Part 36

BEWICK, THOMAS (1753-1828), English wood-engraver, was born at Cherryburn, near Newcastle-on-Tyne, in August 1753. His father rented a small colliery at Mickleybank, and sent his son to school at Mickley. He proved a poor scholar, but showed, at a very early age, a remarkable talent for drawing. He had no tuition in the art, and no models save natural objects. At the age of fourteen he was apprenticed to Mr Beilby, an engraver in Newcastle. In his office Bewick engraved on wood for Dr Hutton a series of diagrams illustrating a treatise on mensuration. He seems thereafter to have devoted himself entirely to engraving on wood, and in 1775 he received a premium from the Society for the Encouragement of Arts and Manufactures for a woodcut of the "Huntsman and the Old Hound." In 1784 appeared his _Select Fables_, the engravings in which, though far surpassed by his later productions, were incomparably superior to anything that had yet been done in that line. The _Quadrupeds_ appeared in 1790, and his great achievement, that with which his name is inseparably associated, the _British Birds_, was published from 1797-1804. Bewick, from his intimate knowledge of the habits of animals acquired during his constant excursions into the country, was thoroughly qualified to do justice to his great task. Of his other productions the engravings for Goldsmith's _Traveller_ and _Deserted Village_, for Parnell's _Hermit_, for Somerville's _Chase_, and for the collection of _Fables of Aesop and Others_, may be specially mentioned. Bewick was for many years in partnership with his former master, and in later life had numerous pupils, several of whom gained distinction as engravers. He died on the 8th of November 1828.

His autobiography, _Memoirs of Thomas Bewick, by Himself_, appeared in 1862.

BEXHILL, a municipal borough and watering-place in the Rye parliamentary division of Sussex, England, 62 m. S.E. by S. from London, on the London, Brighton & South Coast, and the South-Eastern & Chatham railways. Pop. (1891) 5206; (1901) 12,213. The ancient village, with the Norman and Early English church of St Peter, lies inland on the slope of the low hills fringing the coast, but the watering-place on the shore has developed very rapidly since about 1884, owing to the exertions of Earl De la Warr, who owns most of the property. It has a marine parade, pier, golf links, and the usual appointments of a seaside resort, while the climate is bracing and the neighbouring country pleasant. Bexhill was incorporated in 1902, the corporation consisting of a mayor, 6 aldermen and 18 councillors. Area, 8013 acres.

BEXLEY, NICHOLAS VANSITTART, BARON (1766-1851), English politician, was the fifth son of Henry Vansittart (d. 1770), governor of Bengal, and was born in London on the 29th of April 1766. Educated at Christ Church, Oxford, he took his degree in 1787, and was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1791. He began his public career by writing pamphlets in defence of the administration of William Pitt, especially on its financial side, and in May 1796 became member of parliament for Hastings, retaining his seat until July 1802, when he was returned for Old Sarum. In February 1801 he was sent on a diplomatic errand to Copenhagen, and shortly after his return was appointed joint secretary to the treasury, a position which he retained until the resignation of Addington's ministry in April 1804. Owing to the influence of his friend, Ernest, duke of Cumberland, he became secretary for Ireland under Pitt in January 1805, resigning his office in the following September. With Addington, now Viscount Sidmouth, he joined the government of Fox and Grenville as secretary to the treasury in February 1806, leaving office with Sidmouth just before the fall of the ministry in March 1807. During these and the next few years Vansittart's reputation as a financier was gradually rising. In 1809 he proposed and carried without opposition in the House of Commons thirty-eight resolutions on financial questions, and only his loyalty to Sidmouth prevented him from joining the cabinet of Spencer Perceval as chancellor of the exchequer in October 1809. He opposed an early resumption of cash payments in 1811, and became chancellor of the exchequer when the earl of Liverpool succeeded Perceval in May 1812. Having forsaken Old Sarum, he had represented Helston from November 1806 to June 1812; and after being member for East Grinstead for a few weeks, was returned for Harwich in October 1812.

When Vansittart became chancellor of the exchequer the country was burdened with heavy taxation and an enormous debt. Nevertheless, the continuance of the war compelled him to increase the custom duties and other taxes, and in 1813 he introduced a complicated scheme for dealing with the sinking fund. In 1816, after the conclusion of peace, a large decrease in taxation was generally desired, and there was a loud outcry when the chancellor proposed only to reduce, not to abolish, the property or income tax. The abolition of this tax, however, was carried in parliament, and Vansittart was also obliged to remit the extra tax on malt, meeting a large deficiency principally by borrowing. He devoted considerable attention to effecting real or supposed economies with regard to the national debt. He carried an elaborate scheme for handing over the payment of naval and military pensions to contractors, who would be paid a fixed annual sum for forty-five years; but no one was found willing to undertake this contract, although a modified plan on the same lines was afterwards adopted. Vansittart became very unpopular in the country, and he resigned his office in December 1822. His system of finance was severely criticized by Huskisson, Tierney, Brougham, Hume and Ricardo. On his resignation Liverpool offered Vansittart the post of chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster. Accepting this offer in February 1823, he was created Baron Bexley in March, and granted a pension of L3000 a year. He resigned in January 1828. In the House of Lords Bexley took very little part in public business, although he introduced the Spitalfields weavers bill in 1823, and voted for the removal of Roman Catholic disabilities in 1824. He took a good deal of interest in the British and Foreign Bible Mission, the Church Missionary Society and kindred bodies, and assisted to found King's College, London. He died at Foot's Cray, Kent, on the 8th of February 1851. His wife, whom he married in July 1806, was Isabella (d. 1810), daughter of William Eden, 1st Baron Auckland, and as he had no issue the title became extinct on his death. There are nine volumes of Vansittart's papers in the British Museum.

See Spencer Walpole, _History of England_ (London, 1890); S.C. Buxton, _Finance and Politics_ (London, 1888).

BEXLEY, an urban district in the Dartford parliamentary division of Kent, England, 12 m. S.E. by E. of London by the South-Eastern & Chatham railway. Pop. (1901) 12,918. Bexley, which is mentioned in Domesday Book, has had a church since the 9th century. The present church of St Mary is Early English and later. With the rental of the manor of Bexley, William Camden, the antiquary, founded the ancient history professorship at Oxford. Hall Place, which contains a fine Jacobean staircase and oak-panelled hall, is said to occupy the site of the dwelling-place of the Black Prince. The course of Watling Street may be traced over Bexley Heath, where, too, there exist deep pits, widening into vaults below, and probably of British origin.

BEY (a modern Turk, word, the older form being _beg_, cf. Pers. _baig_), the administrator of a district, now generally an honorific title throughout the Turkish empire; the granting of this in Egypt is made by the sultan of Turkey through the khedive. In Tunis "bey" has become the hereditary title of the reigning sovereigns (see TUNISIA).

BEYBAZAR, the chief town of a _kaza_ of the Angora vilayet in Asiatic Turkey, situated on an affluent of the Sakaria (anc. _Sangarius_), about 52 m. W. of Angora. It corresponds to the anc. _Lagania_, renamed _Anastasiopolis_ under the emperor Anastasius (491-518), a bishopric by the 5th century. Its well-built wooden houses cover the slopes of three hills at the mouth of a gorge filled with fruit gardens and vineyards. The chief products are rice, cotton and fruits. From Beybazar come the fine pears sold in Constantinople as "Angora pears"; its musk-melons are equally esteemed; its grapes are used only for a sweetmeat called _jevizli-sujuk_ ("nutty fruit sausage"). There are few remains of antiquity apart from numerous rock-cut chambers lining the banks of the stream. Pop. about 4000 to 5000.

BEYLE, MARIE HENRI (1783-1842), better known by his _nom de plume_ of STENDHAL, French author, was born at Grenoble on the 23rd of January 1783. With his father, who was an _avocat_ in the parlement of Grenoble, he was never on good terms, but his intractable disposition sufficiently explains his unhappy childhood and youth. Until he was twelve years old he was educated by a priest, who succeeded in inspiring him with a lasting hatred of clericalism. He was then sent to the newly established Ecole Centrale at Grenoble, and in 1799 to Paris with a letter of introduction to the Daru family, with which the Beyles were connected. Pierre Daru offered him a place in the ministry for war, and with the brothers Daru he followed Napoleon to Italy. Most of his time in Italy was spent at Milan, a city for which he conceived a lasting attachment. Much of his _Chartreuse de Parme_ seems to be autobiographical of this part of his life.

He was a spectator of the battle of Marengo, and afterwards enlisted in a dragoon regiment. With rapid promotion he became adjutant to General Michaud; but after the peace of Amiens in 1802 he returned to study in Paris. There he met an actress, Melanie Guilbert, whom he followed to Marseilles. His father cut off his supplies on hearing of this escapade, and Beyle was reduced to serving as clerk to a grocer. Melanie Guilbert, however, soon abandoned him to marry a Russian, and Beyle returned to Paris. Through the influence of Daru he obtained a place in the commissariat, which he filled with some distinction from 1806 to 1814. Charged with raising a levy in Brunswick of five million francs, he extracted seven; and during the retreat from Moscow he discharged his duties with efficiency. On the fall of Napoleon he refused to accept a place under the new regime, and retired to Milan, where he met Silvio Pellico, Manzoni, Lord Byron and other men of note. At Milan he contracted a _liaison_ with a certain Angelina P., whom he had admired fruitlessly during his earlier residence in that city. In 1814 he published, under the pseudonym of Alexandre Cesar Bombet, his _Lettres ecrites de Vienne en Aulriche sur le celebre compositeur, Joseph Haydn, suivies d'une vie de Mozart, et de considerations sur Metastase et l'etat present de la musique en Italie_. His letters on Haydn were borrowed from the _Haydini_ (1812) of Joseph Carpani, and the section on Mozart had no greater claim to originality. The book was reprinted (1817) as _Vies de Haydn, Mozart et Metastase_. His _Histoire de la peinture en Italic_ (2 vols., 1817) was originally dedicated to Napoleon.

His friendship with some Italian patriots brought him in 1821 under the notice of the Austrian authorities, and he was exiled from Milan. In Paris he felt himself a stranger, as he had never recognized French contemporary art in literature, music or painting. He frequented, however, many literary salons in Paris, and found some friends in the "_ideologues_" who gathered round Destutt de Tracy. He was the most closely allied with Prosper Merimee, a _dilettante_ and an ironist like himself. He published at this time his _Essai sur l'amour_ (1822), of which only seventeen copies were sold in eleven years, though it afterwards became famous, _Racine et Shakespeare_ (1823-1825), _Vie de Rossini_ (1824), _D'un nouveau complot centre les industriels_ (1825), _Promenades dans Rome_ (1829), and his first novel, _Armance, ou quelques scenes de Paris en 1827_ (1827). After the Revolution of 1830 he was appointed consul at Trieste, but the Austrian government refused to accept him, and he was sent to Civita Vecchia instead. _Le Rouge et le noir, chronique du XIX^e siecle_ (2 vols., 1830) appeared in Paris after his departure, but attracted small notice. He had published in 1838 _Memoires d'un touriste_, and in 1839 _La Chartreuse de Parme_ (2 vols.), which was the last of his publications, and the first to secure any popular success, though his earlier writings had been regarded as significant by a limited public. It was enthusiastically reviewed by Balzac in his _Revue Parisienne_ (1840). Beyle remained at Civita Vecchia, discharging his duties as consul perfunctorily and with frequent intervals of absence until his death, which took place in Paris on the 23rd of March 1842. He wrote his own epitaph,[1] describing himself as a Milanese.

His posthumous works include a fragmentary _Vie de Napoleon_ (1875); _Melanges d'art et de litterature_ (1867); _Chroniques italiennes_ (1885), including "_L'Abbesse de Castro_," "_Les Cenci_," "_Vittoria Accoramboni_," "_Vanina Vanini_," "_La Duchesse de Palliano_," some of which has appeared separately; _Romans et nouvelles_ and _Nouvelles inedites_ (1855); _Correspondance_ (2 vols., 1855); Lamiel (ed. C. Stryienski, 1889); his _Journal 1801-1814_ (ed. Stryienski and F. de Nion, 1888), of which the section dealing with the Russian and German campaigns is unfortunately lost; _Vie de Henri Brulard_ (1890), a disguised autobiography, chiefly the history of his numerous love affairs; _Lettres intimes_ (1892); _Lucien Leuwen_ (ed. J. de Mitty, 1894); _Souvenirs d'egotisme_ (ed. C. Stryienski, 1892), autobiography and unpublished letters.

Stendhal's reputation practically rests on the two novels _Le Rouge et le noir_ and _La Chartreuse de Parme_. In the former of these he borrowed his plot from events which had actually happened some years previously. Julien Sorel in the novel is tutor in a noble family and seduces his pupil's mother. He eventually kills her to avenge a letter accusing him to the family of his betrothed, Mlle de la Mole. Julien is a picture of Beyle as he imagined himself to be. The _Chartreuse de Parme_ has less unity of purpose than _Le Rouge et le noir_. For its setting the author drew largely on his own experiences. Fabrice's experiences at Waterloo are his own in the Italian campaign, and the countess Pietranera is his Milanese Angelina. But of the two novels it is more picturesque and has been more popular. Stendhal's real vogue dates from the early sixties, but his importance is essentially literary. In spite of his egotism and the limitations of his ideas, his acute analysis of the motives of his personages has appealed to successive generations of writers, and a great part of the development of the French novel must be traced to him. Brunetiere has pointed out (_Manual of French Lit._, Eng. trans., 1898) that Stendhal supplied the Romanticists with the notion of the interchange of the methods and effects of poetry, painting and music, and that in his worship of Napoleon he agreed with their glorification of individual energy. Stendhal, however, thoroughly disliked the Romanticists, though Sainte-Beuve acknowledged (_Causeries du lundi_, vol. ix.) that his books gave ideas. Taine (_Essais de critique et d'histoire_, 1857) found in him a great psychologist; Zola (_Romanciers naturalistes_, 1881) actually claimed him as the father of the naturalist school; and Paul Bourget (_Essais de psychologie contemporaine_, 1883) cited _Le Rouge et le noir_ as one of the classic novels of analysis.

The 1846 edition of _La Chartreuse de Parme_ contains a prefatory notice by R. Colomb, and a reprint of Balzac's article. In addition to the authorities already mentioned see the essay on Beyle (1850) by Prosper Merimee; A.A. Paton, _Henry Beyle, a Critical and Biographical Study_ (1874); Adolphe Paupe, _Histoire des oeuvres de Stendhal_ (1903); A. Chuquet, _Stendhal-Beyle_ (1902); a review by R. Doumic (_Revue des deux mondes_, February 1902), deprecating the excessive attention paid to Beyle's writings; and Edouard Rod, _Stendhal_ (1892) in the "Grands ecrivains francais" series. See also _Correspondance de Stendhal, 1800-1842_, with preface by M. Barres (Paris, 1908).

FOOTNOTE:

[1] Qui giace Arrigo Beyle Milanese; visse, scrisse, amo.

BEYRICH, HEINRICH ERNST VON (1815-1896), German geologist, was born at Berlin on the 31st of August 1815, and educated at the university in that city, and afterwards at Bonn, where he studied under Goldfuss and Noggerath. He obtained his degree of Ph.D. in 1837 at Berlin, and was subsequently employed in the mineralogical museum of the university, becoming director of the palaeontological collection in 1857, and director of the museum in 1875. He was one of the founders of the German Geological Society in 1848. He early recognized the value of palaeontology in stratigraphical work; and he made important researches in the Rhenish mountains, in the Harz and Alpine districts. In later years he gave special attention to the Tertiary strata, including the Brown Coal of North Germany. In 1854 he proposed the term Oligocene for certain Tertiary strata intermediate between the Eocene and Miocene; and the term is now generally adopted. In 1865 he was appointed professor of geology and palaeontology in the Berlin University, where he was eminently successful as a teacher; and when the Prussian Geological Survey was instituted in 1873 he was appointed co-director with Wilhelm Hauchecorne (1828-1900). He published _Beitragezur Kenntniss der Versteinerungen des rheinischen Ubergangs-gebirges_ (1837); _Uber einige bohmische Trilobiten_ (1845); _Die Conchylien des norddeutschen Tertiargebirges_ (1853-1857). He died on the 9th of July 1896.

BEYSCHLAG, WILLIBALD (1823-1900), German Protestant divine, was born at Frankfort-on-Main on the 5th of September 1823. He studied theology at Bonn and Berlin (1840-1844), and in 1856 was appointed court-preacher at Karlsruhe. In 1860, he moved to Halle as professor ordinarius of practical theology. A theologian of the mediating school, he became leader of the _Mittelpartei_, and with Albrecht Wolters founded as its organ the _Deutschevangelische Blatter_. As a representative of this party, he took a prominent part in the general synods of 1875 and 1879. His championship of the rights of the laity and his belief in the autonomy of the church led him to advocate the separation of church and state. He died at Halle on the 25th of November 1900. Among his numerous works are _Die Christologie des Neuen Testaments_ (1866), _Der Altkatholicismus_ (three editions, 1882-1883), _Leben Jesu_ (2 vols., 1885; 3rd ed., 1893), _Neutestamentliche Theologie_ (2 vols., 1891-1892; 2nd ed., 1896), _Christenlehre auf Grund des kleinen luth. Katechismus_ (1900), and an autobiography _Aus meinem Leben_ (2 parts, 1896-1898).

See P. Schaff, _Living Divines_ (1887); Lichtenberger, _Hist. Germ. Theol._ (1889); Calwer-Zeller, _Kirchenlexikon_.

BEZA (DE BESZE), THEODORE (1519-1605), French theologian, son of _bailli_ Pierre de Besze, was born at Vezelai, Burgundy, on the 24th of June 1519. Of good descent, his parents were known for generous piety. He owed his education to an uncle, Nicolas de Besze, counsellor of the Paris parlement, who placed him (1529) under Melchior Wolmar at Orleans, and later at Bourges. Wolmar, who had taught Greek to Calvin, grounded Beza in Scripture from a Protestant standpoint; after his return to Germany (1534) Beza studied law at Orleans (May 1535 to August 1539), beginning practice in Paris (1539) as law licentiate. To this period belong his exercises in Latin verse, in the loose taste of the day, foolishly published by him as _Juvenilia_ in 1548. Though not in orders, he held two benefices. A severe illness wrought a change; he married his mistress, Claude Desnoz, and joined the church of Calvin at Geneva (October 1548). In November 1549 he was appointed Greek professor at Lausanne, where he acted as Calvin's adjutant in various publications, including his defence of the burning of Servetus, _De Haereticis a civili magistratu puniendis_ (1554). In 1558 he became professor in the Geneva academy, where his career was brilliant. His conspicuous ability was shown in the abortive Colloquy of Poissy (1561). On Calvin's death (1564) he became his biographer and administrative successor. As a historian, Beza, by his chronological inexactitude, has been the source of serious mistakes; as an administrator, he softened the rigour of Calvin. His editions and Latin versions of the New Testament had a marked influence on the English versions of Geneva (1557 and 1560) and London (1611). The famous codex D. was presented by him (1581) to Cambridge University, with a characteristically dubious account of the history of the manuscript. His works are very numerous, but of little moment, except those already mentioned. He resigned his offices in 1600, and died on the 13th of October 1605. He had taken a second wife (1588), Catherine del Piano, a widow, but left no issue. He was not the author of the _Histoire ecclesiastique_ (1580), sometimes ascribed to him; nor, probably, of the vulgar skit published under the name of Benedict Panavantius (1551).

See Laingaeus, _De Vita et Moribus_ (1585, calumnious); Antoine la Faye, _De Vita et Obitu_ (1606, eulogistic); Schlosser, _Leben_ (1806); Baum, _Th. Beza_, portrait (1843-1851); Heppe, _Leben_ (1861). (A. Go.*)

BEZANT or BYZANT (from Byzantium, the modern Constantinople), originally a Byzantine gold coin which had a wide circulation throughout Europe up to about 1250. Its average value was about nine shillings. Bezants were also issued in Flanders and Spain. Silver bezants, in value from one to two shillings, were in circulation in England in the 13th and 14th centuries. In Wycliffe's translation of the Bible he uses the word for a "talent" (e.g. in Luke xv. 8). In heraldry, bezants are represented by gold circles on the shield, and were introduced by the crusaders.

BEZANTEE, in architecture, a name given to an ornamented moulding much used in the Norman period, resembling the coins (bezants) struck in Byzantium.

BEZBORODKO, ALEKSANDER ANDREEVICH, PRINCE (1747-1799), grand chancellor of Russia, was born at Gluchova on the 14th of March 1747, and educated at home and in the clerical academy at Kiev. He entered the public service as a clerk in the office of Count P.A. Rumyantsev, then governor-general of Little Russia, whom he accompanied to the Turkish War in 1768. He was present at the engagements of Larga and Kaluga, and at the storming of Silistria. On the conclusion of the peace of Kuchuk-Kainarji (1774) the field marshal recommended him to Catharine II., and she appointed him in 1775 her petition-secretary. He thus had the opportunity of impressing the empress with his brilliant gifts, the most remarkable of which were exquisite manners, a marvellous memory and a clear and pregnant style. At the same time he set to work to acquire the principal European languages, especially French, of which he became a master. It was at this time that he wrote his historical sketches of the Tatar wars and of Little Russia.