Part 31

BEATTIE (b[=e]'ti), James, a Scottish poet and philosophical writer, born at Laurencekirk, Kincardineshire, in 1735, died at Aberdeen 1803. He studied at Marischal College, Aberdeen, for four years, and received the M.A. degree. In 1753 he was appointed schoolmaster at Fordoun, a few miles from his native place; from whence he obtained a mastership in the Grammar School of Aberdeen, and ultimately was installed professor of moral philosophy and logic in Marischal College. In 1760 he published a volume of poems, which he subsequently endeavoured to buy up, considering them unworthy of him. In 1765 he published a poem, _The Judgment of Paris_, and in 1770 his celebrated _Essay on the Nature and Immutability of Truth_, attacking Helvetius and Hume and advocating what was afterwards called the doctrine of Common Sense, for which the University of Oxford conferred on him the degree of D.C.L., and George III honoured him, when on a visit to London, with a private conference and a pension. He next published in 1771 the first book of his poem _The Minstrel_, and in 1774 the second; this is the only work by which he is now remembered. In 1776 he published dissertations on _Poetry and Music_, _Laughter and Ludicrous Composition_, &c.; in 1783 _Dissertations, Moral and Critical_; in 1786 _Evidences of the Christian Religion_; and in 1790-3 _Elements of Moral Science_. His closing years were darkened by the death of his two sons.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: Margaret Forbes, _Beattie and His Friends_; A. Mackie, _James Beattie, the Minstrel: Some Unpublished Letters_.

BEATTIE, William, M.D., Scottish physician, poet, and miscellaneous writer, born in 1793, died at London 1875. He was author of the standard _Life of Thomas Campbell_, whose intimate friend he was; published several poems, including _John Huss_, _The Heliotrope_, and _Polynesia_; wrote a series of descriptive and historical works, beautifully illustrated by his friend and fellow-traveller, W. H. Bartlett, on Switzerland, Scotland, &c. He had a very extensive and lucrative medical practice.

BEATTY, Admiral of the Fleet, Earl, born in 1871. He entered the navy in 1884, became Commander in 1898, Rear-Admiral in 1910, and Vice-Admiral in 1915. He served in the Sudan from 1896 to 1897, and in China in 1900. In 1912 he was Naval Secretary to the First Lord of the Admiralty, and from 1912 to 1916 commanded the First Battle Cruiser Squadron. He distinguished himself in the battle of Jutland in 1916, and until 1919, when he succeeded Admiral Sir Rosslyn Wemyss (now Lord Wester Wemyss) as First Sea Lord, he was in command of the Grand Fleet. When the entire German High Seas Fleet left port on 31st May, 1916, and steamed up the west coast of Denmark, it was quickly sighted by the British scouts, so that the main British fleet immediately steamed out from its base to engage the enemy. The British Battle Cruiser Squadron, under the command of Earl Beatty (then Sir David) was nearer the scene than the main battle fleet under Sir John Jellicoe (Viscount Jellicoe of Scapa since 1918). The admiral sighted the enemy fleet north-west of the Horn Reef, and about 3.30 in the afternoon the ships engaged. The Jutland battle lasted only a few hours. At the end of Nov., 1916, Admiral Sir John Jellicoe was made First Sea Lord of the Admiralty, and Vice-Admiral Sir David Beatty took over the supreme command of the Grand Fleet.

He is a D.S.O., an O.M., a G.C.B., a G.C.V.O., and a Grand Officer of the French Legion of Honour. He was knighted in 1914, and received a grant of L100,000 in Aug., 1919, when he was created an earl. He was elected Lord Rector of Edinburgh University in 1917.

BEAUCAIRE (b[=o]-k[=a]r), a small commercial city of Southern France, department Gard, on the Rhone opposite Tarascon, with which it communicates by a fine suspension-bridge. It is chiefly famous for its great fair (founded in 1217), held yearly from the 21st to the 28th July. Pop. 8488.

BEAUCHAMP (b[=o]-shaen), Alphonse de, French historian and publicist, born at Mon[)a]co 1767, died at Paris 1832. Under the Directory he had the surveillance of the press, a position which supplied him with materials for his _History of La Vendee_. He contributed to the _Moniteur_ and the _Gazette de France_. Among his chief works are the _History of the Conquest of Peru_, the _History of Brazil_, and the _Life of Louis XVIII_. The _Memoires de Fouche_ is also with good reason ascribed to him.

BEAUFORT, (b[=o]'fort), Henry, cardinal, natural son of John of Gaunt and half-brother of Henry IV, King of England, born 1377, died 1447; was made Bishop of Lincoln, whence he was translated to Winchester. He repeatedly filled the office of Lord Chancellor, and took part in all the most important political movements of his times.

BEAUFORT SCALE. See _Wind Scale_; _Navigation_.

BEAUFORT WEST, a town of Cape Province, capital of the division of that name, 339 miles by railway north-east of Cape Town, well built and well supplied with water, though in a district with a small rainfall, and chiefly yielding wool. It is a popular health resort. Pop. 4530.

BEAUGENCY (b[=o]-zh[.a][n.]-s[=e]), an ancient town, France, department Loiret, on the Loire, of some historical interest. General Chanzy was defeated there by the Grand-Duke of Mecklenburg, 7th-8th Dec., 1870. Pop. 3532.

BEAUHARNAIS (b[=o]-[.a]r-n[=a]), Alexandre, Viscount, was born in 1760 in Martinique. He married Josephine Tascher de la Pagerie, who was afterwards the wife of Napoleon. At the breaking out of the French Revolution he was chosen a member of the National Assembly, of which he was for some time president. In 1792 he was general of the army of the Rhine. He was falsely accused of having promoted the surrender of Mainz, and was sentenced to death 23rd July, 1794.

BEAUHARNAIS, Eugene de, Duke of Leuchtenberg, Prince of Eichstaedt, and Viceroy of Italy during the reign of Napoleon, was born 1781, died at Munich 1824. He was the son of Alexandre Beauharnais and Josephine, afterwards wife of Napoleon and Empress of France. After his father's death he joined Hoche in La Vendee, and subsequently studied for a time in Paris. He accompanied Napoleon to Egypt in 1798, rose rapidly in the army, was appointed Viceroy of Italy in 1805, and married a daughter of the King of Bavaria in 1806. He administered the government of Italy with great prudence and moderation, and was much beloved by his subjects. In the Russian campaign he commanded the third _corps d'armee_, and greatly distinguished himself. To him and to Ney France was mainly indebted for the preservation of the remains of her army during the retreat from Moscow. After the battle of Luetzen of 2nd May, 1813, where, by surrounding the right wing of the enemy, he decided the fate of the day, he went to Italy, which he defended against the Austrians until the deposition of Napoleon. After the fall of Napoleon he concluded an armistice, by which he delivered Lombardy and all Upper Italy to the Austrians. He then went immediately to Paris, and thence to his father-in-law at Munich, where he afterwards resided.--His sister, Hortense Eugenie, Queen of Holland, was born in 1783, died in 1837. She became Queen of Holland by marrying Louis Bonaparte, and after Louis's abdication of the throne she lived apart from him. She wrote several excellent songs, and composed some deservedly popular airs, among others the well-known _Partant pour la Syrie_. Napoleon III was her third and youngest son.

BEAULY (b[=u]'li), a small seaport of Scotland, Inverness-shire, near the mouth of the River Beauly, which enters the Beauly Firth, a sea loch branching off from Inverness Firth, with interesting ruins of an old priory. Pop. 882.

BEAUMARCHAIS (b[=o]-maer-sh[=a]), Pierre Augustin Caron de, a French wit and dramatist, was born at Paris in 1732, died 1799. He was the son of a watchmaker named Caron, whose trade he practised for a time. He early gave striking proofs of his mechanical and also of his musical talents; attained proficiency as a player on the guitar and harp, and was appointed harp-master to the daughters of Louis XV. By a rich marriage (after which he added 'de Beaumarchais' to his name) he laid the foundation of the immense wealth which he afterwards accumulated by his speculations, and which was also increased by a second marriage. In the meantime he occupied himself with literature, and published two dramas--_Eugenie_ in 1767 and _Les Deux Amis_ in 1770. He first really distinguished himself by his _Memoires_ (Paris, 1774), or statements in connection with a lawsuit, which by their wit, satire, and liveliness entertained all France. The _Barber of Seville_ (1775) and the _Marriage of Figaro_ (1784) have given him a permanent reputation. His last work was _Mes Six Epoques_, in which he relates the dangers to which he was exposed in the revolution. He lost about a million livres by his edition of the works of Voltaire (1785), and still more at the end of 1792 by his attempt to provide the French army with 60,000 muskets. He was a singular instance of versatility of talent, being at once an artist, politician, projector, merchant, and dramatist.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: L. de Lomenie, _Beaumarchais et son temps_ (English translation by H. S. Edwards); Gudin de la Brenellerie, _Histoire de Beaumarchais_.

BEAUMARIS (b[=o]-ma'ris), a seaport town, North Wales, Isle of Anglesey, on the Menai Strait. It is a favourite watering-place, and contains the remains of a castle built by Edward I about 1295. Pop. (1921), 1839.

BEAUMONT, a city of the United States, in Eastern Texas, in a region rich in cotton, timber, and petroleum, and an important railway centre. Pop. 28,851.

BEAUMONT (b[=o]'mont), Francis, and FLETCHER, John, two eminent English dramatic writers, contemporaries of Shakespeare, and the most famous of literary partners. The former, son of a common-pleas judge, was born at Grace-Dieu, in Leicestershire, in 1584, died in 1616, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. At the age of sixteen he published a translation, in verse, of Ovid's _Fable of Salmacis and Hermaphroditus_, and before nineteen became the friend of Ben Jonson. With Fletcher also he was early on terms of friendship. He married Ursula, daughter of Henry Isley of Sundridge, in Kent, by whom he left two daughters.--_John Fletcher_ was born at Rye, Sussex, in 1579. His father was successively Dean of Peterborough, Bishop of Bristol, Worcester, and London. _The Woman Hater_, produced in 1606-7, is the earliest work known to exist in which he had a hand. It does not appear that he was ever married. He died in London of the plague, Aug., 1625, and was buried at St. Saviour's, Southwark. The friendship of Beaumont and Fletcher, like their literary partnership, was singularly close; they lived in the same house, and are said to have even had their clothes in common. The works that pass under their names consist of over fifty plays, a masque, and some minor poems. It is believed that all the minor poems except one were written by Beaumont. After the death of Beaumont, Fletcher continued to write plays alone or with other dramatists. It is now difficult, if not indeed impossible, to determine with certainty the respective shares of the two poets in the plays passing under their names. According to the testimony of some of their contemporaries, Beaumont possessed the deeper and more thoughtful genius, Fletcher the gayer and more idyllic. _Four Plays in One_, _Wit at Several Weapons_, _Thierry and Theodoret_, _Maid's Tragedy_, _Philaster_, _King and no King_, _Knight of the Burning Pestle_, _Cupid's Revenge_, _Little French Lawyer_, _Scornful Lady_, _Coxcomb_, and _Laws of Candy_ have been assigned to Beaumont and Fletcher conjointly. To Beaumont alone--_The Masque of the Inner Temple and Gray's Inn_. To Fletcher alone--_The Faithful Shepherdess_, _Woman Hater_, _Loyal Subject_, _Mad Lover_, _Valentinian_, _Double Marriage_, _Humorous Lieutenant_, _Island Princess_, _Pilgrim_, _Wild-goose Chase_, _Spanish Curate_, _Beggar's Bush_, _Rule a Wife and Have a Wife_, _Fair Maid of the Inn_, &c. To Fletcher and Rowley--_Queen of Corinth_, _Maid of the Mill_, and _Bloody Brother_. To Fletcher and Massinger--_False One_ and _Very Woman_. To Fletcher and Shirley--_Noble Gentleman_, _Night-walker_, and _Love's Pilgrimage_. To Fletcher and Shakespeare--_Two Noble Kinsmen_.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: G. C. Macaulay, _Francis Beaumont, a Critical Study_; Sir A. W. Ward, _History of English Dramatic Literature_ (vol. ii).

BEAUMONT, Sir George, born of an ancient family in Leicestershire in 1753, died 1827. He possessed considerable skill as a landscape-painter, but was noted more especially as a munificent patron of the arts. The establishment of the National Gallery was mainly owing to his exertions. He was a friend of Wordsworth, who dedicated to him the 1815 edition of his Poems.

BEAUMONT, Sir John, born 1582, died 1627, brother of Francis Beaumont the dramatist; was author of _Bosworth Field_, an historical poem, and various sacred and other poems. A poem in eight books, called _The Crown of Thorns_, has been lost.

BEAUMONT, Joseph, D.D., born 1615, died 1699; descended from an old Leicestershire family. In 1663 he became master of Peterhouse, Cambridge. He wrote _Psyche, or Love's Mystery_, a poem once very popular, and an attack on Henry More's _Mystery of Godliness_, for which he received the thanks of the university.

BEAUMONT, William, M.D., an American surgeon, born 1785, died 1853. His experiments on digestion with the Canadian St. Martin, who lived for years after receiving a gunshot wound in the stomach which left an aperture of about two inches in diameter, were of great importance to physiological science.

BEAUMONT-HAMEL, village of France, department Somme, the scene of fierce fighting in 1918. See _Somme, Battles of the_.

BEAUNE (b[=o]n), a town, France, department Cote d'Or, 23 miles S.S.W. of Dijon, well built, with handsome church, public library, museum, &c., and a trade in the fine Burgundy and other wines of the district. Pop. 13,409.

BEAUNE (b[=o]n), Florimond, a distinguished mathematician and friend of Descartes, born at Blois 1601, died at the same place 1652. He may be regarded as the originator of the integral calculus.

BEAUREGARD (b[=o]'r[.e]-g[.a]rd), Pierre Gustavus Toutant, a general of the Confederate troops in the American Civil War, born in 1818 near New Orleans. He studied at the military academy, West Point, and left it as artillery lieutenant in 1838. He served in the Mexican War, and on the outbreak of the Civil War joined the Confederates. He commanded at the bombardment of Fort Sumter, gained the battle of Bull Run, lost that of Shiloh, assisted in the defence of Charleston, and aided Lee in that of Richmond. He was the author of _Principles and Maxims of the Art of War_ (1863). He died in 1893.

BEAUSOBRE (b[=o]-s[=o]-br), Isaac, born in 1659 at Niort, in France, died at Berlin 1738. In 1683 he became Protestant minister of Chatillon-sur-Indre, but was compelled by persecution to go into exile in 1685. In 1694 he became minister to French Protestants at Berlin. He enjoyed much of the favour both of Frederick William I and of the Crown Prince, afterwards Frederick the Great, and died in 1738. His most remarkable work is the _Histoire Critique de Manichee et du Manicheisme_ (1734).

BEAUVAIS (b[=o]-v[=a]; ancient, _Bellovacum_), a town, France, capital of the department of Oise, at the confluence of the Avelon with the Therain, 43 miles north of Paris, poorly built, but with some fine edifices, the choir of the uncompleted cathedral being one of the finest specimens of Gothic architecture in France. In 1472 Beauvais resisted an army of 80,000 Burgundians under Charles the Bold. On this occasion the women particularly distinguished themselves, and one of them, Jeanne Laine, called La Hachette, seeing a soldier planting a standard on the wall, seized it and hurled him to the ground. The banner is preserved in the town hall, and an annual procession of young girls commemorates the deed. Manufactures: tapestry and carpets, trimmings, woollen cloth, cottons, &c. Pop. 20,250.

BEAVER, the largest rodent quadruped now existing in the northern hemisphere, about 2 feet in length exclusive of the tail, genus Castor (_C. fiber_), is now found in considerable numbers only in North America, living in colonies, but occurring solitary in Central Europe and Asia. It has short ears, a blunt nose, small fore-feet, large webbed hind-feet, with a flat ovate tail covered with scales on its upper surface. It is valued for its fur, which used to be largely employed in the manufacture of hats, but for which silk is now for the most part substituted, and for an odoriferous secretion named castor, at one time in high repute, and still largely used in some parts of the world as an antispasmodic medicine. The food of the beaver consists of the bark of trees, leaves, roots, and berries. Their favourite haunts are rivers and lakes which are bordered by forests. In winter they live in houses, which are 3 to 4 feet high, are built on the water's edge, and, being substantial structures with the entrance under water, afford them protection from wolves and other wild animals. These dwellings are called beaver 'lodges', and accommodate a single family. They also live in burrows. They can gnaw through large trees with their strong teeth, this being done partly to obtain food, partly to get materials for houses or dam-building. When they find a stream not sufficiently deep for their purpose, they throw across it a dam constructed with great ingenuity of wood, stones, and mud. Beavers were fairly numerous in Britain in very early times, at least in Scotland and Wales. Their existence has been recorded in Wales till the thirteenth century, and in Scotland to a later date, but they are now extinct in Britain. A colony was some years ago introduced into the Island of Bute, but they died out again.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: Harting, _British Animals Extinct within Historic Times_; E. A. Mills, _In Beaver World_; A. A. R. Dugmore, _The Romance of the Beaver_.

BEAVER (from Fr. _baviere_, a child's bib, from _bave_, saliva), the movable face-guard of a helmet, so fitted on as to be raised and lowered at pleasure.

BEAVER FALLS, a town of the United States, Pennsylvania, on Beaver River, 30 miles north-west of Pittsburg, in the coal and natural-gas region. Pop. 12,191.

BEAVER-RAT (_Hydromys chrysogaster_), a Tasmanian rodent quadruped, inhabiting the banks both of salt and fresh waters. They are admirable swimmers and divers, and exceedingly shy.

BEBEE'RU. See _Greenheart_.

BEBEL (b[=a]'bl), Ferdinand August, German Socialist, born in 1840, died in 1913. He became a master turner in Leipzig, was elected to the Reichstag or Diet of the new German Empire in 1871, in which he was prominent until his death. He opposed the leadership of Prussia in Germany and the establishment of the empire, and showed himself favourable to the Paris Commune and the International. Found guilty of treasonable practices, he was condemned to two years' imprisonment in a fortress in 1872, with six months' ordinary imprisonment for insulting the Kaiser. His influence kept on increasing as leader of the Social Democrats in Germany and in the German Parliament, where he spoke strongly against militarism and the emperor's naval policy. His works include _Die Frau und der Socialismus_ (Woman and Socialism), in which he went so far as to attack marriage as an institution; _Die Socialdemokratic und das allgemeine wahlrecht_; _Fuer Volkswehr gegen Militarismus_; _Aus meinem Leben_; &c.

BEC, a celebrated abbey of France, in Normandy, near Brionne, founded in the eleventh century, now represented only by some ruins. Lanfranc and Anselm were both connected with this abbey.

BECCAFI'CO, a European bird (_Sylvia hortensis_), the garden-warbler. These birds are much esteemed as dainties in the autumn, when they have fattened on figs and grapes.

BECCAFU'MI, Domen'ico, Italian painter, born near Sienna in the latter half of the fifteenth century, enriched the churches of Sienna with many noble frescoes and other paintings. He drew and coloured well, and possessed strong inventive powers. He died at Sienna in 1551, and was buried in its cathedral.

BECCARIA (bek-[.a]-r[=e]'[.a]), Cesare Bonesana, Marchese di, Italian economist and writer on penal laws, born 1738, died 1794. He is principally known from his treatise, _On Crimes and Punishments_, which was speedily translated into various languages, and to which many of the reforms in the penal codes of the principal European nations are traceable. He became professor of political economy at Milan, where he died.

BECCARIA (bek-[.a]-r[=e]'[.a]), Giovanni Battista, an Italian natural philosopher, born 1716, died 1781; was appointed professor of experimental physics at Turin, 1748; author of a treatise on _Natural and Artificial Electricity_, _Letters on Electricity_, &c. He contributed several articles to the _Transactions of the Royal Society of London_, and was commissioned in 1759 to measure an arc of the meridian in the neighbourhood of Turin.

BECCLES (bek'lz), a municipal borough in Suffolk, England, 33 miles N.N.E. from Ipswich, on the right bank of the Waveney; has a fine church of the fourteenth century, and a good trade coastwise. Pop. (1921), 7077.

BECELAERE, town of Belgium, province of West Flanders. It was the scene of fighting in the third battle of Ypres (1917), and in the battle of Flanders (1918).

BECERRA (be-ther'[.a]), Gaspar, Spanish painter and sculptor, born 1520, died 1570. He studied under Michel Angelo at Rome, and is credited with the chief share in the establishment of the fine arts in Spain.

BECHE (b[=a]sh), Sir Henry de Ia, an English geologist, born 1796, died 1855. He founded the geological survey of Great Britain, which was soon undertaken by the Government, De la Beche being appointed director-general. He also founded the Jermyn Street Museum of Economic or Practical Geology, and the School of Mines. His principal works are: _Geology of Jamaica_, _Classification of European Rocks_, _Geological Manual_, _Researches in Theoretical Geology_, _Geology of Cornwall, Devon, and West Somerset_, &c.

BECHE-DE-MER (b[=a]sh-d[=e]-m[=a]r). See _Trepang_.

BECHER (be_h_'er), Johann Joachim, German chemist, born in 1625 or 1635, died in London 1682. He became a professor at Mainz; was elected a member of the Imperial Council at Vienna, 1660, but fell into disgrace and subsequently resided in various parts of Germany, Holland, Italy, Sweden, and Great Britain. His chief work, _Physica Subterranea_, containing many of the fanciful theories of the alchemists, was published in 1669, and enlarged in 1681. Among his other works are _Laboratorium portabile_ and _Alphabetum minerale_.

BECHSTEIN (be_h_'st[=i]n), Johann Matthaeus, German naturalist, born in 1757, died in 1822. He wrote a popular _Natural History of Germany_, and various works on forestry, in which subject his labours were highly valuable. In Britain he is best known by a treatise on cage birds.