Part 7

CHARLES BEECHER (1815-1900), another of Lyman's sons, was born at Litchfield, Connecticut, on the 7th of October 1815. He graduated at Bowdoin College in 1834, and subsequently held pastorates at Newark, New Jersey (1851-1857), and Georgetown, Massachusetts; and from 1870 to 1877 lived in Florida, where he was state superintendent of public instruction in 1871-1873. He died at Georgetown, Massachusetts, on the 21st of April 1900. He was an accomplished musician, and assisted in the selection and arrangement of music in the _Plymouth Collection of Hymns and Tunes_. He wrote _David and His Throne_ (1855), _Pen Pictures of the Bible_ (1855), _Redeemer and Redeemed_ (1864), and _Spiritual Manifestations_ (1879).

THOMAS KINNICUTT BEECHER (1824-1900), another son, born at Litchfield, Connecticut, on the 10th of February 1824, was pastor of the Independent Congregational church (now the Park church), at Elmira, New York, one of the first institutional churches in the country, from 1854 until his death at Elmira on the 14th of March 1900. He wrote Our _Seven Churches_ (1870).

BEECHEY, FREDERICK WILLIAM (1796-1856), English naval officer and geographer, son of Sir William Beechey, R.A., was born in London on the 17th of February 1796. In 1806 he entered the navy, and saw active service during the wars with France and America. In 1818 he served under Lieutenant (afterwards Sir) John Franklin in Buchan's Arctic expedition, of which at a later period he published a narrative; and in the following year he accompanied Lieutenant W.E. Parry in the "Hecla." In 1821 he took part in the survey of the Mediterranean coast of Africa under the direction of Captain, afterwards Admiral, William Henry Smyth. He and his brother Henry William Beechey, made an overland survey of this coast, and published a full account of their work in 1828 under the title of _Proceedings of the Expedition to Explore the Northern Coast of Africa from Tripoly Eastward in 1821-1822_. In 1825 Beechey was appointed to command the "Blossom," which was intended to explore Bering Strait, in concert with Franklin and Parry operating from the east. He passed the strait and penetrated as far as 71 deg. 23' 31" N., and 156 deg. 21' 30" W., reaching a point only 146 m. west of that reached by Franklin's expedition from the Mackenzie river. The whole voyage lasted more than three years; and in the course of it Beechey discovered several islands in the Pacific, and an excellent harbour near Cape Prince of Wales. In 1831 there appeared his _Narrative of a Voyage to the Pacific and Bering's Strait to Co-operate with the Polar Expeditions, 1825-1828_. In 1835 and the following year Captain Beechey was employed on the coast survey of South America, and from 1837 to 1847 carried on the same work along the Irish coasts. He was appointed in 1850 to preside over the Marine Department of the Board of Trade. In 1854 he was made rear-admiral, and in the following year was elected president of the Royal Geographical Society. He died on the 29th of November 1856.

BEECHEY, SIR WILLIAM (1753-1839), English portrait-painter, was born at Burford. He was originally meant for a conveyancer, but a strong love for painting induced him to become a pupil at the Royal Academy in 1772. Some of his smaller portraits gained him considerable reputation; he began to be employed by the nobility, and in 1793 became associate of the Academy. In the same year he was made portrait-painter to Queen Charlotte. He painted the portraits of the members of the royal family, and of nearly all the most famous or fashionable persons of the time. What is considered his finest production is a review of cavalry, a large composition, in the foreground of which he introduced portraits of George III., the prince of Wales and the duke of York, surrounded by a brilliant staff on horseback. It was painted in 1798, and obtained for the artist the honour of knighthood, and his election as R.A.

BEECHING, HENRY CHARLES (1859- ), English clergyman and author, was born on the 15th of May 1859, and educated at the City of London school and at Balliol College, Oxford. He took holy orders in 1882, and after three years in a Liverpool curacy he was for fifteen years rector of Yattendon, Berkshire. From 1900 to 1903 he lectured on pastoral and liturgical theology at King's College, London, and was chaplain of Lincoln's Inn, where he became preacher in 1903. He became a canon of Westminster in 1902, and examining chaplain to the bishop of Carlisle in 1905. As a poet he is best known by his share in two volumes--_Love in Idleness_ (1883) and _Love's Looking Glass_ (1891)--which contained also poems by J.W. Mackail and J. Bowyer Nichols. He was a sympathetic editor and critic of the works of many 16th and 17th century poets, of Richard Crashaw (1905), of Herrick (1907), of John Milton (1900), of Henry Vaughan (1896). Under the pseudonym of "Urbanus Sylvan" he published two successful volumes of essays, _Pages from a Private Diary_ (1898) and _Provincial Letters and other Papers_ (1906). His works also include numerous volumes of sermons and essays on theological subjects.

BEECHWORTH, a town of Bogong county, Victoria, Australia, 172 m. by rail N.E. of Melbourne. Pop. (1901) 7359. The town is the centre of the Ovens goldfields, and the district is mainly devoted to mining with both alluvial and reef working, but much of the land is under cultivation, yielding grain and fruit. The water supply is derived from Lake Kerferd in the vicinity, which is a favourite resort of visitors; the scenery near the town, which lies at an elevation of 1805 ft. among the May Day Hills, being singularly beautiful. The industries of Beechworth include tanning, ironfounding and coach-building.

BEEF (through O. Fr. _boef_, mod. _boeuf_, from Lat. _bos, bovis_, ox, Gr. [Greek: bous], which show the ultimate connexion with the Sanskrit _go, gaus_, ox, and thus with "cow"), the flesh of the ox, cow or bull, as used for food. The use of the French word for the meat, while the Saxon name was retained for the animal, has been often noticed, and paralleled with the use of veal, mutton and pork. "Beef" is also used, especially in the plural "beeves," for the ox itself, but usually in an archaic way. "Corned" or "corn" beef is the flesh cured by salting, i.e. sprinkling with "corns" or granulated particles of salt. "Collared" beef is so called from the roll or collar into which the meat is pressed, after extracting the bones. "Jerked" beef, i.e. meat cut into long thin slices and dried in the sun, like "biltong" (q.v.), comes through the Spanish-American _charque_, from _echarqui_, the Peruvian word for this species of preserved meat. For "Beefeater" see YEOMEN OF THE GUARD.

BEEFSTEAK CLUB, the name of several clubs formed in London during the 18th and 19th centuries. The first seems to have been that founded in 1709 with Richard Estcourt, the actor, as steward. Of this the chief wits and great men of the nation were members and its badge was a gridiron. Its fame was, however, entirely eclipsed in 1735 when "The Sublime Society of Steaks" was established by John Rich at Covent Garden theatre, of which he was then manager. It is said that Lord Peterborough supping one night with Rich in his private room, was so delighted with the steak the latter grilled him that he suggested a repetition of the meal the next week. From this started the Club, the members of which delighted to call themselves "The Steaks." Among them were Hogarth, Garrick, Wilkes, Bubb Doddington and many other celebrities. The rendezvous was the theatre till the fire in 1808, when the club moved first to the Bedford Coffee House, and the next year to the Old Lyceum. In 1785 the prince of Wales joined, and later his brothers the dukes of Clarence and Sussex became members. On the burning of the Lyceum, "The Steaks" met again in the Bedford Coffee House till 1838, when the New Lyceum was opened, and a large room there was allotted the club. These meetings were held till the club ceased to exist in 1867. Thomas Sheridan founded a Beefsteak Club in Dublin at the Theatre Royal in 1749, and of this Peg Woffington was president. The modern Beefsteak Club was founded by J.L. Toole, the actor, in 1876.

See J. Timbs, _Clubs and Club Life in London_ (1873); Walter Arnold, _Life and Death of the Sublime Society of Steaks_ (1871).

BEELZEBUB, BEELZEBUL, BAALZEBUB. In 2 Kings i. we read that Ahaziah ben Ahab, king of Israel, fell sick, and sent to inquire of Baalzebub, the god of the Philistine city Ekron, whether he should recover. There is no other mention of this god in the Old Testament. _Baal_, "lord," is the ordinary title or word for a deity, especially a local deity, cf. such place names as Baal Hazor (2 Sam. xiii. 23), Baal Hermon (Judges iii. 3), which are probably contractions of fuller forms, like Beth Baal Meon (Josh. xiii. 17), the House or Temple of the Baal of Meon. According to these analogies we should expect _Zebub_ to be a place. No place _Zebub_, however, is known; and it has been objected that the Baal of some other place would hardly be the god of Ekron. These objections are hardly conclusive.

Usually _Zebub_ is identified with a Hebrew common noun _zebub_ = flies,[1] occurring twice in the Old Testament,[2] so that Baalzebub "is the Baal to whom flies belong or are holy. As children of the summer they are symbols of the warmth of the sun, to which ... Baal stands in close relation. Divination by means of flies was known at Babylon."[3] There are other cases of names compounded of Baal and an element equivalent to a descriptive epithet, e.g. Baalgad, the Baal of Fortune.[4] For the "Fly-god," sometimes interpreted as the "averter of insects," cf [Greek: Zeus apomouios, muiagros], and the Hercules [Greek: muiagros]. Clemens Alexander speaks of a Hercules [Greek: apomuios] as worshipped at Rome. It has been suggested that Baalzebub was the dung-beetle, _Scarabaeus pillularius_, worshipped in Egypt.

A name of a deity on an Assyrian inscription of the 12th century B.C. has been read as _Baal-zabubi_, but this reading has now been abandoned in favour of _Baal-sapunu_ (Baal-Zephon).[5] Cheyne considers that Baalzebub is a "contemptuous uneuphonic Jewish modification of the true name Baalzebul."[6]

In the New Testament we meet with Beelzebul,[7] which some of the versions, especially the Vulgate and Syriac, followed by the Authorized Version, have changed to Beelzebub, under the influence of 2 Kings. In Matt. x. 25, Christ speaks of men calling the master of the house, i.e. Himself, Beelzebul.[8] In Mark iii 22-27,[9] the scribes explain that Jesus is possessed by Beelzebul[10] and is thus enabled to cast out devils. The passage speaks of Beelzebul as Satan and as the prince of the demons.

The origin of the name Beelzebul is variously explained. (a) It is "a phonetic corruption, perhaps a softening of the original word"; as Bab-el-mandel is a corruption of Bab-el-mandeb. (b) _Zebul_ is from _zebel_, a word found in the Targums in the sense of "dung," so that Beelzebul would mean "Lord of Dung," a term of contempt. The further suggestion has been made that _zebul_ itself in the sense of "dung" is a term for a heathen deity, cf. the Old Testament use of "abomination" &c. for heathen deities, so that Beelzebul would mean "Chief of false gods," and so arch-fiend. (c) _Zebul_ is found in 1 Kings viii. 13 in the sense of "height," _beth-sebul_--lofty house, and in Rabbinical writings in the sense of "house" or "temple," or "the fourth heaven";[11] and Beelzebul may equal "Lord of the High House" or "Lord of Heaven." This view is perhaps favoured by Matt. x. 25, "if they have called the lord of the house Beelzebul." It appears, however, that Rabbinical writings use _yom_ (day-of) _zebul_ for the festival of a heathen deity; and Jastrow connects this usage with the meaning "house" or "temple," so that the meaning "Lord of the False Gods" might be arrived at in a different way.

The names _Zebulun, 'Izebel_ (Jezebel), suggest that _Zebul_ may be an ancient name of a deity; cf. the names [Hebrew: baal ezebel] (B'L 'ZBL), [Hebrew: shemzebel] (ShMZBL) in Punic and Phoenician inscriptions.[12] The substitution of Beelzebub for Beelzebul by the Syriac, Vulgate and other versions implies the identification of the New Testament arch-fiend with the god of Ekron; this substitution, however, may be due to the influence of the Aramaic _B'el-debaba_, "adversary," sometimes held to be the original of these names.

There is no trace of Beelzebul or Beelzebub outside of the Biblical passages mentioned, and the literature dependent on them. If we assume a connexion between the two names, there is nothing to show how the god became in later times the devil.

In _Paradise Lost_, Book ii., Beelzebub appears as second only to Satan himself.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.--Lightfoot, _Horae Hebraicae et Talmudicae_, Works, vol. ii. pp. 188 f., 429, ed. Strype (1684); Baethgen, _Beitrage zur semitischen Religionsgeschichte_, pp. 25, 65, 261. Commentaries on the Biblical passages especially Burney and Skinner on _Kings_, Meyer and A.B. Bruce on the _Synoptic Gospels_, and Swete on _Mark_. Articles on "Baal," "Baalzebub," "Beelzebub," "Beelzebul," in Hastings' _Bible Dict._, Black and Cheyne's _Encycl. Bibl._, and Hauck's _Realencyklopadie_; on [Hebrew: baal zebub] in Clarendon Press _Hebr. Lex._; and on [Hebrew: zebel] and [Hebrew: zebul] in Jastrow's _Dict. of the Targumim, &c._ (W. H. Be.)

FOOTNOTES:

[1] So Clarendon Press, _Hebrew Lexicon_, p. 127, with LXX.

[2] Eccl. x. 1; Isaiah vii. 18.

[3] Baethgen, _Beitrage zur semitischen Religionsgeschichte_, p. 25, cf. pp. 65, 261.

[4] Josh, xii. 7.

[5] Art. "Baalzebub," Black and Cheyne's _Ency. Bibl._

[6] With various spellings (e.g. Belzebul, and in XB, Beezebul), all variants of Beelzebul. Cf. Deissmann, _Bible Studies_, 332.

[7] There is a variation of reading, which has been held to support the view that the passage means that men reproached Jesus with His supposed connexion with Beelzebul; cf. A.B. Bruce, _in loco_.

[8] And in the parallel passages, Matt. xii. 22-29; Luke xi. 14-22.

[9] Cf. John vii. 20, viii. 48, 52, x. 20.

[10] Swete, _in loco_.

[11] Jastrow, _Dict. of the Targumim._ &c., sub voce.

[12] Lidzbarski, _Handbuch der nordsemitischen Epigraphik_, i. pp. 240, 377.

BEER, a beverage obtained by a process of alcoholic fermentation mainly from cereals (chiefly malted barley), hops and water. The history of beer extends over several thousand years. According to Dr Bush, a beer made from malt or red barley is mentioned in Egyptian writings as early as the fourth dynasty. It was called [Hieroglyph] or _heqa_. Papyri of the time of Seti I. (1300 B.C.) allude to a person inebriated from over-indulgence in beer. In the second book (c. 77) of Herodotus (450 B.C.) we are told that the Egyptians, being without vines, made wine from barley (cf. Aesch. _Suppl._ 954); but as the grape is mentioned so frequently in Scripture and elsewhere as being most abundant there, and no record exists of the vine being destroyed, we must conclude that the historian was only partially acquainted with the productions of that most fertile country. Pliny (_Natural History_, xxii. 82) informs us that the Egyptians made wine from corn, and gives it the name of _sythum_, which, in the Greek, means drink from barley. The Greeks obtained their knowledge of the art of preparing beer from the Egyptians. The writings of Archilochus, the Parian poet and satirist who flourished about 650 B.C., contain evidence that the Greeks of his day were acquainted with the process of brewing. There is, in fact, little doubt that the discovery of beer and its use as an exhilarating beverage were nearly as early as those of the grape itself, though both the Greeks and the Romans despised it as a barbarian drink. Dioscorides mentions two kinds of beer, namely [Greek: zythos] and [Greek: kourmi], but he does not describe them sufficiently to enable us to distinguish them. Sophocles and other Greek writers, again, styled it [Greek: bryton]. In the time of Tacitus (1st century after Christ), according to him, beer was the usual drink of the Germans, and there can be little doubt that the method of malting barley was then known to them. Pliny (_Nat. Hist._ xxii. 82) mentions the use of beer in Spain under the name of _celia_ and _ceria_ and in Gaul under that of _cerevisia_; and elsewhere (xiv. 29) he says:--"The natives who inhabit the west of Europe have a liquid with which they intoxicate themselves, made from corn and water. The manner of making this liquid is somewhat different in Gaul, Spain and other countries, and it is called by different names, but its nature and properties are everywhere the same. The people in Spain in particular brew this liquid so well that it will keep good a long time. So exquisite is the cunning of mankind in gratifying their vicious appetites that they have thus invented a method to make water itself produce intoxication."

The knowledge of the preparation of a fermented beverage from cereals in early times was not confined to Europe. Thus, according to Dr H.H. Mann, the Kaffir races of South Africa have made for ages--and still make--a kind of beer from millet, and similarly the natives of Nubia, Abyssinia and other parts of Africa prepare an intoxicating beverage, generally called _bousa_, from a variety of cereal grains. The Russian _quass_, made from barley and rye, the Chinese _samshu_, made from rice, and the Japanese _sake_ (q.v.) are all of ancient origin. Roman historians mention the fact that the Britons in the south of England at the time of the Roman invasion brewed a species of ale from barley and wheat. The Romans much improved the methods of brewing in vogue among the Britons, and the Saxons--among whom ale had long been a common beverage--in their turn profited much by the instruction given to the original inhabitants of Great Britain by the Romans. We are informed by William of Malmesbury that in the reign of Henry II. the English were greatly addicted to drinking, and by that time the monasteries were already famous, both in England and on the continent, for the excellence of their ales. The waters of Burton-on-Trent began to be famous in the 13th century. The secret of their being so especially adapted for brewing was first discovered by some monks, who held land in the adjacent neighbourhood of Wetmore. There is a document dated 1295 in which it is stated that Matilda, daughter of Nicholas de Shoben, had re-leased to the abbot and convent of Burton-on-Trent certain tenements within and without the town; for which re-lease they granted her, daily for life, two white loaves from the monastery, two gallons of conventual beer, and one penny, besides seven gallons of beer for the men. The abbots of Burton apparently made their own malt, for it was a common covenant in leases of mills belonging to the abbey that the malt of the lords of the manor, both spiritual and temporal, should be ground free of charge. Robert Plot, in his _Natural History of Staffordshire_ (1686), refers to the peculiar properties of the Burton waters, from which, he says, "by an art well known in this country good ale is made, in the management of which they have a knack of fining it in three days to that degree that it shall not only be potable, but is clear and palatable as we could desire any drink of this kind to be." In 1630 Burton beer began to be known in London, being sold at "Ye Peacocke" in Gray's Inn Lane, and according to the _Spectator_ was in great demand amongst the visitors in Vauxhall. Until tea and coffee were introduced, beer and ale (see ALE) were, practically speaking, the only popular beverages accessible to the general body of consumers. Since the advent of tea, coffee, cocoa and mineral waters, the character of British beers has undergone a gradual modification, the strongly alcoholic, heavily hopped liquids consumed by the previous generation slowly giving place to the lighter beverages in vogue at the present time. The old "stock bitter" has given way to the "light dinner ale," and "porter" (so called from the fact that it was the popular drink amongst the market porters of the 18th century) has been largely replaced by "mild ale." A certain quantity of strong beer--such as heavy stouts and "stock" and "Scotch" ales--is still brewed nowadays, but it is not an increasing one. The demand is almost entirely for medium beers such as mild ale, light stout, and the better class of "bitter" beers, and light beers such as the light "family ales," "dinner ales" and lager.

The general run of beers contain from 3 to 6% of alcohol and 4 to 7% of solids, the remainder being water and certain flavouring and preservative matters derived from the malt, hops and other materials employed in their manufacture. The solid, i.e. non-volatile, matter contained in solution in beer consists mainly of maltose or malt sugar, of several varieties of dextrin (see BREWING), of substances which stand in an intermediate position between the sugars and the dextrins proper, and of a number of bodies containing nitrogen, such as the non-coagulable proteids, peptones, &c. In addition there is an appreciable quantity of mineral matter, chiefly phosphates and potash. Dietetically regarded, therefore, beer possesses considerable food value, and, moreover, the nutritious matter in beer is present in a readily assimilable form.

It is probable that the average adult member of the British working classes consumes not less than two pints of beer daily. A reasonable calculation places the total proteids and carbohydrates consumed by the average worker at 140 and 400 grammes respectively. Taking the proteid content of the average beer at 0.4% and the carbohydrate content at 4%, a simple calculation shows that about 3% of the total proteid and 11% of the total carbohydrate food of the average worker will be consumed in the shape of beer.

The chemical composition of beers of different types will be gathered from the following tables.

A. ENGLISH BEERS.

(Analyses by J.L. Baker, Hulton & P. Schidrowitz.)

I. _Mild Ales._

+---------+------------------+-----------+------------------------+ | Number.| Original Gravity.| Alcohol %.| Extractives (Solids) %.| +---------+------------------+-----------+------------------------+ | 1.[1] | 1055.13 | 4.17 | 6.1 | | 2.[1] | 1055.64 | 4.47 | 5.7 | | 3.[2] | 1071.78 | 5.57 | 7.3 | +---------+------------------+-----------+------------------------+

II. _Light Bitters and Ales._

+---------+------------------+-----------+------------------------+ | Number.| Original Gravity.| Alcohol %.| Extractives (Solids) %.| +---------+------------------+-----------+------------------------+ | 1. | 1046.81 | 4.15 | 4.0 | | 2. | 1047.69 | 4.23 | 4.1 | | 3. | 1047.79 | 4.61 | 3.2 | | 4. | 1050.30 | 4.53 | 4.2 | | 5. | 1038.31 | 3.81 | 3.5 | +---------+------------------+-----------+------------------------+

III. _Pale and Stock Ales._

+---------+------------------+-----------+------------------------+ | Number.| Original Gravity.| Alcohol %.| Extractives (Solids) %.| +---------+------------------+-----------+------------------------+ | 1.[3] | 1059.01 | 4.77 | 5.8 | | 2.[4] | 1068.58 | 5.48 | 7.1 | | 3.[4] | 1076.80 | 6.68 | 5.9 | +---------+------------------+-----------+------------------------+

IV. _Stouts and Porter._

+---------+------------------+-----------+------------------------+ | Number.| Original Gravity.| Alcohol %.| Extractives (Solids) %.| +---------+------------------+-----------+------------------------+ | 1.[5] | 1072.92 | 6.14 | 6.3 | | 2.[6] | 1054.26 | 4.73 | 4.5 | | 3.[6] | 1081.62 | 6.02 | 8.8 | | 4.[7] | 1054.11 | 3.90 | 6.5 | +---------+------------------+-----------+------------------------+