[1] Recent research has resulted in some variation of opinion as to
the precise authorship of some of the plays commonly attributed to
them; but this article, contributed to the ninth edition of the
_Encyclopaedia Britannica_, remains the classical modern criticism of
Beaumont and Fletcher, and its value is substantially unaffected. As
representing to the end the views of its distinguished author, it is
therefore retained as written, the results of later research being
epitomized in the Bibliographical Appendix at the end. (_Ed._)
BEAUMONT, a city and the county-seat of Jefferson county, Texas, U.S.A.,
situated on the Neches river, in the E. part of the state, about 28 m.
from the Gulf of Mexico and 72 m. N.E. of Galveston. Pop. (1890) 3296;
(1900) 9427, of whom 2953 were negroes; (1910, census) 20,640. It is
served by the Gulf & Interstate, the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe, the
Kansas City Southern, the Texas & New Orleans, the Colorado Southern,
New Orleans & Pacific, the Beaumont, Sour Lake & Western (from Beaumont
to Sour Lake, Tex.), and the (short) Galveston, Beaumont & North-Eastern
railways. The Neches river from Beaumont to its mouth has a depth of not
less than 19 ft.; from its mouth extends a canal (9 ft. deep, 100 ft.
wide, and 12 m. long) which connects with the Port Arthur Canal (180 ft.
wide and 25 ft. deep) extending to the sea. Situated in the midst of a
region covered with dense forests of pine and cypress, Beaumont is one
of the largest lumber centres of the southern states; it is also the
centre of a large rice-growing region. The manufactories include rice
mills, saw mills, sash, door and blind factories, shingle mills, iron
works, oil refineries, broom factories and a dynamite factory. In 1905
the cleaning and polishing of rice was the most important industry, its
output being valued at $1,203,123, being nearly twice the value of the
product of the rice mills of the city in 1900, 25.9% of the total value
of the state's product of polished and cleaned rice, 46.1% of the value
($2,609,829) of all of Beaumont's factory products, and about 7.4% of
the value of the product of polished and cleaned rice for the whole
United States in 1905. After the sinking of oil wells in 1901, Beaumont
became one of the principal oil-producing places in the United States;
its oil refineries are connected by pipe lines with the surrounding oil
fields, and two 6-in. pipe lines extend from Beaumont to Oklahoma.
Beaumont was first settled in 1828, and was first chartered as a city in
1899.
BEAUNE, a town of eastern France, capital of an arrondissement in the
department of Cote-d'Or, on the Bouzoise, 23 m. S.S.W. of Dijon on the
main line of the Paris-Lyon railway. Pop. (1906) 11,668. Beaune lies at
the foot of the hills of Cote-d'Or. Portions of its ancient
fortifications are still to be seen, but they have been for the most
part replaced by a shady promenade which separates the town from its
suburbs. The most interesting feature of Beaune is the old hospital of
St Esprit, founded in 1443 by Nicolas Rolin, chancellor of Burgundy.
Though it is built largely of wood, the fabric is in good preservation.
The exterior is simple, but the buildings which surround the main
courtyard have high-pitched roofs surmounted by numerous dormer windows
with decorated gables, recalling the Flemish style of architecture. In
the interior there are several interesting apartments; the chief of
these is the ample council chamber with its fine tapestries, where an
important wine sale is held annually. The hospital possesses many
artistic treasures, among them the mural paintings of the 17th century
in the Salle St Hugues and an altar-piece, the Last Judgment, attributed
to Roger van der Weyden. The principal church of the town, Notre-Dame,
dating mainly from the 12th and 13th centuries, has a fine central tower
and a triple portal with handsome wooden doors. In the interior there is
some valuable tapestry of the 15th century, and other works of art. Two
round towers (15th century) are a survival of the castle of Beaune,
dismantled by Henry IV. A belfry of 1403 and several houses of the
Renaissance period, some of which are built over ancient wine-cellars,
are architecturally notable. There is a statue to the mathematician, G.
Monge, born in the town (1746), and a monument to Pierre Joigneaux the
politician (d. 1892). Beaune has tribunals of first instance and of
commerce, a chamber of commerce, a school of agriculture and viticulture
and colleges for girls and boys. It carries on considerable trade in
live-stock and cereals and in the vegetables of its market-gardens, and
manufactures of casks, corks, white metal, oil, vinegar and machinery
for the wine-trade are included among the industries; it is chiefly
important for its vineyards and as the centre of the wine-trade of
Burgundy.
Beaune was a fortified Roman camp and a stronghold during the middle
ages. It was the capital of a separate county which in 1227 was united
to the duchy of Burgundy; it then became the first seat of the
Burgundian parlement or _jours generaux_ and a ducal residence. On the
death of Charles the Bold, it sided with his daughter, Mary of Burgundy,
but was besieged and taken by the forces of Louis XI. in 1478. Its rank
as commune, conceded to it in 1203, was confirmed by Francis I. in 1521.
In the Wars of Religion it at first sided with the League, but
afterwards opened its gates to the troops of Henry IV., from whom it
received the confirmation of its communal privileges and permission to
demolish its fortifications. The revocation of the edict of Nantes
struck a severe blow at the cloth and iron industries, which had
previously been a source of prosperity to the town. In the 18th century
there were no fewer than seven monastic buildings in Beaune, besides a
Bernardine abbey, a Carthusian convent and an ecclesiastical college.
BEAUREGARD, MARQUIS DE (c. 1772-?), French adventurer, the son of a
poor vinegrower named Leuthraud, was born about 1772. He received the
name Beauregard from a nobleman in whose service he was engaged as
valet. On the outbreak of the revolution, this nobleman converted all
his fortune into gold, and entrusting the bag containing the cash to his
valet, fled to the frontier. For security's sake master and man took
different roads, but Beauregard turned back with the money to Paris. By
speculations in provisions and military equipments under the
Directorate he amassed a considerable fortune, and styling himself the
marquis de Beauregard, purchased a splendid mansion and began giving
magnificent entertainments. Detected at the height of his success, the
impostor was arrested and condemned to four years in irons and to be
branded. He soon escaped from prison, and had the audacity to reappear
in Paris and start his old life afresh. After a short time, however, he
disappeared again, and is supposed to have committed suicide. It is
probable that most of the information available about him is a blend of
fact and fiction.
BEAUREGARD, PIERRE GUSTAVE TOUTANT (1818-1893), American soldier, was
born near New Orleans, Louisiana, on the 28th of May 1818. At the United
States military academy he graduated second in his class in July 1838,
and was appointed lieutenant of engineers. In the Mexican War he
distinguished himself in siege operations at Vera Cruz, and took part in
all the battles around Mexico, being wounded at Chapultepec, and
receiving the brevets of captain and major. In 1853 he became captain
and was in charge of fortification and other engineer works of various
points, on the Gulf coast from 1853 to 1860. He had just been appointed
superintendent of West Point when the secession of his state brought
about his resignation (20th February 1861). As a brigadier-general of
the new Confederate army he directed the bombardment of Fort Sumter,
S.C. As the commander of the Southern "Army of the Potomac" he opposed
McDowell's advance to Bull Run, and during the battle was second in
command under Joseph E. Johnston, who had joined him on the previous
evening. He was one of the five full generals appointed in August 1861,
and in 1862 was second in command under Sidney Johnston on the
Tennessee. After Johnston's death he directed the battle of Shiloh,
subsequent to which he retired to Corinth. This place he defended
against the united armies under Halleck, until the end of May 1862, when
he retreated in good order to the southward. His health now failing, he
was employed in less active work. He defended Charleston against the
Union forces from September 1862 to April 1864. In May 1864 he fought a
severe and eventually successful battle at Drury's Bluff against General
Butler and the Army of the James. Later in the year he endeavoured to
gather troops wherewith to oppose Sherman's advance from Atlanta, and
eventually surrendered with Johnston's forces in April 1865. After the
war he engaged in railway management, became adjutant-general of his
state and managed the Louisiana lottery. He declined high commands which
were offered to him in the Rumanian and later in the Egyptian armies.
General Beauregard died in New Orleans on the 20th of February 1893. He
was the author of _Principles and Maxims of the Art of War_ (Charleston,
1863); _Report on the Defence of Charleston_ (Richmond, 1864).
See Alfred Roman, _Military Operations of General Beauregard_ (New
York, 1883).
BEAUSOBRE, ISAAC DE (1659-1738), French Protestant divine, was born at
Niort on the 8th of March 1659. After studying theology at the
Protestant academy of Saumur, he was ordained at the age of twenty-two,
becoming pastor at Chatillon-sur-Indre. After the revocation of the
edict of Nantes he fled to Rotterdam (November 1685), and in 1686 was
appointed chaplain to the princess of Dessau, Henrietta Catherine of
Orange. In 1693, on the death of the prince of Dessau, he went to Berlin
and became chaplain to the court at Oranienbaum, and in 1695 pastor of
the French church at Berlin. He became court preacher, counsellor of the
Consistory, director of the _Maison francaise_, a hospice for French
people, inspector of the French gymnasium and superintendent of all the
French churches in Brandenburg. He died on the 5th of June 1738. He had
strong sense with profound erudition, was one of the best writers of his
time and an excellent preacher.
BEAUVAIS, a town of northern France, capital of the department of Oise,
49 m. N. by W. of Paris, on the Northern railway. Pop. (1906) 17,045.
Beauvais lies at the foot of wooded hills on the left bank of the
Therain at its confluence with the Avelon. Its ancient ramparts have
been destroyed, and it is now surrounded by boulevards, outside which
run branches of the Therain. In addition, there are spacious promenades
in the north-east of the town. Its cathedral of St Pierre, in some
respects the most daring achievement of Gothic architecture, consists
only of a transept and choir with apse and seven apse-chapels. The
vaulting in the interior exceeds 150 ft. in height. The small Romanesque
church of the 10th century known as the Basse-Oeuvre occupies the site
destined for the nave. Begun in 1247, the work was interrupted in 1284
by the collapse of the vaulting of the choir, in 1573 by the fall of a
too ambitious central tower, after which little addition was made. The
transept was built from 1500 to 1548. Its facades, especially that on
the south, exhibit all the richness of the late Gothic style. The carved
wooden doors of both the north and the south portals are masterpieces
respectively of Gothic and Renaissance workmanship. The church possesses
an elaborate astronomical clock (1866) and tapestries of the 15th and
17th centuries; but its chief artistic treasures are stained glass
windows of the 13th, 14th and 16th centuries, the most beautiful of them
from the hand of the Renaissance artist, Engrand Le Prince, a native of
Beauvais. To him also is due some of the stained glass in St. Etienne,
the second church of the town, and an interesting example of the
transition stage between the Romanesque and Gothic styles.
In the Place de l'Hotel de Ville and in the old streets near the
cathedral there are several houses dating from the 12th to the 16th
centuries. The hotel de ville, close to which stands the statue of
Jeanne Hachette (see below), was built in 1752. The episcopal palace,
now used as a court-house, was built in the 16th century, partly upon
the Gallo-Roman fortifications. The industry of Beauvais comprises,
besides the state manufacture of tapestry, which dates from 1664, the
manufacture of various kinds of cotton and woollen goods, brushes, toys,
boots and shoes, and bricks and tiles. Market-gardening flourishes in
the vicinity and an extensive trade is carried on in grain and wine.
The town is the seat of a bishop, a prefect and a court of assizes; it
has tribunals of first instance and of commerce, together with a chamber
of commerce, a branch of the Bank of France, a higher ecclesiastical
seminary, a lycee and training colleges.
Beauvais was known to the Romans as _Caesaromagus_, and took its present
name from the Gallic tribe of the Bellovaci, whose capital it was. In
the 9th century it became a countship, which about 1013 passed to the
bishops of Beauvais, who ultimately became peers of France. In 1346 the
town had to defend itself against the English, who again besieged it in
1433. The siege which it suffered in 1472 at the hands of the duke of
Burgundy was rendered famous by the heroism of the women, under the
leadership of Jeanne Hachette, whose memory is still celebrated by a
procession on the 14th of October (the feast of Ste Angadreme), in which
the women take precedence of the men.
See V. Lhuillier, _Choses du vieux Beauvais et au Beauvaisis_ (1896).
BEAUVILLIER, the name of a very ancient French family belonging to the
country around Chartres, members of which are found filling court
offices from the 15th century onward. For Charles de Beauvillier,
gentleman of the chamber to the king, governor and _bailli_ of Blois,
the estate of Saint Aignan was created a countship in 1537. Francois de
Beauvillier, comte de Saint Aignan, after having been through the
campaigns in Germany (1634-1635), Franche-Comte (1636), and Flanders
(1637), was sent to the Bastille in consequence of his having lost the
battle of Thionville in 1640. In reward for his devotion to the court
party during the Fronde he obtained many signal favours, and Saint
Aignan was raised to a duchy in the peerage of France (duche-pairie) in
1663. His son Paul, called the duc de Beauvillier, was several times
ambassador to England; he became chief of the council of finance in
1685, governor of the dukes of Burgundy, Anjou and Berri from 1689 to
1693, minister of state in 1691, and grandee of Spain in 1701. He
married a daughter of Colbert. Paul Hippolyte de Beauvillier, comte de
Montresor, afterwards duc de Saint Aignan, was ambassador at Madrid from
1715 to 1718 and at Rome in 1731, and a member of the council of regency
in 1719. (M. P.*)
BEAUVOIR, ROGER DE, the _nom de plume_ of EUGENE AUGUSTE ROGER DE BULLY
(1806-1866), French writer, who was born on the 8th of November 1806 in
Paris. He was the son and nephew of public officials who did not approve
his literary inclinations, and it was at their request that he wrote
over the signature of Roger de Beauvoir. A good-looking young fellow, of
independent means, an indefatigable _viveur_, he astonished all Paris
with his ostentatious luxury and his adventures, while his romantic
novels gave him a more serious if not durable reputation. Among the best
of them are _L'Ecolier de Cluny ou le Sophisme_ (1832), which is said to
have furnished Alexandre Dumas and Theodore Gaillardet (1808-1882) with
the idea of the _Tour de Nesle_, and _Le Chevalier de Saint Georges_
(1840). He had married in 1847 an actress, Eleonore Leocadie Doze
(1822-1859), from whom he obtained a judicial separation a year or two
later after a long and notorious trial, following which his
mother-in-law got him imprisoned for three months and fined 500 francs
for a satirical poem, _Mon Proces_ (1849). Ruined by extravagance and
tied to his chair by gout, he spent the last years of his life in
retirement, and died in Paris on the 27th of August 1866.
BEAUX, CECILIA (1863- ), American portrait-painter, was born in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she became a pupil of William Sartain.
But her real art training was obtained in Paris, where she started in
the _atelier_ Julian and had the coaching of painters like
Robert-Fleury, Bouguereau and Dagnan Bouveret. In 1890 she exhibited at
the Paris Exposition. Returning to Philadelphia, Miss Beaux obtained in
1893 the gold medal of the Philadelphia Art Club, and also the Dodge
prize at the New York National Academy, and later various other
distinctions. She became a member of the National Academy of Design, New
York, in 1902. Among her portraits are those of Bishop-Coadjutor Greer
(exhibited at the Salon in 1896); Mrs Roosevelt and her daughter; and
Mrs Larz Anderson. Her "Dorothea and Francesca," and "Ernesta and her
Little Brother," are good examples of her skill in painting children.
BEAVER,[1] the largest European aquatic representative of the mammalian
order RODENTIA (q.v.), easily recognized by its large trowel-like, scaly
tail, which is expanded in the horizontal direction. The true beaver
(_Castor fiber_) is a native of Europe and northern Asia, but it is
represented in North America by a closely-allied species (_C.
canadensis_), chiefly distinguished by the form of the nasal bones of
the skull. Beavers are nearly allied to the squirrels (_Sciuridae_),
agreeing in certain structural peculiarities of the lower jaw and skull.
In the _Sciuridae_ the two main bones (tibia and fibula) of the lower
half of the leg are quite separate, the tail is round and hairy, and the
habits are arboreal and terrestrial. In the beavers or _Castoridae_
these bones are in close contact at their lower ends, the tail is
depressed, expanded and scaly, and the habits are aquatic. Beavers have
webbed hind-feet, and the claw of the second hind-toe double. In length
beavers--European and American--measure about 2 ft. exclusive of the
tail, which is about 10 in. long. They are covered with a fur to which
they owe their chief commercial value; this consists of two kinds of
hair--the one close-set, silky and of a greyish colour, the other much
coarser and longer, and of a reddish brown. Beavers are essentially
aquatic in their habits, never travelling by land unless driven by
necessity. Formerly common in England, the European beaver has not only
been exterminated there, but likewise in most of the countries of the
continent, although a few remain on the Elbe, the Rhone and in parts of
Scandinavia. The American species is also greatly diminished in numbers
from incessant pursuit for the sake of its valuable fur. Beavers are
sociable anirrals, living in streams, where, so as to render the water
of sufficient depth, they build dams of mud and of the stems and boughs
of trees felled by their powerful incisor teeth. In the neighbourhood
they make their "lodges," which are roomy chambers, with the entrance
beneath the water. The mud is plastered down by the fore-feet, and not,
as often supposed, by the tail, which is employed solely as a rudder.
They are mainly nocturnal, and subsist chiefly on bark and twigs or the
roots of water plants. The dam differs in shape according to the nature
of particular localities. Where the water has little motion it is almost
straight; where the current is considerable it is curved, with its
convexity towards the stream. The materials made use of are driftwood,
green willows, birch and poplars; also mud and stones intermixed in such
a manner as contributes to the strength of the dam, but there is no
particular method observed, except that the work is carried on with a
regular sweep, and that all the parts are made of equal strength. "In
places," writes Hearne, "which have been long frequented by beavers
undisturbed, their dams, by frequent repairing, become a solid bank,
capable of resisting a great force both of ice and water; and as the
willow, poplar and birch generally take root and shoot up, they by
degrees form a kind of regular planted hedge, which I have seen in some
places so tall that birds have built their nests among the branches."
Their houses are formed of the same materials as the dams, with little
order or regularity of structure, and seldom contain more than four old,
and six or eight young beavers. It not unfrequently happens that some of
the larger houses have one or more partitions, but these are only posts
of the main building left by the builders to support the roof, for the
apartments have usually no communication with each other except by
water. The beavers carry the mud and stones with their fore-paws and the
timber between their teeth. They always work in the night and with great
expedition. They cover their houses late every autumn with fresh mud,
which, freezing when the frost sets in, becomes almost as hard as stone,
so that neither wolves nor wolverines can disturb their repose.
The favourite food of the American beaver is the water-lily (_Nuphar
luteum_), which bears a resemblance to a cabbage-stalk, and grows at the
bottom of lakes and rivers. Beavers also gnaw the bark of birch, poplar
and willow trees; but during the summer a more varied herbage, with the
addition of berries, is consumed. When the ice breaks up in spring they
always leave their embankments, and rove about until a little before the
fall of the leaf, when they return to their old habitations, and lay in
their winter stock of wood. They seldom begin to repair the houses till
the frost sets in, and never finish the outer coating till the cold
becomes severe. When they erect a new habitation they fell the wood
early in summer, but seldom begin building till towards the end of
August.
The flesh of the American beaver is eaten by the Indians, and when
roasted in the skin is esteemed a delicacy and is said to taste like
pork. _Castoreum_ is a substance contained in two pear-shaped pouches
situated near the organs of reproduction, of a bitter taste and slightly
foetid odour, at one time largely employed as a medicine, but now used
only in perfumery.
Fossil remains of beavers are found in the peat and other superficial
deposits of England and the continent of Europe; while in the
Pleistocene formations of England and Siberia occur remains of a giant
extinct beaver, _Trogontherium cuvieri_, representing a genus by itself.
For an account of beavers in Norway see R. Collett, in the _Bergens
Museum Aarbog_ for 1897. See also R.T. Martin, _Castorologia, a
History and Traditions of the Canadian Beaver_ (London, 1892).
(R. L.*)