[1] See R. le Maulde, _Jeanne de France, duchesse d'Orleans et de
Berry_ (Paris, 1883).
BERRYER, ANTOINE PIERRE (1790-1868), French advocate and parliamentary
orator, was the son of an eminent advocate and counsellor to the
_parlement_. He was educated at the College de Juilly, on leaving which
he adopted the profession of the law; he was admitted advocate in 1811,
and in the same year he married. In the great conflict of the period
between Napoleon I. and the Bourbons, Berryer, like his father, was an
ardent Legitimist; and in the spring of 1815, at the opening of the
campaign of the Hundred Days, he followed Louis XVIII. to Ghent as a
volunteer. After the second restoration he distinguished himself as a
courageous advocate of moderation in the treatment of the military
adherents of the emperor. He assisted his father and Dupin in the
unsuccessful defence of Marshal Ney before the chamber of peers; and he
undertook alone the defence of General Cambronne and General Debelle,
procuring the acquittal of the former and the pardon of the latter. By
this time he had a very large business as advocate, and was engaged on
behalf of journalists in many press prosecutions. He stood forward with
a noble resolution to maintain the freedom of the press, and severely
censured the rigorous measures of the police department. In 1830, not
long before the fall of Charles X., Berryer was elected a member of the
chamber of deputies. He appeared there as the champion of the king and
encouraged him in his reactionary policy. After the revolution of July,
when the Legitimists withdrew in a body, Berryer alone retained his seat
as deputy. He resisted, but unsuccessfully, the abolition of the
hereditary peerage. He advocated trial by jury in press prosecutions,
the extension of municipal franchises and other liberal measures. In May
1832 he hastened from Paris to see the duchess of Berry on her landing
in the south of France for the purpose of organizing an insurrection in
favour of her son, the duke of Bordeaux, since known as the Comte de
Chambord. Berryer attempted to turn her from her purpose; and failing in
this he set out for Switzerland. He was, however, arrested, imprisoned
and brought to trial as one of the insurgents. He was immediately
acquitted. In the following year he pleaded for the liberation of the
duchess, made a memorable speech in defence of Chateaubriand, who was
prosecuted for his violent attacks on the government of Louis Philippe,
and undertook the defence of several Legitimist journalists. Among the
more noteworthy events of his subsequent career were his defence of
Louis Napoleon after the ridiculous affair of Boulogne, in 1840, and a
visit to England in December 1843, for the purpose of formally
acknowledging the pretender, the duke of Bordeaux, then living in
London, as Henry V. and lawful king of France. Berryer was an active
member of the National Assembly convoked after the revolution of
February 1848, again visited the pretender, then at Wiesbaden, and still
fought in the old cause. This long parliamentary career was closed by a
courageous protest against the _coup d'etat_ of December 2, 1851. After
a lapse of twelve years, however, he appeared once more in his forsaken
field as a deputy to the Corps Legislatif. Berryer was elected member of
the French Academy in 1854. A visit paid by this famous orator to Lord
Brougham in 1865 was made the occasion of a banquet given in his honour
by the benchers of the Temple and of Lincoln's Inn. In November 1868 he
was removed by his own desire from Paris to his country seat at
Augerville, and there he died on the 29th of the same month.
BERSERKER (from the "sark" or shirt of the "bear," or other animal-skins
worn by them), in Scandinavian mythology, the name of the twelve sons of
the hero Berserk, grandson of the eight-handed Starkadder and Alfhilde.
Berserk was famed for the reckless fury with which he fought, always
going into battle without armour. By the daughter of King Swafurlam,
whom he had killed, he had the twelve sons who were his equals in
bravery. In Old Norse the term _berserker_ thus became synonymous with
reckless courage, and was later applied to the bodyguards of several of
the Scandinavian heroes.
BERT, PAUL (1833-1886), French physiologist and politician, was born at
Auxerre (Yonne) on the 17th of October 1833. He entered the Ecole
Polytechnique at Paris with the intention of becoming an engineer; then
changing his mind, he studied law; and finally, under the influence of
the zoologist, L.P. Gratiolet (1815-1865), he took up physiology,
becoming one of Claude Bernard's most brilliant pupils. After graduating
at Paris as doctor of medicine in 1863, and doctor of science in 1866,
he was appointed professor of physiology successively at Bordeaux (1866)
and the Sorbonne (1869). After the revolution of 1870 he began to take
part in politics as a supporter of Gambetta. In 1874 he was elected to
the Assembly, where he sat on the extreme left, and in 1876 to the
chamber of deputies. He was one of the most determined enemies of
clericalism, and an ardent advocate of "liberating national education
from religious sects, while rendering it accessible to every citizen."
In 1881 he was minister of education and worship in Gambetta's
short-lived cabinet, and in the same year he created a great sensation
by a lecture on modern Catholicism, delivered in a Paris theatre, in
which he poured ridicule on the fables and follies of the chief
religious tracts and handbooks that circulated especially in the south
of France. Early in 1886 he was appointed resident-general in Annam and
Tonkin, and died of dysentery at Hanoi on the 11th of November of that
year. But he was more distinguished as a man of science than as a
politician or administrator. His classical work, _La Pression
barometrique_ (1878), embodies researches that gained him the biennial
prize of 20,000 francs from the Academy of Sciences in 1875, and is a
comprehensive investigation on the physiological effects of
air-pressure, both above and below the normal. His earliest researches,
which provided him with material for his two doctoral theses, were
devoted to animal grafting and the vitality of animal tissues, and they
were followed by studies on the physiological action of various poisons,
on anaesthetics, on respiration and asphyxia, on the causes of the
change of colour in the chameleon, &c. He was also interested in
vegetable physiology, and in particular investigated the movements of
the sensitive plant, and the influence of light of different colours on
the life of vegetation. After about 1880 he produced several elementary
text-books of scientific instruction, and also various publications on
educational and allied subjects.
BERTANI, AGOSTINO (1812-1886), Italian revolutionist, was born at Milan
on the 19th of October 1812. He took part in the insurrection of 1848,
though opposed to the fusion of Lombardy with Piedmont. During the Roman
republic of 1849, he, as medical officer, organized the ambulance
service, and, after the fall of Rome, withdrew to Genoa, where he worked
with Sir James Hudson for the liberation of the political prisoners of
Naples, but held aloof from the Mazzinian conspiracies. In 1859 he
founded a revolutionary journal at Genoa, but, shortly afterwards,
joined as surgeon the Garibaldian corps in the war of 1859. After
Villafranca he became the organizer-in-chief of the expeditions to
Sicily, remaining at Genoa after Garibaldi's departure for Marsala, and
organizing four separate volunteer corps, two of which were intended for
Sicily and two for the papal states. Cavour, however, obliged all to
sail for Sicily. Upon the arrival of Garibaldi at Naples, Bertani was
appointed secretary-general of the dictator, in which capacity he
reorganized the police, abolished the secret service fund, founded
twelve infant asylums, suppressed the duties upon Sicilian products,
prepared for the suppression of the religious orders, and planned the
sanitary reconstruction of the city. Entering parliament in 1861, he
opposed the Garibaldian expedition, which ended at Aspromonte, but
nevertheless tended Garibaldi's wound with affectionate devotion. In
1866 he organized the medical service for the 40,000 Garibaldians, and
in 1867 fought at Mentana. His parliamentary career, though marked by
zeal, was less brilliant than his revolutionary activity. Up to 1870 he
remained an agitator, but, after the liberation of Rome, seceded from
the historic left, and became leader of the extreme left, a position
held until his death on the 30th of April 1886. His chief work as deputy
was an inquiry into the sanitary conditions of the peasantry, and the
preparation of the sanitary code adopted by the Crispi administration.
(H. W. S.)
BERTAT (Arab. _Jebalain_), negroes of the Shangalla group of tribes,
mainly agriculturists. They occupy the valleys of the Yabus and Tumat,
tributaries of the Blue Nile. They are shortish and very black, with
projecting jaws, broad noses and thick lips. By both sexes the hair is
worn short or the head shaved; on cheeks and temple are tribal marks in
the form of scars. The huts of the Bertat are circular, the floor raised
on short poles. Their weapons are the spear, throwing-club, sword and
dagger, and also the _kulbeda_ or throwing-knife. Blocks of salt are the
favourite form of currency. Gold washing is practised. Nature worship
still struggles against the spread of Mahommedanism. The Bertat,
estimated to number some 80,000, c. 1880, were nearly exterminated
during the period of Dervish ascendancy (1884-1898) in the eastern
Sudan. Settled among them are Arab communities governed by their own
sheiks, while the _meks_ or rulers of the Bertat speak Arabic, and show
traces of foreign blood. (See FAZOGLI.)
See Koeltlitz, "The Bertat," _Journal of the Anthropological
Institute_, xxxiii. 51; _Anglo-Egyptian Sudan_, edited by Count
Gleichen (London, 1905).
BERTAUT, JEAN (1552-1611), French poet, was born at Caen in 1552. He
figures with Desportes in the disdainful couplet of Boileau on
Ronsard:--
"Ce poete orgueilleux, trebuche de si haut,
Rendit plus retenus Desportes et Bertaut."
He wrote light verse to celebrate the incidents of court life in the
manner of Desportes, but his verse is more fantastic and fuller of
conceits than his master's. He early entered the church, and had a share
in the conversion of Henry IV., a circumstance which assured his career.
He was successively councillor of the parlement of Grenoble, secretary
to the king, almoner to Marie de' Medici, abbot of Aulnay and finally,
in 1606, bishop of Sees. After his elevation to the bishopric he ceased
to produce the light verse in which he excelled, though his scruples did
not prevent him from preparing a new edition of his _Recueil de quelques
vers amoureux_ (1602) in 1606. The serious poems in which he celebrated
the public events of his later years are dull and lifeless. Bertaut died
at Sees on the 8th of June 1611. His works were edited by M.Ad.
Chenevieres in 1891.
BERTH, originally a nautical term, probably connected with the verb "to
bear," first found in literature at the end of the 16th century, with
the alternative spelling "birth." Its primary meaning is "sea-room,"
whether on the high seas or at anchor. Hence the phrase "to give a wide
berth to," meaning "to keep at a safe distance from," both in its
literal and its metaphorical use. From meaning sea-room for a ship at
anchor, "berth" comes to mean also the position of a ship at her
moorings ("to berth a ship"). The word further means any place on a ship
allotted for a special purpose, where the men mess or sleep, or an
office or appointment on board, whence the word has passed into
colloquial use with the meaning of a situation or employment. From the
Icelandic _byrdi_, a board, is also derived the ship-building term
"berth," meaning to board, put up bulk-heads, &c.
BERTHELOT, MARCELLIN PIERRE EUGENE (1827-1907), French chemist and
politician, was born at Paris on the 29th of October 1827, being the son
of a doctor. After distinguishing himself at school in history and
philosophy, he turned to the study of science. In 1851 he became a
member of the staff of the College de France as assistant to A.J.
Balard, his former master, and about the same time he began his
life-long friendship with Ernest Renan. In 1854 he made his reputation
by his doctoral thesis, _Sur les combinaisons de la glycerine avec les
acides_, which described a series of beautiful researches in
continuation and amplification of M.E. Chevreul's classical work. In
1859 he was appointed professor of organic chemistry at the Ecole
Superieure de Pharmacie, and in 1865 he accepted the new chair of
organic chemistry, which was specially created for his benefit at the
College de France. He became a member of the Academy of Medicine in
1863, and ten years afterwards entered the Academy of Sciences, of which
he became perpetual secretary in 1889 in succession to Louis Pasteur. He
was appointed inspector general of higher education in 1876, and after
his election as life senator in 1881 he continued to take an active
interest in educational questions, especially as affected by compulsory
military service. In the Goblet ministry of 1886-1887 he was minister of
public instruction, and in the Bourgeois cabinet of 1895-1896 he held
the portfolio for foreign affairs. His scientific jubilee was celebrated
in Paris in 1901. He died suddenly, immediately after the death of his
wife, on the 18th of March 1907, at Paris, and with her was buried in
the Pantheon.
The fundamental conception that underlay all Berthelot's chemical work
was that all chemical phenomena depend on the action of physical forces
which can be determined and measured. When he began his active career it
was generally believed that, although some instances of the synthetical
production of organic substances had been observed, on the whole organic
chemistry must remain an analytical science and could not become a
constructive one, because the formation of the substances with which it
deals required the intervention of vital activity in some shape. To this
attitude he offered uncompromising opposition, and by the synthetical
production of numerous hydrocarbons, natural fats, sugars and other
bodies he proved that organic compounds can be formed by ordinary
methods of chemical manipulation and obey the same laws as inorganic
substances, thus exhibiting the "creative character in virtue of which
chemistry actually realizes the abstract conceptions of its theories and
classifications--a prerogative so far possessed neither by the natural
nor by the historical sciences." His investigations on the synthesis of
organic compounds were published in numerous papers and books, including
_Chimie organique fondee sur la synthese_ (1860) and _Les Carbures
d'hydrogene_ (1901). Again he held that chemical phenomena are not
governed by any peculiar laws special to themselves, but are explicable
in terms of the general laws of mechanics that are in operation
throughout the universe; and this view he developed, with the aid of
thousands of experiments, in his _Mecanique chimique_ (1878) and his
_Thermochimie_ (1897). This branch of study naturally conducted him to
the investigation of explosives, and on the theoretical side led to the
results published in his work _Sur la force de la poudre et des matieres
explosives_ (1872), while on the practical side it enabled him to render
important services to his country as president of the scientific defence
committee during the siege of Paris in 1870-71 and subsequently as chief
of the French explosives committee. In the later years of his life he
turned to the study of the earlier phases of the science which he did so
much to advance, and students of chemical history are greatly indebted
to him for his book on _Les Origines de l'alchimie_ (1885) and his
_Introduction a l'etude de la chimie des anciens et du moyen age_
(1889), as well as for publishing translations of various old Greek,
Syriac and Arabic treatises on alchemy and chemistry (_Collection des
anciens alchimistes grecs_, 1887-1888, and _La Chimie au moyen age_,
1893). He was also the author of _Science et philosophie_ (1886), which
contains a well-known letter to Renan on "La Science ideale et la
science positive," of _La Revolution chimique, Lavoisier_ (1890), of
_Science et morale_ (1897), and of numerous articles in _La Grande
Encyclopedie_, which he helped to establish.
BERTHIER, LOUIS ALEXANDRE, prince of Neuchatel (1753-1815), marshal of
France and chief of the staff under Napoleon I., was born at Versailles
on the 20th of February 1753. As a boy he was instructed in the military
art by his father, an officer of the _Corps de genie_, and at the age of
seventeen he entered the army, serving successively in the staff, the
engineers and the prince de Lambesq's dragoons. In 1780 he went to North
America with Rochambeau, and on his return, having attained the rank of
colonel, he was employed in various staff posts and in a military
mission to Prussia. During the Revolution, as chief of staff of the
Versailles national guard, he protected the aunts of Louis XVI. from
popular violence, and aided their escape (1791). In the war of 1792 he
was at once made chief of staff to Marshal Luckner, and he bore a
distinguished part in the Argonne campaign of Dumouriez and Kellermann.
He served with great credit in the Vendean War of 1793-95, and was in
the next year made a general of division and chief of staff
(_Major-General_) to the army of Italy, which Bonaparte had recently
been appointed to command. His power of work, accuracy and quick
comprehension, combined with his long and varied experience and his
complete mastery of detail, made him the ideal chief of staff to a great
soldier; and in this capacity he was Napoleon's most valued assistant
for the rest of his career. He accompanied Napoleon throughout the
brilliant campaign of 1796, and was left in charge of the army after the
peace of Campo Formio. In this post he organized the Roman republic
(1798), after which he joined his chief in Egypt, serving there until
Napoleon's return. He assisted in the _coup d'etat_ of 18th Brumaire,
afterwards becoming minister of war for a time. In the campaign of
Marengo he was the nominal head of the Army of Reserve, but the first
consul accompanied the army and Berthier acted in reality, as always, as
chief of staff to Napoleon. At the close of the campaign he was employed
in civil and diplomatic business. When Napoleon became emperor, Berthier
was at once made a marshal of the empire. He took part in the campaigns
of Austerlitz, Jena and Friedland, and was created duke of Valengin in
1806, sovereign prince of Neuchatel in the same year and vice-constable
of the empire in 1807. In 1808 he served in the Peninsula, and in 1809
in the Austrian War, after which he was given the title of prince of
Wagram. Berthier married a niece of the king of Bavaria. He was with
Napoleon in Russia in 1812, Germany in 1813, and France in 1814,
fulfilling, till the fall of the empire, the functions of
"major-general" of the _Grande Armee_. He abandoned Napoleon to make his
peace with Louis XVIII. in 1814, and accompanied the king in his solemn
entry into Paris. During Napoleon's captivity in Elba, Berthier, whom he
informed of his projects, was much perplexed as to his future course,
and, being unwilling to commit himself, fell under the suspicion both of
his old leader and of Louis XVIII. On Napoleon's return he withdrew to
Bamberg, where he died on the 1st of June 1815. The manner of his death
is uncertain; according to some accounts he was assassinated by members
of a secret society, others say that, maddened by the sight of Russian
troops marching to invade France, he threw himself from his window and
was killed. Berthier was not a great commander. When he was in temporary
command in 1809 the French army in Bavaria underwent a series of
reverses. Whatever merit as a general he may have possessed was
completely overshadowed by the genius of his master. But his title to
fame is that he understood and carried out that master's directions to
the minutest detail.
BERTHOLLET, CLAUDE LOUIS (1748-1822), French chemist, was born at
Talloire, near Annecy in Savoy, on the 9th of December 1748. He studied
first at Chambery and afterwards at Turin, where he graduated in
medicine. Settling in Paris in 1772, he became the private physician of
Philip, duke of Orleans, and by his chemical work soon gained so high a
reputation that in 1780 he was admitted into the Academy of Sciences. In
1785 he declared himself an adherent of the Lavoisierian school, though
he did not accept Lavoisier's view of oxygen as the only and universal
acidifying principle, and he took part in the reform in chemical
nomenclature carried out by Lavoisier and his associates in 1787. Among
the substances of which he investigated the composition were ammonia,
sulphuretted hydrogen and prussic acid, and his experiments on chlorine,
which he regarded, not as an element, but as oxygenated muriatic
(oxymuriatic) acid, led him to propose it as a bleaching agent in 1785.
He also prepared potassium chlorate and attempted to use it in the
manufacture of gunpowder as a substitute for saltpetre. When, at the
beginning of the French Revolution, the deficiency in the supply of
saltpetre became a serious matter, he was placed at the head of the
commission entrusted with the development of its production in French
territory, and another commission on which he served had for its object
the improvement of the methods of iron manufacture. He was also a member
in 1794 of the committee on agriculture and the arts, and technical
science was further indebted to him for a systematic exposition of the
principles of dyeing--_Elemens de l'art de la teinture_, 1791, of which
he published a second edition in 1809, in association with his son, A.B.
Berthollet (1783-1811). After 1794 he was teacher of chemistry in the
polytechnic and normal schools of Paris, and in 1795 he took an active
part in remodelling the Academy as the Institut National. In the
following year he and Gaspard Monge were chosen chiefs of a commission
charged with the task of selecting in Italy the choicest specimens of
ancient and modern art for the national galleries of Paris; and in 1798
he was one of the band of scientific men who accompanied Napoleon to
Egypt, there forming themselves into the Institute of Egypt on the plan
of the Institut National. On the fall of the Directory he was made a
senator and grand officer of the Legion of Honour; under the empire he
became a count; and after the restoration of the Bourbons he took his
seat as a peer. In the later years of his life he had at Arcueil, where
he died on the 6th of November 1822, a well-equipped laboratory, which
became a centre frequented by some of the most distinguished scientific
men of the time, their proceedings being published in three volumes,
between 1807 and 1817, as the _Memoires de la societe d'Arcueil_.
Berthollet's most remarkable contribution to chemistry was his _Essai de
statique chimique_ (1803), the first systematic attempt to grapple with
the problems of chemical physics. His doctrines did not meet with
general approval among his contemporaries, partly perhaps because he
pushed them too far, as for instance in holding that two elements might
combine in constantly varying proportions, a view which gave rise to a
long dispute with L.J. Proust; but his speculations, in particular his
insistence on the influence of the relative masses of the acting
substances in chemical reactions, have exercised a dominating influence
on the modern developments of the theory of chemical affinity, of which,
far more than T.O. Bergman, whom he controverted, he must be regarded as
the founder.
BERTHON, EDWARD LYON (1813-1899), English inventor, was born in London,
on the 20th of February 1813, the son of an army contractor and
descendant of an old Huguenot family. He studied for the medical
profession in Liverpool and at Dublin, but after his marriage in 1834 he
gave up his intention of becoming a doctor, and travelled for about six
years on the continent. Keenly interested from boyhood in mechanical
science, he made experiments in the application of the screw propeller
for boats. But his model, with a two-bladed propeller, was only
ridiculed when it was placed before the British admiralty. Berthon
therefore did not complete the patent and the idea was left for Francis
Smith to bring out more successfully in 1838. In 1841 he entered
Magdalene College, Cambridge, in order to study for the Church. There he
produced what is usually known as "Berthon's log," in which the suction
produced by the water streaming past the end of a pipe projected below a
ship is registered on a mercury column above. In 1845 he was ordained,
and after holding a curacy at Lymington was given a living at Fareham.
Here he was able to carry on experiments with his log, which was tested
on the Southampton to Jersey steamboats; but the British admiralty gave
him no encouragement, and it remained uncompleted. He next designed some
instruments to indicate the trim and rolling of boats at sea; but the
idea for which he is chiefly remembered was that of the "Berthon Folding
Boat" in 1849. This invention was again adversely reported on by the
admiralty. Berthon resigned his living at Fareham, and subsequently
accepted the living of Romsey. In 1873, encouraged by Samuel Plimsoll,
he again applied himself to perfecting his collapsible boat. Success was
at last achieved, and in less than a year he had received orders from
the admiralty for boats to the amount of L15,000. Some were taken by Sir
George Nares to the Arctic, others were sent to General Gordon at
Khartum, and others again were taken to the Zambezi by F.C. Selous.
Berthon died on the 27th of October 1899.
BERTHOUD, FERDINAND (1727-1807), Swiss chronometer-maker, was born at
Plancemont, Neuchatel, in 1727, and settling in Paris in 1745 gained a
great reputation for the excellence and accuracy of his chronometers. He
was a member of the Institute and a fellow of the Royal Society of
London, and among other works wrote _Essais sur l'horlogerie_ (1763). He
died in 1807 at Montmorency, Seine et Oise. He was succeeded in business
by his nephew, Louis Berthoud (1759-1813).
BERTILLON, LOUIS ADOLPHE (1821-1883), French statistician, was born in
Paris on the 1st of April 1821. Entering the medical profession, he
practised as a doctor for a number of years. After the revolution of
1870, he was appointed inspector-general of benevolent institutions. He
was one of the founders of the school of anthropology of Paris, and was
appointed a professor there in 1876. His _Demographie figuree de la
France_ (1874) is an able statistical study of the population of France.
He died at Neuilly on the 28th of February 1883.
His son ALPHONSE BERTILLON, the anthropometrist, was born in Paris in
1853. He published in 1883 a work _Ethnographie moderne des races
sauvages_, but his chief claim to distinction lies in the system
invented by him for the identification of criminals, which is described
by him in his _Photographie judiciaire_, Paris, 1890 (see
ANTHROPOMETRY). He was officially appointed in 1894 to report on the
handwriting of the _bordereau_ in the Dreyfus case, and was a witness
for the prosecution before the cour de cassation on the 18th of January
1899.
BERTIN, a family of distinction in the history of French journalism. The
most important member of the family, generally regarded as the father of
modern French journalism, LOUIS FRANCOIS BERTIN (1766-1841), known as
Bertin _aine_, was born in Paris on the 14th of December 1766. He began
his journalistic career by writing for the _Journal Francais_ and other
papers during the French Revolution. After the 18th Brumaire he founded
the paper, with which the name of his family has chiefly been connected,
the _Journal des Debats_. He was suspected of royalist tendencies by the
consulate and was exiled in 1801. He returned to Paris in 1804 and
resumed the management of the paper, the title of which had been changed
by order of Napoleon to that of _Journal de l'Empire_. Bertin had to
submit to a rigorous censorship, and in 1811 the conduct, together with
the profits, was taken over entirely by the government. In 1814 he
regained possession and restored the old title and continued his support
of the royalist cause--during the Hundred Days; he directed the
_Moniteur de Gand_--till 1823, when the _Journal des Debats_ became the
recognized organ of the constitutional opposition. Bertin's support was,
however, given to the July monarchy after 1830. He died on the 13th of
September 1841. LOUIS FRANCOIS BERTIN DE VAUX (1771-1842), the younger
brother of Bertin _aine_, took a leading part in the conduct of the
_Journal des Debats_, to the success of which his powers of writing
greatly contributed. He entered the chamber of deputies in 1815, was
made councillor of state in 1827, and a peer of France in 1830. The two
sons of Bertin _aine_, EDOUARD FRANCOIS (1797-1871) and LOUIS MARIE
FRANCOIS (1801-1854), were directors in succession of the _Journal des
Debats_. Edouard Bertin was also a painter of some distinction.
BERTINORO, OBADIAH, Jewish commentator of the Mishnah, died in Jerusalem
about 1500. Bertinoro much improved the status of the Jews in the Holy
Land; before his migration thither the Jews of Palestine were in a
miserable condition of poverty and persecution. His commentary on the
Mishnah is the most useful of all helps to the understanding of that
work. It is printed in most Hebrew editions of the Mishnah. Surenhusius,
in his Latin edition of the last-named code (Amsterdam 1698-1703),
translated Bertinoro's commentary.
BERTINORO, a town and episcopal see of Emilia, Italy, in the province of
Forli, 8 m. S.E. direct of Forli and 5-1/2 m. N. of the station of
Forlimpopoli, and 800 ft. above sea-level. Pop. (1901) town, 3753;
commune, 7786. The town commands a fine view to the north over the plain
of Emilia and the lower course of the Po, itself lying on the foothills
of the Apennines. It appears to have been first fortified by Frederick
Barbarossa, and its castle stood frequent sieges in the middle ages.
Polenta, 2-1/2 m. to the south of it, was the birthplace of Francesca da
Rimini. The castle is almost entirely ruined, but the church of S.
Donato, of the Lombard period, with Byzantine capitals, is interesting;
Giosue Carducci has written a fine ode on the subject (_La Chiesa di
Polenta_, Bologna, 1897).
See C. Ricci, "Della Chiesa e castello di Polenta" in _Atti e Memorie
della Deputazione di Storia patria per le prooniae di Romagna_, ser.
iii. vol. ix. (Bologna, 1891), 1 seq. (T. As.)
BERTOLD (1442-1504), elector and archbishop of Mainz, son of George,
count of Henneberg, entered the ecclesiastical profession, and after
passing through its lower stages, was made archbishop of Mainz in 1484.
He appears to have been a firm supporter of law and order, an enemy of
clerical abuses and a careful administrator of his diocese. Immediately
after his election as archbishop he began to take a leading part in the
business of the Empire, and in 1486 was very active in securing the
election of Maximilian as Roman king. His chief work, however, was done
as an advocate of administrative reform in Germany. During the reign of
the emperor Frederick III. he had brought this question before the diet,
and after Frederick's death, when he had become imperial chancellor, he
was the leader of the party which pressed the necessity for reform upon
Maximilian at the diet of Worms in 1495. His proposals came to nothing,
but he continued the struggle at a series of diets, and urged the
Germans to emulate the courage and union of the Swiss cantons. He gained
a temporary victory when the diet of Augsburg in 1500 established a
council of regency (_Reichsregiment_), and in 1502 persuaded the
electors to form a union to uphold the reforms of 1495 and 1500. The
elector died on the 21st of December 1504. Bertold was a man of great
ability and resourcefulness, and as a statesman who strove for an
ordered and united Germany was far in advance of his age.
See J. Weiss, _Berthold von Henneberg, Erzbischof von Mainz_
(Freiburg, 1889).
BERTOLD VON REGENSBURG (c. 1220-1272), the greatest German preacher of
the later middle ages, was a native of Regensburg, and entered the
Franciscan monastery there. From about 1250 onwards his fame as a
preacher spread over all the German-speaking parts of the continent of
Europe. He wandered from village to village and town to town, preaching
to enormous audiences, always in the open air; the earnestness and
straightforward eloquence with which he insisted that true repentance
came from the heart, that pious pilgrimages and the absolution of the
Church were mere outward symbols, appealed to all classes. He died in
Regensburg on the 13th of December 1272. His German sermons, of which
seventy-one have been preserved, are among the most powerful in the
language, and form the chief monuments of Middle High German prose. His
style is clear, direct and remarkably free from cumbrous Latin
constructions; he employed, whenever he could, the pithy and homely
sayings of the peasants, and is not reluctant to point his moral with a
rough humour. As a thinker, he shows little sympathy with that strain of
medieval mysticism which is to be observed in all the poetry of his
contemporaries.
The best edition of Bertold's German sermons is that by F. Pfeiffer
and J. Strobl (2 vols., 1862-1880; reprinted, 1906); there is also a
modern German version by F. Gobel (4th ed., 1906). The Latin sermons
were edited by G. Jakob (1880). See C.W. Stromberger, _Bertold von
Regensburg, der grosste Volksredner des deutschen Mittelalters_
(1877), K. Unkel, _Bertold von Regensburg_ (1882), and E. Bernhardt,
_Bruder Bertold von Regensburg_ (1905); A.E. Schonbach, _Studien zur
Geschichte der altdeutschen Predigt_ (_Publications of the Vienna
Academy_, 1906).
BERTRAM, CHARLES (1723-1765), English literary impostor, was born in
London, the son of a silk dyer. In 1747, being then teacher of English
at the school for Danish naval cadets at Copenhagen, he wrote to Dr
William Stukeley, the English antiquarian, that he had discovered a
manuscript written by a monk named Richard of Westminster, which
corrected and supplemented the _Itinerary_ of Antoninus in Britain. He
subsequently sent to Stukeley a copy of various parts of the work and a
facsimile of a few lines of the manuscript. These were so cleverly
executed that they quite deceived the English palaeographers of the
period. Stukeley, finding that a chronicler of the fourteenth century,
Richard of Cirencester, had also been an inmate of Westminster Abbey,
identified him with Bertram's Richard of Westminster, and, in 1756, read
an analysis of the "discovery" before the Society of Antiquaries, which
was published with a copy of Richard's map. In 1757 Bertram published at
Copenhagen a volume entitled _Britannicarum Gentium Historiae Antiquae
Scriptores Tres_. This contained the works of Gildas and Nennius and the
full text of Bertram's forgery, and though Bertram's map did not
correspond with that of Richard, Stukeley discarded the latter and
adopted Bertram's concoction in his _Itinerarium Curiosum_ published in
1776. Although Thomas Reynolds in his _Iter Britanniarum_ (1799), an
edition of the British portion of Antoninus' _Itinerary_, was distinctly
sceptical as to the value of Bertram's manuscript, its authenticity was
generally accepted until the middle of the 19th century. No original of
the manuscript could then be found at Copenhagen, and B.B. Woodward,
librarian of Windsor Castle, proved conclusively, by a series of
articles in the _Gentleman's Magazine_ in 1866 and 1867, that the
supposed facsimile of calligraphy produced by Bertram was a blend of the
style of various periods, while the greater portion of the idiomatic
Latin in the book was a mere translation of 18th century English
phraseology. Nevertheless, as late as 1872, a translation of Bertram's
forgery was included in Bohn's Antiquarian Library as one of the _Six
English Chronicles_, and there is no doubt that the work had a wide and
misleading influence upon many antiquarian writers. Bertram died in
1765.
BERTRAND, HENRI GRATIEN, COMTE (1773-1844), French general, was born at
Chateauroux. At the outbreak of the Revolution, he had just finished his
studies, and he entered the army as a volunteer. During the expedition
to Egypt, Napoleon named him colonel (1798), then brigadier-general, and
after Austerlitz his aide-de-camp. His life was henceforth closely bound
up with that of Napoleon, who had the fullest confidence in him,
honouring him in 1813 with the title of grand marshal of the court. It
was Bertrand who in 1809 directed the building of the bridges by which
the French army crossed the Danube at Wagram. In 1813, after the battle
of Leipzig, it was due to his initiative that the French army was not
totally destroyed. He accompanied Napoleon to Elba in 1814, returned
with him in 1815, held a command in the Waterloo campaign, and then,
after the defeat, accompanied Napoleon to St Helena. He did not return
to France until after Napoleon's death, and then Louis XVIII. allowed
him to retain his rank, and he was elected deputy in 1830. In 1840 he
was chosen to go to bring Napoleon's remains to France. He died at
Chateauroux on the 31st of January 1844. His touching fidelity has made
his name very popular in France.
BERTRICH, a village and watering place of Germany, in the Prussian Rhine
province, in a narrow valley running down to the Mosel near Cochem. Its
waters are efficacious in cases of gout, rheumatism and biliary
affections. Pop. 500.
BERULLE, PIERRE DE (1575-1629), French cardinal and statesman, was born
at Serilly, near Troyes, on the 4th of February 1575. He was educated by
the Jesuits and at the university of Paris. Soon after his ordination in
1599, he assisted Cardinal Duperron in his controversy with the
Protestant Philippe de Mornay, and made numerous converts. He founded
the Congregation of the French Oratory in 1611 and introduced the
Carmelite nuns into France, notwithstanding the opposition of the friars
of that order, who were jealous of his ascendancy. Berulle also played
an important part as a statesman. He obtained the necessary
dispensations from Rome for Henrietta Maria's marriage to Charles I.,
and acted as her chaplain during the first year of her stay in England.
In 1626, as French ambassador to Spain, he concluded the treaty of
Monzon. After the reconciliation of Louis XIII. with his mother, Marie
de' Medici, through his agency, he was appointed a councillor of state,
but had to resign this office, owing to his Austrian policy, which was
opposed by Richelieu. Berulle encouraged Descartes' philosophical
studies, and it was through him that the Samaritan Pentateuch, recently
brought over from Constantinople, was inserted in Lejay's _Polyglot
Bible_. His treatise, _Des Grandeurs de Jesus_, was a favourite book
with the Jansenists. He died on the 2nd of October 1629. His works,
edited by P. Bourgoing (2 vols., 1644) were reprinted, by Migne in 1857.
See _M. de Berulle et les Carmelites; Le Pere de Berulle et l'oratoire
de Jesus; Le Cardinal de Berulle et Richelieu_ (3 vols., 1872-1876),
by the Abbe M. Houssaye; and H. Sidney Lear's _Priestly Life in France
in the Seventeenth Century_ (London, 1873).
BERVIE, or INVERBERVIE, a royal and police burgh of Kincardineshire,
Scotland. Pop. (1901) 1207. It is situated at the mouth of Bervie Water
and is the terminus of the North British railway's branch line from
Montrose, which lies 14 m. S.W. The leading industries include
manufactures of woollens, flax and chemicals, and there is also a brisk
trade in live-stock. Bervie unites with Arbroath, Brechin, Forfar and
Montrose in returning one member (for the "Montrose burghs") to
parliament. David II., driven by stress of weather, landed here with his
queen Joanna in 1341, and, out of gratitude for the hospitality of the
townsfolk, granted them a charter, which James VI. confirmed. Hallgreen
Castle, a stronghold of the 14th century, is maintained in repair. About
one m. south is the fishing village of Gourdon (pop. 1197), where
boat-building is carried on. There is a small but steady export business
from the harbour, which has a pier and breakwater. St Ternan's, the
Romanesque parish church of Arbuthnott, 2-1/2 m. north-west, stands on
the banks of the Bervie. In the chapel dedicated to St Mary, which was
afterwards added to it, is the burial-place of the Arbuthnotts, who took
their title from the estate in 1644. John Arbuthnot, Queen Anne's
physician and the friend of Swift and Pope, was a native of the parish.
Kinneff, 2 m. north, on the coast, is of interest as the place where the
Scottish regalia were concealed during the siege of Dunottar Castle.
BERWICK, JAMES FITZJAMES, DUKE OF (1670-1734), marshal of France, was the
natural son of James, duke of York, afterwards James II. of England, by
Arabella Churchill (1648-1730), sister of the great duke of Marlborough.
He was born at Moulins (Bourbonnais) on the 21st of August 1670. He
received his education in France at the hands of the Jesuits, and at the
age of fifteen, his father having succeeded to the throne, he was sent to
learn the business of a soldier under the famous general of the empire,
Charles of Lorraine. He served his first campaign in Hungary, and was
present at the siege of Buda. He then returned to England, was made a
colonel of the 8th Foot, and in 1687 created duke of Berwick, earl of
Teignmouth and Baron Bosworth. He then went out afresh to Hungary and was
present at the battle of Mohacz. On his return to England he was made
K.G., colonel of the 3rd troop of horse guards (Royal Horse Guards Blue)
and governor of Portsmouth, but soon afterwards the revolution forced him
to flee to France. He served under James II. in the campaign in Ireland,
and was present at the battle of the Boyne. For a short time he was left
in Ireland as commander-in-chief, but his youth and inexperience unfitted
him for the post, and he was a mere puppet in stronger hands. He then
took service in the French army, fought under Marshal Luxembourg in
Flanders, and took part in the battles of Steinkirk and Neerwinden, at
the latter of which he was taken prisoner. He was, however, immediately
exchanged for the duke of Ormond, and afterwards he served under
Villeroi. In 1695 he married the widow of Patrick Sarsfield, who died in
1698. His second marriage, with Anne Bulkeley, took place in 1700. As a
lieutenant-general he served in the campaign of 1702, after which he
became naturalized as a French subject in order to be eligible for the
marshalate. In 1704, he first took command of the French army in Spain.
So highly was he now esteemed for his courage, abilities and integrity,
that all parties were anxious to have him on their side (_Eloge_, by
Montesquieu). His tenure of the command was, however, very short, and
after one campaign he was replaced by the Marshal de Tesse. In 1705 he
commanded against the Camisards in Languedoc, and when on this expedition
he is said to have carried out his orders with remorseless rigour. His
successful expedition against Nice in 1706 caused him to be made marshal
of France, and in the same year he returned to Spain as
commander-in-chief of the Franco-Spanish armies. On the 25th of April
1707, the duke won the great and decisive victory of Almanza, where an
Englishman at the head of a French army defeated Ruvigny, earl of Galway,
a Frenchman at the head of an English army. The victory established
Philip V. on the throne of Spain. Berwick was made a peer of France by
Louis XIV., and duke of Liria and of Xereca and lieutenant of Aragon by
Philip. Thenceforward Berwick was recognized as one of the greatest
generals of his time, and successively commanded in nearly all the
theatres of war. From 1709 to 1712 he defended the south-east frontier of
France in a series of campaigns which, unmarked by any decisive battle,
were yet models of the art of war as practised at the time. The last
great event of the War of the Spanish Succession was the storming of
Barcelona by Berwick, after a long siege, on the 11th of September 1714.
Three years later he was appointed military governor of the province of
Guienne, in which post he became intimate with Montesquieu. In 1718 he
found himself under the necessity of once more entering Spain with an
army; and this time he had to fight against Philip V., the king who owed
chiefly to Berwick's courage and skill the safety of his throne. One of
the marshal's sons, known as the duke of Liria, was settled in Spain, and
was counselled by his father not to shrink from doing his duty and
fighting for his sovereign. Many years of peace followed this campaign,
and Marshal Berwick was not again called to serve in the field till 1733.
He advised and conducted the siege of Philipsburg, and while the siege
was going on was killed by a cannon-shot on the 12th of June 1734. Cool,
self-possessed and cautious as a general, Marshal Berwick was at the same
time not wanting in audacity and swiftness of action. He was a true
general of the 18th century, not less in his care for the lives of his
men than in his punctiliousness and rigidity in matters of discipline.
The _Memoires_ of Marshal Berwick, revised, annotated and continued by
the Abbe Hooke, were published by the marshal's grandson in 1778.
Montesquieu made many contributions to this.
BERWICKSHIRE, a county of Scotland, forming its south-eastern extremity,
bounded N. by Haddingtonshire and the North Sea; E. by the North Sea;
S.E. by the county of the borough and town of Berwick; S. by the Tweed
and Roxburghshire, and W. by Mid-Lothian. Its area is 292,577 acres or
457 sq. m., and it has a coast-line of 21 m. The county is naturally
divided into three districts: Lauderdale, or the valley of the Leader,
in the W.; Lammermuir, the upland district occupied by the hills of that
name in the N.; and the Merse (the March or Borderland, giving a title
to the earls of Wemyss), the largest district, occupying the S.E. The
Lammermuirs are a range of round-backed hills, whose average height is
about 1000 ft., while the highest summit, Says Law, reaches 1749 ft.
From these hills the Merse stretches to the S. and E., and is a
comparatively level tract of country. The coast is lofty, rocky and
precipitous, broken by ravines and not accessible, except at Eyemouth
Harbour, for small vessels, and at Coldingham and Burnmouth for fishing
boats. St Abb's Head, a promontory with a lighthouse upon it, rises to
310 ft. The Eye is the only river of any size which falls directly into
the sea. The others--the Leader, the Eden, the Leet and the Whiteadder
with its tributaries, the Blackadder and the Dye--all flow into the
Tweed. Of these the largest and most important is the Whiteadder, which
has its source in the parish of Whittingehame on the East Lothian side
of the Lammermuirs, and, following a sinuous course of 35 m., joins the
Tweed within the bounds or liberties of Berwick. There are small lochs
at Coldingham, Legerwood, Spottiswoode, the Hirsel, near Coldstream,
Hule Moss on Greenlaw Moor, and tiny sheets of water near Duns and
Mersington.
_Geology._--The north portion of the county embraces that part of the
Silurian tableland of the south of Scotland which stretches from the
Lammermuir Hills east to St Abb's Head. The strata consist mainly of
grits, greywackes, flags and shales, repeated by innumerable folds,
trending north-east and south-west, which are laid bare in the great
cliff section between Fast Castle and St Abb's Head. This section of the
tableland includes sediments, chiefly of Tarannon age, which form a belt
10 m. across from the crest of the Lammermuir Hills to a point near
Westruther and Longformacus. In the Earnscleuch Burn north-east of
Lauder representatives of Llandovery, Caradoc and Llandeilo rocks,
together with the Arenig cherts, appear along an anticlinal fold in the
midst of the younger strata. Again in the extreme north-west of the
county near Channelkirk and to the north of the Tarannon belt
radiolarian cherts and black shales with graptolites of Upper Llandeilo
and Caradoc age are met with. The Lower Old Red Sandstone rocks, which
rest unconformably on the folded and denuded Silurian strata, appear at
Eyemouth and Reston Junction, and at St Abb's Head are associated with
contemporaneous volcanic rocks which are evidently on the same horizon
as the interbedded lavas of Lower Old Red age in the Cheviots. The
intrusive igneous materials of this period are represented by the
granitic mass of Cockburn Law and the porphyrites of the Dirrington
Laws. The Upper Old Red Sandstone, consisting of conglomerates and
sandstones, rest unconformably alike on the Silurian platform as at
Siccar Point and on the lower division of that system. The age of these
beds has been determined by the occurrence of remains of _Holoptychius
nobilissimus_ in the sandstones at Earlston and in the Whiteadder north
of Duns. On the Black Hill of Earlston these strata are traversed by a
sheet of trachyte resembling the type of rock capping the Eildon Hills
(see ROXBURGHSHIRE: _Geology_). Overlying the strata just described
there is a succession of volcanic rocks extending from Greenlaw
southwards by Stichil and Kelso to Carham, which, at several localities,
are followed by a band of cornstone resembling that near the top of the
Upper Old Red Sandstone in the midland valley of Scotland. Next in order
comes a great development of the Cementstone group of the Carboniferous
system which spreads over nearly the whole of the low ground of the
Merse and attains a great thickness. At Marshall Meadows north of
Berwick-on-Tweed, thin bands of marine limestone occur, which probably
represent some of the calcareous beds above the Fell sandstones south of
Spittal.
_Climate and Agriculture._--Owing to the maritime position, the winter
is seldom severe in the lowland districts, but spring is a trying season
on account of the east winds, which often last into summer. The mean
annual rainfall is 30-1/2 in. and the average temperature for the year
is 47 deg. F., for January 37 deg. F., and for July 58.5 deg. F. The
climate is excellent as regards both the health of the inhabitants and
the growth of vegetation. The soils vary, sometimes even on the same
farm. Along the rivers is a deep rich loam, resting on gravel or clay,
chiefly the former. The less valuable clay soil of the Merse has been
much improved by drainage. The more sandy and gravelly soils are
suitable for turnips, of which great quantities are grown. Oats and
barley are the principal grain crops, but wheat also is raised. The
flocks of sheep are heavy, and cattle are pastured in considerable
numbers. Large holdings predominate--indeed, the average size is the
highest in Scotland--and scientific farming is the rule. The labourers,
who are physically well developed, are as a whole frugal, industrious
and intelligent, but somewhat migratory in their habits. This feature in
their character, which they may have by inheritance as Borderers, has
admirably fitted them for colonial life, to which the scarcity of
industrial occupation has largely driven the surplus population.
_Other Industries._--Next to agriculture the fisheries are the most
important industry. The Tweed salmon fisheries are famous, and the
lesser rivers of the Merse are held in high esteem by anglers. Eyemouth,
Burnmouth, Coldingham and Cove are engaged in the sea fisheries. Cod,
haddock, herring, ling, lobsters and crabs are principally taken. The
season for herring is from May to the middle of September and for white
fish from October to the end of May. Coal, copper ore and ironstone
exist in too small quantities to work, and the limestone is so far from
a coal district as to be of little economic value. Earlston sends out
ginghams and woollen cloths. At Cumledge on the Whiteadder, blankets and
plaids are manufactured, and paper is made at Chirnside. The other
manufactures are all connected with agriculture, such as distilleries,
breweries, tanneries, &c. The trade is also mainly agricultural. Fairs
are held at Duns, Lauder, Coldstream and Greenlaw; but the sales of
cattle and sheep mostly take place at the auction marts at Reston, Duns
and Earlston. There are grain markets at Duns and Earlston. Berwick,
from which the county derives its name, is still its chief market. There
is, however, no legal or fiscal connexion between the county and the
borough.
The North British railway monopolizes the communications of the county.
The system serves the coast districts from Berwick to Cockburnspath, and
there is a branch from Reston to St Boswells.
_Population and Government._--The population of Berwickshire was 32,290
in 1891 and 30,824 in 1901, in which year the number of persons speaking
Gaelic and English was 74, and one person spoke Gaelic only. The only
considerable towns are Eyemouth (pop. in 1901, 2436) and Duns (2206).
The county returns one member to parliament. Lauder is the only royal
burgh, and Duns the county town, a status, however, which was held by
Greenlaw from 1696 to 1853, after which date it was shared by both towns
until conferred on Duns alone. Berwickshire forms a sheriffdom with
Roxburgh and Selkirk shires, and there is a resident sheriff-substitute
at Duns, who sits also at Greenlaw, Coldstream, Ayton and Lauder. In
addition to board and voluntary schools throughout the county, there is
a high school, which is also a technical school, at Duns, and Coldstream
and Lauder public schools have secondary departments. Duns school is
subsidized by the county council, which pays the expenses of students
attending it from a distance.
_History._--Traces of Roman occupation and of ancient British settlement
exist in various parts of the Merse. Edin's or Etin's Hall, on Cockburn
Law, 4 m. north of Duns, is still called the Pech's or Pict's House, and
is one of the very few brochs found in the Lowlands. After the Romans
withdrew (409) the country formed part of the Saxon kingdom of
Northumbria, and the inhabitants were converted to Christianity through
the missionary efforts of Modan in the 6th, and Oswald, Aidan and
Cuthbert (traditionally believed to have been born in the vale of the
Leader) in the 7th centuries. The Northmen invaded the seaboard, but the
rugged coast proved an effectual barrier. The Danes, however, landed in
886, and destroyed the nunnery at Coldingham, founded about 650 by Ebba,
daughter of Aethelfrith, king of Northumbria, after whom the adjoining
promontory of St Abb's Head was named. After the battle of Carham (1018)
the district, which then constituted part of the division of Lothian,
was annexed to Scotland. Birgham (pron. Birjam), 3-1/2 m. west of
Coldstream, was the scene of the conference in 1188 between William the
Lion and the bishop of Durham, which discussed the attempt of the
English church to assert supremacy over the Scottish. Here also met in
1289 a convention of the Scots estates to consider the projected
marriage of Prince Edward of England to the Maid of Norway; and here was
signed in 1290 the treaty of Birgham, assuring the independence of
Scotland. During the long period of international strife the shire was
repeatedly overrun by armies of the English and Scots kings, who were
constantly fighting for the ancient frontier town of Berwick. It was
finally ceded to England in 1482, and the people afterwards gradually
settled down to peaceful pursuits. The ford at the confluence of the
Leet and Tweed near Coldstream gave access to south-eastern Scotland.
Edward I. crossed it with his army in 1296, encamping at Hutton the day
before the siege of Berwick, and it was similarly employed as late as
1640, when the marquess of Montrose led the Covenanters on their march
to Newcastle, although James VI. had already caused a bridge to be
constructed from Berwick to Tweedmouth. There are several places of
historic interest in the county. Upon the site of the nunnery at
Coldingham King Edgar in 1098 founded a Benedictine priory, which was
one of the oldest monastic institutions in Scotland and grew so wealthy
that James III. annexed its revenues to defray his extravagance, a step
that precipitated the revolt of the nobles (1488). The priory was
seriously damaged in the earl of Hertford's inroad in 1545, and Cromwell
blew up part of the church in 1650. The chancel (without aisles) was
repaired and used as the parish church. The remains contain some fine
architectural features, such as, on the outside, the Romanesque arcades
surmounted by lancet windows at the east end, and, in the interior, the
Early Pointed triforium. On the coast, about 4 m. north-west of
Coldingham, are the ruins of Fast Castle--the "Wolf's Crag" of Scott's
_Bride of Lammermoor_--situated on a precipitous headland. From Sir
Patrick Hume it passed to Sir Robert Logan of Restalrig, who is alleged
to have been one of the Gowrie conspirators, and to have intended to
imprison James VI. within its walls (1600). Four miles west is the Pease
or Peaths bridge, built by Thomas Telford in 1786 across the deep pass
which was of old one of the strongest natural defences of Scotland. The
bridge is 123 ft. high, 300 ft. long and 16 ft. wide. Near it are the
ruins of Cockburnspath Tower, once a strong fortress and supposed to be
the "Ravens wood" of the _Bride of Lammermoor_. In the south-west of the
shire besides Dryburgh Abbey (q.v.) there are, at Earlston, the remains
of the castle that was traditionally the residence of Thomas the Rhymer.
Hume Castle, the ancient seat of the Home family, a picturesque ruin
about 3 m. south of Greenlaw, is so conspicuously situated as to be
visible from nearly every part of the county. Coldstream and Lamberton,
being close to the Border, were both resorted to (like Gretna Green in
the west) by eloping couples for clandestine marriage. In Lamberton
church was signed in 1502 the contract for the marriage of James IV. and
Margaret Tudor, which led, a century later, to the union of the crowns
of Scotland and England.
See W.S. Crockett, _Minstrelsy of the Merse_, (Paisley, 1893); _In
Praise of Tweed_ (Selkirk, 1889); _The Scott Country_ (London, 1902);
J. Robson, _The Churches and Churchyards of Berwickshire_ (Kelso,
1893); F.H. Groome, _A Short Border History_ (Kelso, 1887); J. Tait,
_Two Centuries of Border Church Life_ (Kelso, 1889); Margaret
Warrender, _Marchmont and the Humes of Polwarth_ (Edinburgh, 1894);
W.K. Hunter, _History of the Priory of Coldingham_ (Edinburgh, 1858).
BERWICK-UPON-TWEED, a market town, seaport, municipal borough and county
in itself, of England, at the mouth of the Tweed on the north bank, 339
m. N. by W. from London. Pop. (1901) 13,437. For parliamentary purposes
it is in the Berwick-upon-Tweed division of Northumberland. It is the
junction on the East Coast route from London to Scotland between the
North Eastern and North British railways, a branch of the company first
named running up the Tweed valley by Coldstream and Kelso. The town lies
in a bare district on the slope and flat summit of an abrupt elevation,
higher ground rising to the north and south across the river. It has the
rare feature of a complete series of ramparts surrounding it. Those to
the north and east are formed of earth faced with stone, with bastions
at intervals and a ditch now dry. They are of Elizabethan date, but
there are also lines of much earlier date, the fortifications of Edward
I. Much of these last has been destroyed, and threatened encroachment
upon the remaining relics so far aroused public feeling that in 1905 it
was decided that the Board of Works should take over these ruins,
including the Bell Tower, from the town council, and enclose them as
national relics. The Bell Tower, from which alarms were given when
border raiders were observed, is in fair preservation. There are slight
remains of the castle, which fell into disrepair after the union of the
crowns of England and Scotland. There are no traces of the churches,
monasteries or other principal buildings of the ancient town. The church
of Holy Trinity is a plain building without steeple, of the time of
Cromwell. Of modern places of worship, the most noteworthy is Wallace
Green United Presbyterian church (1859). The chief public building is
the town hall (1760), a stately classic building surmounted by a lofty
spire. Educational institutions include an Elizabethan grammar school
and a blue-coat school; and there is a local museum. Two bridges connect
the town with the south side of the Tweed. The older, which is very
substantial, was finished in 1634, having taken twenty-four years in
building. It has fifteen arches, and is 924 ft. long, but only 17 ft.
wide. A unique provision for its upkeep out of Imperial funds dates from
the reign of Charles II. The other, the Royal Border Bridge, situated a
quarter of a mile up the river, is a magnificent railway viaduct, 126
ft. high, with twenty-eight arches, which extends from the railway
station, a castellated building on part of the site of the old castle,
to a considerable distance beyond the river. This bridge was designed by
Robert Stephenson and opened by Queen Victoria in 1850.
The reach of the river from the old bridge to the mouth forms the
harbour. The entrance to the harbour is protected by a stone pier, which
stretches half a mile south-east from the north bank of the river mouth.
The depth of water at the bar is 17 ft. at ordinary tides, 22 ft. at
spring tides, but the channel is narrow, a large rocky portion of the
harbour on the north side being dry at low water. There is a wet dock of
3-1/2 acres. Principal exports are grain, coal and fish; imports are
bones and bone-ash, manure stuffs, linseed, salt, timber and iron. The
herring and other sea fisheries are of some value, and the salmon
fishery, in the hands of a company, has long been famous. A fair is held
annually at the end of May. There are iron-works and boat-building
yards.
The custom of specially mentioning Berwick-upon-Tweed after Wales,
though abandoned in acts of parliament, is retained in certain
proclamations. The title of "county in itself" also helps to recall its
ancient history. The liberties of the borough, commonly called Berwick
Bounds, include the towns of Spittal, at the mouth, and Tweedmouth
immediately above it, on the south bank of the river. The first is a
watering-place (pop. 2074), with pleasant sands and a chalybeate spa;
the second (pop. 3086) has iron foundries, engineering works and
fish-curing establishments. Berwick-upon-Tweed is governed by a mayor, 6
aldermen and 18 councillors. Area, 6396 acres.
Very little is known of the history of Berwick before the Conquest. It
was not until the Tweed became the boundary between England and
Scotland in the 12th century that Berwick as the chief town on that
boundary became really important. Until the beginning of the 14th
century Berwick was one of the four royal boroughs of Scotland, and
although it possesses no charter granted before that time, an
inquisition taken in Edward III.'s reign shows that it was governed by
a mayor and bailiffs in the reign of Alexander III., who granted the
town to the said mayor and the commonalty for an annual rent. After
Edward I. had conquered Berwick in 1302 he gave the burgesses another
charter, no longer existing but quoted in several confirmations, by
which the town was made a free borough with a gild merchant. The
burgesses were given the right to elect annually their mayor, who with
the commonalty should elect four bailiffs. They were also to have
freedom from toll, pontage, &c., two markets every week on Monday and
Friday, and a fair lasting from the feast of Holyrood to that of the
Nativity of St John the Baptist. Five years later, in 1307, the mayor
and burgesses received another charter, granting them their town with
all things that belonged to it in the time of Alexander III., for a
fee-farm rent of 500 marks, which was granted back to them in 1313 to
help towards enclosing their town with a wall. While the war with
Scotland dragged on through the early years of the reign of Edward
II., the fortification of Berwick was a matter of importance, and in
1317 the mayor and bailiffs undertook to defend it for the yearly sum
of 6000 marks; but in the following year, "owing to their default,"
the Scots entered and occupied it in spite of a truce between the two
kingdoms. After Edward III. had recovered Berwick the inhabitants
petitioned for the recovery of their prison called the Beffroi or
Bell-tower, the symbol of their independence, which their predecessors
had built before the time of Alexander III., and which had been
granted to William de Keythorpe when Edward I. took the town. Edward
III. in 1326 and 1356 confirmed the charter of Edward I., and in 1357,
evidently to encourage the growth of the borough, granted that all who
were willing to reside there and desirous of becoming burgesses should
be admitted as such on payment of a fine. These early charters were
confirmed by most of the succeeding kings, until James I. granted the
incorporation charter in 1604; but on his accession to the English
throne, Berwick of course lost its importance as a frontier town.
Berwick was at first represented in the court of the four boroughs and
in 1326 in Robert Bruce's parliament. After being taken by the English
it remained unrepresented until it was re-taken by the Scots, when it
sent two members to the parliament at Edinburgh from 1476 to 1479. In
1482 the burgesses were allowed to send two members to the English
parliament, and were represented there until 1885, when the town was
included in the Berwick-upon-Tweed division of the county of
Northumberland. No manufactures are mentioned as having been carried
on in Berwick, but its trade, chiefly in the produce of the
surrounding country, was important in the 12th century. It has been
noted for salmon fishery in the Tweed from very early times. There was
a bridge over the Tweed at Berwick in the time of Alexander and John,
kings of Scotland, but it was broken down in the time of the latter
and not rebuilt until the end of the 14th century.
See _Victoria County History, Northumberland_; John Fuller, _History
of Berwick-upon-Tweed_, &c. (1799); John Scott, _Berwick-upon-Tweed:
History of the Town and Guild_ (1888).
BERYL, a mineral containing beryllium and aluminium in the form of a
silicate; its formula is Be3Al2Si6O18. The species includes the emerald
(q.v.), the aquamarine (q.v.) and other transparent varieties known as
"precious beryl," with certain coarse varieties unfit for use as
gem-stones. The name comes from the Gr. [Greek: baeryllos], a word of
uncertain etymology applied to the beryl and probably several other
gems. It is notable that the relation of the emerald to the beryl,
though proved only by chemical analysis, was conjectured at least as far
back as the time of Pliny.
Beryl crystallizes in the hexagonal system, usually taking the form of
long six-sided prisms, striated vertically and terminated with the basal
plane, sometimes associated with various pyramidal faces (see fig.). It
cleaves rather imperfectly parallel to the base. The colour of beryl may
be blue, green, yellow, brown or rarely pink; while in some cases the
mineral is colourless. The specific gravity is about 2.7, and the
hardness 7.5 to 8, so that for a gem-stone beryl is comparatively soft.
Whilst the gem-varieties are transparent, the coarse beryl may be
opaque. The transparent crystals are pleochroic--a character well marked
in emerald.
[Illustration: Crystal of beryl.]
Beryl was much prized as a gem-stone by the ancients, and Greek
intaglios of very fine workmanship are extant. The Roman jewellers,
taking advantage of the columnar form of the natural crystal, worked it
into long cylinders for ear-pendants. It was a favourite stone with the
artists of the Renaissance, but in modern times has lost popularity,
except in the form of emerald, which remains one of the most valued
gem-stones. It is notable that English lapidaries of the 18th century
often included the sard under the term beryl--a practice which has led
to some confusion in the nomenclature of engraved gems.
Beryl occurs as an accessory constituent of many granitic rocks,
especially in veins of pegmatite, whilst it is found also in gneiss and
in mica-schist. Rolled pebbles of beryl occur, with topaz, in Brazil,
especially in the province of Minas Geraes. Crystals are found in drusy
cavities in granite in the Urals, notably near Mursinka; in the Altai
Mountains, which have yielded very long prismatic crystals; and in the
mining district of Nerchinsk in Siberia, principally in the Adun-Chalon
range, where beryl occurs in veins of topaz-rock piercing granite. Among
European localities may be mentioned Elba, good crystals being
occasionally found in the tourmaline-granite of San Piero. In Ireland
excellent crystals of beryl occur in druses of the granite of the Mourne
Mountains in Co. Down, and others less fine are found in the highlands
of Donegal, whilst the mineral is also known from the Leinster granite.
It occurs likewise in the granite of the Grampians in Scotland, and is
not unknown in Cornwall, specimens having been found, with topaz,
apatite, &c., in joints of the granite of St Michael's Mount.
Many localities in the United States yield beryl, sometimes sufficiently
fine to be cut as a gem. It is found, for example, at Hiddenite and
elsewhere in Alexander county, N.C.; at Haddam and Monroe, Conn.; at
Stoneham and at Albany, in Oxford county, Maine; at Royalston, Mass.;
and at Mt. Antero, Colorado, where it occurs with phenacite. Beryl of
beautiful pink colour occurs in San Diego county, California. Coarse
beryl, much rifted, is found in crystals of very large size at Grafton
and Acworth, N.H.; a crystal from Grafton weighing more than 2-1/2 tons.
A colourless beryl from Goshen, Mass., has been called Goshenite; whilst
crystals of coarse yellow beryl from Rubislaw quarry in Aberdeenshire,
Scotland, have been termed Davidsonite.
Beryl suffers alteration by weathering, and may thus pass into kaolin
and mica. (F. W. R.*)