BELISA`RIUS, a general under the Emperor Justinian, born in Illyria;
defeated the Persians, the Vandals, and the Ostrogoths; was falsely
accused of conspiracy, but acquitted, and restored to his dignities by
the emperor; though another tradition, now discredited, alleges that for
the crimes charged against him he had his eyes put out, and was reduced
to beggary (505-565).
BELIZE, British Honduras, a fertile district, and its capital (6);
exports mahogany, rosewood, sugar, india-rubber, &c.
BELL, ACTON. See BRONTË.
BELL, ANDREW, LL.D., educationist, born at St. Andrews; founder of
the Monitorial system of education, which he had adopted, for want of
qualified assistants, when in India as superintendent of an orphanage in
Madras, so that his system was called "the Madras system"; returned from
India with a large fortune, added to it by lucrative preferments, and
bequeathed a large portion of it, some £120,000, for the endowment of
education in Scotland, and the establishment of schools, such as the
Madras College in his native city (1753-1832).
BELL, BESSY, and MARY GRAY, the "twa bonnie lassies" of a
Scotch ballad, daughters of two Perthshire gentlemen, who in 1666 built
themselves a bower in a spot retired from a plague then raging; supplied
with food by a lad in love with both of them, who caught the plague and
gave it to them, of which they all sickened and died.
BELL, BOOK, AND CANDLE, a ceremony at one time attending the greater
excommunication in the Romish Church, when after sentence was read from
the "book," a "bell" was rung, and the "candle" extinguished.
BELL, CURRER. See BRONTË.
BELL, ELLIS. See BRONTË.
BELL, GEORGE JOSEPH, a brother of Sir Charles, distinguished in law;
author of "Principles of the Law of Scotland" (1770-1843).
BELL, HENRY, bred a millwright, born in Linlithgowshire; the first
who applied steam to navigation in Europe, applying it in a small
steamboat called the _Comet_, driven by a three horse-power engine
(1767-1830).
BELL, HENRY GLASSFORD, born in Glasgow, a lawyer and literary man,
sheriff of Lanarkshire; wrote a vindication of Mary, Queen of Scots, and
some volumes of poetry (1803-1874).
BELL, JOHN, of Antermony, a physician, born at Campsie; accompanied
Russian embassies to Persia and China; wrote "Travels in Asia," which
were much appreciated for their excellency of style (1690-1780).
BELL, PETER, Wordsworth's simple rustic, to whom the primrose was
but a yellow flower and nothing more.
BELL, ROBERT, journalist and miscellaneous writer, born at Cork;
edited "British Poets, from Chaucer to Cowper," his best-known work,
which he annotated, and accompanied with careful memoirs of each
(1800-1867).
BELL, SIR CHARLES, an eminent surgeon and anatomist, born in
Edinburgh, where he became professor of Surgery; distinguished chiefly
for his discoveries in connection with the nervous system, which he
published in his "Anatomy of the Brain" and his "Nervous System," and
which gained him European fame; edited, along with Lord Brougham, Paley's
"Evidences of Natural Religion" (1774-1842).
BELL, THOMAS, a naturalist, born at Poole; professor of Zoology in
King's College, London; author of "British Quadrupeds" and "British
Reptiles," "British Stalk-eyed Crustacea," and editor of "White's Natural
History of Selborne" (1792-1880).
BELL ROCK, or INCHCAPE ROCK, a dangerous reef of sandstone
rocks in the German Ocean, 12 m. SE. of Arbroath, on which a lighthouse
120 ft. high was erected in 1807-10; so called from a bell rung by the
sway of the waves, which the abbot of Arbroath erected on it at one time
as a warning to seamen.
BELL-THE-CAT, Archibald Douglas, Earl of Arran, so called from his
offer to dispose by main force of an obnoxious favourite of the king,
James III.
BELLA, STEPHANO DELLA, a Florentine engraver of great merit,
engraved over 1000 plates; was patronised by Richelieu in France, and the
Medici in Florence (1610-1664).
BELL`AMY, JACOB, a Dutch poet, born at Flushing; his poems highly
esteemed by his countrymen (1752-1821).
BELLANGE, a celebrated painter of battle-pieces, born at Paris
(1800-1866).
BELLAR`MINE, ROBERT, cardinal, born in Tuscany; a learned Jesuit,
controversial theologian, and in his writings, which are numerous, a
valiant defender at all points of Roman Catholic dogma; the greatest
champion of the Church in his time, and regarded as such by the
Protestant theologians; he was at once a learned man and a doughty
polemic (1542-1621).
BELLAY, JOACHIM DU, French poet; author of sonnets entitled
"Regrets," full of vigour and poetry; wrote the "Antiquités de Rome"; was
called the Apollo of the Pléiade, the best poet and the best prose-writer
among them (1524-1560).
BELLE FRANCE, (i. e. Beautiful France), a name of endearment
applied to France, like that of "Merry" applied to England.
BELLE-ISLE (60), a fortified island on the W. coast of France, near
which Sir Edward Hawke gained a brilliant naval victory over the French,
under M. de Conflans, in 1759.
BELLEISLE, CHARLES LOUIS AUGUSTE FOUQUET, COUNT OF, marshal of
France; distinguished in the war of the Spanish Succession; an ambitious
man, mainly to blame for the Austrian Succession war; had grand schemes
in his head, no less than the supremacy in Europe and the world of
France, warranting the risk; expounded them to Frederick the Great;
concluded a fast and loose treaty with him, which could bind no one;
found himself blocked up in Prague with his forces; had to force his way
out and retreat, but it was a retreat the French boast comparable only to
the retreat of the Ten Thousand; was made War Minister after, and wrought
important reforms in the army (1684-1761). See CARLYLE'S
"FREDERICK" for a graphic account of him and his schemes, specially
in Bk. xii. chap. ix.
BELLENDEN, JOHN, of Moray, a Scottish writer in the 16th century;
translated, at the request of James V., Hector Boece's "History of
Scotland," and the first five books of Livy, which remain the earliest
extant specimens of Scottish prose, and remarkable specimens they are,
for the execution of which he was well rewarded, being made archdeacon of
Moray for one thing, though he died in exile; _d_. 1550.
BELLENDEN, WILLIAM, a Scottish writer, distinguished for diplomatic
services to Queen Mary, and for the purity of his Latin composition; a
professor of belles-lettres in Paris University (1550-1613).
BELLER`OPHON, a mythical hero, son of Glaucus and grandson of
Sisyphus; having unwittingly caused the death of his brother, withdrew
from his country and sought retreat with Proetus, king of Argos, who,
becoming jealous of his guest, but not willing to violate the laws of
hospitality, had him sent to Iobates, his son-in-law, king of Lycia, with
instructions to put him to death. Iobates, in consequence, imposed upon
him the task of slaying the Chimæra, persuaded that this monster would
be the death of him. Bellerophon, mounted on Pegasus, the winged horse
given him by Pallas, slew the monster, and on his return received the
daughter of Iobates to wife.
BELLEROPHON, LETTERS OF, name given to letters fraught with mischief
to the bearer. See SUPRA.
BELLES-LETTRES, that department of literature which implies literary
culture and belongs to the domain of art, whatever the subject may be or
the special form; it includes poetry, the drama, fiction, and criticism.
BELLEVILLE, a low suburb of Paris, included in it since 1860; the
scene of one of the outrages of the Communists.
BELLIARD, COMTE DE, a French general and diplomatist; fought in most
of the Napoleonic wars, but served under the Bourbons on Napoleon's
abdication; was serviceable to Louis Philippe in Belgium by his diplomacy
(1769-1832).
BELLI`NI, the name of an illustrious family of Venetian painters.
BELLINI, GENTILE, the son of Jacopo Bellini, was distinguished as a
portrait-painter; decorated along with his brother the council-chamber of
the ducal palace; his finest picture the "Preaching of St. Mark"
(1421-1508).
BELLINI, GIOVANNI, brother of the preceding, produced a great many
works; the subjects religious, all nobly treated; had Giorgione and
Titian for pupils; among his best works, the "Circumcision," "Feast of
the Gods," "Blood of the Redeemer"; did much to promote painting in oil
(1426-1516).
BELLINI, JACOPO, a painter from Florence who settled in Venice, the
father and founder of the family; _d_. 1470.
BELLINI, VINCENZO, a musical composer, born at Catania, Sicily; his
works operas, more distinguished for their melody than their dramatic
power; the best are "Il Pirati," "La Somnambula," "Norma," and "Il
Puritani" (1802-1835).
BELLMANN, the poet of Sweden, a man of true genius, called the
"Anacreon of Sweden," patronised by Gustavus Adolphus (1741-1795).
BELLO`NA, the goddess of fury in war among the Romans, related by
the poets to Mars as sister, wife, or daughter; inspirer of the
war-spirit, and represented as armed with a bloody scourge in one hand
and a torch in the other.
BELLOT, JOSEPH RENÉ, a naval officer, born in Paris, distinguished
in the expedition of 1845 to Madagascar, and one of those who went in
quest of Sir John Franklin; drowned while crossing the ice (1826-1853).
BELLOY, a French poet, born at St. Flour; author of "Le Siège du
Calais" and numerous other dramatic works (1727-1775).
BELON, PIERRE, a French naturalist, one of the founders of natural
history, and one of the precursors of Cuvier; wrote in different
departments of natural history, the chief, "Natural History of Birds";
murdered by robbers while gathering plants in the Bois de Boulogne
(1518-1564).
BEL`PHEGOR, a Moabite divinity.
BELPHOEBE (i. e. Beautiful Diana), a huntress in the "Faërie
Queene," the impersonation of Queen Elizabeth, conceived of, however, as
a pure, high-spirited maiden, rather than a queen.
BELSHAM, THOMAS, a Unitarian divine, originally Calvinist, born at
Bedford; successor to the celebrated Priestley at Hackney, London; wrote
an elementary work on psychology (1750-1829).
BELSHAZZAR, the last Chaldean king of Babylon, slain, according to
the Scripture account, at the capture of the city by Cyrus in 538 B.C.
BELT, GREAT and LITTLE, gateways of the Baltic: the Great
between Zealand and Fünen, 15 m. broad; the Little, between Fünen and
Jutland, half as broad; both 70 m. long, the former of great depth.
BELT OF CALMS, the region in the Atlantic and Pacific, 4° or 5°
latitude broad, where the trade-winds meet and neutralise each other, in
which, however, torrents of rain and thunder-storms occur almost daily.
BELTANE, or BELTEIN, an ancient Celtic festival connected with
the sun-worship, observed about the 1st of May and the 1st of November,
during which fires were kindled on the tops of hills, and various
ceremonies gone through.
BELTED WILL, name given to Lord William Howard, warden in the 16th
and 17th centuries of the Western Marches of England.
BELU`CHISTAN (200 to 400), a desert plateau lying between Persia and
India, Afghanistan and the Arabian Sea; is crossed by many mountain
ranges, the Suliman, in the N., rising to 12,000 ft. Rivers in the NE.
are subject to great floods. The centre and W. is a sandy desert exposed
to bitter winds in winter and sand-storms in summer. Fierce extremes of
temperature prevail. There are few cattle, but sheep are numerous; the
camel is the draught animal. Where there is water the soil is fertile,
and crops of rice, cotton, indigo, sugar, and tobacco are raised; in the
higher parts, wheat, maize, and pulse. Both precious and useful metals
are found; petroleum wells were discovered in the N. in 1887. The
population comprises Beluchis, robber nomads of Aryan stock, in the E.
and W., and Mongolian Brahuis in the centre. All are Mohammedan. Kelat is
the capital; its position commands all the caravan routes. Quetta, in the
N., is a British stronghold and health resort. The Khan of Kelat is the
ruler of the country and a vassal of the Queen.
BE`LUS, another name for BAAL (q. v.), or the legendary god
of Assyria and Chaldea.
BEL`VEDERE, name given a gallery of the Vatican at Rome, especially
that containing the famous statue of Apollo, and applied to
picture-galleries elsewhere.
BELZO`NI, GIOVANNI BATTISTA, a famous traveller and explorer in
Egypt, born at Padua, of poor parents; a man of great stature; figured as
an athlete in Astley's Circus, London, and elsewhere, first of all in
London streets; applied himself to the study of mechanics; visited Egypt
as a mechanician and engineer at the instance of Mehemet Ali; commenced
explorations among its antiquities, sent to the British Museum trophies
of his achievements; published a narrative of his operations; opened an
exhibition of his collection of antiquities in London and Paris;
undertook a journey to Timbuctoo, was attacked with dysentery, and died
at Gato (1778-1823).
BEM, JOSEPH, a Polish general, born in Galicia; served in the French
army against Russia in 1812; took part in the insurrection of 1830;
joined the Hungarians in 1848; gained several successes against Austria
and Russia, but was defeated at Temesvar; turned Mussulman, and was made
pasha; died at Aleppo, where he had gone to suppress an Arab
insurrection; he was a good soldier and a brave man (1791-1850).
BEMBA, a lake in Africa, the highest feeder of the Congo, of an oval
shape, 150 m. long and over 70 m. broad, 3000 ft. above the sea-level.
BEMBO, PIETRO, cardinal, an erudite man of letters and patron of
literature and the arts, born at Venice; secretary to Pope Leo X.;
historiographer of Venice, and librarian of St. Mark's; made cardinal by
Paul III., and bishop of Bergamo; a fastidious stylist and a stickler
for purity in language (1470-1547).
BEN LAWERS, a mountain in Perthshire, 3984 ft. high, on the W. of
Loch Tay.
BEN LEDI, a mountain in Perthshire, 2873 ft. high, 4½ m. NW. of
Callander.
BEN LOMOND, a mountain in Stirlingshire, 3192 ft. high, on the E. of
Loch Lomond.
BEN NEVIS, the highest mountain in Great Britain, in SW.
Inverness-shire, 4406 ft. high, and a sheer precipice on the NE. 1500 ft.
high, and with an observatory on the summit supported by the Scottish
Meteorological Society.
BEN RHYDDING, a village in the West Riding of Yorkshire, 15 m. NW.
of Leeds, with a thoroughly equipped hydropathic establishment, much
resorted to.
BENARES (219), the most sacred city of the Hindus, and an important
town in the NW. Provinces; is on the Ganges, 420 m. by rail NW. of
Calcutta. It presents an amazing array of 1700 temples and mosques with
towers and domes and minarets innumerable. The bank of the river is laid
with continuous flights of steps whence the pilgrims bathe; but the city
itself is narrow, crocked, crowded, and dirty. Many thousand pilgrims
visit it annually. It is a seat of Hindu learning; there is also a
government college. The river is spanned here by a magnificent railway
bridge. There is a large trade in country produce, English goods,
jewellery, and gems; while its brass-work, "Benares ware," is famous.
BENBOW, JOHN, admiral, born at Shrewsbury; distinguished himself in
an action with a Barbary pirate; rose rapidly to the highest post in the
navy; distinguished himself well in an engagement with a French fleet in
the W. Indies; he lost a leg, and at this crisis some of his captains
proved refractory, so that the enemy escaped, were tried by
court-martial, and two of them shot; the wound he received and his
vexation caused his death. He was a British tar to the backbone, and of a
class extinct now (1653-1702).
BENCOOLEN, a town and a Dutch residency in SW. of Sumatra; exports
pepper and camphor.
BENDER, a town in Bessarabia, remarkable for the siege which Charles
XII. of Sweden sustained there after his defeat at Pultowa.
BENEDEK, LUDWIG VON, an Austrian general, born in Hungary;
distinguished himself in the campaigns of 1848-1849; was defeated by the
Prussians at Sadowa; superseded and tried, but got off; retired to Grätz,
where he died (1804-1871).
BENEDETTI, COUNT VINCENT, French diplomatist, born at Bastia, in
Corsica; is remembered for his draft of a treaty between France and
Prussia, published in 1870, and for his repudiation of all responsibility
for the Franco-German war; _b_. 1817.
BENEDICT, the name of fourteen popes: B. I., from 574 to 575;
B. II., from 684 to 685; B. III., from 855 to 858; B. IV.,
from 900 to 907; B. V., FROM 964 TO 965; B. VI., from 972 to
974; B. VII., from 975 to 984; B. VIII., from 1012 to 1024;
extended the territory of the Church by conquest, and effected certain
clerical reforms; B. IX., from 1033 to 1048, a licentious man, and
deposed; B. X., from 1058 to 1059; B. XI., from 1303 to 1304;
B. XII., from 1334 to 1342; B. XIII., from 1724 to 1730;
B. XIV., from 1740 to 1758. Of all the popes of this name it would
seem there is only one worthy of special mention.
BENEDICT XIV., a native of Bologna, a man of marked scholarship and
ability; a patron of science and literature, who did much to purify the
morals and elevate the character of the clergy, and reform abuses in the
Church.
BENEDICT, BISCOP, an Anglo-Saxon monk, born in Northumbria; made two
pilgrimages to Rome; assumed the tonsure as a Benedictine monk in
Provence; returned to England and founded two monasteries on the Tyne,
one at Wearmouth and another at Jarrow, making them seats of learning;
_b_. 628.
BENEDICT, ST., the founder of Western monachism, born near Spoleto;
left home at 14; passed three years as a hermit, in a cavern near
Subiaco, to prepare himself for God's service; attracted many to his
retreat; appointed to an abbey, but left it; founded 12 monasteries of
his own; though possessed of no scholarship, composed his "Regula
Monachorum," which formed the rule of his order; represented in art as
accompanied by a raven with sometimes a loaf in his bill, or surrounded
by thorns or by howling demons (480-543). See BENEDICTINES.
BENEDICT, SIR JULIUS, musician and composer, native of Stuttgart;
removed to London in 1835; author of, among other pieces, the "Gipsy's
Warning," the "Brides of Venice," and the "Crusaders"; conducted the
performance of "Elijah" in which Jenny Lind made her first appearance
before a London audience, and accompanied her as pianist to America in
1850 (1806-1885).
BENEDICTINES, the order of monks founded by St. Benedict and
following his rule, the cradle of which was the celebrated monastery of
Monte Casino, near Naples, an institution which reckoned among its
members a large body of eminent men, who in their day rendered immense
service to both literature and science, and were, in fact, the only
learned class of the Middle Ages; spent their time in diligently
transcribing manuscripts, and thus preserving for posterity the classic
literature of Greece and Rome.
BENEDICTUS, part of the musical service at Mass in the Roman
Catholic Church; has been introduced into the morning service of the
English Church.
BENEFIT OF CLERGY, exemption of the persons of clergymen from
criminal process before a secular judge.
BE`NEKE, FRIEDRICH EDUARD, a German philosopher and professor in
Berlin of the so-called empirical school, that is, the Baconian; an
opponent of the methods and systems of Kant and Hegel; confined his
studies to psychology and the phenomena of consciousness; was more a
British thinker than a German (1798-1854).
BENENGE`LI, an imaginary Moorish author, whom Cervantes credits with
the story of "Don Quixote."
BÉNETIER, the vessel for holding the holy water in Roman Catholic
churches.
BENEVENTO (20), a town 33 m. NE. of Naples, built out of and amid
the ruins of an ancient one; also the province, of which Talleyrand was
made prince by Napoleon.
BENEVOLENCE, the name of a forced tax exacted from the people by
certain kings of England, and which, under Charles I., became so
obnoxious as to occasion the demand of the PETITION OF RIGHTS (q. v.),
that no tax should be levied without consent of Parliament; first
enforced in 1473, declared illegal in 1689.
BENFEY, THEODOR, Orientalist, born near Göttingen, of Jewish birth;
a great Sanskrit scholar, and professor of Sanskrit and Comparative
Philology at his native place; author of "Lexicon of Greek Roots,"
"Sanskrit Grammar," &c. (1809-1881).
BENGAL (76,643), one of the three Indian presidencies, but more
particularly a province lying in the plain of the Lower Ganges and the
delta of the Ganges-Brahmaputra, with the Himalayas on the N. At the base
of the mountains are great forests; along the seaboard dense jungles. The
climate is hot and humid, drier at Behar, and passing through every
gradation up to the snow-line. The people are engaged in agriculture,
raising indigo, jute, opium, rice, tea, cotton, sugar, &c. Coal, iron,
and copper mines are worked in Burdwân. The manufactures are of cotton
and jute. The population is mixed in blood and speech, but Hindus
speaking Bengali predominate. Education is further advanced than
elsewhere; there are fine colleges affiliated to Calcutta University, and
many other scholastic institutions. The capital, Calcutta, is the capital
of India; the next town in size is Patna (165).
BENGA`ZI (7), the capital of Barca, on the Gulf of Sidra, in N.
Africa, and has a considerable trade.
BENGEL, JOHANN ALBRECHT, a distinguished Biblical scholar and
critic, born at Würtemberg; best known by his "Gnomon Novi Testamenti,"
being an invaluable body of short notes on the New Testament; devoted
himself to the critical study of the text of the Greek Testament
(1687-1752).
BENGUE`LA, a fertile Portuguese territory in W. Africa, S. of
Angola, with considerable mineral wealth; has sunk in importance since
the suppression of the slave-trade.
BENICIA, the former capital of California, 30 m. NE. of San
Francisco; has a commodious harbour and a U.S. arsenal.
BENI-HASSAN, a village in Middle Egypt, on the right bank of the
Nile, above Minieh, with remarkable catacombs that have been excavated.
BENI-ISRAEL (i. e. Sons of Israel), a remarkable people, few in
number, of Jewish type and customs, in the Bombay Presidency, and that
have existed there quite isolatedly for at least 1000 years, with a
language of their own, and even some literature; they do not mingle with
the Jews, but they practise similar religious observances.
BENIN`, a densely populated and fertile country in W. Africa,
between the Niger and Dahomey, with a city and river of the name; forms
part of what was once a powerful kingdom; yields palm-oil, rice, maize,
sugar, cotton, and tobacco.
BENI-SOUEF`, a town in Middle Egypt, on the right bank of the Nile,
70 m. above Cairo; a centre of trade, with cotton-mills and quarries of
alabaster.
BENJAMIN, Jacob's youngest son, by Rachel, the head of one of the
twelve tribes, who were settled in a small fertile territory between
Ephraim and Judah; the tribe to which St. Paul belonged.
BENNETT, JAMES GORDON, an American journalist, born at Keith,
Scotland; trained for the Catholic priesthood; emigrated, a poor lad of
19, to America, got employment in a printing-office in Boston as
proof-reader; started the _New York Herald_ in 1835 at a low price as
both proprietor and editor, an enterprise which brought him great wealth
and the success he aimed at (1795-1872).
BENNETT, JAMES GORDON, son of preceding, conductor of the _Herald_;
sent Stanley out to Africa, and supplied the funds.
BENNETT, SIR STERNDALE, an English musical composer and pianist,
born at Sheffield, whose musical genius recommended him to Mendelssohn
and Schumann; became professor of Music in Cambridge, and conductor of
the Philharmonic Concerts; was president of the Royal Academy of Music
(1816-1873).
BENNETT, WM., a High-Churchman, celebrated for having provoked the
decision that the doctrine of the Real Presence is a dogma not
inconsistent with the creed of the Church of England (1804-1886).
BEN`NINGSEN, COUNT, a Russian general, born at Brunswick; entered
the Russian service under Catherine II.; was commander-in-chief at Eylau,
fought at Borodino, and victoriously at Leipzig; he died at Hanover,
whither he had retired on failure of his health (1745-1826).
BENTHAM, GEORGE, botanist, born near Plymouth, nephew of Jeremy and
editor of his works, besides a writer on botany (1800-1884).
BENTHAM, JEREMY, a writer on jurisprudence and ethics, born in
London; bred to the legal profession, but never practised it; spent his
life in the study of the theory of law and government, his leading
principle on both these subjects being utilitarianism, or what is called
the greatest happiness principle, as the advocate of which he is chiefly
remembered; a principle against which Carlyle never ceased to protest as
a philosophy of man's life, but which he hailed as a sign that the crisis
which must precede the regeneration of the world was come; a lower
estimate, he thought, man could not form of his soul than as "a dead
balance for weighing hay and thistles, pains and pleasures, &c.," an
estimate of man's soul which he thinks mankind will, when it wakes up
again to a sense of itself, be sure to resent and repudiate (1748-1832).
BENTINCK, LORD GEORGE, statesman and sportsman, a member of the
Portland family; entered Parliament as a Whig, turned Conservative on the
passing of the Reform Bill of 1832; served under Sir Robert Peel; assumed
the leadership of the party as a Protectionist when Sir Robert Peel
became a Free-trader, towards whom he conceived a strong personal
animosity; died suddenly; the memory of him owes something to the memoir
of his life by Lord Beaconsfield (1802-1848).
BENTINCK, LORD WILLIAM HENRY CAVENDISH, Indian statesman, governor
of Madras in 1806, but recalled for an error which led to the mutiny at
Vellore; but was in 1827 appointed governor-general of India, which he
governed wisely, abolishing many evils, such as Thuggism and Suttee, and
effecting many beneficent reforms. Macaulay held office under him. He
returned to England in 1835, became member for Glasgow in 1837, and died
before he made any mark on home politics (1774-1839).
BENTINCK, WILLIAM, a distinguished statesman, first Earl of
Portland, born in Holland; a favourite, friend, and adviser of William
III., whom he accompanied to England, and who bestowed on him for his
services great honours and large domains, which provoked ill-will against
him; retired to Holland, after the king died in his arms, but returned
afterwards (1648-1709).
BENTIVOGLIO, an Italian family of princely rank, long supreme in
Bologna; B., Guido, cardinal, though a disciple of Galileo, was one of
the Inquisitors-General who signed his condemnation (1579-1641).
BENTLEY, RICHARD, scholar and philologist, born in Yorkshire; from
the first devoted to ancient, especially classical, learning; rose to
eminence as an authority on literary criticism, his "Dissertation upon
the Epistles of Phalaris," which he proved to be a forgery, commending
him to the regard and esteem of all the scholars of Europe, a work which
may be said to have inaugurated a new era in literary historical
criticism (1662-1742).
BENUË, an affluent of the Niger, 300 m. long, falling into it 230 m.
up, described by Dr. Barth and explored by Dr. Baikic, and offers great
facilities for the prosecution of commerce.
BENVOLIO, a cantankerous, disputatious gentleman in "Romeo and
Juliet."
BENYOW`SKY, COUNT, a Hungarian, fought with the Poles against
Russia; taken prisoner; was exiled to Kamchatka; escaped with the
governor's daughter; came to France; sent out to Madagascar; was elected
king by the natives over them; fell in battle against the French
(1741-1786).
BENZENE, a substance compounded of carbon and hydrogen, obtained by
destructive distillation from coal-tar and other organic bodies, used as
a substitute for turpentine and for dissolving grease.
BENZOIN, a fragrant concrete resinous juice flowing from a
styrax-tree of Sumatra, used as a cosmetic, and burned as incense.
BEOWULF, a very old Anglo-Saxon romance consisting of 6356 short
alliterative lines, and the oldest extant in the language, recording the
exploits of a mythical hero of the name, who wrestled Hercules-wise, at
the cost of his life, with first a formidable monster, and then a dragon
that had to be exterminated or tamed into submission before the race he
belonged to could live with safety on the soil.
BÉRANGER, PIERRE JEAN DE, a celebrated French song-writer, born at
Paris, of the lower section of the middle class, and the first of his
countrymen who in that department rose to the high level of a true lyric
poet; his first struggles with fortune were a failure, but Lucien
Bonaparte took him up, and under his patronage a career was opened up for
him; in 1815 appeared as an author, and the sensation created was
immense, for the songs were not mere personal effusions, but in stirring
accord with, and contributed to influence, the great passion of the
nation at the time; was, as a Republican--which brought him into trouble
with the Bourbons--a great admirer of Napoleon as an incarnation of the
national spirit, and contributed not a little to the elevation of his
nephew to the throne, though he declined all patronage at his hands,
refusing all honours and appointments; has been compared to Burns, but he
lacked both the fire and the humour of the Scottish poet. "His poetical
works," says Professor Saintsbury, "consist entirely of chansons
political, amatory, bacchanalian, satirical, philosophical after a
fashion, and of almost every other complexion that the song can possibly
take" (1780-1859).
BERAR` (896), one of the central provinces of India, E. of Bombay;
it occupies a fertile, well-watered valley, and yields large quantities
of grain, and especially cotton.
BERAT, FRÉDÉRIC, a French poet and composer, author of a great
number of popular songs (1800-1853).
BERBER, native language spoken in the mountainous parts of Barbary.
BERBER (8), a town in Nubia, on the Nile, occupied by the English;
starting-point of caravans for the Red Sea; railway was begun to Suakim,
but abandoned.
BER`BERAH, the seaport of Somaliland, under Britain, with an annual
fair that brings together at times as many as 30,000 people.
BERBERS (3,000), a race aboriginal to Barbary and N. Africa, of a
proud and unruly temper; though different from the Arab race, are of the
same religion.
BERBICE, the eastern division of British Guiana; produces sugar,
cocoa, and timber.
BERBRUGGER, a French archæologist and philologist; wrote on Algiers,
its history and monuments (1801-1869).
BERCHTA, a German Hulda, but of severer type. See BERTHA.
BERCY, a commune on the right bank of the Seine, outside Paris,
included in it since 1860; is the great mart for wines and brandies.
BERE`ANS, a sect formed by John Barclay in 1778, who regard the
Bible as the one exclusive revelation of God.
BERENGER, or BERENGA`RIUS, OF TOURS, a distinguished
theologian, born at Tours; held an ecclesiastical office there, and was
made afterwards archdeacon of Angers; ventured to deny the doctrine of
transubstantiation, a denial for which he was condemned by successive
councils of the Church, and which he was compelled more than once
publicly to retract, though he so often and openly recalled his
retractation that the pope, notwithstanding the opposition of the
orthodox, deemed it prudent at length to let him alone. After this he
ceased to trouble the Church, and retired to an island on the Loire,
where he gave himself up to quiet meditation and prayer (998-1088).
BERENGER I., king of Italy, grandson of Louis the Débonnaire, an
able general; provoked the jealousy of the nobles, who dreaded the
abridgment of their rights, which led to his assassination at their hands
in 934. B. II., king of Italy, grandson of the preceding, was
dethroned twice by the Emperor Otho, who sent him a prisoner to Bamberg,
where he died, 966.
BERENGER, THOMAS, a French criminalist and magistrate (1785-1866).
BERENI`CE, a Jewish widow, daughter of Herod Agrippa, with whom
Titus was fascinated, and whom he would have taken to wife, had not the
Roman populace protested, from their Anti-Jewish prejudice, against it.
The name was a common one among Egyptian as well as Jewish princesses.
BERESFORD, WILLIAM CARR, VISCOUNT, an English general, natural son
of the first Marquis of Waterford; distinguished himself in many a
military enterprise, and particularly in the Peninsular war, for which he
was made a peer; he was a member of the Wellington administration, and
master-general of the ordnance (1770-1854).
BERESI`NA, a Russian river, affluent of the Dnieper, into which it
falls after a course of 350 m.; it is serviceable as a water conveyance
for large rafts of timber to the open sea, and is memorable for the
disastrous passage of the French in their retreat from Moscow in 1812.
BEREZOV`, a town in Siberia, in the government of Tobolsk; a place
of banishment.
BERG, DUCHY OF, on right bank of the Rhine, between Düsseldorf and
Cologne, now part of Prussia; Murat was grand-duke of it by Napoleon's
appointment.
BER`GAMO (42), a Lombard town, in a province of the same name, and
34 m. NE. of Milan, with a large annual fair in August, the largest in
Italy; has grindstone quarries in the neighbourhood.
BERGASSE, French jurisconsult, born at Lyons; celebrated for his
quarrel with Beaumarchais; author of an "Essay on Property" (1750-1832).
BERGEN (52), the old capital of Norway, on a fjord of the name, open
to the Gulf Stream, and never frozen; the town, consisting of wooden
houses, is built on a slope on which the streets reach down to the sea,
and has a picturesque appearance; the trade, which is considerable, is in
fish and fish products; manufactures gloves, porcelain, leather, etc.;
the seat of a bishop, and has a cathedral.
BERGEN-OP-ZOOM (11), a town in N. Brabant, once a strong place, and
much coveted and frequently contested for by reason of its commanding
situation; has a large trade in anchovies.
BER`GENROTH, GUSTAV ADOLPH, historian, born in Prussia; held a State
office, but was dismissed and exiled because of his sympathy with the
revolutionary movement of 1848; came to England to collect materials for
a history of the Tudors; examined in Simancas, in Spain, under great
privations, papers on the period in the public archives; made of these a
collection and published it in 1862-68, under the title of "Calendar of
Letters, Despatches, &c., relating to Negotiations between England and
Spain" (1813-1869).
BERGERAC (11), a manufacturing town in France, 60 m. E. of Bordeaux,
celebrated for its wines; it was a Huguenot centre, and suffered greatly
in consequence.
BERGERAC, SAVINIEN CYRANO DE, an eccentric man with comic power, a
Gascon by birth; wrote a tragedy and a comedy; his best work a fiction
entitled "Histoire Comique des États et Empires de la Lune et du Soleil";
fought no end of duels in vindication, it is said, of his preposterously
large nose (1619-1655).
BERGHAUS, HEINRICH, a geographer of note, born at Clèves; served in
both the French and Prussian armies as an engineer, and was professor of
mathematics at Berlin; his "Physical Atlas" is well known (1797-1884).
BERGHEM, a celebrated landscape-painter of the Dutch school, born at
Haarlem (1624-1683).
BERGMAN, TORBERN OLOF, a Swedish chemist, studied under Linnæus, and
became professor of Chemistry at Upsala; discovered oxalic acid; was the
first to arrange and classify minerals on a chemical basis (1735-1784).
BERI, a town in the Punjab, 40 m. NW. of Delhi, in a trading centre.
BERKELEY, a town in Gloucestershire, famous for its cattle.
BERKELEY, GEORGE, bishop of Cloyne, born in Kilkenny; a
philanthropic man, who conducted in a self-sacrificing spirit practical
schemes for the good of humanity, which failed, but the interest in whom
has for long centred, and still centres, in his philosophic teaching, his
own interest in which was that it contributed to clear up our idea of God
and consolidate our faith in Him, and it is known in philosophy as
Idealism; only it must be understood, his idealism is not, as it was
absurdly conceived to be, a denial of the existence of matter, but is an
assertion of the doctrine that the universe, with every particular in it,
_as man sees it and knows it_, is not the creation of matter but the
creation of mind, and a reflex of the Eternal Reason that creates and
dwells in both it and him; for as Dr. Stirling says, "the object can only
be known in the subject, and therefore is subjective, and if subjective,
ideal." The outer, as regards our knowledge of it, is within; such is
Berkeley's fundamental philosophical principle, and it is a principle
radical to the whole recent philosophy of Europe (1684-1753).
BERKSHIRE (238), a midland county of England, with a fertile,
well-cultivated soil on a chalk bottom, in the upper valley of the
Thames, one of the smallest but most beautiful counties in the country.
In the E. part of it is Windsor Forest, and in the SE. Bagshot Heath. It
is famous for its breed of pigs.
BERLICHINGEN, GOETZ VON, surnamed "The Iron Hand," a brave but
turbulent noble of Germany, of the 15th and 16th centuries, the story of
whose life was dramatised by Goethe, "to save," as he said, "the memory
of a brave man from darkness," and which was translated from the German
by Sir Walter Scott.
BERLIN` (1,579), capital of Prussia and of the German empire; stands
on the Spree, in a flat sandy plain, 177 m. by rail SE. of Hamburg. The
royal and imperial palaces, the great library, the university, national
gallery and museums, and the arsenal are all near the centre of the city.
There are schools of science, art, agriculture, and mining; technical and
military academies; a cathedral and some old churches; zoological and
botanical gardens. Its position between the Baltic and North Seas, the
Spree, the numerous canals and railways which converge on it, render it a
most important commercial centre; its staple trade is in grain, cattle,
spirits, and wool. Manufactures are extensive and very varied; the chief
are woollens, machinery, bronze ware, drapery goods, and beer.
BERLIN DECREE, a decree of Napoleon of Nov. 21, 1806, declaring
Britain in a state of blockade, and vessels trading with it liable to
capture.
BERLIOZ, HECTOR, a celebrated musical composer and critic, born near
Grenoble, in the dep. of Isère, France; sent to study medicine in Paris;
abandoned it for music, to which he devoted his life. His best known
works are the "Symphonie Fantastique," "Romeo and Juliet," and the
"Damnation of Faust"; with the "Symphonie," which he produced while he
was yet but a student at the Conservatoire in Paris, Paganini was so
struck that he presented him with 20,000 francs (1803-1869).
BER`MONDSEY, a busy SE. suburb of London, on the S. bank of the
Thames.
BERMOO`THES, the Bermudas.
BERMU`DAS (15), a group of 400 coral islands (five inhabited) in
mid-Atlantic, 677 m. SE. of New York; have a delightful, temperate
climate, and are a popular health resort for Americans. They produce a
fine arrowroot, and export onions. They are held by Britain as a valuable
naval station, and are provided with docks and fortifications.
BERNADOTTE, JEAN BAPTISTE JULES, a marshal of France, born at Pau;
rose from the ranks; distinguished himself in the wars of the Revolution
and the Empire, though between him and Napoleon there was constant
distrust; adopted by Charles XIII., king of Sweden; joined the Allies as
a naturalised Swede in the war against France in alliance with Russia;
became king of Sweden himself under the title of Charles XIV., to the
material welfare, as it proved, of his adopted country (1764-1844).
BERNARD, CLAUDE, a distinguished French physiologist, born at St.
Julien; he studied at Paris; was Majendie's assistant and successor in
the College of France; discovered that the function of the pancreas is
the digestion of ingested fats, that of the liver the transformation into
sugar of certain elements in the blood, and that there are nervous
centres in the body which act independently of the great cerebro-spinal
centre (1813-1878).
BERNARD, ST., abbot of Clairvaux, born at Fontaines, in Burgundy;
pronounced one of the grandest figures in the church militant; studied in
Paris, entered the monastery of Citeaux, founded in 1115 a monastery at
Clairvaux, in Champagne; drew around him disciples who rose to eminence
as soldiers of the cross; prepared the statutes for the Knights-Templar;
defeated Abelard in public debate, and procured his condemnation; founded
160 monasteries; awoke Europe to a second crusade; dealt death-blows all
round to no end of heretics, and declined all honours to himself, content
if he could only awake some divine passion in other men; represented in
art as accompanied by a white dog, or as contemplating an apparition of
the Virgin and the Child, or as bearing the implements of Christ's
passion (1091-1174). Festival, Aug. 20.
BERNARD, SIMON, a French engineer, born at Dôle; distinguished as
such in the service of Napoleon, and for vast engineering works executed
in the United States, in the construction of canals and forts
(1779-1839).
BERNARD OF MENTHON, an ecclesiastic, founder of the monasteries of
the Great and the Little St. Bernard, in the passage of the Alps
(923-1008). Festival, June 15.
BERNARD OF MORLAIX, a monk of Cluny, of the 11th century; wrote a
poem entitled "De Contemptu Mundi," translated by Dr. Neale, including
"Jerusalem the Golden."
BERNARDIN DE SAINT-PIERRE, commonly called Saint-Pierre simply, a
celebrated French writer, born at Havre; author of "Paul and Virginia,"
written on the eve of the Revolution, called by Carlyle "the swan-song of
old dying France," (1739-1814).
BERNARDINE, ST., OF SIENA, born at Massa Carrara, in Italy, of noble
family; founder of the Observantines, a branch, and restoration on strict
lines, of the Franciscan order; established 300 monasteries of the said
branch; his works, written in a mystical vein, fill five folio vols.
(1380-1444).
BERNAUER, AGNES, wife of Duke Albrecht of Bavaria, whom his father,
displeased at the marriage, had convicted of sorcery and drowned in the
Danube.
BERNE (47), a fine Swiss town on the Aar, which almost surrounds it,
in a populous canton of the same name; since 1848 the capital of the
Swiss Confederation; commands a magnificent view of the Bernese Alps; a
busy trading and manufacturing city.
BERNERS, JOHN BOUCHIER, LORD, writer or translator of romance; was
Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1516, and governor of Calais from 1520;
translated Froissart's "Huon of Bordeaux," &c.
BERNERS, JULIANA, writer on hunting and hawking; lived in the 14th
century; said to have been prioress of a nunnery.
BERNESE ALPS, a chain in the Middle Alps, of which the eastern half
is called the Bernese Oberland; form the watershed between the Aar and
the Rhône.
BERNHARD, DUKE OF WEIMAR, a great German general; distinguished
himself on the Protestant side in the Thirty Years' war; fought under the
standard of Gustavus Adolphus; held command of the left wing at the
battle of Lützen, and completed the victory after the fall of Gustavus;
died at Neuburg, as alleged, without sufficient proof, by poison
(1604-1639).
BERNHARDT, SARAH, a dramatic artiste, born in Paris; of Jewish
descent, but baptized as a Christian; distinguished specially as a
tragédienne; of abilities qualifying her to shine in other departments of
the profession and of art, of which she has given proof; _b_. 1844.
BERNI, FRANCESCO, an Italian poet, born in Tuscany, who excelled in
the burlesque, to whom the Italian as a literary language owes much;
remodelled Boiardo's "Orlando Innamorato" in a style surpassing that of
the original.
BERNIER, a French physician and traveller, born at Angers; physician
for 12 years to Aurungzebe, the Great Mogul; published "Travels," a work
full of interest, and a model of exactitude (1625-1688).
BERNIER, THE ABBÉ, born in Mayenne, France; one of the principal
authors of the Concordat; promoted afterwards to be Bishop of Orleans
(1762-1806).
BERNI`NA, a mountain in the Swiss canton of Grisons, 13,290 ft.
high, remarkable for its extensive glaciers.
BERNINI, GIOVANNI LORENZO, an Italian painter, sculptor, and
architect, born at Naples; produced his "Apollo and Daphne" at eighteen,
his masterpiece; was architect to the Pope, and designed the colonnade of
St. Peter's; he died wealthy (1598-1680).
BERNOUIL`LI, name of a Swiss family of mathematicians, born at
Basel, though of Dutch origin--JAMES, JOHN, and DANIEL, of
whom John is the most celebrated; was professor first at St. Petersburg
and then at Basel; discovered the exponential calculus and the method of
integrating rational fractions, as well as the line of swiftest descent
(1667-1748).
BERNSTORFF, COUNT, a celebrated statesman, diplomatist, and
philanthropist of Denmark; called the Danish Oracle by Frederick the
Great; founded an Agricultural Society and an hospital at Copenhagen, and
obtained the emancipation of the serfs (1711-1772).
BERNSTORFF, COUNT, a nephew of the preceding; also statesman and
diplomatist (1712-1772).
BERNSTORFF, PIERRE, Danish minister, son of the preceding, a
guardian of civil and political liberty (1735-1797).
BERO`SUS, a priest of the temple of Belus in Babylon, who, 3rd
century B.C., translated into Greek certain records of Babylonish
history, valuable fragments of which are preserved by Josephus and
Eusebius; these have been collected and published by W. Richter, in
Germany.
BERRI, an ancient province of France, forms dep. of Indre and Cher,
which became crown property in 1100 under Philippe I., and a duchy in
1630, giving title to a succession of French princes.
BERRI, DUC DE, second son of Charles X. and father of Count de
Chambord, a benevolent man; assassinated by a fanatic, Louvel, as he was
leaving the Opera House (1778-1820).
BERRI, DUCHESSE DE, dowager of preceding, distinguished herself by
her futile efforts to restore the Bourbon dynasty in the reign of Louis
Philippe (1798-1890).
BERRYER, PIERRE ANTOINE, an eminent French barrister, born at Paris;
a red-hot Legitimist, which brought him into trouble; was member of the
National Assembly of 1848; inimical to the Second Empire, and openly
protested against the _coup d'état_ (1790-1868).
BER`SERKER, a Norse warrior who went into battle unharnessed, whence
his name (which means bare of sark or shirt of mail), and is said to have
been inspired with such fury as to render him invulnerable and
irresistible.
BERT, PAUL, a French physiologist and statesman, born at Auxerre;
was professor of Physiology at Paris; took to politics after the fall of
the Empire; Minister of Public Instruction under Gambetta; sent governor
to Tonquin; died of fever soon after; wrote a science primer for children
entitled "La Première Année d'Enseignement Scientifique" (1833-1886).
BERTHA, goddess in the S. German mythology, of the spinning-wheel
principally, and of the household as dependent on it, in behalf of which
and its economical management she is often harsh to idle spinners; at her
festival thrift is the rule.
BERTHA, ST., a British princess, wife of Ethelbert, king of Kent;
converted him to Christianity.
BERTHE "au Grand Pied" (i. e. Long Foot), wife of Pepin the Short,
and mother of Charlemagne, so called from her club foot.
BERTHELIER, a Swiss patriot, an uncompromising enemy of the Duke of
Savoy in his ambition to lord it over Geneva.
BERTHELOT, PIERRE EUGÈNE, a French chemist, born at Paris; professor
in the College of France; distinguished for his researches in organic
chemistry, and his attempt to produce organic compounds; the dyeing trade
owes much to his discoveries in the extraction of dyes from coal-tar; he
laid the foundation of thermo-chemistry; _b_. 1827.
BERTHIER, ALEXANDRE, prince of Wagram and marshal of France, born at
Versailles; served with Lafayette in the American war, and rose to
distinction in the Revolution; became head of Napoleon's staff, and his
companion in all his expeditions; swore fealty to the Bourbons at the
restoration of 1814; on Napoleon's return retired with his family to
Bamberg; threw himself from a window, maddened at the sight of Russian
troops marching past to the French frontier (1753-1815).
BERTHOLLET, COUNT, a famous chemist, native of Savoy, to whom we owe
the discovery of the bleaching properties of chlorine, the employment of
carbon in purifying water, &c., and many improvements in the
manufactures; became a senator and officer of the Legion of Honour under
Napoleon; attached himself to the Bourbons on their return, and was
created a peer (1744-1822).
BERTHOUD, a celebrated clockmaker, native of Switzerland; settled in
Paris; invented the marine chronometer to determine the longitude at sea
(1727-1807).
BERTIN "l'Ainé," or the Elder, a French journalist, born at Paris;
founder and editor of the _Journal des Débats_, which he started in 1799;
friend of Châteaubriand (1766-1841).
BERTIN, PIERRE, introduced stenography into France, invented by
Taylor in England (1751-1819).
BERTIN, ROSE, milliner to Marie Antoinette, famed for her devotion
to her.
BERTINAZZI, a celebrated actor, born at Turin, long a favourite in
Paris (1710-1788).
BERTRAND and RATON, two personages in La Fontaine's fable of
the Monkey and the Cat, of whom R. cracks the nut and B. eats it.
BER`TRAND, HENRI GRATIEN, COMTE, a French general, and faithful
adherent of Napoleon, accompanied him in all his campaigns, to and from
Elba, as well as in his exile at St. Helena; conducted his remains back
to France in 1840 (1770-1844).
BERTRAND DE MOLLEVILLE, Minister of Marine under Louis XVI.; a fiery
partisan of royalty, surnamed the _enfant terrible_ of the monarchy
(1744-1818).
BERTON, PIERRE, French composer of operas (1726-1780). Henri, his
son, composed operas; wrote a treatise on harmony (1761-1844).
BÉRULLE, CARDINAL, born at Troyes; founder of the order of
Carmelites, and of the Congregation of the Oratory (1576-1629).
BERWICK, JAMES FITZ-JAMES, DUKE OF, a natural son of James II., a
naturalised Frenchman; defended the rights of his father; was present
with him at the battle of the Boyne; distinguished himself in Spain,
where he gained the victory of Almanza; was made marshal of France; fell
at the siege of Philippsburg; left "Memoirs" (1670-1734).
BERWICK, NORTH, a place on the S. shore of the Forth, in
Haddingtonshire; a summer resort, specially for the golfing links.
BERWICK-ON-TWEED (13), a town on the Scotch side of the Tweed, at
its mouth, reckoned since 1835 in Northumberland, though at one time
treated as a separate county; of interest from its connection with the
Border wars, during which it frequently changed hands, till in 1482 the
English became masters of it.
BERWICKSHIRE (32), a fertile Scottish county between the
Lammermoors, inclusive, and the Tweed; is divided into the Merse, a
richly fertile plain in the S., the Lammermoors, hilly and pastoral,
dividing the Merse from Mid and East Lothian, and Lauderdale, of hill and
dale, along the banks of the Leader; Greenlaw the county town.
BERZE`LIUS, JOHAN JAKOB, Baron, a celebrated Swedish chemist, one of
the creators of modern chemistry; instituted the chemical notation by
symbols based on the notion of equivalents; determined the equivalents of
a great number of simple bodies, such as cerium and silenium; discovered
silenium, and shared with Davy the honour of propounding the
electro-chemical theory; he ranks next to Linnæus as a man of science in
Sweden (1779-1848).
BESANÇON (57), capital of the dep. of Doubs, in France; a very
strong place; fortified by Vauban; abounds in relics of Roman and
mediæval times; watchmaking a staple industry, employing some 15,000 of
the inhabitants; manufactures also porcelain and carpets.
BESANT, MRS. ANNIE, _née_ WOOD, born in London; of Irish
descent; married to an English clergyman, from whom she was legally
separated; took a keen interest in social questions and secularism;
drifted into theosophy, of which she is now an active propagandist; is an
interesting woman, and has an interesting address as a lecturer; _b_.
1847.
BESANT, SIR WALTER, a man of letters, born at Portsmouth; eminent
chiefly as a novelist of a healthily realistic type; wrote a number of
novels jointly with James Rice, and is the author of "French Humourists,"
as well as short stories; champion of the cause of Authors _versus_
Publishers, and is chairman of the committee; _b_. 1838.
BESENVAL, BARON, a Swiss, commandant of Paris under Louis XVI.; a
royalist stunned into a state of helpless dismay at the first outbreak of
the Revolution in Paris; could do nothing in the face of it but run for
his life (1722-1791).
BESIKA BAY, a bay on the Asiatic coast, near the mouth of the
Dardanelles.
BESME, a Bohemian in the pay of the Duke of Guise; assassinated
Coligny, and was himself killed by Berteauville, a Protestant gentleman,
in 1571.
BESS, GOOD QUEEN, a familiar name of Queen Elizabeth.
BESSARA`BIA (1,688), a government in the SW. of Russia, between the
Dniester and the Pruth; a cattle-breeding province; exports cattle, wool,
and tallow.
BESSAR`ION, JOHN, cardinal, native of Trebizond; contributed by his
zeal in Greek literature to the fall of scholasticism and the revival of
letters; tried hard to unite the Churches of the East and the West;
joined the latter, and was made cardinal; too much of a Grecian to
recommend himself to the popehood, to which he was twice over nearly
elevated (1395-1472).
BESSEL, FRIEDRICH WILHELM, a Prussian astronomer of prominent
ability, born at Minden; professor of Mathematics at Königsberg, and
director of the Observatory; discovered--what was a great
achievement--the parallax of the fixed star 61 Cygne; his greatest work,
"Fundamenta Astronomiæ," on which he spent 10 years, a marvel, like all
he did, of patient toil and painstaking accuracy (1784-1846).
BESSEMER, SIR HENRY, civil engineer and inventor, born at Charlton,
Herts; of his many inventions the chief is the process, named after him,
of converting pig-iron into steel at once by blowing a blast of air
through the iron while in fusion till everything extraneous is expelled,
and only a definite quantity of carbon is left in combination, a process
which has revolutionised the iron and steel trade all over the world,
leading, as has been calculated, to the production of thirty times as
much steel as before and at one-fifth of the cost per ton (1813-1898).
BESSEMER PROCESS. See BESSEMER.
BESSIÈRES, JEAN BAPTISTE, DUKE OF ISTRIA, marshal of France,
born at Languedoc, of humble parentage; rose from the ranks; a friend and
one of the ablest officers of Napoleon, and much esteemed by him;
distinguished himself in the Italian campaign, in Egypt, and at Marengo;
was shot at Lützen the day before the battle (1768-1813).
BESSUS, a satrap of Bactria under Darius, who assassinated his
master after the battle of Arbela, but was delivered over by Alexander to
Darius's brother, by whom he was put to death, 328 B.C.
BESTIARY, a name given to a class of books treating of animals,
viewed allegorically.
BETHANY, village on E. of the Mount of Olives, abode of Lazarus and
his sisters.
BETHEL (i. e. house of God), a place 11 m. N. of Jerusalem, scene
of Jacob's dream, and famous in the history of the patriarchs.
BETHENCOURT, a Norman baron, in 1425 discovered and conquered the
Canaries, and held them as a fief of the crown of Castile.
BETHLEHEM (3), a village 6 m. S. of Jerusalem, the birthplace of
Jesus Christ and King David, with a convent containing the Church of the
Nativity; near it is the grotto where St. Jerome translated the Bible
into Latin.
BETHLEN-GABOR, prince of Transylvania, assumed the title of king of
Hungary; assisted Bohemia in the Thirty Years' war (1580-1629).
BETHNAL GREEN (129), an eastern suburb of London, a parliamentary
borough, a poor district, and scene of benevolent enterprises.
BETTERTON, THOMAS, born at Westminster, a tragic actor, and as such
an interpreter of Shakespeare on, it is believed, the traditional lines.
BETTINA, the Countess of Arnim, a passionate admirer of Goethe.
BETTY, W. HENRY, a boy actor, known as the Infant Roscius; amassed a
fortune; lived afterwards retired (1791-1874).
BEULE, a French statesman and archæologist; superintended
excavations on the Acropolis of Athens; held office under Macmahon
(1826-1874).
BEUST, COUNT VON, a German statesman, born at Dresden; Minister for
Foreign Affairs in Saxony; of strong conservative leanings, friendly to
Austria; became Chancellor of the Austro-Hungarian empire; adopted a
liberal policy; sympathised with France in the Franco-German war;
resigned office in 1871; left "Memoirs" (1809-1886).
BEUTHEN (36), a manufacturing town in Prussian Silesia, in the
centre of a mining district.
BEVERLEY (12), a Yorkshire manufacturing town, 8 m. NW. of Hull,
with a Gothic minster, which contains the tombs of the Percys.
BEVERLEY, JOHN, a learned man, tutor to the Venerable Bede,
archbishop of York, and founder of a college for secular priests at
Beverley; was one of the most learned men of his time; _d_. 721.
BEVIS OF SOUTHAMPTON, or HAMPTON, SIR, a famous knight of
English mediæval romance, a man of gigantic stature, whose marvellous
feats are recorded in Drayton's "Polyolbion."
BEWICK, THOMAS, a distinguished wood-engraver, born in
Northumberland, apprenticed to the trade in Newcastle; showed his art
first in woodcuts for his "History of Quadrupeds," the success of which
led to the publication of his "History of British Birds," in which he
established his reputation both as a naturalist, in the truest sense, and
an artist (1753-1828).
BEWICK, WILLIAM, a great wood-engraver; did a cartoon from the Elgin
Marbles for Goethe (1795-1866).
BEYLE, MARIE HENRI, French critic and novelist, usually known by his
pseudonym "De Stendal," born at Grenoble; wrote in criticism "De
l'Amour," and in fiction "La Chartreuse de Parme" and "Le Rouge et le
Noir"; an ambitious writer and a cynical (1788-1842).
BEYPUR, a port in the Madras presidency, a railway terminus, with
coal and iron in the neighbourhood.
BEYROUT (200), the most nourishing commercial city on the coast of
Syria, and the port of Damascus, from which it is distant 55 m.; a very
ancient place.
BEZA, THEODORE, a French Protestant theologian, born in Burgundy, of
good birth; professor of Greek at Lausanne; deputed from Germany to
intercede for the Huguenots in France, persuaded the king of Navarre to
favour the Protestants; settled in Geneva, became the friend and
successor of Calvin; wrote a book, "De Hereticis a Civili Magistratu
Puniendis," in which he justified the burning of Servetus, and a "History
of the Reformed Churches" in France; died at 86 (1519-1605).
BEZANTS, Byzantine gold coins of varying weight and value,
introduced by the Crusaders into England, where they were current till
the time of Edward III.
BÉZIERS (42), a manufacturing town in the dep. of Hérault, 49 m. SW.
of Montpellier; manufactures silk fabrics and confectionary.
BHAGALPUR` (69), a town in Bengal, on the right bank of the Ganges,
265 m. NW. of Calcutta.
BHAGAVAD GÎTÂ, (i. e. Song of Krishna), a poem introduced into the
Mahâbhârata, divided into three sections, and each section into six
chapters, called Upanishads; being a series of mystical lectures
addressed by Krishna to his royal pupil Arjuna on the eve of a battle,
from which he shrunk, as it was with his own kindred; the whole conceived
from the point of view or belief, calculated to allay the scruples of
Arjuna, which regards the extinction of existence as absorption in the
Deity.
BHAMO` (6), a town in Burmah, the chief centre of trade with China,
conducted mainly by Chinese, and a military station, only 40 m. from the
Chinese frontier.
BHARTPUR` (68), a town in Rajputana, in a native state of the name;
yielding wheat, maize, cotton, sugar, with quarries of building stone; 30
m. W. of Agra; carries on an industry in the manufacture of chowries.
BHARTRIHARI, Indian author of apothegms, who appears to have lived
in the 11th century B.C., and to have been of royal rank.
BHILS, a rude pro-Aryan race of Central India, still untrained to
settled life; number 750,000.
BHOD-PA, name given to the aborigines of Thibet, and applied by the
Hindus to all the Thibetan peoples.
BHOPAL` (952), a well-governed native state in Central India, under
British protection, with a capital city (70) of the same name; under a
government that has been always friendly to Britain.
BHUTAN (20), an independent state in the Eastern Himalayas, with
magnificent scenery; subsidised by Britain; has a government like that of
Thibet; religion the same, though the people are at a low stage of
civilisation; the country exports horses, musk, and salt.
BIAF`RA, BIGHT OF, a large bay in the Gulf of Guinea, in W. Africa;
includes several islands, and receives into it the waters of the Calabar
rivers.
BIARD, AUGUSTE FRANÇOIS, French _genre_ painter, born at Lyons;
journeyed round the world, sketching by the way; was successful in
rendering burlesque groups (1800-1882).
BIARRITZ, a bathing-place on the Bay of Biscay, 6 m. SW. of Bayonne;
became a place of fashionable resort by the visits of the Empress
Eugenie.
BIAS, one of the seven wise men of Greece, born at Priene, in Ionia;
lived in the 6th century B.C.; many wise sayings are ascribed to him;
was distinguished for his indifference to possessions, which moth and
rust can corrupt, and thieves break through and steal.
BIBLE, THE (i. e. the Book _par excellence_, and not so much a
book as a library of books), a collection of sacred writings divided into
two parts, the Old Testament and the New; the Old, written in Hebrew,
comprehending three groups of books, the Pentateuch, the Prophets, and
the Hagiographa, bearing on the religion, the history, the institutions,
and the manners of the Jews; and the New, written in Greek, comprehending
the Four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, and the Epistles. The Old
Testament was translated into Greek at Alexandria by 72 Jews, 280 B.C.,
and is known as the Septuagint; and the whole book, Old and New, was
translated into Latin in a grotto near Bethlehem by St. Jerome, A.D.
385-404, and is known as the Vulgate, after which the two came to be
regarded by the Church as of equal divine authority and as sections of
one book. It may be permitted to note that the Bible is written
throughout, not in a speculative or a scientific, but a spiritual
interest, and that its final aim is to guide men in the way of life. The
spirit in which it is composed is the spirit of conviction; its essence,
both in the root of it and the fruit of it, is faith, and that primarily
in a moral power above, and ultimately a moral principle within, both
equally divine. The one principle of the book is that loyalty to the
divine commands is the one foundation of all well-being, individual and
social.
BIBLIA PAUPERUM (i. e. Bible of the Poor), a book consisting of
some 50 leaves, with pictures of scenes in the Life of Christ, and
explanatory inscriptions, printed, from wooden blocks, in the 15th
century, and before the invention of printing by movable types.
BIBULUS, a colleague of Julius Cæsar; a mere cipher, a _fainéant_.
BICÊTRE, a hospital, originally a Carthusian monastery, in the S.
side of Paris, with a commanding view of the Seine and the city; since
used for old soldiers, and now for confirmed lunatics.
BICHÂT, MARIE FRANÇOIS XAVIER, an eminent French anatomist and
physiologist; physician to the Hôtel-Dieu, Paris; one of the first to
resolve the structure of the human body into, as "Sartor" has it,
"cellular, vascular, and muscular tissues;" his great work "Anatomie
Générale appliquée à la Physiologie et à la Medecine"; died at 31
(1771-1802).
BICKERSTAFF, ISAAC, an Irish dramatist of 18th century, whose name
was adopted as a _nom de plume_ by Swift and Steele.
BICKERSTETH, EDWARD, English clergyman; author of several
evangelical works, and one of the founders of the Evangelical Alliance
(1786-1850).
BICKERTON, SIR RICHARD, vice-admiral, served in several naval
engagements, and died commander-in-chief at Plymouth in 1792.
BIDDERY WARE, ware of tin, copper, lead, and zinc, made at Bidar, in
India.
BIDDING PRAYER, an exhortation to prayer in some special reference,
followed by the Lord's Prayer, in which the congregation joins.
BIDDLE, JOHN, a Socinian writer in the time of Charles I. and the
Commonwealth; much persecuted for his belief, and was imprisoned, but
released by Cromwell; regarded as the founder of English Unitarianism;
author of a "Confession of Faith concerning the Holy Trinity"
(1615-1662).
BIDPAÏ, or PILPAÏ, the presumed author of a collection of Hindu
fables of ancient date, in extensive circulation over the East, and
widely translated.
BIELA'S COMET, a comet discovered by Biela, an Austrian officer, in
1826; appears, sometimes unobserved, every six years.
BIELEFELD (39), a manufacturing town in Westphalia, with a large
trade in linen, and the centre of the trade.
BIELU`KA, with its twin peaks, highest of the Altai Mountains,
11,100 ft.
BIENNE, LAKE OF, in the Swiss canton of Berne; the Aar is led into
it when in flood, so as to prevent inundation below; on the shores of it
are remains of lake-dwellings, and an island in it, St. Pierre, the
retreat of Rousseau in 1765.
BIFRÖST, a bridge in the Norse mythology stretching from heaven to
earth, of firm solidity and exquisite workmanship, represented in the
rainbow, of which the colours are the reflections of the precious stones.
BIGELOW, ERASTUS BRIGHAM, American inventor of weaving machines,
born in Massachusetts (1814-1879).
BIG-ENDIANS, a name given to the Catholics, as Little-endians is the
name given to the Protestants, in the imaginary kingdom of Lilliput, of
which the former are regarded as heretics by the latter because they
break their eggs at the big end.
BIGGAR, a town in Lanarkshire, birthplace of Dr. John Brown and of
the Gladstone ancestry.
BIGLOW, imaginary author of poems in the Yankee dialect, written by
James Russell Lowell.
BIJAPUR`, city in the presidency of Bombay, once the capital of an
extensive kingdom, now deserted, but with remains of its former
greatness.
BILBA`O (50), capital of the Basque prov. of Biscay, in Spain; a
commercial city of ancient date, famous at one time for its steel,
specially in Queen Elizabeth's time, when a rapier was called a "bilbo."
BILDERDIJK, WILLEM, Dutch poet, born at Amsterdam (1756-1831).
BILE, a fluid secreted from the blood by the liver to aid in
digestion, the secretion of which is most active after food.
BILLAUD-VARENNES, JEAN NICOLAS, "a grim, resolute, unrepentant"
member of the Jacobin Club; egged on the mob during the September
massacres in the name of liberty; was president of the Convention;
assisted at the fall of Robespierre, but could not avert his own; was
deported to Surinam, and content to die there rather than return to
France, which Bonaparte made him free to do; died at Port-au-Prince
(1756-1819).
BILLAUT, ADAM, the carpenter poet, called "Maître Adam," born at
Nevers, and designated "Virgile au Rabot" (a carpenter's plane); _d_.
1662.
BILLINGS, ROBERT WILLIAM, architect, born in London; delineator of
old historical buildings; his great work "Baronial and Ecclesiastical
Antiquities of Scotland," richly illustrated; was engaged in the
restoration of old buildings, as well as delineating them (1813-1874).
BILLINGSGATE, a fish-market in London, below London Bridge; also a
name given to low, coarse language indulged in there.
BILLINGTON, ELIZABETH, _née_ WEICHSEL, a celebrated singer,
born in London, of German descent; kept up her celebrity to the last;
died at Venice in 1817.
BILNEY, THOMAS, martyr, born in Norfolk, a priest who adopted the
reformed doctrine; was twice arraigned, and released on promise not to
preach, but could not refrain, and was at last burned as a heretic in
1531.
BILOCATION, the power or state, ascribed to certain of the saints,
of appearing in two places at the same time.
BIMETALLISM, the employment of two metals (gold and silver) in the
currency of a country as legal tender at a fixed relative value, the
ratio usually proposed being 1 to 15½.
BIMINI, a fabulous island with a fountain possessed of the virtue of
restoring youth.
BINET, a French littérateur, translator of Horace and Virgil
(1732-1812).
BINGEN, a manufacturing and trading town on the left bank of the
Rhine, in Grand-Duchy of Hesse Darmstadt, opposite which is the tower
associated with the myth of Bishop Hatto.
BINGHAM, JOSEPH, an English divine, born at Wakefield; author of
"Origines Ecclesiasticæ," a laborious and learned work; lost his all in
the South-Sea Scheme and died (1668-1723).
BIOGENESIS, name of the theory that derives life from life, and
opposed to ABIOGENESIS (q. v.).
BIOLOGY, the science of animal life in a purely physical reference,
or of life in organised bodies generally, including that of plants, in
its varied forms and through its successive stages.
BION, a Greek pastoral poet of 3rd century B.C., born at Smyrna; a
contemporary of Theocritus; settled in Sicily; was poisoned, it is said,
by a rival; little of his poetry survives.
BIOT, JEAN BAPTISTE, an eminent French mathematician, astronomer,
and physicist, born at Paris; professor of Physics in the College of
France; took part in measuring an arc of the meridian along with Arago;
made observations on the polarisation of light, and contributed numerous
memoirs to scientific journals; wrote works on astronomy (1774-1862).
BIRAGUE, RENÉ DE, cardinal and chancellor of France, born at Milan;
charged, especially by contemporary historians, as the chief instigator
of the St. Bartholomew Massacre (1507-1583).
BIRCH, SAMUEL, archæologist and Egyptologist, born in London; keeper
of Oriental antiquities in the British Museum; had an extensive knowledge
of Egyptology, wrote largely, and contributed articles on that and
kindred archæological subjects (1813-1885).
BIRCH, THOMAS, antiquary, born in London; wrote a history of the
Royal Society (1705-1765).
BIRCH-PFEIFFER, CHARLOTTE, actress, born in Stuttgart; acted in
Berlin; wrote dramas (1800-1868).
BIRD, EDWARD, an English _genre_ painter, born in Wolverhampton,
settled in Bristol; among his works are the "Choristers Rehearsing," the
"Field of Chevy Chase," and the "Day after the Battle," pronounced his
masterpiece (1772-1819).
BIRD, GOLDING, M.D., a great authority in kidney disease, of which
he himself died (1815-1854).
BIRD, WILLIAM, a musician in the time of Elizabeth, composed
madrigals; "Non Nobis, Domine," is ascribed to him (1563-1623).
BIRD'S NEST, the nest of a species of swift, formed from a marine
plant that has been first digested by a bird, and esteemed a great luxury
by the Chinese.
BIREN, DUKE OF COURLAND, son of a peasant, favourite of the Russian
Empress Anne; held the reins of government even after her death; ruled
with great cruelty; was banished to Siberia, but recalled, and had his
honours restored to him, which in six years after he relinquished in
favour of his eldest son (1687-1772).
BIRKBECK, GEORGE, M.D., a Yorkshireman, a zealous promoter all over
the country of mechanics' institutes, was founder of the London
Institute, in consociation with Brougham and others interested in the
diffusion of useful knowledge (1776-1841).
BIRKENHEAD (100), in Cheshire, on the Mersey, opposite Liverpool and
a suburb of it; a town of rapid growth, due to the vicinity of Liverpool;
has large shipbuilding-yards and docks.
BIRKENHEAD, SIR JOHN, a political writer, several times imprisoned
during the Commonwealth for his obtrusive royalism (1615-1679).
BIRMINGHAM (478), in the NW. of Warwickshire, 112 m. NW. of London
by rail; is the chief town of the Midlands, and celebrated all over the
world for its metal ware. All kinds of engines and machinery, fine gold,
silver, copper, and brass ware, cutlery and ammunition are made here;
steel pens, buttons, nails, and screws are specialties. It is a
picturesque town with many fine buildings, libraries, art gallery and
museums, educational institutions, a cathedral, and a great town-hall,
where the triennial musical festival is held. Of this town Burne-Jones
was a native, and Priestley, George Dawson, and Dale were dissenting
ministers.
BIRNAM, a hill near Dunkeld, in Perthshire; contains part of a
forest mentioned in "Macbeth."