to instruction in connexion with the leather trade. Southwark
Park in the centre of the borough is 63 acres in extent. Bermondsey is
in the parliamentary borough of Southwark, including the whole of
Rotherhithe and part of the Bermondsey division. The borough council
consists of a mayor, 9 aldermen, and 54 councillors. Area 1499.6 acres.

The name appears in Domesday, the suffix designating the former insular,
marshy character of the district; while the prefix is generally taken to
indicate the name of a Saxon overlord, Beormund. Bermondsey was in
favour with the Norman kings as a place of residence, and there was a
palace here, perhaps from pre-Norman times. A Cluniac monastery was
founded in 1082, and Bermondsey Cross became a favoured place of
pilgrimage. The foundation was erected into an abbey in 1399, and Abbey
Road recalls its site. Similarly, Spa Road points to the existence of a
popular spring and pleasure grounds, maintained for some years at the
close of the 18th century. Jacob Street marks Jacob's Island, the scene
of the death of Bill Sikes in Dickens's _Oliver Twist_. Tooley Street,
leading east from Southwark by London Bridge railway station, is well
known in connexion with the story of three tailors of Tooley Street, who
addressed a petition to parliament opening with the comprehensive
expression "We, the people of England." The name is a corruption of St
Olave, or Olaf, the Christian king of Norway, who in 994 attacked London
by way of the river, and broke down London Bridge.

  See E.T. Clarke, _Bermondsey, its Historic Memories_ (1901).




BERMUDAS, a group of islands in the Atlantic Ocean, forming a British
colony, in 32° 15' N. and 64° 50' W., about 580 m. E. by S. from Cape
Hatteras on the American coast. The group, consisting of small islands
and reefs (which mark the extreme northern range of the coral-building
polyps), is of oval form, measuring 22 m. from N.E. to S.W., the area
being 20 sq. m. The largest of the islands is Great Bermuda, or the Main
Island, 14 m. long and about a mile in average width, enclosing on the
east Harrington or Little Sound, and on the west the Great Sound, which
is thickly studded with islets, and protected on the north by the
islands of Watford, Boaz, Ireland and Somerset. The remaining members of
the group, St George, Paget, Smith, St David, Cooper, Nonsuch, &c., lie
N.E. of the Main Island, and form a semicircle round Castle Harbour. The
fringing islands which encircle the islands, especially on the north and
west, leave a few deep passages wide enough to admit the largest
vessels.

_Geology._--The Bermudas consist of aeolian limestones (cf. BAHAMAS)
which in some of the larger islands form irregular hills attaining a
height of some 200-250 ft. These limestones are composed chiefly of
comminuted shells drifted and deposited by the wind, and they are very
irregularly stratified, as is usually the case with wind-blown deposits.
Where fresh the rock is soft, but where it has been exposed to the
action of the sea it is covered by a hard crust and often loses all
trace of stratification. The surface is frequently irregularly
honeycombed. Even the reefs are not wholly formed of coral. They are
ridges of aeolian limestone plastered over by a thin layer of corals and
other calcareous organisms. The very remarkable "serpuline atolls" are
covered by a solid crust made of the convoluted tubes of serpulae and
_Vermetus_, together with barnacles, mussels, nullipores, corallines and
some true incrusting corals. They probably rest upon a foundation of
aeolian rock. The Bermudas were formerly much more extensive than at
present, and they may possibly stand upon the summit of a hidden
volcano. There are evidences of small oscillations of levels, but no
proofs of great elevation or depression.

_Soil, Climate, &c._--The surface soil is a curious kind of red earth,
which is also found in ochre-like strata throughout the limestone. It is
generally mixed with vegetable matter and coral sand. There is a total
want of streams and wells of fresh water, and the inhabitants are
dependent on the rain, which they collect and preserve in tanks. The
climate is mild and healthy, although serious epidemics of yellow fever
and typhus have occurred. The maximum reading of the thermometer is
about 87° F. and its minimum 49°, the mean annual temperature being 70°.
The islands attract a large number of visitors annually from America.
Vegetation is very rapid, and the soil is clad in a mantle of almost
perpetual green. The principal kind of tree is the so-called "Bermudas
cedar," really a species of juniper, which furnishes timber for small
vessels. The shores are fringed with the mangrove; the prickly pear
grows luxuriantly in the most barren districts; and wherever the ground
is left to itself the sage bush springs up profusely. The citron, sour
orange, lemon and lime grow wild; but the apple and peach do not come to
perfection. The loquat, an introduction from China, thrives admirably.
The mild climate assists the growth of esculent plants and roots; and a
considerable trade is carried on with New York, principally in onions,
early potatoes, tomatoes, and beetroot, together with lily bulbs, cut
flowers and some arrowroot. Medicinal plants, as the castor-oil plant
and aloe, come to perfection without culture; and coffee, indigo, cotton
and tobacco are also of spontaneous growth. Few oxen or sheep are reared
in the colony, meat, as well as bread and most vegetables, being
imported from America. The indigenous mammals are very few, and the only
reptiles are a small lizard and the green turtle. Birds, however,
especially aquatic species, are very numerous. Insects are comparatively
few, but ants swarm destructively in the heat of the year. Fish are
plentiful round the coasts, and the whale-fishery was once an important
industry, but the fisheries as a whole have not been developed.

_Towns, and Administration._--There are two towns in the Bermudas: St
George, on the island of that name, founded in 1794 and incorporated in
1797; and Hamilton, on the Main Island, founded in 1790 and incorporated
in 1793. St George was the capital till the senate and courts of justice
were removed by Sir James Cockburn to Hamilton, which being centrally
situated, is more convenient. Hamilton, which is situated on the inner
part of the Great Sound, had a population in 1901 of 2246, that of St
George being 985. In Ireland Island is situated the royal dockyard and
naval establishment. The harbour of St George's has space enough to
accommodate a vast fleet; yet, till deepened by blasting, the entrance
was so narrow as to render it almost useless. The Bermudas became an
important naval and coaling station in 1869, when a large iron dry dock
was towed across the Atlantic and placed in a secure position in St
George, while, owing to their important strategic position in
mid-Atlantic, the British government maintains a strong garrison. The
Bermudas are a British crown colony, with a governor resident at
Hamilton, who is assisted by an executive council of 6 members appointed
by the crown, a legislative council of 9 similarly appointed, and a
representative assembly of 36 members, of whom four are returned by each
of nine parishes. The currency of the colony, which had formerly twelve
shillings to the pound sterling, was assimilated to that of England in
1842. The English language is universal. The colony is ecclesiastically
attached to the bishopric of Newfoundland. In 1847 an educational board
was established, and there are numerous schools; attendance is
compulsory, but none of the schools is free. Government scholarships
enable youths to be educated for competition in the Rhodes scholarships
to Oxford University. The revenue of the islands shows a fairly regular
increase during the last years of the 19th century and the first of the
20th, as from £37,830 in 1895 to £63,457 in 1904; expenditure is
normally rather less than revenue. In the year last named imports were
valued at £589,979 and exports at £130,305, the annual averages since
1895 being about £426,300 and £112,500 respectively. The population
shows a steady increase, as from 13,948 in 1881 to 17,535 in 1901; 6383
were whites and 11,152 coloured in the latter year.

_History._--The discovery of the Bermudas resulted from the shipwreck of
Juan Bermudez, a Spaniard (whose name they now bear), when on a voyage
from Spain to Cuba with a cargo of hogs, early in the 16th century.
Henry May, an Englishman, suffered the same fate in 1593; and lastly,
Sir George Somers shared the destiny of the two preceding navigators in
1609. Sir George, from whom the islands took the alternative name of
Somers, was the first who established a settlement upon them, but he
died before he had fully accomplished his design. In 1612 the Bermudas
were granted to an offshoot of the Virginia Company, which consisted of
120 persons, 60 of whom, under the command of Henry More, proceeded to
the islands. The first source of colonial wealth was the growing of
tobacco, but the curing industry ceased early in the 18th century. In
1726 Bishop George Berkeley chose the Bermudas as the seat of his
projected missionary establishment. The first newspaper, the _Bermuda
Gazette_, was published in 1784.

  See Godet, _Bermuda, its History, Geology, Climate, &c_. (London,
  1860); Lefroy, _Discovery and Settlement of the Bermudas_ (London,
  1877-1879); A. Heilprin, _Bermuda Islands_ (Philadelphia, 1889);
  Stark, _Bermuda Guide_ (London, 1898); Cole, _Bermuda ...
  Bibliography_ (Boston, 1907); and for geology see also A. Agassíz,
  "Visit to the Bermudas in March 1894," _Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool.
  Harvard_, vol. xxvi. No. 2, 1895; A.E. Verrill, "Notes on the Geology
  of the Bermudas," _Amer. Journ. Sci._ ser. 4, vol. ix. (1900), pp.
  313-340; "The Bermuda Islands; Their Scenery, &c.," _Trans. Conn.
  Acad. Arts and Sci._ vol. xi. pt. 2 (1901-1902).




BERMUDEZ, a N.E. state of Venezuela, between the Caribbean Sea and the
Orinoco river, bounded E. by the gulf of Paria and the Delta-Amacuro
territory, and W. by the states of Guarico and Miranda. Pop. (est. 1905)
364,158. It was created in 1881 by the union of the states of Barcelona,
Cumaná and Maturín, dissolved in 1901 into its three original states,
and reorganized in 1904 with a slight modification of territory. The
state includes the oldest settlements in Venezuela, and was once very
prosperous, producing cattle and exporting hides, but wars and political
disorders have partly destroyed its industries and impeded their
development. Its principal productions are coffee, sugar, and cacáo,
and--less important--cotton, tobacco, cocoanuts, timber, indigo and
dyewoods. Its more important towns are the capital, Barcelona, Maturín
(pop. 14,473), capital of a district of the same name, and Cumaná
(10,000), on the gulf of Cariaco, founded in 1520 and one of the oldest
towns of the continent.




BERN (Fr. _Berne_), after the Grisons, the largest of the Swiss cantons,
but by far the most populous, though politically Bern ranks after that
of Zürich. It extends right across Switzerland from beyond the Jura to
the snow-clad ranges that separate Bern from the Valais. Its total area
is 2641.9 sq. m., of which 2081 sq. m. are classed as "productive"
(including 591 sq. m. of forests, and 2.1 m. of vineyards), while of the
remainder 111.3 sq. m. are occupied by glaciers (the Valais and the
Grisons alone surpass it in this respect). It is mainly watered by the
river Aar (q.v.), with its affluents, the Kander (left), the Saane or
Sarine (left) and the Emme (right); the Aar forms the two lakes of
Brienz and Thun (q.v.). The great extent of this canton accounts for the
different character of the regions therein comprised. Three are usually
distinguished:--(1) The _Oberland_ or Highlands, which is that best
known to travellers, for it includes the snowy Alps of the Bernese
Oberland (culminating in the Finsteraarhorn, 14,026 ft., and the
Jungfrau, 13,669 ft.), as well as the famous summer resorts of
Grindelwald, Mürren, Lauterbrunnen, Interlaken, Meiringen, Kandersteg,
Adelboden, Thun and the fine pastoral valley of the Simme. (2) The
_Mittelland_ or Midlands, comprising the valley of the Aar below Thun,
and that of the Emme, thus taking in the outliers of the high Alps and
the open country on every side of the town of Bern. (3) The _Seeland_
(Lakeland) and the Jura, extending from Bienne and its lake across the
Jura to Porrentruy in the plains and to the upper course of the Birs.
The Oberland and Mittelland form the "old" canton, the Jura having only
been acquired in 1815, and differing from the rest of the canton by
reason of its French-speaking and Romanist inhabitants.

In 1900 the total population of the canton was 589,433, of whom 483,388
were German-speaking, 97,789 French-speaking, and 7167 Italian-speaking;
while there were 506,699 Protestants, 80,489 Romanists (including the
Old Catholics), and 1543 Jews. The capital is Bern (q.v.), while the
other important towns are Bienne (q.v.), Burgdorf (q.v.), Delémont or
Delsberg (5053 inhabitants), Porrentruy or Pruntrut (6959 inhabitants),
Thun (q.v.), and Langenthal (4799 inhabitants). There is a university
(founded in 1834) in the town of Bern, as well as institutions for
higher education in the principal towns. The canton is divided into 30
administrative districts, and contains 507 communes (the highest number
in Switzerland). From 1803 to 1814 the canton was one of the six
"Directorial" cantons of the Confederation. The existing cantonal
constitution dates from 1893, but in 1906 the direct popular election of
the executive of 9 members (hitherto named by the legislature) was
introduced. The legislature or _Grossrath_ is elected for four years
(like the executive), in the proportion of 1 member to every 2500 (or
fraction over 1250) of the resident population. The _obligatory
Referendum_ obtains in the case of all laws, and of decrees relating to
an expenditure of over half a million francs, while 12,000 citizens have
the right of _initiative_ in the case of legislative projects, and
15,000 may demand the revision of the cantonal constitution. The 2
members sent by the canton to the federal _Ständerath_ are elected by
the _Grossrath_, while the 29 members sent to the federal _Nationalrath_
are chosen by a popular vote. In the Alpine portions of the canton the
breeding of cattle (those of the Simme valley are particularly famous)
is the chief industry; next come the elaborate arrangements for summer
travellers (the _Fremdenindustrie_). It is reckoned that there are 2430
"Alps" or mountain pastures in the canton, of which 1474 are in the
Oberland, 627 in the Jura, and 280 in the Emme valley; they can maintain
95,478 cows and are of the estimated value of 46½ million francs. The
cheese of the Emme valley is locally much esteemed. Other industries in
the Alpine region are wood-carving (at Brienz) and wine manufacture (on
the shores of the lakes of Bienne and of Thun). The Mittelland is the
agricultural portion of the canton. Watchmaking is the principal
industry of the Jura, Bienne and St Imier being the chief centres of
this industry. Iron mines are also worked in the Jura, while the
Heimberg potteries, near Thun, produce a locally famous ware, and there
are both quarries of building stone and tile factories. The canton is
well supplied with railway lines, the broad gauge lines being 228 m. in
length, and the narrow gauge lines 157½ m.--in all 385½ m. Among these
are many funicular cog-wheel lines, climbing up to considerable heights,
so up to Mürren (5368 ft.), over the Wengern Alp (6772 ft.), up to the
Schynige Platte (6463 ft.), and many others still in the state of
projects. All these are in the Oberland where, too, is the so-called
Jungfrau railway, which in 1906 attained a point (the Eismeer station)
in the south wall of the Eiger (13,042 ft.) that was 10,371 ft. in
height, the loftiest railway station in Switzerland.

The canton of Bern is composed of the various districts which the town
of Bern acquired by conquest or by purchase in the course of time. The
more important, with dates of acquisition, are the following:--Laupen
(1324), Hasli and Meiringen (1334), Thun and Burgdorf (1384), Unterseen
and the Upper Simme valley (1386), Frutigen, &c. (1400), Lower Simme
valley (1439-1449), Interlaken, with Grindelwald, Lauterbrunnen and
Brienz (1528, on the suppression of the Austin Canons of Interlaken),
Saanen or Gessenay (1555), Köniz (1729), and the Bernese Jura with
Bienne (1815, from the bishopric of Basel). But certain regions
previously won were lost in 1798--Aargau (1415), Aigle and Grandson
(1475), Vaud (1536), and the Pays d'En-Haut or Château d'Oex (1555).
From 1798 to 1802 the Oberland formed a separate canton (capital, Thun)
of the Helvetic Republic.     (W. A. B. C.)




BERN (Fr. _Berne_), the capital of the Swiss canton of the same name,
and, by a Federal law of 1848, the political capital of the Swiss
confederation. It is most picturesquely situated on a high bluff or
peninsula, round the base of which flows the river Aar, thus completely
cutting off the old town, save to the west. Five lofty bridges have been
thrown over the Aar, the two most modern being the Kirchfeld and
Kornhaus bridges which have greatly contributed to create new
residential quarters near the old town. Within the town the arcades (or
_Lauben_) on either side of the main street, and the numerous
elaborately ornamented fountains attract the eye, as well as the two
remaining towers that formerly stood on the old walls but are now in the
centre of the town; the _Zeilglockenthurm_ (famous for its singular
16th-century clock, with its mechanical contrivances, set in motion when
the hour strikes) and the _Käficthurm_. The principal medieval building
in Bern is the (now Protestant) Münster, begun in 1421 though not
completed till 1573. The tower, rising conspicuously above the town, has
recently been well restored, but the church was never a cathedral church
(as is often stated), for there has never yet been a bishop of Bern. The
federal Houses of Parliament (_Bundeshaus_) were much enlarged in
1888-1892, the older portions dating from 1852-1857, and also contain
the offices of the federal executive and administration. The town-hall
dates from 1406, while some of the houses belonging to the old gilds
contain much of interest. The town library (with which that of the
university was incorporated in 1905) contains a vast store of MSS. and
rare printed books, but should be carefully distinguished from the
national Swiss library, which, with the building for the federal
archives, is built in the new Kirchfeld quarter. There are a number of
museums; the historical (archaeological and medieval), the natural
history (in which the skin of Barry, the famous St Bernard dog, is
preserved), the art (mainly modern Swiss pictures), and the Alpine (in
which are collections of all kinds relating to the Swiss Alps). Bern
possesses a university (founded in 1834) and two admirably organized
hospitals. The old fortifications (_Schanzen_) have been converted into
promenades, which command wonderful views of the snowy Alps of the
Bernese Oberland. Just across the Nydeck bridge is the famous bear pit
in which live bears are kept, as they are supposed to have given the
name to the town; certainly a bear is shown on the earliest known town
seal (1224), while live bears have been maintained at the charges of the
town since 1513. There is comparatively little industrial activity in
the town, the importance of which is mainly political, though of late
years it has been selected as the seat of various international
associations (postal, telegraph, railway, copyright, &c.). The climate
is severe, as the town is much exposed to cold winds blowing from the
snowy Alps. In point of population it is exceeded in Switzerland by
Zürich, Basel and Geneva, though the number of inhabitants has risen
from 27,558 in 1850 and 43,197 in 1880 to 64,227 in 1900. In 1900,
59,698 inhabitants were German-speaking; while 57,144 were Protestants,
6087 Romanists (including Old Catholics) and 655 Jews. The height of the
town above the sea-level is 1788 ft.

The ancient castle of Nydeck, at the eastern end of the peninsula,
guarded the passage over the Aar, and it was probably its existence that
induced Berchtold V., duke of Zäringen, to found Bern in 1191 as a
military post on the frontier between the Alamannians (German-speaking)
and the Burgundians (French-speaking). Thrice the walls which protected
the town were moved westwards, about 1250, in 1346 and in 1622, though
even at the last-named date the town only stretched a little way to the
west of (or beyond) the present railway station. After the extinction of
the Zäringen dynasty (1218) Bern became a free imperial city, but it had
to fight hard for its independence, which was finally secured by the
victories of Dornbühl (1298) over Fribourg and the Habsburgs, and of
Laupen (1339) over the neighbouring Burgundian nobles. In the second
battle Bern received help from the three forest cantons with which it
had become allied in 1323, while in 1353 it entered the Swiss
confederation as its eighth member. It soon took the lead in the
confederation, though always aiming at enlarging its own borders, even
at great risks (see the article on the canton). In 1528 Bern accepted
the religious reformation, and henceforth became one of its chief
champions in Switzerland. In the 17th century the number of families by
which high offices of state could be held was diminished, so that in
1605 there were 152 thus qualified, but in 1691 only 104, while towards
the end of the 18th century there were only 69 such families. Meanwhile
the rule of the town was extending over more and more territory, so that
finally it governed 52 bailiwicks (acquired between 1324 and 1729), the
Bernese patricians being thus extremely powerful and forming an
oligarchy that administered affairs like a benevolent and well-ordered
despotism. In 1723 Major Davel, at Lausanne, and in 1749 Henzi, in Bern
itself, tried to break down this monopoly, but in each case paid the
penalty of failure on the scaffold. The whole system was swept away by
the French in 1798, and though partially revived in 1815, came to an end
in 1831, since which time Bern has been in the van of political
progress. From 1815 to 1848 it shared with Zürich and Lucerne the
supreme rule (which shifted from one to the other every two years) in
the Swiss confederation, while in 1848 a federal law made Bern the sole
political capital, where the federal government is permanently fixed and
where the ministers of foreign powers reside.

  AUTHORITIES.--_Die Alp- und Weidewirthschaft im Kant. Bern_ (Bern,
  1903); _Archiv d. hist. Vereins d. Kant. Bern_, from 1848, and
  _Blätter für bernische Geschichte_, from 1905; _Bernische Biographien_
  (Bern, 1898-1906); E. Friedli, _Bärndutsch als Spiegel bernischen
  Volkstums_. vol. i. (_Lützelflüh_, Bern, 1905), and vol. ii.
  (Grindelwald, Bern, 1908); _Festschrift zur 7ten Säkularfeier d.
  Gründung Berns_, 1191 (Bern, 1891); _Fontes Rerum Bernensium_ (to
  1378), (9 vols., Bern, 1883-1908); K. Geiser, _Geschichte d.
  bernischen Verfassung_, 1191-1471 (Bern, 1888); B. Haller, _Bern in
  seinen Rathsmanualen_, 1465-1565 (3 vols., Bern, 1900-1902); E.F. and
  W.F. von Mülinen, _Beiträge zur Heimathskunde d. Kantons Bern,
  deulschen Theils_ (3 vols., Bern, 1879-1894); W.F. von Mülinen, _Berns
  Geschichte_, 1191-1891 (Bern, 1891); E. von Rodt, _Bernische
  Stadtgeschichte_ (Bern, 1888), and 6 finely illustrated vols. on Bern
  in the 13th to 19th centuries (Bern, 1898-1907); L.S. von Tscharner,
  _Rechtsgeschichte des Obersimmenthales bis zum Jahre 1798_ (Bern,
  1908); E. von Wattenwyl, _Geschichte d. Stadt u. Landschaft Bern_ (to
  1400), (2 vols.); Schaffhausen and Bern (1867-1872); F.E. Welti, _Die
  Rechtsquellen d. Kant. Bern_, vol. i. (Aarau, 1902); Gertrud Züricher,
  _Kinderspiel u. Kinderlied im Kant. Bern_ (Zürich, 1902).
       (W. A. B. C.)




BERNARD, SAINT (1090-1153), abbot of Clairvaux one of the most
illustrious preachers and monks of the middle ages, was born at
Fontaines, near Dijon, in France. His father, a knight named Tecelin,
perished on crusade; and his mother Aleth, a daughter of the noble house
of Mon-Bar, and a woman distinguished for her piety, died while Bernard
was yet a boy. The lad was constitutionally unfitted for the career of
arms, and his own disposition, as well as his mother's early influence,
directed him to the church. His desire to enter a monastery was opposed
by his relations, who sent him to study at Châlons in order to qualify
for high ecclesiastical preferment. Bernard's resolution to become a
monk was not, however, shaken, and when he at last definitely decided to
join the community which Robert of Molesmes had founded at Citeaux in
1198, he carried with him his brothers and many of his relations and
friends. The little community of reformed Benedictines, which was to
produce so profound an influence on Western monachism (see CISTERCIANS
and MONASTICISM) and had seemed on the point of extinction for lack of
novices, gained a sudden new life through this accession of some thirty
young men of the best families of the neighbourhood. Others followed
their example; and the community grew so rapidly that it was soon able
to send off offshoots. One of these daughter monasteries, Clairvaux, was
founded in 1115, in a wild valley branching from that of the Aube, on
land given by Count Hugh of Troyes, and of this Bernard was appointed
abbot.

By the new constitution of the Cistercians Clairvaux became the chief
monastery of the five branches into which the order was divided under
the supreme direction of the abbot of Citeaux. Though nominally subject
to Citeaux, however, Clairvaux soon became the most important Cistercian
house, owing to the fame and influence of Bernard.[1] His saintly
character, his self-mortification--of so severe a character that his
friend, William of Champeaux, bishop of Châlons, thought it right to
remonstrate with him--and above all, his marvellous power as a preacher,
soon made him famous, and drew crowds of pilgrims to Clairvaux. His
miracles were noised abroad, and sick folk were brought from near and
far to be healed by his touch. Before long the abbot, who had intended
to devote his life to the work of his monastery, was drawn into the
affairs of the great world. When in 1124 Pope Honorius II. mounted the
chair of St Peter, Bernard was already reckoned among the greatest of
French churchmen; he now shared in the most important ecclesiastical
discussions, and papal legates sought his counsel. Thus in 1128 he was
invited by Cardinal Matthew of Albano to the synod of Troyes, where he
was instrumental in obtaining the recognition of the new order of
Knights Templars, the rules of which he is said to have drawn up; and in
the following year, at the synod of Châlons-sur-Marne, he ended the
crisis arising out of certain charges brought against Henry, bishop of
Verdun, by persuading the bishop to resign. The European importance of
Bernard, however, began with the death of Pope Honorius II. (1130) and
the disputed election that followed. In the synod convoked by Louis the
Fat at Etampes in April 1130 Bernard successfully asserted the claims of
Innocent II. against those of Anacletus II., and from this moment became
the most influential supporter of his cause. He threw himself into the
contest with characteristic ardour. While Rome itself was held by
Anacletus, France, England, Spain and Germany declared for Innocent,
who, though banished from Rome, was--in Bernard's phrase--"accepted by
the world." The pope travelled from place to place, with the powerful
abbot of Clairvaux at his side; he stayed at Clairvaux itself, humble
still, so far as its buildings were concerned; and he went with Bernard
to parley with the emperor Lothair III. at Liége.

In 1133, the year of the emperor's first expedition to Rome, Bernard was
in Italy persuading the Genoese to make peace with the men of Pisa,
since the pope had need of both. He accompanied Innocent to Rome,
successfully resisting the proposal to reopen negotiations with
Anacletus, who held the castle of Sant' Angelo and, with the support of
Roger of Sicily, was too strong to be subdued by force. Lothair, though
crowned by Innocent in St Peter's, could do nothing to establish him in
the Holy See so long as his own power was sapped by his quarrel with the
house of Hohenstaufen. Again Bernard came to the rescue; in the spring
of 1135 he was at Bamberg successfully persuading Frederick of
Hohenstaufen to submit to the emperor. In June he was back in Italy,
taking a leading part in the council of Pisa, by which Anacletus was
excommunicated. In northern Italy the effect of his personality and of
his preaching was immense; Milan itself, of all the Lombard cities most
jealous of the imperial claims, surrendered to his eloquence, submitted
to Lothair and to Innocent, and tried to force Bernard against his will
into the vacant see of St Ambrose. In 1137, the year of Lothair's last
journey to Rome, Bernard was back in Italy again; at Monte Cassino,
setting the affairs of the monastery in order, at Salerno, trying in
vain to induce Roger of Sicily to declare against Anacletus, in Rome
itself, agitating with success against the antipope. Anacletus died on
the 25th of January 1138; on the 13th of March the cardinal Gregory was
elected his successor, assuming the name of Victor. Bernard's crowning
triumph in the long contest was the abdication of the new antipope, the
result of his personal influence. The schism of the church was healed,
and the abbot of Clairvaux was free to return to the peace of his
monastery.

Clairvaux itself had meanwhile (1135-1136) been transformed
outwardly--in spite of the reluctance of Bernard, who preferred the
rough simplicity of the original buildings--into a more suitable seat
for an influence that overshadowed that of Rome itself. How great this
influence was is shown by the outcome of Bernard's contest with Abelard
(q.v.). In intellectual and dialectical power the abbot was no match for
the great schoolman; yet at Sens in 1141 Abelard feared to face him, and
when he appealed to Rome Bernard's word was enough to secure his
condemnation.

One result of Bernard's fame was the marvellous growth of the Cistercian
order. Between 1130 and 1145 no less than ninety-three monasteries in
connexion with Clairvaux were either founded or affiliated from other
rules, three being established in England and one in Ireland. In 1145 a
Cistercian monk, once a member of the community of Clairvaux--another
Bernard, abbot of Aquae Silviae near Rome, was elected pope as Eugenius
III. This was a triumph for the order; to the world it was a triumph for
Bernard, who complained that all who had suits to press at Rome applied
to him, as though he himself had mounted the chair of St Peter (_Ep_.
239).

Having healed the schism within the church, Bernard was next called upon
to attack the enemy without. Languedoc especially had become a hotbed of
heresy, and at this time the preaching of Henry of Lausanne (q.v.) was
drawing thousands from the orthodox faith. In June 1145, at the
invitation of Cardinal Alberic of Ostia, Bernard travelled in the south,
and by his preaching did something to stem the flood of heresy for a
while. Far more important, however, was his activity in the following
year, when, in obedience to the pope's command, he preached a crusade.
The effect of his eloquence was extraordinary. At the great meeting at
Vezelay, on the 21st of March, as the result of his sermon, King Louis
VII. of France and his queen, Eleanor of Guienne, took the cross,
together with a host of all classes, so numerous that the stock of
crosses was soon exhausted; Bernard next travelled through northern
France, Flanders and the Rhine provinces, everywhere rousing the wildest
enthusiasm; and at Spires on Christmas day he succeeded in persuading
Conrad, king of the Romans, to join the crusade.

The lamentable outcome of the movement (see CRUSADES) was a hard blow to
Bernard, who found it difficult to understand this manifestation of the
hidden counsels of God, but ascribed it to the sins of the crusaders
(_Ep_. 288; _de Consid_. ii. 1). The news of the disasters to the
crusading host first reached Bernard at Clairvaux, where Pope Eugenius,
driven from Rome by the revolution associated with the name of Arnold of
Brescia, was his guest. Bernard had in March and April 1148 accompanied
the pope to the council of Reims, where he led the attack on certain
propositions of the scholastic theologian Gilbert de la Porrée (q.v.).
From whatever cause--whether the growing jealousy of the cardinals, or
the loss of prestige owing to the rumoured failure of the crusade, the
success of which he had so confidently predicted--Bernard's influence,
hitherto so ruinous to those suspected of heterodoxy, on this occasion
failed of its full effect. On the news of the full extent of the
disaster that had overtaken the crusaders, an effort was made to
retrieve it by organizing another expedition. At the invitation of
Suger, abbot of St Denis, now the virtual ruler of France, Bernard
attended the meeting of Chartres convened for this purpose, where he
himself was elected to conduct the new crusade, the choice being
confirmed by the pope. He was saved from this task, for which he was
physically and constitutionally unfit, by the intervention of the
Cistercian abbots, who forbade him to undertake it.

Bernard was now ageing, broken by his austerities and by ceaseless work,
and saddened by the loss of several of his early friends. But his
intellectual energy remained undimmed. He continued to take an active
interest in ecclesiastical affairs, and his last work, the _De
Consideratione_, shows no sign of failing power. He died on the 20th of
August 1153.

The greatness of St Bernard lay not in the qualities of his intellect,
but of his character. Intellectually he was the child of his age,
inferior to those subtle minds whom the world, fired by his contagious
zeal, conspired to crush. Morally he was their superior; and in this
moral superiority lay the secret of his power. The age recognized in him
the embodiment of its ideal: that of medieval monasticism at its highest
development. The world had no meaning for him save as a place of
banishment and trial, in which men are but "strangers and pilgrims"
(Serm. i., Epiph. n. 1; Serm. vii., Lent. n. 1); the way of grace, back
to the lost inheritance, had been marked out once for all, and the
function of theology was but to maintain the landmarks inherited from
the past. With the subtleties of the schools he had no sympathy, and the
dialectics of the schoolmen quavered into silence before his terrible
invective. Yet, within the limits of his mental horizon, Bernard's
vision was clear enough. His very life proves with what merciless logic
he followed out the principles of the Christian faith as he conceived
it; and it is impossible to say that he conceived it amiss. For all his
overmastering zeal he was by nature neither a bigot nor a persecutor.
Even when he was preaching the crusade he interfered at Mainz to stop
the persecution of the Jews, stirred up by the monk Radulf. As for
heretics, "the little foxes that spoil the vines," these "should be
taken, not by force of arms, but by force of argument," though, if any
heretic refused to be thus taken, he considered "that he should be
driven away, or even a restraint put upon his liberty, rather than that
he should be allowed to spoil the vines" (Serm. lxiv.). He was evidently
troubled by the mob violence which made the heretics "martyrs to their
unbelief." He approved the zeal of the people, but could not advise the
imitation of their action, "because faith is to be produced by
persuasion, not imposed by force"; adding, however, in the true spirit
of his age and of his church, "it would without doubt be better that
they should be coerced by the sword than that they should be allowed to
draw away many other persons into their error." Finally, oblivious of
the precedent of the Pharisees, he ascribes the steadfastness of these
"dogs" in facing death to the power of the devil (Serm. lxvi. on
Canticles ii. 15).

This is Bernard at his worst. At his best--and, fortunately, this is
what is mainly characteristic of the man and his writings--he displays a
nobility of nature, a wise charity and tenderness in his dealings with
others, and a genuine humility, with no touch of servility, that make
him one of the most complete exponents of the Christian life. His
broadly Christian character is, indeed, witnessed to by the enduring
quality of his influence. The author of the _Imitatio_ drew inspiration
from his writings; the reformers saw in him a medieval champion of their
favourite doctrine of the supremacy of the divine grace; his works, down
to the present day, have been reprinted in countless editions. This is
perhaps due to the fact that the chief fountain of his own inspiration
was the Bible. He was saturated in its language and in its spirit; and
though he read it, as might be expected, uncritically, and interpreted
its plain meanings allegorically--as the fashion of the day was--it
saved him from the grosser aberrations of medieval Catholicism. He
accepted the teaching of the church as to the reverence due to our Lady
and the saints, and on feast-days and festivals these receive their due
meed in his sermons; but in his letters and sermons their names are at
other times seldom invoked. They were overshadowed completely in his
mind by his idea of the grace of God and the moral splendour of Christ;
"from Him do the Saints derive the odour of sanctity; from Him also do
they shine as lights" (_Ep._ 464).

The cause of Bernard's extraordinary popular success as a preacher can
only imperfectly be judged by the sermons that survive. These were all
delivered in Latin, evidently to congregations more or less on his own
intellectual level. Like his letters, they are full of quotations from
and reference to the Bible, and they have all the qualities likely to
appeal to men of culture at all times. "Bernard," wrote Erasmus in his
_Art of Preaching_, "is an eloquent preacher, much more by nature than
by art; he is full of charm and vivacity and knows how to reach and move
the affections." The same is true of the letters and to an even more
striking degree. They are written on a large variety of subjects, great
and small, to people of the most diverse stations and types; and they
help us to understand the adaptable nature of the man, which enabled him
to appeal as successfully to the unlearned as to the learned.

Bernard's works fall into three categories:--(1) _Letters_, of which
over five hundred have been preserved, of great interest and value for
the history of the period. (2) _Treatises_: (a) dogmatic and polemical,
_De gratia el libero arbitrio_, written about 1127, and following
closely the lines laid down by St Augustine; _De baptismo aliisque
quaestionibus ad mag. Hugonem de S. Victore; Contra quaedam capitala
errorum Abaelardi ad Innocentem II._ (in justification of the action of
the synod of Sens); (b) ascetic and mystical, _De gradibus humilitatis
et superbiae_, his first work, written perhaps about 1121; _De diligendo
Deo_ (about 1126); _De conversione ad clericos_, an address to
candidates for the priesthood; _De Consideratione_, Bernard's last work,
written about 1148 at the pope's request for the edification and
guidance of Eugenius III.; (c) about monasticism, _Apologia ad
Guilelmum_, written about 1127 to William, abbot of St Thierry; _De
laude novae militiae ad milites templi_ (c. 1132-1136); _De precepto et
dispensatione_, an answer to various questions on monastic conduct and
discipline addressed to him by the monks of St Peter at Chartres (some
time before 1143); (d) on ecclesiastical government, _De moribus et
officio episcoporum_, written about 1126 for Henry, bishop of Sens; the
_De Consideratione_ mentioned above; (e) a biography, _De vita et rebus
gestis S. Malachiae, Hiberniae episcopi_, written at the request of the
Irish abbot Congan and with the aid of materials supplied by him; it is
of importance for the ecclesiastical history of Ireland in the 12th
century; (f) sermons--divided into _Sermones de tempore; de sanctis; de
diversis_; and eighty-six sermons, _in Cantica Canticorum_, an
allegorical and mystical exposition of the Song of Solomon; (g) hymns.
Many hymns ascribed to Bernard survive, e.g. _Jesu dulcis memoria, Jesus
rex admirabilis. Jesu decus angelicum, Salve caput cruentatum_. Of these
the three first are included in the Roman breviary. Many have been
translated and are used in Protestant churches.

St Bernard's works were first published in anything like a complete
edition at Paris in 1508, under the title _Seraphica melliflui devotique
doctoris S. Bernardi scripta_, edited by André Bocard; the first really
critical and complete edition is that of Dom J. Mabillon _Sancti
Bernardi opp. &c._ (Paris, 1667, improved and enlarged in 1690, and
again, by Massuet and Texier, in 1719), reprinted by J.P. Migne,
_Patrolog. lat._ (Paris, 1859). There is an English translation of
Mabillon's edition, including, however, only the letters and the sermons
on the Song of Songs, with the biographical and other prefaces, by
Samuel J. Eales (4 vols., London, 1889-1895). See further Leopold
Janauschek, _Bibliographia Bernardina_ (Vienna, 1891), which includes
2761 entries, including 120 works wrongly ascribed to Bernard.

  AUTHORITIES.--The principal source for the life of St Bernard is the
  _Vita Prima_, compiled, in six books, by various contemporary writers:
  book i. by William, abbot of St Thierry near Reims; book ii. by
  Ernald, or Arnald, abbot of Bonnevalle; books iii., iv. and v. by
  Geoffrey (Gaufrid), monk of Clairvaux and Bernard's secretary; book
  vi., on Bernard's miracles, by Geoffrey and Philip, another monk of
  Clairvaux, &c. A MS. is preserved, _int. al._, in the library of
  Lambeth Palace (§ xiv. No. 163). The _Vita_ was first published in
  _Bernardi op. omn._ by Mabillon (Paris, 1690), ii. pp. 1061 ff.; it
  was included in Migne, _Patrolog. lat._ clxxxv. pp. 225-416, which
  also contains the abridgments or amplifications, by later hands, of
  the _Vita Prima_, known as the _Vita Secunda_, _Tertia_ and _Quarta_.
  For a critical study of these sources see G. Hüffer, _Der heilige
  Bernhard von Clairvaux_ (2 vols., Münster, 1886), and E. Vacandard,
  _Vie de Saint Bernard_ (2 vols., Paris, 1895).

  Among the numerous modern works on St Bernard may be mentioned,
  besides the above, J.C. Morison, _The Life and Times of St Bernard_
  (London, 1863); G. Chevallier, _Histoire de Saint Bernard_ (2 vols.,
  Lille, 1888); S.J. Eales, _St Bernard, abbot of Clairvaux_ (London,
  1890, "Fathers for English Readers" series); ib. _Life and Works of St
  Bernard_ (London, 1889); R.S. Storrs, _Bernard of Clairvaux: the
  Times, the Man and His Work_ (New York, 1893); Comte d'Haussonville,
  _Saint Bernard_ (Paris, 1906). See also the article by Vacandart in A.
  Vacant's _Dictionnaire de théologie_ (with full bibliography), and
  that by S.M. Deutsch in Herzog-Hauck, _Realencyklopädie_ (3rd ed.),
  vol. ii. (bibliography). Further works, monographs, &c., are given s.
  "Vita S. Bernardi" in Potthast. _Bibliotheca Historica Medii Aevi_
  (Berlin, 1896).     (W. A. P.)


FOOTNOTE:

  [1] The Cistercians of this branch of the order were commonly known
    as Bernardines.




BERNARD OF CHARTRES (1080?-1167), surnamed SYLVESTRIS, scholastic
philosopher, described by John of Salisbury as _perfectissimus inter
Platonicos nostri saeculi_. He and his brother Theodore were among the
chief members of the school of Chartres (France), founded in the early
part of the 11th century by Fulbert, the great disciple of Gerbert. This
school flourished at a time when medieval thought was directed to the
ancient philosophy of Plato and Aristotle, and had perversely come to
regard Aristotle as merely the founder of abstract logic and formal
intellectualism, as opposed to Plato whose doctrine of Ideas seemed to
tend in a naturalistic direction. Thus Bernard is a Platonist and yet
the representative of a "return to Nature" which curiously anticipates
the humanism of the early Renaissance. John of Salisbury (_Metalogicus_,
iv. 35) attributes to him two treatises, of which one contrasts the
eternity of ideas with the finite nature of things, and the other is an
attempt to reconcile Plato and Aristotle. The only extant fragments of
Bernard's writings are from a treatise _Megacosmus and Microcosmus_
(edited by C.S. Barach at Innsbruck, 1876). The source of Bernard's
inspiration was Plato's _Timaeus_. He maintained that ideas are really
existent and are laid up for ever in the mind of God. He further
attempted to build up a symbolism of numbers with the view of
elaborating the doctrine of the Trinity, and explaining the meaning of
unity, plurality and likeness.

  See SCHOLASTICISM; also V. Cousin, _Oeuvres inédites_ of Abelard
  (Paris, 1836); Hauréau, _Philosophie scolastique_, i. 396 foll.




BERNARD, CHARLES DE, whose full name was PIERRE MARIE CHARLES DE BERNARD
DU GRAIL DE LA VILLETTE (1804-1850), French writer, was born at Besançon
on the 25th of February 1804. After studying for the law, and then
taking to journalism, he was encouraged by Balzac (whose _Peau de
chagrin_ he had reviewed) to settle in Paris and devote himself to
authorship; and the result was a series of volumes of fiction,
remarkable for their picture of provincial society and the Parisian
_bourgeoisie_. The best of these are _Le Noeud gordien_ (1838),
containing among other short stories _Une Aventure de magistrat_, from
which Sardou drew his comedy of the _Pommes du voisin; Gerfaut_ (1838),
considered his masterpiece; _Les Ailes d'Icare_ (1840), _La Peau du
lion_ (1841) and _Le Gentilhomme campagnard_ (1847).

  His _Oeuvres complètes_ (12 vols.), which appeared after his death on
  the 6th of March 1850, include also his poetry and two comedies
  written in collaboration with "Léonce" (C.H.L. Laurençot, 1805-1862).
  A flattering appreciation by Armand de Pontmartin is prefixed to _Un
  Beau-père_ in this collection. In W.M. Thackeray's _Paris Sketch-book_
  ("On some fashionable French novels") there is an admirable criticism
  of Bernard. See also an essay by Henry James in _French Poets and
  Novelists_ (1884).




BERNARD, CLAUDE (1813-1878), French physiologist, was born on the 12th
of July 1813 in the village of Saint-Julien near Villefranche. He
received his early education in the Jesuit school of that town, and then
proceeded to the college at Lyons, which, however, he soon left to
become assistant in a druggist's shop. His leisure hours were devoted to
the composition of a vaudeville comedy, _La Rose du Rhône_, and the
success it achieved moved him to attempt a prose drama in five acts,
_Arthur de Bretagne_. At the age of twenty-one he went to Paris, armed
with this play and an introduction to Saint-Marc Girardin, but the
critic dissuaded him from adopting literature as a profession, and urged
him rather to take up the study of medicine. This advice he followed,
and in due course became interne at the Hôtel Dieu. In this way he was
brought into contact with the great physiologist, F. Magendie, who was
physician to the hospital, and whose official _préparateur_ at the
Collège de France he became in 1841. Six years afterwards he was
appointed his deputy-professor at the collège, and in 1855 he succeeded
him as full professor. Some time previously he had been chosen the first
occupant of the newly-instituted chair of physiology at the Sorbonne.
There no laboratory was provided for his use, but Louis Napoleon, after
an interview with him in 1864, supplied the deficiency, at the same time
building a laboratory at the natural history museum in the Jardin des
Plantes, and establishing a professorship, which Bernard left the
Sorbonne to accept in 1868--the year in which he was admitted a member
of the Institute. He died in Paris on the 10th of February 1878 and was
accorded a public funeral--an honour which had never before been
bestowed by France on a man of science.

Claude Bernard's first important work was on the functions of the
pancreas gland, the juice of which he proved to be of great significance
in the process of digestion; this achievement won him the prize for
experimental physiology from the Academy of Sciences. A second
investigation--perhaps his most famous--was on the glycogenic function
of the liver; in the course of this he was led to the conclusion, which
throws light on the causation of diabetes, that the liver, in addition
to secreting bile, is the seat of an "internal secretion," by which it
prepares sugar at the expense of the elements of the blood passing
through it. A third research resulted in the discovery of the vaso-motor
system. While engaged, about 1851, in examining the effects produced in
the temperature of various parts of the body by section of the nerve or
nerves belonging to them, he noticed that division of the cervical
sympathetic gave rise to more active circulation and more forcible
pulsation of the arteries in certain parts of the head, and a few months
afterwards he observed that electrical excitation of the upper portion
of the divided nerve had the contrary effect. In this way he established
the existence of vaso-motor nerves--both vaso-dilatator and
vaso-constrictor. The study of the physiological action of poisons was
also a favourite one with him, his attention being devoted in particular
to curare and carbon monoxide gas. The earliest announcements of his
results, the most striking of which were obtained in the ten years from
about 1850 to 1860, were generally made in the recognized scientific
publications; but the full exposition of his views, and even the
statement of some of the original facts, can only be found in his
published lectures. The various series of these _Leçons_ fill seventeen
octavo volumes. He also published _Introduction à la médecine
expérimentale_ (1865), and _Physiologie générale_ (1872).

  An English _Life of Bernard_, by Sir Michael Foster, was published in
  London in 1899.




BERNARD, JACQUES (1658-1718), French theologian and publicist, was born
at Nions in Dauphiné on the 1st of September 1658. Having studied at
Geneva, he returned to France in 1679, and was chosen minister of
Venterol in Dauphiné, whence he afterwards removed to the church of
Vinsobres. As he continued to preach the reformed doctrines in
opposition to the royal ordinance, he was obliged to leave the country
and retired to Holland, where he was well received and appointed one of
the pensionary ministers of Gouda. In July 1686 he commenced his
_Histoire abrégée de l'Europe_, which he continued monthly till
December 1688. In 1692 he began his _Lettres historiques_, containing
an account of the most important transactions in Europe; he carried on
this work till the end of 1698, after which it was continued by others.
When Le Clerc discontinued his _Bibliothèque universelle_ in 1691.
Bernard wrote the greater part of the twentieth volume and the five
following volumes. In 1698 he collected and published _Actes et
négotiations de la paix de Ryswic_, in four volumes 12mo. In 1699 he
began a continuation of Bayle's _Nouvelles de la république des
lettres_, which continued till December 1710. In 1705 he was unanimously
elected one of the ministers of the Walloon church at Leiden; and about
the same time he succeeded M. de Valder in the chair of philosophy and
mathematics at Leiden. In 1716 he published a supplement to Moreri's
dictionary, in two volumes folio. The same year he resumed his
_Nouvelles de la république des lettres_, and continued it till his
death, on the 27th of April 1718. Besides the works above mentioned, he
was the author of two practical treatises, one on late repentance
(1712), the other on the excellence of religion (1714).




BERNARD, MOUNTAGUE (1820-1882), English international lawyer, the third
son of Charles Bernard of Jamaica, the descendant of a Huguenot family,
was born at Tibberton Court, Gloucestershire, on the 28th of January
1820. He was educated at Sherborne school, and Trinity College, Oxford.
Graduating B.A. in 1842, he took his B.C.L., was elected Vinerian
scholar and fellow, and having read in chambers with Roundell Palmer
(afterwards Lord Selborne), was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn in
1846. He was specially interested in legal history and in church
questions, and was one of the founders of the _Guardian_. In 1852 he was
elected to the new professorship of international law and diplomacy at
Oxford, attached to All Souls' College, of which he afterwards was made
a fellow. But besides his duties at Oxford he undertook a good deal of
non-collegiate work; he was a member of several royal commissions; in
1871 he went as one of the high commissioners to the United States, and
signed the treaty of Washington, and in 1872 he assisted Sir Roundell
Palmer before the tribunal of arbitration at Geneva. In 1874 he resigned
his professorship at Oxford, but as member of the university of Oxford
commission of 1876 he was mainly responsible for bringing about the
compromise ultimately adopted between the university and the colleges.
Bernard's reputation as an international lawyer was widespread, and he
was an original member of the Institut de Droit International (1873).
His published works include _An Historical Account of the Neutrality of
Great Britain during the American Civil War_ (London, 1870), and many
lectures on international law and diplomacy.




BERNARD, SIMON (1779-1839), French general of engineers, was born at
Dôle, educated at the École Polytechnique, and entered the army in the
corps of engineers. He rose rapidly, and served (1805-1812) as
aide-de-camp to Napoleon. He was wounded in the retreat after Leipzig,
and distinguished himself the same year (1813) in the gallant defence of
Torgau against the allies. After the emperor's fall he emigrated to the
United States, where, being made a brigadier-general of engineers, he
executed a number of extensive military works for the government,
notably at Fortress Monroe, Va., and around New York, and did a large
amount of the civil engineering connected with the Chesapeake and Ohio
Canal and the Delaware Breakwater. He returned to France after the
revolution of 1830, was made a lieu tenant-general by Louis Philippe,
and in 1836 served as minister of war.




BERNARD, SIR THOMAS, BART. (1750-1818), English social reformer, was
born at Lincoln on the 27th of April 1750, the younger son of Sir
Francis Bernard, 1st bart. (1711-1779), who as governor of Massachusetts
Bay (1760-1770) played a responsible part in directing the British
policy which led to the revolt of the American colonies. On the death of
his elder brother in 1810, Bernard succeeded to the baronetcy conferred
on his father in 1769. His early education was obtained in America,
partly at Harvard, in which college his father took a great interest. He
then acted as confidential secretary to his father during the troubles
which led (1769) to the governor's recall, and accompanied Sir Francis
to England, where he was called to the bar, and practised as a
conveyancer. He married a rich wife, and acquired a considerable
fortune, and then devoted most of his time to social work for the
benefit of the poor. He was treasurer of the Foundling Hospital, in the
concerns of which he took an important part. He helped to establish in
1796 the "Society for Bettering the Condition and Increasing the
Comforts of the Poor," in 1800 a school for indigent blind, and in 1801
a fever institution. He was active in promoting vaccination, improving
the conditions of child labour, advocating rural allotments, and
agitating against the salt duties. He took great interest in education,
and with Count Rumford he was an originator of the Royal Institution in
London. He died without issue on the 1st of July 1818.




BERNARDIN OF SIENA, ST (1380-1444), Franciscan friar and preacher, was
born of a noble family in 1380. His parents died in his childhood, and
on the completion of his education he spent some years in the service of
the sick in the hospitals, and thus caught the plague, of which he
nearly died. In 1402 he entered the Franciscan order in the strict
branch called Observant, of which he became one of the chief promoters
(see FRANCISCANS). Shortly after his profession the work of preaching
was laid upon him, and for more than thirty years he preached with
wonderful effect all over Italy, and played a great part in the
religious revival of the beginning of the 15th century. In 1437 he
became vicar-general of the Observant branch of the Franciscans. He
refused three bishoprics. He died in 1444 at Aquila in the Abruzzi, and
was canonized in 1450.

  The first edition of his works, for the most part elaborate sermons,
  was printed at Lyons in 1501; later ones in 1636, 1650 and 1745. His
  Life will be found in the Bollandists and in _Lives of the Saints_ on
  the 20th of May: a good modern biography has been written by Paul
  Thureau-Dangin (1896), and translated into English by Gertrude von
  Hügel (1906).     (E. C. B.)




BERNAUER, AGNES (d. 1435), daughter of an Augsburg baker, was secretly
married about 1432 to Albert (1401-1460), son of Ernest, duke of
Bavaria-Munich. Ignorant of the fact that this union was a lawful one,
Ernest urged his son to marry, and reproached him with his connexion
with Agnes. Albert then declared she was his lawful wife; and
subsequently, during his absence, she was seized by order of Duke Ernest
and condemned to death for witchcraft. On the 12th of October 1435 she
was drowned in the Danube near Straubing, in which town her remains were
afterwards buried by Albert. This story lived long in the memory of the
people, and its chief interest lies in its literary associations. It has
afforded material for several dramas, and Adolf Böttger, Friedrich
Hebbel and Otto Ludwig have each written one entitled _Agnes Bernauer_.




BERNAY, a town of north-western France, capital of an arrondissement in
the department of Eure, on the left bank of the Charentonne, 31 m.
W.N.W. of Evreux, on the Western railway between that town and Lisieux.
Pop. (1906) 5973. It is beautifully situated in the midst of green
wooded hills, and still justifies Madame de Stael's description of it as
"a basket of flowers." Of great antiquity, it possesses numerous quaint
wooden houses and ancient ecclesiastical buildings of considerable
interest. The abbey church is now used as a market, and the abbey, which
was founded by Judith of Brittany early in the 11th century, and
underwent a restoration in the 17th century, serves for municipal and
legal purposes. The church of Ste Croix, which has a remarkable marble
figure of the infant Jesus, dates from the 14th and 15th centuries, that
of Notre-Dame de la Couture, which preserves some good stained glass,
from the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, Bernay has a sub-prefecture, a
communal college, tribunals of commerce and of first instance, and a
board of trade-arbitrators. Among the industrial establishments of the
place are manufactories of cotton and woollen goods, bleacheries and
dye-works. Large numbers of Norman horses are sold in Lent, at the fair
known as the _Foire fleurie_, and there is also a trade in grain. Bernay
grew up round the Benedictine abbey mentioned above, and early in the
13th century was the seat of a viscount. The town, formerly fortified
was besieged by Bertrand du Guesclin, constable of France, in 1378; it
was taken several times by the English during the first half of the 15th
century, and by Admiral de Coligny in 1563. The fortress was razed in
1589.




BERNAYS, JAKOB (1824-1881), German philologist and philosophical writer,
was born at Hamburg of Jewish parents on the 11th of September 1824. His
father, Isaac Bernays (1792-1849), a man of wide culture, was the first
orthodox German rabbi to preach in the vernacular. Jakob studied from
1844 to 1848 at the university of Bonn, the philological school of
which, under Welcker and Ritschl (whose favourite pupil Bernays became),
was the best in Germany. In 1853 he accepted the chair of classical
philology at the newly founded Jewish theological college (the Fränkel
seminary) at Breslau, where he formed a close friendship with Mommsen.
In 1866, when Ritschl left Bonn for Leipzig, Bernays returned to his old
university as extraordinary professor and chief librarian. He remained
at Bonn until his death on the 28th of May 1881. His chief works, which
deal mainly with the Greek philosophers, are:--_Die Lebensbeschreibung
des J.J. Scaliger_ (1855); _Über das Phokylidische Gedicht_ (1856); _Die
Chronik des Sulpicius Severus_ (1861); _Die Dialoge des Aristoteles im
Verhältniss zu seinen übrigen Werken_ (1863); _Theophrastos' Schrift
über Frömmigkeit_ (1866); _Die Heraklitischen Briefe_ (1869); _Lucian
und die Cyniker_ (1879); _Zwei Abhandlungen über die Aristolelische
Theorie des Dramas_ (1880). The last of these was a republication of his
_Grundzüge der verlorenen Abhandlungen des Aristoteles über die Wirkung
der Tragödie_ (1857), which aroused considerable controversy.

  See notices in _Biographisches Jahrbuch für Alterthumskunde_ (1881),
  and _Allgemeine deutsche Biographie_, xlvi. (1902); art. in _Jewish
  Encyclopaedia_; also Sandys, _Hist. of Class. Schol._ iii. 176 (1908).

His brother, MICHAEL BERNAYS (1834-1897), was born in Hamburg on the
27th of November 1834. He studied first law and then literature at Bonn
and Heidelberg, and obtained a considerable reputation by his lectures
on Shakespeare at Leipzig and an explanatory text to Beethoven's music
to _Egmont_. Having refused an invitation to take part in the editorship
of the _Preussiche Jahrbücher_, in the same year (1866) he published his
celebrated _Zur Kritik und Geschichte des Goetheschen-Textes._ He
confirmed his reputation by his lectures at the university of Leipzig,
and in 1873 accepted the post of extraordinary professor of German
literature at Munich specially created for him by Louis II. of Bavaria.
In 1874 he became an ordinary professor, a position which he only
resigned in 1889 when he settled at Carlsruhe. He died at Carlsruhe on
the 25th of February 1897. At an early age he had embraced Christianity,
whereas his brother Jakob remained a Jew. Among his other publications
were: _Briefe Goethes an F.A. Wolf_ (1868); _Zur Enstehungsgeschichte
des Schlegelschen Shakespeare_ (1872); an introduction to Hirzel's
collection entitled _Der junge Goethe_ (1875); and he edited a revised
edition of Voss's translation of the _Odyssey_. From his literary
remains were published _Schriften zur Kritik und Litteraturgeschichte_
(1895-1899).




BERNBURG, a town in the duchy of Anhalt, Germany, on the Saale, 29 m. N.
by W. from Halle by rail, formerly the capital of the new incorporated
duchy of Anhalt-Bernburg. Pop. (1900) 34,427; (1905) 34,929. It consists
of four parts, the Altstadt or old town, the Bergstadt or hill town, the
Neustadt or new town, and the suburb of Waldau--the Bergstadt on the
right and the other three on the left of the river Saale, which is
crossed by a massive stone bridge. It is a well-built city, the
principal public buildings being the government house, the church of St
Mary, the gymnasium and the house of correction. The castle, formerly
the ducal residence, is in the Bergstadt, defended by moats, and
surrounded by beautiful gardens. Bernburg is the seat of considerable
industry, manufacturing machinery and boilers, sugar, pottery and
chemicals, and has lead and zinc smelting. Market-gardening is also
extensively carried on, and there is a large river traffic in grain and
agricultural produce.

Bernburg is of great antiquity. The Bergstadt was fortified by Otto III.
in the 10th century, and the new town was founded in the 13th. For a
long period the different parts were under separate municipalities, the
new town uniting with the old in 1560, and the Bergstadt with both in
1824. Prince Frederick removed the ducal residence to Ballenstedt in
1765.




BERNERS, JOHN BOURCHIER, 2ND BARON (1469-1533), English translator, was
born probably at Tharfield, Hertfordshire, about 1469. His father was
killed at Barnet in 1471, and he inherited his title in 1474 from his
grandfather, John Bourchier, who was a descendant of Edward III. It is
supposed that he was educated at Oxford, perhaps at Balliol. His
political life began early, for in 1484 he was implicated in a premature
attempt to place Henry, duke of Richmond (afterwards Henry VII.), on the
throne, and fled in consequence to Brittany. In 1497 he helped to put
down an insurrection in Cornwall and Devonshire, raised by Michael
Joseph, a blacksmith, and from this time was in high favour at court. He
accompanied Henry VIII. to Calais in 1513, and was a captain of pioneers
at the siege of Therouanne. In the next year he was again sent to France
as chamberlain to the king's sister Mary on her marriage with Louis
XII., but he soon returned to England. He had been given the reversion
of the office of lord chancellor, and in 1516 he received the actual
appointment. In 1518 he was sent to Madrid to negotiate an alliance with
Charles of Spain. He sent letters to Henry chronicling the bull-fights
and other doings of the Spanish court, and to Wolsey complaining of the
expense to which he was put in his position as ambassador. In the next
year he returned to England, and with his wife Catherine Howard,
daughter of the duke of Norfolk, was present in 1520 at the Field of the
Cloth of Gold. But his affairs were greatly embarrassed. He was harassed
by lawsuits about his Hertfordshire property and owed the king sums he
was unable to repay. Perhaps in the hope of repairing his fortune, he
accepted the office of deputy of Calais, where he spent the rest of his
life in comparative leisure, though still harassed by his debts, and
died on the 16th of March 1533.

His translation of _Syr Johan Froyssart of the Cronycles of England,
France, Spayne, Portyngale, Scotland, Bretayne, Flaunders: and other
places adjoynynge_, was undertaken at the request of Henry VIII., and
was printed by Richard Pynson in two volumes dated 1523 and 1525. It was
the most considerable historical work that had yet appeared in English,
and exercised great influence on 16th-century chroniclers. Berners tells
us in his prefaces of his own love of histories of all kinds, and in the
introduction to his story of Arthur of Little Britain he excuses its
"fayned mater" and "many unpossybylytees" on the ground that other well
reputed histories are equally incredible. He goes on to excuse his
deficiencies by saying that he knew himself to be unskilled in the
"facundyous arte of retoryke," and that he was but a "lerner of the
language of Frensshe." The want of rhetoric is not to be deplored. The
style of his translation is clear and simple, and he rarely introduces
French words or idioms. Two romances from the French followed: _The Boke
of Duke Huon of Burdeux_ (printed 1534? by Wynkyn de Worde), and _The
Hystory of the Moost noble and valyaunt knight Arthur of lytell
brytayne_. His other two translations, _The Castell of Love_ (printed
1540), from the _Carcel de Amor_ of Diego de San Pedro, and _The Golden
Boke of Marcus Aurelius_ (completed six days before his death, printed
1534), from a French version of Antonio Guevara's book, are in a
different manner. _The Golden Boke_ gives Berners a claim to be a
pioneer of Euphuism, although Lyly was probably acquainted with Guevara
not through his version, but through Sir Thomas North's _Dial of
Princes_. Berners is also credited with a book on the duties of the
inhabitants of Calais, which Mr Sidney Lee thinks may be identical with
the ordinance for watch and ward of Calais preserved in the Cotton MSS.
and with a lost comedy, _Ite in vineam meam_, which used to be acted at
Calais after vespers.

  A biographical account of Berners is to be found in Mr Sidney Lee's
  introduction to _Huon of Bourdeaux_ (Early English Text Society
  1882-1883). Among the many editions of his translation of Froissart
  may be mentioned that in the "Tudor Translations" (1901), with an
  introductory critical note by Professor W.P. Ker.




BERNERS, BARNES or BERNES, JULIANA (b. 1388?), English writer on hawking
and hunting, is said to have been prioress of Sopwell nunnery near St
Albans, and daughter of Sir James Berners, who was beheaded in 1388. She
was probably brought up at court, and when she adopted the religious
life, she still retained her love of hawking, hunting and fishing, and
her passion for field sports. The only documentary evidence regarding
her, however, is the statement at the end of her treatise on hunting in
the _Boke of St Albans_, "Explicit Dam Julyans Barnes in her boke of
huntyng" (edition of 1486), and the name is changed by Wynkyn de Worde
to "dame Julyans Bernes." There is no such person to be found in the
pedigree of the Berners family, and there is a gap in the records of the
priory of Sopwell between 1430 and 1480. Juliana Berners is the supposed
author of the work generally known as the _Boke of St Albans_. The first
and rarest edition was printed in 1486 by an unknown schoolmaster at St
Albans. It has no title-page. Wynkyn de Worde's edition (fol. 1496),
also without a title-page, begins:--"This present boke shewyth the
manere of hawkynge and huntynge: and also of diuysynge of Cote armours.
It shewyth also a good matere belongynge to horses: wyth other
comendable treatyses. And ferdermore of the blasynge of armys: as
hereafter it maye appere." This edition was adorned by three woodcuts,
and included a "Treatyse of fysshynge wyth an Angle," not contained in
the St Albans edition. J. Haslewood, who published a facsimile of that
of Wynkyn de Worde (London, 1811, folio), with a biographical and
bibliographical notice, examined with the greatest care the author's
claims to figure as the earliest woman author in the English language.
He assigned to her little else in the _Boke_ except part of the treatise
on hawking and the section on hunting. It is expressly stated at the end
of the "Blasynge of Armys" that the section was "translatyd and
compylyt," and it is likely that the other treatises are translations,
probably from the French. An older form of the treatise on fishing was
edited in 1883 by Mr T. Satchell from a MS. in possession of Mr A.
Denison. This treatise probably dates from about 1450, and formed the
foundation of that section in the book of 1496. Only three perfect
copies of the first edition are known to exist. A facsimile, entitled
_The Book of St Albans_, with an introduction by William Blades,
appeared in 1881. During the 16th century the work was very popular, and
was many times reprinted. It was edited by Gervase Markham in 1595 as
_The Gentleman's Academie_.




BERNHARD OF SAXE-WEIMAR, DUKE (1604-1639), a celebrated general in the
Thirty Years' War, was the eleventh son of John, duke of Saxe-Weimar. He
received an unusually good education, and studied at Jena, but soon went
to the court of the Saxon elector to engage in knightly exercises. At
the outbreak of the Thirty Years' War he took the field on the
Protestant side, and served under Mansfeld at Wiesloch (1622), under the
margrave of Baden at Wimpfen (1622), and with his brother William at
Stadtlohn (1623). Undismayed by these defeats, he took part in the
campaigns of the king of Denmark; and when Christian withdrew from the
struggle Bernhard went to Holland and was present at the famous siege of
Hertogenbosch (Bois-le-Duc) in 1629. When Gustavus Adolphus landed in
Germany Bernhard quickly joined him, and for a short time he was colonel
of the Swedish life guards. After the battle of Breitenfeld he
accompanied Gustavus in his march to the Rhine and, between this event
and the battle of the Alte Veste, Bernhard commanded numerous
expeditions in almost every district from the Moselle to Tirol. At the
Alte Veste he displayed the greatest courage, and at Lützen, when
Gustavus was killed, Bernhard immediately assumed the command, killed a
colonel who refused to lead his men to the charge, and finally by his
furious energy won the victory at sundown. At first as a subordinate to
his brother William, who as a Swedish lieutenant-general succeeded to
the command, but later as an independent commander, Bernhard continued
to push his forays over southern Germany; and with the Swedish General
Horn he made in 1633 a successful invasion into Bavaria, which was
defended by the imperialist general Arldinger. In this year he acquired
the duchy of Würzburg, installing one of his brothers as _Stadthalter_,
and returning to the wars. A stern Protestant, he exacted heavy
contributions from the Catholic cities which he took, and his repeated
victories caused him to be regarded by German Protestants as the saviour
of their religion. But in 1634 Bernhard suffered the great defeat of
Nördlingen, in which the flower of the Swedish army perished. In 1635 he
entered the service of France, which had now intervened in the war. He
was now at the same time general-in-chief of the forces maintained by
the Heilbronn union of Protestant princes, and a general officer in the
pay of France. This double position was very difficult; in the following
campaigns, ably and resolutely conducted as they were, Bernhard
sometimes pursued a purely French policy, whilst at other times he used
the French mercenaries to forward the cause of the princes. From a
military point of view his most notable achievements were on the common
ground of the upper Rhine, in the Breisgau. In his great campaign of
1638 he won the battles of Rheinfelden, Wittenweiher and Thann, and
captured successively Rheinfelden, Fieiburg and Breisach, the last
reputed one of the strongest fortresses in Europe. Bernhard had in the
first instance received definite assurances from France that he should
be given Alsace and Hagenau, Würzburg having been lost in the _débâcle_
of 1634; he now hoped to make Breisach the capital of his new duchy. But
his health was now broken. He died on the 8/18th of July 1639 at the
beginning of the campaign, and the governor of Breisach was bribed to
transfer the fortress to France. The duke was buried at Breisach, his
remains being subsequently removed to Weimar.

  See J.A.C. Hellfeld, _Geschichte Bernhards des Grossen, Herzogs v.
  Saxe-Weimar_ (Jena, 1747); B. Rose, _Herzog Bernhard d. Grosse von
  Saxe-Weimar_ (Weimar, 1828-1829); Droysen, _Bernhard v. Weimar_
  (Leipzig, 1885).




BERNHARDT, SARAH (ROSINE BERNARD) (1845-   ), French actress, was born
in Paris on the 22nd of October 1845, of mixed French and Dutch
parentage, and of Jewish descent. She was, however, baptized at the age
of twelve and brought up in a convent. At thirteen she entered the
Conservatoire, where she gained the second prize for tragedy in 1861 and
for comedy in 1862. Her _début_ was made at the Comédie Française on the
11th of August 1862, in a minor part in Racine's _Iphigénie en Aulide_,
without any marked success, nor did she do much better in burlesque at
the Porte St-Martin and Gymnase. In 1867 she became a member of the
company at the Odéon, where she made her first definite successes as
Cordelia in a French translation of _King Lear_, as the queen in Victor
Hugo's _Ruy Blas_, and, above all, as Zanetto in François Coppée's _Le
Passant_ (1869). When peace was restored after the Franco-German War she
left the Odéon for the Comédie Française, thereby incurring a
considerable monetary forfeit. From that time she steadily increased her
reputation, two of the most definite steps in her progress being her
performances of Phèdre in Racine's play (1874) and of Dona Sol in Victor
Hugo's _Hernani_ (1877). In 1879 she had a famous season at the Gaiety
in London. By this time her position as the greatest actress of her day
was securely established. Her amazing power of emotional acting, the
extraordinary realism and pathos of her death-scenes, the magnetism of
her personality, and the beauty of her _"voix d'or,"_ made the public
tolerant of her occasional caprices. She had developed some skill as a
sculptor, and exhibited at the Salon at various times between 1876
(honourable mention) and 1881. She also exhibited a painting there in
1880. In 1878 she published a prose sketch, _Dans les nuages; les
impressions d'une chaise_. Her comedy _L'Aveu_ was produced in 1888 at
the Odéon without much success. Her relations with the other
_sociétaires_ of the Comédie Française having become somewhat strained,
a crisis arrived in 1880, when, enraged by an unfavourable criticism of
her acting, she threw up her position on the day following the first
performance of Emile Augier's _L'Aventurière_. This obliged her to pay a
forfeit of £4000 for breach of contract. Immediately after the rupture
she gave a series of performances in London, relying chiefly upon Scribe
and Legouvé's _Adrienne Lecouvreur_ and Meilhac and Halévy's _Frou
Frou_. These were followed by tours in Denmark, America and Russia,
during 1880 and 1881, with _La Dame aux camélias_ as the principal
attraction. In 1882 she married Jacques Damala, a Greek, in London, but
separated from him at the end of the following year. After a fresh
triumph in Paris with Sardou's _Fédora_ at the Vaudeville she became
proprietress of the Porte St-Martin. Jean Richepin's _Nana Sahib_
(1883), Sardou's _Théodora_ (1884) and _La Tosca_ (1887), Jules
Barbier's _Jeanne d'Arc_ (1890) and Sardou and Moreau's _Cléopâtre_
(1890) were among her most conspicuous successes here, where she
remained till she became proprietress of the Renaissance theatre in
1893. During those ten years she made several extended tours, including
visits to America in 1886-1887 and 1888-1889. Between 1891 and 1893 she
again visited America (North and South), Australia, and the chief
European capitals. In November 1893 she opened the Renaissance with _Les
Rois_ by Jules Lemaitre, which was followed by _Sylvestre_ and Morand's
_Izeyl_ (1894), Sardou's _Gismonda_ (1894) and Edmond Rostand's _La
Princesse lointaine_ (1895). In 1895 she also appeared with conspicuous
success as Magda in a French translation of Sudermann's _Heimat_. For
the next few years she visited London almost annually, and America in
1896. In that year she made a success with an adaptation of Alfred de
Musset's _Lorenzaccio_. In Easter week of 1897 she played in a religious
drama, _La Samaritaine_, by Rostand. In December 1896 an elaborate fête
was organized in Paris in her honour; and the value of this public
recognition of her position at the head of her profession was enhanced
by cordial greetings from all parts of the world. By this time she had
played one hundred and twelve parts, thirty-eight of which she had
created. Early in 1899 she removed from the Renaissance to the Théâtre
des Nations, a larger house, which she opened with a revival of _La
Tosca_. In the same year she made the bold experiment of a French
production of _Hamlet_, in which she played the title part. She repeated
the impersonation in London not long afterwards, where she also appeared
(1901) as the fate-ridden son of Napoleon I., in Rostand's _L'Aiglon_,
which had been produced in Paris the year before. Of the successful
productions of her later years perhaps none was more remarkable than her
impersonation of La Tisbé in Victor Hugo's romantic drama _Angelo_
(1905).

  See Jules Huret, _Sarah Bernhardt_ (1889); and her own volume of
  autobiography (1907).




BERNHARDY, GOTTFRIED (1800-1875), German philologist and literary
historian, was born on the 20th of March 1800, at Landsberg on the
Wartia, in Brandenburg. He was the son of Jewish parents in reduced
circumstances. Two well-to-do uncles provided the means for his
education, and in 1811 he entered the Joachimsthal gymnasium at Berlin.
In 1817 he went to Berlin University to study philology, where he had
the advantage of hearing F.A. Wolf (then advanced in years), August
Böckh and P. Buttmann. In 1822 he took the degree of doctor of
philosophy at Berlin, and in 1825 became extraordinary professor. In
1829 he succeeded C. Reisig as ordinary professor and director of the
philological seminary at Halle, and in 1844 was appointed chief
librarian of the university. He died suddenly on the 14th of May 1875.
The most important of Bernhardy's works were his histories (or sketches)
of Greek and Roman literature; _Grundriss der römischen Litteratur_ (5th
ed., 1872); _Grundriss der griechischcn Litteratur_ (pt. i.,
Introduction and General View, 1836; pt. ii, Greek Poetry, 1845; pt.
iii., Greek Prose Literature, was never published). A fifth edition of
pts. i. and ii., by R. Volkmann, began in 1892. Other works by Bernhardy
are: _Eratosthenica_ (1822); _Wissenschaftliche Syntax der griechischen
Sprache_ (1829, suppts. 1854, 1862); _Grundlinien zur Encyclopädie der
Philologie_ (1832); the monumental edition of the Lexicon of Suidas
(1834-1853); and an edition of F.A. Wolf's _Kleine Schriften_ (1869).

  See Volkmann, _G. Bernhardy_ (1887).




BERNI, FRANCESCO (1497-1536), Italian poet, was born about 1497 at
Lamporecchio, in Bibbiena, a district lying along the Upper Arno. His
family was of good descent, but excessively poor. At an early age he was
sent to Florence, where he remained till his 19th year. He then set out
for Rome, trusting to obtain some assistance from his uncle, the
Cardinal Bibbiena. The cardinal, however, did nothing for him, and he
was obliged to accept a situation as clerk or secretary to Ghiberti,
datary to Clement VII. The duties of his office, for which Berni was in
every way unfit, were exceedingly irksome to the poet, who, however,
made himself celebrated at Rome as the most witty and inventive of a
certain club of literary men, who devoted themselves to light and
sparkling effusions. So strong was the admiration for Berni's verses,
that mocking or burlesque poems have since been called _poesie
bernesca_. About the year 1530 he was relieved from his servitude by
obtaining a canonry in the cathedral of Florence. In that city he died
in 1536, according to tradition poisoned by Duke Alessandro de' Medici,
for having refused to poison the duke's cousin, Ippolito de' Medici; but
considerable obscurity rests over this story. Berni stands at the head
of Italian comic or burlesque poets. For lightness, sparkling wit,
variety of form and fluent diction, his verses are unsurpassed. Perhaps,
however, he owes his greatest fame to the recasting (_Rifacimento_) of
Boiardo's _Orlando Innamorato_. The enormous success of Ariosto's
_Orlando Furioso_ had directed fresh attention to the older poem, from
which it took its characters, and of which it is the continuation. But
Boiardo's work, though good in plan, could never have achieved wide
popularity on account of the extreme ruggedness of its style. Berni
undertook the revision of the whole poem, avowedly altering no
sentiment, removing or adding no incident, but simply giving to each
line and stanza due gracefulness and polish. His task he completed with
marvellous success; scarcely a line remains as it was, and the general
opinion has pronounced decisively in favour of the revision over the
original. To each canto he prefixed a few stanzas of reflective verse in
the manner of Ariosto, and in one of these introductions he gives us the
only certain information we have concerning his own life. Berni appears
to have been favourably disposed towards the Reformation principles at
that time introduced into Italy, and this may explain the bitterness of
some remarks of his upon the church. The first edition of the
_Rifacimento_ was printed posthumously in 1541, and it has been supposed
that a few passages either did not receive the author's final revision,
or have been retouched by another hand.

  A partial translation of Berni's _Orlando_ was published by W.S. Rose
  (1823).




BERNICIA, the northern of the two English kingdoms which were eventually
united in the kingdom of Northumbria. Its territory is said to have
stretched from the Tyne northwards, ultimately reaching the Forth, while
its western frontier was gradually extended at the expense of the Welsh.
The chief royal residence was Bamburgh, and near it was the island of
Lindisfarne, afterwards the see of a bishop. The first king of whom we
have any record is Ida, who is said to have obtained the throne about
547. Æthelfrith, king of Bernicia, united Deira to his own kingdom,
probably about 605, and the union continued under his successor Edwin,
son of Ella or Ælle, king of Deira. Bernicia was again separate from
Deira under Eanfrith, son of Æthelfrith (633-634), after which date the
kings of Bernicia were supreme in Northumbria, though for a short time
under Oswio Deira had a king of its own.

  See Bede, _Hist. Eccles._ ii. 14, iii. 1, 14; Nennius, § 63; Simeon of
  Durham, i. 339.     (F. G. M. B.)




BERNICIAN SERIES, in geology, a term proposed by S.P. Woodward in 1856
(_Manual of Mollusca_, p. 409) for the lower portion of the
Carboniferous System, below the Millstone Grit. The name was suggested
by that of the ancient province of Bernicia on the Anglo-Scottish
borderland. It is practically equivalent to the "Dinantien" of A. de
Lapparent and Munier-Chalmas (1893). In 1875 G. Tate's "Calcareous and
Carbonaceous" groups of the Carboniferous Limestone series of
Northumberland were united by Professor Lebour into a single series, to
which he applied the name "Bernician"; but later he speaks of the whole
of the Carboniferous rocks of Northumberland and its borders as of the
"Bernician type," which is the most satisfactory way in which the term
may now be used (_Report of the Brit. Sub-committee on Classification
and Nomenclature_, 2nd ed., Cambridge, 1888). "Demetian" was the
corresponding designation proposed by Woodward for the Upper
Carboniferous rocks.




BERNINI, GIOVANNI LORENZO (1598-1680), Italian artist, was born at
Naples. He was more celebrated as an architect and a sculptor than as a
painter. At a very early age his great skill in modelling introduced him
to court favour at Rome, and he was specially patronized by Maffeo
Barberini, afterwards Pope Urban VIII., whose palace he designed. None
of his sculptured groups at all come up to the promised excellence of
his first effort, the Apollo and Daphne, nor are any of his paintings of
particular merit. His busts were in so much request that Charles I. of
England, being unable to have a personal interview with Bernini, sent
him three portraits by Vandyck, from which the artist was enabled to
complete his model. His architectural designs, including the great
colonnade of St Peter's, brought him perhaps his greatest celebrity.
Louis XIV., when he contemplated the restoration of the Louvre, sent for
Bernini, but did not adopt his designs. The artist's progress through
France was a triumphal procession, and he was most liberally rewarded by
the great monarch. He left a fortune of over £100,000.




BERNIS, FRANÇOIS JOACHIM DE PIERRE DE (1715-1794), French cardinal and
statesman, was born at St Marcel-d'Ardèche on the 22nd of May 1715. He
was of a noble but impoverished family, and, being a younger son, was
intended for the church. He was educated at the Louis-le-Grand college
and the seminary of Saint-Sulpice, Paris, but did not take orders till
1755. He became known as one of the most expert epigrammatists in the
gay society of Louis XV.'s court, and by his verses won the friendship
of Madame de Pompadour, the royal mistress, who obtained for him an
apartment, furnished at her expense, in the Tuileries, and a yearly
pension of 1500 livres (about £60). In 1751 he was appointed to the
French embassy at Venice, where he acted, to the satisfaction of both
parties, as mediator between the republic and Pope Benedict XIV. During
his stay in Venice he received subdeacon's orders, and on his return to
France in 1755 was made a papal councillor of state. He took an
important part in the delicate negotiations between France and Austria
which preceded the Seven Years' War. He regarded the alliance purely as
a temporary expedient, and did not propose to employ the whole forces of
France in a general war. But he was overruled by his colleagues. He
became secretary for foreign affairs on the 27th of June 1757, but owing
to his attempts to counteract the spendthrift policy of the marquise de
Pompadour and her creatures, he fell into disgrace and was in December
1758 banished to Soissons by Louis XV., where he remained in retirement
for six years. In the previous November he had been created cardinal by
Clement XIII. On the death of the royal mistress in 1764, Bernis was
recalled and once more offered the seals of office, but declined them,
and was appointed archbishop of Albi. His occupancy of the see was not
of long duration. In 1769 he went to Rome to assist at the conclave
which resulted in the election of Clement XIV., and the talent which he
displayed on that occasion procured him the appointment of ambassador in
Rome, where he spent the remainder of his life. He was partly
instrumental in bringing about the suppression of the Jesuits, and acted
with greater moderation than is generally allowed. He lost his influence
under Pius VI., who was friendly to the Jesuits, and the French
Revolution, to which he was hostile, reduced him almost to penury; the
court of Spain, however, mindful of the support he had given to their
ambassador in obtaining the condemnation of the Jesuits, came to his
relief with a handsome pension. He died at Rome on the 3rd of November
1794, and was buried in the church of S. Luigi de' Francesi. In 1803 his
remains were transferred to the cathedral at Nîmes. His poems, the
longest of which is _La Religion vengée_ (Parma, 1794), have no merit;
they were collected and published after his death (Paris, 1797, &c.);
his _Mémoires et lettres 1715-58_ (2 vols., Paris, 1878) are still
interesting to the historian.

  See Frédéric Masson's prefaces to the _Mémoires et lettres_, and _Le
  Cardinal de Bernis depuis son ministère;_ (Paris, 1884); E. et J. de
  Goncourt, _Mme de Pompadour_ (Paris, 1888), and Sainte-Beuve,
  _Causeries du lundi_, t. viii.




BERNKASTEL, a town of Germany, in the Prussian Rhine province, on the
Mosel, in a deep and romantic valley, connected by a branch to Wengerohr
with the main Trier-Coblenz railway. Pop. 2300. It has some unimportant
manufactures; the chief industry is in wine, of which Berncastler Doctor
enjoys great repute. Above the town lie the ruins of the castle
Landshut. Bernkastel originally belonged to the chapter of Trier, and
received its name from one of the provosts of the cathedral, Adalbero of
Luxemburg (hence _Adalberonis castellum_).




BERNOULLI, or BERNOUILLI, the name of an illustrious family in the
annals of science, who came originally from Antwerp. Driven from their
country during the oppressive government of Spain for their attachment
to the Reformed religion, the Bernoullis sought first an asylum at
Frankfort (1583), and afterwards at Basel, where they ultimately
obtained the highest distinctions. In the course of a century eight of
its members successfully cultivated various branches of mathematics, and
contributed powerfully to the advance of science. The most celebrated
were Jacques (James), Jean (John) and Daniel, the first, second and
fourth as dealt with below; but, for the sake of perspicuity they may be
considered as nearly as possible in the order of family succession. A
complete summary of the great developments of mathematical learning,
which the members of this family effected, lies outside the scope of
this notice. More detailed accounts are to be found in the various
mathematical articles.

I. JACQUES BERNOULLI (1654-1705), mathematician, was born at Basel on
the 27th of December 1654. He was educated at the public school of
Basel, and also received private instruction from the learned Hoffmann,
then professor of Greek. At the conclusion of his philosophical studies
at the university, some geometrical figures, which fell in his way,
excited in him a passion for mathematical pursuits, and in spite of the
opposition of his father, who wished him to be a clergyman, he applied
himself in secret to his favourite science. In 1676 he visited Geneva on
his way to France, and subsequently travelled to England and Holland.
While at Geneva he taught a blind girl several branches of science, and
also how to write; and this led him to publish _A Method of Teaching
Mathematics to the Blind_. At Bordeaux his _Universal Tables on
Dialling_ were constructed; and in London he was admitted to the
meetings of Robert Boyle, Robert Hooke and other learned and scientific
men. On his final return to Basel in 1682, he devoted himself to
physical and mathematical investigations, and opened a public seminary
for experimental physics. In the same year he published his essay on
comets, _Conamen Novi Systematis Cometarum_, which was occasioned by the
appearance of the comet of 1680. This essay, and his next publication,
entitled _De Gravitate Aetheris_, were deeply tinged with the philosophy
of René Descartes, but they contain truths not unworthy of the
philosophy of Sir Isaac Newton's _Principia_.

Jacques Bernoulli cannot be strictly called an independent discoverer;
but, from his extensive and successful application of the calculus and
other mathematical methods, he is deserving of a place by the side of
Newton and Leibnitz. As an additional claim to remembrance, he was the
first to solve Leibnitz's problem of the isochronous curve (_Acta
Eruditorum_, 1690). He proposed the problem of the catenary (q.v.) or
curve formed by a chain suspended by its two extremities, accepted
Leibnitz's construction of the curve and solved more complicated
problems relating to it. He determined the "elastic curve," which is
formed by an elastic plate or rod fixed at one end and bent by a weight
applied to the other, and which he showed to be the same as the
curvature of an impervious sail filled with a liquid (_lintearia_). In
his investigations respecting cycloidal lines and various spiral curves,
his attention was directed to the loxodromic and logarithmic spirals, in
the last of which he took particular interest from its remarkable
property of reproducing itself under a variety of conditions.

In 1696 he proposed the famous problem of isoperimetrical figures, and
offered a reward for its solution. This problem engaged the attention of
British as well as continental mathematicians; and its proposal gave
rise to a painful quarrel with his brother Jean. Jean offered a solution
of the problem; his brother pronounced it to be wrong. Jean then amended
his solution, and again offered it, and claimed the reward. Jacques
still declared it to be no solution, and soon after published his own.
In 1701 he published also the demonstration of his solution, which was
accepted by the marquis de l'Hôpital and Leibnitz. Jean, however, held
his peace for several years, and then dishonestly published, after the
death of Jacques, another incorrect solution; and not until 1718 did he
admit that he had been in error. Even then he set forth as his own his
brother's solution purposely disguised.

In 1687 the mathematical chair of the university of Basel was conferred
upon Jacques. He was once made rector of his university, and had other
distinctions bestowed on him. He and his brother Jean were the first two
foreign associates of the Academy of Sciences of Paris; and, at the
request of Leibnitz, they were both received as members of the academy
of Berlin. In 1684 he had been offered a professorship at Heidelberg;
but his marriage with a lady of his native city led him to decline the
invitation. Intense application brought on infirmities and a slow fever,
of which he died on the 16th of August 1705. Like another Archimedes, he
requested that the logarithmic spiral should be engraven on his
tombstone, with these words, _Eadem mutata resurgo_.

  Jacques Bernoulli wrote elegant verses in Latin, German and French;
  but although these were held in high estimation in his own time, it is
  on his mathematical works that his fame now rests. These are:--_Jacobi
  Bernoulli Basiliensis Opera_ (Genevae, 1744), 2 tom. 4to; _Ars
  Conjectandi, opus posthumum: accedunt tractatus de Seriebus Infinitis,
  et epistola (Gallice scripta) de Ludo Pilae Reticularis_ (Basiliae,
  1713), 1 tom. 4to.

II. JEAN BERNOULLI (1667-1748), brother of the preceding, was born at
Basel on the 27th of July 1667. After finishing his literary studies he
was sent to Neuchâtel to learn commerce and acquire the French language.
But at the end of a year he renounced the pursuits of commerce, returned
to the university of Basel, and was admitted to the degree of bachelor
in philosophy, and a year later, at the age of 18, to that of master of
arts. In his studies he was aided by his elder brother Jacques.
Chemistry, as well as mathematics, seems to have been the object of his
early attention; and in the year 1690 he published a dissertation on
effervescence and fermentation. The same year he went to Geneva, where
he gave instruction in the differential calculus to Nicolas Fatio de
Duillier, and afterwards proceeded to Paris, where he enjoyed the
society of N. Malebranche, J.D. Cassini, Philip de Lahire and Pierre
Varignon. With the marquis de l'Hôpital he spent four months studying
higher geometry and the resources of the new calculus. His independent
discoveries in mathematics are numerous and important. Among these were
the exponential calculus, and the curve called by him the _linea
brachistochrona_, or line of swiftest descent, which he was the first to
determine, pointing out at the same time the relation which this curve
bears to the path described by a ray of light passing through strata of
variable density. On his return to his native city he studied medicine,
and in 1694 took the degree of M.D. Although he had declined a
professorship in Germany, he now accepted an invitation to the chair of
mathematics at Groningen (_Commercium Philosophicum_, epist. xi. and
xii.). There, in addition to the learned lectures by which he
endeavoured to revive mathematical science in the university, he gave a
public course of experimental physics. During a residence of ten years
in Groningen, his controversies were almost as numerous as his
discoveries. His dissertation on the "barometric light," first observed
by Jean Picard, and discussed by Jean Bernoulli under the name of
mercurial phosphorus, or mercury shining in vacuo (_Diss. physica de
mercurio lucente in vacuo_), procured him the notice of royalty, and
engaged him in controversy. Through the influence of Leibnitz he
received from the king of Prussia a gold medal for his supposed
discoveries; but Nicolaus Hartsoeker and some of the French academicians
disputed the fact. The family quarrel about the problem of
isoperimetrical figures above mentioned began about this time. In his
dispute with his brother, in his controversies with the English and
Scottish mathematicians, and in his harsh and jealous bearing to his son
Daniel, he showed a mean, unfair and violent temper. He had declined,
during his residence at Groningen, an invitation to Utrecht, but
accepted in 1705 the mathematical chair in the university of his native
city, vacant by the death of his brother Jacques; and here he remained
till his death. His inaugural discourse was on the "new analysis," which
he so successfully applied in investigating various problems both in
pure and applied mathematics.

He was several times a successful competitor for the prizes given by the
Academy of Sciences of Paris; the subjects of his essays being:--the
laws of motion (_Discours sur les lois de la communication du
mouvement_, 1727), the elliptical orbits of the planets, and the
inclinations of the planetary orbits (_Essai d'une nouvelle physique
céleste_, 1735). In the last case his son Daniel divided the prize with
him. Some years after his return to Basel he published an essay,
entitled _Nouvelle Théorie de la manoeuvre des vaisseaux_. It is,
however, his works in pure mathematics that are the permanent monuments
of his fame. Jean le Rond d'Alembert acknowledges with gratitude, that
"whatever he knew of mathematics he owed to the works of Jean
Bernoulli." He was a member of almost every learned society in Europe,
and one of the first mathematicians of a mathematical age. He was as
keen in his resentments as he was ardent in his friendships; fondly
attached to his family, he yet disliked a deserving son; he gave full
praise to Leibnitz and Leonhard Euler, yet was blind to the excellence
of Sir Isaac Newton. Such was the vigour of his constitution that he
continued to pursue his usual mathematical studies till the age of
eighty. He was then attacked by a complaint at first apparently
trifling; but his strength daily and rapidly declined till the 1st of
January 1748, when he died peacefully in his sleep.

  His writings were collected under his own eye by Gabriel Cramer,
  professor of mathematics at Geneva, and published under the title of
  _Johannis Bernoulli Operi Omnia_ (Lausan. et Genev.), 4 tom. 4to; his
  interesting correspondence with Leibnitz appeared under the title of
  _Gul. Leibnitii et Johannis Bernoulli Commercium Philosophicum et
  Mathematicum_ (Lausan. et Genev. 1745), 2 tom. 4to.

III. NICOLAS BERNOULLI (1695-1726), the eldest of the three sons of Jean
Bernoulli, was born on the 27th of January 1695. At the age of eight he
could speak German, Dutch, French and Latin. When his father returned to
Basel he went to the university of that city, where, at the age of
sixteen, he took the degree of doctor in philosophy, and four years
later the highest degree in law. Meanwhile the study of mathematics was
not neglected, as appears not only from his giving instruction in
geometry to his younger brother Daniel, but from his writings on the
differential, integral, and exponential calculus, and from his father
considering him, at the age of twenty-one, worthy of receiving the torch
of science from his own hands. ("Lampada nunc tradam filio meo natu
maximo, juveni xxi. annorum, ingenio mathematico aliisque dotibus satis
instructo," _Com. Phil._ ep. 223.) With his father's permission he
visited Italy and France, and during his travels formed friendship with
Pierre Varignon and Count Riccati. The invitation of a Venetian nobleman
induced him again to visit Italy, where he resided two years, till his
return to be a candidate for the chair of jurisprudence at Basel. He was
unsuccessful, but was soon afterwards appointed to a similar office in
the university of Bern. Here he resided three years, his happiness only
marred by regret on account of his separation from his brother Daniel.
Both were appointed at the same time professors of mathematics in the
academy of St Petersburg; but this office Nicolas enjoyed for little
more then eight months. He died on the 26th of July 1726 of a lingering
fever. Sensible of the loss which the nation had sustained by his death,
the empress Catherine ordered him a funeral at the public expense.

  Some of his papers are published in his father's works, and others in
  the _Acta Eruditorum_ and the _Comment. Acad. Petropol._

IV. DANIEL BERNOULLI (1700-1782), the second son of Jean Bernoulli, was
born on the 29th of January 1700, at Groningen. He studied medicine and
became a physician, but his attention was early directed also to
geometrical studies. The severity of his father's manner was
ill-calculated to encourage the first efforts of one so sensitive; but
fortunately, at the age of eleven, he became the pupil of his brother
Nicolas. He afterwards studied in Italy under Francesco Domenico
Michelotti and Giambattista Morgagni. After his return, though only
twenty-four years of age, he was invited to become president of an
academy then projected at Genoa; but, declining this honour, he was, in
the following year, appointed professor of mathematics at St Petersburg.
In consequence of the state of his health, however, he returned to Basel
in 1733, where he was appointed professor of anatomy and botany, and
afterwards of experimental and speculative philosophy. In the labours of
this office he spent the remaining years of his life. He had previously
published some medical and botanical dissertations, besides his
_Exercitationes quaedam Mathematicae_, containing a solution of the
differential equation proposed by Riccati and now known by his name. In
1738 appeared his _Hydrodynamica_, in which the equilibrium, the
pressure, the reaction and varied velocities of fluids are considered
both theoretically and practically. One of these problems, illustrated
by experiment, deals with an ingenious mode of propelling vessels by the
reaction of water ejected from the stern. Some of his experiments on
this subject were performed before Pierre Louis M. de Maupertuis and
Alexis Claude Clairaut, whom the fame of the Bernoullis had attracted to
Basel. With a success equalled only by Leonhard Euler, Daniel Bernoulli
gained or shared no less than ten prizes of the Academy of Sciences of
Paris. The first, for a memoir on the construction of a clepsydra for
measuring time exactly at sea, he gained at the age of twenty-four; the
second, for one on the physical cause of the inclination of the
planetary orbits, he divided with his father; and the third, for a
communication on the tides, he shared with Euler, Colin Maclaurin and
another competitor. The problem of vibrating cords, which had been some
time before resolved by Brook Taylor (1685-1731) and d'Alembert, became
the subject of a long discussion conducted in a generous spirit between
Bernoulli and his friend Euler. In one of his early investigations he
gave an ingenious though indirect demonstration of the problem of the
parallelogram of forces. His labours in the decline of life were chiefly
directed to the doctrine of probabilities in reference to practical
purposes, and in particular to economical subjects, as, for example, to
inoculation, and to the duration of married life in the two sexes, as
well as to the relative proportion of male and female births. He
retained his usual vigour of understanding till near the age of eighty,
when his nephew Jacques relieved him of his public duties. He was
afflicted with asthma, and his retirement was relieved only by the
society of a few chosen friends. He died on the 17th of March 1782 at
Basel. Excluded by his professional character from the councils of the
republic, he nevertheless received all the deference and honour due to a
first magistrate. He was wont to mention the following as the two
incidents in his life which had afforded him the greatest
pleasure,--that a stranger, whom he had met as a travelling companion in
his youth, made to his declaration "I am Daniel Bernoulli" the
incredulous and mocking reply, "And I am Isaac Newton"; and that, while
entertaining König and other guests, he solved without rising from table
a problem which that mathematician had submitted as difficult and
lengthy. Like his father, he was a member of almost every learned
society of Europe, and he succeeded him as foreign associate of the
Academy of Paris.

  Several of his investigations are contained in the earlier volumes of
  the _Comment. Acad. Petropol._; and his separately published works
  are:--_Dissertatio Inaugur. Phys. Med. de Respiratione_ (Basil. 1721),
  4to; _Positiones Anatomico-Botanicae_ (Basil. 1721), 4to;
  _Exercitationes quaedam Mathematicae_ (Venetiis, 1724), 4to;
  _Hydrodynamica_ (Argentorati, 1738), 4to.

V. JEAN BERNOULLI (1710-1790), the youngest of the three sons of Jean
Bernoulli, was born at Basel on the 18th of May 1710. He studied law and
mathematics, and, after travelling in France, was for five years
professor of eloquence in the university of his native city. On the
death of his father he succeeded him as professor of mathematics. He was
thrice a successful competitor for the prizes of the Academy of Sciences
of Paris. His prize subjects were, the capstan, the propagation of
light, and the magnet. He enjoyed the friendship of P.L.M. de
Maupertuis, who died under his roof while on his way to Berlin. He
himself died in 1790. His two sons, Jean and Jacques, are the last noted
mathematicians of the family.

VI. NICOLAS BERNOULLI (1687-1759), cousin of the three preceding, and
son of Nicolas Bernoulli, one of the senators of Basel, was born in that
city on the 10th of October 1687. He visited England, where he was
kindly received by Sir Isaac Newton and Edmund Halley (_Com. Phil._ ep.
199), held for a time the mathematical chair at Padua, and was
successively professor of logic and of law at Basel, where he died on
the 29th of November 1759. He was editor of the _Ars Conjectandi_ of his
uncle Jacques. His own works are contained in the _Acta Eruditorum_, the
_Giornale de' letterati d' Italia_, and the _Commercium Philosophicum_.

VII. JEAN BERNOULLI (1744-1807), grandson of the first Jean Bernoulli,
and son of the second of that name, was born at Basel on the 4th of
November 1744. He studied at Basel and at Neuchâtel, and when thirteen
years of age took the degree of doctor in philosophy. At nineteen he was
appointed astronomer royal of Berlin. Some years after, he visited
Germany, France and England, and subsequently Italy, Russia and Poland.
On his return to Berlin he was appointed director of the mathematical
department of the academy. Here he died on the 13th of July 1807. His
writings consist of travels and astronomical, geographical and
mathematical works. In 1774 he published a French translation of
Leonhard Euler's _Elements of Algebra_. He contributed several papers to
the Academy of Berlin.

VIII. JACQUES BERNOULLI (1759-1789), younger brother of the preceding,
and the second of this name, was born at Basel on the 17th of October
1759. Having finished his literary studies, he was, according to custom,
sent to Neuchâtel to learn French. On his return he graduated in law.
This study, however, did not check his hereditary taste for geometry.
The early lessons which he had received from his father were continued
by his uncle Daniel, and such was his progress that at the age of
twenty-one he was called to undertake the duties of the chair of
experimental physics, which his uncle's advanced years rendered him
unable to discharge. He afterwards accepted the situation of secretary
to count de Brenner, which afforded him an opportunity of seeing Germany
and Italy. In Italy he formed a friendship with Lorgna, professor of
mathematics at Verona, and one of the founders of the _Società Italiana_
for the encouragement of the sciences. He was also made corresponding
member of the royal society of Turin; and, while residing at Venice, he
was, through the friendly representation of Nicolaus von Fuss, admitted
into the academy of St Petersburg. In 1788 he was named one of its
mathematical professors.

He was tragically drowned while bathing in the Neva in July 1789, a few
months after his marriage with a daughter of Albert Euler, son of
Leonhard Euler.

  Several of his papers are contained in the first six volumes of _Nova
  Acta Acad. Scien. Imper. Petropol._, in the _Acta Helvetica_, in the
  _Memoirs of the Academies of Berlin and Turin_, and in his brother
  John's publications. He also published separately some juridical and
  physical theses, and a German translation of _Mémoires du philosophe
  de Merian_. See generally M. Cantor, _Geschichte der Mathematik_; J.C.
  Poggendorff, _Biographisch-literarisches Handwörterbuch_ (1863-1904).




BERNSTEIN, AARON (1812-1884), Jewish scientist, author and reformer. In
the middle of the 19th century Bernstein took an active share in the
movement for synagogue reform in Germany. He was the author of two
delightful Ghetto stories, _Vögele der Maggid_ and _Mendel Gibbor_,
being one of the originators of this _genre_ of modern fiction. He was
also a publicist, and his _History of Revolution and Reaction in
Germany_ (3 vols., 1883-1884) was a collection of important political
essays.




BERNSTORFF, ANDREAS PETER, COUNT VON (1735-1797), Danish statesman, was
born at Hanover on the 28th of August 1735. His career was determined by
his uncle, Johann Hartwig Ernst Bernstorff, who early discerned the
talents of his nephew and induced him to study in the German and Swiss
universities and travel for some years in Italy, France, England and
Holland, to prepare himself for a statesman's career. During these
_Wanderjahre_ he made the acquaintance of the poets Gellert and Jacobi,
the learned Jean-Jacques Barthélemy, the duc de Choiseul, and Gottfried
Achenwall, the statistician. At his uncle's desire he rejected the
Hanoverian for the Danish service, and in 1759 took his seat in the
German chancery at Copenhagen. In 1767, at the same time as his uncle,
he was created a count, and in 1769 was made a privy-councillor. He is
described at this period as intellectual, upright and absolutely
trustworthy, but obstinate and self-opinionated to the highest degree,
arguing with antiquaries about coins, with equerries about horses, and
with foreigners about their own countries, always certain that he was
right and they wrong, whatever the discussion might be. He shared the
disgrace of his uncle when Struensee came into power, but re-entered the
Danish service after Struensee's fall at the end of 1772, working at
first in the financial and economical departments, and taking an
especial interest in agriculture. The improvements he introduced in the
tenures of his peasantry anticipated in some respects the agricultural
reforms of the next generation.

In April 1773 Bernstorff was transferred to the position for which he
was especially fitted, the ministry of foreign affairs, with which he
combined the presidency of the German chancery (for Schleswig-Holstein).
His predecessor, Adolf Siegfried Osten, had been dismissed because he
was not _persona grata_ at St Petersburg, and Bernstorff's first
official act was to conclude the negotiations which had long been
pending with the grand-duke Paul as duke of Holstein-Gottorp. The result
was the exchange-treaty of the 1st of June (May 21 O.S.) 1773,
confirming the previous treaty of 1767 (see BERNSTORFF, J.H.E.). This
was followed by the treaty of alliance between Denmark and Russia of the
12th of August 1773, which was partly a mutually defensive league, and
partly an engagement between the two states to upset the new
constitution recently established in Sweden by Gustavus III., when the
right moment for doing so should arrive. For this mischievous and
immoral alliance, which bound Denmark to the wheels of the Russian
empress's chariot and sought to interfere in the internal affairs of a
neighbouring state, Bernstorff was scarcely responsible, for the
preliminaries had been definitely settled in his uncle's time and he
merely concluded them. But there can be no doubt that he regarded this
anti-Swedish policy as the correct one for Denmark, especially with a
monarch like Gustavus III. on the Swedish throne. It is also pretty
certain that the anti-Swedish alliance was Russia's price for
compounding the Gottorp difficulty.

Starting from the hypothesis that Sweden was "Denmark-Norway's most
active and irreconcilable enemy," Bernstorff logically included France,
the secular ally of Sweden, among the hostile powers with whom an
alliance was to be avoided, and drew near to Great Britain as the
natural foe of France, especially during the American War of
Independence, and this too despite the irritation occasioned in
Denmark-Norway by Great Britain's masterful interpretation of the
expression "contraband." Bernstorff's sympathy with England grew
stronger still when in 1779 Spain joined her enemies; and he was much
inclined, the same winter, to join a triple alliance between Great
Britain, Russia and Denmark-Norway, proposed by England for the purpose
of compelling the Bourbon powers to accept reasonable terms of peace.
But he was overruled by the crown prince Frederick, who thought such a
policy too hazardous, when Russia declined to have anything to do with
it. Instead of this the Russian chancellor Nikita Panin proposed an
armed league to embrace all the neutral powers, for the purpose of
protecting neutral shipping in time of war. This league was very similar
to one proposed by Bernstorff himself in September 1778 for enforcing
the principle "a free ship makes the cargo free"; but as now presented
by Russia, he rightly regarded it as directed exclusively against
England. He acceded to it indeed (9th of July 1780) because he could not
help doing so; but he had previously, by a separate treaty with England,
on the 4th of July, come to an understanding with that power as to the
meaning of the expression "contraband of war." This independence caused
great wrath at St Petersburg, where Bernstorff was accused of
disloyalty, and ultimately sacrificed to the resentment of the Russian
government (13th of November 1780), the more readily as he already
disagreed on many important points of domestic administration with the
prime minister Höegh Guldberg. He retired to his Mecklenburg estates,
but on the fall of Guldberg four years later, was recalled to office
(April 1784). The ensuing thirteen years were perhaps the best days of
the old Danish absolutism. The government, under the direction of such
enlightened ministers as Bernstorff, Reventlow and others, held the mean
between Struensee's extravagant cosmopolitanism and Guldberg's stiff
conservatism. In such noble projects of reform as the emancipation of
the serfs (see REVENTLOW) Bernstorff took a leading part, and so closely
did he associate himself with everything Danish, so popular did he
become in the Danish capital, that a Swedish diplomatist expressed the
opinion that henceforth Bernstorff could not be removed without danger.
Liberal-minded as he was, he held that "the will of the nation should be
a law to the king," and he boldly upheld the freedom of the press as the
surest of safety-valves.

Meanwhile foreign complications were again endangering the position of
Denmark-Norway. As Bernstorff had predicted, Panin's neutrality project
had resulted in a breach between Great Britain and Russia. Then came
Gustavus III.'s sudden war with Russia in 1788. Bernstorff was bound by
treaty to assist Russia in such a contingency, but he took care that the
assistance so rendered should be as trifling as possible, to avoid
offending Great Britain and Prussia. Still more menacing became the
political situation on the outbreak of the French Revolution.
Ill-disposed as Bernstorff was towards the Jacobins, he now condemned on
principle any interference in the domestic affairs of France, and he was
persuaded that Denmark's safest policy was to keep clear of every
anti-French coalition. From this unassailable standpoint he never
swerved, despite the promises and even the menaces both of the eastern
and the western powers. He was rewarded with complete success and the
respect of all the diplomatists in Europe. His neutrality treaty with
Sweden (17th of March 1794), for protecting their merchantmen by
combined squadrons, was also extremely beneficial to the Scandinavian
powers, both commercially and politically. Taught by the lesson of
Poland, he had, in fact, long since abandoned his former policy of
weakening Sweden. Bernstorff's great faculties appeared, indeed, to
mature and increase with age, and his death, on the 21st of June 1797,
was regarded in Denmark as a national calamity.

Count Bernstorff was twice married, his wives being the two sisters of
the writers Counts Christian and Friedrich Leopold zu Stolberg. He left
seven sons and three daughters. Of his sons the best known is Christian
Günther, count von Bernstorff. Another, Count Joachim, was attached to
his brother's fortunes so long as he remained in the Danish service, was
associated with him in representing Denmark at the congress of Vienna,
and in 1815 was appointed ambassador at that court.

  See Rasmus Nyerup, _Bernstorffs Eftermaele_ (Kjobenhavn, 1799); Peter
  Edward Holm, _Danmark-Norges udenrigske Historie_ (Copenhagen, 1875);
  _Danmarks Riges Historie V._ (Copenhagen, 1897-1905); Christian Ulrich
  Detlev von Eggers, _Denkwurdigskeiten aus dem Leben des Grafen A.P.
  Bernstorff_ (Copenhagen, 1800); Aage Frus, _A.P. Bernstorff og O.
  Hoegh-Guldberg_ (Copenhagen, 1899); and _Bernstorfferne og Danmark_
  (Copenhagen, 1903).     (R. N. B.)




BERNSTORFF, CHRISTIAN GÜNTHER, COUNT VON (1769-1835), Danish and
Prussian statesman and diplomatist, son of Count Andreas Peter von
Bernstorff, was born at Copenhagen on the 3rd of April 1769. Educated
for the diplomatic service under his father's direction, he began his
career in 1787, as attaché to the representative of Denmark at the
opening of the Swedish diet. In 1789 he went as secretary of legation to
Berlin, where his maternal uncle, Count Leopold Friedrich zu Stolberg,
was Danish ambassador. His uncle's influence, as well as his own social
qualities, obtained him rapid promotion; he was soon chargé d'affaires,
and in 1791 minister plenipotentiary. In 1794 he exchanged this post for
the important one of ambassador at Stockholm, where he remained until
May 1797, when he was summoned to Copenhagen to act as substitute for
his father during his illness. On the death of the latter (21st June),
he succeeded him as secretary of state for foreign affairs and privy
councillor. In 1800 he became head of the ministry. He remained
responsible for the foreign policy of Denmark until May 1810, a fateful
period which saw the battle of Copenhagen (2nd of April 1801), the
bombardment of Copenhagen and capture of the Danish fleet in 1807. After
his retirement he remained without office until his appointment in 1811
as Danish ambassador at Vienna. He remained here, in spite of the fact
that for a while Denmark was nominally at war with Austria, until, in
January 1814, on the accession of Denmark to the coalition against
Napoleon, he publicly resumed his functions as ambassador. He
accompanied the emperor Francis to Paris, and was present at the
signature of the first peace of Paris. With his brother Joachim, he
represented Denmark at the congress of Vienna and, as a member for the
commission for the regulation of the affairs of Germany, was responsible
for some of that confusion of Danish and German interests which was to
bear bitter fruit later in the Schleswig-Holstein question (q.v.). He
again accompanied the allied sovereigns to Paris in 1815, returning to
Copenhagen the same year. In 1817 he was appointed Danish ambassador at
Berlin, his brother Joachim going at the same time to Vienna. In the
following year Prince Hardenberg made him the formal proposition that he
should transfer his services to Prussia, which, with the consent of his
sovereign, he did.

It was, therefore, as a Prussian diplomat that Bernstorff attended the
congress of Aix-la-Chapelle (October 1818), at the close of which he
returned to Berlin as minister of state and head of the department for
foreign affairs. Bernstorff's management of Prussian policy during the
many years that he remained in office has been variously judged. He was
by training and temperament opposed to the Revolution, and he was
initiated into his new duties as a Prussian minister by the reactionary
Ancillon. He is accused of having subordinated the particular interests
of Prussia to the European policy of Metternich and the "Holy Alliance."
Whether any other policy would in the long run have served Prussia
better is a matter for speculation. It is true that Bernstorff supported
the Carlsbad decrees, and the Vienna Final Act; he was also the faithful
henchman of Metternich at the congresses of Laibach, Troppau and Verona.
On the other hand, he took a considerable share in laying the
foundations of the customs union (_Zollverein_), which was destined to
be the foundation of the Prussian hegemony in Germany. In his support of
Russia's action against Turkey in 1828 also he showed that he was no
blind follower of Metternich's views. In the crisis of 1830 his
moderation in face of the warlike clamour of the military party at
Berlin did much to prevent the troubles in Belgium and Poland from
ending in a universal European conflagration.

From 1824 onward Bernstorff had been a constant sufferer from hereditary
gout, intensified and complicated by the results of overwork. In the
spring of 1832 the state of his health compelled him to resign the
ministry of foreign affairs to Ancillon, who had already acted as his
deputy for a year. He died on the 18th of March 1835.

  See J. Caro in _Allgem. Deutsch. Biog._ s.v.; also H. von Treitschke,
  _Deutsche Geschichte_ (Leipzig, 1874-1894).     (R. N. B.)




BERNSTORFF, JOHANN HARTWIG ERNST, COUNT VON (1712-1772), Danish
statesman, who came of a very ancient Mecklenburg family, was the son of
Joachim Engelke, Freiherr von Bernstorff, chamberlain to the elector of
Hanover, and was born on the 13th of May 1712. His maternal grandfather,
Andreas Gottlieb Bernstorff (1640-1726), had been one of the ablest
ministers of George I., and under his guidance Johann was very carefully
educated, acquiring amongst other things that intimate knowledge of the
leading European languages, especially French, which ever afterwards
distinguished him. He was introduced into the Danish service by his
relations, the brothers Plessen, who were ministers of state under
Christian VI. In 1732 he was sent on a diplomatic mission to the court
of Dresden; and from 1738 he represented Holstein at the diet of
Regensburg, from 1744 to 1750 he represented Denmark at Paris, whence he
returned in 1754 to Denmark as minister of foreign affairs. Supported by
the powerful favourite A.G. Moltke, and highly respected by Frederick
V., he occupied for twenty-one years the highest position in the
government, and in the council of state his opinion was decisive. But
his chief concern was with foreign affairs. Ever since the conclusion of
the Great Northern War, Danish statesmen had been occupied in harvesting
its fruits, namely, the Gottorp portions of Schleswig definitely annexed
to Denmark in 1721 by the treaty of Nystad, and endeavouring to bring
about a definitive general understanding with the house of Gottorp as to
their remaining possessions in Holstein. With the head of the Swedish
branch of the Gottorps, the crown prince Adolphus Frederick, things had
been arranged by the exchange of 1750; but an attempt to make a similar
arrangement with the chief of the elder Gottorp line, the cesarevitch
Peter Feodorovich, had failed. In intimate connexion with the Gottorp
affair stood the question of the political equilibrium of the north.
Ever since Russia had become the dominant Baltic power, as well as the
state to which the Gottorpers looked primarily for help, the necessity
for a better understanding between the two Scandinavian kingdoms had
clearly been recognized by the best statesmen of both, especially in
Denmark from Christian VI.'s time; but unfortunately this sound and
sensible policy was seriously impeded by the survival of the old
national hatred on both sides of the Sound, still further complicated by
Gottorp's hatred of Denmark. Moreover, it was a diplomatic axiom in
Denmark, founded on experience, that an absolute monarchy in Sweden was
incomparably more dangerous to her neighbour than a limited monarchy,
and after the collapse of Swedish absolutism with Charles XII., the
upholding of the comparatively feeble, and ultimately anarchical,
parliamentary government of Sweden became a question of principle with
Danish statesmen throughout the 18th century. A friendly alliance with a
relatively weak Sweden was the cardinal point of Bernstorff's policy.
But his plans were traversed again and again by unforeseen
complications, the failure of the most promising presumptions, the
perpetual shifting of apparently stable alliances; and again and again
he had to modify his means to attain his ends. Amidst all these
perplexities Bernstorff approved himself a consummate statesman. It
seemed almost as if his wits were sharpened into a keener edge by his
very difficulties; but since he condemned on principle every war which
was not strictly defensive, and it had fallen to his lot to guide a
comparatively small power, he always preferred the way of negotiation,
even sometimes where the diplomatic tangle would perhaps best have been
severed boldly by the sword. The first difficult problem he had to face
was the Seven Years' War. He was determined to preserve the neutrality
of Denmark at any cost, and this he succeeded in doing, despite the
existence of a subsidy-treaty with the king of Prussia, and the
suspicions of England and Sweden. It was through his initiative, too,
that the convention of Kloster-Seven was signed (10th of September
1757), and on the 4th of May 1758 he concluded a still more promising
treaty with France, whereby, in consideration of Denmark's holding an
army-corps of 24,000 men in Holstein till the end of the war, to secure
Hamburg, Lübeck and the Gottorp part of Holstein from invasion, France,
and ultimately Austria also, engaged to bring about an exchange between
the king of Denmark and the cesarevitch, as regards Holstein. But the
course of the war made this compact inoperative. Austria hastened to
repudiate her guarantee to Denmark in order not to offend the new
emperor of Russia, Peter III., and one of Peter's first acts on
ascending the throne was to declare war against Denmark. The coolness
and firmness of Bernstorff saved the situation. He protested that the
king of Denmark was bound to defend Schleswig "so long as there was a
sword in Denmark and a drop of blood in the veins of the Danish people."
He rejected the insulting ultimatum of the Russian emperor. He placed
the best French general of the day at the head of the well-equipped
Danish army. But just as the Russian and Danish armies had come within
striking distance, the tidings reached Copenhagen that Peter III. had
been overthrown by his consort. Bernstorff was one of the first to
recognize the impotence of the French monarchy after the Seven Years'
War, and in 1763 he considered it expedient to exchange the French for
the Russian alliance, which was cemented by the treaty of the 28th of
April (March 11) 1765. This compact engaged Denmark to join with Russia
in upholding the existing Swedish constitution, in return for which
Catherine II. undertook to adjust the Gottorp difficulty by the cession
of the Gottorp portion of Holstein in exchange for the counties of
Oldenburg and Delmenhorst. For his part in this treaty Bernstorff was
created count. On the accession of Christian VII., in 1766, Bernstorff's
position became very precarious, and he was exposed to all manner of
attacks, being accused, without a shadow of truth, of exploiting
Denmark, and of unduly promoting foreigners. It is remarkable, however,
that though Bernstorff ruled Denmark for twenty years he never learnt
Danish. His last political achievement was to draw still closer to
Russia by the treaty of the 13th of December 1769, the most important
paragraph of which stipulated that any change in the Swedish
constitution should be regarded by Denmark and Russia as a _casus belli_
against Sweden, and that in the event of such a war Denmark should
retain all the territory conquered from Sweden. This treaty proved to be
a great mistake on Denmark's part, but circumstances seemed at the time
to warrant it. Nine months later, on the 13th of September 1770,
Bernstorff was dismissed as the result of Struensee's intrigues, and,
rejecting the brilliant offers of Catherine II. if he would enter the
Russian service, retired to his German estates, where he died on the
18th of February 1772. Bernstorff was not only one of the ablest but one
of the noblest and most conscientious statesmen of his day. The motto he
chose on receiving the order of the Daneborg was "Integritas et rectum
custodiunt me," and throughout a long life he was never false to it.

  See Poul Vedel, _Den aeldre Grev Bernstorffs ministerium_ (Copenhagen,
  1882); _Correspondance ministérielle du Comte J.H.E. Bernstorff_, ed.
  Vedel (Copenhagen, 1882); Aage Friis, _Bernslorfferne og Danmark_
  (Copenhagen, 1899).     (R. N. B.)




BEROSSUS, a priest of Bel at Babylon, who translated into Greek the
standard Babylonian work on astrology and astronomy, and compiled (in
three books) the history of his country from native documents, which he
published in Greek in the reign of Antiochus II. (250 B.C.). His works
have perished, but extracts from the history have been preserved by
Josephus and Eusebius, the latter of whom probably derived them not
directly from Berossus, but through the medium of Alexander Polyhistor
and Apollodorus. The extracts containing the Babylonian cosmology, the
list of the antediluvian kings of Babylonia, and the Chaldaean story of
the Deluge, have been shown by the decipherment of the cuneiform texts
to have faithfully reproduced the native legends; we may, therefore,
conclude that the rest of the History was equally trustworthy. On the
other hand, a list of post-diluvian dynasties, which is quoted by
Eusebius and Georgius Syncellus as having been given by Berossus,
cannot, in its present form, be reconciled with the monumental facts,
though a substratum of historical truth is discoverable in it. As it
stands, it is as follows:--

  1. 86 Chaldaean kings 34,080 or 33,091 years
  2.  8 Median      "   224                "
  3. 11 other kings "   no number.
  4. 49 Chaldaean   "   458                "
  5.  9 Arabian     "   245                "
  6. 45 Assyrian    "   526                "

After these, according to Eusebius, came the reign of Pul. By means of
an ingenious chronological combination, the several items of which,
however, are very questionable, J.A. Brandis assigned 258 years to the
3rd dynasty; other summations have been proposed with equally little
assurance of certainty. If Eusebius can be trusted, the 6th dynasty
ended in 729 B.C., the year in which Pul or Tiglath-pileser III. was
crowned king of Babylonia. But all attempts to harmonize the scheme of
dynasties thus ascribed to Berossus with the list given us in the
so-called dynastic Tablets discovered by Dr Pinches have been failures.
The numbers, whether of kings or of years, cannot have been handed down
to us correctly by the Greek writers. All that seems certain is that
Berossus arranged his history so that it should fill the astronomical
period of 36,000 years, beginning with the first man and ending with the
conquest of Babylon by Alexander the Great.

  See J.P. Cory, _Ancient Fragments_ (1826, ed. by E.R. Hodges, 1876);
  Fr. Lenormant, _Essai de commentaire des fragments cosmogoniques de
  Bérose_ (1872); A. von Gutschmid in the _Rheinisches Museum_ (1853);
  George Smith in _T.S.B.A._ iii., 1874, pp. 361-379; Th.G. Pinches in
  _P.S.B.A._, 1880-1881.     (A. H. S.)




BERRY, CHARLES ALBERT (1852-1899), English non-conformist divine, was
born on the 14th of December 1852 at Bradshawgate, Leigh, Lancashire. At
the age of seventeen he entered Airedale College, Bradford, to train for
the Congregational ministry, and in 1875 became pastor of St George's
Road Congregational church, Bolton. He became widely known as a man of
administrative ability, a vigorous platform speaker and an eloquent
preacher. In July 1883 he undertook the pastorate of the church at Queen
Street, Wolverhampton, with the supervision of nine dependent churches
in the neighbourhood. Here again he exercised a wide influence, due in
part to his evangelical conviction, eloquence, broad views and powers of
organization, but also to the magnetic force of his personality. In 1887
he went to America in fulfilment of a promise to Henry Ward Beecher of
Brooklyn, and received a unanimous invitation to succeed Beecher in what
was then the best-known pulpit in the United States. Berry, however,
felt that his work lay in England and declined the invitation. In 1892
he took part in a conference at Grindelwald on the question of Christian
Reunion, and subsequently, with Hugh Price Hughes and Alexander
Mackennal of Bowdon, conducted a campaign throughout England,
introducing the ideas and principles of Free Church federation. He was
the first president of the Free Church congress. He played an effective
part in expressing the popular desire for peace between England and
America in reply to President Cleveland's message on the Venezuelan
boundary dispute, and was invited to Washington to preach in connexion
with the endeavour to establish an international arbitration treaty. In
1896 he was elected chairman of the Congregational Union of England and
Wales. In 1898 his health began to fail, and he died suddenly on the
31st of January 1899. His published works consist chiefly of addresses,
and two volumes of sermons, _Vision and Duty_, and _Mischievous
Goodness_.     (D. Mn.)




BERRY, CHARLES FERDINAND, DUKE OF (1778-1820), younger son of Charles X.
of France, was born at Versailles. At the Revolution he left France with
his father, then comte d'Artois, and served in the army of Condé; from
1792 to 1797. He afterwards joined the Russian army, and in 1801 took up
his residence in England, where he remained for thirteen years. During
that time he married an Englishwoman, Anna Brown, by whom he had two
daughters, afterwards the baronne de Charette and the comtesse de
Lucinge-Faucigny. The marriage was cancelled for political reasons in
1814, when the duke set out for France. His frank, open manners gained
him some favour with his countrymen, and Louis XVIII. named him
commander-in-chief of the army at Paris on the return of Napoleon from
Elba. He was, however, unable to retain the loyalty of his troops, and
retired to Ghent during the Hundred Days. In 1816 he married the
princess Caroline Ferdinande Louise (1798-1870), eldest daughter of King
Francis I. of Naples. On the 13th of February 1820 he was mortally
wounded, when leaving the opera-house at Paris with his wife, by a
saddler named Louis Pierre Louvel. Seven months after his death the
duchess gave birth to a son, who received the title of duke of Bordeaux,
but who is known in history as the comte de Chambord. A daughter,
afterwards duchess of Parma, was born in 1819.

The duchess of Berry was compelled to follow Charles X. to Holyrood
after July 1830, but it was with the resolution of returning speedily
and making an attempt to secure the throne for her son. From England she
went to Italy, and in April 1832 she landed near Marseilles, but,
receiving no support, was compelled to make her way towards the loyal
districts of Vendée and Brittany. Her followers, however, were defeated,
and, after remaining concealed for five months in a house in Nantes, she
was betrayed to the government and imprisoned in the castle of Blaye.
Here she gave birth to a daughter, the fruit of a secret marriage
contracted with an Italian nobleman, Count Ettore Lucchesi-Palli
(1805-1864). The announcement of this marriage at once deprived the
duchess of the sympathies of her supporters. She was no longer an object
of fear to the French government, who released her in June 1833. She set
sail for Sicily, and, joining her husband, lived in retirement from that
time till her death, at Brunnensee in Switzerland, in April 1870.




BERRY, JOHN, DUKE OF (1340-1416), third son of John II., king of France
and Bonne of Luxemburg, was born on the 30th of November 1340 at
Vincennes. He was created count of Poitiers in 1356, and was made the
king's lieutenant in southern France, though the real power rested
chiefly with John of Armagnac, whose daughter Jeanne he married in 1360.
The loss of his southern possessions by the treaty of Bretigny was
compensated by the fiefs of Auvergne and Berry, with the rank of peer of
France. The duke went to England in 1360 as a hostage for the fulfilment
of the treaty of Bretigny, returning to France in 1367 on the pretext of
collecting his ransom. He took no leading part in the war against the
English, his energies being largely occupied with the satisfaction of
his artistic and luxurious tastes. For this reason perhaps his brother
Charles V. assigned him no share in the government during the minority
of Charles VI. He received, however, the province of Languedoc. The
peasant revolt of the _Tuchins_ and _Coquins_, as the insurgents were
called, was suppressed with great harshness, and the duke exacted from
the states of Languedoc assembled at Lyons a fine of £15,000. He fought
at Rosebeke in 1382 against the Flemings and helped to suppress the
Parisian revolts. By a series of delays he caused the failure of the
naval expedition prepared at Sluys against England in 1386, and a second
accusation of military negligence led to disgrace of the royal princes
and the temporary triumph of the _marmousels_, as the advisers of the
late king were nicknamed. Charles VI. visited Languedoc in 1389-1390,
and enquired into his uncle's government. The duke was deprived of the
government of Languedoc, and his agent, Bétizac, was burnt. When in 1401
he was restored, he delegated his authority in the province, where he
was still hated, to Bérnard d'Armagnac. In 1396 he negotiated a truce
with Richard II. of England, and his marriage with the princess Isabella
of France. He tried to mediate between his brother Philip the Bold of
Burgundy and his nephew Louis, duke of Orleans, and later between John
"sans Peur" of Burgundy and Orleans. He broke with John after the murder
of Orleans, though he tried to prevent civil war, and only finally
joined the Armagnac party in 1410. In 1413 he resumed his rôle of
mediator, and was for a short time tutor to the dauphin. He died in
Paris on the 15th of June 1416, leaving vast treasures of jewelry,
objects of art, and especially of illuminated MSS., many of which have
been preserved. He decorated the Sainte Chapelle at Bourges; he built
the Hôtel de Nesle in Paris, and palaces at Poitiers, Bourges,
Mehun-sur-Yèvre and elsewhere.

  See also L. Raynal, _Histoire du Berry_ (Bourges, 1845); "Jean, duc de
  Berry," in S Luce, _La France pendant la guerre de Cent Ans_ (1890),
  vol. i.; Toulgoet-Tréanna, in _Mém. de la Soc. des antiquaires du
  centre_, vol. xvii. (1890). His beautiful illuminated _Livre d'heures_
  was reproduced (Paris, fol. 1904) by P. Durrieu.




BERRY, or BERRI, a former province of France, absorbed in 1790 in the
departments of Cher, corresponding roughly with Haut-Berry, and Indre,
representing Bas-Berry. George Sand, the most famous of "berrichon"
writers, has described the quiet scenery and rural life of the province
in the rustic novels of her later life. Berry is the _civitas_ or
_pagus_ Bituricensis of Gregory of Tours. The Bituriges were said by
Livy (v. 34) to have been the dominating tribe in Gaul in the 7th
century, one of their kings, Ambigat, having ruled over all Gaul. In
Caesar's time they were dependent on the Aedui. The tribes inhabiting
the districts of Berry and Bourbonnais were distinguished as Bituriges
Cubi. The numerous menhirs and dolmens to be found in the district, to
which local superstitions still cling, are probably monuments of still
earlier inhabitants. In 52 B.C. the Bituriges, at the order of
Vercingetorix, set fire to their towns, but spared Bourges (Avaricum)
their capital, which was taken and sacked by the Romans. The province
was amalgamated under Augustus with Aquitaine, and Bourges became the
capital of Aquitania Prima. In 475 Berry came into the possession of the
west Goths, from whom it was taken (c. 507) by Clovis. The first count
of Berry, Chunibert (d. 763), was created by Waifer, duke of Aquitaine,
from whom the county was wrested by Pippin the Short, who made it his
residence and left it to his son Carloman, on whose death it fell to his
brother Charlemagne. The countship of Berry was suppressed (926) by
Rudolph, king of the Franks (fl. 923-936). Berry was for some time a
group of lordships dependent directly on the crown, but the chief
authority eventually passed to the viscounts of Bourges, who, while
owning the royal suzerainty, preserved a certain independence until
1101, when the viscount Odo Arpin de Dun sold his fief to the crown.
Berry was part of the dowry of Eleanor, wife of Louis VII., and on her
divorce and remarriage with Henry II. of England it passed to the
English king. Its possession remained, however, a matter of dispute
until 1200, when Berry reverted by treaty with John of England to Philip
Augustus, and the various fiefs of Berry were given as a dowry to John's
niece, Blanche of Castile, on her marriage with Philip's son Louis
(afterwards Louis VIII.). Philip Augustus established an effective
control over the administration of the province by the appointment of a
royal _bailli_. Berry suffered during the Hundred Years' War, and more
severely during the wars of religion in the 16th century. It had been
made a duchy in 1360, and its first duke, John [Jean] (1340-1416), son
of the French king John II., encouraged the arts and beautified the
province with money wrung from his government of Languedoc.
Thenceforward it was held as an apanage of the French crown, usually by
a member of the royal family closely related to the king. Charles of
France (1447-1472), brother of Louis XI, was duke of Berry, but was
deprived of this province, as subsequently of the duchies of Normandy
and Guienne, for intrigues against his brother. The duchy was also
governed by Jeanne de Valois (d. 1505), the repudiated wife of Louis
XII.[1]; by Marguerite d'Angoulême, afterwards queen of Navarre; by
Marguerite de Valois, afterwards duchess of Savoy; and by Louise of
Lorraine, widow of Henry III., after whose death (1601) the province was
finally reabsorbed in the royal domain. The title of duke of Berry,
divested of territorial significance, was held by princes of the royal
house. Charles (1686-1714), duke of Berry, grandson of Louis XIV., and
third son of the dauphin Louis (d. 1711), married Marie Louise Elisabeth
(1686-1714), eldest daughter of the duke of Orleans, whose intrigues
made her notorious. The last to bear the title of duke of Berry was the
ill-fated Charles Ferdinand, grandson and heir of Charles X.


FOOTNOTE:

  [1] See R. le Maulde, _Jeanne de France, duchesse d'Orléans et de
    Berry_ (Paris, 1883).




BERRYER, ANTOINE PIERRE (1790-1868), French advocate and parliamentary
orator, was the son of an eminent advocate and counsellor to the
_parlement_. He was educated at the Collège de Juilly, on leaving which
he adopted the profession of the law; he was admitted advocate in 1811,
and in the same year he married. In the great conflict of the period
between Napoleon I. and the Bourbons, Berryer, like his father, was an
ardent Legitimist; and in the spring of 1815, at the opening of the
campaign of the Hundred Days, he followed Louis XVIII. to Ghent as a
volunteer. After the second restoration he distinguished himself as a
courageous advocate of moderation in the treatment of the military
adherents of the emperor. He assisted his father and Dupin in the
unsuccessful defence of Marshal Ney before the chamber of peers; and he
undertook alone the defence of General Cambronne and General Debelle,
procuring the acquittal of the former and the pardon of the latter. By
this time he had a very large business as advocate, and was engaged on
behalf of journalists in many press prosecutions. He stood forward with
a noble resolution to maintain the freedom of the press, and severely
censured the rigorous measures of the police department. In 1830, not
long before the fall of Charles X., Berryer was elected a member of the
chamber of deputies. He appeared there as the champion of the king and
encouraged him in his reactionary policy. After the revolution of July,
when the Legitimists withdrew in a body, Berryer alone retained his seat
as deputy. He resisted, but unsuccessfully, the abolition of the
hereditary peerage. He advocated trial by jury in press prosecutions,
the extension of municipal franchises and other liberal measures. In May
1832 he hastened from Paris to see the duchess of Berry on her landing
in the south of France for the purpose of organizing an insurrection in
favour of her son, the duke of Bordeaux, since known as the Comte de
Chambord. Berryer attempted to turn her from her purpose; and failing in
this he set out for Switzerland. He was, however, arrested, imprisoned
and brought to trial as one of the insurgents. He was immediately
acquitted. In the following year he pleaded for the liberation of the
duchess, made a memorable speech in defence of Chateaubriand, who was
prosecuted for his violent attacks on the government of Louis Philippe,
and undertook the defence of several Legitimist journalists. Among the
more noteworthy events of his subsequent career were his defence of
Louis Napoleon after the ridiculous affair of Boulogne, in 1840, and a
visit to England in December 1843, for the purpose of formally
acknowledging the pretender, the duke of Bordeaux, then living in
London, as Henry V. and lawful king of France. Berryer was an active
member of the National Assembly convoked after the revolution of
February 1848, again visited the pretender, then at Wiesbaden, and still
fought in the old cause. This long parliamentary career was closed by a
courageous protest against the _coup d'état_ of December 2, 1851. After
a lapse of twelve years, however, he appeared once more in his forsaken
field as a deputy to the Corps Législatif. Berryer was elected member of
the French Academy in 1854. A visit paid by this famous orator to Lord
Brougham in 1865 was made the occasion of a banquet given in his honour
by the benchers of the Temple and of Lincoln's Inn. In November 1868 he
was removed by his own desire from Paris to his country seat at
Augerville, and there he died on the 29th of the same month.




BERSERKER (from the "sark" or shirt of the "bear," or other animal-skins
worn by them), in Scandinavian mythology, the name of the twelve sons of
the hero Berserk, grandson of the eight-handed Starkadder and Alfhilde.
Berserk was famed for the reckless fury with which he fought, always
going into battle without armour. By the daughter of King Swafurlam,
whom he had killed, he had the twelve sons who were his equals in
bravery. In Old Norse the term _berserker_ thus became synonymous with
reckless courage, and was later applied to the bodyguards of several of
the Scandinavian heroes.




BERT, PAUL (1833-1886), French physiologist and politician, was born at
Auxerre (Yonne) on the 17th of October 1833. He entered the École
Polytechnique at Paris with the intention of becoming an engineer; then
changing his mind, he studied law; and finally, under the influence of
the zoologist, L.P. Gratiolet (1815-1865), he took up physiology,
becoming one of Claude Bernard's most brilliant pupils. After graduating
at Paris as doctor of medicine in 1863, and doctor of science in 1866,
he was appointed professor of physiology successively at Bordeaux (1866)
and the Sorbonne (1869). After the revolution of 1870 he began to take
part in politics as a supporter of Gambetta. In 1874 he was elected to
the Assembly, where he sat on the extreme left, and in 1876 to the
chamber of deputies. He was one of the most determined enemies of
clericalism, and an ardent advocate of "liberating national education
from religious sects, while rendering it accessible to every citizen."
In 1881 he was minister of education and worship in Gambetta's
short-lived cabinet, and in the same year he created a great sensation
by a lecture on modern Catholicism, delivered in a Paris theatre, in
which he poured ridicule on the fables and follies of the chief
religious tracts and handbooks that circulated especially in the south
of France. Early in 1886 he was appointed resident-general in Annam and
Tonkin, and died of dysentery at Hanoi on the 11th of November of that
year. But he was more distinguished as a man of science than as a
politician or administrator. His classical work, _La Pression
barométrique_ (1878), embodies researches that gained him the biennial
prize of 20,000 francs from the Academy of Sciences in 1875, and is a
comprehensive investigation on the physiological effects of
air-pressure, both above and below the normal. His earliest researches,
which provided him with material for his two doctoral theses, were
devoted to animal grafting and the vitality of animal tissues, and they
were followed by studies on the physiological action of various poisons,
on anaesthetics, on respiration and asphyxia, on the causes of the
change of colour in the chameleon, &c. He was also interested in
vegetable physiology, and in particular investigated the movements of
the sensitive plant, and the influence of light of different colours on
the life of vegetation. After about 1880 he produced several elementary
text-books of scientific instruction, and also various publications on
educational and allied subjects.




BERTANI, AGOSTINO (1812-1886), Italian revolutionist, was born at Milan
on the 19th of October 1812. He took part in the insurrection of 1848,
though opposed to the fusion of Lombardy with Piedmont. During the Roman
republic of 1849, he, as medical officer, organized the ambulance
service, and, after the fall of Rome, withdrew to Genoa, where he worked
with Sir James Hudson for the liberation of the political prisoners of
Naples, but held aloof from the Mazzinian conspiracies. In 1859 he
founded a revolutionary journal at Genoa, but, shortly afterwards,
joined as surgeon the Garibaldian corps in the war of 1859. After
Villafranca he became the organizer-in-chief of the expeditions to
Sicily, remaining at Genoa after Garibaldi's departure for Marsala, and
organizing four separate volunteer corps, two of which were intended for
Sicily and two for the papal states. Cavour, however, obliged all to
sail for Sicily. Upon the arrival of Garibaldi at Naples, Bertani was
appointed secretary-general of the dictator, in which capacity he
reorganized the police, abolished the secret service fund, founded
twelve infant asylums, suppressed the duties upon Sicilian products,
prepared for the suppression of the religious orders, and planned the
sanitary reconstruction of the city. Entering parliament in 1861, he
opposed the Garibaldian expedition, which ended at Aspromonte, but
nevertheless tended Garibaldi's wound with affectionate devotion. In
1866 he organized the medical service for the 40,000 Garibaldians, and
in 1867 fought at Mentana. His parliamentary career, though marked by
zeal, was less brilliant than his revolutionary activity. Up to 1870 he
remained an agitator, but, after the liberation of Rome, seceded from
the historic left, and became leader of the extreme left, a position
held until his death on the 30th of April 1886. His chief work as deputy
was an inquiry into the sanitary conditions of the peasantry, and the
preparation of the sanitary code adopted by the Crispi administration.
     (H. W. S.)




BERTAT (Arab. _Jebalain_), negroes of the Shangalla group of tribes,
mainly agriculturists. They occupy the valleys of the Yabus and Tumat,
tributaries of the Blue Nile. They are shortish and very black, with
projecting jaws, broad noses and thick lips. By both sexes the hair is
worn short or the head shaved; on cheeks and temple are tribal marks in
the form of scars. The huts of the Bertat are circular, the floor raised
on short poles. Their weapons are the spear, throwing-club, sword and
dagger, and also the _kulbeda_ or throwing-knife. Blocks of salt are the
favourite form of currency. Gold washing is practised. Nature worship
still struggles against the spread of Mahommedanism. The Bertat,
estimated to number some 80,000, c. 1880, were nearly exterminated
during the period of Dervish ascendancy (1884-1898) in the eastern
Sudan. Settled among them are Arab communities governed by their own
sheiks, while the _meks_ or rulers of the Bertat speak Arabic, and show
traces of foreign blood. (See FAZOGLI.)

  See Koeltlitz, "The Bertat," _Journal of the Anthropological
  Institute_, xxxiii. 51; _Anglo-Egyptian Sudan_, edited by Count
  Gleichen (London, 1905).




BERTAUT, JEAN (1552-1611), French poet, was born at Caen in 1552. He
figures with Desportes in the disdainful couplet of Boileau on
Ronsard:--

  "Ce poète orgueilleux, trébuché de si haut,
   Rendit plus retenus Desportes et Bertaut."

He wrote light verse to celebrate the incidents of court life in the
manner of Desportes, but his verse is more fantastic and fuller of
conceits than his master's. He early entered the church, and had a share
in the conversion of Henry IV., a circumstance which assured his career.
He was successively councillor of the parlement of Grenoble, secretary
to the king, almoner to Marie de' Medici, abbot of Aulnay and finally,
in 1606, bishop of Sées. After his elevation to the bishopric he ceased
to produce the light verse in which he excelled, though his scruples did
not prevent him from preparing a new edition of his _Recueil de quelques
vers amoureux_ (1602) in 1606. The serious poems in which he celebrated
the public events of his later years are dull and lifeless. Bertaut died
at Sées on the 8th of June 1611. His works were edited by M.Ad.
Chenevières in 1891.




BERTH, originally a nautical term, probably connected with the verb "to
bear," first found in literature at the end of the 16th century, with
the alternative spelling "birth." Its primary meaning is "sea-room,"
whether on the high seas or at anchor. Hence the phrase "to give a wide
berth to," meaning "to keep at a safe distance from," both in its
literal and its metaphorical use. From meaning sea-room for a ship at
anchor, "berth" comes to mean also the position of a ship at her
moorings ("to berth a ship"). The word further means any place on a ship
allotted for a special purpose, where the men mess or sleep, or an
office or appointment on board, whence the word has passed into
colloquial use with the meaning of a situation or employment. From the
Icelandic _byrdi_, a board, is also derived the ship-building term
"berth," meaning to board, put up bulk-heads, &c.




BERTHELOT, MARCELLIN PIERRE EUGÈNE (1827-1907), French chemist and
politician, was born at Paris on the 29th of October 1827, being the son
of a doctor. After distinguishing himself at school in history and
philosophy, he turned to the study of science. In 1851 he became a
member of the staff of the Collège de France as assistant to A.J.
Balard, his former master, and about the same time he began his
life-long friendship with Ernest Renan. In 1854 he made his reputation
by his doctoral thesis, _Sur les combinaisons de la glycérine avec les
acides_, which described a series of beautiful researches in
continuation and amplification of M.E. Chevreul's classical work. In
1859 he was appointed professor of organic chemistry at the École
Supérieure de Pharmacie, and in 1865 he accepted the new chair of
organic chemistry, which was specially created for his benefit at the
Collège de France. He became a member of the Academy of Medicine in
1863, and ten years afterwards entered the Academy of Sciences, of which
he became perpetual secretary in 1889 in succession to Louis Pasteur. He
was appointed inspector general of higher education in 1876, and after
his election as life senator in 1881 he continued to take an active
interest in educational questions, especially as affected by compulsory
military service. In the Goblet ministry of 1886-1887 he was minister of
public instruction, and in the Bourgeois cabinet of 1895-1896 he held
the portfolio for foreign affairs. His scientific jubilee was celebrated
in Paris in 1901. He died suddenly, immediately after the death of his
wife, on the 18th of March 1907, at Paris, and with her was buried in
the Panthéon.

The fundamental conception that underlay all Berthelot's chemical work
was that all chemical phenomena depend on the action of physical forces
which can be determined and measured. When he began his active career it
was generally believed that, although some instances of the synthetical
production of organic substances had been observed, on the whole organic
chemistry must remain an analytical science and could not become a
constructive one, because the formation of the substances with which it
deals required the intervention of vital activity in some shape. To this
attitude he offered uncompromising opposition, and by the synthetical
production of numerous hydrocarbons, natural fats, sugars and other
bodies he proved that organic compounds can be formed by ordinary
methods of chemical manipulation and obey the same laws as inorganic
substances, thus exhibiting the "creative character in virtue of which
chemistry actually realizes the abstract conceptions of its theories and
classifications--a prerogative so far possessed neither by the natural
nor by the historical sciences." His investigations on the synthesis of
organic compounds were published in numerous papers and books, including
_Chimie organique fondée sur la synthèse_ (1860) and _Les Carbures
d'hydrogéne_ (1901). Again he held that chemical phenomena are not
governed by any peculiar laws special to themselves, but are explicable
in terms of the general laws of mechanics that are in operation
throughout the universe; and this view he developed, with the aid of
thousands of experiments, in his _Mécanique chimique_ (1878) and his
_Thermochimie_ (1897). This branch of study naturally conducted him to
the investigation of explosives, and on the theoretical side led to the
results published in his work _Sur la force de la poudre et des matières
explosives_ (1872), while on the practical side it enabled him to render
important services to his country as president of the scientific defence
committee during the siege of Paris in 1870-71 and subsequently as chief
of the French explosives committee. In the later years of his life he
turned to the study of the earlier phases of the science which he did so
much to advance, and students of chemical history are greatly indebted
to him for his book on _Les Origines de l'alchimie_ (1885) and his
_Introduction à l'étude de la chimie des anciens et du moyen âge_
(1889), as well as for publishing translations of various old Greek,
Syriac and Arabic treatises on alchemy and chemistry (_Collection des
anciens alchimistes grecs_, 1887-1888, and _La Chimie au moyen âge_,
1893). He was also the author of _Science et philosophie_ (1886), which
contains a well-known letter to Renan on "La Science idéale et la
science positive," of _La Révolution chimique, Lavoisier_ (1890), of
_Science et morale_ (1897), and of numerous articles in _La Grande
Encyclopédie_, which he helped to establish.




BERTHIER, LOUIS ALEXANDRE, prince of Neuchâtel (1753-1815), marshal of
France and chief of the staff under Napoleon I., was born at Versailles
on the 20th of February 1753. As a boy he was instructed in the military
art by his father, an officer of the _Corps de génie_, and at the age of
seventeen he entered the army, serving successively in the staff, the
engineers and the prince de Lambesq's dragoons. In 1780 he went to North
America with Rochambeau, and on his return, having attained the rank of
colonel, he was employed in various staff posts and in a military
mission to Prussia. During the Revolution, as chief of staff of the
Versailles national guard, he protected the aunts of Louis XVI. from
popular violence, and aided their escape (1791). In the war of 1792 he
was at once made chief of staff to Marshal Lückner, and he bore a
distinguished part in the Argonne campaign of Dumouriez and Kellermann.
He served with great credit in the Vendéan War of 1793-95, and was in
the next year made a general of division and chief of staff
(_Major-Général_) to the army of Italy, which Bonaparte had recently
been appointed to command. His power of work, accuracy and quick
comprehension, combined with his long and varied experience and his
complete mastery of detail, made him the ideal chief of staff to a great
soldier; and in this capacity he was Napoleon's most valued assistant
for the rest of his career. He accompanied Napoleon throughout the
brilliant campaign of 1796, and was left in charge of the army after the
peace of Campo Formio. In this post he organized the Roman republic
(1798), after which he joined his chief in Egypt, serving there until
Napoleon's return. He assisted in the _coup d'état_ of 18th Brumaire,
afterwards becoming minister of war for a time. In the campaign of
Marengo he was the nominal head of the Army of Reserve, but the first
consul accompanied the army and Berthier acted in reality, as always, as
chief of staff to Napoleon. At the close of the campaign he was employed
in civil and diplomatic business. When Napoleon became emperor, Berthier
was at once made a marshal of the empire. He took part in the campaigns
of Austerlitz, Jena and Friedland, and was created duke of Valengin in
1806, sovereign prince of Neuchâtel in the same year and vice-constable
of the empire in 1807. In 1808 he served in the Peninsula, and in 1809
in the Austrian War, after which he was given the title of prince of
Wagram. Berthier married a niece of the king of Bavaria. He was with
Napoleon in Russia in 1812, Germany in 1813, and France in 1814,
fulfilling, till the fall of the empire, the functions of
"major-general" of the _Grande Armée_. He abandoned Napoleon to make his
peace with Louis XVIII. in 1814, and accompanied the king in his solemn
entry into Paris. During Napoleon's captivity in Elba, Berthier, whom he
informed of his projects, was much perplexed as to his future course,
and, being unwilling to commit himself, fell under the suspicion both of
his old leader and of Louis XVIII. On Napoleon's return he withdrew to
Bamberg, where he died on the 1st of June 1815. The manner of his death
is uncertain; according to some accounts he was assassinated by members
of a secret society, others say that, maddened by the sight of Russian
troops marching to invade France, he threw himself from his window and
was killed. Berthier was not a great commander. When he was in temporary
command in 1809 the French army in Bavaria underwent a series of
reverses. Whatever merit as a general he may have possessed was
completely overshadowed by the genius of his master. But his title to
fame is that he understood and carried out that master's directions to
the minutest detail.




BERTHOLLET, CLAUDE LOUIS (1748-1822), French chemist, was born at
Talloire, near Annecy in Savoy, on the 9th of December 1748. He studied
first at Chambery and afterwards at Turin, where he graduated in
medicine. Settling in Paris in 1772, he became the private physician of
Philip, duke of Orleans, and by his chemical work soon gained so high a
reputation that in 1780 he was admitted into the Academy of Sciences. In
1785 he declared himself an adherent of the Lavoisierian school, though
he did not accept Lavoisier's view of oxygen as the only and universal
acidifying principle, and he took part in the reform in chemical
nomenclature carried out by Lavoisier and his associates in 1787. Among
the substances of which he investigated the composition were ammonia,
sulphuretted hydrogen and prussic acid, and his experiments on chlorine,
which he regarded, not as an element, but as oxygenated muriatic
(oxymuriatic) acid, led him to propose it as a bleaching agent in 1785.
He also prepared potassium chlorate and attempted to use it in the
manufacture of gunpowder as a substitute for saltpetre. When, at the
beginning of the French Revolution, the deficiency in the supply of
saltpetre became a serious matter, he was placed at the head of the
commission entrusted with the development of its production in French
territory, and another commission on which he served had for its object
the improvement of the methods of iron manufacture. He was also a member
in 1794 of the committee on agriculture and the arts, and technical
science was further indebted to him for a systematic exposition of the
principles of dyeing--_Élémens de l'art de la teinture_, 1791, of which
he published a second edition in 1809, in association with his son, A.B.
Berthollet (1783-1811). After 1794 he was teacher of chemistry in the
polytechnic and normal schools of Paris, and in 1795 he took an active
part in remodelling the Academy as the Institut National. In the
following year he and Gaspard Monge were chosen chiefs of a commission
charged with the task of selecting in Italy the choicest specimens of
ancient and modern art for the national galleries of Paris; and in 1798
he was one of the band of scientific men who accompanied Napoleon to
Egypt, there forming themselves into the Institute of Egypt on the plan
of the Institut National. On the fall of the Directory he was made a
senator and grand officer of the Legion of Honour; under the empire he
became a count; and after the restoration of the Bourbons he took his
seat as a peer. In the later years of his life he had at Arcueil, where
he died on the 6th of November 1822, a well-equipped laboratory, which
became a centre frequented by some of the most distinguished scientific
men of the time, their proceedings being published in three volumes,
between 1807 and 1817, as the _Mémoires de la société d'Arcueil_.
Berthollet's most remarkable contribution to chemistry was his _Essai de
statique chimique_ (1803), the first systematic attempt to grapple with
the problems of chemical physics. His doctrines did not meet with
general approval among his contemporaries, partly perhaps because he
pushed them too far, as for instance in holding that two elements might
combine in constantly varying proportions, a view which gave rise to a
long dispute with L.J. Proust; but his speculations, in particular his
insistence on the influence of the relative masses of the acting
substances in chemical reactions, have exercised a dominating influence
on the modern developments of the theory of chemical affinity, of which,
far more than T.O. Bergman, whom he controverted, he must be regarded as
the founder.




BERTHON, EDWARD LYON (1813-1899), English inventor, was born in London,
on the 20th of February 1813, the son of an army contractor and
descendant of an old Huguenot family. He studied for the medical
profession in Liverpool and at Dublin, but after his marriage in 1834 he
gave up his intention of becoming a doctor, and travelled for about six
years on the continent. Keenly interested from boyhood in mechanical
science, he made experiments in the application of the screw propeller
for boats. But his model, with a two-bladed propeller, was only
ridiculed when it was placed before the British admiralty. Berthon
therefore did not complete the patent and the idea was left for Francis
Smith to bring out more successfully in 1838. In 1841 he entered
Magdalene College, Cambridge, in order to study for the Church. There he
produced what is usually known as "Berthon's log," in which the suction
produced by the water streaming past the end of a pipe projected below a
ship is registered on a mercury column above. In 1845 he was ordained,
and after holding a curacy at Lymington was given a living at Fareham.
Here he was able to carry on experiments with his log, which was tested
on the Southampton to Jersey steamboats; but the British admiralty gave
him no encouragement, and it remained uncompleted. He next designed some
instruments to indicate the trim and rolling of boats at sea; but the
idea for which he is chiefly remembered was that of the "Berthon Folding
Boat" in 1849. This invention was again adversely reported on by the
admiralty. Berthon resigned his living at Fareham, and subsequently
accepted the living of Romsey. In 1873, encouraged by Samuel Plimsoll,
he again applied himself to perfecting his collapsible boat. Success was
at last achieved, and in less than a year he had received orders from
the admiralty for boats to the amount of £15,000. Some were taken by Sir
George Nares to the Arctic, others were sent to General Gordon at
Khartum, and others again were taken to the Zambezi by F.C. Selous.
Berthon died on the 27th of October 1899.




BERTHOUD, FERDINAND (1727-1807), Swiss chronometer-maker, was born at
Plancemont, Neuchâtel, in 1727, and settling in Paris in 1745 gained a
great reputation for the excellence and accuracy of his chronometers. He
was a member of the Institute and a fellow of the Royal Society of
London, and among other works wrote _Essais sur l'horlogerie_ (1763). He
died in 1807 at Montmorency, Seine et Oise. He was succeeded in business
by his nephew, Louis Berthoud (1759-1813).




BERTILLON, LOUIS ADOLPHE (1821-1883), French statistician, was born in
Paris on the 1st of April 1821. Entering the medical profession, he
practised as a doctor for a number of years. After the revolution of
1870, he was appointed inspector-general of benevolent institutions. He
was one of the founders of the school of anthropology of Paris, and was
appointed a professor there in 1876. His _Démographie figurée de la
France_ (1874) is an able statistical study of the population of France.
He died at Neuilly on the 28th of February 1883.

His son ALPHONSE BERTILLON, the anthropometrist, was born in Paris in
1853. He published in 1883 a work _Ethnographie moderne des races
sauvages_, but his chief claim to distinction lies in the system
invented by him for the identification of criminals, which is described
by him in his _Photographie judiciaire_, Paris, 1890 (see
ANTHROPOMETRY). He was officially appointed in 1894 to report on the
handwriting of the _bordereau_ in the Dreyfus case, and was a witness
for the prosecution before the cour de cassation on the 18th of January
1899.




BERTIN, a family of distinction in the history of French journalism. The
most important member of the family, generally regarded as the father of
modern French journalism, LOUIS FRANÇOIS BERTIN (1766-1841), known as
Bertin _aîné_, was born in Paris on the 14th of December 1766. He began
his journalistic career by writing for the _Journal Français_ and other
papers during the French Revolution. After the 18th Brumaire he founded
the paper, with which the name of his family has chiefly been connected,
the _Journal des Débats_. He was suspected of royalist tendencies by the
consulate and was exiled in 1801. He returned to Paris in 1804 and
resumed the management of the paper, the title of which had been changed
by order of Napoleon to that of _Journal de l'Empire_. Bertin had to
submit to a rigorous censorship, and in 1811 the conduct, together with
the profits, was taken over entirely by the government. In 1814 he
regained possession and restored the old title and continued his support
of the royalist cause--during the Hundred Days; he directed the
_Moniteur de Gand_--till 1823, when the _Journal des Débats_ became the
recognized organ of the constitutional opposition. Bertin's support was,
however, given to the July monarchy after 1830. He died on the 13th of
September 1841. LOUIS FRANÇOIS BERTIN DE VAUX (1771-1842), the younger
brother of Bertin _aîné_, took a leading part in the conduct of the
_Journal des Débats_, to the success of which his powers of writing
greatly contributed. He entered the chamber of deputies in 1815, was
made councillor of state in 1827, and a peer of France in 1830. The two
sons of Bertin _aîné_, EDOUARD FRANÇOIS (1797-1871) and LOUIS MARIE
FRANÇOIS (1801-1854), were directors in succession of the _Journal des
Débats_. Edouard Bertin was also a painter of some distinction.




BERTINORO, OBADIAH, Jewish commentator of the Mishnah, died in Jerusalem
about 1500. Bertinoro much improved the status of the Jews in the Holy
Land; before his migration thither the Jews of Palestine were in a
miserable condition of poverty and persecution. His commentary on the
Mishnah is the most useful of all helps to the understanding of that
work. It is printed in most Hebrew editions of the Mishnah. Surenhusius,
in his Latin edition of the last-named code (Amsterdam 1698-1703),
translated Bertinoro's commentary.




BERTINORO, a town and episcopal see of Emilia, Italy, in the province of
Forli, 8 m. S.E. direct of Forli and 5½ m. N. of the station of
Forlimpopoli, and 800 ft. above sea-level. Pop. (1901) town, 3753;
commune, 7786. The town commands a fine view to the north over the plain
of Emilia and the lower course of the Po, itself lying on the foothills
of the Apennines. It appears to have been first fortified by Frederick
Barbarossa, and its castle stood frequent sieges in the middle ages.
Polenta, 2½ m. to the south of it, was the birthplace of Francesca da
Rimini. The castle is almost entirely ruined, but the church of S.
Donato, of the Lombard period, with Byzantine capitals, is interesting;
Giosuè Carducci has written a fine ode on the subject (_La Chiesa di
Polenta_, Bologna, 1897).

  See C. Ricci, "Della Chiesa e castello di Polenta" in _Atti e Memorie
  della Deputazione di Storia patria per le prooniae di Romagna_, ser.
  iii. vol. ix. (Bologna, 1891), 1 seq.     (T. As.)




BERTOLD (1442-1504), elector and archbishop of Mainz, son of George,
count of Henneberg, entered the ecclesiastical profession, and after
passing through its lower stages, was made archbishop of Mainz in 1484.
He appears to have been a firm supporter of law and order, an enemy of
clerical abuses and a careful administrator of his diocese. Immediately
after his election as archbishop he began to take a leading part in the
business of the Empire, and in 1486 was very active in securing the
election of Maximilian as Roman king. His chief work, however, was done
as an advocate of administrative reform in Germany. During the reign of
the emperor Frederick III. he had brought this question before the diet,
and after Frederick's death, when he had become imperial chancellor, he
was the leader of the party which pressed the necessity for reform upon
Maximilian at the diet of Worms in 1495. His proposals came to nothing,
but he continued the struggle at a series of diets, and urged the
Germans to emulate the courage and union of the Swiss cantons. He gained
a temporary victory when the diet of Augsburg in 1500 established a
council of regency (_Reichsregiment_), and in 1502 persuaded the
electors to form a union to uphold the reforms of 1495 and 1500. The
elector died on the 21st of December 1504. Bertold was a man of great
ability and resourcefulness, and as a statesman who strove for an
ordered and united Germany was far in advance of his age.

  See J. Weiss, _Berthold von Henneberg, Erzbischof von Mainz_
  (Freiburg, 1889).




BERTOLD VON REGENSBURG (c. 1220-1272), the greatest German preacher of
the later middle ages, was a native of Regensburg, and entered the
Franciscan monastery there. From about 1250 onwards his fame as a
preacher spread over all the German-speaking parts of the continent of
Europe. He wandered from village to village and town to town, preaching
to enormous audiences, always in the open air; the earnestness and
straightforward eloquence with which he insisted that true repentance
came from the heart, that pious pilgrimages and the absolution of the
Church were mere outward symbols, appealed to all classes. He died in
Regensburg on the 13th of December 1272. His German sermons, of which
seventy-one have been preserved, are among the most powerful in the
language, and form the chief monuments of Middle High German prose. His
style is clear, direct and remarkably free from cumbrous Latin
constructions; he employed, whenever he could, the pithy and homely
sayings of the peasants, and is not reluctant to point his moral with a
rough humour. As a thinker, he shows little sympathy with that strain of
medieval mysticism which is to be observed in all the poetry of his
contemporaries.

  The best edition of Bertold's German sermons is that by F. Pfeiffer
  and J. Strobl (2 vols., 1862-1880; reprinted, 1906); there is also a
  modern German version by F. Göbel (4th ed., 1906). The Latin sermons
  were edited by G. Jakob (1880). See C.W. Stromberger, _Bertold von
  Regensburg, der grosste Volksredner des deutschen Mittelalters_
  (1877), K. Unkel, _Bertold von Regensburg_ (1882), and E. Bernhardt,
  _Bruder Bertold von Regensburg_ (1905); A.E. Schönbach, _Studien zur
  Geschichte der altdeutschen Predigt_ (_Publications of the Vienna
  Academy_, 1906).




BERTRAM, CHARLES (1723-1765), English literary impostor, was born in
London, the son of a silk dyer. In 1747, being then teacher of English
at the school for Danish naval cadets at Copenhagen, he wrote to Dr
William Stukeley, the English antiquarian, that he had discovered a
manuscript written by a monk named Richard of Westminster, which
corrected and supplemented the _Itinerary_ of Antoninus in Britain. He
subsequently sent to Stukeley a copy of various parts of the work and a
facsimile of a few lines of the manuscript. These were so cleverly
executed that they quite deceived the English palaeographers of the
period. Stukeley, finding that a chronicler of the fourteenth century,
Richard of Cirencester, had also been an inmate of Westminster Abbey,
identified him with Bertram's Richard of Westminster, and, in 1756, read
an analysis of the "discovery" before the Society of Antiquaries, which
was published with a copy of Richard's map. In 1757 Bertram published at
Copenhagen a volume entitled _Britannicarum Gentium Historiae Antiquae
Scriptores Tres_. This contained the works of Gildas and Nennius and the
full text of Bertram's forgery, and though Bertram's map did not
correspond with that of Richard, Stukeley discarded the latter and
adopted Bertram's concoction in his _Itinerarium Curiosum_ published in
1776. Although Thomas Reynolds in his _Iter Britanniarum_ (1799), an
edition of the British portion of Antoninus' _Itinerary_, was distinctly
sceptical as to the value of Bertram's manuscript, its authenticity was
generally accepted until the middle of the 19th century. No original of
the manuscript could then be found at Copenhagen, and B.B. Woodward,
librarian of Windsor Castle, proved conclusively, by a series of
articles in the _Gentleman's Magazine_ in 1866 and 1867, that the
supposed facsimile of calligraphy produced by Bertram was a blend of the
style of various periods, while the greater portion of the idiomatic
Latin in the book was a mere translation of 18th century English
phraseology. Nevertheless, as late as 1872, a translation of Bertram's
forgery was included in Bohn's Antiquarian Library as one of the _Six
English Chronicles_, and there is no doubt that the work had a wide and
misleading influence upon many antiquarian writers. Bertram died in
1765.




BERTRAND, HENRI GRATIEN, COMTE (1773-1844), French general, was born at
Châteauroux. At the outbreak of the Revolution, he had just finished his
studies, and he entered the army as a volunteer. During the expedition
to Egypt, Napoleon named him colonel (1798), then brigadier-general, and
after Austerlitz his aide-de-camp. His life was henceforth closely bound
up with that of Napoleon, who had the fullest confidence in him,
honouring him in 1813 with the title of grand marshal of the court. It
was Bertrand who in 1809 directed the building of the bridges by which
the French army crossed the Danube at Wagram. In 1813, after the battle
of Leipzig, it was due to his initiative that the French army was not
totally destroyed. He accompanied Napoleon to Elba in 1814, returned
with him in 1815, held a command in the Waterloo campaign, and then,
after the defeat, accompanied Napoleon to St Helena. He did not return
to France until after Napoleon's death, and then Louis XVIII. allowed
him to retain his rank, and he was elected deputy in 1830. In 1840 he
was chosen to go to bring Napoleon's remains to France. He died at
Châteauroux on the 31st of January 1844. His touching fidelity has made
his name very popular in France.




BERTRICH, a village and watering place of Germany, in the Prussian Rhine
province, in a narrow valley running down to the Mosel near Cochem. Its
waters are efficacious in cases of gout, rheumatism and biliary
affections. Pop. 500.




BÉRULLE, PIERRE DE (1575-1629), French cardinal and statesman, was born
at Sérilly, near Troyes, on the 4th of February 1575. He was educated by
the Jesuits and at the university of Paris. Soon after his ordination in
1599, he assisted Cardinal Duperron in his controversy with the
Protestant Philippe de Mornay, and made numerous converts. He founded
the Congregation of the French Oratory in 1611 and introduced the
Carmelite nuns into France, notwithstanding the opposition of the friars
of that order, who were jealous of his ascendancy. Bérulle also played
an important part as a statesman. He obtained the necessary
dispensations from Rome for Henrietta Maria's marriage to Charles I.,
and acted as her chaplain during the first year of her stay in England.
In 1626, as French ambassador to Spain, he concluded the treaty of
Monzon. After the reconciliation of Louis XIII. with his mother, Marie
de' Medici, through his agency, he was appointed a councillor of state,
but had to resign this office, owing to his Austrian policy, which was
opposed by Richelieu. Bérulle encouraged Descartes' philosophical
studies, and it was through him that the Samaritan Pentateuch, recently
brought over from Constantinople, was inserted in Lejay's _Polyglot
Bible_. His treatise, _Des Grandeurs de Jésus_, was a favourite book
with the Jansenists. He died on the 2nd of October 1629. His works,
edited by P. Bourgoing (2 vols., 1644) were reprinted, by Migne in 1857.

  See _M. de Bérulle et les Carmélites; Le Père de Bérulle et l'oratoire
  de Jésus; Le Cardinal de Bérulle et Richelieu_ (3 vols., 1872-1876),
  by the Abbé M. Houssaye; and H. Sidney Lear's _Priestly Life in France
  in the Seventeenth Century_ (London, 1873).




BERVIE, or INVERBERVIE, a royal and police burgh of Kincardineshire,
Scotland. Pop. (1901) 1207. It is situated at the mouth of Bervie Water
and is the terminus of the North British railway's branch line from
Montrose, which lies 14 m. S.W. The leading industries include
manufactures of woollens, flax and chemicals, and there is also a brisk
trade in live-stock. Bervie unites with Arbroath, Brechin, Forfar and
Montrose in returning one member (for the "Montrose burghs") to
parliament. David II., driven by stress of weather, landed here with his
queen Joanna in 1341, and, out of gratitude for the hospitality of the
townsfolk, granted them a charter, which James VI. confirmed. Hallgreen
Castle, a stronghold of the 14th century, is maintained in repair. About
one m. south is the fishing village of Gourdon (pop. 1197), where
boat-building is carried on. There is a small but steady export business
from the harbour, which has a pier and breakwater. St Ternan's, the
Romanesque parish church of Arbuthnott, 2½ m. north-west, stands on the
banks of the Bervie. In the chapel dedicated to St Mary, which was
afterwards added to it, is the burial-place of the Arbuthnotts, who took
their title from the estate in 1644. John Arbuthnot, Queen Anne's
physician and the friend of Swift and Pope, was a native of the parish.
Kinneff, 2 m. north, on the coast, is of interest as the place where the
Scottish regalia were concealed during the siege of Dunottar Castle.




BERWICK, JAMES FITZJAMES, DUKE OF (1670-1734), marshal of France, was the
natural son of James, duke of York, afterwards James II. of England, by
Arabella Churchill (1648-1730), sister of the great duke of Marlborough.
He was born at Moulins (Bourbonnais) on the 21st of August 1670. He
received his education in France at the hands of the Jesuits, and at the
age of fifteen, his father having succeeded to the throne, he was sent to
learn the business of a soldier under the famous general of the empire,
Charles of Lorraine. He served his first campaign in Hungary, and was
present at the siege of Buda. He then returned to England, was made a
colonel of the 8th Foot, and in 1687 created duke of Berwick, earl of
Teignmouth and Baron Bosworth. He then went out afresh to Hungary and was
present at the battle of Mohacz. On his return to England he was made
K.G., colonel of the 3rd troop of horse guards (Royal Horse Guards Blue)
and governor of Portsmouth, but soon afterwards the revolution forced him
to flee to France. He served under James II. in the campaign in Ireland,
and was present at the battle of the Boyne. For a short time he was left
in Ireland as commander-in-chief, but his youth and inexperience unfitted
him for the post, and he was a mere puppet in stronger hands. He then
took service in the French army, fought under Marshal Luxembourg in
Flanders, and took part in the battles of Steinkirk and Neerwinden, at
the latter of which he was taken prisoner. He was, however, immediately
exchanged for the duke of Ormond, and afterwards he served under
Villeroi. In 1695 he married the widow of Patrick Sarsfield, who died in
1698. His second marriage, with Anne Bulkeley, took place in 1700. As a
lieutenant-general he served in the campaign of 1702, after which he
became naturalized as a French subject in order to be eligible for the
marshalate. In 1704, he first took command of the French army in Spain.
So highly was he now esteemed for his courage, abilities and integrity,
that all parties were anxious to have him on their side (_Éloge_, by
Montesquieu). His tenure of the command was, however, very short, and
after one campaign he was replaced by the Marshal de Tessé. In 1705 he
commanded against the Camisards in Languedoc, and when on this expedition
he is said to have carried out his orders with remorseless rigour. His
successful expedition against Nice in 1706 caused him to be made marshal
of France, and in the same year he returned to Spain as
commander-in-chief of the Franco-Spanish armies. On the 25th of April
1707, the duke won the great and decisive victory of Almanza, where an
Englishman at the head of a French army defeated Ruvigny, earl of Galway,
a Frenchman at the head of an English army. The victory established
Philip V. on the throne of Spain. Berwick was made a peer of France by
Louis XIV., and duke of Liria and of Xereca and lieutenant of Aragon by
Philip. Thenceforward Berwick was recognized as one of the greatest
generals of his time, and successively commanded in nearly all the
theatres of war. From 1709 to 1712 he defended the south-east frontier of
France in a series of campaigns which, unmarked by any decisive battle,
were yet models of the art of war as practised at the time. The last
great event of the War of the Spanish Succession was the storming of
Barcelona by Berwick, after a long siege, on the 11th of September 1714.
Three years later he was appointed military governor of the province of
Guienne, in which post he became intimate with Montesquieu. In 1718 he
found himself under the necessity of once more entering Spain with an
army; and this time he had to fight against Philip V., the king who owed
chiefly to Berwick's courage and skill the safety of his throne. One of
the marshal's sons, known as the duke of Liria, was settled in Spain, and
was counselled by his father not to shrink from doing his duty and
fighting for his sovereign. Many years of peace followed this campaign,
and Marshal Berwick was not again called to serve in the field till 1733.
He advised and conducted the siege of Philipsburg, and while the siege
was going on was killed by a cannon-shot on the 12th of June 1734. Cool,
self-possessed and cautious as a general, Marshal Berwick was at the same
time not wanting in audacity and swiftness of action. He was a true
general of the 18th century, not less in his care for the lives of his
men than in his punctiliousness and rigidity in matters of discipline.

  The _Mémoires_ of Marshal Berwick, revised, annotated and continued by
  the Abbé Hooke, were published by the marshal's grandson in 1778.
  Montesquieu made many contributions to this.




BERWICKSHIRE, a county of Scotland, forming its south-eastern extremity,
bounded N. by Haddingtonshire and the North Sea; E. by the North Sea;
S.E. by the county of the borough and town of Berwick; S. by the Tweed
and Roxburghshire, and W. by Mid-Lothian. Its area is 292,577 acres or
457 sq. m., and it has a coast-line of 21 m. The county is naturally
divided into three districts: Lauderdale, or the valley of the Leader,
in the W.; Lammermuir, the upland district occupied by the hills of that
name in the N.; and the Merse (the March or Borderland, giving a title
to the earls of Wemyss), the largest district, occupying the S.E. The
Lammermuirs are a range of round-backed hills, whose average height is
about 1000 ft., while the highest summit, Says Law, reaches 1749 ft.
From these hills the Merse stretches to the S. and E., and is a
comparatively level tract of country. The coast is lofty, rocky and
precipitous, broken by ravines and not accessible, except at Eyemouth
Harbour, for small vessels, and at Coldingham and Burnmouth for fishing
boats. St Abb's Head, a promontory with a lighthouse upon it, rises to
310 ft. The Eye is the only river of any size which falls directly into
the sea. The others--the Leader, the Eden, the Leet and the Whiteadder
with its tributaries, the Blackadder and the Dye--all flow into the
Tweed. Of these the largest and most important is the Whiteadder, which
has its source in the parish of Whittingehame on the East Lothian side
of the Lammermuirs, and, following a sinuous course of 35 m., joins the
Tweed within the bounds or liberties of Berwick. There are small lochs
at Coldingham, Legerwood, Spottiswoode, the Hirsel, near Coldstream,
Hule Moss on Greenlaw Moor, and tiny sheets of water near Duns and
Mersington.

_Geology._--The north portion of the county embraces that part of the
Silurian tableland of the south of Scotland which stretches from the
Lammermuir Hills east to St Abb's Head. The strata consist mainly of
grits, greywackes, flags and shales, repeated by innumerable folds,
trending north-east and south-west, which are laid bare in the great
cliff section between Fast Castle and St Abb's Head. This section of the
tableland includes sediments, chiefly of Tarannon age, which form a belt
10 m. across from the crest of the Lammermuir Hills to a point near
Westruther and Longformacus. In the Earnscleuch Burn north-east of
Lauder representatives of Llandovery, Caradoc and Llandeilo rocks,
together with the Arenig cherts, appear along an anticlinal fold in the
midst of the younger strata. Again in the extreme north-west of the
county near Channelkirk and to the north of the Tarannon belt
radiolarian cherts and black shales with graptolites of Upper Llandeilo
and Caradoc age are met with. The Lower Old Red Sandstone rocks, which
rest unconformably on the folded and denuded Silurian strata, appear at
Eyemouth and Reston Junction, and at St Abb's Head are associated with
contemporaneous volcanic rocks which are evidently on the same horizon
as the interbedded lavas of Lower Old Red age in the Cheviots. The
intrusive igneous materials of this period are represented by the
granitic mass of Cockburn Law and the porphyrites of the Dirrington
Laws. The Upper Old Red Sandstone, consisting of conglomerates and
sandstones, rest unconformably alike on the Silurian platform as at
Siccar Point and on the lower division of that system. The age of these
beds has been determined by the occurrence of remains of _Holoptychius
nobilissimus_ in the sandstones at Earlston and in the Whiteadder north
of Duns. On the Black Hill of Earlston these strata are traversed by a
sheet of trachyte resembling the type of rock capping the Eildon Hills
(see ROXBURGHSHIRE: _Geology_). Overlying the strata just described
there is a succession of volcanic rocks extending from Greenlaw
southwards by Stichil and Kelso to Carham, which, at several localities,
are followed by a band of cornstone resembling that near the top of the
Upper Old Red Sandstone in the midland valley of Scotland. Next in order
comes a great development of the Cementstone group of the Carboniferous
system which spreads over nearly the whole of the low ground of the
Merse and attains a great thickness. At Marshall Meadows north of
Berwick-on-Tweed, thin bands of marine limestone occur, which probably
represent some of the calcareous beds above the Fell sandstones south of
Spittal.

_Climate and Agriculture._--Owing to the maritime position, the winter
is seldom severe in the lowland districts, but spring is a trying season
on account of the east winds, which often last into summer. The mean
annual rainfall is 30½ in. and the average temperature for the year is
47° F., for January 37° F., and for July 58.5° F. The climate is
excellent as regards both the health of the inhabitants and the growth
of vegetation. The soils vary, sometimes even on the same farm. Along
the rivers is a deep rich loam, resting on gravel or clay, chiefly the
former. The less valuable clay soil of the Merse has been much improved
by drainage. The more sandy and gravelly soils are suitable for turnips,
of which great quantities are grown. Oats and barley are the principal
grain crops, but wheat also is raised. The flocks of sheep are heavy,
and cattle are pastured in considerable numbers. Large holdings
predominate--indeed, the average size is the highest in Scotland--and
scientific farming is the rule. The labourers, who are physically well
developed, are as a whole frugal, industrious and intelligent, but
somewhat migratory in their habits. This feature in their character,
which they may have by inheritance as Borderers, has admirably fitted
them for colonial life, to which the scarcity of industrial occupation
has largely driven the surplus population.

_Other Industries._--Next to agriculture the fisheries are the most
important industry. The Tweed salmon fisheries are famous, and the
lesser rivers of the Merse are held in high esteem by anglers. Eyemouth,
Burnmouth, Coldingham and Cove are engaged in the sea fisheries. Cod,
haddock, herring, ling, lobsters and crabs are principally taken. The
season for herring is from May to the middle of September and for white
fish from October to the end of May. Coal, copper ore and ironstone
exist in too small quantities to work, and the limestone is so far from
a coal district as to be of little economic value. Earlston sends out
ginghams and woollen cloths. At Cumledge on the Whiteadder, blankets and
plaids are manufactured, and paper is made at Chirnside. The other
manufactures are all connected with agriculture, such as distilleries,
breweries, tanneries, &c. The trade is also mainly agricultural. Fairs
are held at Duns, Lauder, Coldstream and Greenlaw; but the sales of
cattle and sheep mostly take place at the auction marts at Reston, Duns
and Earlston. There are grain markets at Duns and Earlston. Berwick,
from which the county derives its name, is still its chief market. There
is, however, no legal or fiscal connexion between the county and the
borough.

The North British railway monopolizes the communications of the county.
The system serves the coast districts from Berwick to Cockburnspath, and
there is a branch from Reston to St Boswells.

_Population and Government._--The population of Berwickshire was 32,290
in 1891 and 30,824 in 1901, in which year the number of persons speaking
Gaelic and English was 74, and one person spoke Gaelic only. The only
considerable towns are Eyemouth (pop. in 1901, 2436) and Duns (2206).
The county returns one member to parliament. Lauder is the only royal
burgh, and Duns the county town, a status, however, which was held by
Greenlaw from 1696 to 1853, after which date it was shared by both towns
until conferred on Duns alone. Berwickshire forms a sheriffdom with
Roxburgh and Selkirk shires, and there is a resident sheriff-substitute
at Duns, who sits also at Greenlaw, Coldstream, Ayton and Lauder. In
addition to board and voluntary schools throughout the county, there is
a high school, which is also a technical school, at Duns, and Coldstream
and Lauder public schools have secondary departments. Duns school is
subsidized by the county council, which pays the expenses of students
attending it from a distance.

_History._--Traces of Roman occupation and of ancient British settlement
exist in various parts of the Merse. Edin's or Etin's Hall, on Cockburn
Law, 4 m. north of Duns, is still called the Pech's or Pict's House, and
is one of the very few brochs found in the Lowlands. After the Romans
withdrew (409) the country formed part of the Saxon kingdom of
Northumbria, and the inhabitants were converted to Christianity through
the missionary efforts of Modan in the 6th, and Oswald, Aidan and
Cuthbert (traditionally believed to have been born in the vale of the
Leader) in the 7th centuries. The Northmen invaded the seaboard, but the
rugged coast proved an effectual barrier. The Danes, however, landed in
886, and destroyed the nunnery at Coldingham, founded about 650 by Ebba,
daughter of Æthelfrith, king of Northumbria, after whom the adjoining
promontory of St Abb's Head was named. After the battle of Carham (1018)
the district, which then constituted part of the division of Lothian,
was annexed to Scotland. Birgham (pron. Birjam), 3½ m. west of
Coldstream, was the scene of the conference in 1188 between William the
Lion and the bishop of Durham, which discussed the attempt of the
English church to assert supremacy over the Scottish. Here also met in
1289 a convention of the Scots estates to consider the projected
marriage of Prince Edward of England to the Maid of Norway; and here was
signed in 1290 the treaty of Birgham, assuring the independence of
Scotland. During the long period of international strife the shire was
repeatedly overrun by armies of the English and Scots kings, who were
constantly fighting for the ancient frontier town of Berwick. It was
finally ceded to England in 1482, and the people afterwards gradually
settled down to peaceful pursuits. The ford at the confluence of the
Leet and Tweed near Coldstream gave access to south-eastern Scotland.
Edward I. crossed it with his army in 1296, encamping at Hutton the day
before the siege of Berwick, and it was similarly employed as late as
1640, when the marquess of Montrose led the Covenanters on their march
to Newcastle, although James VI. had already caused a bridge to be
constructed from Berwick to Tweedmouth. There are several places of
historic interest in the county. Upon the site of the nunnery at
Coldingham King Edgar in 1098 founded a Benedictine priory, which was
one of the oldest monastic institutions in Scotland and grew so wealthy
that James III. annexed its revenues to defray his extravagance, a step
that precipitated the revolt of the nobles (1488). The priory was
seriously damaged in the earl of Hertford's inroad in 1545, and Cromwell
blew up part of the church in 1650. The chancel (without aisles) was
repaired and used as the parish church. The remains contain some fine
architectural features, such as, on the outside, the Romanesque arcades
surmounted by lancet windows at the east end, and, in the interior, the
Early Pointed triforium. On the coast, about 4 m. north-west of
Coldingham, are the ruins of Fast Castle--the "Wolf's Crag" of Scott's
_Bride of Lammermoor_--situated on a precipitous headland. From Sir
Patrick Hume it passed to Sir Robert Logan of Restalrig, who is alleged
to have been one of the Gowrie conspirators, and to have intended to
imprison James VI. within its walls (1600). Four miles west is the Pease
or Peaths bridge, built by Thomas Telford in 1786 across the deep pass
which was of old one of the strongest natural defences of Scotland. The
bridge is 123 ft. high, 300 ft. long and 16 ft. wide. Near it are the
ruins of Cockburnspath Tower, once a strong fortress and supposed to be
the "Ravens wood" of the _Bride of Lammermoor_. In the south-west of the
shire besides Dryburgh Abbey (q.v.) there are, at Earlston, the remains
of the castle that was traditionally the residence of Thomas the Rhymer.
Hume Castle, the ancient seat of the Home family, a picturesque ruin
about 3 m. south of Greenlaw, is so conspicuously situated as to be
visible from nearly every part of the county. Coldstream and Lamberton,
being close to the Border, were both resorted to (like Gretna Green in
the west) by eloping couples for clandestine marriage. In Lamberton
church was signed in 1502 the contract for the marriage of James IV. and
Margaret Tudor, which led, a century later, to the union of the crowns
of Scotland and England.

  See W.S. Crockett, _Minstrelsy of the Merse_, (Paisley, 1893); _In
  Praise of Tweed_ (Selkirk, 1889); _The Scott Country_ (London, 1902);
  J. Robson, _The Churches and Churchyards of Berwickshire_ (Kelso,
  1893); F.H. Groome, _A Short Border History_ (Kelso, 1887); J. Tait,
  _Two Centuries of Border Church Life_ (Kelso, 1889); Margaret
  Warrender, _Marchmont and the Humes of Polwarth_ (Edinburgh, 1894);
  W.K. Hunter, _History of the Priory of Coldingham_ (Edinburgh, 1858).




BERWICK-UPON-TWEED, a market town, seaport, municipal borough and county
in itself, of England, at the mouth of the Tweed on the north bank, 339
m. N. by W. from London. Pop. (1901) 13,437. For parliamentary purposes
it is in the Berwick-upon-Tweed division of Northumberland. It is the
junction on the East Coast route from London to Scotland between the
North Eastern and North British railways, a branch of the company first
named running up the Tweed valley by Coldstream and Kelso. The town lies
in a bare district on the slope and flat summit of an abrupt elevation,
higher ground rising to the north and south across the river. It has the
rare feature of a complete series of ramparts surrounding it. Those to
the north and east are formed of earth faced with stone, with bastions
at intervals and a ditch now dry. They are of Elizabethan date, but
there are also lines of much earlier date, the fortifications of Edward
I. Much of these last has been destroyed, and threatened encroachment
upon the remaining relics so far aroused public feeling that in 1905 it
was decided that the Board of Works should take over these ruins,
including the Bell Tower, from the town council, and enclose them as
national relics. The Bell Tower, from which alarms were given when
border raiders were observed, is in fair preservation. There are slight
remains of the castle, which fell into disrepair after the union of the
crowns of England and Scotland. There are no traces of the churches,
monasteries or other principal buildings of the ancient town. The church
of Holy Trinity is a plain building without steeple, of the time of
Cromwell. Of modern places of worship, the most noteworthy is Wallace
Green United Presbyterian church (1859). The chief public building is
the town hall (1760), a stately classic building surmounted by a lofty
spire. Educational institutions include an Elizabethan grammar school
and a blue-coat school; and there is a local museum. Two bridges connect
the town with the south side of the Tweed. The older, which is very
substantial, was finished in 1634, having taken twenty-four years in
building. It has fifteen arches, and is 924 ft. long, but only 17 ft.
wide. A unique provision for its upkeep out of Imperial funds dates from
the reign of Charles II. The other, the Royal Border Bridge, situated a
quarter of a mile up the river, is a magnificent railway viaduct, 126
ft. high, with twenty-eight arches, which extends from the railway
station, a castellated building on part of the site of the old castle,
to a considerable distance beyond the river. This bridge was designed by
Robert Stephenson and opened by Queen Victoria in 1850.

The reach of the river from the old bridge to the mouth forms the
harbour. The entrance to the harbour is protected by a stone pier, which
stretches half a mile south-east from the north bank of the river mouth.
The depth of water at the bar is 17 ft. at ordinary tides, 22 ft. at
spring tides, but the channel is narrow, a large rocky portion of the
harbour on the north side being dry at low water. There is a wet dock of
3½ acres. Principal exports are grain, coal and fish; imports are bones
and bone-ash, manure stuffs, linseed, salt, timber and iron. The herring
and other sea fisheries are of some value, and the salmon fishery, in
the hands of a company, has long been famous. A fair is held annually
at the end of May. There are iron-works and boat-building yards.

The custom of specially mentioning Berwick-upon-Tweed after Wales,
though abandoned in acts of parliament, is retained in certain
proclamations. The title of "county in itself" also helps to recall its
ancient history. The liberties of the borough, commonly called Berwick
Bounds, include the towns of Spittal, at the mouth, and Tweedmouth
immediately above it, on the south bank of the river. The first is a
watering-place (pop. 2074), with pleasant sands and a chalybeate spa;
the second (pop. 3086) has iron foundries, engineering works and
fish-curing establishments. Berwick-upon-Tweed is governed by a mayor, 6
aldermen and 18 councillors. Area, 6396 acres.

  Very little is known of the history of Berwick before the Conquest. It
  was not until the Tweed became the boundary between England and
  Scotland in the 12th century that Berwick as the chief town on that
  boundary became really important. Until the beginning of the 14th
  century Berwick was one of the four royal boroughs of Scotland, and
  although it possesses no charter granted before that time, an
  inquisition taken in Edward III.'s reign shows that it was governed by
  a mayor and bailiffs in the reign of Alexander III., who granted the
  town to the said mayor and the commonalty for an annual rent. After
  Edward I. had conquered Berwick in 1302 he gave the burgesses another
  charter, no longer existing but quoted in several confirmations, by
  which the town was made a free borough with a gild merchant. The
  burgesses were given the right to elect annually their mayor, who with
  the commonalty should elect four bailiffs. They were also to have
  freedom from toll, pontage, &c., two markets every week on Monday and
  Friday, and a fair lasting from the feast of Holyrood to that of the
  Nativity of St John the Baptist. Five years later, in 1307, the mayor
  and burgesses received another charter, granting them their town with
  all things that belonged to it in the time of Alexander III., for a
  fee-farm rent of 500 marks, which was granted back to them in 1313 to
  help towards enclosing their town with a wall. While the war with
  Scotland dragged on through the early years of the reign of Edward
  II., the fortification of Berwick was a matter of importance, and in
  1317 the mayor and bailiffs undertook to defend it for the yearly sum
  of 6000 marks; but in the following year, "owing to their default,"
  the Scots entered and occupied it in spite of a truce between the two
  kingdoms. After Edward III. had recovered Berwick the inhabitants
  petitioned for the recovery of their prison called the Beffroi or
  Bell-tower, the symbol of their independence, which their predecessors
  had built before the time of Alexander III., and which had been
  granted to William de Keythorpe when Edward I. took the town. Edward
  III. in 1326 and 1356 confirmed the charter of Edward I., and in 1357,
  evidently to encourage the growth of the borough, granted that all who
  were willing to reside there and desirous of becoming burgesses should
  be admitted as such on payment of a fine. These early charters were
  confirmed by most of the succeeding kings, until James I. granted the
  incorporation charter in 1604; but on his accession to the English
  throne, Berwick of course lost its importance as a frontier town.
  Berwick was at first represented in the court of the four boroughs and
  in 1326 in Robert Bruce's parliament. After being taken by the English
  it remained unrepresented until it was re-taken by the Scots, when it
  sent two members to the parliament at Edinburgh from 1476 to 1479. In
  1482 the burgesses were allowed to send two members to the English
  parliament, and were represented there until 1885, when the town was
  included in the Berwick-upon-Tweed division of the county of
  Northumberland. No manufactures are mentioned as having been carried
  on in Berwick, but its trade, chiefly in the produce of the
  surrounding country, was important in the 12th century. It has been
  noted for salmon fishery in the Tweed from very early times. There was
  a bridge over the Tweed at Berwick in the time of Alexander and John,
  kings of Scotland, but it was broken down in the time of the latter
  and not rebuilt until the end of the 14th century.

  See _Victoria County History, Northumberland_; John Fuller, _History
  of Berwick-upon-Tweed_, &c. (1799); John Scott, _Berwick-upon-Tweed:
  History of the Town and Guild_ (1888).




BERYL, a mineral containing beryllium and aluminium in the form of a
silicate; its formula is Be3Al2Si6O18. The species includes the emerald
(q.v.), the aquamarine (q.v.) and other transparent varieties known as
"precious beryl," with certain coarse varieties unfit for use as
gem-stones. The name comes from the Gr. [Greek: baeryllos], a word of
uncertain etymology applied to the beryl and probably several other
gems. It is notable that the relation of the emerald to the beryl,
though proved only by chemical analysis, was conjectured at least as far
back as the time of Pliny.

Beryl crystallizes in the hexagonal system, usually taking the form of
long six-sided prisms, striated vertically and terminated with the basal
plane, sometimes associated with various pyramidal faces (see fig.). It
cleaves rather imperfectly parallel to the base. The colour of beryl may
be blue, green, yellow, brown or rarely pink; while in some cases the
mineral is colourless. The specific gravity is about 2.7, and the
hardness 7.5 to 8, so that for a gem-stone beryl is comparatively soft.
Whilst the gem-varieties are transparent, the coarse beryl may be
opaque. The transparent crystals are pleochroic--a character well marked
in emerald.

[Illustration: Crystal of beryl.]

Beryl was much prized as a gem-stone by the ancients, and Greek
intaglios of very fine workmanship are extant. The Roman jewellers,
taking advantage of the columnar form of the natural crystal, worked it
into long cylinders for ear-pendants. It was a favourite stone with the
artists of the Renaissance, but in modern times has lost popularity,
except in the form of emerald, which remains one of the most valued
gem-stones. It is notable that English lapidaries of the 18th century
often included the sard under the term beryl--a practice which has led
to some confusion in the nomenclature of engraved gems.

Beryl occurs as an accessory constituent of many granitic rocks,
especially in veins of pegmatite, whilst it is found also in gneiss and
in mica-schist. Rolled pebbles of beryl occur, with topaz, in Brazil,
especially in the province of Minas Geraes. Crystals are found in drusy
cavities in granite in the Urals, notably near Mursinka; in the Altai
Mountains, which have yielded very long prismatic crystals; and in the
mining district of Nerchinsk in Siberia, principally in the Adun-Chalon
range, where beryl occurs in veins of topaz-rock piercing granite. Among
European localities may be mentioned Elba, good crystals being
occasionally found in the tourmaline-granite of San Piero. In Ireland
excellent crystals of beryl occur in druses of the granite of the Mourne
Mountains in Co. Down, and others less fine are found in the highlands
of Donegal, whilst the mineral is also known from the Leinster granite.
It occurs likewise in the granite of the Grampians in Scotland, and is
not unknown in Cornwall, specimens having been found, with topaz,
apatite, &c., in joints of the granite of St Michael's Mount.

Many localities in the United States yield beryl, sometimes sufficiently
fine to be cut as a gem. It is found, for example, at Hiddenite and
elsewhere in Alexander county, N.C.; at Haddam and Monroe, Conn.; at
Stoneham and at Albany, in Oxford county, Maine; at Royalston, Mass.;
and at Mt. Antero, Colorado, where it occurs with phenacite. Beryl of
beautiful pink colour occurs in San Diego county, California. Coarse
beryl, much rifted, is found in crystals of very large size at Grafton
and Acworth, N.H.; a crystal from Grafton weighing more than 2½ tons. A
colourless beryl from Goshen, Mass., has been called Goshenite; whilst
crystals of coarse yellow beryl from Rubislaw quarry in Aberdeenshire,
Scotland, have been termed Davidsonite.

Beryl suffers alteration by weathering, and may thus pass into kaolin
and mica.     (F. W. R.*)




BERYLLIUM, or GLUCINUM (symbol Be, atomic weight 9.1), one of the
metallic chemical elements, included in the same sub-group of the
periodic classification as magnesium. It was prepared in the form of its
oxide in 1798 by L.N. Vauquelin (_Ann. de chimie_, 1798, xxvi. p. 155)
from the mineral beryl, and though somewhat rare, is found in many
minerals. It was first obtained, in an impure condition, in 1828 by
A.A.B. Bussy (1794-1882) and F. Wöhler by the reduction of the chloride
with potassium, and in 1855 H.J. Debray prepared it, in a compact state,
by reducing the volatilized chloride with melted sodium, in an
atmosphere of hydrogen. L.F. Nilson and O. Pettersson (_Wied. Ann._
1878, iv. p. 554) have also prepared the metal by heating beryllium
potassium fluoride with sodium; P.M. Lebeau (_Comptes rendus_,
1895-1898, vols. 120-127) has obtained it in lustrous hexagonal crystals
by electrolysing the double fluoride of beryllium and sodium or
potassium with an excess of beryllium fluoride. It is a malleable
metal, of specific gravity 1.64 (Nilson and Pettersson) and a specific
heat of 0.4079. Its melting-point is below that of silver. In a fine
state of division it takes fire on heating in air, but is permanent at
ordinary temperatures in oxygen or air; it is readily attacked by
hydrochloric and sulphuric acids, but scarcely acted on by nitric acid.
It is also soluble in solutions of the caustic alkalis, with evolution
of hydrogen a behaviour similar to that shown by aluminium. It combines
readily with fluorine, chlorine and bromine, and also with sulphur,
selenium, phosphorus, &c.

Considerable discussion has taken place at different times as to the
position which beryllium should occupy in the periodic classification of
the elements, and as to whether its atomic weight should be 9.1 or
13.65, but the weight of evidence undoubtedly favours its position in
Group II., with an atomic weight 9.1 (O=16) (see Nilson and Pettersson,
_Berichte_, 1880, 13, p. 1451; 1884, 17, p. 987; B. Brauner, _Berichte_,
1881, 14, p. 53; T. Carnelley, _Journ. of Chem. Soc._, 1879, xxxv. p.
563; 1880, xxxvii., p. 125, and W.N. Hartley, _Journ. of Chem. Soc._,
1883, xliii. p. 316). The specific heat of beryllium has been calculated
by L. Meyer (_Berichte_, 1880, 13, p. 1780) from the data of L.F. Nilson
and O. Pettersson, and appears to increase rapidly with increasing
temperature, the values obtained being 0.3973 at 20.2° C., 0.4481 at
73.2° C. and 0.5819 at 256.8° C.

  Beryllium compounds are almost wholly prepared from beryl. The mineral
  is fused with potassium carbonate, and, on cooling, the product is
  treated with sulphuric acid, the excess of which is removed by
  evaporation; water is then added and the silica is filtered off. On
  concentration of the solution, the major portion of the aluminium
  present separates as alum, and the mother liquor remaining contains
  beryllium and iron sulphates together with a little alum. This is now
  treated for some days with a hot concentrated solution of ammonium
  carbonate, which precipitates the iron and aluminium but keeps the
  beryllium in solution. The iron and aluminium precipitates are
  filtered off, and the filtrate boiled, when a basic beryllium
  hydroxide containing a little ferric oxide is precipitated. To remove
  the iron, the precipitate is again dissolved in ammonium carbonate and
  steam is blown through the liquid, when beryllium oxide is
  precipitated. This process is repeated several times, and the final
  precipitate is dissolved in hydrochloric acid and precipitated by
  ammonia, washed and dried. It has also been obtained by J. Gibson
  (_Journ. of Chem. Soc._, 1893, lxiii. p. 909) from beryl by conversion
  of the beryllium into its fluoride.

  Beryllium oxide, beryllia or glucina, BeO, is a very hard white powder
  which can be melted and distilled in the electric furnace, when it
  condenses in the form of minute hexagonal crystals. After ignition it
  dissolves with difficulty in acids. The hydroxide Be(OH)2 separates as
  a white bulky precipitate on adding a solution of an alkaline
  hydroxide to a soluble beryllium salt; and like those of aluminium and
  zinc, this hydroxide is soluble in excess of the alkaline hydroxide,
  but is reprecipitated on prolonged boiling. Beryllium chloride BeCl2,
  like aluminium chloride, may be prepared by heating a mixture of the
  oxide and sugar charcoal in a current of dry chlorine. It is
  deliquescent, and readily soluble in water, from which it separates on
  concentration in crystals of composition BeCl2·4H2O. Its vapour
  density has been determined by Nilson and Pettersson, and corresponds
  to the molecular formula BeCl2. The sulphate is obtained by dissolving
  the oxide in sulphuric acid; if the solution be not acid, it separates
  in pyramidal crystals of composition BeSO4·4H2O, while from an acid
  solution of this salt, crystals of composition BeSO4·7H2O are
  obtained. Double sulphates of beryllium and the alkali metals are
  known, e.g. BeSO4·K2SO4·3H2O as are also many basic sulphates. The
  nitrate Be(NO3)2·3H2O is prepared by adding barium nitrate to
  beryllium sulphate solution; it crystallizes with difficulty and is
  very deliquescent. It readily yields basic salts.

  The carbide BeC2 is formed when beryllia and sugar charcoal are heated
  together in the electric furnace. Like aluminium carbide it is slowly
  decomposed by water with the production of methane. Several basic
  carbonates are known, being formed by the addition of beryllium salts
  to solutions of the alkaline carbonates; the normal carbonate is
  prepared by passing a current of carbon dioxide through water
  containing the basic carbonate in suspension, the solution being
  filtered and concentrated over sulphuric acid in an atmosphere of
  carbon dioxide. The crystals so obtained are very unstable and
  decompose rapidly with evolution of carbon dioxide.

  Beryllium salts are easily soluble and mostly have a sweetish taste
  (hence the name Glucinum (q.v.), from [Greek: glukus], sweet); they
  are readily precipitated by alkaline sulphides with formation of the
  white hydroxide, and may be distinguished from salts of all other
  metals by the solubility of the oxide in ammonium carbonate. Beryllium
  is estimated quantitatively by precipitation with ammonia, and
  ignition to oxide. Its atomic weight has been determined by L.F.
  Nilson and O. Pettersson (_Berichte_, 1880, 13, p. 1451) by analysis
  of the sulphate, from which they found the value 9.08, and by G. Krüss
  and H. Moraht (_Berichte_, 1890, 23, p. 2556) from the conversion of
  the sulphate BeSO4·4H2O into the oxide, from which they obtained the
  value 9.05. C.L. Parsons (_Journ. Amer. Chem. Soc._, 1904, xxvi. p.
  721) obtained the values 9.113 from analyses of beryllium
  acetonyl-acetate and beryllium basic acetate.

  For a bibliography see C.L. Parsons, _The Chemistry and Literature of
  Beryllium_ (1909).




BERYLLONITE, a mineral phosphate of beryllium and sodium, NaBePO4, found
as highly complex orthorhombic crystals and as broken fragments in the
disintegrated material of a granitic vein at Stoneham, Maine, where it
is associated with felspar, smoky quartz, beryl and columbite. It was
discovered by Prof. E.S. Dana in 1888, and named beryllonite because it
contains beryllium in large amount. The crystals vary from colourless to
white or pale yellowish, and are transparent with a vitreous lustre;
there is a perfect cleavage in one direction. Hardness 5½-6; specific
gravity 2.845. A few crystals have been cut and faceted, but, as the
refractive index is no higher than that of quartz, they do not make very
brilliant gem-stones.




BERZELIUS, JÖNS JAKOB (1779-1848), Swedish chemist, was born at
Väfversunda Sorgard, near Linköping, Sweden, on the 20th (or 29th) of
August 1779. After attending the gymnasium school at Linköping he went
to Upsala University, where he studied chemistry and medicine, and
graduated as M.D. in 1802. Appointed assistant professor of botany and
pharmacy at Stockholm in the same year, he became full professor in
1807, and from 1815 to 1832 was professor of chemistry in the Caroline
medico-chirurgical institution of that city. The Stockholm Academy of
Sciences elected him a member in 1808, and in 1818 he became its
perpetual secretary. The same year he was ennobled by Charles XIV., who
in 1835 further made him a baron. His death occurred at Stockholm on the
7th of August 1848. During the first few years of his scientific career
Berzelius was mainly engaged on questions of physiological chemistry,
but about 1807 he began to devote himself to what he made the chief
object of his life--the elucidation of the composition of chemical
compounds through study of the law of multiple proportions and the
atomic theory. Perceiving the exact determination of atomic and
molecular weights to be of fundamental importance, he spent ten years in
ascertaining that constant for some two thousand simple and compound
bodies, and the results he published in 1818 attained a remarkable
standard of accuracy, which was still further improved in a second table
that appeared in 1826. He used oxygen--in his view the pivot round which
the whole of chemistry revolves--as the basis of reference for the
atomic weights of other substances, and the data on which he chiefly
relied were the proportions of oxygen in oxygen compounds, the doctrines
of isomorphism, and Gay Lussac's law of volumes. When Volta's discovery
of the electric cell became known, Berzelius, with W. Hisinger
(1766-1852), began experiments on the electrolysis of salt solutions,
ammonia, sulphuric acid, &c., and later this work led him to his
electrochemical theory, a full exposition of which he gave in his memoir
on the _Theory of Chemical Proportions and the Chemical Action of
Electricity_ (1814). This theory was founded on the supposition that the
atoms of the elements are electrically polarized, the positive charge
predominating in some and the negative in others, and from it followed
his dualistic hypothesis, according to which compounds are made up of
two electrically different components. At first this hypothesis was
confined to inorganic chemistry, but subsequently he extended it to
organic compounds, which he saw might similarly be regarded as
containing a group or groups of atoms--a compound radicle--in place of
simple elements. Although his conception of the nature of compound
radicles did not long retain general favour--indeed he himself changed
it more than once--he is entitled to rank as one of the chief founders
of the radicle theory. Another service of the utmost importance which he
rendered to the study of chemistry was in continuing and extending the
efforts of Lavoisier and his associates to establish a convenient system
of chemical nomenclature. By using the initial letters of the Latin
(occasionally Greek) names of the elements as symbols for them, and
adding a small numeral subscript, to show the number of atoms of each
present in a compound, he introduced the present system of chemical
formulation (see CHEMISTRY). Mention should also be made of the numerous
improvements he effected in analytical methods and the technique of the
blowpipe (_Über die Anwendung des Löthrohrs_, 1820), of his
classification of minerals on a chemical basis, and of many individual
researches such as those on tellurium, selenium, silicon, thorium,
titanium, zirconium and molybdenum, most of which he isolated for the
first time. Apart from his original memoirs, of which he published over
250, mostly in Swedish in the _Transactions_ of the Stockholm Academy,
his remarkable literary activity is attested by his _Lehrbuch der
Chemie_, which went through five editions (first 1803-1818, fifth
1843-1848) and by his _Jahresbericht_ or annual report on the progress
of physics and chemistry, prepared at the instance of the Stockholm
Academy, of which he published 27 vols. (1821-1848).




BES, or BESAS (Egyp. _Bes_ or _Besa_), the Egyptian god of recreation,
represented as a dwarf with large head, goggle eyes, protruding tongue,
shaggy beard, a bushy tail seen between his bow legs hanging down behind
(sometimes clearly as part of a skin girdle) and usually a large crown
of feathers on his head. A Bes-like mask was found by Petrie amongst
remains of the twelfth dynasty, but the earliest occurrence of the god
is in the temple of the queen Hatshepsut at Deir el Bahri (c. 1500
B.C.), where he is figured along with the hippopotamus goddess as
present at the queen's birth. His figure is that of a grotesque
mountebank, intended to inspire joy or drive away pain and sorrow, his
hideousness being perhaps supposed actually to scare away the evil
spirits. In his joyous aspect Bes plays the harp or flute, dances, &c.
He is figured on mirrors, ointment vases and other articles of the
toilet. Amulets and ornaments in the form of the figure or mask of Bes
are common after the New Kingdom; he is often associated with children
and with childbirth and is figured in the "birth-houses" devoted to the
cult of the child-god. Perhaps the earliest known instance of his
prominent appearance of large size in the sculptures of the temples is
under Tahraka, at Jebel Barkal, Nubia, at the beginning of the 7th
century B.C. As the protector of children and others he is the enemy of
noxious beasts, such as lions, crocodiles, serpents and scorpions. Large
wooden figures of Bes are generally found to contain the remains of a
human foetus. In the first centuries of our era an oracle of Besas was
consulted at Abydos, where A.H. Sayce has found graffiti concerning him,
and prescriptions exist for consulting Besas in dreams. It has been held
that Bes was of non-Egyptian origin, African, as Wiedemann, or Arabian
or even Babylonian, as W. Max Müller contends; he is sometimes entitled
"coming from the Divine Land" (i.e. the East or Arabia), or "Lord of
Puoni" (Punt), i.e. the African coast of the Red Sea; his effigy occurs
also on Greek coins of Arabia. It is remarkable also that, contrary to
the usual rule, he is commonly represented in Egyptian sculptures and
paintings full faced instead of in profile. But the connexion of the god
with Puoni may have grown out of the fact that dwarf dancers were
especially brought to Egypt from Ethiopia and Puoni.

  See K. Sethe in Pauly-Wissowa, _Realencyclopädie, s.v._; A. Wiedemann,
  _Religion of the Ancient Egyptians_ (London, 1897), p. 159; E.A.W.
  Budge, _Gods of the Egyptians_, ii. p. 284 (London); W. Max Müller,
  _Asien u. Europa_ (Leipzig, 1893), p. 310.     (F. Ll. G.)




BESANÇON, a city of eastern France, capital of the department of Doubs,
76 m. E. of Dijon by the Paris-Lyon railway. Pop. (1906) town, 41,760;
commune, 56,168. It is situated on the left bank of the river Doubs, 820
ft. above sea-level at the foot of the western Jura, and is enclosed by
hills in every direction. The Doubs almost surrounds the city proper
forming a peninsula, the neck of which is occupied by a height crowned
by the citadel; on the right bank lie populous industrial suburbs. The
river is bordered by fine quays, and in places by the shady promenades
which are a feature of Besançon. On the right bank there is a fine
bathing establishment in the Mouillère quarter, supplied by the saline
springs of Miserey. The cathedral of St Jean, the chief of the numerous
churches of the town, was founded in the 4th century but has often
undergone reconstruction and restoration; it resembles the Rhenish
churches of Germany in the possession of apses at each of its
extremities. Several styles are represented in its architecture which
for the most part is the work of the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries; the
eastern apse and the tower date from the reign of Louis XV. In the
interior there are a "Madonna and Child" of Fra Bartolommeo and a number
of other paintings and works of art. The archiepiscopal palace adjoining
the cathedral is a building of the 18th century. The church of Ste.
Madeleine belongs to the 18th and 19th centuries. The Palais de
Granvelle, in the heart of the town, was built from 1534 to 1540 by
Nicolas Perrenot de Granvella, chancellor of Charles V., and is the most
interesting of the secular buildings. It is built round a square
interior court surrounded by arcades, and is occupied by learned
societies. The hôtel de ville dates from the 16th century, to which
period many of the old mansions of Besançon also belong. The law-court,
rebuilt in recent times, preserves a Renaissance façade and a fine
audience-hall of the 18th century. Some relics of old military
architecture survive, among them a cylindrical tower of the 15th century
near the Porte Notre-Dame, the southern gate of the city, and the Porte
Rivotte, a gate of the 16th century, flanked by two round towers. The
Roman remains at Besançon are of great archaeological value. Close to
the cathedral there is a triumphal arch decorated with bas-reliefs known
as the Porte Noire, which is generally considered to have been built in
commemoration of the victories of Marcus Aurelius over the Germans in
167. It is in poor preservation and was partly rebuilt in 1820. Remains
of a Roman theatre, of an amphitheatre, of an aqueduct which entered the
town by the Porte Taillée, a gate cut in the rock below the citadel, and
an arch of a former Roman bridge, forming part of the modern bridge, are
also to be seen. Besançon has statues of Victor Hugo and of the Marquis
de Jouffroy d'Abbans (b. 1751), inventor of steam-navigation.

Besançon is important as the seat of an archbishopric, a court of appeal
and a court of assizes, as centre of an _académie_ (educational
division), as seat of a prefect and as headquarters of the VIIth army
corps. It also has tribunals of first instance and of commerce, a
chamber of commerce, a board of trade-arbitrators, an exchange and a
branch of the Bank of France. Its educational establishments include the
university with its faculties of science and letters and a preparatory
school of medicine and pharmacy, an artillery school, the lycée Victor
Hugo for boys, a lycée for girls, an ecclesiastical seminary, training
colleges for teachers, and schools of watch-making, art, music and
dairy-work. The library contains over 130,000 volumes, and the city has
good collections of pictures, antiquities and natural history. The chief
industry of Besançon is watch- and clock-making, introduced from the
district of Neuchâtel at the end of the 18th century. It employs about
12,000 workpeople, and produces about three-fourths of the watches sold
in France. Subsidiary industries, such as enamelling, are also
important. The metallurgical works of the _Société de la Franche-Comté_
are established in the city and there are saw-mills, printing-works,
paper-factories, distilleries, and manufactories of boots and shoes,
machinery, hosiery, leather, elastic fabric, confectionery and
artificial silk. There is trade in agricultural produce, wine, metals,
&c. The canal from the Rhône to the Rhine passes under the citadel by
way of a tunnel, and the port of Besançon has considerable trade in
coal, sand, &c.

As a fortress Besançon forms one of a group which includes Dijon,
Langres and Belfort; these are designed to secure Franche Comté and to
cover a field army operating on the left flank of a German army of
invasion. The citadel occupies the neck of the peninsula upon which the
town stands; along the river bank in a semicircle is the town
_enceinte_, and the suburb of Battant on the right bank of the Doubs is
also "regularly" fortified as a bridge-head. These works, and Forts
Chaudanne and Brégille overlooking the Doubs at the bend, were
constructed prior to 1870. The newer works enclose an area more suited
to the needs of modern warfare: the chain of detached forts along the
ridges of the left bank has a total length of 7½ m., and the centre of
this chain is supported by numerous forts and batteries lying between it
and the citadel. On the other bank Fort Chaudanne is now the innermost
of several forts facing towards the south-west, and the foremost of
these works connects the fortifications of the left bank with another
chain of detached forts on the right bank. The latter completely
encloses a large area of ground in a semicircle of which Besançon itself
is the centre, and the whole of the newer works taken together form an
irregular ellipse of which the major axis, lying north-east by
south-west, is formed by the Doubs.

Besançon is a place of great antiquity. Under the name of Vesontio it
was, in the time of Julius Caesar, the chief town of the Sequani, and in
58 B.C. was occupied by that general. It was a rich and prosperous place
under the Roman emperors, and Marcus Aurelius promoted it to the rank of
a _colonia_ as _Colonia Victrix Sequanorum_. During the succeeding
centuries it was several times destroyed and rebuilt. The archbishopric
dates from the close of the 2nd century, and the archbishops gradually
acquired considerable temporal power. As the capital of the free county
of Burgundy, or Franche-Comté, it was united with the German kingdom
when Frederick I. married Beatrix, daughter of Renaud III., count of
Upper Burgundy. In 1184 Frederick made it a free imperial city, and
about the same time the archbishop obtained the dignity of a prince of
the Empire. It afterwards became detached from the German kingdom, and
during the 14th century came into the possession of the dukes of
Burgundy, from whom it passed to the emperor Maximilian I., and his
grandson Charles V. Cardinal Granvella, who was a native of the city,
became archbishop in 1584, and founded a university which existed until
the French Revolution. After the abdication of Charles V. it came into
the possession of Spain, although it remained formally a portion of the
Empire until its cession at the peace of Westphalia in 1648. During the
17th century it was attacked several times by the French, to whom it was
definitely ceded by the peace of Nijmwegen in 1678. It was then
fortified by the engineer Vauban. Until 1789 it was the seat of a
_parlement_. In 1814 it was invested and bombarded by the Austrians, and
was an important position during the Franco-German War of 1870-71.

  See A. Castan, _Besançon et ses environs_ (Besançon, 1887); A.
  Guénard, _Besançon, description historique_ (Besançon, 1860).




BESANT, SIR WALTER (1836-1901), English author, was born at Portsmouth,
on the 14th of August 1836, third son of William Besant of that town. He
was educated at King's College, London, and Christ's College, Cambridge,
of which he was a scholar. He graduated in 1859 as 18th wrangler, and
from 1861 to 1867 was senior professor of the Royal College, Mauritius.
From 1868 to 1885 he acted as secretary to the Palestine Exploration
Fund. In 1884 he was mainly instrumental in establishing the Society of
Authors, a trade-union of writers designed for the protection of
literary property, which has rendered great assistance to inexperienced
authors by explaining the principles of literary profit. Of this society
he was chairman from its foundation in 1884 till 1892. He married Mary,
daughter of Mr Eustace Foster-Barham of Bridgwater, and was knighted in
1895. He died at Hampstead, on the 9th of June 1901. Sir Walter Besant
practised many branches of literary art with success, but he is most
widely known for his long succession of novels, many of which have
enjoyed remarkable popularity. His first stories were written in
collaboration with James Rice (q.v.). Two at least of these, _The Golden
Butterfly_ (1876) and _Ready-Money Mortiboy_ (1872), are among the most
vigorous and most characteristic of his works. Though not without
exaggeration and eccentricity, attributable to the influence of Dickens,
they are full of rich humour, shrewd observation and sound common-sense,
and contain characters which have taken their place in the long gallery
of British fiction. After Rice's death, Sir Walter Besant wrote alone,
and in _All Sorts and Conditions of Men_ (1882) produced a stirring
story of East End life in London, which set on foot the movement that
culminated in the establishment of the People's Palace in the Mile End
Road. Though not himself a pioneer in the effort made by Canon Barnett
and others to alleviate the social evils of the East End by the personal
contact of educated men and women of a superior social class, his books
rendered immense service to the movement by popularizing it. His
sympathy with the poor was shown in another attempt to stir public
opinion, this time against the evils of the sweating system, in _The
Children of Gibeon_ (1886).

Other popular novels by him were _Dorothy Forster_ (1884), _Armorel of
Lyonesse_ (1890), and _Beyond the Dreams of Avarice_ (1895). He also
wrote critical and biographical works, including _The French Humorists_
(1873), _Rabelais_ (1879), and lives of Coligny, Whittington, Captain
Cook and Richard Jefferies. Besant undertook a series of important
historical and archaeological volumes, dealing with the associations and
development of the various districts of London--of which the most
important was _A Survey of London_, unfortunately left unfinished, which
was intended to do for modern London what Stow did for the Elizabethan
city. Other books on _London_ (1892), _Westminster_ (1895) and _South
London_ (1899) showed that his mind was full of his subject. No man of
his time evinced a keener interest in the professional side of literary
work, and the improved conditions of the literary career in England were
largely due to his energetic and capable exposition of the commercial
value of authorship and to the unselfish efforts which Sir Walter
constantly made on behalf of his fellow-workers in the field of letters.

  See also _Autobiography of Sir Walter Besant_ (1902), with a prefatory
  note by S.S. Sprigge; the preface to the library edition (1887) of
  _Ready-Money Mortiboy_ contains a history of the literary partnership
  of Besant and Rice.




BESENVAL DE BRONSTATT, PIERRE VICTOR, BARON DE (1722-1794), French
soldier, was born at Soleure. He was the son of Jean Victor Besenval,
colonel of the regiment of Swiss guards in the pay of France, who was
charged in 1707 by Louis XIV. with a mission to Sweden, to reconcile
Charles XII. with the tsar Peter the Great, and to unite them in
alliance with France against England. Pierre Victor served at first as
aide-de-camp to Marshal Broglie during the campaign of 1748 in Bohemia,
then as aide-de-camp to the duke of Orleans during the Seven Years' War.
He then became commander of the Swiss Guards. When the Revolution began
Besenval remained firmly attached to the court, and he was given command
of the troops which the king had concentrated on Paris in July 1789--a
movement which led to the taking of the Bastille on the 14th of July.
Besenval showed incompetence in the crisis, and attempted to flee. He
was arrested, tried by the tribunal of the Châtelet, but acquitted. He
then fell into obscurity and died in Paris in 1794. Besenval de
Bronstatt is principally known as the author of _Mémoires_, which were
published in 1805-1807 by the vicomte T.A. de Ségur, in which are
reported many scandalous tales, true or false, of the court of Louis
XVI. and Marie Antoinette. The authenticity of these memoirs is not
absolutely established.




BESKOW, BERNHARD VON, BARON (1796-1868), Swedish dramatist and
historian, son of a Stockholm merchant, was born on the 19th of April
1796. His vocation for literature was assisted by his tutor, the poet
Johan Magnus Stjernstolpe (1777-1831), whose works he edited. He entered
the civil service in 1814, was ennobled in 1826 and received the title
of baron in 1843. He held high appointments at court, and was, from 1834
onwards, perpetual secretary of the Swedish academy, using his great
influence with tact and generosity. His poetry is over-decorated, and
his plays are grandiose historical poems in dramatic form. Among them
are "Erik XIV." (2 parts, 1826); and four pieces collected (1836-1838)
as _Dramatiska Studier_, the most famous of which is the tragedy of
"Thorkel Knutsson." His works include many academical memoirs, volumes
of poems, philosophy and a valuable historical study, _Om Gustav den
Tredje såsom konung och menniska_ (5 vols. 1860-1869, "Gustavus III. as
king and man"), printed in the transactions of the Swedish Academy
(vols. 32, 34, 37, 42, 44). He died on the 17th of October 1868.

  See also a notice by C. D. af Wirsen in his _Lefnadsteckningar_
  (Stockholm, 1901).




BESNARD, PAUL ALBERT (1849-   ), French painter, was born in Paris and
studied at the École des Beaux-Arts, winning the _Prix de Rome_ in 1874.
Until about 1880 he followed the academic tradition, but then broke away
completely, and devoted himself to the study of colour and light as
conceived by the impressionists. The realism of this group never
appealed to his bold imagination, but he applied their technical method
to ideological and decorative works on a large scale, such as his
frescoes at the Sorbonne, the École de Pharmacie, the Salle des Sciences
at the hôtel de ville, the mairie of the first arrondissement, and the
chapel of Berck hospital, for which he painted twelve "Stations of the
Cross" in an entirely modern spirit. A great virtuoso, he achieved
brilliant successes alike in water-colour, pastel, oil and etching, both
in portraiture, in landscape and in decoration. A good example of his
daring unconventionality is his portrait of Madame Réjane; and his close
analysis of light can be studied in his picture "Femme qui se chauffe"
at the Luxembourg in Paris.




BESOM (Old Eng. _besema_, a rod), originally a bundle of rods or twigs,
used for sweeping, &c.; a stiff broom.




BESSARABIA, a government of south-west Russia, separated on the W. and
S. from Moldavia and Walachia by the Pruth, and on the E. and N. from
the Russian governments of Podolia and Kherson by the Dniester; on the
S.E. it is washed by the Black Sea. Area, 17,614 sq. m. The northern
districts are invaded by offshoots of the Carpathians, which reach
altitudes of 800 to 1150 ft., and are cut up by numerous ravines and
river valleys. Here, however, agriculture is the prevailing occupation,
the soil being the fertile black earth. The crops principally raised are
wheat and maize, though here, as well as in other parts of the
government, barley, flax, tobacco, water-melons, gourds, fruit, wine,
saffron and madder are grown. The middle of the government is also hilly
(850-1000 ft.), and is heavily timbered, chiefly with beech, oak and
mountain-ash, and, though to a smaller extent, with birch. The districts
south of the old Roman earthworks which link the Dniester with the Pruth
along the line of the Botna, just south of Bender, consist of level
pasture-land known as the Budjak steppes. Here stock-breeding is the
predominant calling, the people owning large numbers of sheep, cattle
and horses, also goats, pigs and buffaloes. Lagoons fringe the lower
course of the Pruth and the coast of the Black Sea, and marshy ground
exists beside the Reuth and other tributaries of the Dniester. The
climate is rather subject to extremes, the mean temperature for the
year, at Kishinev, being 50° Fahr., of January 27°, and of July 72°. The
rainfall amounts to over 25 in. annually. Salt, saltpetre and marble are
the principal mineral products. Manufacturing industry is only just
beginning, wine-making (17,000,000 gallons annually), cloth-mills,
iron-works, soap-works and tanneries being the principal branches. Both
the Dniester and the Pruth are important waterways commercially, the
former being navigable up to Mogilev and the latter to Leovo (46° 30' N.
lat.). Down the Dniester come timber and wooden wares from Galicia, and
grain and wool from Bessarabia itself. Three branches of the railway
from Odessa to Poland penetrate the government and proceed towards the
Carpathians. The population numbered 988,431 in 1860 and 1,938,326 in
1897, of whom only 302,852 were urban, while 942,179 were women. In 1906
it was estimated at 2,262,400. It consists of various races, nearly
one-half (920,919 in 1897) being Moldavians, the others Little Russians,
Jews (37% in the towns and 12% in the rural districts), Bulgarians
(103,225), Germans (60,206), with some Gypsies (Zigani), Greeks,
Armenians, Tatars and Albanians. The Germans, who form some thirty
prosperous colonies in the Budjak steppes west from Akkerman, have been
settled there since about 1814. The government is divided into eight
districts, the chief towns of which are Akkerman (pop. 32,470 in 1900),
Bender (33,741 in 1900), Byeltsi (18,526 in 1897), Izmail (33,607 in
1900), Khotin (18,126), Kishinev (125,787 in 1900), Orgeyev (13,356),
and Soroki (25,523 in 1900). The capital is Kishinev. Kagul, on the
Pruth, and Reni on the Danube (the place to which Alexander of Bulgaria
was carried when kidnapped by the Russians in 1886), are small, but
lively, river-ports.

The original inhabitants were Cimmerians, and after them came Scythians.
During the early centuries of the Christian era Bessarabia, being the
key to one of the approaches towards the Byzantine empire, was invaded
by many successive races. In the 2nd century it was occupied by the
Getae, a Thracian tribe, whom the Roman emperor Trajan conquered in 106;
he then incorporated the region in the province of Dacia. In the
following century the Goths poured into this quarter of the empire, and
in the 5th century it was overrun one after the other by the Huns, the
Avars and the Bulgarians. Then followed in the 7th century the Bessi, a
Thracian tribe, who gave their name to the region, and in the 9th the
Ugrians, that is to say the ancestors of the present Magyars of Hungary,
the country being then known as Atel-kuzu. The Ugrians were forced
farther west by the Turkish tribe of the Petchenegs in the 10th century,
and these were succeeded in the 11th century by the Kumans (Comani) or
Polovtsians, a kindred Turkish stock or federation. In the 13th century
Bessarabia was overrun by the irresistible Mongols under the leadership
of Batu, grandson of Jenghiz Khan. In this century also the Genoese
founded trading factories on the banks of the Dniester. In 1367
Bessarabia was subdued and annexed by the ruling prince of Moldavia.
During the 16th century it was in the possession alternately of the
Turks and the Nogais or Crimean Tatars. From early in the 18th century
it was a bone of contention between the Ottoman Turks and the Russians,
the latter capturing it five times between 1711 and 1812. In the latter
year it was definitely annexed to Russia, and in 1829 its frontier was
pushed southwards so as to include the delta of the Danube. After the
Crimean War, however, Russia ceded to Moldavia not only this later
addition, but also certain districts in the south of the existing
government, amounting altogether to an area of 4250 sq. m. and a
population of 180,000. By the treaty of Berlin (1878) Russia recovered
of this 3580 sq. m., with a population of 127,000.

  See Nakko, _History of Bessarabia_, in Russian (1873).
       (P. A. K.; J. T. Be.)




BESSARION, JOHANNES, or BASILIUS (c. 1395-1472), titular patriarch of
Constantinople, and one of the illustrious Greek scholars who
contributed to the great revival of letters in the 15th century, was
born at Trebizond, the year of his birth being variously given as 1389,
1395 or 1403. He was educated at Constantinople, and in 1423 went to the
Peloponnese to hear Gemistus Pletho expound the philosophy of Plato. On
entering the order of St Basil, he adopted the name of an old Egyptian
anchorite Bessarion, whose story he has related. In 1437 he was made
archbishop of Nicaea by John VII. Palacologus, whom he accompanied to
Italy in order to bring about a union between the Greek and Latin
churches with the object of obtaining help from the West against the
Turks. The Greeks had bitterly resented his attachment to the party
which saw no difficulty in a reconciliation of the two churches. At the
councils held in Ferrara and Florence Bessarion supported the Roman
church, and gained the favour of Pope Eugenius IV., who invested him
with the rank of cardinal. From that time he resided permanently in
Italy, doing much, by his patronage of learned men, by his collection of
books and manuscripts, and by his own writings, to spread abroad the new
learning. He held in succession the archbishopric of Siponto and the
bishoprics of Sabina and Frascati. In 1463 he received the title of
Latin patriarch of Constantinople; and it was only on account of his
Greek birth that he was not elevated to the papal chair. For five years
(1450-1455) he was legate at Bologna, and he was engaged on embassies to
many foreign princes, among others to Louis XI. of France in 1471.
Vexation at an insult offered him by Louis is said to have hastened his
death, which took place on the 19th of November 1472, at Ravenna.
Bessarion was one of the most learned scholars of his time. Besides his
translations of Aristotle's _Metaphysics_ and Xenophon's _Memorabilia_,
his most important work is a treatise directed against George of
Trebizond, a violent Aristotelian, entitled _In Calumniatorem Platonis_.
Bessarion, though a Platonist, is not so thoroughgoing in his admiration
as Gemistus Pletho, and rather strives after a reconciliation of the two
philosophies. His work, by opening up the relations of Platonism to the
main questions of religion, contributed greatly to the extension of
speculative thought in the department of theology. His library, which
contained a very extensive collection of Greek MSS., was presented by
him to the senate of Venice, and formed the nucleus of the famous
library of St Mark.

  See A.M. Bandini, _De Vita et Rebus Gestis Bessarionis_ (1777); H.
  Vast, _Le Cardinal Bessarion_ (1878); E. Legrand, _Bibliographie
  Hellénique_ (1885); G. Voigt, _Die Wiederbelebung des klassischen
  Altertums_, ii. (1893); on Bessarion at the councils of Ferrara and
  Florence, A. Sadov, _Bessarion de Nicée_ (1883); on his philosophy,
  monograph by A. Kandelos (in Greek: Athens, 1888); most of his works
  are in Migne, _Patrologia Graeca_, clxi.




BESSBOROUGH, EARLS OF. The Ponsonby family, who have contributed many
conspicuous men to Irish and English public life, trace their descent to
Sir John Ponsonby (d. 1678), of Cumberland, a Commonwealth soldier who
obtained land grants in Ireland. His son William (1657-1724) was created
Baron Bessborough (1721) and Viscount Duncannon (1723), and the latter's
son Brabazon was raised to the earldom of Bessborough in 1739. He was
the father not only of the 2nd earl (1704-1793), but of John Ponsonby
(q.v.), speaker of the Irish House of Commons. The 2nd earl was a
well-known Whig politician, who held various offices of state; and his
son the 3rd earl (1758-1844) was father of the 4th earl (1781-1847),
first commissioner of works in 1831-1834, lord privy seal from 1835 to
1839 and lord-lieutenant of Ireland in 1846. He was succeeded by his
three sons, the 5th earl (d. 1880), 6th earl (1815-1895), a famous
cricketer and chairman of the Bessborough commission (1881) to inquire
into the Irish land system, and 7th earl (d. 1906), and the last named
by his son the 8th earl.




BESSÈGES, a town of south-eastern France, in the department of Gard, on
the Cèze, 20 m. north of Alais by rail. Pop. (1906) 7662. The town is
important for its coal-mines, blast-furnaces and iron-works.




BESSEL, FRIEDRICH WILHELM (1784-1846), German astronomer, was born at
Minden on the 22nd of July 1784. Placed at the age of fifteen in a
counting-house at Bremen, he was impelled by his desire to obtain a
situation as supercargo on a foreign voyage to study navigation,
mathematics and finally astronomy. In 1804 he calculated the orbit of
Halley's comet from observations made in 1607 by Thomas Harriot, and
communicated his results to H.W.M. Olbers, who procured their
publication (_Monatliche Correspondenz_, x. 425), and recommended the
young aspirant in 1805 for the post of assistant in J.H. Schröter's
observatory at Lilienthal. A masterly investigation of the comet of 1807
(Königsberg, 1810) enhanced his reputation, and the king of Prussia
summoned him, in 1810, to superintend the erection of a new observatory
at Königsberg, of which he acted as director from its completion in 1813
until his death. In this capacity he inaugurated the modern era of
practical astronomy. For the purpose of improving knowledge of
star-places he reduced James Bradley's Greenwich observations, and
derived from them an invaluable catalogue of 3222 stars, published in
the volume rightly named _Fundamenta Astronomiae_ (1818). In _Tabulae
Regiomontanae_ (1830), he definitively established the uniform system of
reduction still in use. During the years 1821-1833, he observed all
stars to the ninth magnitude in zones extending from -15° to +45° dec.,
and thus raised the number of those accurately determined to about
50,000. He corrected the length of the seconds' pendulum in 1826, in a
discussion re-published by H. Bruns in 1889; measured an arc of the
meridian in East Prussia in 1831-1832; and deduced for the earth in 1841
an ellipticity of 1/299. His ascertainment in 1838 (_Astr. Nach._, Nos.
365-366) of a parallax of 0".31 for 61 Cygni was the first authentic
result of the kind published. He announced in 1844 the binary character
of Sirius and Procyon from their disturbed proper motions; and was
preparing to attack the problem solved later by the discovery of
Neptune, when fatal illness intervened. He died at Königsberg on the
17th of March 1846. Modern astronomy of precision is essentially
Bessel's creation. Apart from the large scope of his activity, he
introduced such important novelties as the effective use of the
heliometer, the correction for personal equation (in 1823), and the
systematic investigation of instrumental errors. He issued 21 volumes of
_Astronomische Beobachtungen auf der Sternwarte zu Königsberg_
(1815-1844), and a list of his writings drawn up by A.L. Busch appeared
in vol. 24 of the same series. Especial attention should be directed to
his _Astronomische Untersuchungen_ (2 vols. 1841-1842), _Populäre
Vorlesungen_ (1848), edited by H.C. Schumacher, and to the important
collection entitled _Abhandlungen_ (4 vols. 1875-1882), issued by R.
Engelmann at Leipzig. His minor treatises numbered over 350. In pure
mathematics he enlarged the resources of analysis by the invention of
Bessel's Functions. He made some preliminary use of these expressions in
1817, in a paper on Kepler's Problem (_Transactions Berlin Academy_,
1816-1817, p. 49), and fully developed them seven years later, for the
purposes of a research into planetary perturbations (_Ibid._ 1824, pp.
1-52).

  See also H. Durège, _Bessels Leben und Wirken_ (Zürich, 1861); J.F.
  Encke, _Gedächtnissrede auf Bessel_ (Berlin, 1846); C.T. Anger,
  _Erinnerung an Bessels Leben und Wirken_ (Danzig, 1845);
  _Astronomische Nachrichten_, xxiv. 49, 331 (1846); _Monthly Notices
  Roy. Astr. Society_, vii. 199 (1847); _Allgemeine deutsche
  Biographie_, ii. 558-567.




BESSEL FUNCTION, a certain mathematical relation between two variables.
The _Bessel function of order m_ satisfies the differential equation

    d²u       1     du      /      m²   \
  ------- + ----- ------ + ( 1 - ------  ) u = 0,
  d[rho]²   [rho] d[rho]    \    [rho]² /

and may be expressed as the series

  [rho]^m  /     [rho]²         [rho]^4         \
  ------- ( 1 - -------- + ----------------- ... );
   2^m·m!  \    2·2m + 2   2·4·2m + 2·2m + 4    /

the function of _zero order_ is deduced by making m=0, and is equivalent
to the series

      [rho]²   [rho]^4
  1 - ------ + -------, &c.
        2²      2²·4²

O. Schlömilch defines these functions as the coefficients of the power
of t in the expansion of exp ½[rho](t - t^(-1)). The symbol generally
adopted to represent these functions is J_m([rho]) where m denotes the
order of the function. These functions are named after Friedrich Wilhelm
Bessel, who in 1817 introduced them in an investigation on Kepler's
Problem. He discussed their properties and constructed tables for their
evaluation. Although Bessel was the first to systematically treat of
these functions, it is to be noted that in 1732 Daniel Bernoulli
obtained the function of zero order as a solution to the problem of the
oscillations of a chain suspended at one end. This problem has been more
fully discussed by Sir A.G. Greenhill. In 1764 Leonhard Euler employed
the functions of both zero and integral orders in an analysis into the
vibrations of a stretched membrane; an investigation which has been
considerably developed by Lord Rayleigh, who has also shown (1878) that
Bessel's functions are particular cases of Laplace's functions. There is
hardly a branch of mathematical physics which is independent of these
functions. Of the many applications we may notice:--Joseph Fourier's
(1824) investigation of the motion of heat in a solid cylinder, a
problem which, with the related one of the flow of electricity, has been
developed by W.E. Weber, G.F. Riemann and S.D. Poisson; the flow of
electromagnetic waves along wires (Sir J.J. Thomson, H. Hertz, O.
Heaviside); the diffraction of light (E. Lömmel, Lord Rayleigh, Georg
Wilhelm Struve); the theory of elasticity (A.E. Love, H. Lamb, C. Chree,
Lord Rayleigh); and to hydrodynamics (Lord Kelvin, Sir G. Stokes).

The remarkable connexion between Bessel's functions and spherical
harmonics was established in 1868 by F.G. Mehler, who proved that a
simple relation existed between the function of zero order and the zonal
harmonic of order n. Heinrich Eduard Heine has shown that the functions
of higher orders may be considered as limiting values of the associated
functions; this relation was discussed independently, in 1878, by Lord
Rayleigh.

For the mathematical investigation see SPHERICAL HARMONICS and for
tables see TABLE, MATHEMATICAL.

  See A. Gray and G.B. Matthews, _Treatise on Bessel's Functions_
  (1895); _Encyclopädie der math. Wissenschaften_; F.W. Bessel,
  _Untersuchung des Teils der planetarischen Störungen_ (1824).




BESSEMER, SIR HENRY (1813-1898), English engineer, was born on the 19th
of January 1813, at Charlton, in Hertfordshire. Throughout his life he
was a prolific inventor, but his name is chiefly known in connexion with
the Bessemer process for the manufacture of steel, by which it has been
rendered famous throughout the civilized world. Though this process is
now largely supplemented, and even displaced, by various rivals, at the
time it was brought out it was of enormous industrial importance, since
it effected a great cheapening in the price of steel, and led to that
material being widely substituted for others which were inferior in
almost every respect but that of cost. Bessemer's attention was drawn to
the problem of steel manufacture in the course of an attempt to improve
the construction of guns. Coming to the conclusion that if any advance
was to be made in artillery better metal must be available, he
established a small iron-works in St Pancras, and began a series of
experiments. These he carried on for two years before he evolved the
essential idea of his process, which is the decarbonization of cast iron
by forcing a blast of air through the mass of metal when in the molten
condition. The first public announcement of the process was made at the
Cheltenham meeting of the British Association in 1856, and immediately
attracted considerable notice. Many metallurgists were sceptical on
theoretical grounds about his results, and only became convinced when
they saw that his process was really able to convert melted cast iron
into malleable iron in a perfectly fluid state. But though five firms
applied without delay for licences to work under his patents, success
did not at once attend his efforts; indeed, after several ironmasters
had put the process to practical trial and failed to get good results,
it was in danger of being thrust aside and entirely forgotten. Its
author, however, instead of being discouraged by this lack of success,
continued his experiments, and in two years was able to turn out a
product, the quality of which was not inferior to that yielded by the
older methods. But when he now tried to induce makers to take up his
improved system, he met with general rebuffs, and finally was driven to
undertake the exploitation of the process himself. To this end he
erected steelworks in Sheffield, on ground purchased with the help of
friends, and began to manufacture steel. At first the output was
insignificant, but gradually the magnitude of the operations was
enlarged until the competition became effective, and steel traders
generally became aware that the firm of Henry Bessemer & Co. was
underselling them to the extent of £20 a ton. This argument to the
pocket quickly had its effect, and licences were applied for in such
numbers that, in royalties for the use of his process, Bessemer received
a sum in all considerably exceeding a million sterling.

Of course, patents of such obvious value did not escape criticism, and
invalidity was freely urged against them on various grounds. But
Bessemer was fortunate enough to maintain them intact without
litigation, though he found it advisable to buy up the rights of one
patentee, while in another case he was freed from anxiety by the patent
being allowed to lapse in 1859 through non-payment of fees. At the
outset he had found great difficulty in making steel by his process--in
his first licences to the trade iron alone was mentioned. Experiments he
made with South Wales iron were failures because the product was devoid
of malleability; Mr Göransson, a Swedish ironmaster, using the purer
charcoal pig iron of that country, was the first to make good steel by
the process, and even he was successful only after many attempts. His
results prompted Bessemer to try the purer iron obtained from Cumberland
haematite, but even with this he did not meet with much success, until
Robert Mushet showed that the addition of a certain quantity of
spiegeleisen had the effect of removing the difficulties. Whether or not
Mushet's patents could have been sustained, the value of his procedure
was shown by its general adoption in conjunction with the Bessemer
method of conversion. At the same time it is only fair to say that
whatever may have been the conveniences of Mushet's plan, it was not
absolutely essential; this Bessemer proved in 1865, by exhibiting a
series of samples of steel made by his own process alone. The pecuniary
rewards of Bessemer's great invention came to him with comparative
quickness; but it was not till 1879 that the Royal Society admitted him
as a fellow and the government honoured him with a knighthood. Bessemer
died at Denmark Hill, London, on the 15th of March 1898.

Among Bessemer's numerous other inventions, not one of which attained a
tithe of the success or importance of the steel process, were movable
dies for embossed stamps, a gold paint, sugar machinery, and a ship
which was to save her passengers from the miseries of _mal de mer_. This
last had her saloon mounted in such a way as to be free to swing
relatively to the boat herself, and the idea was that this saloon should
always be maintained steady and level, no matter how rough the sea. For
this purpose hydraulic mechanism of Bessemer's design was arranged under
the control of an attendant, whose duty it was to keep watch on a
spirit-level, and counteract by proper manipulation of the apparatus any
deviation from the horizontal that might manifest itself on the floor of
the saloon owing to the rolling of the vessel. A boat, called the
"Bessemer," was built on this plan in 1875 and put on the cross-Channel
service to Calais, but the mechanism of the swinging saloon was not
found effective in practice and was ultimately removed.

  An _Autobiography_ was published in 1905.




BESSEMER, a town of Jefferson county, Alabama, U.S.A., about 12 m. S.W.
of Birmingham, a little N. of the centre of the state. Pop. (1890) 4544;
(1900) 6538, including 3695 negroes; (1910) 10,864. The town is served
by the Alabama Great Southern (Queen & Crescent route), the Louisville &
Nashville, the Kansas City, Memphis & Birmingham (St Louis & San
Francisco system), the Birmingham Southern, and the Atlanta, Birmingham
& Atlantic railways. Bessemer is situated in the midst of the iron ore
and limestone district of Alabama, in the south part of Jones' Valley
(about 3 m. wide.); to the east is the Red Ore mountain range, rich in
red haematite; to the north-west are the Warrior coalfields; to the
south-west, south and south-east are immense fossiliferous iron ore
seams and the Cahaba coalfields; in the immediate vicinity of the city
are limestone quarries, and about 18 m. north-east are the limestone
kilns of Gate City. Mining, iron smelting and the manufacture of iron
and coke are the chief industries of Bessemer; truck farming is also an
important industry. In 1900 Bessemer was the eighth city of the state in
population, second in amount of capital invested in manufacturing, and
fourth in the value of its manufactured product for the year. Bessemer
was laid out in 1887, and was incorporated in 1889.




BESSIÈRES, JEAN BAPTISTE, duke of Istria (1768-1813), French marshal,
was born near Cahors in 1768. He served for a short time in the
"Constitutional Guard" of Louis XVI. and as a non-commissioned officer
took part in the war against Spain. In the Army of the Eastern Pyrenees
and in the Army of the Moselle he repeatedly distinguished himself for
valour, and in 1796, as captain, he served in Bonaparte's Italian
campaign. At Roveredo his conduct brought him to his chief's notice, and
after Rivoli he was sent to France to deliver the captured colours to
the Directory. Hastening back to the front, he accompanied Napoleon in
the invasion of Styria in command of the "Guides," who formed the
nucleus of the later Consular and Imperial Guard. As _chef de brigade_
he next served in the Egyptian expedition, and won further distinction
at Acre and Aboukir. Returning to Europe with Napoleon, he was present
at Marengo (1800) as second-in-command of the Consular Guard, and led a
brilliant and successful cavalry charge at the close of the day, though
its effect on the battle was not as decisive as Napoleon pretended.
Promoted general of division in 1802 and marshal of France in 1804, he
made the most famous campaigns of the Grande Armée as colonel-general
of the Guard Cavalry (1805, 1806, 1807). In 1805 he had received the
Grand Eagle of the Legion of Honour, and in 1800 was created duke of
Istria. With the outbreak of the Peninsular War, Marshal Bessières had
his first opportunity of an independent command, and his crushing
victory over the Spaniards at Medina del Rio Seco (1808) justified
Napoleon's choice. When disaster in other parts of the theatre of war
called Napoleon himself to the Peninsula, Bessières continued to give
the emperor the very greatest assistance in his campaign. In 1809 he was
again with the _Grande Armée_ in the Danube valley. At Essling his
repeated and desperate charges checked the Austrians in the full tide of
their success. At Wagram he had a horse killed under him. Replacing
Bernadotte in the command of the Army of the North, a little later in
the same year, the newly-created duke of Istria successfully opposed the
British Walcheren expedition, and in 1811 he was back again, in a still
more important command, in Spain. As Masséna's second-in-command he was
present at the battle of Fuentes d'Onoro, but Napoleon never detached
him for very long, and in 1812 he commanded the Guard Cavalry at
Borodino and in the retreat from Moscow. Wherever engaged he won further
distinction, and at the beginning of the 1813 campaign he was appointed
to the command of the whole of Napoleon's cavalry. Three days after the
opening of the campaign, while reconnoitring the defile of
Poserna-Rippach, Bessières was killed by a musket-ball. Napoleon, who
deeply felt the loss of one of his truest friends and ablest commanders,
protected his children, and his eldest son was made a member of the
Chamber of Peers by Louis XVIII. As a commander, especially of cavalry,
Bessières left a reputation excelled by very few of Napoleon's marshals,
and his dauntless courage and cool judgment made him a safe leader in
independent command. He was personally beloved to an extraordinary
extent amongst his soldiers, and (unlike most of the French generals of
the time) amongst his opponents. It is said that masses were performed
for his soul by the priests of insurgent Spain, and the king of Saxony
raised a monument to his memory.

His younger brother, BERTRAND, BARON BESSIÈRES (1773-1855), was a
distinguished divisional leader under Napoleon. After serving with a
good record in Italy, in Egypt and at Hohenlinden, he had a command in
the _Grande Armée_, and in 1808 was sent to Spain. He commanded a
division in Catalonia and played a notable part at the action of Molins
de Rey near Barcelona. Disagreements with his superior, General Duhesme,
led to his resignation, but he subsequently served with Napoleon in all
the later campaigns of the empire. Placed on the retired list by the
Bourbons, his last public act was his defence of the unfortunate Ney.
The rest of his long life was spent in retirement.




BESSUS, satrap of Bactria and Sogdiana under Darius III. In the battle
of Gaugamela (1st of October 331) he commanded the troops of his
satrapy. When Alexander pursued the Persian king on his flight to the
East (summer 330), Bessus with some of the other conspirators deposed
Darius and shortly afterwards killed him. He then tried to organize a
national resistance against the Macedonian conqueror in the eastern
provinces, proclaimed himself king and adopted the name Artaxerxes. But
he was taken prisoner by treachery in the summer of 329. Alexander sent
him to Ecbatana, where he was condemned to death. Before his execution
his nose and ears were cut off, according to the Persian custom; we
learn from the Behistun inscription that Darius I. punished the usurpers
in the same way.




BEST, WILLIAM THOMAS (1826-1897), English organist, the son of a
solicitor, was born at Carlisle on the 13th of August 1826. Having
decided upon a musical career, he received his first instruction from
the cathedral organist. He applied himself especially to Bach's music,
and became a player of great skill. His successive appointments were to
Pembroke chapel, Liverpool, 1840; to a church for the blind, 1847, and
the Liverpool Philharmonic Society, 1848. For a short time (1854-1855)
he was in London at the Panopticon in Leicester Square, the church of St
Martin-in-the-Fields, and Lincoln's Inn chapel. In 1855 he returned to
Liverpool as organist of St George's Hall, where his performances
rapidly became famous throughout England. Ill-health compelled him at
last to retire in 1894. He was engaged as solo organist at all the
Handel festivals at the Crystal Palace, and also as organist at the
Albert Hall, where he inaugurated the great organ in 1871. He had been
in the receipt of a civil list pension of £100 a year since 1880, and in
1890 went to Australia to give organ recitals in the town hall of
Sydney. Best died at Liverpool on the 10th of May 1897.

His command over all the resources of his own instrument was masterly;
his series of Saturday recitals at St George's Hall, carried on for many
years, included the whole field of organ music, and of music that could
be arranged for the organ, ancient and modern; and his performances of
Bach's organ works were particularly fine. His own compositions for the
organ, chiefly comprised in the publication entitled _Organ Pieces for
Church Use_, have a strong and marked individuality. Best, unlike many
soloists, was an all-round musician, and fully acquainted with every
branch of the art. His bust, by Conrad Dressler, has been placed on the
platform in front of the Liverpool organ, as a memorial of his long
series of performances there.




BESTIA, the name of a family in ancient Rome, of which the following
were the most distinguished.

1. LUCIUS CALPURNIUS BESTIA, Roman tribune of the people in 121 B.C.,
consul in 111. Having been appointed to the command of the operations
against Jugurtha, he at first carried on the campaign energetically, but
soon, having been heavily bribed, concluded a disgraceful peace. On his
return to Rome he was brought to trial for his conduct and condemned, in
spite of the efforts of Marcus Scaurus who, though formerly his legate
and equally guilty, was one of the judges. He is probably identical with
the Bestia who encouraged the Italians in their revolt, and went into
exile (90) to avoid punishment under the law of Q. Varius, whereby those
who had secretly or openly aided the Italian allies against Rome were to
be brought to trial (Appian, _Bell. Civ._ i. 37; Val. Max. viii. 6. 4).
Both Cicero and Sallust express a high opinion of Bestia's abilities,
but his love of money demoralized him. He is mentioned in a Carthaginian
inscription as one of a board of three, perhaps an agricultural
commission.

  See Sallust, _Jugurtha_; Cicero, _Brutus_, xxxiv. 128; for the general
  history, A.H.J. Greenidge, _Hist. of Rome_, vol. i. (1904), pp. 346
  foll.

2. LUCIUS CALPURNIUS BESTIA, one of the Catilinarian conspirators,
possibly a grandson of the above. He was tribune elect in 63, and it had
been arranged that, after entering upon his office, he should publicly
accuse Cicero of responsibility for the impending war. This was to be
the signal for the outbreak of revolution. The conspiracy, however, was
put down and Bestia had to content himself with delivering a violent
attack upon the consul on the expiration of his office. This Bestia is
probably not the Lucius Calpurnius Bestia, aedile, and a candidate for
the praetorship in 57. He was accused of bribery during his candidature,
and, in spite of Cicero's defence, was condemned. In 43 he attached
himself to the party of Antony, apparently in the hope of obtaining the
consulship.

  Sallust, _Catiline_, xvii. 43; Appian, _Bell. Civ._ ii. 3; Cicero, _Ad
  Q. Fr._ ii. 3, 6.




BESTUZHEV-RYUMIN, ALEXIUS PETROVICH, COUNT (1693-1768), grand chancellor
of Russia, the second son of Count Peter Bestuzhev, the early favourite
of the empress Anne, was born at Moscow on the 1st of June 1693.
Educated abroad, with his elder brother Mikhail, at Copenhagen and
Berlin, he especially distinguished himself in languages and the applied
sciences. Peter the Great, in 1712, attached him to Prince Kurakin at
the Utrecht Congress that he might learn diplomacy, and for the same
reason permitted him in 1713 to enter the service of the elector of
Hanover. George I. took him to London in 1714, and sent him to St
Petersburg as his accredited minister with a notification of his
accession. Bestuzhev then returned to England, where he remained four
years. It was the necessary apprenticeship to his brilliant diplomatic
career. His passion for intrigue is curiously illustrated by his letter
to the tsarevich Alexius at Vienna, assuring his "future sovereign" of
his devotion, and representing his sojourn in England as a deliberate
seclusion of a zealous but powerless well-wisher. This extraordinary
indiscretion might well have cost him his life, but the tsarevich
fortunately destroyed the letter.[1] On his return to Russia he served
for two years without any salary as chief gentleman of the Bedchamber at
the court of Anne of Courland, and in 1721 succeeded Vasily Dolgoruki as
Russian minister at Copenhagen. Copenhagen was then a whirlpool of
diplomatic intrigue, for George I. was endeavouring to arm the northern
powers against Peter the Great, and this it was Bestuzhev's mission to
counteract. On the occasion of the peace of Nystad, which terminated the
21 years war between Russia and Sweden, Bestuzhev designed and struck a
commemorative medal with a panegyrical Latin inscription, which so
delighted Peter (then at Derbent) that he sent a letter of thanks
written with his own hand and his portrait set in brilliants. It was at
this time too that the many-sided Alexius invented his famous "drops,"
or _tinctura toniconervina Bestuscheffi_, the recipe of which was stolen
by the French brigadier Lamotte, who made his fortune by introducing it
at the French court, where it was known as _Élixir d'Or_.

The sudden death of Peter the Great seriously injured Bestuzhev's
prospects. For more than ten years he remained at Copenhagen, looking
vainly towards Russia as a sort of promised land from which he was
excluded by enemies or rivals. He rendered some important services,
however, to the empress Anne, for which he was decorated and made a
privy councillor. He also won the favour of Biren, and on the tragic
fall of Artemy Voluinsky in 1739 was summoned home to take his place in
the council. He assisted Biren to obtain the regency in the last days of
the empress Anne, but when his patron fell three weeks later, his own
position became extremely precarious. His chance came when the empress
Elizabeth, immediately after her accession, summoned him back to court,
and appointed him vice-chancellor. For the next twenty years, during a
period of exceptional difficulty, he practically controlled the foreign
policy of Russia. Bestuzhev rightly recognized that, at this time,
France was the natural enemy of Russia. The interests of the two states
in Turkey, Poland and Sweden were diametrically opposed, and Russia
could never hope to be safe from the intrigues of France in these three
borderlands. All the enemies of France were thus necessarily the friends
of Russia, and her friends Russia's enemies. Consequently Great Britain,
and still more Austria, were Russia's natural allies, while the
aggressive and energetic king of Prussia was a danger to be guarded
against. It was, therefore, the policy of Bestuzhev to bring about a
quadruple alliance between Russia, Austria, Great Britain and Saxony, to
counterpoise the Franco-Prussian league. But he was on dangerous ground.
The empress herself was averse from an alliance with Great Britain and
Austria, whose representatives had striven to prevent her accession; and
many of her personal friends, in the pay of France and Prussia, took
part in innumerable conspiracies to overthrow Bestuzhev. Nevertheless,
step by step, Bestuzhev, aided by his elder brother Mikhail, carried out
his policy. On the 11th of December 1742, a defensive alliance was
concluded between Great Britain and Russia. Bestuzhev had previously
rejected with scorn the proposals of the French government to mediate
between Russia and Sweden on the basis of a territorial surrender on the
part of the former; and he conducted the war so vigorously that by the
end of 1742 Sweden lay at the mercy of the empress. At the peace
congress of Åbo (January-August 1743) he insisted that the whole of
Finland should be ceded to Russia, by way of completing the testament of
Peter the Great. But the French party contrived to get better terms for
Sweden, by artfully appealing to the empress's fondness for the house of
Holstein. The Swedes, at the desire of Elizabeth, accepted Adolphus
Frederick, duke of Holstein, as their future king, and, in return,
received back Finland, with the exception of a small strip of land up to
the river Kymmene. Nor could Bestuzhev prevent the signing of a
Russo-Prussian defensive alliance (March 1743); but he deprived it of
all political significance by excluding from it the proposed guarantee
of Frederick's Silesian conquests. Moreover, through Bestuzhev's
efforts, the credit of the Prussian king (whom he rightly regarded as
more dangerous than France) at the Russian court fell steadily, and the
vice-chancellor prepared the way for an alliance with Austria by
acceding to the treaty of Breslau (1st of November 1743). A bogus
conspiracy, however, got up by the Holstein faction, aided by France and
Prussia, who persuaded Elizabeth that the Austrian ambassador was
intriguing to replace Ivan VI. on the throne, alienated the empress from
Austria for a time; and Bestuzhev's ruin was regarded as certain when,
in 1743, the French agent, the marquis de La Chétardie, arrived to
reinforce his other enemies. But he found a friend in need in M.L.
Vorontsov, the empress's confidant, who shared his political views.
Still his position was most delicate, especially when the betrothal
between the grand-duke Peter and Sophia of Anhalt-Zerbst (afterwards
Catharine II.) was carried through against his will, and Elizabeth of
Holstein, the mother of the bride, arrived in the Prussian interests to
spy upon him. Frederick II., conscious of the instability of his French
ally, was now eager to contract an offensive alliance with Russia; and
the first step to its realization was the overthrow of Bestuzhev, "upon
whom," he wrote to his minister Axel von Mardefeld, "the fate of Prussia
and my own house depends." But Bestuzhev succeeded, at last, in
convincing the empress that Chétardie was an impudent intriguer, and on
the 6th of June 1744, that diplomatist was ordered to quit Russia within
twenty-four hours. Five weeks later Bestuzhev was made grand chancellor
(July 15th). Before the end of the year Elizabeth of Holstein was also
expelled from Russia, and Bestuzhev was supreme.

The attention of European diplomacy at this time was concentrated upon
the king of Prussia, whose insatiable acquisitiveness disturbed all his
neighbours. Bestuzhev's offer, communicated to the British government at
the end of 1745, to attack Prussia if Great Britain would guarantee
subsidies to the amount of some £6,000,000, was rejected as useless now
that Austria and Prussia were coming to terms. Then he turned to
Austria, and on the 22nd of May 1746, an offensive and defensive
alliance was concluded between the two powers manifestly directed
against Prussia. In 1747, alliances were also concluded with Denmark and
the Porte. At the same time Bestuzhev resisted any rapprochement with
France, and severely rebuked the court of Saxony for its intrigues with
that of Versailles. About this time he was hampered by the persistent
opposition of the vice-chancellor Mikhail Vorontsov, formerly his
friend, now his jealous rival, who was secretly supported by Frederick
the Great. In 1748, however, he got rid of him by proving to the empress
that Vorontsov was in the pay of Prussia. The hour of Bestuzhev's
triumph coincided with the peace congress of Aix-la-Chapelle, which
altered the whole situation of European politics and introduced fresh
combinations, the breaking away of Prussia from France and a
rapprochement between England and Prussia, with the inevitable corollary
of an alliance between France and the enemies of Prussia. Bestuzhev's
violent political prejudices at first prevented him from properly
recognizing this change. Passion had always been too large an ingredient
in his diplomacy. His Anglomania also misled him. His enemies, headed by
his elder brother Mikhail and the vice-chancellor Vorontsov, powerless
while his diplomacy was faultless, quickly took advantage of his
mistakes. When, on the 16th of January 1756, the Anglo-Prussian, and on
the 2nd of May the Franco-Austrian alliances were concluded, Vorontsov
advocated the accession of Russia to the latter league, whereas
Bestuzhev insisted on a subsidy treaty with Great Britain. But his
influence was now on the wane. The totally unexpected Anglo-Prussian
alliance had justified the arguments of his enemies that England was
impossible, while his hatred of France prevented him from adopting the
only alternative of an alliance with her. To prevent underground
intrigues, Bestuzhev now proposed the erection of a council of
ministers, to settle all important affairs, and at its first session
(14th-30th of March) an alliance with Austria, France and Poland against
Frederick II. was proposed, though Bestuzhev opposed any composition
with France. He endeavoured to support his failing credit by a secret
alliance with the grand-duchess Catherine, whom he proposed to raise to
the throne instead of her Holstein husband, Peter, from whom Bestuzhev
expected nothing good either for himself or for Russia. The negotiations
were conducted through the Pole Stanislaus Poniatowski. The accession of
Russia to the anti-Prussian coalition (1756) was made over his head, and
the cowardice and incapacity of Bestuzhev's friend, the Russian
commander-in-chief, Stephen Apraksin, after the battle of
Gross-Jagersdorf (1757), was made the pretext for overthrowing the
chancellor. His unwillingness to agree to the coalition was magnified
into a determination to defeat it, though it is quite obvious that he
could only gain by the humiliation of Frederick, and nothing was ever
proved against him. Nevertheless he was deprived of the chancellorship
and banished to his estate at Goretovo (April 1759), where he remained
till the accession of Catharine II., who recalled him to court and
created him a field marshal. But he took no leading part in affairs and
died on the 21st of April 1768, the last of his race.

  See _The Sbornik of the Russian Historical Society_, vols. 1, 3, 5, 7,
  12, 22, 26, 66, 79, 80, 81, 85-86, 91-92, 96, 99, 100, 103 (St
  Petersburg, 1870, &c.); _Politische Correspondenz Friedrichs des
  Grossen_, vols. 1-21 (Berlin, 1879-1904.); R. Nisbet Bain, _The
  Daughter of Peter the Great_ (London, 1899).     (R. N. B.)


FOOTNOTE:

  [1] A copy of the letter was taken by way of precaution, beforehand,
    by the Austrian ministers, and this copy is still in the Vienna
    archives.




BESTUZHEV-RYUMIN, MIKHAIL PETROVICH, COUNT (1688-1760), Russian
diplomatist, elder brother of the foregoing, was educated at Berlin, and
was sent by Peter the Great to represent Russia at Copenhagen in 1705.
In 1720 he was appointed resident at London at a time when the English
court was greatly inflamed against Peter, who was regarded as a
dangerous rival in the Baltic; and Bestuzhev was summarily dismissed for
protesting against the lately-formed Anglo-Swedish alliance. On the
conclusion of the peace of Nystad in 1721 he was sent as ambassador to
the court of Stockholm. His first official act was the signing of a
defensive alliance between Russia and Sweden for twelve years, in 1724.
He was successively transferred to Warsaw (1726) and to Berlin (1730),
but returned to Stockholm in 1732. How far Bestuzhev was concerned in
the murder (June 28th, 1739) of the Swedish diplomatic agent Sinclair in
Silesia on his journey home from Constantinople, it is difficult to say.
It is certain that Bestuzhev sent information to his court of Sinclair's
mission, which was supposed to be hostile to Russia, and even supplied
the portrait of the envoy for recognition. The Swedish authorities are
unanimous in describing Bestuzhev as the arch-plotter in this miserable
affair; yet, while the active agents were banished to Siberia, Bestuzhev
was not even censured. The Sinclair murder led ultimately to the
Swedish-Russian War of 1741, when Bestuzhev was transferred first to
Hamburg and subsequently to Hanover, where he endeavoured to conclude an
alliance between Great Britain and Russia. On his return to Russia in
1743, he was made grand marshal, and married Anna, the widow of Paul
Yaguzhinsky, Peter the Great's famous pupil. A few months later his wife
was implicated in a bogus conspiracy got up by the French ambassador,
the marquis de La Chétardie, to ruin the Bestuzhevs (see
BESTUZHEV-RYUMIN, ALEXIUS), and after a public whipping, had her tongue
cut out and was banished to Siberia. Thither Bestuzhev had not the
manhood to follow her, but went abroad, and subsequently resumed his
diplomatic career. His last and most brilliant mission was to
Versailles, shortly after the conclusion of the coalition against
Frederick the Great, where he cut a great figure. He died at Paris on
the 26th of February 1760.

  See Robert Nisbet Bain, _The Daughter of Peter the Great_ (London,
  1899); Mikhail Sergyievich, _History of Russia_ (Rus.), vols.
  xv.-xxii. (2nd ed., St Petersburg, 1897).     (R. N. B.)




BET and BETTING (probably from O. Fr. _abeter_, to instigate, Eng.
"abet," i.e. with money). To "bet" is to stake money or something
valuable on some future contingency. Betting in some form or other has
been in vogue from the earliest days, commencing in the East with royal
and noble gamblers, and gradually extending itself westwards and
throughout all classes. In all countries where the English tongue is
spoken betting is now largely indulged in; and in the United Kingdom it
spread to such an extent amongst all grades of society, during the 19th
century, that the interference of the legislature was necessary (see
GAMING AND WAGERING). Bets can, of course, be made on any subject, and
are a common method of backing one's opinion or skill, whether at games
of cards or in any other connexion; but the commonest form of betting is
associated with the turf. In the early days of horse-racing persons who
wished to bet often failed to gratify their inclination because of the
difficulty of finding any one ready to wager. To obviate this difficulty
the professional bookmaker arose. It was perceived that if a man laid
money against a number of horses, conducting his business on discreet
principles, he would in all probability receive enough to pay the bettor
who was successful and to leave a surplus for himself; for the
"bookmaker," as the professional betting man came to be called, had
enormous advantages in his favour. He was presumably shrewd and wary,
whereas many of those with whom he dealt were precisely the opposite,
and benefit arose to him from the mistakes and miscalculations of owners
and trainers of horses, and from the innumerable accidents which occur
to prevent anticipated success; moreover, if he carried out the theory
of his calling he would so arrange his book, by what is called "betting
to figures," that the money he received would be more than he could
possibly be called upon to pay. In practice, of course, this often does
not happen, because "backers" will sometimes support two or three horses
in a race only, and the success of one may result in loss to the
bookmaker; but in the long run it has been almost invariably found that
the bookmaker grows rich and that the backer of horses loses money. It
is the bookmaker who regulates the odds, and this he does, sometimes by
anticipating, sometimes by noting, the desire of backers to support
certain animals. Such things as stable secrets can scarcely be said to
exist at the present time; the bookmaker is usually as well able as any
one else to estimate the chances of the various horses engaged in races.
Notwithstanding that the reports of a trial gallop are of comparatively
little value to any except the few persons who know what weights the
animals carried when tried, the bookmaker is extraordinarily keen, and
frequently successful, in his search for information; and on this the
odds depend.

Betting in connexion with horse-racing is of two kinds: "post," when
wagering does not begin until the numbers of the runners are hoisted on
the board; and "ante-post," when wagering opens weeks or months before
the event; though of this latter there is far less than was formerly the
case, doubtless for the reason that before the introduction of so many
new and valuable stakes attention was generally concentrated on a
comparatively small number of races. Bets on the Derby, the Oaks and the
St Leger were formerly common nearly a year before the running of the
races, and a few handicaps, such as the Chester Cup, used to occupy
attention months beforehand; the weights, of course, being published at
a much longer interval prior to the contest than is at present the rule.
As regards ante-post betting, bookmakers have their own ideas as to the
relative prospects of the horses entered. A person who wishes to back a
horse asks the price, and accepts or declines, as the case may be. If
the bet is laid it will probably be quoted in the newspapers, and other
persons who propose to wager on the race are so likely to follow suit
that it is shrewdly suspected that in not a few cases bets are quoted
which never have been laid, in order to induce the backers to speculate.
According to the public demand for a horse the price shortens. If there
is little or no demand the odds increase, the market being almost
entirely regulated by the money; so that if a great many people bet on a
certain animal the odds become shorter and shorter, till in many cases
instead of laying odds against a horse, the bookmaker comes to take
odds, that is, to agree to pay a smaller sum than he would receive from
the backer if the animal lost. Post betting is conducted on very much
the same principles. When the numbers are hoisted bookmakers proclaim
their readiness to lay or take certain odds, which vary according to the
demand for the different animals. Backers are influenced by many
considerations: by gossip, by the opinions of writers on racing, and in
many cases, unfortunately, by the advice of "tipsters," who by
advertisements and circulars profess their ability to indicate winners,
a pretence which is obviously absurd, as if these men possessed the
knowledge they claim, they would assuredly keep it to themselves and
utilize it for their own private purposes.

The specious promises of such men do infinite mischief, as they so often
appeal with success to the folly and gullibility of the ignorant, and in
recent years the extent to which betting has grown has resulted in
attempts to check it by organized means. A society for the purpose was
formed in England called the Anti-Gambling League. A bookmaker named
Dunn was summoned in 1897 for betting in Tattersall's enclosure, which
it was contended contravened the Betting House Act of 1853. This act had
been aimed against what were known as "list houses," establishments then
kept by bookmakers for betting purposes, and associated with many
disgraceful scandals. In the preamble to his bill Lord Cockburn began by
remarking that "Whereas a new form of betting has of late sprung up,"
and the Anti-Gambling League sought to argue that this included a form
of betting which had not sprung up of late but had on the contrary been
carried on without interference for many generations. The divisional
court of the queen's bench (_Hawke v. Dunn_, 13 T.L.R. 281) held that
such betting was an infringement of the act, and that the enclosure was
a "place" within the meaning of the act, and had been used by the
respondent for the purpose of betting with persons resorting thereto,
and that he was liable to be Convicted. The case was remitted to the
justices, who convicted the defendant. A somewhat similar case was
decided on the same day (_M'Inany v. Hildreth_, 1897, 13 T.L.R. 285), in
which it was held that a professional bookmaker who went to a place
known as the "pit heap" at Jarrow, to which the public had access at all
times, and made bets with persons assembled there, was properly
convicted, and that the "pit heap" itself and the place where he stood
were "places" within the meaning of the act. It was afterwards held by
the court of appeal (_Powell v. Kempton Park Racecourse Co., Ltd._,
1897, 2 Q.B. 242), in an action brought to restrain a racecourse company
from opening or keeping an enclosure on a racecourse by allowing it to
be used by bookmakers, that the words "other place" must be construed as
meaning a defined place, that the user of such a place implied some
exclusive right in the user against others, and that the racecourse
owners had not been guilty of permitting the enclosure to be used in the
manner prohibited by the act of 1853. The decision in _Hawke v. Dunn_
was disapproved of; and the House of Lords afterwards affirmed the
decision of the court of appeal.

The Street Betting Act 1906 enacted that any person frequenting or
loitering in streets or public places for the purpose of bookmaking, or
betting, or wagering, should be liable on summary conviction, in the
case of a first offence, to a fine not exceeding ten pounds, in the case
of a second offence, to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds, and in the
case of a third or subsequent offence, or in any case where he is proved
to have committed the offence of having a betting transaction with a
person under the age of sixteen years, to a fine, on conviction on
indictment, not exceeding fifty pounds or to imprisonment with or
without hard labour for a term not exceeding six months. On summary
conviction the fine is a sum not exceeding thirty pounds or imprisonment
with or without hard labour for a term not exceeding three months. A
wide definition is given to the words "street" and "public place," and
racecourses are expressly exempted from the operation of the act.

On all French racecourses (since 1866), as on others nearly everywhere
else on the continent, and likewise in the British colonies, a system of
betting known as the _Pari-Mutuel_ or Totalizator, is carried on. Rows
of offices are established behind or near the stands, on each of which
lists are exhibited containing the numbers of the horses that are to run
in the coming race. At some of these the minimum wager is five francs,
at others ten, twenty, fifty, one hundred, five hundred and in some
cases a thousand. The person who proposes to bet goes to the clerk at
one of these offices, mentions the number, as indicated on the card, of
the horse he wishes to back, and states whether he desires to bet on it
to win or for a place only. He receives a voucher for his money. After
the race the whole amount collected at the various offices is put
together and divided after a percentage has been deducted for the
administration and for the poor. As soon as this has been done, the
money is divided and the prices to be paid to winners are exhibited on
boards. These prices are calculated on a unit of ten francs. Thus, for
instance, if the winner is notified as bringing in twenty-five francs,
the meaning is that the backer receives his original stake of ten and
fifteen in addition, the money being paid immediately by another clerk
attached to the office at which the bet was made. The great French
municipalities derive considerable revenue in relief of rates from the
_Paris Mutuels_. In Japan this system was made illegal in 1908.




BETAÏNE (OXYNEURINE, LYCINE), C5H13NO3, a substance discovered in the
sugar beet (_Beta vulgaris_) in 1869 by C. Scheibler (_Ber._, 1869, 2,
p. 292). It is also found in cotton seed, in the vetch and in wheat
sprouts (E. Schulz and S. Frankfurt, _Ber._, 1893, 26, p. 2151). It may
be synthetically prepared by oxidizing choline with chromic acid (O.
Liebreich, _Ber._, 1869, 2, 13), (CH3)3N(OH)·CH2·CH2OH --> C5H13NO3 +
H2O; by heating trimethylamine with monochloracetic acid (Liebreich),
(CH3)3N + CH2Cl·COOH = (CH3)3N(Cl)·CH2·COOH (betaïne hydrochloride); and
by heating amino-acetic acid (glycocoll) with methyl iodide in the
presence of an alkali (P. Griess, _Ber._, 1875, 8, p. 1406). It
crystallizes from alcohol in large deliquescent crystals; and is readily
soluble in water, but insoluble in ether. It is a weak base. As is shown
by the various syntheses of the base, it is the methyl hydroxide of
dimethyl glycocoll. This free base readily loses water on heating and
gives an internal anhydride of constitution

          /CH2\
  (CH3)3N       CO,
          \ O /

which is the type of the so-called "betaïnes." These organic betaïnes
are internal anhydrides of carboxylic acids, which contain an ammonium
hydroxide group in the [alpha]-position. A. Hantzsch (_Ber._, 1886, 19,
p. 31) prepared the betaïnes of nicotinic, picolinic and collidine
carboxylic acids from the potassium salts of the acids, by treatment
with methyl iodide, followed by moist silver oxide. The reaction may be
shown as follows:--

    /\             /\               /\
   /  \ CO2K      /  \ CO2CH3      /  \ __CO
  |    |         |    |           |    |  |
  |    |     --> |    |       --> |    |  |
  |    |         |    |           |    |  |
  \\  /          \\  /            \\  /   |
   \\/            \\/              \\/    |
     N          H3C-N-I          H3C-N----O

The methyl betaïne of nicotinic acid is identical with the alkaloid
_trigonelline_, which was discovered in 1885 by E. Jahns in the seeds of
_Trigonella faenum-graecum_ (_Ber._, 1885, 18, p. 2518). It has also
been obtained from nicotine by A. Pictet by oxidizing the methyl
hydroxide of nicotine with potassium permanganate (_Ber._, 1897, 30, p.
2117).

  Substances closely related to betaïne are choline, neurine and
  muscarine. Choline (bilineurine, sincaline), (Gr. [Greek: cholae],
  bile), C5H15NO2 or HO·CH2·CH2·N(CH3)3·OH, first isolated by A.
  Strecker in 1862 (_Ann._ 123, p. 353; 148, p. 76), is found in the
  bile, in brain substance, and in yolk of egg in the form of lecithin,
  a complex ester of glycerin with phosphoric acid and the fatty acids.
  It is also found in combination with sinapic acid in sinapin, the
  glucoside obtained from white mustard, and can be obtained from this
  glucoside by hydrolysis with baryta water,

    C16H23NO5 + 2H2O = C5H15NO2 + C11H12O5.
     Sinapin.          Choline. Sinapic acid.

  It can be synthetically prepared by the action of trimethylamine on an
  aqueous solution of ethylene oxide (A. Wurtz, _Ann. Suppl._, 1868, 6,
  p. 201). It forms deliquescent crystals of strongly alkaline reaction,
  and absorbs carbon dioxide from the air. It is not poisonous. By
  continued boiling of its aqueous solution, it is resolved into glycol
  and trimethylamine.

  Neurine, trimethyl vinyl ammonium hydroxide (Gr. [Greek: neuron],
  nerve), CH2 : CH·N(CH3)3·OH, is a product of the putrefaction of
  albumen. It may be prepared by the action of moist silver oxide on
  ethylene dibromide and trimethylamine,

    CH2Br·CH2Br --> CH2Br·CH2N(CH3)3Br --> CH2 : CH·N(CH3)3·OH.

  It is a crystalline solid, very soluble in water, and is strongly
  basic and very poisonous. Muscarine, C5H15NO3, is an exceedingly
  poisonous substance found in many fungi. It may be obtained
  synthetically by oxidizing choline with dilute nitric acid (O.
  Schmiedeberg, _Jahresb._, 1876, p. 804). The exact constitution has
  not yet been definitely determined.




BETEL NUT. The name betel is applied to two different plants, which in
the East are very closely associated in the purposes to which they are
applied. The betel nut is the fruit of the Areca or betel palm, _Areca
Catechu_, and the betel leaf is the produce of the betel vine or pan,
_Chavica Betel_, a plant allied to that which yields black pepper. The
Areca palm is a native of the Malay Peninsula and Islands and is
extensively cultivated over a wide area in the East, including southern
India, Ceylon, Siam, the Malay Archipelago and the Philippine Islands.
It is a graceful tree with a straight, slender, unbranched stem reaching
40 or 50 ft. in height and about 1½ ft. in circumference, and bearing a
crown of 6-9 very large spreading pinnate fronds. The fruit is about the
size of a small hen's egg, and within its fibrous rind is the seed or
so-called nut, the albumen of which is very hard and has a prettily
mettled grey and brown appearance. The chief purpose for which betel
nuts are cultivated and collected is for use as a masticatory,--their
use in this form being so widespread among Oriental nations that it is
estimated that one-tenth of the whole human family indulge in betel
chewing. For this use the fruits are annually gathered between the
months of August and November, before they are quite ripe, and deprived
of their husks. They are prepared by boiling in water, cutting up into
slices, and drying in the sun, by which treatment the slices assume a
dark brown or black colour. When chewed a small piece is wrapped up in a
leaf of the betel vine or pan, with a pellet of shell lime or chunam;
and in some cases a little cardamom, turmeric or other aromatic is
added. The mastication causes a copious flow of saliva of a brick-red
colour, which dyes the mouth, lips and gums. The habit blackens the
teeth, but it is asserted by those addicted to it that it strengthens
the gums, sweetens the breath and stimulates the digestive organs. Among
the Orientals betel is offered on ceremonial visits in the same manner
as wine is produced on similar occasions by Europeans. Betel nuts are
further used as a source of catechu, which is procured by boiling the
nuts in water. The water of the first boiling becomes red and thick, and
when this is inspissated after the removal of the nuts it forms a
catechu of high astringency and dark colour called in Bombay "Kossa."
The nuts are again boiled, and the inspissated juice of the second
decoction yields a weaker catechu of a brown or reddish colour. Betel
nuts have been used by turners for ornamental purposes, and for coat
buttons on account of the beauty of their structure. At one time they
were supposed to be useful as a vermifuge. The nuts of other species of
_Areca_ are used by the poorer classes in the East as substitutes for
the genuine betel nut.

  The alkaloid arecaidine, C7H11NO2, occurs in areca or betel nuts,
  together with three other alkaloids: arecoline, C8H13NO2, guvacine,
  C6H9NO2, and arecaine, C7H11NO2. Arecaidine forms white crystals
  easily soluble in water, and difficultly soluble in alcohol.
  Chemically it is methyl-tetrahydro-nicotinic acid. Dehydration results
  in the formation of a "betaïne," which is a tetrahydro-trigonelline
  (see BETAÏNE). Arecoline is an oil, and the physiological action of
  the betel nut is alone due to this substance. Chemically it is the
  methyl ester of arecaidine. Guvacine, named from "guvaca," an Indian
  designation of the betel palm, forms white crystals. It is a secondary
  base, but its constitution is uncertain. Arecaine is
  n-methyl-guvacine.




BETHANY (mod. _el-'Azariyeh_), a village nearly 2 m. E.S.E. from
Jerusalem, on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives, 2208 ft. above
the sea. It is interesting as the residence of Lazarus and his sisters,
and a favourite retreat of Jesus (see especially John xi., which
describes the miracle of the resurrection of Lazarus at this place).
From the 4th century down to the time of the Mahommedan invasion several
ecclesiastical buildings were erected on the spot, but of these no
distinct traces remain. El-'Azariyeh is a poor village of about thirty
families, with few marks of antiquity; there is no reason to believe
that the houses of Mary and Martha and of Simon the Leper, or the
sepulchre of Lazarus, still shown by the monks, have any claim to the
names they bear. Another Bethany (with the alternative reading
Bethabara) is mentioned in John i. 28, as "beyond Jordan"; it has not
been identified.




BETHEL (Heb. "House of God"), originally called _Luz_, an ancient city
of Palestine, on the N.W. border of the tribe of Benjamin, 11 m. N. of
Jerusalem and nearly 2900 ft. above sea-level. From very early times it
was a holy place, a circumstance probably due primarily to a very
extraordinary group of boulders and rock-outcrops north of the town.
Abraham recognized its sanctity (Gen. xii. 8); Jacob, in ignorance,
slept in the sacred enclosure and was granted a vision ("Jacob's
ladder," Gen. xxviii). For a while the ark seems to have been deposited
here (Judg. xx. 27), and it was a place for consulting the oracle (Judg.
xx. 18). At the secession of the northern kingdom under Jeroboam, Bethel
became a royal residence and a national shrine (1 Kings xii. 29-31, Amos
vii. 13), for which its position at the junction of main roads from N.
to S. and E. to W. well fitted it. It was taken from Jeroboam by Abijah,
king of Judah (2 Chr. xiii. 19). It seems to have continued to flourish
down into the Christian era; remains of its ecclesiastical buildings
still exist. The present village, which bears the name of Beitin,
occupies about three or four acres, and has a population of 2000.




BÉTHENCOURT, JEAN DE (c. 1360-1422), French explorer, belonged to a
noble family of Normandy, and held important offices at the court of
Charles VI., king of France. His spirit was fired by hearing of the
deeds of explorers and adventurers, and having formed a plan to conquer
the Canary Islands he raised some money by pledging his Norman estates,
and sailed from La Rochelle on the 1st of May 1402 with two ships,
commanded by himself and Gadifer de la Salle. He was delayed by a mutiny
off the coast of Spain, but reached the island of Lanzarote in July.
Unable to carry out his project of conquest, he left his men at the
Canaries and went to seek help at the court of Castile. He obtained men
and provisions from Henry III. king of Castile, through the good offices
of his uncle, Robert de Braquemont, who had considerable influence with
Henry; he also received the title of king, and did homage to Henry for
his future conquests. Returning to the Canaries in 1404 he found that
Gadifer de la Salle had conquered Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, and
explored other islands. La Salle, unwilling to accept a position of
inferiority, left the Canaries and appealed unsuccessfully for redress
at the court of Castile. Béthencourt was unable to complete his work of
conquest and exploration. In 1405 he visited Normandy, and returned with
fresh colonists who occupied Hierro. In December 1406 he left the
islands to the government of his nephew, Maciot de Béthencourt,
reserving for himself the royal title and a share in any profits
obtained. He returned to Normandy, where he appears to have spent the
remainder of his days. He died in 1422, and was buried in the church of
Grainville-la-Teinturière. Béthencourt wrote a very untrustworthy
account of his "conquest of the Canary Islands," _Le Canarien, livre de
la conquête et conversion ses Canaries_. This has been published with
introduction and notes by G. Gravier (Rouen, 1874), and an English
translation was edited by R.H. Major for the Hakluyt Society (London,
1872).

  See also CANARY ISLANDS, for the controversy as to the relations
  between Béthencourt and La Salle.




BETHESDA (i.e. "House of Mercy," John v. 2), better perhaps BETHZATHA or
BETHSAIDA, a pool or public bath in Jerusalem, where miraculous cures
were believed to be performed. The following identifications have been
suggested: _Birket Isra'il_, near St Stephen's gate; a large cistern,
near St Anne's church; the "Twin Pools," north of the Haram (the ancient
Temple area); the _Hammam esh-Shifa'_ or pool of healing, west of the
Haram; the Virgin's fountain, south of the Haram; and the "Pool of
Siloam." Which, if any, of these identifications is correct, it is
impossible to say.




BETHESDA, an urban district of Carnarvonshire, N. Wales, 5 m. from
Bangor, by a branch of the London & North-Western railway. Pop. (1901)
5281. It lies near the lower end of the fine Nant Ffrancon (valley of
the Ogwen stream). The scriptural name is due, as often in Wales, to the
village or hamlet taking its title from the Nonconformist church. Here
are extensive slate quarries belonging to Lord Penrhyn. A narrow-gauge
railway connects these with Port Penrhyn, at the mouth of the stream
Cegid (hemlock, "_cicuta_"), which admits the entry of vessels of 300
tons to the quay at low water.




BETH-HORON ("the place of the hollow way"), the name of two neighbouring
villages, upper and lower Beth-horon, on the ascent from the coast plain
of Palestine to the high tableland of Benjamin, which was until the 16th
century the high road from Jerusalem to the sea. The two towns thus
played a conspicuous part in Israelitish military history (see Josh. x.
10; 1 Sam. xiii. 18; 1 Kings ix. 17; 1 Macc. iii. 13-24, vii. 39 ff.,
ix. 50). Josephus (_Bell. Jud._ ii. 19) tells of the rout of a Roman
army under Cestius Gallus in A.D. 66. The Talmud states that many rabbis
were born in the place. It is now represented by Beit 'Ur-el-foka and
Beit 'Ur-et-tahta.




BETHLEHEM (Heb. "House of Bread," or, according to a more questionable
etymology, "of [the god] Lakhmu"), a small town in Palestine, situated
on a limestone ridge (2550 ft. above sea-level), 5 m. S. of Jerusalem.
The neighbourhood produces wheat, barley, olives and vines in abundance.
It was occupied in very early times, though the references in Judges
xvii., xix., and Ruth[1] are of doubtful date. It was the early home of
David and of Joab (2 Sam. ii. 32). It was fortified by Rehoboam, and in
the neighbouring inn of Chimham the murderers of Gedaliah took refuge
(Jer. xli. 17). Micah (v. 2) and other writers speak of it as
Bethlehem-Ephrathah; perhaps Ephrathah was the name of the district.
Almost complete obscurity, however, was gathering round it when it
became (according to Matt. ii. and Luke ii.) the birthplace of Jesus.
The traditional scene of the Nativity, a grotto on the eastern part of
the ridge, is alleged to have been desecrated during the reign of
Hadrian by a temple of Adonis. In 330 it was enclosed by a basilica
built by the orders of the emperor Constantine. This basilica (S. Maria
a Praesepio), which is still standing, was restored and added to by
Justinian, and was later surrounded by the three convents successively
erected by the Greek, Latin and Armenian Churches (see de Vogüé, _Les
Églises de la Terre Sainte_). Captured by the Crusaders in the 11th
century, Bethlehem was made an episcopal see; but the bishopric soon
sank to a titular dignity. Beside the grotto of the Nativity other
traditional sites are shown within the church, such as the Altar of the
Magi, the Tomb of Eusebius, the cave wherein Jerome made his translation
of the Bible, &c.

There are several monasteries and convents, and British, French and
German schools. The village is well built and comparatively clean. The
population (8000) has contained few Moslems since the Moslem quarter was
destroyed by Ibrahim Pasha, in revenge for the murder of one of his
favourites, after the insurrection of 1834. The carving of crucifixes
and other sacred mementoes gives employment to a large proportion of the
population. In 1850 a dispute arose between France and Russia, in the
name of the Latin and Greek Churches respectively, concerning the
possession of the key of the chief door of the basilica, and concerning
the right to place a silver star, with the arms of France, in the grotto
of the Nativity. The Porte, after much futile temporizing, yielded to
France. The disappointment thus inflicted on Russia was a determining
cause of the outbreak of the Crimean War (see Kinglake, _Invasion of the
Crimea_, chap. iii.). [There is a tiny village of the same name in
Zebulun, 7 m. N.W. of Nazareth (Josh. xv. 19).]

  See bibliography under PALESTINE. For the modern town see Palmer, "Das
  jetzige Bethlehem," in the _Zeitschrift_ of the Deutsche
  Palästina-Verein, xvii. p. 89.     (R. A. S. M.)


FOOTNOTE:

  [1] The country of Moab is clearly visible from around Bethlehem.




BETHLEHEM, a borough of Northampton and Lehigh counties, Pennsylvania,
U.S.A., on the N. bank of the Lehigh river, opposite South Bethlehem and
55 m. N. by W. of Philadelphia. Pop. (1890) 6762; (1900) 7293 (350
foreign-born); (1910) 12,837. It is served by the Central of New Jersey,
the Lehigh & New England, the Lehigh Valley and the Philadelphia &
Reading railways, and is connected by two long bridges with South
Bethlehem. The borough lies on a ridge of ground commanding delightful
landscape scenery extending north up the course of the river to the Blue
Mountains 20 m. away. In Church Street and its vicinity still stand
several specimens of the 17th-century style of architecture of eastern
Germany. The same sect that erected these buildings, the Moravians, or
United Brethren, maintain here the Moravian College and Theological
Seminary, and a well-known school for girls (the Moravian Seminary),
founded as a church boarding school in 1749 and reorganized in 1785, for
girls of all denominations. During the War of Independence, from
December 1776 to April 1777, and from September 1777 to April 1778, the
old Colonial Hall in this seminary (built 1748) was used as a general
hospital of the continental army. From its roof the famous Moravian
trombones were long played on festal or funeral occasions, and later
summoned the people to musical festivals. The Moravians have given
Bethlehem a national reputation as a musical centre. Only a few years
after the city was founded, Benjamin Franklin was strongly impressed
with the fine music in its church, and towards the close of the 19th
century a choir under the direction of the organist, J. Frederick Wolle,
became widely known by rendering for the first time in America Bach's
_St John Passion_ (in 1888), followed after short intervals by the _St
Matthew Passion_, the _Christmas Oratorio_, the _Mass in B Minor_, and
finally by an annual Bach festival continuing for three days, which was
discontinued after Wolle's removal to the university of California in
1905. Bethlehem has often been called the American Bayreuth. Among the
borough's industrial establishments, the manufactories of iron and steel
are the most important, but it also manufactures brass, zinc, and silk
and knit goods. The municipality owns and operates its waterworks.
Bethlehem was founded by the Moravians, led by Count Nikolaus Ludwig
Zinzendorf, shortly before Christmas in 1741, and the season of the year
suggested its name; for the first century of its existence it was almost
exclusively a settlement of that sect, and it is still their American
headquarters. Bethlehem was incorporated as a borough in 1845. In 1904
the borough of West Bethlehem (pop. in 1900, 3465) was consolidated with
Bethlehem.

  See J.M. Levering, _A History of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania_ (Bethlehem,
  1903).




BETHLEHEMITES, a name borne at different times by three orders in the
Roman Catholic Church. (1) A community of friars at Cambridge, in 1257,
whose habit was distinguished from that of the ordinary Dominicans by a
five-rayed red star (in reference to Matt. ii. 9 f). (2) An order of
knighthood similar to the Knights of St John, established by Pius II. in
1459 to resist the inroads of the Turks. (3) The Bethlehemite Order of
Guatemala, a nursing community founded in 1650 by Pedro Betancourt (d.
1667), extended by the brothers Rodrigo and Antonio of the Cross, and
raised to an order by Innocent XI. in 1687. They wore a dress like that
of the Capuchins, and Clement XI. in 1707 gave them the privileges of
the mendicant orders. They spread throughout Central America and Mexico
and as far south as Lima, and with the order of sisters, founded in 1668
by Anna Maria del Galdo, were conspicuous for their devotion during
times of plague and other contagious diseases. This order became extinct
about 1850. The name Bethlehemites has also sometimes been given to the
Hussites of Bohemia because their leader preached in the Bethlehem
church at Prague.




BETHLEN, GABRIEL (GÁBOR) (1580-1629), prince of Transylvania, the most
famous representative of the Iktári branch of a very ancient Hungarian
family, was born at Illyé, and educated at Szarhegy, at the castle of
his uncle András Lázár. Thence he was sent to the court of Prince
Zsigmond Báthory, whom he accompanied on his famous Wallachian campaign
in 1600. Subsequently he assisted Stephen Bocskay to mount the throne of
Transylvania (1605), and remained his chief counsellor. Bethlen also
supported Bocskay's successor Gabriel Báthory (1608-1613), but the
prince became jealous of Bethlen's superior abilities, and he was
obliged to take refuge with the Turks. In 1613 he led a large army
against his persecutor, on whose murder by two of his officers that year
Bethlen was placed on the throne by the Porte, in opposition to the
wishes of the emperor, who preferred a prince who would incline more
towards Vienna than towards Constantinople. On the 13th of October 1613,
the diet of Klausenburg confirmed the choice of the sultan. In 1615
Gábor was also officially recognized by the emperor Matthias. Bethlen no
sooner felt firmly seated on his throne than he seized the opportunity
presented to him by the outbreak of the Thirty Years' War to take up
arms in defence of the liberties and the constitution of the
extra-Transylvanian Hungarian provinces, with the view of more
effectually assuring his own position. While Ferdinand was occupied with
the Bohemian rebels, Bethlen led his armies into Hungary (1619), and
soon won over the whole of the northern counties, even securing
Pressburg and the Holy Crown. Nevertheless he was not averse to a peace,
nor to a preliminary suspension of hostilities, and negotiations were
opened at Pressburg, Kassa and Beszterczebánya successively, but came to
nothing because Bethlen insisted on including the Bohemians in the
peace, whereupon (20th of August 1620) the estates of North Hungary
elected him king. Bethlen accepted the title but refused to be crowned,
and war was resumed, till the defeat of the Czechs at the battle of the
White Hill gave a new turn to affairs. In Bohemia, Ferdinand II. took a
fearful revenge upon the vanquished; and Bethlen, regarding a
continuation of the war as unprofitable, concluded the peace of
Nikolsburg (31st of December 1621), renouncing the royal title on
condition that Ferdinand confirmed the peace of Vienna (which had
granted full liberty of worship to the Protestants) and engaged to
summon a general diet within six months. For himself Bethlen secured the
title of prince of the Empire, the seven counties of the Upper Theiss,
and the fortresses of Tokaj, Munkács and Ecsed. Subsequently Bethlen
twice (1623 and 1626) took up arms against Ferdinand as the ally of the
anti-Habsburg Protestant powers. The first war was concluded by the
peace of Vienna, the second by the peace of Pressburg, both confirmatory
of the peace of Nikolsburg. After the second of these insurrections,
Bethlen attempted a rapprochement with the court of Vienna on the basis
of an alliance against the Turks and his own marriage with one of the
Austrian archduchesses; but Ferdinand had no confidence in him and
rejected his overtures. Bethlen was obliged to renounce his anti-Turkish
projects, which he had hitherto cherished as the great aim and object of
his life, and continue in the old beaten paths. Accordingly, on his
return from Vienna he wedded Catherine, the daughter of the elector of
Brandenburg, and still more closely allied himself with the Protestant
powers, especially with Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, who, he hoped,
would assist him to obtain the Polish crown. He died before he could
accomplish any of his great designs (15th of November 1629), having
previously secured the election of his wife Catherine as princess. His
first wife, Susannah Károlyi, died in 1622.

Gabriel Bethlen was certainly one of the most striking and original
personages of his century. A zealous Calvinist, whose boast it was that
he had read the Bible twenty-five times, he was nevertheless no
persecutor, and even helped the Jesuit Kaldy to translate and print his
version of the Scriptures. He was in communication all his life with the
leading contemporary statesmen, so that his correspondence is one of the
most interesting and important of historical documents. He also composed
hymns.

  The best editions of his correspondence are those by Sándor Szilágyi,
  both published at Buda (1866 and 1879). The best life of him is that
  by the Bohemian historian Anton Gindely, _Acta et documenta historiam
  Gabrielis Bethleni illustrantia_ (Budapest, 1890). This work has been
  largely utilized by Ignáe-Acsády in his excellent _Gabriel Bethlen and
  his Court_ (Hung., Budapest, 1890).     (R. N. B.)




BETHNAL GREEN, an eastern metropolitan borough of London, England,
bounded N. by Hackney, E. by Poplar, S. by Stepney and W. by Shoreditch.
Pop. (1901) 129,680. It is a district of poor houses, forming part of
the area commonly known as the "East End." The working population is
employed in the making of match-boxes, boot-making, cabinet-making and
other industries; but was formerly largely devoted to silk-weaving,
which spread over the district from its centre in Spitalfields (see
STEPNEY). This industry is still maintained. The Bethnal Green museum
was opened in 1872. It contains exhibits of food and animal products,
formerly at South Kensington, entomological collections, &c.; and
various loan exhibitions are held from time to time. The Museum also
housed the Wallace collection until the opening of Hertford House, and
the pictures now in the National Portrait Gallery. It stands in public
gardens; there are several other small open spaces; and some 70 out of
the 217 acres of Victoria Park are within the borough. Close by the park
there stood, until the 19th century, a house believed to have belonged
to the notorious Bishop Bonner, the persecutor of Protestants in the
reign of Mary; his name is still attached to a street here. Among
institutions are the missionary settlement of the Oxford House, founded
in 1884, with its women's branch, St Margaret's House; the North-Eastern
hospital for children, the Craft school und the Leather Trade school.
The parliamentary borough of Bethnal Green has two divisions, each
returning one member. The borough council consists of a mayor, 5
aldermen and 30 councillors. Area, 759.3 acres.




BÉTHUNE (FAMILY). The _seigneurs_ of Béthune, _avoués_ (_advocati_) of
the great abbey of Saint-Vaast at Arras from the 11th century, were the
ancestors of a great French house whence sprang the dukes of Sully,
Charost, Orval, and Ancenis; the marquises of Rosny, Courville and
Chabris; the counts of Selles and the princes of Boisbelle and
Henrichemont. Conon de Béthune (q.v.), the crusader and poet, was an
early forebear. The most illustrious member of the Béthune family was
Maximilien, baron of Rosny, and afterwards duke of Sully (q.v.),
minister of Henry IV. His brother Philip, count of Selles and of
Charost, was ambassador to Scotland, Rome, Savoy and Germany, and died
in 1649. Hippolyte de Béthune, count of Selles and marquis of Chabris,
who died in 1665, bequeathed to the king a magnificent collection of
historical documents and works of art. The Charost branch of the family
gave France a number of generals during the 17th and 18th centuries.

The last duke of Charost, Armand Joseph de Béthune (1738-1800), French
economist and philanthropist, served in the army during the Seven Years'
War, after which he retired to his estates in Berry, where, and also in
Brittany and Picardy, he sought to ameliorate the lot of his peasants by
abolishing feudal dues, and introducing reforms in agriculture. During
the Terror he was arrested, but was liberated after the 9th Thermidor.
He was mayor of the 10th arrondissement of Paris under the Consulate,
and died at Paris on the 20th of October 1800, of small-pox, contracted
during a visit to a workshop for the blind which he had founded. He
published essays on the way to destroy mendicancy and to improve the
condition of the labourers, and also on the establishment of a fund for
rural relief and the organization of rural education. His life throws
light on some phases of the _ancien régime_ which are often overlooked
by historians. Louis XV. said of Charost, "Look at this man, his
appearance is insignificant, but he has put new life into three of my
provinces." His only son, Armand Louis de Béthune, marquis de Charost,
was beheaded on the 28th of April 1794.




BÉTHUNE, CONON or QUESNES, DE (c. 1150-1224), French _trouvère_ of
Arras, was born about the middle of the 12th century. He came about 1180
to the court of France, where he met Marie de France, countess of
Champagne. To this princess his love poems are dedicated, and much of
his time was passed at her court where the _trouvères_ were held in high
honour. At the French court he met with some criticisms from Queen Alix,
the widow of Louis VII., on the roughness of his verse and on his Picard
dialect. To these criticisms, interesting as proof of the already
preponderant influence of the dialect of the Île de France, the poet
replied by some verses in the satirical vein that best suited his
temperament. Some of his best songs were inspired by anger at the delays
before the crusade of 1188-1192. His plain-speaking made him many
enemies, and when he returned with the rest after the fruitless capture
of Acre, these were not slow to take advantage of the opportunity for
retaliation. Conon took part with Baldwin of Flanders in the crusade
which resulted in 1204 in the capture of Constantinople, and he is said
to have been the first to plant the crusaders' standard on the walls of
the city. He held high office in the new empire and died about 1224. His
verses, of which the crusading song _Ah! amors com dure departie_ is
well known, are marked by a vigour and martial spirit which distinguish
them from the work of other _trouvères_.

  The completest edition of his works is in the _Trouvères belges_ of
  Aug. Scheler (1876).




BÉTHUNE, a town of northern France, capital of an arrondissement in the
department of Pas-de-Calais, 24 m. N.N.W. of Arras, on the Northern
railway between that town and St Omer. Pop. (1906) 12,601. Béthune is
situated on a low hill at the confluence of the Lawe with the canal from
Aire to Bauvin. Once strongly fortified, it is now surrounded by wide
boulevards, and new quarters have grown up on its outskirts. The old
town is composed of winding streets and _culs-de-sac_ bordered by old
houses in the Flemish style. In the central square stands one of the
finest belfries of northern France, a square structure surmounted by a
wooden campanile, dating from the 14th century. St Vaast, the principal
church of Béthune, belongs to the 16th century. The town is the seat of
a sub-prefect, and has a tribunal of first instance, a chamber of
commerce and a communal college among its public institutions. Béthune
lies in the midst of the richest coal mines in France. Its industries
include the distillation of oil, tanning, salt-refining, brewing, and
the manufacture of earthenware and casks. Trade is carried on in flax,
cloth, cereals, oil-seeds, &c.

The town, which dates from the 11th century, was governed by its own
lords till 1248, after which date it passed through the ownership of the
counts of Flanders, the dukes of Burgundy, and the sovereigns of Austria
and Spain. Ceded to France by the peace of Nijmwegen (1678), it was
taken by the allied forces in 1710, and restored to France by the treaty
of Utrecht.




BETROTHAL (A.S. _treowth_, "truth"), the giving "one's truth," or
pledging one's faith to marry. Although left optional by the church and
not necessary in law, betrothal was anciently a formal ceremony which in
most cases preceded the actual marriage service, usually by a period of
some weeks, but the marriage might for various reasons be delayed for
years. The canon law distinguished two types of betrothal:--(1)
_Sponsalia de praesenti_, (2) _Sponsalia de futuro_. The first was a
true though irregular marriage, and was abolished by the council of
Trent as leading to clandestine unions and therefore being inimical to
morality. The second, or betrothal properly so called, was a promise to
marry at a future date, which promise without further ceremony became a
valid marriage upon consummation. The church never precisely determined
the form of the ceremony, but demanded for its validity that it should
have been entered into freely and at a legal age, i.e. after the seventh
birthday. The church further declared that females between the ages of
seven and twelve, and males between seven and fourteen, could be
betrothed, but not married, and that all such betrothals were to be
public. The ill-defined laws as to betrothals tended to encourage
abuses; and the people, especially in the rural districts, inclined to
hold betrothal sufficient justification for cohabitation. Such
pre-contract is known to have existed in the case of Shakespeare (q.v.).
Francis Douce (_Illustrations of Shakespeare and of Antient Manners_,
1807) says that betrothal consisted of the "interchange of rings--the
kiss--the joining of hands, to which is to be added the testimony of
witnesses." In France the presence of a priest seems to have been
considered essential, and though this was not so elsewhere it was
customary for the couple to get their parish priest to witness their
promise. In England solemn betrothal was almost universally practised.
Among the peasantry the place of rings was taken by a coin which was
broken between the pair, each taking a part. But almost any gift
sufficed. A case in 1582 is recorded where the lover gave the girl a
pair of gloves, two oranges, two handkerchiefs and a red silk girdle.
Sometimes the bride-elect received a bent or crooked sixpence. At the
conclusion of the ceremony, which by no means always took place in a
church, it seems to have been usual for the couple to pledge each other
in a cup of wine, as do the Jews and Russians to-day. This drinking
together was ever the universal custom of parties in ratification of a
bargain. Joseph Strutt (1749-1802) states that by the civil law gifts
given at betrothal could be recovered by the parties, if the marriage
did not take place. But only conditionally, for if the man "had had a
kiss for his money, he should lose one half of that which he gave. Yet
with the woman it is otherwise, for, kissing or not kissing, whatever
she gave, she may ask and have it again. However, this extends only to
gloves, rings, bracelets and such-like small wares." Though the church
abstained from prescribing the form of the ceremony, it jealously
watched over the fulfilment of such contracts and punished their
violation. Betrothal, validly contracted, could be dissolved either by
mutual consent, or by the supervening of some radical physical or social
change in the parties, or by the omission to fulfil one of the
conditions of the contract. But here the church stepped in, and
endeavoured to override such law as existed in the matter by decreeing
that whoever, after betrothal, refused to marry _in facie ecclesiae_,
was liable to excommunication till relieved by public penance. In
England the law was settled by an act of 1753, which enacted that an
aggrieved party could obtain redress only by an action at common law for
breach of promise of marriage (see MARRIAGE).

Formal betrothal is no longer customary in England, but on the European
continent it retains much of its former importance. There it is either
solemn (publicly in church) or private (simply before witnesses). Such
betrothals are legal contracts. They are only valid between persons of
legal age, both of whom consent; and they are rendered void by fraud,
intimidation and duress. In Germany if the parties are under age the
consent of the parents is needed; but if this be unreasonably withheld
the couple may appeal to a magistrate, who can sanction the betrothal.
If the parents disagree, the father's wish prevails. Public betrothal
carries with it an obligation to marry, and in case of refusal an action
"lies" for the injured party. In Germany the betrothal is generally
celebrated before the relatives, and the couple are called bride and
bridegroom from that day _until_ marriage. In Russia, where it was once
as binding as marriage, it is now a mere formal part of the marriage
ceremony.

Among the ancient Jews betrothal was formal and as binding as marriage.
After the ceremony, which consisted of the handing of a ring or some
object of value to the bride and formal words of contract, and the
mutual pledging of the couple in consecrated wine, a period of twelve
months elapsed before the marriage was completed by the formal
home-taking; unless the bride was a widow or the groom a widower, when
this interval was reduced to thirty days. Latterly the ceremony of
betrothal has become a part of the marriage ceremony, and the engagement
has become the informal affair it is in England.

  For betrothal customs in China, the East and elsewhere, consult L.J.
  Miln, _Wooings and Weddings in Many Climes_ (London, 1900), and H.N.
  Hutchinson, _Marriage Customs in Many Lands_ (London, 1897). On early
  English law as to betrothals see Sir F. Pollock and Maitland, _History
  of English Law before the time of Edward I._ (2nd ed., 1898). See also
  J.O. Halliwell-Phillipps, _Outlines of the Life of Shakespeare_
  (London, 1848, 1883).




BETTERMENT (i.e. "making better," as opposed to "worsement"), a general
term, used particularly in connexion with the increased value given to
real property by causes for which a tenant or the public, but not the
owner, is responsible; it is thus of the nature of "unearned increment."
When, for instance, some public improvement results in raising the value
of a piece of private land, and the owner is thereby "bettered" through
no merit of his own, he gains by the betterment, and many economists and
politicians have sought to arrange, by taxation or otherwise, that the
increased value shall come into the pocket of the public rather than
into his. A betterment tax would be so assessed as to divert from the
owner of the property the profit thus accruing "unearned" to him. (See
also COMPENSATION.) The whole problem is one of the incidence of
taxation and the question of land values, and various applications of
the principle of betterment have been tried in America and in England,
raising considerable controversy from time to time.

  See A.A. Baumann, _Betterment, Worsement and Recoupment_ (1894).




BETTERTON, THOMAS (c. 1635-1710), English actor, son of an under-cook to
King Charles I., was born in London. He was apprenticed to John Holden
Sir William Davenant's publisher, and possibly later to a bookseller
named Rhodes, who had been wardrobe-keeper to the theatre in
Blackfriars. The latter obtained in 1659 a licence to set up a company
of players at the Cockpit in Drury Lane; and on the reopening of this
theatre in 1660, Betterton made his first appearance on the stage. His
talents at once brought him into prominence, and he was given leading
parts. On the opening of the new theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields in
1661, Sir William Davenant, the patentee, engaged Betterton and all
Rhodes's company to play in his _Siege of Rhodes_. Betterton, besides
being a public favourite, was held in high esteem by Charles II., who
sent him to Paris to examine stage improvements there. According to
Cibber it was after his return that shifting scenes instead of tapestry
were first used in an English theatre. In 1692, in an unfortunate
speculation, Betterton and his friend Sir Francis Watson were ruined;
but Betterton's affection for Sir Francis was so strong that he adopted
the latter's daughter and educated her for the stage. In 1693, with the
aid of friends, he erected the New Playhouse in the tennis court in
Lincoln's Inn Fields. It was opened in 1695 with Congreve's _Love for
Love_. But in a few years the profits fell off; and Betterton, labouring
under the infirmities of age and gout, determined to quit the stage. At
his benefit performance, when the profits are said to have been over
£500, he played Valentine in _Love for Love_. In 1710 he made his last
appearance as Melantius in _The Maid's Tragedy_; he died on the 28th of
April, and was buried in Westminster Abbey.

In appearance he was athletic, slightly above middle height, with a
tendency to stoutness; his voice was strong rather than melodious, but
in recitation it was used with the greatest dexterity. Pepys, Pope,
Steele and Cibber all bestow lavish praise on his acting. His repertory
included a large number of Shakespearian roles, and although many of
these were presented in the tasteless versions of Davenant, Dryden,
Shadwell and Nahum Tate, yet they could not hide the great histrionic
gifts which Betterton possessed, nor does his reputation rest on these
performances alone. The blamelessness of his life was conspicuous in an
age and a profession notorious for dissolute habits. Betterton was
author of several adaptations which were popular in their day. In 1662
he had married Mary Saunderson (d. 1712), an admirable actress, whose
Ophelia shared the honours with his Hamlet.

  See Howe, _Thomas Betterton_ (1891); _The Life and Times of Thomas
  Betterton_ (1886).




BETTIA, a town of British India, in the Champaran district of Bengal;
situated on a former branch of the Harha river, with a station on the
Tirhoot section of the Bengal & North-Western railway. Bettia is the
residence of one of the leading noblemen of northern Behar, who enjoys a
rent-roll of £66,000. In 1901, owing to a disputed succession, the
estate was under the management of the court of wards. It comprises land
in no fewer than ten districts, much of which is let on permanent leases
to indigo-planters. Besides the palace of the maharaja, the town
contains a middle English school and a female dispensary, entirely
supported out of the estate. There is a Roman Catholic mission, with
about 1000 converts, which was founded by an Italian priest in 1746.




BETTINELLI, SAVERIO (1718-1808), Italian Jesuit and man of letters, was
born at Mantua on the 18th of July 1718. After studying under the
Jesuits in his native city and at Bologna he entered the society in
1736. He taught the belles-lettres from 1739 to 1744 at Brescia, where
Cardinal Quirini, Count Mazzuchelli, Count Duranti and other scholars,
formed an illustrious academy. He next went to Bologna, to pursue the
study of divinity, and there he enjoyed the society of many learned and
literary men. At the age of thirty he went to Venice, where he became
professor of rhetoric, and was on friendly terms with the most
illustrious persons of that city and state. The superintendence of the
college of nobles at Parma was entrusted to him in 1751; and he had
principal charge of the studies of poetry and history, and the
entertainments of the theatre. He remained there eight years, visiting,
at intervals, other cities of Italy, either on the affairs of his order,
for pleasure or for health. In 1755 he traversed part of Germany,
proceeded as far as Strassburg and Nancy, and returned by way of Germany
into Italy, taking with him two young sons or nephews of the prince of
Hohenlohe, who had requested him to take charge of their education. He
made, the year following, another journey into France along with the
eldest of his pupils; and during this excursion he wrote his famous
_Lettere dieci di Virgilio agli Arcadi_, which were published at Venice
with his _sciolti_ verses, and those of Frugoni and Algarotti. The
opinions maintained in these letters against the two great Italian poets
and particularly against Dante, created him many enemies, and embroiled
him with Algarotti. In 1758 he went into Lorraine, to the court of King
Stanislaus, who sent him on a matter of business to visit Voltaire.
Voltaire presented him with a copy of his works, with a flattering
inscription in allusion to Bettinelli's _Letters of Virgil_. From Geneva
he returned to Parma, where he arrived in 1759. He afterwards lived for
some years at Verona and Modena, and he had just been appointed
professor of rhetoric there, when, in 1773, the order of Jesuits was
abolished in Italy. Bettinelli then returned into his own country, and
resumed his literary labours with new ardour. The siege of Mantua by the
French compelled him to leave the city, and he retired to Verona, where
he formed an intimate friendship with the chevalier Hippolito
Pindemonti. In 1797 he returned to Mantua. Though nearly eighty years
old, he resumed his labours and his customary manner of life. He
undertook in 1799 a complete edition of his works, which was published
at Venice in 24 vols. 12mo. Arrived at the age of ninety years, he still
retained his gaiety and vivacity of mind, and died on the 13th of
September 1808. The works of Bettinelli are now of little value. The
only one still deserving remembrance, perhaps, is the _Risorgimento
negli studj, nelle Arti e ne' Costumi dopo il Mille_ (1775-1786), a
sketch of the progress of literature, science, the fine arts, industry,
&c., in Italy.




BETTWS Y COED, an urban district of Carnarvonshire, North Wales, 4 m.
from Llanrwst and 16 m. from Llandudno, on a branch of the London &
North-Western railway. Pop. (1901) 1070. The name means "warm place of
the wood," according to Llyn's definition of _bettws_. The other
derivation of the word from _Abbatis_ (_domus_) agrees with its vicinity
to Yspytty[1] Ifan (Ieuan), _Hospitium Ioannis_, near Pentre'r Foelas.
The words "y coed" are added to distinguish this Bettws from several
others in Wales, especially that near Llandeilo Fawr, Carmarthenshire,
not far from the Bettws hills. Bettws y coed is a favourite village for
artists and tourists. It is a centre for excursions towards Capel Curig
and Snowdon, or towards Blaenau Festiniog, via Roman Bridge. There is
excellent fishing for salmon and trout, and in summer coaches leave
their daily loads of tourists here. The best-known streams and
waterfalls are Llugwy, Lledr, with Rhaiadr y wenol (Swallow falls),
Conwy and Machno falls. In the neighbourhood are Dolwyddelan castle and
the hill of Moel Siabod.


FOOTNOTE:

  [1] Other places named "Yspytty" are Y. Cynfyn and Y. Ystwyth. For
    the name Yspytty, cf. Bale's _King John_, 2125: "So many masendeens
    (_maisons Dieu_), hospytals and _spyttle_ howses."




BETTY, WILLIAM HENRY WEST (1791-1874), English actor, known as "the
young Roscius," was born on the 13th of September 1791 at Shrewsbury. He
first appeared on the stage at Belfast before he was twelve years old,
as Osman in Aaron Hill's _Zara_, an English version of Voltaire's
_Zaire_. His success was immediate, and he shortly afterwards appeared
in Dublin, where it is said that in three hours of study he committed
the part of Hamlet to memory. His precocious talents aroused great
enthusiasm in Glasgow and Edinburgh, and he was favourably compared with
some of the greatest tragedians. In 1804 he first appeared at Covent
Garden, when the troops had to be called out to preserve order, so great
was the crush to obtain admittance. At Drury Lane the house was
similarly packed, and he played for the then unprecedented salary of
over 75 guineas a night. He was a great success socially, George III.
himself presenting him to the queen, and Pitt upon one occasion
adjourning the House of Commons that members might be in time for his
performance. But this enthusiasm gradually subsided, and in 1808 he made
his final appearance as a boy actor, and entered Christ's College,
Cambridge. He re-appeared four years later, but the public would have
none of him, and he retired to the enjoyment of the large fortune which
he had amassed as a prodigy. He died on the 24th of August 1874. His son
Henry Betty (1819-1897) was also an actor.




BETUL, a town and district of British India, in the Nerbudda division of
the Central Provinces. In 1901 the population of the town was 4739. The
administrative headquarters of the district have been transferred to the
town of Badnur (q.v.), 3 m. north.

The district of BETUL has an area of 3826 sq. m. In 1901 the population
was 285,363, showing a decrease of 12% in the decade, due to the results
of famine. The mean elevation above the sea is about 2000 ft. The
country is essentially a highland tract, divided naturally into three
distinct portions, differing in their superficial aspects, the character
of their soil and their geological formation. The northern part of the
district forms an irregular plain of the sandstone formation. It is a
well-wooded tract, in many places stretching out in charming glades like
an English park, but it has a very sparse population and little
cultivated land. In the extreme north a line of hills rises abruptly out
of the great plain of the Nerbudda valley. The central tract alone
possesses a rich soil, well watered by the Machna and Sampna rivers,
almost entirely cultivated and studded with villages. To the south lies
a rolling plateau of basaltic formation (with the sacred town of Multai,
and the springs of the river Tapti at its highest point), extending over
the whole of the southern face of the district, and finally merging into
the wild and broken line of the Ghats, which lead down to the plains.
This tract consists of a succession of stony ridges of trap rock,
enclosing valleys or basins of fertile soil, to which cultivation is for
the most part confined, except where the shallow soil on the tops of the
hills has been turned to account. The principal crops are wheat, millet,
other food-grains, pulse, oil-seeds, and a little sugar-cane and cotton.
A large part of the area is covered with forests, which yield teak and
other timber. The only manufacture is cotton cloth. A railway is
projected from Itarsi through the district to Berar. Good roads are few;
and none of the rivers is navigable. This district suffered very
severely from the famine of 1896-1897, in 1897 the death-rate being as
high as 73 per 1000. It suffered again in 1900, when in May the number
of persons relieved rose to one-third of the total population.

Little is known of the early history of the district except that it must
have been the centre of the first of the four ancient Gond kingdoms of
Kherla, Deogarh, Mandla and Chanda. According to Ferishta, the Persian
historian, these kingdoms engrossed in 1398 all the hills of Gondwana
and adjacent countries, and were of great wealth and power. About the
year 1418 Sultan Husain Shah of Malwa invaded Kherla, and reduced it to
a dependency. Nine years later the raja rebelled, but although with the
help of the Bahmani kings of the Deccan he managed for a time to assert
his independence, he was finally subdued and deprived of his
territories. In 1467 Kherla was seized by the Bahmani king, but was
afterwards restored to Malwa. A century later the kingdom of Malwa
became incorporated into the dominions of the emperor of Delhi. In 1703
a Mussulman convert of the Gond tribe held the country, and in 1743
Raghoji Bhonsla, the Mahratta ruler of Berar, annexed it to his
dominions. The Mahrattas in the year 1818 ceded this district to the
East India Company as payment for a contingent, and by the treaty of
1826 it was formally incorporated with the British possessions.
Detachments of British troops were stationed at Multai, Betul and
Shahpur to cut off the retreat of Apa Sahib, the Mahratta general, and a
military force was quartered at Betul until June 1862. The ruined city
of Kherla formed the seat of government under the Gonds and preceding
rulers, and hence the district was, until the time of its annexation to
the British dominions, known as the "Kherla Sarkar." The town of Multai
contains an artificial tank, from the centre of which the Tapti is said
to take its rise: hence the reputed sanctity of the spot, and the
accumulation of temples in its honour.

The climate of Betul is fairly healthy. Its height above the plains and
the neighbourhood of extensive forests moderate the heat, and render the
temperature pleasant throughout the greater part of the year. During the
cold season the thermometer at night falls below the freezing point;
little or no hot wind is felt before the end of April, and even then it
ceases after sunset. The nights in the hot season are comparatively cool
and pleasant. During the monsoon the climate is very damp, and at times
even cold and raw, thick clouds and mist enveloping the sky for many
days together. The average annual rainfall is 40 in. In the denser
jungles malaria prevails for months after the cessation of the rains,
but the Gonds do not appear to suffer much from its effects. Travellers
and strangers who venture into these jungles run the risk of fever of a
severe type at almost all seasons of the year.




BETWA, a river of India, which rises in the native state of Bhopal in
Malwa, and after a course of 360 m., for the most part in a
north-easterly direction, falls into the Jumna at Hamirpur. A weir is
thrown across the Betwa about 15 m. from Jhansi town, whence a canal 168
m. long takes off, irrigating 106,000 acres of the Jalaun district;
similar works have been carried out elsewhere on the river.




BEUDANT, FRANÇOIS SULPICE (1787-1850), French mineralogist and
geologist, was born at Paris on the 5th of September 1787. He was
educated at the École Polytechnique and École Normale, and in 1811 was
appointed professor of mathematics at the lycée of Avignon. Thence he
was called, in 1813, to the lycée of Marseilles to fill the post of
professor of physics. In the following year the royal mineralogical
cabinet was committed to his charge to be conveyed into England, and
from that time his attention was directed principally towards geology
and cognate sciences. In 1817 he published a paper on the phenomena of
crystallization, treating especially of the variety of forms assumed by
the same mineral substance. In 1818 he undertook, at the expense of the
French government, a geological journey through Hungary, and the results
of his researches, _Voyage minéralogique et géologique en Hongrie_, 3
vols. 4to, with atlas, published in 1822, established for him a European
reputation. In 1820 he was appointed to the professorship of mineralogy
in the Paris faculty of sciences, and afterwards became
inspector-general of the university. He subsequently published treatises
on physics and on mineralogy and geology, and died on the 10th of
December 1850.




BEUGNOT, JACQUES CLAUDE, COUNT (1761-1835), French politician, was born
at Bar-sur-Aube. A magistrate under the old régime, he was elected
deputy to the Legislative Assembly (1791), then to the Convention. He
was involved in the proscription of the Girondists and imprisoned until
the 9th Thermidor. He next entered into relations with the family of
Bonaparte, and in 1799, after the 18th Brumaire, again entered politics,
becoming successively prefect of the lower Seine, councillor of state,
and finance minister to Jerome Bonaparte, king of Westphalia. In 1808
Beugnot, who had meanwhile been appointed administrator of the duchy of
Berg-Cleves, received the cross of officer of the Legion of Honour with
the title of count. He returned to France in 1813, after the battle of
Leipzig, and was made prefect of the department of Nord. In 1814 he was
a member of the provisional government as minister of the interior; and
by Louis XVIII. he was named director-general of police and afterwards
minister of marine. He followed Louis to Ghent during the Hundred Days,
and became one of his confidants. He contributed to draw up Louis's
charter, and in his memoirs boasted of having furnished the text of the
proclamation addressed by the king to the French people before his
return to France; but it is known now that it was another text that was
adopted. Lacking the support of the ultra-royalists, he was given the
title of minister of state without portfolio, which was equivalent to a
retirement. Elected deputy, he attached himself to the moderate party,
and defended the liberty of the press. In 1831 Louis Philippe made him a
peer of France and director-general of manufactures and commerce. He
died on the 24th of June 1835.

His son, AUGUSTE ARTHUR BEUGNOT (1797-1865), was an historian and
scholar, who published an _Essai sur les institutions de Saint Louis_
(1821), _Histoire de la destruction du paganisme en occident_ (2 vols.,
1885), and edited the _Olim_ of the parlement of Paris, the _Assizes of
Jerusalem_, and the _Coutumes de Beauvoisis_ of Philippe de Beaumanoir.
He was a member of the chamber of peers under Louis Philippe, and
opposed Villemain's plan for freedom of education. After 1848 he
maintained the same rôle, acting as reporter of the _loi Falloux_. He
retired from public life after the _coup d'état_ of Napoleon III., and
died on the 15th of March 1865.

  The _Mémoires_ of J.C. Beugnot were published by his grandson, Count
  Albert Beugnot (2nd ed., Paris, 1868); see H. Wallon, _Éloges
  académiques_ (1882); and E. Dejean, _Un Préfet du Consulat: J.C.
  Beugnot_ (Paris, 1907).




BEULÉ, CHARLES ERNEST (1826-1874), French archaeologist and politician,
was born at Saumur on the 29th of June 1826. He was educated at the
École Normale, and after having held the professorship of rhetoric at
Moulins for a year, was sent to Athens in 1851 as one of the professors
in the École Française there. He had the good fortune to discover the
propylaea of the Acropolis, and his work, _L'Acropole d'Athènes_ (2nd
ed., 1863), was published by order of the minister of public
instruction. On his return to France, promotion and distinctions
followed rapidly upon his first successes. He was made doctor of
letters, chevalier of the Legion of Honour, professor of archaeology at
the Bibliothèque Impériale, member of the Académie des Inscriptions et
Belles-Lettres and perpetual secretary of the Académie des Beaux-Arts.
He took great interest in political affairs, with which the last few
years of his life were entirely occupied. Elected a member of the
National Assembly in 1871, he zealously supported the Orleanist party.
In May-November 1873 he was minister of the interior in the Broglie
ministry. He died by his own hand on the 4th of April 1874. His other
important works are: _Études sur le Péloponnèse_ (2nd ed., 1875); _Les
Monnaies d'Athènes_ (1858); _L'Architecture au siècle de Pisistrate_
(1860); _Fouilles à Carthage_ (1861). Beulé was also the author of
high-class popular works on artistic and historical subjects: _Histoire
de l'art grec avant Périclès_ (2nd ed., 1870); _Le Procès des Césars_
(1867-1870, in four parts; _Auguste, sa famille et ses amis; Tibère et
l'héritage d'Auguste; Le Sang de Germanicus; Titus et sa dynastie_).

  See Ideville, _Monsieur Beulé, Souvenirs personnels_ (1874).




BEURNONVILLE, PIERRE DE RUEL, MARQUIS DE (1752-1821), French general.
After service in the colonies, he married a wealthy Creole, and
returning to France purchased the post of lieutenant of the Swiss guard
of the count of Provence. During the Revolution he was named
lieutenant-general, and took an active part in the battles of Valmy and
Jemmapes. Minister of war in February 1793, he denounced his old
commander, C.F. Dumouriez, to the Convention, and was one of the four
deputies sent to watch him. Given over by him to the Austrians on the
3rd of April 1793, Beurnonville was not exchanged until November 1795.
He entered the service again, commanded the armies of the
Sambre-et-Meuse and of the North, and was appointed inspector of
infantry of the army of England in 1798. In 1800 he was sent as
ambassador to Berlin, in 1802 to Madrid. Napoleon made him a senator and
count of the empire. In 1814 he was a member of the provisional
government organized after the abdication of Napoleon, and was created a
peer of France. During the Hundred Days he followed Louis XVIII. to
Ghent, and after the second restoration was made marquis and marshal of
France.

  See A. Chaquet, _Les Guerres de la Révolution_ (Paris, 1886).




BEUST, FRIEDRICH FERDINAND VON (1809-1886), Austrian statesman, was
descended from a noble family which had originally sprung from the Mark
of Brandenburg, and of which one branch had been for over 300 years
settled in Saxony. He was born on the 13th of January 1809 in Dresden,
where his father held office at the Saxon court. After studying at
Leipzig and Göttingen he entered the Saxon public service; in 1836 he
was made secretary of legation at Berlin, and afterwards held
appointments at Paris, Munich and London. In March 1848 he was summoned
to Dresden to take the office of foreign minister, but in consequence of
the outbreak of the revolution was not appointed. In May he was
appointed Saxon envoy at Berlin, and in February 1849 was again summoned
to Dresden, and this time appointed minister of foreign affairs, an
office which he continued to hold till 1866. In addition to this he held
the ministry of education and public worship from 1849 to 1853; that of
internal affairs in 1853, and in the same year was appointed
minister-president. From the time that he entered the ministry he was,
however, the leading member of it, and he was chiefly responsible for
the events of 1849. By his advice the king refused to accept the
constitution proclaimed by the Frankfort parliament, a policy which led
to the outbreak of revolution in Dresden, which was suppressed after
four days' fighting by Prussian troops, for whose assistance Beust had
asked. On Beust fell also the chief responsibility for governing the
country after order was restored, and he was the author of the so-called
_coup d'état_ of June 1850 by which the new constitution was overthrown.
The vigour he showed in repressing all resistance to the government,
especially that of the university, and in reorganizing the police, made
him one of the most unpopular men among the Liberals, and his name
became synonymous with the worst form of reaction, but it is not clear
that the attacks on him were justified. After this he was chiefly
occupied with foreign affairs, and he soon became one of the most
conspicuous figures in German politics. He was the leader of that party
which hoped to maintain the independence of the smaller states, and was
the opponent of all attempts on the part of Prussia to attract them into
a separate union; in 1849-1850 he had been obliged to join the "three
kings' union" of Prussia, Hanover and Saxony, but he was careful to keep
open a loophole for withdrawal, of which he speedily availed himself. In
the crisis of 1851 Saxony was on the side of Austria, and he supported
the restoration of the diet of the confederation. In 1854 he took part
in the Bamberg conferences, in which the smaller German states claimed
the right to direct their own policy independent of that of Austria or
of Prussia, and he was the leading supporter of the idea of the _Trias_,
i.e. that the smaller states should form a closer union among themselves
against the preponderance of the great monarchies. In 1863 he came
forward as a warm supporter of the claims of the prince of Augustenburg
to Schleswig-Holstein (see SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN QUESTION); he was the
leader of the party in the German diet which refused to recognize the
settlement of the Danish question effected in 1852 by the treaty of
London, and in 1864 he was appointed representative of the diet at the
congress of London. He was thus thrown into opposition to the policy of
Bismarck, and he was exposed to violent attacks in the Prussian press as
a "particularist," i.e. a supporter of the independence of the smaller
states. The expulsion of the Saxon troops from Rendsburg nearly led to a
conflict with Prussia. Beust was accused of having brought about the war
of 1866, but the responsibility for this must rest with Bismarck. On the
outbreak of war Beust accompanied the king to Prague, and thence to
Vienna, where they were received by the emperor with the news of
Königgrätz. Beust undertook a mission to Paris to procure the help of
Napoleon. When the terms of peace were discussed he resigned, for
Bismarck refused to negotiate with him.

After the victory of Prussia there was no place for Beust in Germany,
and his public career seemed to be closed, but he quite unexpectedly
received an invitation from the emperor of Austria to become his foreign
minister. It was a bold decision, for Beust was not only a stranger to
Austria, but also a Protestant; but the choice of the emperor justified
itself. Beust threw himself into his new position with great energy; it
was owing to him that the negotiations with Hungary were brought to a
successful issue. When difficulties came he went himself to Budapest,
and acted directly with the Hungarian leaders. In 1867 he also held the
position of Austrian minister-president, and he carried through the
measures by which parliamentary government was restored. He also carried
on the negotiations with the pope concerning the repeal of the
concordat, and in this matter also did much by a liberal policy to
relieve Austria from the pressure of institutions which had checked the
development of the country. In 1868, after giving up his post as
minister-president, he was appointed chancellor of the empire, and
received the title of count. His conduct of foreign affairs, especially
in the matter of the Balkan States and Crete, successfully maintained
the position of the empire. In 1869 he accompanied the emperor on his
expedition to the East. He was still to some extent influenced by the
anti-Prussian feeling he had brought from Saxony. He maintained a close
understanding with France, and there can be little doubt that he would
have welcomed an opportunity in his new position of another struggle
with his old rival Bismarck. In 1867, however, he helped to bring the
affair of Luxemburg to a peaceful termination. In 1870 he did not
disguise his sympathy for France, and the failure of all attempts to
bring about an intervention of the powers, joined to the action of
Russia in denouncing the treaty of Paris, was the occasion of his
celebrated saying that he was nowhere able to find Europe. After the war
was over he completely accepted the new organization of Germany.

As early as December 1870 he had opened a correspondence with Bismarck
with a view to establishing a good understanding with Germany. Bismarck
accepted his advances with alacrity, and the new _entente_, which Beust
announced to the Austro-Hungarian delegations in July 1871, was sealed
in August by a friendly meeting of the two old rivals and enemies at
Gastein.

In 1871 Beust interfered at the last moment, together with Andrássy, to
prevent the emperor accepting the federalist plans of Hohenwart. He was
successful, but at the same time he was dismissed from office. The
precise cause for this is not known, and no reason was given him. At his
own request he was appointed Austrian ambassador at London; in 1878 he
was transferred to Paris; in 1882 he retired from public life. He died
at his villa at Altenberg, near Vienna, on the 24th of October 1886,
leaving two sons, both of whom entered the Austrian diplomatic service.
His wife, a Bavarian lady, survived him only a few weeks. His elder
brother Friedrich Konstantin (1806-1891), who was at the head of the
Saxon department for mines, was the author of several works on mining
and geology, a subject in which other members of the family had
distinguished themselves.

Beust was in many ways a diplomatist of the old school. He had great
social gifts and personal graces; he was proud of his proficiency in the
lighter arts of composing waltzes and _vers de société_. His chief fault
was vanity, but it was an amiable weakness. It was more vanity than
rancour which made him glad to appear even in later years as the great
opponent of Bismarck; and if he cared too much for popularity, and was
very sensitive to neglect, the saying attributed to Bismarck, that if
his vanity were taken away there would be nothing left, is very unjust.
He was apt to look more to the form than the substance, and attached too
much importance to the verbal victory of a well-written despatch; but
when the opportunity was given him he showed higher qualities. In the
crisis of 1849 he displayed considerable courage, and never lost his
judgment even in personal danger. If he was defeated in his German
policy, it must be remembered that Bismarck held all the good cards, and
in 1866 Saxony was the only one of the smaller states which entered on
the war with an army properly equipped and ready at the moment. That he
was no mere reactionary the whole course of his government in Saxony,
and still more in Austria, shows. His Austrian policy has been much
criticized, on the ground that in establishing the system of dualism he
gave too much to Hungary, and did not really understand Austrian
affairs; and the Austro-Hungarian crisis during the early years of the
present century has given point to this view. Yet it remains the fact
that in a crisis of extraordinary difficulty he carried to a successful
conclusion a policy which, even if it was not the best imaginable, was
probably the best attainable in the circumstances.

  Beust was the author of reminiscences: _Aus drei
  Viertel-Jahrhunderten_ (2 vols., Stuttgart, 1887; English trans.
  edited by Baron H. de Worms); and he also wrote a shorter work,
  _Erinnerungen zu Erinnerungen_ (Leipzig, 1881), in answer to attacks
  made on him by his former colleague, Herr v. Frieseri, in his
  reminiscences. See also Ebeling, _F.F. Graf v. Beust_ (Leipzig, 1876),
  a full and careful account of his political career, especially up to
  1866; _Diplomatic Sketches: No. 1, Count Beust_, by Outsider (Baron
  Carl v. Malortie); Flathe, _Geschichte van Sachsen_, vol. iii. (Gotha,
  1877); Friesen, _Erinnerungen aus meinem Leben_ (Dresden, 1880).
       (J. W. He.)




BEUTHEN, or NIEDERBEUTHEN, a town of Germany, in the north of Prussian
Silesia, on the Oder, the capital of the mediatized principality of
Carolath-Beuthen. Pop. (1900) 3164. The chief industries of the place
are straw-plaiting, boat-building, and the manufacture of pottery; and a
considerable traffic is carried on by means of the river.




BEUTHEN, or OBERBEUTHEN, a town of Germany, in the extreme south-east of
Prussian Silesia, on the railway between Breslau and Cracow, 121 m. S.E.
of the former. Pop. (1905) 60,078. It is the centre of the mining
district of Upper Silesia, and its population is mainly engaged in such
operations and in iron and zinc smelting. Beuthen is an old town, and
was formerly the capital of the Bohemian duchy of Beuthen, which in 1620
was ultimately granted, as a free lordship of the Empire, to Lazarus,
Baron Henckel von Donnersmarck, by the emperor Ferdinand II., and parts
of which, now mediatized, are held by two branches of the counts Henckel
von Donnersmarck.




BEVEL (from an O. Fr. word, cf. mod. _biveau_, a joiner's instrument),
the inclination of one surface of a solid body to another; also, any
angle other than a right angle, and particularly, in joinery, the angle
to which a piece of timber has to be cut. The mechanic's instrument
known as a bevel consists of a rule with two arms so jointed as to be
adjustable to any angle. In heraldry, a bevel is an angular break in a
line. Bevelment, as a term of crystallography, means the replacement of
an edge of a crystal by two planes equally inclined to the adjacent
planes. As an architectural term "bevel" is a sloped or canted edge
given to a sill or horizontal course of stone, but is more frequently
applied to the canted edges worked round the projecting bands of masonry
which for decorative purposes are employed on the quoins of walls or
windows and in some cases, with vertical joints, cover the whole wall.
When the outer face of the stone band is left rough so that it forms
what is known as rusticated masonry, the description would be bevelled
and rusticated. The term is sometimes applied to the splaying of the
edges of a window on the outside, but the wide expansion made inside in
order to admit more light is known as a splay.




BEVERLEY, WILLIAM ROXBY (1814?-1889), English artist and scene-painter,
was born at Richmond, Surrey, about 1814, the son of William Roxby, an
actor-manager who had assumed the name of Beverley. His four brothers
and his sister all entered the theatrical profession, and Beverley soon
became both actor and scene-painter. In 1831 his father and his brothers
took over the old Durham circuit, and he joined them to play heavy
comedy for several seasons, besides painting scenery. His work was first
seen in 1831 in London, for the pantomime _Baron Munchausen_ at the
Victoria theatre, which was being managed by his brother Henry. He was
appointed scenic director for the Covent Garden operas in 1853. In 1854
he entered the service of the Drury Lane theatre under the management of
E.T. Smith, and for thirty years continued to produce wonderful scenes
for the pantomimes, besides working for Covent Garden and a number of
other theatres. In 1851 he executed part of a great diorama of Jerusalem
and the Holy Land, and produced dioramic views of the ascent of Mont
Blanc, exhibited at the Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly, and in 1884 a
panorama of the Lakes of Killarney. He was a frequent exhibitor of sea
pictures at the Royal Academy from 1865 to 1880. In 1884 failing
eyesight put an end to his painting. He died in comparative poverty at
Hampstead on the 17th of May 1889. He was the last of the old school of
one surface painters, and famed for the wonderful atmospheric effects he
was able to produce. Although he was skilled in all the mechanical
devices of the stage, and painted in 1881 scenery for _Michael Strogoff_
at the Adelphi, in which for the first time in England the still life of
the stage was placed in harmony with the background, he was strongly
opposed to the new school of scene-builders.




BEVERLEY, a market town and municipal borough in the Holderness
parliamentary division of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, 8 m.
N.N.W. of Hull by a branch of the North-Eastern railway. Pop. (1901)
13,183. It lies in a level country east of the line of slight elevations
known as the Wolds, near the river Hull, and has communication by canal
with Hull. The church of St John the Evangelist, commonly called
Beverley Minster, is a magnificent building, exceeding in size and
splendour some of the English cathedrals. A monastery was founded here
by John of Beverley (c. 640-721), a native of the East Riding, who was
bishop successively of Hexham and of York, and was canonized in 1037. A
college of secular canons followed in the 10th century, the provostship
of which subsequently became an office of high dignity, and was held by
Thomas Becket, afterwards archbishop of Canterbury. Of the existing
building, the easternmost bay of the nave, the transepts with east and
west aisles, the choir with aisles and short transepts, and the Lady
chapel, are Early English, a superb example of the finest development of
that style. The remainder of the nave is Decorated, excepting the
westernmost bay which is Perpendicular, as is the ornate west front with
its graceful flanking towers. The north porch is also a beautiful
example of this style. The most noteworthy details within the church are
the exquisite Early English staircase which led to the chapter house (no
longer remaining), and the Percy tomb, a remarkable example of Decorated
work, commemorating Eleanor, wife of Henry Percy (d. 1328). The church
of St Mary is a cruciform building with central tower, almost entirely
of Decorated and Perpendicular work. Though overshadowed by the presence
of the minster, it is yet a very fine example of its styles, its most
noteworthy features being the tower and the west front. Beverley was
walled, and one gate of the 15th century remains; there are also some
picturesque old houses. The industries are tanning, iron-founding,
brewing and the manufacture of chemicals; and there is a large
agricultural trade. Beverley is the seat of a suffragan bishop in the
diocese of York. The municipal borough is under a mayor, 6 aldermen and
18 councillors, and has an area of 2404 acres, including a large extent
of common pasture land.

  Beverley (Beverlac) is said to be on the site of a British settlement.
  Evidently a church had existed there before 704, since in that year it
  was restored by St John of Beverley, who also founded a monastery
  there and was himself buried in the church. In the devastation of the
  north of England which followed the Conquest, Beverley is said to have
  escaped by a miracle attributed to St John; the Norman leader, while
  about to enter and pillage the church, fell from his horse dead, and
  the king, thinking this a sign that the town was under the protection
  of heaven, exempted it from pillage. From the time of St John of
  Beverley until the dissolution of the monasteries, the manor and town
  of Beverley belonged to the archbishopric of York, and is said to have
  been held under a charter of liberties supposed to have been granted
  by King Æthelstan in 925. This charter, besides other privileges, is
  said to have granted sanctuary in Beverley, and the "leuga" over which
  this privilege extended was afterwards shown to include the whole
  town. Confirmations of Æthelstan's charter were granted by Edward the
  Confessor and other succeeding kings. In the reign of Henry I.,
  Thurstan, archbishop of York, gave the burgesses their first charter,
  which is one of the earliest granted to any town in England. In it he
  granted them the same privileges as the citizens of York, among these
  being a gild merchant and freedom from toll throughout the whole of
  Yorkshire, with right to take it at all the markets and fairs in their
  town except at the three principal fairs, the toll of which belonged
  to the archbishop. In 1200 King John granted the town a new charter,
  for which the burgesses had to pay 500 marks. Other charters generally
  confirming the first were granted to the town by most of the early
  kings. The incorporation charter granted by Queen Elizabeth in 1573
  was confirmed by Charles I. in 1629 and Charles II. in 1663, and
  renewed by James II. on his accession. Parliamentary representation by
  two members began in the reign of Edward I., but lapsed, until the
  corporation charter of 1573, from which date it continued until the
  Reform Act of 1867. In 1554-1555 Queen Mary granted the three fairs on
  the feasts of St John the Confessor, the Translation of St John and
  the Nativity of St John the Baptist, together with the weekly markets
  on Wednesday and Saturday, which had been held by the archbishops of
  York by traditional grant of Edward the Confessor to the burgesses of
  the town. Cloth-weaving was one of the chief industries of Beverley;
  it is mentioned and appears to have been important as early as 1315.

  See _Victoria County History--Yorkshire_; G. Poulson, _Beverlac;
  Antiquities and History of Beverley and of the Provostry, &c., of St
  John's_ (2 vols., 1829); G. Oliver, D.D., _History and Antiquities of
  Beverley, &c_. (1829).




BEVERLY, a seaboard city of Essex county, Massachusetts, U.S.A.,
situated on the N. shore of Massachusetts Bay, opposite Salem. It is 18
m. from Boston on the Boston & Maine railway. Pop. (1890) 10,821; (1900)
13,884, of whom 2814 were foreign-born; (1910, census) 18,650. The land
area of the city is about 15 sq. m. The surface is the typical glacial
topography, with a few low, rocky hills, less than 100 ft. in height.
There are beautiful drives through well-wooded districts, studded with
handsome summer houses. In the city are a public library, the Beverly
hospital, the New England industrial school for deaf mutes (organized,
1876; incorporated, 1870), and the Beverly historical society (1891),
which owns a large colonial house, in which there is a valuable
historical collection. The city has an excellent public school system.
There are a number of manufacturing establishments; in 1905 the total
factory product of the city was valued at $4,101,168, boots and shoes
accounting for more than one-half of the total. Leather and shoe
machinery also are important manufactures; and the main plant of the
United Shoe Machinery Corporation is located here. Market gardening is a
considerable industry, and large quantities of vegetables are raised
under glass for the Boston markets. Fishing is an industry no longer of
much importance. Beverly is connected by a regular line of oil-steamers
with Port Arthur, Texas, and is the main distributing point for the
Texas oil fields. The first settlement within the limits of Beverly was
made by Roger Conant in 1626. The town was a part of Salem until 1668,
when it was incorporated as a separate township; in 1894 it was
chartered as a city. In 1788 there was established here the first cotton
mill to be successfully operated in the United States. The manufacture
of Britannia ware was begun in 1812. George Cabot lived for many years
in Beverly, which he represented in the provincial congress (1779);
Nathan Dane (1752-1835) was also a resident; and it was the birthplace
of Wilson Flagg (1805-1884), the author of _Studies in the Field and
Forest_ (1857), _The Woods and By-Ways of New England_ (1872), _The
Birds and Seasons of New England_ (1875), and _A Year with the Birds_
(1881). It was also the birthplace and early home of Lucy Larcom
(1826-1893), and the scene of much of her _Story of a New England
Girlhood_ (Boston, 1889).




BEVIS OF HAMPTON, the name of an English metrical romance. Bevis is the
son of Guy, count of Hampton (Southampton) and his young wife, a
daughter of the king of Scotland. The countess asks a former suitor,
Doon or Devoun, emperor of Almaine (Germany), to send an army to murder
Guy in the forest. The plot is successful, and she marries Doon. When
threatened with future vengeance by her ten-year-old son, she determines
to make away with him also, but he is saved from death by a faithful
tutor, is sold to heathen pirates, and reaches the court of King Hermin,
whose realm is variously placed in Egypt and Armenia (Armorica). The
exploits of Bevis, his love for the king's daughter Josiane, his mission
to King Bradmond of Damascus with a sealed letter demanding his own
death, his imprisonment, his final vengeance on his stepfather are
related in detail. After succeeding to his inheritance he is, however,
driven into exile and separated from Josiane, to whom he is reunited
only after each of them has contracted, in form only, a second union.
The story also relates the hero's death and the fortunes of his two
sons.

The oldest extant version appears to be _Boeve de Haumtone_, an
Anglo-Norman text which dates from the first half of the 13th century.
The English metrical romance, _Sir Beues of Hamtoun_, is founded on some
French original varying slightly from those which have been preserved.
The oldest MS. dates from the beginning of the 14th century. The French
_chanson de geste_, _Beuve d'Hanstone_, was followed by numerous prose
versions. The printed editions of the story were most numerous in Italy,
where _Bovo d'Antona_ was the subject of more than one poem, and the
tale was interpolated in the _Reali di Francia_, the Italian compilation
of Carolingian legend. Although the English version that we possess is
based on a French original, it seems probable that the legend took shape
on English soil in the 10th century, and that it originated with the
Danish invaders. Doon may be identified with the emperor Otto the Great,
who was the contemporary of the English king Edgar of the story. R.
Zenker (_Boeve-Amlethus_, Berlin and Leipzig, 1904) establishes a close
parallel between Bevis and the Hamlet legend as related by Saxo
Grammaticus in the _Historia Danica_. Among the more obvious
coincidences which point to a common source are the vengeance taken on a
stepfather for a father's death, the letter bearing his own
death-warrant which is entrusted to the hero, and his double
marriage.[1] The motive of the feigned madness is, however, lacking in
Bevis. The princess who is Josiane's rival is less ferocious than the
Hermuthruda of the Hamlet legend, but she threatens Bevis with death if
he refuses her. Both seem to be modelled on the type of Thyrdo of the
Beowulf legend. A fanciful etymology connecting Bevis (Boeve) with Béowa
(Béowulf), on the ground that both were dragon slayers, is inadmissible.

  BIBLIOGRAPHY.--_The Romance of Sir Beues of Hamtoun_, edited from six
  MSS. and the edition (without date) of Richard Pynson, by E. Kolbing
  (Early Eng. Text Soc., 1885-1886-1894); A. Stimming, "Der
  anglonormannische Boeve de Haumtone," in H. Suchier's _Bibl. Norm_.
  vol. vii. (Halle, 1899); the Welsh version, with a translation, is
  given by R. Williams, _Selections of the Hengwrt MSS_. (vol. ii.,
  London, 1892); the old Norse version by G. Cederschiöld, _Fornsogur
  Sudhrlanda_ (Lund, 1884); A. Wesselofsky, "Zum russischen Bovo
  d'Antona" (in _Archiv für slav. Phil_. vol. viii., 1885); for the
  early printed editions of the romance in English, French and Italian
  see G. Brunet, _Manuel du libraire_, _s.vv._ Bevis, Beufues and Buovo.


FOOTNOTE:

  [1] On double marriage in early romance see G. Paris, "La Légende du
    mari aux deux femmes," in _La Poésie du moyen âge_ (2nd series,
    Paris, 1895); and A. Nutt, "The Lai of Eliduc," &c, in _Folk-Lore_,
    vol. iii. (1892).




BEWDLEY, a market town and municipal borough in the Bewdley
parliamentary division of Worcestershire, England; 137 m. N.W. by W.
from London and 17¼ N. by W. from Worcester by rail. Pop. (1901) 2866.
The Worcester-Shrewsbury line of the Great Western is here joined by
lines east from Birmingham and west from Tenbury. Bewdley is pleasantly
situated on the sloping right bank of the Severn, on the eastern border
of the forest of Wyre. A bridge by Telford (1797) crosses the river. A
free grammar school, founded in 1591, was re-founded by James I. in
1606, and possesses a large library bequeathed in 1812. The town
manufactures combs and horn goods, brass and iron wares, leather, malt,
bricks and ropes. The town is governed by a mayor, 4 aldermen and 12
councillors. Area, 2105 acres.

  Bewdley (i.e. Beaulieu) is probably referred to in the Domesday survey
  as "another Ribbesford," and was held by the king. The manor, then
  called _Bellus Locus_ or Beaulieu on account of its beautiful
  situation, was afterwards granted to the Mortimers, in whose family it
  continued until it was merged in the crown on the accession of Edward
  IV. It is from this time that Bewdley dates its importance. Through
  its situation on the Severn it was connected with the sea, and in 1250
  a bridge, the only one between it and Worcester, was built across the
  river and added greatly to the commerce of the town. From Edward IV.
  Bewdley received its charter in 1472, and there appears to be no
  evidence that it was a borough before this time. Other charters were
  granted in 1605, 1685 and 1708. By James I.'s charter the burgesses
  sent one member to parliament, and continued to do so until 1885. A
  fair and a market on Wednesday were granted by Edward III. in 1373 to
  his grand-daughter Philippa, wife of Edmund Mortimer, and confirmed to
  Richard, duke of York, by Henry VI. Edward IV. also granted the
  burgesses a market on Saturdays, and three fairs, which were confirmed
  to them by Henry VII. Coal-mines were worked in Bewdley as early as
  1669, and the town was formerly noted for making caps.




BEWICK, THOMAS (1753-1828), English wood-engraver, was born at
Cherryburn, near Newcastle-on-Tyne, in August 1753. His father rented a
small colliery at Mickleybank, and sent his son to school at Mickley. He
proved a poor scholar, but showed, at a very early age, a remarkable
talent for drawing. He had no tuition in the art, and no models save
natural objects. At the age of fourteen he was apprenticed to Mr Beilby,
an engraver in Newcastle. In his office Bewick engraved on wood for Dr
Hutton a series of diagrams illustrating a treatise on mensuration. He
seems thereafter to have devoted himself entirely to engraving on wood,
and in 1775 he received a premium from the Society for the Encouragement
of Arts and Manufactures for a woodcut of the "Huntsman and the Old
Hound." In 1784 appeared his _Select Fables_, the engravings in which,
though far surpassed by his later productions, were incomparably
superior to anything that had yet been done in that line. The
_Quadrupeds_ appeared in 1790, and his great achievement, that with
which his name is inseparably associated, the _British Birds_, was
published from 1797-1804. Bewick, from his intimate knowledge of the
habits of animals acquired during his constant excursions into the
country, was thoroughly qualified to do justice to his great task. Of
his other productions the engravings for Goldsmith's _Traveller_ and
_Deserted Village_, for Parnell's _Hermit_, for Somerville's _Chase_,
and for the collection of _Fables of Aesop and Others_, may be specially
mentioned. Bewick was for many years in partnership with his former
master, and in later life had numerous pupils, several of whom gained
distinction as engravers. He died on the 8th of November 1828.

  His autobiography, _Memoirs of Thomas Bewick, by Himself_, appeared in
  1862.




BEXHILL, a municipal borough and watering-place in the Rye parliamentary
division of Sussex, England, 62 m. S.E. by S. from London, on the
London, Brighton & South Coast, and the South-Eastern & Chatham
railways. Pop. (1891) 5206; (1901) 12,213. The ancient village, with the
Norman and Early English church of St Peter, lies inland on the slope of
the low hills fringing the coast, but the watering-place on the shore
has developed very rapidly since about 1884, owing to the exertions of
Earl De la Warr, who owns most of the property. It has a marine parade,
pier, golf links, and the usual appointments of a seaside resort, while
the climate is bracing and the neighbouring country pleasant. Bexhill
was incorporated in 1902, the corporation consisting of a mayor, 6
aldermen and 18 councillors. Area, 8013 acres.




BEXLEY, NICHOLAS VANSITTART, BARON (1766-1851), English politician, was
the fifth son of Henry Vansittart (d. 1770), governor of Bengal, and was
born in London on the 29th of April 1766. Educated at Christ Church,
Oxford, he took his degree in 1787, and was called to the bar at
Lincoln's Inn in 1791. He began his public career by writing pamphlets
in defence of the administration of William Pitt, especially on its
financial side, and in May 1796 became member of parliament for
Hastings, retaining his seat until July 1802, when he was returned for
Old Sarum. In February 1801 he was sent on a diplomatic errand to
Copenhagen, and shortly after his return was appointed joint secretary
to the treasury, a position which he retained until the resignation of
Addington's ministry in April 1804. Owing to the influence of his
friend, Ernest, duke of Cumberland, he became secretary for Ireland
under Pitt in January 1805, resigning his office in the following
September. With Addington, now Viscount Sidmouth, he joined the
government of Fox and Grenville as secretary to the treasury in February
1806, leaving office with Sidmouth just before the fall of the ministry
in March 1807. During these and the next few years Vansittart's
reputation as a financier was gradually rising. In 1809 he proposed and
carried without opposition in the House of Commons thirty-eight
resolutions on financial questions, and only his loyalty to Sidmouth
prevented him from joining the cabinet of Spencer Perceval as chancellor
of the exchequer in October 1809. He opposed an early resumption of cash
payments in 1811, and became chancellor of the exchequer when the earl
of Liverpool succeeded Perceval in May 1812. Having forsaken Old Sarum,
he had represented Helston from November 1806 to June 1812; and after
being member for East Grinstead for a few weeks, was returned for
Harwich in October 1812.

When Vansittart became chancellor of the exchequer the country was
burdened with heavy taxation and an enormous debt. Nevertheless, the
continuance of the war compelled him to increase the custom duties and
other taxes, and in 1813 he introduced a complicated scheme for dealing
with the sinking fund. In 1816, after the conclusion of peace, a large
decrease in taxation was generally desired, and there was a loud outcry
when the chancellor proposed only to reduce, not to abolish, the
property or income tax. The abolition of this tax, however, was carried
in parliament, and Vansittart was also obliged to remit the extra tax on
malt, meeting a large deficiency principally by borrowing. He devoted
considerable attention to effecting real or supposed economies with
regard to the national debt. He carried an elaborate scheme for handing
over the payment of naval and military pensions to contractors, who
would be paid a fixed annual sum for forty-five years; but no one was
found willing to undertake this contract, although a modified plan on
the same lines was afterwards adopted. Vansittart became very unpopular
in the country, and he resigned his office in December 1822. His system
of finance was severely criticized by Huskisson, Tierney, Brougham, Hume
and Ricardo. On his resignation Liverpool offered Vansittart the post of
chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster. Accepting this offer in February
1823, he was created Baron Bexley in March, and granted a pension of
£3000 a year. He resigned in January 1828. In the House of Lords Bexley
took very little part in public business, although he introduced the
Spitalfields weavers bill in 1823, and voted for the removal of Roman
Catholic disabilities in 1824. He took a good deal of interest in the
British and Foreign Bible Mission, the Church Missionary Society and
kindred bodies, and assisted to found King's College, London. He died at
Foot's Cray, Kent, on the 8th of February 1851. His wife, whom he
married in July 1806, was Isabella (d. 1810), daughter of William Eden,
1st Baron Auckland, and as he had no issue the title became extinct on
his death. There are nine volumes of Vansittart's papers in the British
Museum.

  See Spencer Walpole, _History of England_ (London, 1890); S.C. Buxton,
  _Finance and Politics_ (London, 1888).




BEXLEY, an urban district in the Dartford parliamentary division of
Kent, England, 12 m. S.E. by E. of London by the South-Eastern & Chatham
railway. Pop. (1901) 12,918. Bexley, which is mentioned in Domesday
Book, has had a church since the 9th century. The present church of St
Mary is Early English and later. With the rental of the manor of Bexley,
William Camden, the antiquary, founded the ancient history professorship
at Oxford. Hall Place, which contains a fine Jacobean staircase and
oak-panelled hall, is said to occupy the site of the dwelling-place of
the Black Prince. The course of Watling Street may be traced over Bexley
Heath, where, too, there exist deep pits, widening into vaults below,
and probably of British origin.




BEY (a modern Turk, word, the older form being _beg_, cf. Pers. _baig_),
the administrator of a district, now generally an honorific title
throughout the Turkish empire; the granting of this in Egypt is made by
the sultan of Turkey through the khedive. In Tunis "bey" has become the
hereditary title of the reigning sovereigns (see TUNISIA).




BEYBAZAR, the chief town of a _kaza_ of the Angora vilayet in Asiatic
Turkey, situated on an affluent of the Sakaria (anc. _Sangarius_), about
52 m. W. of Angora. It corresponds to the anc. _Lagania_, renamed
_Anastasiopolis_ under the emperor Anastasius (491-518), a bishopric by
the 5th century. Its well-built wooden houses cover the slopes of three
hills at the mouth of a gorge filled with fruit gardens and vineyards.
The chief products are rice, cotton and fruits. From Beybazar come the
fine pears sold in Constantinople as "Angora pears"; its musk-melons are
equally esteemed; its grapes are used only for a sweetmeat called
_jevizli-sujuk_ ("nutty fruit sausage"). There are few remains of
antiquity apart from numerous rock-cut chambers lining the banks of the
stream. Pop. about 4000 to 5000.




BEYLE, MARIE HENRI (1783-1842), better known by his _nom de plume_ of
STENDHAL, French author, was born at Grenoble on the 23rd of January
1783. With his father, who was an _avocat_ in the parlement of Grenoble,
he was never on good terms, but his intractable disposition sufficiently
explains his unhappy childhood and youth. Until he was twelve years old
he was educated by a priest, who succeeded in inspiring him with a
lasting hatred of clericalism. He was then sent to the newly established
École Centrale at Grenoble, and in 1799 to Paris with a letter of
introduction to the Daru family, with which the Beyles were connected.
Pierre Daru offered him a place in the ministry for war, and with the
brothers Daru he followed Napoleon to Italy. Most of his time in Italy
was spent at Milan, a city for which he conceived a lasting attachment.
Much of his _Chartreuse de Parme_ seems to be autobiographical of this
part of his life.

He was a spectator of the battle of Marengo, and afterwards enlisted in
a dragoon regiment. With rapid promotion he became adjutant to General
Michaud; but after the peace of Amiens in 1802 he returned to study in
Paris. There he met an actress, Mélanie Guilbert, whom he followed to
Marseilles. His father cut off his supplies on hearing of this escapade,
and Beyle was reduced to serving as clerk to a grocer. Mélanie Guilbert,
however, soon abandoned him to marry a Russian, and Beyle returned to
Paris. Through the influence of Daru he obtained a place in the
commissariat, which he filled with some distinction from 1806 to 1814.
Charged with raising a levy in Brunswick of five million francs, he
extracted seven; and during the retreat from Moscow he discharged his
duties with efficiency. On the fall of Napoleon he refused to accept a
place under the new régime, and retired to Milan, where he met Silvio
Pellico, Manzoni, Lord Byron and other men of note. At Milan he
contracted a _liaison_ with a certain Angelina P., whom he had admired
fruitlessly during his earlier residence in that city. In 1814 he
published, under the pseudonym of Alexandre César Bombet, his _Lettres
écrites de Vienne en Aulriche sur le célèbre compositeur, Joseph Haydn,
suivies d'une vie de Mozart, et de considérations sur Métastase et
l'état présent de la musique en Italie_. His letters on Haydn were
borrowed from the _Haydini_ (1812) of Joseph Carpani, and the section on
Mozart had no greater claim to originality. The book was reprinted
(1817) as _Vies de Haydn, Mozart et Métastase_. His _Histoire de la
peinture en Italic_ (2 vols., 1817) was originally dedicated to
Napoleon.

His friendship with some Italian patriots brought him in 1821 under the
notice of the Austrian authorities, and he was exiled from Milan. In
Paris he felt himself a stranger, as he had never recognized French
contemporary art in literature, music or painting. He frequented,
however, many literary salons in Paris, and found some friends in the
"_idéologues_" who gathered round Destutt de Tracy. He was the most
closely allied with Prosper Mérimée, a _dilettante_ and an ironist like
himself. He published at this time his _Essai sur l'amour_ (1822), of
which only seventeen copies were sold in eleven years, though it
afterwards became famous, _Racine et Shakespeare_ (1823-1825), _Vie de
Rossini_ (1824), _D'un nouveau complot centre les industriels_ (1825),
_Promenades dans Rome_ (1829), and his first novel, _Armance, ou
quelques scenes de Paris en 1827_ (1827). After the Revolution of 1830
he was appointed consul at Trieste, but the Austrian government refused
to accept him, and he was sent to Civita Vecchia instead. _Le Rouge et
le noir, chronique du XIX^e siècle_ (2 vols., 1830) appeared in Paris
after his departure, but attracted small notice. He had published in
1838 _Mémoires d'un touriste_, and in 1839 _La Chartreuse de Parme_ (2
vols.), which was the last of his publications, and the first to secure
any popular success, though his earlier writings had been regarded as
significant by a limited public. It was enthusiastically reviewed by
Balzac in his _Revue Parisienne_ (1840). Beyle remained at Civita
Vecchia, discharging his duties as consul perfunctorily and with
frequent intervals of absence until his death, which took place in Paris
on the 23rd of March 1842. He wrote his own epitaph,[1] describing
himself as a Milanese.

His posthumous works include a fragmentary _Vie de Napoléon_ (1875);
_Mélanges d'art et de littérature_ (1867); _Chroniques italiennes_
(1885), including "_L'Abbesse de Castro_," "_Les Cenci_," "_Vittoria
Accoramboni_," "_Vanina Vanini_," "_La Duchesse de Palliano_," some of
which has appeared separately; _Romans et nouvelles_ and _Nouvelles
inédites_ (1855); _Correspondance_ (2 vols., 1855); Lamiel (ed. C.
Stryienski, 1889); his _Journal 1801-1814_ (ed. Stryienski and F. de
Nion, 1888), of which the section dealing with the Russian and German
campaigns is unfortunately lost; _Vie de Henri Brulard_ (1890), a
disguised autobiography, chiefly the history of his numerous love
affairs; _Lettres intimes_ (1892); _Lucien Leuwen_ (ed. J. de Mitty,
1894); _Souvenirs d'égotisme_ (ed. C. Stryienski, 1892), autobiography
and unpublished letters.

Stendhal's reputation practically rests on the two novels _Le Rouge et
le noir_ and _La Chartreuse de Parme_. In the former of these he
borrowed his plot from events which had actually happened some years
previously. Julien Sorel in the novel is tutor in a noble family and
seduces his pupil's mother. He eventually kills her to avenge a letter
accusing him to the family of his betrothed, Mlle de la Mole. Julien is
a picture of Beyle as he imagined himself to be. The _Chartreuse de
Parme_ has less unity of purpose than _Le Rouge et le noir_. For its
setting the author drew largely on his own experiences. Fabrice's
experiences at Waterloo are his own in the Italian campaign, and the
countess Pietranera is his Milanese Angelina. But of the two novels it
is more picturesque and has been more popular. Stendhal's real vogue
dates from the early sixties, but his importance is essentially
literary. In spite of his egotism and the limitations of his ideas, his
acute analysis of the motives of his personages has appealed to
successive generations of writers, and a great part of the development
of the French novel must be traced to him. Brunetière has pointed out
(_Manual of French Lit._, Eng. trans., 1898) that Stendhal supplied the
Romanticists with the notion of the interchange of the methods and
effects of poetry, painting and music, and that in his worship of
Napoleon he agreed with their glorification of individual energy.
Stendhal, however, thoroughly disliked the Romanticists, though
Sainte-Beuve acknowledged (_Causeries du lundi_, vol. ix.) that his
books gave ideas. Taine (_Essais de critique et d'histoire_, 1857) found
in him a great psychologist; Zola (_Romanciers naturalistes_, 1881)
actually claimed him as the father of the naturalist school; and Paul
Bourget (_Essais de psychologie contemporaine_, 1883) cited _Le Rouge et
le noir_ as one of the classic novels of analysis.

  The 1846 edition of _La Chartreuse de Parme_ contains a prefatory
  notice by R. Colomb, and a reprint of Balzac's article. In addition to
  the authorities already mentioned see the essay on Beyle (1850) by
  Prosper Mérimée; A.A. Paton, _Henry Beyle, a Critical and Biographical
  Study_ (1874); Adolphe Paupe, _Histoire des oeuvres de Stendhal_
  (1903); A. Chuquet, _Stendhal-Beyle_ (1902); a review by R. Doumic
  (_Revue des deux mondes_, February 1902), deprecating the excessive
  attention paid to Beyle's writings; and Edouard Rod, _Stendhal_ (1892)
  in the "Grands écrivains français" series. See also _Correspondance de
  Stendhal, 1800-1842_, with preface by M. Barrés (Paris, 1908).


FOOTNOTE:

  [1] Quì giace Arrigo Beyle Milanese; visse, scrisse, amò.




BEYRICH, HEINRICH ERNST VON (1815-1896), German geologist, was born at
Berlin on the 31st of August 1815, and educated at the university in
that city, and afterwards at Bonn, where he studied under Goldfuss and
Nöggerath. He obtained his degree of Ph.D. in 1837 at Berlin, and was
subsequently employed in the mineralogical museum of the university,
becoming director of the palaeontological collection in 1857, and
director of the museum in 1875. He was one of the founders of the German
Geological Society in 1848. He early recognized the value of
palaeontology in stratigraphical work; and he made important researches
in the Rhenish mountains, in the Harz and Alpine districts. In later
years he gave special attention to the Tertiary strata, including the
Brown Coal of North Germany. In 1854 he proposed the term Oligocene for
certain Tertiary strata intermediate between the Eocene and Miocene; and
the term is now generally adopted. In 1865 he was appointed professor of
geology and palaeontology in the Berlin University, where he was
eminently successful as a teacher; and when the Prussian Geological
Survey was instituted in 1873 he was appointed co-director with Wilhelm
Hauchecorne (1828-1900). He published _Beiträgezur Kenntniss der
Versteinerungen des rheinischen Übergangs-gebirges_ (1837); _Über einige
böhmische Trilobiten_ (1845); _Die Conchylien des norddeutschen
Tertiärgebirges_ (1853-1857). He died on the 9th of July 1896.




BEYSCHLAG, WILLIBALD (1823-1900), German Protestant divine, was born at
Frankfort-on-Main on the 5th of September 1823. He studied theology at
Bonn and Berlin (1840-1844), and in 1856 was appointed court-preacher at
Karlsruhe. In 1860, he moved to Halle as professor ordinarius of
practical theology. A theologian of the mediating school, he became
leader of the _Mittelpartei_, and with Albrecht Wolters founded as its
organ the _Deutschevangelische Blätter_. As a representative of this
party, he took a prominent part in the general synods of 1875 and 1879.
His championship of the rights of the laity and his belief in the
autonomy of the church led him to advocate the separation of church and
state. He died at Halle on the 25th of November 1900. Among his numerous
works are _Die Christologie des Neuen Testaments_ (1866), _Der
Altkatholicismus_ (three editions, 1882-1883), _Leben Jesu_ (2 vols.,
1885; 3rd ed., 1893), _Neutestamentliche Theologie_ (2 vols., 1891-1892;
2nd ed., 1896), _Christenlehre auf Grund des kleinen luth. Katechismus_
(1900), and an autobiography _Aus meinem Leben_ (2 parts, 1896-1898).

  See P. Schaff, _Living Divines_ (1887); Lichtenberger, _Hist. Germ.
  Theol._ (1889); Calwer-Zeller, _Kirchenlexikon_.




BEZA (DE BÈSZE), THEODORE (1519-1605), French theologian, son of
_bailli_ Pierre de Bèsze, was born at Vezelai, Burgundy, on the 24th of
June 1519. Of good descent, his parents were known for generous piety.
He owed his education to an uncle, Nicolas de Bèsze, counsellor of the
Paris parlement, who placed him (1529) under Melchior Wolmar at Orleans,
and later at Bourges. Wolmar, who had taught Greek to Calvin, grounded
Beza in Scripture from a Protestant standpoint; after his return to
Germany (1534) Beza studied law at Orleans (May 1535 to August 1539),
beginning practice in Paris (1539) as law licentiate. To this period
belong his exercises in Latin verse, in the loose taste of the day,
foolishly published by him as _Juvenilia_ in 1548. Though not in orders,
he held two benefices. A severe illness wrought a change; he married his
mistress, Claude Desnoz, and joined the church of Calvin at Geneva
(October 1548). In November 1549 he was appointed Greek professor at
Lausanne, where he acted as Calvin's adjutant in various publications,
including his defence of the burning of Servetus, _De Haereticis a
civili magistratu puniendis_ (1554). In 1558 he became professor in the
Geneva academy, where his career was brilliant. His conspicuous ability
was shown in the abortive Colloquy of Poissy (1561). On Calvin's death
(1564) he became his biographer and administrative successor. As a
historian, Beza, by his chronological inexactitude, has been the source
of serious mistakes; as an administrator, he softened the rigour of
Calvin. His editions and Latin versions of the New Testament had a
marked influence on the English versions of Geneva (1557 and 1560) and
London (1611). The famous codex D. was presented by him (1581) to
Cambridge University, with a characteristically dubious account of the
history of the manuscript. His works are very numerous, but of little
moment, except those already mentioned. He resigned his offices in 1600,
and died on the 13th of October 1605. He had taken a second wife (1588),
Catherine del Piano, a widow, but left no issue. He was not the author
of the _Histoire ecclésiastique_ (1580), sometimes ascribed to him;
nor, probably, of the vulgar skit published under the name of Benedict
Panavantius (1551).

  See Laingaeus, _De Vita et Moribus_ (1585, calumnious); Antoine la
  Faye, _De Vita et Obitu_ (1606, eulogistic); Schlosser, _Leben_
  (1806); Baum, _Th. Beza_, portrait (1843-1851); Heppe, _Leben_ (1861).
       (A. Go.*)




BEZANT or BYZANT (from Byzantium, the modern Constantinople), originally
a Byzantine gold coin which had a wide circulation throughout Europe up
to about 1250. Its average value was about nine shillings. Bezants were
also issued in Flanders and Spain. Silver bezants, in value from one to
two shillings, were in circulation in England in the 13th and 14th
centuries. In Wycliffe's translation of the Bible he uses the word for a
"talent" (e.g. in Luke xv. 8). In heraldry, bezants are represented by
gold circles on the shield, and were introduced by the crusaders.




BEZANTÉE, in architecture, a name given to an ornamented moulding much
used in the Norman period, resembling the coins (bezants) struck in
Byzantium.




BEZBORODKO, ALEKSANDER ANDREEVICH, PRINCE (1747-1799), grand chancellor
of Russia, was born at Gluchova on the 14th of March 1747, and educated
at home and in the clerical academy at Kiev. He entered the public
service as a clerk in the office of Count P.A. Rumyantsev, then
governor-general of Little Russia, whom he accompanied to the Turkish
War in 1768. He was present at the engagements of Larga and Kaluga, and
at the storming of Silistria. On the conclusion of the peace of
Kuchuk-Kainarji (1774) the field marshal recommended him to Catharine
II., and she appointed him in 1775 her petition-secretary. He thus had
the opportunity of impressing the empress with his brilliant gifts, the
most remarkable of which were exquisite manners, a marvellous memory and
a clear and pregnant style. At the same time he set to work to acquire
the principal European languages, especially French, of which he became
a master. It was at this time that he wrote his historical sketches of
the Tatar wars and of Little Russia.

His activity was prodigious, and Catharine called him her factotum. In
1780 he accompanied her on her journey through White Russia, meeting the
emperor Joseph, who urged him to study diplomacy. On his return from a
delicate mission to Copenhagen, he presented to the empress "a memorial
on political affairs" which comprised the first plan of a partition of
Turkey between Russia and Austria. This document was transmitted almost
word for word to Vienna as the Russian proposals. He followed this up by
_Epitomised Historical Information concerning Moldavia_. For these two
state papers he was rewarded with the posts of "plenipotentiary for all
negotiations" in the foreign office and postmaster-general. From this
time he was inseparably associated with Catharine in all important
diplomatic affairs, though officially he was the subordinate of the
vice-chancellor, Count Alexander Osterman. He wrote all the most
important despatches to the Russian ministers abroad, concluded and
subscribed all treaties, and performed all the functions of a secretary
of state. He identified himself entirely with Catharine's political
ideas, even with that of re-establishing the Greek empire under her
grandson Constantine. The empress, as usual, richly rewarded her _comes_
with pensions and principalities. In 1786 he was promoted to the senate,
and it was through him that the empress communicated her will to that
august state-decoration. In 1787 he accompanied Catharine on her
triumphal progress through South Russia in the capacity of minister of
foreign affairs. At Kaniev he conducted the negotiations with the Polish
king, Stanislaus II., and at Novuiya Kaidaniya he was in the empress's
carriage when she received Joseph II.

The second Turkish War (1787-92) and the war with Gustavus III.
(1788-90) heaped fresh burdens on his already heavily laden shoulders,
and he suffered from the intrigues of his numerous jealous rivals,
including the empress's latest favourite, A.M. Mamonov. All his efforts
were directed towards the conclusion of the two oppressive wars by an
honourable peace. The pause of Verelå with Gustavus III. (14th of August
1790) was on the terms dictated by him. On the sudden death of Potemkin
he was despatched to Jassy to prevent the peace congress there from
breaking up, and succeeded, in the face of all but insuperable
difficulties, in concluding a treaty exceedingly advantageous to Russia
(9th of January 1792). For this service he received the thanks of the
empress, the ribbon of St Andrew and 50,000 roubles. On his return from
Jassy, however, he found his confidential post of secretary of petitions
occupied by the empress's last favourite, P.A. Zubov. He complained of
this "diminution of his dignity" to the empress in a private memorial in
the course of 1793. The empress reassured him by fresh honours and
distinctions on the occasion of the solemn celebration of the peace of
Jassy (2nd of September 1793), when she publicly presented him with a
golden olive-branch encrusted with brilliants. Subsequently Catharine
reconciled him with Zubov, and he resumed the conduct of foreign
affairs. He contributed more than any other man to bring about the
downfall and the third partition of Poland, for which he was
magnificently recompensed. But diplomacy by no means exhausted
Bezborodko's capacity for work. He had a large share in the internal
administration also. He reformed the post-office, improved the banking
system of Russia, regulated the finances, constructed roads, and united
the Uniate and Orthodox churches.

On the death of Catharine, the emperor Paul entrusted Bezborodko with
the examination of the late empress's private papers, and shortly
afterwards made him a prince of the Russian empire, with a
correspondingly splendid apanage. On the retirement of Osterman he
received the highest dignity in the Russian empire--that of imperial
chancellor. Bezborodko was the only Russian minister who retained the
favour of Paul to the last. During the last two years of his life the
control of Russia's diplomacy was entirely in his hands. His programme
at this period was peace with all the European powers, revolutionary
France included. But the emperor's growing aversion from this pacific
policy induced the astute old minister to attempt to "seek safety in
moral and physical repose." Paul, however, refused to accept his
resignation and would have sent him abroad for the benefit of his
health, had not a sudden stroke of paralysis prevented Bezborodko from
taking advantage of his master's kindness. He died at St Petersburg on
the 6th of April 1799. In private life Bezborodko was a typical
Catharinian, corrupt, licentious, conscienceless and self-seeking. But
he was infinitely generous and affectionate, and spent his enormous
fortune liberally. His banquets were magnificent, his collections of
pictures and statues unique in Europe. He was the best friend of his
innumerable poor relatives, and the Maecenas of all the struggling
authors of his day. Sycophantic he might have been, but he was neither
ungrateful nor vindictive. His patriotism is as indisputable as his
genius.

  See _Sbornik_ (Collections) of the _Imperial Russian Historical
  Society_ (Fr. and Russ.), vols. 60-100 (St Petersburg, 1870-1904);
  Nikolai Ivanovich Grigorovich, _The Chancellor A.A. Bezborodko in
  Connexion with the Events of His Time_ (Rus., St Petersburg,
  1879-1881).     (R. N. B.)




BEZEL (from an O. Fr. word, cf. Mod. Fr. _biseau_, _basile_, possibly
connected with Lat. _bis_, twice), a sloping edge, as of a cutting tool,
also known as basil. In jewelry, the term is used for the oblique sides
or faces of a gem; the rim which secures the crystal of a watch in
position or a jewel in its setting, and particularly the enlarged part
of a ring on which the device is engraved (see RING).




BÉZIERS, a town of southern France, capital of an arrondissement in the
department of Hérault, 47 m. S.W. of Montpellier by rail. Pop. (1906)
46,262. Béziers is situated in a wine-growing district on a hill on the
left bank of the river Orb, which is joined at this point by the Canal
du Midi. The Allées Paul Riquet, named after the creator of the canal,
occupy the centre of Béziers and divide the old town with its maze of
narrow and irregular streets from the new quarter to the east. They form
a long and shady promenade, terminating at one end in the Place de la
République and the theatre, the front of which is decorated with
bas-reliefs by David d'Angers, and at the other in a beautiful park,
the Plateau des Poétes. The most interesting portion of the town is the
extreme west where the old ramparts overlook the Orb. Above them towers
St Nazaire, the finest of the churches of Béziers; it dates from the
12th to the 14th centuries and is a good specimen of the ecclesiastical
fortification common in southern France. Its chief artistic features are
the rose window in the western façade, and the stained glass and curious
iron grilles of the choir-windows, which belong to the 14th century.
Adjoining the south transept there are Gothic cloisters of the 14th
century. The Orb is crossed by four bridges, the railway bridge, an
ancient bridge of the 13th or 14th century, a modern bridge and the fine
aqueduct by which the Canal du Midi is carried over the river. About
half a mile to the south-west of the town are the locks of Fonserannes,
in which in 330 yds. the water of the canal descends 80 ft. to reach the
level of the Orb. There are remains of a Roman arena which have been
built into the houses of the rue St Jacques. Béziers is seat of a
sub-prefect and has tribunals of first instance and of commerce,
communal colleges and several learned societies. It is an agricultural
market and carries on an active trade in wine, brandy, fruit, leather
and sulphur. Its industries are chiefly connected with the wine trade
(cask and cork making, &c.) and there are important distilleries. It
also has iron-works and tanneries.

The Romans established a colony at Béziers, and it was the headquarters
of the seventh legion, under the title of _Baeterrae Septimanorum_. The
present name occurs in the form _Besara_ as early as Festus Avienus
(later 4th century). The town was completely destroyed in 1209 by the
forces of Simon de Montfort in the crusade against the Albigenses, on
which occasion 20,000 persons were massacred. The walls were rebuilt in
1289; but the town again suffered severely in the civil and religious
wars of the 16th century, and all its fortifications were destroyed in
1632.




BÉZIQUE (probably from Span. _besico_, little kiss, in allusion to the
meeting of the queen and knave, an important feature in the game), a
game at cards played with two similar packs from which the twos, threes,
fours, fives and sixes have been rejected, shuffled together and used as
one. It is modelled on a group of card games which possess many features
in common; the oldest of these is _mariage_, then follow _brusquembille,
l'homme de brou, briscan_ or _brisque_, and _cinq-cents_. Bézique (also
called _besi_ and _besigue_) is, in fact, _brisque_ played with a double
pack, and with certain modifications rendered necessary by the
introduction of additional cards. The cards rank as follows:--Ace, ten,
king, queen, knave, nine, eight, seven.

The usual game is for two players. The players cut for deal, and the
higher bézique card deals. The objects of the play are: (1) to promote
in the hand various combinations of cards, which, when declared, entitle
the holder to certain scores; (2) to win aces and tens, known as
"brisques"; (3) to win the so-called last trick. The dealer deals eight
cards to each, first three, then two, and again three. The top card of
those remaining (called the "stock") is turned up for trumps. As
sometimes played, the first marriage, or the first sequence, decides the
trump suit; there is then no score for the seven of trumps (see below).
The stock is placed face downwards between the players and slightly
spread. The non-dealer leads any card, and the dealer plays to it, but
need not follow suit, nor win the trick. If he wins the trick by playing
a higher card of the same suit led, or a trump, the lead falls to him.
In case of ties the leader wins. Whoever wins the trick leads to the
next; but before playing again each player takes a card from the stock
and adds it to his hand, the winner of the trick taking the top card.
This alternate playing and drawing a card continues until the stock
(including the trump card or card exchanged for it, which is taken up
last) is exhausted. The tricks remain face upwards on the table, but
must not be searched during the play of the hand.

The scores are shown as follows:--

_Table of Bézique Scores._

  _Seven of trumps_, turned up, dealer marks                      10
  _Seven of trumps_, declared (see below) or exchanged, player
     marks                                                        10
  _Marriage_ (king and queen of any suit) declared                20
  _Royal marriage_ (king and queen of trumps) declared            40
  _Bézique_ (queen of spades and knave of diamonds) declared      40
  _Double bézique_ (all the four bézique cards) declared         500
  _Four aces_ (any four, whether duplicates or not) declared     100
  _Four kings_ (any four) declared                                80
  _Four queens_ (any four) declared                               60
  _Four knaves_ (any four) declared                               40
  _Sequence_ (ace, ten, king, queen, knave of trumps) declared   250
  _Aces and tens_, in tricks, the winner for each one marks       10
  _Last trick_ of all (as sometimes _played_, the last
     trick before the stock is exhausted) the winner marks        10

A "declaration" can only be made by the winner of a trick immediately
after he has won it, and before he draws from the stock. It is effected
by placing the declared cards (one of which at least must not have been
declared before) face upwards on the table, where they are left, unless
they are played, as they may be. A player is not bound to declare. A
card led or played cannot be declared. More than one declaration may be
made at a time, provided no card of one combination forms part of
another that is declared with it. Thus four knaves and a marriage may be
declared at the same time; but a player cannot declare king and queen of
spades and knave of diamonds together to score marriage and bézique. He
must first declare one combination, say bézique; and when he wins
another trick he can score marriage by declaring the king. A declaration
cannot be made of cards that have already all been declared. Thus, if
four knaves (one being a bézique knave) and four queens (one being a
bézique queen) have been declared, the knave and queen already declared
cannot be declared again as bézique. To score all the combinations with
these cards, after the knaves are declared and another trick won,
bézique must next be made, after which, on winning another trick, the
three queens can be added and four queens scored. Lastly, a card once
declared can only be used again in declaring in combinations of a
different class. For example: the bézique queen can be declared in
bézique, marriage and four queens; but having once been declared in
single bézique, she cannot form part of another single bézique. Two
declarations may, in a sense, be made to a trick, but only one can be
scored at the time. Thus with four kings declared, including the king of
spades, bézique can be declared and scored, but the spade marriage
cannot be scored till the holder wins another trick. The correct formula
is "Forty, and 20 to score." The seven of trumps may be either declared
or exchanged for the turn-up after winning a trick, and before drawing.
When exchanged, the turn-up is taken into the player's hand, and the
seven put in its place. The second seven can, of course, be declared. A
seven when declared is not left on the table, but is simply shown.

The winner of the last trick can declare anything hitherto undeclared in
his hand. After this all declarations cease. The winner of the last
trick takes the last card of the stock, and the loser the turn-up card
(or seven exchanged for it). All cards on the table, that have been
declared and not played, are taken up by their owners. The last eight
tricks are then played, but the second player must follow suit if able,
and must win the trick if able. Finally, each player counts his tricks
for the aces and tens they may contain, unless (as is often done) they
are scored at the time. If a player revokes in the last eight tricks, or
does not win the card led, if able, the last eight tricks belong to his
adversary. The deal then passes on alternately until the game (1000) is
won. If the loser does not make 500, his opponent counts a double game,
or double points, according as they have agreed. The score is best kept
by means of a special bézique-marker.

  _Three- and Four-Handed Bézique._--When three play, three packs are
  used together. All play against each other. The player on the left of
  the dealer is first dealt to and has the first lead. The rotation of
  dealing goes to the left. If double bézique has been scored, and one
  pair has been played, a second double bézique may be made with the
  third pair and the pair on the table. Triple bézique scores 1500. All
  the cards of the triple bézique must be on the table at the same time
  and unplayed to a trick. All may be declared together, or a double
  bézique may be added to a single one, or a third bézique may be added
  to a double bézique already declared. The game is 2000 up. Sometimes
  the three players cut, the one who cuts the highest card plays against
  the other two in consultation, and continues to do so till the allies
  win a game, when the two cut as before to see who shall be the single
  player. Only two packs are then used.

  When four play four packs are used. The players may then score
  independently or may play as partners. A second double bézique or
  triple bézique may be scored as before; to form them the béziques may
  be declared from the hand of either partner. A player may declare when
  he or his partner takes a trick. In playing the last eight tricks, the
  winner of the last trick and the adversary to his left play their
  cards against each other, and then the other two similarly play
  theirs. Four people may also play in pairs by consultation, only two
  packs being then required.

  _Polish Bézique_ (also called "Open Bézique" and "Fildniski") differs
  from ordinary bézique in the following particulars. The game is not
  less than 2000 up. Whenever a scoring card is played, the winner of
  the trick places it face upwards in front of him (the same with both
  cards if two scoring cards are played to a trick), forming rows of
  aces, kings, queens, knaves and trump tens (called _open_ cards).
  Cards of the same denomination are placed overlapping one another
  lengthwise from the player towards his adversary to economise space.
  When a scoring card is placed among the open cards, all the sevens,
  eights, nines, and plain suit tens in the tricks are turned down and
  put on one side. Open cards cannot be played a second time, and can
  only be used in declaring. Whether so used or not they remain face
  upwards on the table until the end of the hand, including the last
  eight tricks. A player can declare after winning a trick and before
  drawing again, when the trick won contains a card or cards, which
  added to his open cards complete any combination that scores. Every
  declaration must include a card played to the trick last won. Aces and
  tens must be scored as soon as won, and not at the end of the hand.
  The seven of trumps can be exchanged by the winner of the trick
  containing it; and if the turn-up card is one that can be used in
  declaring, it becomes an open card when exchanged. The seven of trumps
  when not exchanged is scored for by the player winning the trick
  containing it.

  Compound declarations are allowed, i.e. cards added to the open cards
  can at once be used, without waiting to win another trick, in as many
  combinations of different classes as they will form with the winner's
  open cards. For example: A has three open kings, and he wins a trick
  containing a king. Before drawing again he places the fourth king with
  the other three, and scores 80 for kings. This is a simple
  declaration. But suppose the card led was the queen of trumps, and A
  wins it with the king, and he has the following open cards--three
  kings, three queens, and ace, ten, knave of trumps. He at once
  declares royal marriage (40); four kings (80); four queens (60); and
  sequence (250); and scores in all, 430. Again: ace of spades is turned
  up, and ace of hearts is led. The second player has two open aces, and
  wins the ace of hearts with the seven of trumps and exchanges. He
  scores for the exchange, 10; for the ace of hearts, 10; for the ace of
  spades, 10; and adds the aces to his open cards, and scores 100 for
  aces; in all, 130. If a declaration or part of a compound declaration
  is omitted, and the winner of the trick draws again, he cannot amend
  his score.

  The ordinary rule holds that a second declaration cannot be made of a
  card already declared in the same class. Thus: a queen once married,
  cannot be married again; a fifth king added to four already declared
  does not entitle to another score for kings. The fundamental point to
  be borne in mind is, that no declaration can be effected by means of
  cards held in the hand. Thus: A having three open queens and a queen
  in hand cannot add it to his open cards. He must win another trick
  containing a queen, when he can declare queens. Declarations continue
  during the play of the last eight tricks just the same as during the
  play of the other cards.

  _Rubicon Bézique._--Four packs are used. Nine cards are dealt by three
  to each player. The rules of Polish bézique hold good in regard to
  dealing, leading, playing to lead, drawing and declaring; but a player
  who receives a hand containing no picture-card (king, queen, or knave)
  scores 50 for _carte blanche_, which he shows. If he does not draw a
  picture-card, he can again score for _carte blanche_. The trump suit
  is decided by the first sequence or marriage declared. As four packs
  are used, triple and quadruple bézique may be made. Triple bézique
  counts 1500, quadruple 4500. Tricks are left face upwards till a
  _brisque_ (ace or ten) is played, when the winner takes all the played
  cards and puts them in a heap; their only value is the value of the
  _brisques_, which are only counted when the scores are very close;
  then they are used to decide the game. They may be counted during the
  play, provided there are not more than twelve cards in the stock.
  Declarations can only be made after winning a trick and before
  drawing. In addition to the ordinary bézique declarations, sequence,
  counting 150, can be made in plain suits. Declared cards, except
  _carte blanche_, remain on the table. If the holder of _carte blanche_
  hold four aces and wins the first trick, he can declare his aces. With
  the exceptions already made, the scores for declarations are the same
  as at ordinary bézique. Declaration is not compulsory. Cards led or
  played cannot be declared. There are three classes of declarations,
  their order being (1) marriage and sequence, (2) bézique, (3) fours. A
  card once declared can be used for a second declaration, but only in
  an equal or superior class. If a card of a declared combination be
  played to a trick, another card of the same rank may be used to form a
  second similar combination; e.g. if aces be declared and one of them
  be played by the playing of a fifth ace, aces can be declared again.
  If a player has a chance of a double declaration he can declare both,
  but can only score one at the time. As in other variations of bézique
  he announces, say, "forty, and twenty to score." He should repeat,
  "Twenty to score," after every trick, until he can legally score it,
  but if he plays a card of the combination he cannot score the points.
  To the last nine tricks, after the stock is exhausted, the second
  player must follow suit and win the trick by trumping or over-playing,
  if he can. The winner of the odd trick scores 50. The game consists of
  one deal. In reckoning the score all fractions of 100 are neglected;
  the winner scores 500 for game in addition to the difference between
  his own points and his opponent's. The loser is "rubiconed" if he does
  not score 1000 points, in which case the winner adds the loser's
  points to his own, takes 300 for _brisques_ and 1000 for game, but the
  loser may claim his _brisques_ to save a rubicon, though they are not
  reckoned among his points. If a rubiconed player has scored less than
  100 the opponent counts the score as 100.




BEZWADA, a town of British India, in the Kistna district of Madras, on
the left bank of the river Kistna, at the head of its delta. Pop. (1901)
24,224. Here are the headquarters of the Kistna canal system, which
irrigates more than 500,000 acres, and also provides navigation
throughout the delta. The anicut or dam at Bezwada, begun in 1852,
consists of a mass of rubble, fronted with masonry, 1240 yds. long. Here
also is the central junction of the East Coast railway from Madras to
Calcutta, 267 m. from Madras, where one branch line comes down from the
Warangal coalfield in the Nizam's Dominions, and another from Bellary on
the Southern Mahratta line. Ancient cuttings on the hills west of
Bezwada have been held by some to mark the site of a Buddhist monastery;
by others they are considered to have been quarries. At Undavalle to the
south are some noted cave-shrines.




BHAGALPUR, a city of British India, in the Behar province of Bengal,
which gives its name to a district and to a division; situated on the
right bank of the Ganges, 265 m. from Calcutta. It is a station on the
East Indian railway. Pop. (1901) 75,760, showing an increase of 9% in
the decade. The chief educational institution is the Tejnarayan Jubilee
college (1887), supported almost entirely by fees. Adjacent to the town
are the two Augustus Cleveland monuments, one erected by government, and
the other by the Hindus, to the memory of the civilian, who, as
collector of Bhagalpur at the end of the 18th century, "by conciliation,
confidence and benevolence, attempted and accomplished the entire
subjection of the lawless and savage inhabitants of the Jungleterry of
Rajmahal."

The DISTRICT OF BHAGALPUR stretches across both banks of the Ganges. It
has an area of 4226 sq. m. In 1901 the population was 2,088,953, showing
an increase of 3% in the decade. Bhagalpur is a long and narrow
district, divided into two unequal parts by the river Ganges. In the
southern portion of the district the scenery in parts of the hill-ranges
and the highlands which connect them is very beautiful. The hills are of
primary formation, with fine masses of contorted gneiss. The ground is
broken up into picturesque gorges and deep ravines, and the whole is
covered with fine forest trees and a rich undergrowth. Within this
portion also lie the lowlands of Bhagalpur, fertile, well planted, well
watered, and highly cultivated. The country north of the Ganges is
level, but beautifully diversified with trees and verdure. Three fine
rivers flow through the district-the Ganges, Kusi and Ghagri. The Ganges
runs a course of 60 m. through Bhagalpur, is navigable all the year
round, and has an average width of 3 m. The Kusi rises in the Himalayas
and falls into the Ganges near Colgong within Bhagalpur. It is a fine
stream, navigable up to the foot of the hills, and receives the Ghagri 8
m. above its debouchure.

In the early days of British administration the hill people, the Nats
and Santals, gave much trouble. They were the original inhabitants of
the country whom the Aryan conquerors had driven back into the barren
hills and unhealthy forests. This they avenged from generation to
generation by plundering and ravaging the plains. The efforts to subdue
or restrain these marauders proved fruitless, till Augustus Cleveland
won them by mild measures, and successfully made over the protection of
the district to the very hill people who a few years before had been
its scourge. Rice, wheat, barley, oats, Indian corn, various kinds of
millet, pulses, oil-seeds, tobacco, cotton, indigo, opium, flax and hemp
and sugar-cane, are the principal agricultural products of Bhagalpur
district. The jungles afford good pasturage in the hot weather, and
abound in lac, silk cocoons, catechu, resin and the _mahuá_ fruit, which
is both used as fruit and for the manufacture of spirits. Lead ores
(chiefly argentiferous galena) and building stone are found, and iron
ore is distributed over the hilly country. Attempts made to work the
galena in 1878-79 and 1900 were abandoned, and the iron ore is little
worked. Gold is washed from the river sand in small particles.

The climate of Bhagalpur partakes of the character both of the deltaic
districts of Bengal and of the districts of Behar, between which it is
situated. The hot season sets in about the end of March, and continues
till the beginning of June, the temperature at this time rising as high
as 110° Fahr. The rains usually begin at the end of June and last till
the middle of September; average annual rainfall, 55 in. The cold season
commences at the beginning of November and lasts till March. During
December and January the temperature falls as low as 41° Fahr. The
average annual temperature is 78°. Bhagalpur formed a part of the
ancient Sanskrit kingdom of Anga. In later times it was included in the
powerful Hindu kingdom of Magadha or Behar, and in the 7th century A.D.
it was an independent state, with the city of Champa for its capital. It
afterwards formed a part of the Mahommedan kingdom of Gaur, and was
subsequently subjugated by Akbar, who declared it to be a part of the
Delhi empire. Bhagalpur passed to the East India Company by the grant of
the emperor Shah Alam in 1765.

There are indigo factories, and other industries include the weaving of
tussur silk and the making of coarse glass. A large trade is carried on
by rail and river with Lower Bengal. The tract south of the Ganges is
traversed by the loop-line of the East Indian railway, and there is also
a railway across the northern tract.

The DIVISION OF BHAGALPUR stretches across the Ganges from the Nepal
frontier to the hills of Chota Nagpur. It comprises the five districts
of Monghyr, Bhagalpur, Purnea, Darjeeling, and the Santal Parganas. The
total area is 19,776 sq. m.; and in 1901 the population was 8,091,405.




BHAMO, a town and district of Burma. The town was in ancient times the
capital of the Shan state of Manmaw, later the seat of a Burmese
governor. It is now the headquarters of a district in the Mandalay
division of Upper Burma (Chinese frontier). It is situated about 300 m.
up the river from Mandalay. It is the highest station on the Irrawaddy
held by British troops, and the nearest point on the river to the
Chinese frontier. In 1901 it contained 10,734 inhabitants, of whom a
considerable number were Chinamen, natives of India and Shan-Chinese. It
stretches for a distance of nearly 4 m. along the Irrawaddy bank in a
series of small villages, transformed into quarters of the town, but the
town proper is confined mainly to the one high ridge of land running at
right angles to the river. The surface of the ground is much cut up by
ravines which fill and dry up according to the rise and fall of the
river. When the Irrawaddy is at its height the lower portion of the town
is flooded, and the country all round is a sheet of water, but usually
for no very long time. Here or hereabouts has long been the terminus of
a great deal of the land commerce from China. For years after its
annexation by Great Britain in 1885 the trade routes were unsafe owing
to attacks from Kachins. These have now ceased, and the roads, which
were mere bridle-tracks, have been greatly improved. The two chief are
the so-called Santa and Ponlaing route, through Manyün (Manwaing) and
Nantien to Momein, and the southern or Sawadi route by way of Namhkam.
Cart roads are now being constructed on both routes, and that south of
the Taiping river could easily be continued through Manyün to Momein if
the Chinese should be induced to co-operate. There is a fairly large
military garrison in Bhamo distributed between two forts to the north
and east of the town. There are in general stationed here a native
regiment, two sections of a battery and the wing of a European regiment.
Besides the barracks there are a circuit house, dâk bungalow,
courthouse, and post and telegraph offices. There is a branch railway
from Myitkyina to Katha, whence there is daily communication by river to
Bhamo.

The DISTRICT OF BHAMO lies wholly in the basin of the Irrawaddy, which,
as well as its tributaries, runs through the heart of it. On the east of
the river is the Shan plateau, running almost due north and south. West
of the Irrawaddy there is a regular series of ranges, enclosing the
basins of the Kaukkwe, Mosit, Indaw and other streams, down which much
timber is floated. Beyond the Kaukkwe there is a ridge of hills, which
starts at Leka, near Mogaung, and diverges to the south, the eastern
ridge dividing the Kaukkwe from the Mosit, and the western forming the
eastern watershed of the Nam Yin and running south into Katha. It is an
offshoot from the latter of these ridges that forms the third defile of
the Irrawaddy between Bhamo and Sinbo. The district covers an area of
4146 sq. m., and the population in 1901 was 79,515. It is mainly
composed of Shan-Burmese and Kachins. The Shan-Burmese inhabit the
valleys and alluvial plains on each side of the river. The Kachins, who
probably came from the sub-regions of the Himalayas, occupy the hills
throughout the district. There are also settlements of Shans,
Shan-Chinese, Chinese and Assamese. There are extensive fisheries in the
Shwegu and Mo-hnyin circles, and in the Indaw, a chain of lakes just
behind the Mosit, opposite Shwegu. The district abounds in rich teak
forests, and there are reserves representing 60,000 acres of teak
plantation. The whole of the country along the banks of the Irrawaddy,
the Mole, Taiping and Kaukkwe, is generally in a water-logged condition
during the rains. The climate in the district is therefore decidedly
malarious, especially at the beginning and end of the rains. From
November to March there is very bracing cold weather. The highest
temperatures range a few degrees over 100° F. up to 106°, and the lowest
a few degrees under 40°. The average maximum for the year is about 87°,
the average minimum about 62°. The rainfall averages 72 in. a year.
     (J. G. Sc.)




BHANDARA, a town and district of British India, in the Nagpur division
of the Central Provinces. The town (pop. in 1901, 14,023) is situated on
the left bank of the river Wainganga, 7 m. from a station on the
Bengal-Nagpur railway. It has considerable manufactures of cotton cloth
and brass-ware, and a first-grade middle school, with a library.

The DISTRICT OF BHANDARA has an area of 3965 sq. m. In 1901 the
population was 663,062, showing a decrease of 11% since 1891 compared
with an increase of 8% in the preceding decade. The district is bounded
on the N., N.E. and E. by lofty hills, inhabited by Gonds and other
aboriginal tribes, while the W. and N.W. are comparatively open. Small
branches of the Satpura range make their way into the interior of the
district. The Ambagarh or Sendurjhari hills, which skirt the south of
the Chandpur pargana, have an average height of between 300 and 400 ft.
above the level of the plain. The other elevated tracts are the Balahi
hills, the Kanheri hills and the Nawegaon hills. The Wainganga is the
principal river in the district, and the only stream that does not dry
up in the hot weather,--its affluents within the district being the
Bawanthari, Bagh, Kanhan and Chulban. There are 3648 small lakes and
tanks in Bhandara district, whence it is called the "lake region of
Nagpur"; they afford ample means of irrigation. More than one-third of
the district lies under jungle, which yields gum, medicinal fruit and
nuts, edible fruits, lac, honey and the blossoms of the _mahuá_ tree
(_Bassia latifolia_), which are eaten by the poorer classes, and used
for the manufacture of a kind of spirit. Tigers, panthers, deer, wild
hogs and other wild animals abound in the forests, and during the rainy
season many deaths occur from snake-bites. Iron is the chief mineral
product. Gold is also found in the bed of the Sone river. Laterite,
shale and sandstone occur all over the district. Native cloth, brass
wares, pot-stone wares, cartwheels, straw and reed baskets, and a small
quantity of silk, form the only manufactures. The principal crops are
rice, wheat, millet, other food-grains, pulse, linseed, and a little
sugar-cane. The district is traversed by the main road from Nagpur to
the east, and also by the Bengal-Nagpur railway. It suffered in the
famine of 1896-1897, and yet more severely in 1900.

Bhandara district contains 25 semi-independent chiefships. These little
states are exempted from the revenue system, and only pay a light
tribute. Their territory, however, is included within the returns of
area and population above given. The climate of Bhandara is
unhealthy,--the prevailing diseases being fever, small-pox and cholera.
Nothing is known of the early history of the district. Tradition says
that at a remote period a tribe of men, called the Gaulis or Gaulars,
overran and conquered it. At the end of the 17th century it belonged to
the Gond raja of Deogarh. In 1743 it was conquered by the Mahrattas, who
governed it till 1853, when it lapsed to the British government, the
raja of Nagpur having died without an heir.




BHANG, an East Indian name for the hemp plant, _Cannabis sativa_ (see
HEMP), but applied specially to the leaves dried and prepared for use as
a narcotic drug. In India the products of the plant for use as a
narcotic and intoxicant are recognized under the three names and forms
of Bhang, Gunja or Ganja, and Churrus or Charas. Bhang consists of the
larger leaves and capsules of the plant on which an efflorescence of
resinous matter has occurred. The leaves are in broken and partly
agglutinated pieces, having a dark-green colour and a heavy but not
unpleasant smell. Bhang is used in India for smoking, with or without
tobacco; it is prepared in the form of a cake or manjan, and it is made
into an intoxicating beverage by infusing in cold water and straining.
Gunja is the flowering or fruit-bearing tops of the female plants. It is
gathered in stalks of several inches in length, the tops of which form a
matted mass, from the agglutination of flowers, seeds and leaflets by
the abundant resinous exudation which coats them. Churrus is the crude
resinous substance separated from the plant. The use of preparations of
hemp among the Mussulman and Hindu population of India is very general;
and the habit also obtains among the population of central Asia, the
Arabs and Egyptians, extending even to the negroes of the valley of the
Zambezi and the Hottentots of South Africa. The habit appears to date
from very remote times, for Herodotus says of the Scythians, that they
creep inside huts and throw hemp seeds on hot stones.




BHARAHAT, or BARHUT, a village in the small state of Nagod in India,
lying about 24° 15' N. by 80° 45' E., about 120 m. S.W. of Allahabad.
General A. Cunningham discovered there in 1873 the remains of a _stupa_
(i.e. a burial mound over the ashes of some distinguished person) which
were excavated, in 1874, by his assistant, J.D. Beglar. The results
showed that it must have been one of the most imposing and handsome in
India; and it is especially important now from the large number of
inscriptions found upon it. The ancient name of the place has not been
yet traced, but it must have been a considerable city and its site lay
on the high road between the ancient capitals of Ujjeni and Kosambi. The
_stupa_ was circular, 70 ft. in diameter and 42 ft. high. It was
surrounded by a stone railing 100 ft. in diameter, so that between
railing and _stupa_ there was an open circle round which visitors could
walk; and the whole stood towards the east side of a paved quadrangle
about 300 ft. by 320 ft., surrounded by a stone wall. On the top of the
_stupa_ was an ornament shaped like the letter T, and as the base of the
_stupa_ was above the quadrangle, the total height of the monument was
between 50 and 60 ft. But its main interest, to us, lies in the railing.
This consisted of eighty square pillars, 7 ft. 1 in. in height,
connected by cross-bars about 1 ft. broad. Both pillars and cross-bars
were elaborately carved in bas-relief, and most of them bore
inscriptions giving either the name of the donor, or the subject of the
bas-relief, or both. There were four entrances through the railing,
facing the cardinal points, and each one protected by the railing coming
out at right angles, and then turning back across it in the shape of the
letter L. This gave the whole ground plan of the monument, and no doubt
designedly so, the shape of a gigantic _swastika_ (i.e. a symbol of good
fortune). By the forms of the letters of the inscriptions, and by the
architectural details, the age of the monument has been approximately
fixed in the 3rd century B.C. The bas-reliefs give us invaluable
evidence of the literature, and also of the clothing, buildings and
other details of the social conditions of the peoples of Buddhist India
at that period. The subjects are taken from the Buddhist sacred books,
more especially from the accounts given in them of the life of the
Buddha in his last or in his previous births. Unfortunately, only about
half the pillars, and about one-third of the cross-bars have been
recovered. When the _stupa_ was discovered the villagers had already
carried off the greater part of the monument to build their cottages
with the stones and bricks of it. The process has gone on till now
nothing is left except what General Cunningham found and rescued and
carried off to Calcutta. Even the mere money value of the lost pieces
must be immense, and among them is the central relic box, which would
have told us in whose honour the monument was put up.

  See A. Cunningham, _The Stupa of Bharhut_ (London, 1879); T.W. Rhys
  Davids, _Buddhist India_ (London, 1903).     (T. W. R. D.)




BHARAL, the Tatar name for the "blue sheep" _Ovis_ (Pseudois) _nahura_,
of Ladak and Tibet. The general colour is blue-grey with black "points"
and white markings and belly; and the horns of the rams are olive-brown
and nearly smooth, with a characteristic backward curvature. In the
absence of face-glands, as well as in certain other features, the bharal
serves to connect more typical sheep (q.v.) with goats.




BHARATPUR, or BHURTPORE, a native state of India, in the Rajputana
agency. Its area covers 1982 sq. m. The country is generally level,
about 700 ft. above the sea. Small detached hills, rising to 200 ft. in
height, occur, especially in the northern part. These hills contain good
building stone for ornamental architecture, and in some of them iron ore
is abundant. The Banganga is the only river which flows through the
state. It takes its rise at Manoharpur in the territory of Jaipur, and
flowing eastward passes through the heart of the Bharatpur state, and
joins the Jamna below Agra.

Bharatpur rose into importance under Suraj Mall, who bore a conspicuous
part in the destruction of the Delhi empire. Having built the forts of
Dig and Kumbher in 1730, he received in 1756 the title of raja, and
subsequently joined the great Mahratta army with 30,000 troops. But the
misconduct of the Mahratta leader induced him to abandon the
confederacy, just in time to escape the murderous defeat at Panipat.
Suraj Mall raised the Jat power to its highest point; and Colonel Dow,
in 1770, estimated the raja's revenue (perhaps extravagantly) at
£2,000,000 and his military force at 60,000 or 70,000 men. In 1803 the
East India Company concluded a treaty, offensive and defensive, with
Bharatpur. In 1804, however, the raja assisted the Mahrattas against the
British. The English under Lord Lake captured the fort of Dig and
besieged Bharatpur, but were compelled to raise the siege after four
attempts at storming. A treaty, concluded on the 17th of April 1805,
guaranteed the raja's territory; but he became bound to pay £200,000 as
indemnity to the East India Company. A dispute as to the right of the
succession again led to a war in 1825, and Lord Combermere captured
Bharatpur with a besieging force of 20,000 men, after a desperate
resistance, on the 18th of January 1826. The fortifications were
dismantled, the hostile chief being deported to Benares, and an infant
son of the former raja installed under a treaty favourable to the
company. In 1853 the Bharatpur ruler died, leaving a minor heir. The
state came under British management, and the administration was
improved, the revenue increased, a system of irrigation developed, new
tanks and wells constructed and an excellent system of roads and public
buildings organized. Owing to the hot winds blowing from Rajputana, the
climate of Bharatpur is extremely sultry till the setting in of the
periodical rains.

In 1901 the population was 626,665, a decrease of 2%. The estimated
revenue is £180,000. The maharaja Ram Singh, who succeeded his father in
1893, was deprived of power of government in 1895 on the ground of
intemperate conduct; and in 1900 was finally deposed for the murder of
one of his personal attendants. He was succeeded by his infant son
Kishen Singh. During his minority the administration was undertaken by a
native minister, together with a state council, under the general
superintendence of the political agent. Imperial service cavalry are
maintained. The state is traversed for about 40 m. by the Rajputana
railway.

The CITY OF BHARATPUR is 34 m. W. of Agra by rail. The population in
1901 was 43,601, showing a decrease of over 23,000 in the decade. The
immense mud ramparts still stand. It has a handsome palace, a new
hospital and a high school. There are special manufactures of _chauris_,
or flappers, with handles of sandalwood, ivory or silver, and tails also
made of strips of ivory or sandalwood as fine as horse-hair.




BHATGÁON, a town of Nepal, 8 m. from Khatmandu. It is a celebrated place
of Hindu superstition, the favourite residence of the Brahmans of Nepal,
and contains more families of that order than either Khatmandu or Patan.
It has a population of about 30,000, and its palace and buildings
generally are of a more striking appearance than in other Nepalese
towns. The town is said to possess many Sanskrit libraries.




BHATTIANA, a tract of country in the Punjab province of India, covering
the Ghaggar valley from Fatehabad in the district of Hissar to Bhatnair
in Bikanir. It derives its name from the Bhattis, a wild Rajput clan,
who held the country lying between Hariana, Bikanir and Bahawalpur. It
skirts the borders of the great sandy desert, and only contains a small
and scattered population. This tract was ravaged by Timur in his
invasion of India; and in 1795 paid a nominal allegiance to George
Thomas, the adventurer of Hariana. After the victories of Lord Lake in
1803 it passed with the rest of the Delhi territory under British rule,
but was not settled until 1810. A district of Bhattiana was formed in
1837, but in 1858 it was merged in the Sirsa district, which was divided
up in 1884. The Bhattis number some 350,000, and are a fine tall race,
making capital soldiers.




BHAU DAJI (RAMKRISHNA VITHAL) (1822-1874), Hindu physician of Bombay,
Sanskrit scholar and antiquary, was born in 1822 at the village of
Manjare, in the native state of Sawantwari, of humble parents dealing in
clay dolls. Dr Bhau's career is a striking instance of great results
arising from small accidents. An Englishman noticing his cleverness at
chess induced his father to give the boy an English education.
Accordingly Bhau was brought to Bombay and was educated at the
Elphinstone Institution. He relieved his father of the cost of his
education by winning many prizes and scholarships, and on his father's
death two years later he cheerfully undertook the burden of supporting
his mother and a brother (Narayen), who also in after-life became a
distinguished physician and surgeon. About this time he gained a prize
for an essay on infanticide, and was appointed a teacher in the
Elphinstone Institution. He began to devote his time to the study of
Indian antiquities, deciphering inscriptions and ascertaining the dates
and history of ancient Sanskrit authors. He then studied at the Grant
Medical College, and was one of the first batch who graduated there in
1850. In 1851 he set up as a medical practitioner in Bombay, where his
success was so great that he soon made a fortune. He studied the
Sanskrit literature of medicine, and also tested the value of drugs to
which the ancient Hindus ascribed marvellous powers, among other
pathological subjects of historical interest investigating that of
leprosy. Being an ardent promoter of education, he was appointed a
member of the board of education, and was one of the original fellows of
the university of Bombay. As the first native president of the students'
literary and scientific society, and the champion of the cause of female
education, a girls' school was founded in his name, for which an
endowment was provided by his friends and admirers. In the political
progress of India he took a great and active interest, and the Bombay
Association and the Bombay branch of the East Indian Association owe
their existence to his ability and exertions. He was twice chosen
sheriff of Bombay, in 1869 and 1871. Various scientific societies in
England, France, Germany and America conferred on him their membership.
He contributed numerous papers to the journal of the Bombay branch of
the Royal Asiatic Society. He found time to make a large collection of
rare ancient Sanskrit manuscripts at great cost and trouble. He died in
May 1874. His brother, Dr Narayen Daji (who helped him to set up the
charitable dispensary in Bombay), did not long survive him. Dr Bhau was
a man of the most simple and amiable character and manners; his kindness
and sympathy towards the poor and distressed were unbounded, and
endeared his memory among the Hindus of Bombay.     (N. B. W.)




BHAUNAGAR, or BHAVNAGAR, a native state of India in the Kathiawar
agency, Bombay. Its area covers 2860 sq. m. In 1901 the population was
412,664, showing a decrease of 12% in the decade; the estimated revenue
is £255,800, and the tribute £10,300. The chief, whose title is thakor
sahib, is head of the famous clan of the Gohel Rajputs of Kathiawar. The
enlightened system of administration formed during the rule of the
thakor sahib maharaja Sir Takhtsinghji Jaswatsinghji, G.C.S.I., was
continued with admirable results under the personal supervision of his
son, the maharaja Bhausinghji, K.C.S.I. (b. 1875), and forms a model for
other native states. The Gohel Rajputs are said to have settled in the
district about 1260. Bhaunagar suffered terribly from the famine of
1899-1900. About 60 m. of the Bhaunagar-Gondal railway run through the
state, with its terminus at the town of Bhaunagar, which is the
principal port. The town of Bhaunagar is situated on the west coast of
the gulf of Cambay. The population in 1901 was 56,442. It is the chief
port in Kathiawar, though only admitting vessels of small burden. It was
founded in 1723 by the thakor sahib Bhausinghji, after whom it is named,
in place of his former capital, Sihor, which was considered too exposed
to the Mahratta power.




BHEESTY (from the Persian _bihisti_, paradise), the Hindustani name for
a water carrier, the native who supplies water from a pigskin or
goat-skin bag.




BHERA, a town of British India, in the Shahpur district of the Punjab,
situated on the river Jhelum. Pop. (1901) 18,680. It is the terminus of
a branch of the North-Western railway. It is an important centre of
trade, with manufactures of cotton goods, metal-work, carving, &c. Bhera
was founded about 1540 on its present site, but it took the place of a
city on the opposite bank of the river, of far greater antiquity, which
was destroyed at this period.




BHILS, or BHEELS ("bowmen," from Dravidian _bil_, a bow), a Dravidian
people of central India, probably aborigines of Marwar. They live
scattered over a great part of India. They are found as far north as the
Aravalli Hills, in Sind and Rajputana, as well as Khandesh and
Ahmedabad. They are mentioned in Sanskrit works, and it is thought that
Ptolemy (vii. I. 66) refers to them as [Greek: Phullitai] ("leaf
wearers"), though this word might equally apply to the Gonds. Expelled
by the Aryans from the richer lowlands, they are found to-day in
greatest numbers on the hills of central India. In many Rajput states
the princes on succession have their foreheads marked with blood from
the thumb or toe of a Bhil. The Rajputs declare this a mark of Bhil
allegiance, but it is more probably a relic of days when the Bhils were
a power in India. The Bhils eagerly keep the practice alive, and the
right of giving the blood is hereditary in certain families. The popular
legend of the Bhil origin assigns them a semi-divine birth, Mahadeva
(Siva) having wedded an earth maiden who bore him children, the ugliest
of whom killed his father's bull and was banished to the mountains. The
Bhils of to-day claim to be his descendants. Under the Moguls the Bhils
were submissive, but they rebelled against the Mahrattas, who, being
unable to subdue them, treated them with the utmost cruelty. The race
became outlaws, and they have lived their present wild life ever since.
Their nomad habits and skill with their bows helped them to maintain
successfully the fight with their oppressors. An unsuccessful attempt
was made in 1818 by the British to conquer them. Milder measures were
then tried, and the Bhil Agency was formed in 1825. The Bhil corps was
then organized with a view to utilizing the excellent fighting
qualities of the tribesmen. This corps has done good service in
gradually reducing their more lawless countrymen to habits of order, and
many Bhils are now settled in regular industries.

The pure Bhil is to-day much what he has always been, a savage forest
dweller. The Bhils are a stunted race, but well built, active and
strong, of a black colour, with high cheek-bones, wide nostrils, broad
noses and coarse features. Like all Dravidians the hair is long and
wavy. The lowland Bhils are not now easily distinguished from the
low-caste Hindus. Surgeon-major T.H. Hendley writes:--"The Bhil is an
excellent woodman, knows the shortest cuts over the hills; can walk the
roughest paths and climb the steepest crags without slipping or feeling
distressed. Though robbers, and timorous owing to ages of ill-treatment,
the men are brave when trusted, and very faithful. History proves them
always to have been faithful to their nominal Rajput sovereigns,
especially in their adversity. The Bhil is a merry soul, loving a jest."
The hill Bhils wear nothing but a loin-cloth, their women a coarse robe;
lowland Bhils wear turban, coat and waist-cloth. The Bhils have oaths
none of them will break. The most sacred is that sworn by a dog, the
Bhil praying that the curse of a dog may fall on him if he breaks his
word. Their chief divinity is Hanuman, the monkey-god. Offerings are
made to the much-feared goddess of small-pox. Stone worship is found
among them, and some lowland Bhils are Moslems, while many have adopted
Hinduism.

The Bhils of pure blood number upwards of a million, and there are some
200,000 Bhils of mixed descent.

  See Gustav Oppert, _The Original Inhabitants of India_ (1893); T.H.
  Hendley, "Account of Marwar Bhils," in _Bengal Asiatic Journal_, vol.
  44; W.I. Sinclair in _Indian Antiquary_, vol. iv. pp. 336-338; Col. W.
  Kincaid, "On the Bheel Tribes of the Vindhyan Range," _Jour. Anthrop.
  Institute_, vol. ix.




BHIMA (Sanskrit, "The Terrible"), in Hindu mythology, a hero, one of the
Pandava princes who figure in the _Mahabharata_. He was distinguished by
his huge body, strength and voracity.




BHIWANI, a town of British India, in the Hissar district of the Punjab,
38 m. S.E. of Hissar town by rail. Pop. (1901) 35,917. It is an
important centre of trade with Rajputana, and has factories for ginning
and pressing cotton, and metal manufactures. Its rise dates from 1817,
when it was made a free market.




BHOPAL, a native state of India, in the central India agency. Its area
is 6902 sq. m., and its population in 1901 was 665,961, showing a
decrease of 30% in the decade. This seems to be in part due to a
difference in numeration, but the state suffered heavily from famine in
1896-1897 and 1899-1900. Bhopal is the principal Mussulman state in
central India, ranking next to Hyderabad among the Mahommedan states of
India. The surface of the country is uneven, being traversed by the
Vindhya ranges, a peak of which near Raysen is upwards of 2500 ft. above
sea-level. The general inclination of the country is towards the north,
in which direction most of the streams of the state flow, while others,
passing through the Vindhya ranges, flow to the Nerbudda.

Bhopal state was founded in 1723 by Dost Mahommed Khan, an Afghan
adventurer. In 1778, when General Thomas Goddard made his bold march
across India, the state of Bhopal was the only Indian power that showed
itself friendly; and in 1809 when another British expedition under
General Close appeared in the same parts, the nawab of Bhopal petitioned
earnestly but in vain to be received under British protection. But in
1817, at the outbreak of the Pindari War, a treaty of dependence was
concluded between the chief and the British government. Since then
Bhopal has been steadily loyal to the British government, and during the
Mutiny it rendered good services. The throne has descended in the female
line since 1844, when Sikandar Begum became ruler. Succeeding begums
have taken a great interest in the work of governing the state, which
they carried on with marked success. The sultan Jahan Begum, succeeded
on the death of her mother, Shah Jahan Begum, in June 1901, being the
only female ruler in India.

The estimated revenue of the state is £250,000, and the state pays a
subsidy of £13,000 for the Bhopal battalion. Besides the Bhopal
battalion, a regiment of imperial service cavalry is maintained, under
the name of the Victoria Lancers. There is a branch railway from Itarsi
to Bhopal city, continued to Jhansi. The British currency has been
introduced, and in 1897-1898, Rs. 71,00,000 of Bhopali coins were
converted. The residence of the political agent and the headquarters of
the Bhopal battalion are at Sehore, 20 m. west of Bhopal city. The city
of Bhopal, a railway station, had a population in 1901 of 76,561. The
palace, with its rock fortress, is called Fatehgarh. An excellent
water-supply has been provided from two large artificial lakes. There
are two hospitals. There is an export trade in opium.

BHOPAL AGENCY, an administrative section of central India, takes its
name from the state of Bhopal, which is included in it. The Bhopal
agency is administered by the agent to the governor-general in central
India. Its area is 11,653 sq. m., and its population in 1901 was
1,157,697. It was created in 1818. In 1900 this district suffered
severely from famine owing to the complete failure of the monsoon, and
the cultivated area decreased by 50 or 60%; but, on the whole, trade has
improved of late years owing to the new railways, which have stimulated
commerce and created fresh centres of industry.




BHOPAWAR, an agency in central India. It consists of the Dhar and
Barwani states, three minor states, Ali Rajpur, Jhabua and Jobat, and a
number of districts and estates. Its total area is 7684 sq. m., and its
population on this area in 1901 was 547,546. But in 1901 and 1904
certain districts were transferred from this agency to the Indore
residency, created in 1899, and the area of Bhopawar was thus reduced by
3283 sq. m. The chief towns are Dhar (pop. 17,792), Barwani (6277) and
Kukshi (5402).




BHOR, a native state of India, in the Poona political agency, Bombay,
forming one of the Satara Jagirs; situated among the higher peaks of the
Western Ghats. Its area covers 925 sq. m. The population in 1901 was
137,268, showing a decrease of 12% in the decade; the estimated gross
revenue is £21,437; the tribute, £310. The chief, whose title is _pant
sachiv_, is a Brahman by caste. The town of BHOR is 25 m. south of
Poona. In 1901 the population was 4178. The Bhor Ghat, on the northern
border of the state, has always been the main pass over the Western
Ghats, or means of communication between the sea-coast and the Deccan.
Since 1861 it has been traversed by the main line of the Great Indian
Peninsula railway.




BHUJ, a town of India, the capital of the native state of Kach, in the
Gujarat division of Bombay, situated at the base of a fortified hill.
Pop. (1901) 26,362. It contains some interesting examples of
architecture of the middle of the 16th century and later; it was a place
sacred to the snake-god Bhujanga.




BHUTAN, an independent kingdom in the Eastern Himalayas, lying between
the Brahmaputra and the southern face of the mountains. It is under
various commercial and other arrangements with the government of India,
from whom it receives an annual subsidy of £3333. It is bounded on the
N. by Tibet; on the E. by a tract inhabited by various uncivilized
independent mountain tribes; on the S. by the British province of Assam,
and the district of Jalpaiguri; and on the W. by the independent native
state of Sikkim. The whole of Bhutan presents a succession of lofty and
rugged mountains abounding in picturesque and sublime scenery. This
alpine region sends out numerous rivers in a southerly direction, which,
forcing their passage through narrow defiles, and precipitated in
cataracts over the precipices, eventually pour themselves into the
Brahmaputra. Of the rivers traversing Bhutan, the most considerable is
the Manas, flowing in its progress to the Brahmaputra under the walls of
Tasgaon, below which it is unfordable. At the foot of Tasgaon Hill it is
crossed by a suspension bridge. The other principal rivers are the
Machu, Tchinchu, Torsha, Manchi and Dharla. Information respecting the
country accumulates but slowly. In 1863 Captain Godwin Austen
accompanied Sir Ashley Eden's mission to the court of the Deb raja, and
made a survey of the route to Punakha. There has also been a certain
amount of geographical sketching combined with trigonometrical
observations; and there are the route surveys of native explorers. In
1887-1888 two native Indian explorers "R. N." and "P. A." traversed a
part of Western Bhutan, but were forced to retire owing to the disturbed
state of the districts. They re-entered the country on the east from
Dewangiri. Here they explored the Kuru, or Lhobrak Chu, which proves to
be the largest river in Bhutan. It drains the tract between the Yamdok
Tso and Tigu Lakes, and is fed by the glaciers of the Kulha Kangri and
other great ranges. The Lhobrak was finally identified with the Manas
river, a geographical discovery of some importance. A previously unknown
tribe, the Chingmis, were discovered in Eastern Bhutan, who are socially
on a higher level than the Bhutias, and differ from them chiefly in the
matter of wearing pigtails. Some excellent survey work was done in
Bhutan by a native surveyor during the progress of the Tibetan
Expedition in 1904. The Monla Kachung pass (17,500 ft.), by which "R.
N." crossed into Tibet, is nearly on the meridian of Gualpara, and is
one of the most important passes between Bhutan and Tibet. East of
Bhutan, amongst the semi-independent hill states which sometimes own
allegiance to Tibet and sometimes assert complete freedom from all
authority, the geographical puzzle of the course of the Tsanpo, the
great river of Tibet, has been solved by the researches of Captain
Harman, and the explorations of the native surveyor "K. P." The Tsanpo
has been definitely ascertained to be the same river as the Brahmaputra.
The tracts inhabited by the aboriginal tribes entitled Lo Nakpo, Lo
Karpo and Lo Tawa ("Lo" signifies "barbarous" in Tibetan), are described
as a pleasant country; the lands on either side of the Tsanpo being well
cultivated and planted with mangoes, plantains and oranges.

Nothing is known certainly about the area and population of Bhutan, the
former being estimated at 16,800 sq. m. At the head of the Bhutan
government there are nominally two supreme authorities, the Dharm raja,
the spiritual head, and the Deb raja, the temporal ruler. Recently
official correspondence has been written in the name of the Dharm raja,
but it is not known whether this change really signifies anything. To
aid these rajas in administering the country, there is a council of
permanent ministers, called the Lenehen. Practically, however, there is
no government at all. Subordinate officers and rapacious governors of
forts wield all the power of the state, and tyranny, oppression and
anarchy reign over the whole country. The Dharm raja succeeds as an
incarnation of the deity. On the death of a Dharm raja a year or two
elapses, and the new incarnation then reappears in the shape of a child
who generally happens to be born in the family of a principal officer.
The child establishes his identity by recognizing the cooking utensils,
&c., of the late Dharm raja; he is then trained in a monastery, and on
attaining his majority is recognized as raja, though he exercises no
more real authority in his majority than he did in his infancy. The Deb
raja is in theory elected by the council. In practice he is merely the
nominee of whichever of the two governors of East and West Bhutan
happens for the time to be the more powerful. The people are
industrious, and devote themselves to agriculture, but from the
geological structure of the country, and from the insecurity of
property, regular husbandry is limited to comparatively few spots. The
people are oppressed and poor. "Nothing that a Bhutia possesses is his
own," wrote the British envoy in 1864; "he is at all times liable to
lose it if it attracts the cupidity of any one more powerful than
himself. The lower classes, whether villagers or public servants, are
little better than the slaves of higher officials. In regard to them no
rights of property are observed, and they have at once to surrender
anything that is demanded of them. There never was, I fancy, a country
in which the doctrine of 'might is right' formed more completely the
whole and sole law and custom of the land than it does in Bhutan. No
official receives a salary; he has certain districts made over to him,
and he may get what he can out of them; a certain portion of his gains
he is compelled to send to the durbar, and the more he extorts and the
more he sends to his superior, the longer his tenure of office is likely
to be."

Physically the Bhutias are a fine race, although dirty in their habits
and persons. Their food consists of meat, chiefly pork, turnips, rice,
barley-meal and tea made from the brick-tea of China. Their favourite
drink is _chong_, distilled from rice or barley and millet, and _Marwá_,
beer made from fermented millet. A loose woollen coat reaching to the
knees, and bound round the waist by a thick fold of cotton cloth, forms
the dress of the men; the women's dress is a long cloak with loose
sleeves. The houses of the Bhutias are of three and four storeys; all
the floors are neatly boarded with deal; and on two sides of the house
is a verandah ornamented with carved work generally painted. The Bhutias
are neat joiners, and their doors, windows and panelling are perfect in
their way. No iron-work is used; the doors open on ingenious wooden
hinges. The appearance of the houses is precisely that of Swiss chalets,
picturesque and comfortable--the only drawback being a want of chimneys,
which the Bhutias do not know how to construct. The people nominally
profess the Buddhist religion, but in reality their religious exercises
are confined to the propitiation of evil spirits, and the mechanical
recital of a few sacred sentences. Around the cottages in the mountains
the land is cleared for cultivation, and produces thriving crops of
barley, wheat, buckwheat, millet, mustard, chillies, &c. Turnips of
excellent quality are extensively grown; they are free from fibre and
remarkably sweet. The wheat and barley have a full round grain, and the
climate is well adapted to the production of both European and Asiatic
vegetables. Potatoes have been introduced. The Bhutias lay out their
fields in a series of terraces cut out of the sides of the hills; each
terrace is riveted and supported by stone embankments, sometimes 20 ft.
high. Every field is carefully fenced with pine branches, or protected
by a stone wall. A complete system of irrigation permeates the whole
cultivated part of a village, the water being often brought from a long
distance by stone aqueducts. Bhutias do not care to extend their
cultivation, as an increased revenue is exacted in proportion to the
land cultivated, but devote their whole energies to make the land yield
twice what it is estimated to produce. The forests of Bhutan abound in
many varieties of stately trees. Among them are the beech, ash, birch,
maple, cypress and yew. Firs and pines cover the mountain heights; and
below these, but still at an elevation of eight or nine thousand feet,
is a zone of vegetation, consisting principally of oaks and
rhododendrons. The cinnamon tree is also found. Some of the roots and
branches were examined by Captain Samuel Turner during his journey to
Tibet; but the plant being neither in blossom nor bearing fruit, it was
impossible to decide whether it was the true cinnamon or an inferior
kind of cassia. The leaf, however, corresponded with the description
given of the true cinnamon by Linnaeus. The lower ranges of the hills
abound in animal life. Elephants are so numerous as to be dangerous to
travellers; but tigers are not common, except near the river Tista, and
in the dense reed jungle and forests of the Dwars. Leopards abound in
the Hah valley; deer everywhere, some of them of a very large species.
The musk deer is found in the snows, and the barking deer on every hill
side. Wild hogs are met with even at great elevations. Large squirrels
are common. Bears and rhinoceros are also found. Pheasants, jungle
fowls, pigeons and other small game abound. The Bhutias are no
sportsmen. They have a superstitious objection to firing a gun, thinking
that it offends the deities of the woods and valleys, and brings down
rain. A species of horse, which seems indigenous to Bhutan, and is used
as a domestic animal, is called _tángan_, from Tangastan, the general
appellation of that assemblage of mountains which constitutes the
territory of Bhutan. It is peculiar to this tract, not being found in
any of the neighbouring countries of Assam, Nepal, Tibet or Bengal, and
unites in an eminent degree the two qualities of strength and beauty.
The _tángan_ horse usually stands about thirteen hands high, is
short-bodied, clean-limbed, deep in the chest and extremely active, his
colour usually inclining to piebald. In so barren and rude a country the
manufacturing industry of its people is, as might be expected, in a low
stage, the few articles produced being all destined for home
consumption. These consist of coarse blankets and cotton cloths made by
the villagers inhabiting the southern tract. Leather, from the hide of
the buffalo, imperfectly tanned, furnishes the soles of snow boots.
Circular bowls are neatly turned from various woods. A small quantity of
paper is made from a plant described as the _Daphne papyrifera_. Swords,
iron spears and arrow-heads, and a few copper caldrons, fabricated from
the metal obtained in the country, complete the list of manufactures.

Trade connections are rather with Tibet than with India. In 1901-1902
the value of the import and export trade with British India amounted
only to £57,000. The military resources of the country are on an
insignificant scale. Beyond the guards for the defence of the various
castles, there is nothing like a standing army. The total military force
was estimated by the British envoy in 1864 at 6000. The climate of
Bhutan varies according to the difference of elevation. At the time when
the inhabitants of Punakha (the winter residence of the rajas) are
afraid of exposing themselves to the blazing sun, those of Ghasa
experience all the rigour of winter, and are chilled by perpetual snows.
Yet these places are within sight of each other. The rains descend in
floods upon the heights; but in the vicinity of Tasisudon, the capital,
they are moderate; there are frequent showers, but nothing that can be
compared to the tropical rains of Bengal. Owing to the great elevation
and steepness of the mountains, dreadful storms arise among the hollows,
often attended with fatal results.

_History._--Bhutan formerly belonged to a tribe called by the Bhutias
Tephu, generally believed to have been the people of Kuch Behar. About
A.D. 1670 some Tibetan soldiers subjugated the Tephus, took possession
of the country and settled down in it. The relations of the British with
Bhutan commenced in 1772, when the Bhutias invaded the principality of
Kuch Behar, a dependency of Bengal. The Kuch Behar Raja applied for aid,
and a force under Captain James was despatched to his assistance; the
invaders were expelled and pursued into their own territories. Upon the
intercession of Teshu Lama, then regent of Tibet, a treaty of peace was
concluded in 1774 between the East India Company and the ruler of
Bhutan. In 1783 Captain S. Turner was deputed to Bhutan, with a view of
promoting commercial intercourse, but his mission proved unsuccessful.
From this period little intercourse took place with Bhutan, until the
occupation of Assam by the British in 1826. It was then discovered that
the Bhutias had usurped several tracts of low land lying at the foot of
the mountains, called the Dwars or passes, and for these they agreed to
pay a small tribute. They failed to pay, however, and availed themselves
of the command of the passes to commit depredations within the British
territory. Captain R.B. Pemberton was accordingly deputed to Bhutan to
adjust the points of difference. But his negotiations yielded no
definite result; and every other means of obtaining redress and security
proving unsuccessful, the Assam Dwars were wrested from the Bhutias, and
the British government consented to pay to Bhutan a sum of £1000 per
annum as compensation for the resumption of their tenure, during the
good behaviour of the Bhutias. Continued outrages and aggressions were,
however, committed by the Bhutias on British subjects in the Dwars.
Nothwithstanding repeated remonstrances and threats, scarcely a year
passed without the occurrence of several raids in British territory
headed by Bhutia officials, in which they plundered the inhabitants,
massacred them, or carried them away as slaves. In 1863 Sir Ashley Eden
was sent as an envoy to Bhutan to demand reparation for these outrages.
He did not succeed in his mission; he was subjected to the grossest
insults; and under compulsion signed a treaty giving over the disputed
territory to Bhutan, and making other concessions which the Bhutan
government demanded. On Sir A. Eden's return the viceroy at once
disavowed his treaty, sternly stopped the former allowance for the Assam
Dwars, and demanded the immediate restoration of all British subjects
kidnapped during the last five years. The Bhutias not complying with
this demand, the governor-general issued a proclamation, dated the 12th
of November 1864, by which the eleven Western or Bengal Dwars were
forthwith incorporated with the queen's Indian dominions. No resistance
was at first offered to the annexation; but, suddenly, in January 1865,
the Bhutias surprised the English garrison at Dewangiri, and the post
was abandoned with the loss of two mountain guns. This disaster was soon
retrieved by General Sir Henry Tombs, and the Bhutias were compelled to
sue for peace, which was concluded on the 11th of November 1865. The
Bhutan government formally ceded all the eighteen Dwars of Bengal and
Assam, with the rest of the territory taken from them, and agreed to
liberate all kidnapped British subjects. As the revenues of Bhutan
mainly depended on these Dwars, the British government, in return for
these concessions, undertook to pay the Deb and Dharm rajas annually,
subject to the condition of their continued good behaviour, an allowance
beginning at £2500 and rising gradually to the present figure. Since
that time the annexed territories have settled down into peaceful and
prosperous British districts. The recent relations between the Indian
government and Bhutan have been satisfactory; and during the troubles
with Tibet in 1904 the attitude of the Bhutias was perfectly correct and
friendly.

  See _Report on Explorations in Sikkim, Bhutan and Tibet_ (Deva Dun,
  1889); Tanner, "Our present Knowledge of the Himalayas," _R.G.S.
  Proceedings_, vol. xiii.     (T. H. H.*)




BIANCHINI, FRANCESCO (1662-1729), Italian astronomer and antiquary, was
born of a noble family at Verona on the 13th of December 1662. In 1684
he went to Rome, and became librarian to Cardinal Ottoboni, who, as Pope
Alexander VIII. (1689), raised him to the offices of papal chamberlain
and canon of Santa Maria Maggiore. Clement XI. sent him on a mission to
Paris in 1712, and employed him to form a museum of Christian
antiquities. He died at Rome on the 2nd of March 1729. A paper by him on
G.D. Cassini's new method of parallaxes was inserted in the _Acta
Eruditorum_ of Leipzig in 1685. He published separately:--_Istoria
Universale_ (Roma, 1697), only one volume of which appeared; _De
Calendario et Cyclo Caesaris_ (1703); _Hesperi et Phosphori nova
Phaenomena_ (1729), in which he asserted Venus to rotate in 24-1/3 days;
and (posthumously) _Astronomicae et Geographicae Observaliones Selectae_
(1737) and _Opuscula Varia_ (1754).

  See Fontenelle's "Éloge" (_Mémoires de l'Acad. de l'Histoire_, p. 102,
  Paris, 1729); Mazzoleni, _Vita di Francesco Bianchini_ (Verona, 1735);
  Tipaldo, _Biografia degli Italiani Illustri_, vii. 288 (Venezia,
  1840); Mazzuchelli, _Scrittori d' Italia_; Maffei, _Verona
  Illustrata_, p. 254, &c.




BIARRITZ, a watering-place of south-western France, in the department of
Basses-Pyrénées, on the sea-coast about 5 m. W.S.W. of Bayonne. Pop.
(1906) 13,629. From a mere fishing village, with a few hundred
inhabitants in the beginning of the 19th century, Biarritz rose rapidly
into a place of importance under the patronage of the emperor Napoleon
III. and the empress Eugénie, with whom it was a favourite resort. The
town is situated on a promontory jutting north-west into the Bay of
Biscay and on the coast which extends on each side of it. The beach to
the north-east is known as the Grande Plage, that to the south-west as
the Côte des Basques. The Grande Plage is more than half a mile long and
stretches to the Cap St Martin, on which stands a lighthouse. It is
divided into two parts by a small headland once the site of the villa of
the empress Eugénie, between which and the main promontory are the two
casinos, the principal baths and many luxurious villas and fine hotels.
Towards the north-east the promontory of Biarritz ends in a projection
known as the Atalaye, crowned by the ruins of a castle and surrounded by
rocky islets. Some of these are united to the mainland and to each other
by jetties which curve round so as to form the Port de Refuge, a haven
available only in fair weather. South-west of the Atalaye lies the
Port-Vieux, a sheltered cove now used only as a bathing-place. The Port
des Pêcheurs, the principal of the three harbours, is on the south-east
side of the Atalaye and is that most used by the fishermen of the town.
Apart from unimportant manufactures of pottery, chocolate, &c., fishing
is the only industry; Biarritz depends for its prosperity on the
visitors who are attracted by its mild climate and the bathing. The
season is almost continuous; in the winter the English, in the summer
Russians, Spaniards and French fill the hotels of the town. Among its
attractions is a golf club, established in 1888, with a course of 18
holes.




BIAS of Priene in Ionia, one of the so-called Seven Sages of Greece, son
of Teutamus, flourished about 570 B.C. He was famous for his patriotism,
the nobility of his character and his eloquence. A number of gnomes or
aphorisms are attributed to him, which may be found collected in F.W.A.
Mullach, _Fragmenta Philosophorum Graecorum_ (1860). He is said to have
written a poem on the best means of making Ionia prosperous. His advice
to its inhabitants, at the time of the Persian invasion, to migrate to
Sardinia and there found a single pan-Ionic city (Herodotus i. 170), has
generally been regarded as historical. One much-quoted saying of his may
be mentioned. When his native town was besieged by the enemy, the
inhabitants resolved to escape with their most valuable belongings. One
of them seeing Bias without anything, advised him to follow the example
of the rest. "I am doing so," said lie, "for I carry all my belongings
with me" (_omnia mea mecum porto_). He was honoured with a splendid
funeral, and a sanctuary called Teutamium was dedicated to him.

  See Bohren, _De Septem Sapientibus_ (1860).




BIAS (from the Fr. _biais_, of unknown origin; the derivation from Lat.
_bifax_, two-faced, is wrong), something oblique or slanting. The term
is used especially of a piece of cloth cut obliquely across the texture,
or of a seam of two such pieces brought together; and in the game of
bowls (q.v.) it is applied alike to the one-sided construction of the
bowl, flattened on one side and protruding on the other, and to the
slanting line the bowl takes when thrown. The figurative sense of the
word, prejudice or undue leaning to one side of a subject, is derived
from this bowling term.




BIBACULUS, MARCUS FURIUS, Roman poet, flourished during the last century
of the republic. According to Jerome, he was born at Cremona in 103
B.C., and probably lived to a great age. He wrote satirical poems after
the manner of Catullus, whose bitterness he rivalled, according to
Quintilian (_Instit._ x. i. 196), in his iambics. He even attacked
Augustus (and perhaps Caesar), who treated the matter with indifference.
He was also author of prose _Lucubrationes_ and perhaps of an epic poem
on Caesar's Gallic wars (_Pragmatia Belli Gallici_). Otto Ribbeck
attributes to him one of the shorter poems usually assigned to Virgil.
It is doubtful whether he is the person ridiculed by Horace (_Satires_,
ii 5. 40) and whether he is identical with the _turgidus Alpinus_
(_Satires_, i. 10. 36), the author of an Aethiopis dealing with the life
and death of Memnon and of a poem on the Rhine. Some critics, on the
ground that Horace would not have ventured to attack so dangerous an
adversary, assume the existence of a poet whose real name was Furius (or
Cornelius) Alpinus. Bibaculus was ridiculed for his high-flown and
exaggerated style and manner of expression.

  See Weichert, "De M. Furio Bibaculo," in his _Poetarum Latinorum
  Reliquiae_ (1830); fragments in L. Müller's edition of _Catullus_ in
  the Teubner Series (1870).




BIBER, HEINRICH JOHANN FRANZ VON (1644-1704), German violinist and
composer, was for some time musical conductor at Salzburg, and was
ennobled by the emperor Leopold in 1681. He is regarded as the earliest
important German composer for the violin, his works including sonatas
and church music.




BIBERACH, a town of Germany, in the kingdom of Württemberg, on the Riss,
a small affluent of the Danube, 22 m. S.S.W. from Ulm. Pop. (1900) 8390.
It is still surrounded by medieval walls and towers, and is strikingly
picturesque. Its principal church dates from the 12th century, and it
possesses a hospital with rich endowments. Its main industries are
cloth, bell-casting, toys and zinc wares, and its fruit markets are
famous.

Biberach appears as a village in the 8th century, and in 1312 it became
a free imperial city. During the Thirty Years' War it underwent various
vicissitudes, and was for a while held by the Swedes. In 1707 it was
captured and put to ransom by the French, who afterwards, in 1796 and
1800, defeated the Austrians in the neighbourhood. In 1803 the city was
deprived of its imperial freedom and assigned to Baden, and in 1806 was
transferred to Württemberg. Biberach is the birthplace of the sculptor
Johann Lorenz Natter (1705-1763) and the painter Bernhard Neher
(1806-1886); Christoph Martin Wieland, born in 1733 at the neighbouring
village of Oberholzheim, spent several years in the town.




BIBIRINE, or BEBEERINE, C19H21NO3, an alkaloid obtained from the bark
and fruit of the greenheart (q.v.) tree, _Nectandra rodiaei_, called
_bibiru_ or _sipiri_ in Guiana, where the tree grows. The substance was
discovered about the year 1835 by Hugh Rodie, a surgeon in Demerara, who
used it as a febrifuge in substitution for quinine.