The Nuttall Encyclopaedia Part 71

BESSEMER PROCESS. See BESSEMER.

BESSIeRES, JEAN BAPTISTE, DUKE OF ISTRIA, marshal of France, born at Languedoc, of humble parentage; rose from the ranks; a friend and one of the ablest officers of Napoleon, and much esteemed by him; distinguished himself in the Italian campaign, in Egypt, and at Marengo; was shot at Lutzen the day before the battle (1768-1813).

BESSUS, a satrap of Bactria under Darius, who a.s.sa.s.sinated his master after the battle of Arbela, but was delivered over by Alexander to Darius's brother, by whom he was put to death, 328 B.C.

BESTIARY, a name given to a cla.s.s of books treating of animals, viewed allegorically.

BETHANY, village on E. of the Mount of Olives, abode of Lazarus and his sisters.

BETHEL (i. e. house of G.o.d), a place 11 m. N. of Jerusalem, scene of Jacob's dream, and famous in the history of the patriarchs.

BETHENCOURT, a Norman baron, in 1425 discovered and conquered the Canaries, and held them as a fief of the crown of Castile.

BETHLEHEM (3), a village 6 m. S. of Jerusalem, the birthplace of Jesus Christ and King David, with a convent containing the Church of the Nativity; near it is the grotto where St. Jerome translated the Bible into Latin.

BETHLEN-GABOR, prince of Transylvania, a.s.sumed the t.i.tle of king of Hungary; a.s.sisted Bohemia in the Thirty Years' war (1580-1629).

BETHNAL GREEN (129), an eastern suburb of London, a parliamentary borough, a poor district, and scene of benevolent enterprises.

BETTERTON, THOMAS, born at Westminster, a tragic actor, and as such an interpreter of Shakespeare on, it is believed, the traditional lines.

BETTINA, the Countess of Arnim, a pa.s.sionate admirer of Goethe.

BETTY, W. HENRY, a boy actor, known as the Infant Roscius; ama.s.sed a fortune; lived afterwards retired (1791-1874).

BEULE, a French statesman and archaeologist; superintended excavations on the Acropolis of Athens; held office under Macmahon (1826-1874).

BEUST, COUNT VON, a German statesman, born at Dresden; Minister for Foreign Affairs in Saxony; of strong conservative leanings, friendly to Austria; became Chancellor of the Austro-Hungarian empire; adopted a liberal policy; sympathised with France in the Franco-German war; resigned office in 1871; left "Memoirs" (1809-1886).

BEUTHEN (36), a manufacturing town in Prussian Silesia, in the centre of a mining district.

BEVERLEY (12), a Yorks.h.i.+re manufacturing town, 8 m. NW. of Hull, with a Gothic minster, which contains the tombs of the Percys.

BEVERLEY, JOHN, a learned man, tutor to the Venerable Bede, archbishop of York, and founder of a college for secular priests at Beverley; was one of the most learned men of his time; _d_. 721.

BEVIS OF SOUTHAMPTON, or HAMPTON, SIR, a famous knight of English mediaeval romance, a man of gigantic stature, whose marvellous feats are recorded in Drayton's "Polyolbion."

BEWICK, THOMAS, a distinguished wood-engraver, born in Northumberland, apprenticed to the trade in Newcastle; showed his art first in woodcuts for his "History of Quadrupeds," the success of which led to the publication of his "History of British Birds," in which he established his reputation both as a naturalist, in the truest sense, and an artist (1753-1828).

BEWICK, WILLIAM, a great wood-engraver; did a cartoon from the Elgin Marbles for Goethe (1795-1866).

BEYLE, MARIE HENRI, French critic and novelist, usually known by his pseudonym "De Stendal," born at Gren.o.ble; wrote in criticism "De l'Amour," and in fiction "La Chartreuse de Parme" and "Le Rouge et le Noir"; an ambitious writer and a cynical (1788-1842).

BEYPUR, a port in the Madras presidency, a railway terminus, with coal and iron in the neighbourhood.

BEYROUT (200), the most nouris.h.i.+ng commercial city on the coast of Syria, and the port of Damascus, from which it is distant 55 m.; a very ancient place.

BEZA, THEODORE, a French Protestant theologian, born in Burgundy, of good birth; professor of Greek at Lausanne; deputed from Germany to intercede for the Huguenots in France, persuaded the king of Navarre to favour the Protestants; settled in Geneva, became the friend and successor of Calvin; wrote a book, "De Hereticis a Civili Magistratu Puniendis," in which he justified the burning of Servetus, and a "History of the Reformed Churches" in France; died at 86 (1519-1605).

BEZANTS, Byzantine gold coins of varying weight and value, introduced by the Crusaders into England, where they were current till the time of Edward III.

BeZIERS (42), a manufacturing town in the dep. of Herault, 49 m. SW.

of Montpellier; manufactures silk fabrics and confectionary.

BHAGALPUR' (69), a town in Bengal, on the right bank of the Ganges, 265 m. NW. of Calcutta.

BHAGAVAD GiTa, (i. e. Song of Krishna), a poem introduced into the Mahabharata, divided into three sections, and each section into six chapters, called Upanishads; being a series of mystical lectures addressed by Krishna to his royal pupil Arjuna on the eve of a battle, from which he shrunk, as it was with his own kindred; the whole conceived from the point of view or belief, calculated to allay the scruples of Arjuna, which regards the extinction of existence as absorption in the Deity.

BHAMO' (6), a town in Burmah, the chief centre of trade with China, conducted mainly by Chinese, and a military station, only 40 m. from the Chinese frontier.

BHARTPUR' (68), a town in Rajputana, in a native state of the name; yielding wheat, maize, cotton, sugar, with quarries of building stone; 30 m. W. of Agra; carries on an industry in the manufacture of chowries.

BHARTRIHARI, Indian author of apothegms, who appears to have lived in the 11th century B.C., and to have been of royal rank.

BHILS, a rude pro-Aryan race of Central India, still untrained to settled life; number 750,000.