VOLUME III SLICE VI Bent, James to Bibirine (continued 9)

See A. Chaquet, Les Guerres de la Révolution (Paris, 1886).

BEUST, FRIEDRICH FERDINAND VON (1809-1886), Austrian statesman, was descended from a noble family which had originally sprung from the Mark of Brandenburg, and of which one branch had been for over 300 years settled in Saxony. He was born on the 13th of January 1809 in Dresden, where his father held office at the Saxon court. After studying at Leipzig and Göttingen he entered the Saxon public service; in 1836 he was made secretary of legation at Berlin, and afterwards held appointments at Paris, Munich and London. In March 1848 he was summoned to Dresden to take the office of foreign minister, but in consequence of the outbreak of the revolution was not appointed. In May he was appointed Saxon envoy at Berlin, and in February 1849 was again summoned to Dresden, and this time appointed minister of foreign affairs, an office which he continued to hold till 1866. In addition to this he held the ministry of education and public worship from 1849 to 1853; that of internal affairs in 1853, and in the same year was appointed minister-president. From the time that he entered the ministry he was, however, the leading member of it, and he was chiefly responsible for the events of 1849. By his advice the king refused to accept the constitution proclaimed by the Frankfort parliament, a policy which led to the outbreak of revolution in Dresden, which was suppressed after four days’ fighting by Prussian troops, for whose assistance Beust had asked. On Beust fell also the chief responsibility for governing the country after order was restored, and he was the author of the so-called coup d’état of June 1850 by which the new constitution was overthrown. The vigour he showed in repressing all resistance to the government, especially that of the university, and in reorganizing the police, made him one of the most unpopular men among the Liberals, and his name became synonymous with the worst form of reaction, but it is not clear that the attacks on him were justified. After this he was chiefly occupied with foreign affairs, and he soon became one of the most conspicuous figures in German politics. He was the leader of that party which hoped to maintain the independence of the smaller states, and was the opponent of all attempts on the part of Prussia to attract them into a separate union; in 1849-1850 he had been obliged to join the “three kings’ union” of Prussia, Hanover and Saxony, but he was careful to keep open a loophole for withdrawal, of which he speedily availed himself. In the crisis of 1851 Saxony was on the side of Austria, and he supported the restoration of the diet of the confederation. In 1854 he took part in the Bamberg conferences, in which the smaller German states claimed the right to direct their own policy independent of that of Austria or of Prussia, and he was the leading supporter of the idea of the Trias, i.e. that the smaller states should form a closer union among themselves against the preponderance of the great monarchies. In 1863 he came forward as a warm supporter of the claims of the prince of Augustenburg to Schleswig-Holstein (see Schleswig-Holstein Question); he was the leader of the party in the German diet which refused to recognize the settlement of the Danish question effected in 1852 by the treaty of London, and in 1864 he was appointed representative of the diet at the congress of London. He was thus thrown into opposition to the policy of Bismarck, and he was exposed to violent attacks in the Prussian press as a “particularist,” i.e. a supporter of the independence of the smaller states. The expulsion of the Saxon troops from Rendsburg nearly led to a conflict with Prussia. Beust was accused of having brought about the war of 1866, but the responsibility for this must rest with Bismarck. On the outbreak of war Beust accompanied the king to Prague, and thence to Vienna, where they were received by the emperor with the news of Königgrätz. Beust undertook a mission to Paris to procure the help of Napoleon. When the terms of peace were discussed he resigned, for Bismarck refused to negotiate with him.

After the victory of Prussia there was no place for Beust in Germany, and his public career seemed to be closed, but he quite unexpectedly received an invitation from the emperor of Austria to become his foreign minister. It was a bold decision, for Beust was not only a stranger to Austria, but also a Protestant; but the choice of the emperor justified itself. Beust threw himself into his new position with great energy; it was owing to him that the negotiations with Hungary were brought to a successful issue. When difficulties came he went himself to Budapest, and acted directly with the Hungarian leaders. In 1867 he also held the position of Austrian minister-president, and he carried through the measures by which parliamentary government was restored. He also carried on the negotiations with the pope concerning the repeal of the concordat, and in this matter also did much by a liberal policy to relieve Austria from the pressure of institutions which had checked the development of the country. In 1868, after giving up his post as minister-president, he was appointed chancellor of the empire, and received the title of count. His conduct of foreign affairs, especially in the matter of the Balkan States and Crete, successfully maintained the position of the empire. In 1869 he accompanied the emperor on his expedition to the East. He was still to some extent influenced by the anti-Prussian feeling he had brought from Saxony. He maintained a close understanding with France, and there can be little doubt that he would have welcomed an opportunity in his new position of another struggle with his old rival Bismarck. In 1867, however, he helped to bring the affair of Luxemburg to a peaceful termination. In 1870 he did not disguise his sympathy for France, and the failure of all attempts to bring about an intervention of the powers, joined to the action of Russia in denouncing the treaty of Paris, was the occasion of his celebrated saying that he was nowhere able to find Europe. After the war was over he completely accepted the new organization of Germany.

As early as December 1870 he had opened a correspondence with Bismarck with a view to establishing a good understanding with Germany. Bismarck accepted his advances with alacrity, and the new entente, which Beust announced to the Austro-Hungarian delegations in July 1871, was sealed in August by a friendly meeting of the two old rivals and enemies at Gastein.

In 1871 Beust interfered at the last moment, together with Andrássy, to prevent the emperor accepting the federalist plans of Hohenwart. He was successful, but at the same time he was dismissed from office. The precise cause for this is not known, and no reason was given him. At his own request he was appointed Austrian ambassador at London; in 1878 he was transferred to Paris; in 1882 he retired from public life. He died at his villa at Altenberg, near Vienna, on the 24th of October 1886, leaving two sons, both of whom entered the Austrian diplomatic service. His wife, a Bavarian lady, survived him only a few weeks. His elder brother Friedrich Konstantin (1806-1891), who was at the head of the Saxon department for mines, was the author of several works on mining and geology, a subject in which other members of the family had distinguished themselves.

Beust was in many ways a diplomatist of the old school. He had great social gifts and personal graces; he was proud of his proficiency in the lighter arts of composing waltzes and vers de société. His chief fault was vanity, but it was an amiable weakness. It was more vanity than rancour which made him glad to appear even in later years as the great opponent of Bismarck; and if he cared too much for popularity, and was very sensitive to neglect, the saying attributed to Bismarck, that if his vanity were taken away there would be nothing left, is very unjust. He was apt to look more to the form than the substance, and attached too much importance to the verbal victory of a well-written despatch; but when the opportunity was given him he showed higher qualities. In the crisis of 1849 he displayed considerable courage, and never lost his judgment even in personal danger. If he was defeated in his German policy, it must be remembered that Bismarck held all the good cards, and in 1866 Saxony was the only one of the smaller states which entered on the war with an army properly equipped and ready at the moment. That he was no mere reactionary the whole course of his government in Saxony, and still more in Austria, shows. His Austrian policy has been much criticized, on the ground that in establishing the system of dualism he gave too much to Hungary, and did not really understand Austrian affairs; and the Austro-Hungarian crisis during the early years of the present century has given point to this view. Yet it remains the fact that in a crisis of extraordinary difficulty he carried to a successful conclusion a policy which, even if it was not the best imaginable, was probably the best attainable in the circumstances.

Beust was the author of reminiscences: Aus drei Viertel-Jahrhunderten (2 vols., Stuttgart, 1887; English trans. edited by Baron H. de Worms); and he also wrote a shorter work, Erinnerungen zu Erinnerungen (Leipzig, 1881), in answer to attacks made on him by his former colleague, Herr v. Frieseri, in his reminiscences. See also Ebeling, F.F. Graf v. Beust (Leipzig, 1876), a full and careful account of his political career, especially up to 1866; Diplomatic Sketches: No. 1, Count Beust, by Outsider (Baron Carl v. Malortie); Flathe, Geschichte van Sachsen, vol. iii. (Gotha, 1877); Friesen, Erinnerungen aus meinem Leben (Dresden, 1880).

(J. W. He.)

BEUTHEN, or Niederbeuthen, a town of Germany, in the north of Prussian Silesia, on the Oder, the capital of the mediatized principality of Carolath-Beuthen. Pop. (1900) 3164. The chief industries of the place are straw-plaiting, boat-building, and the manufacture of pottery; and a considerable traffic is carried on by means of the river.

BEUTHEN, or Oberbeuthen, a town of Germany, in the extreme south-east of Prussian Silesia, on the railway between Breslau and Cracow, 121 m. S.E. of the former. Pop. (1905) 60,078. It is the centre of the mining district of Upper Silesia, and its population is mainly engaged in such operations and in iron and zinc smelting. Beuthen is an old town, and was formerly the capital of the Bohemian duchy of Beuthen, which in 1620 was ultimately granted, as a free lordship of the Empire, to Lazarus, Baron Henckel von Donnersmarck, by the emperor Ferdinand II., and parts of which, now mediatized, are held by two branches of the counts Henckel von Donnersmarck.

BEVEL (from an O. Fr. word, cf. mod. biveau, a joiner’s instrument), the inclination of one surface of a solid body to another; also, any angle other than a right angle, and particularly, in joinery, the angle to which a piece of timber has to be cut. The mechanic’s instrument known as a bevel consists of a rule with two arms so jointed as to be adjustable to any angle. In heraldry, a bevel is an angular break in a line. Bevelment, as a term of crystallography, means the replacement of an edge of a crystal by two planes equally inclined to the adjacent planes. As an architectural term “bevel” is a sloped or canted edge given to a sill or horizontal course of stone, but is more frequently applied to the canted edges worked round the projecting bands of masonry which for decorative purposes are employed on the quoins of walls or windows and in some cases, with vertical joints, cover the whole wall. When the outer face of the stone band is left rough so that it forms what is known as rusticated masonry, the description would be bevelled and rusticated. The term is sometimes applied to the splaying of the edges of a window on the outside, but the wide expansion made inside in order to admit more light is known as a splay.

BEVERLEY, WILLIAM ROXBY (1814?-1889), English artist and scene-painter, was born at Richmond, Surrey, about 1814, the son of William Roxby, an actor-manager who had assumed the name of Beverley. His four brothers and his sister all entered the theatrical profession, and Beverley soon became both actor and scene-painter. In 1831 his father and his brothers took over the old Durham circuit, and he joined them to play heavy comedy for several seasons, besides painting scenery. His work was first seen in 1831 in London, for the pantomime Baron Munchausen at the Victoria theatre, which was being managed by his brother Henry. He was appointed scenic director for the Covent Garden operas in 1853. In 1854 he entered the service of the Drury Lane theatre under the management of E.T. Smith, and for thirty years continued to produce wonderful scenes for the pantomimes, besides working for Covent Garden and a number of other theatres. In 1851 he executed part of a great diorama of Jerusalem and the Holy Land, and produced dioramic views of the ascent of Mont Blanc, exhibited at the Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly, and in 1884 a panorama of the Lakes of Killarney. He was a frequent exhibitor of sea pictures at the Royal Academy from 1865 to 1880. In 1884 failing eyesight put an end to his painting. He died in comparative poverty at Hampstead on the 17th of May 1889. He was the last of the old school of one surface painters, and famed for the wonderful atmospheric effects he was able to produce. Although he was skilled in all the mechanical devices of the stage, and painted in 1881 scenery for Michael Strogoff at the Adelphi, in which for the first time in England the still life of the stage was placed in harmony with the background, he was strongly opposed to the new school of scene-builders.

BEVERLEY, a market town and municipal borough in the Holderness parliamentary division of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, 8 m. N.N.W. of Hull by a branch of the North-Eastern railway. Pop. (1901) 13,183. It lies in a level country east of the line of slight elevations known as the Wolds, near the river Hull, and has communication by canal with Hull. The church of St John the Evangelist, commonly called Beverley Minster, is a magnificent building, exceeding in size and splendour some of the English cathedrals. A monastery was founded here by John of Beverley (c. 640-721), a native of the East Riding, who was bishop successively of Hexham and of York, and was canonized in 1037. A college of secular canons followed in the 10th century, the provostship of which subsequently became an office of high dignity, and was held by Thomas Becket, afterwards archbishop of Canterbury. Of the existing building, the easternmost bay of the nave, the transepts with east and west aisles, the choir with aisles and short transepts, and the Lady chapel, are Early English, a superb example of the finest development of that style. The remainder of the nave is Decorated, excepting the westernmost bay which is Perpendicular, as is the ornate west front with its graceful flanking towers. The north porch is also a beautiful example of this style. The most noteworthy details within the church are the exquisite Early English staircase which led to the chapter house (no longer remaining), and the Percy tomb, a remarkable example of Decorated work, commemorating Eleanor, wife of Henry Percy (d. 1328). The church of St Mary is a cruciform building with central tower, almost entirely of Decorated and Perpendicular work. Though overshadowed by the presence of the minster, it is yet a very fine example of its styles, its most noteworthy features being the tower and the west front. Beverley was walled, and one gate of the 15th century remains; there are also some picturesque old houses. The industries are tanning, iron-founding, brewing and the manufacture of chemicals; and there is a large agricultural trade. Beverley is the seat of a suffragan bishop in the diocese of York. The municipal borough is under a mayor, 6 aldermen and 18 councillors, and has an area of 2404 acres, including a large extent of common pasture land.

Beverley (Beverlac) is said to be on the site of a British settlement. Evidently a church had existed there before 704, since in that year it was restored by St John of Beverley, who also founded a monastery there and was himself buried in the church. In the devastation of the north of England which followed the Conquest, Beverley is said to have escaped by a miracle attributed to St John; the Norman leader, while about to enter and pillage the church, fell from his horse dead, and the king, thinking this a sign that the town was under the protection of heaven, exempted it from pillage. From the time of St John of Beverley until the dissolution of the monasteries, the manor and town of Beverley belonged to the archbishopric of York, and is said to have been held under a charter of liberties supposed to have been granted by King Æthelstan in 925. This charter, besides other privileges, is said to have granted sanctuary in Beverley, and the “leuga” over which this privilege extended was afterwards shown to include the whole town. Confirmations of Æthelstan’s charter were granted by Edward the Confessor and other succeeding kings. In the reign of Henry I., Thurstan, archbishop of York, gave the burgesses their first charter, which is one of the earliest granted to any town in England. In it he granted them the same privileges as the citizens of York, among these being a gild merchant and freedom from toll throughout the whole of Yorkshire, with right to take it at all the markets and fairs in their town except at the three principal fairs, the toll of which belonged to the archbishop. In 1200 King John granted the town a new charter, for which the burgesses had to pay 500 marks. Other charters generally confirming the first were granted to the town by most of the early kings. The incorporation charter granted by Queen Elizabeth in 1573 was confirmed by Charles I. in 1629 and Charles II. in 1663, and renewed by James II. on his accession. Parliamentary representation by two members began in the reign of Edward I., but lapsed, until the corporation charter of 1573, from which date it continued until the Reform Act of 1867. In 1554-1555 Queen Mary granted the three fairs on the feasts of St John the Confessor, the Translation of St John and the Nativity of St John the Baptist, together with the weekly markets on Wednesday and Saturday, which had been held by the archbishops of York by traditional grant of Edward the Confessor to the burgesses of the town. Cloth-weaving was one of the chief industries of Beverley; it is mentioned and appears to have been important as early as 1315.

See Victoria County History—Yorkshire; G. Poulson, Beverlac; Antiquities and History of Beverley and of the Provostry, &c., of St John’s (2 vols., 1829); G. Oliver, D.D., History and Antiquities of Beverley, &c. (1829).

BEVERLY, a seaboard city of Essex county, Massachusetts, U.S.A., situated on the N. shore of Massachusetts Bay, opposite Salem. It is 18 m. from Boston on the Boston & Maine railway. Pop. (1890) 10,821; (1900) 13,884, of whom 2814 were foreign-born; (1910, census) 18,650. The land area of the city is about 15 sq. m. The surface is the typical glacial topography, with a few low, rocky hills, less than 100 ft. in height. There are beautiful drives through well-wooded districts, studded with handsome summer houses. In the city are a public library, the Beverly hospital, the New England industrial school for deaf mutes (organized, 1876; incorporated, 1870), and the Beverly historical society (1891), which owns a large colonial house, in which there is a valuable historical collection. The city has an excellent public school system. There are a number of manufacturing establishments; in 1905 the total factory product of the city was valued at $4,101,168, boots and shoes accounting for more than one-half of the total. Leather and shoe machinery also are important manufactures; and the main plant of the United Shoe Machinery Corporation is located here. Market gardening is a considerable industry, and large quantities of vegetables are raised under glass for the Boston markets. Fishing is an industry no longer of much importance. Beverly is connected by a regular line of oil-steamers with Port Arthur, Texas, and is the main distributing point for the Texas oil fields. The first settlement within the limits of Beverly was made by Roger Conant in 1626. The town was a part of Salem until 1668, when it was incorporated as a separate township; in 1894 it was chartered as a city. In 1788 there was established here the first cotton mill to be successfully operated in the United States. The manufacture of Britannia ware was begun in 1812. George Cabot lived for many years in Beverly, which he represented in the provincial congress (1779); Nathan Dane (1752-1835) was also a resident; and it was the birthplace of Wilson Flagg (1805-1884), the author of Studies in the Field and Forest (1857), The Woods and By-Ways of New England (1872), The Birds and Seasons of New England (1875), and A Year with the Birds (1881). It was also the birthplace and early home of Lucy Larcom (1826-1893), and the scene of much of her Story of a New England Girlhood (Boston, 1889).

BEVIS OF HAMPTON, the name of an English metrical romance. Bevis is the son of Guy, count of Hampton (Southampton) and his young wife, a daughter of the king of Scotland. The countess asks a former suitor, Doon or Devoun, emperor of Almaine (Germany), to send an army to murder Guy in the forest. The plot is successful, and she marries Doon. When threatened with future vengeance by her ten-year-old son, she determines to make away with him also, but he is saved from death by a faithful tutor, is sold to heathen pirates, and reaches the court of King Hermin, whose realm is variously placed in Egypt and Armenia (Armorica). The exploits of Bevis, his love for the king’s daughter Josiane, his mission to King Bradmond of Damascus with a sealed letter demanding his own death, his imprisonment, his final vengeance on his stepfather are related in detail. After succeeding to his inheritance he is, however, driven into exile and separated from Josiane, to whom he is reunited only after each of them has contracted, in form only, a second union. The story also relates the hero’s death and the fortunes of his two sons.

The oldest extant version appears to be Boeve de Haumtone, an Anglo-Norman text which dates from the first half of the 13th century. The English metrical romance, Sir Beues of Hamtoun, is founded on some French original varying slightly from those which have been preserved. The oldest MS. dates from the beginning of the 14th century. The French chanson de geste, Beuve d’Hanstone, was followed by numerous prose versions. The printed editions of the story were most numerous in Italy, where Bovo d’Antona was the subject of more than one poem, and the tale was interpolated in the Reali di Francia, the Italian compilation of Carolingian legend. Although the English version that we possess is based on a French original, it seems probable that the legend took shape on English soil in the 10th century, and that it originated with the Danish invaders. Doon may be identified with the emperor Otto the Great, who was the contemporary of the English king Edgar of the story. R. Zenker (Boeve-Amlethus, Berlin and Leipzig, 1904) establishes a close parallel between Bevis and the Hamlet legend as related by Saxo Grammaticus in the Historia Danica. Among the more obvious coincidences which point to a common source are the vengeance taken on a stepfather for a father’s death, the letter bearing his own death-warrant which is entrusted to the hero, and his double marriage.1 The motive of the feigned madness is, however, lacking in Bevis. The princess who is Josiane’s rival is less ferocious than the Hermuthruda of the Hamlet legend, but she threatens Bevis with death if he refuses her. Both seem to be modelled on the type of Thyrdo of the Beowulf legend. A fanciful etymology connecting Bevis (Boeve) with Béowa (Béowulf), on the ground that both were dragon slayers, is inadmissible.

Bibliography.—The Romance of Sir Beues of Hamtoun, edited from six MSS. and the edition (without date) of Richard Pynson, by E. Kölbing (Early Eng. Text Soc., 1885-1886-1894); A. Stimming, “Der anglonormannische Boeve de Haumtone,” in H. Suchier’s Bibl. Norm. vol. vii. (Halle, 1899); the Welsh version, with a translation, is given by R. Williams, Selections of the Hengwrt MSS. (vol. ii., London, 1892); the old Norse version by G. Cederschiöld, Fornsogur Sudhrlanda (Lund, 1884); A. Wesselofsky, “Zum russischen Bovo d’Antona” (in Archiv für slav. Phil. vol. viii., 1885); for the early printed editions of the romance in English, French and Italian see G. Brunet, Manuel du libraire, s.vv. Bevis, Beufues and Buovo.

1 On double marriage in early romance see G. Paris, “La Légende du mari aux deux femmes,” in La Poésie du moyen âge (2nd series, Paris, 1895); and A. Nutt, “The Lai of Eliduc,” &c, in Folk-Lore, vol. iii. (1892).

BEWDLEY, a market town and municipal borough in the Bewdley parliamentary division of Worcestershire, England; 137 m. N.W. by W. from London and 17¼ N. by W. from Worcester by rail. Pop. (1901) 2866. The Worcester-Shrewsbury line of the Great Western is here joined by lines east from Birmingham and west from Tenbury. Bewdley is pleasantly situated on the sloping right bank of the Severn, on the eastern border of the forest of Wyre. A bridge by Telford (1797) crosses the river. A free grammar school, founded in 1591, was re-founded by James I. in 1606, and possesses a large library bequeathed in 1812. The town manufactures combs and horn goods, brass and iron wares, leather, malt, bricks and ropes. The town is governed by a mayor, 4 aldermen and 12 councillors. Area, 2105 acres.

Bewdley (i.e. Beaulieu) is probably referred to in the Domesday survey as “another Ribbesford,” and was held by the king. The manor, then called Bellus Locus or Beaulieu on account of its beautiful situation, was afterwards granted to the Mortimers, in whose family it continued until it was merged in the crown on the accession of Edward IV. It is from this time that Bewdley dates its importance. Through its situation on the Severn it was connected with the sea, and in 1250 a bridge, the only one between it and Worcester, was built across the river and added greatly to the commerce of the town. From Edward IV. Bewdley received its charter in 1472, and there appears to be no evidence that it was a borough before this time. Other charters were granted in 1605, 1685 and 1708. By James I.’s charter the burgesses sent one member to parliament, and continued to do so until 1885. A fair and a market on Wednesday were granted by Edward III. in 1373 to his grand-daughter Philippa, wife of Edmund Mortimer, and confirmed to Richard, duke of York, by Henry VI. Edward IV. also granted the burgesses a market on Saturdays, and three fairs, which were confirmed to them by Henry VII. Coal-mines were worked in Bewdley as early as 1669, and the town was formerly noted for making caps.

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 £3000 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 École 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, Mélanie 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. Mélanie 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 régime, 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 César Bombet, his Lettres écrites de Vienne en Aulriche sur le célèbre compositeur, Joseph Haydn, suivies d’une vie de Mozart, et de considérations sur Métastase et l’état présent 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 Métastase. 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 “idéologues” who gathered round Destutt de Tracy. He was the most closely allied with Prosper Mérimée, 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 XIXe siècle (2 vols., 1830) appeared in Paris after his departure, but attracted small notice. He had published in 1838 Mémoires 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 Napoléon (1875); Mélanges d’art et de littérature (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 inédites (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’égotisme (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. Brunetière 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 Mérimée; A.A. Paton, Henry Beyle, a Critical and Biographical Study (1874); Adolphe Paupe, Histoire des œuvres 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 écrivains français” series. See also Correspondance de Stendhal, 1800-1842, with preface by M. Barrés (Paris, 1908).

1 Quì giace Arrigo Beyle Milanese; visse, scrisse, amò.

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 Nöggerath. 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 Beiträgezur Kenntniss der Versteinerungen des rheinischen Übergangs-gebirges (1837); Über einige böhmische Trilobiten (1845); Die Conchylien des norddeutschen Tertiärgebirges (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 Blätter. 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 Bèsze), THEODORE (1519-1605), French theologian, son of bailli Pierre de Bèsze, 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 Bèsze, 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 ecclésiastique (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.

BEZANTÉE, 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.

His activity was prodigious, and Catharine called him her factotum. In 1780 he accompanied her on her journey through White Russia, meeting the emperor Joseph, who urged him to study diplomacy. On his return from a delicate mission to Copenhagen, he presented to the empress “a memorial on political affairs” which comprised the first plan of a partition of Turkey between Russia and Austria. This document was transmitted almost word for word to Vienna as the Russian proposals. He followed this up by Epitomised Historical Information concerning Moldavia. For these two state papers he was rewarded with the posts of “plenipotentiary for all negotiations” in the foreign office and postmaster-general. From this time he was inseparably associated with Catharine in all important diplomatic affairs, though officially he was the subordinate of the vice-chancellor, Count Alexander Osterman. He wrote all the most important despatches to the Russian ministers abroad, concluded and subscribed all treaties, and performed all the functions of a secretary of state. He identified himself entirely with Catharine’s political ideas, even with that of re-establishing the Greek empire under her grandson Constantine. The empress, as usual, richly rewarded her comes with pensions and principalities. In 1786 he was promoted to the senate, and it was through him that the empress communicated her will to that august state-decoration. In 1787 he accompanied Catharine on her triumphal progress through South Russia in the capacity of minister of foreign affairs. At Kaniev he conducted the negotiations with the Polish king, Stanislaus II., and at Novuiya Kaidaniya he was in the empress’s carriage when she received Joseph II.

The second Turkish War (1787-92) and the war with Gustavus III. (1788-90) heaped fresh burdens on his already heavily laden shoulders, and he suffered from the intrigues of his numerous jealous rivals, including the empress’s latest favourite, A.M. Mamonov. All his efforts were directed towards the conclusion of the two oppressive wars by an honourable peace. The pause of Verelå with Gustavus III. (14th of August 1790) was on the terms dictated by him. On the sudden death of Potemkin he was despatched to Jassy to prevent the peace congress there from breaking up, and succeeded, in the face of all but insuperable difficulties, in concluding a treaty exceedingly advantageous to Russia (9th of January 1792). For this service he received the thanks of the empress, the ribbon of St Andrew and 50,000 roubles. On his return from Jassy, however, he found his confidential post of secretary of petitions occupied by the empress’s last favourite, P.A. Zubov. He complained of this “diminution of his dignity” to the empress in a private memorial in the course of 1793. The empress reassured him by fresh honours and distinctions on the occasion of the solemn celebration of the peace of Jassy (2nd of September 1793), when she publicly presented him with a golden olive-branch encrusted with brilliants. Subsequently Catharine reconciled him with Zubov, and he resumed the conduct of foreign affairs. He contributed more than any other man to bring about the downfall and the third partition of Poland, for which he was magnificently recompensed. But diplomacy by no means exhausted Bezborodko’s capacity for work. He had a large share in the internal administration also. He reformed the post-office, improved the banking system of Russia, regulated the finances, constructed roads, and united the Uniate and Orthodox churches.

On the death of Catharine, the emperor Paul entrusted Bezborodko with the examination of the late empress’s private papers, and shortly afterwards made him a prince of the Russian empire, with a correspondingly splendid apanage. On the retirement of Osterman he received the highest dignity in the Russian empire—that of imperial chancellor. Bezborodko was the only Russian minister who retained the favour of Paul to the last. During the last two years of his life the control of Russia’s diplomacy was entirely in his hands. His programme at this period was peace with all the European powers, revolutionary France included. But the emperor’s growing aversion from this pacific policy induced the astute old minister to attempt to “seek safety in moral and physical repose.” Paul, however, refused to accept his resignation and would have sent him abroad for the benefit of his health, had not a sudden stroke of paralysis prevented Bezborodko from taking advantage of his master’s kindness. He died at St Petersburg on the 6th of April 1799. In private life Bezborodko was a typical Catharinian, corrupt, licentious, conscienceless and self-seeking. But he was infinitely generous and affectionate, and spent his enormous fortune liberally. His banquets were magnificent, his collections of pictures and statues unique in Europe. He was the best friend of his innumerable poor relatives, and the Maecenas of all the struggling authors of his day. Sycophantic he might have been, but he was neither ungrateful nor vindictive. His patriotism is as indisputable as his genius.

See Sbornik (Collections) of the Imperial Russian Historical Society (Fr. and Russ.), vols. 60-100 (St Petersburg, 1870-1904); Nikolai Ivanovich Grigorovich, The Chancellor A.A. Bezborodko in Connexion with the Events of His Time (Rus., St Petersburg, 1879-1881).

(R. N. B.)

BEZEL (from an O. Fr. word, cf. Mod. Fr. biseau, basile, possibly connected with Lat. bis, twice), a sloping edge, as of a cutting tool, also known as basil. In jewelry, the term is used for the oblique sides or faces of a gem; the rim which secures the crystal of a watch in position or a jewel in its setting, and particularly the enlarged part of a ring on which the device is engraved (see Ring).

BÉZIERS, a town of southern France, capital of an arrondissement in the department of Hérault, 47 m. S.W. of Montpellier by rail. Pop. (1906) 46,262. Béziers is situated in a wine-growing district on a hill on the left bank of the river Orb, which is joined at this point by the Canal du Midi. The Allées Paul Riquet, named after the creator of the canal, occupy the centre of Béziers and divide the old town with its maze of narrow and irregular streets from the new quarter to the east. They form a long and shady promenade, terminating at one end in the Place de la République and the theatre, the front of which is decorated with bas-reliefs by David d’Angers, and at the other in a beautiful park, the Plateau des Poétes. The most interesting portion of the town is the extreme west where the old ramparts overlook the Orb. Above them towers St Nazaire, the finest of the churches of Béziers; it dates from the 12th to the 14th centuries and is a good specimen of the ecclesiastical fortification common in southern France. Its chief artistic features are the rose window in the western façade, and the stained glass and curious iron grilles of the choir-windows, which belong to the 14th century. Adjoining the south transept there are Gothic cloisters of the 14th century. The Orb is crossed by four bridges, the railway bridge, an ancient bridge of the 13th or 14th century, a modern bridge and the fine aqueduct by which the Canal du Midi is carried over the river. About half a mile to the south-west of the town are the locks of Fonserannes, in which in 330 yds. the water of the canal descends 80 ft. to reach the level of the Orb. There are remains of a Roman arena which have been built into the houses of the rue St Jacques. Béziers is seat of a sub-prefect and has tribunals of first instance and of commerce, communal colleges and several learned societies. It is an agricultural market and carries on an active trade in wine, brandy, fruit, leather and sulphur. Its industries are chiefly connected with the wine trade (cask and cork making, &c.) and there are important distilleries. It also has iron-works and tanneries.

The Romans established a colony at Béziers, and it was the headquarters of the seventh legion, under the title of Baeterrae Septimanorum. The present name occurs in the form Besara as early as Festus Avienus (later 4th century). The town was completely destroyed in 1209 by the forces of Simon de Montfort in the crusade against the Albigenses, on which occasion 20,000 persons were massacred. The walls were rebuilt in 1289; but the town again suffered severely in the civil and religious wars of the 16th century, and all its fortifications were destroyed in 1632.

BÉZIQUE (probably from Span. besico, little kiss, in allusion to the meeting of the queen and knave, an important feature in the game), a game at cards played with two similar packs from which the twos, threes, fours, fives and sixes have been rejected, shuffled together and used as one. It is modelled on a group of card games which possess many features in common; the oldest of these is mariage, then follow brusquembille, l’homme de brou, briscan or brisque, and cinq-cents. Bézique (also called besi and besigue) is, in fact, brisque played with a double pack, and with certain modifications rendered necessary by the introduction of additional cards. The cards rank as follows:—Ace, ten, king, queen, knave, nine, eight, seven.

The usual game is for two players. The players cut for deal, and the higher bézique card deals. The objects of the play are: (1) to promote in the hand various combinations of cards, which, when declared, entitle the holder to certain scores; (2) to win aces and tens, known as “brisques”; (3) to win the so-called last trick. The dealer deals eight cards to each, first three, then two, and again three. The top card of those remaining (called the “stock”) is turned up for trumps. As sometimes played, the first marriage, or the first sequence, decides the trump suit; there is then no score for the seven of trumps (see below). The stock is placed face downwards between the players and slightly spread. The non-dealer leads any card, and the dealer plays to it, but need not follow suit, nor win the trick. If he wins the trick by playing a higher card of the same suit led, or a trump, the lead falls to him. In case of ties the leader wins. Whoever wins the trick leads to the next; but before playing again each player takes a card from the stock and adds it to his hand, the winner of the trick taking the top card. This alternate playing and drawing a card continues until the stock (including the trump card or card exchanged for it, which is taken up last) is exhausted. The tricks remain face upwards on the table, but must not be searched during the play of the hand.

The scores are shown as follows:—

Table of Bézique Scores.

Seven of trumps, turned up, dealer marks 10

Seven of trumps, declared (see below) or exchanged, player marks 10

Marriage (king and queen of any suit) declared 20

Royal marriage (king and queen of trumps) declared 40

Bézique (queen of spades and knave of diamonds) declared 40

Double bézique (all the four bézique cards) declared 500

Four aces (any four, whether duplicates or not) declared 100

Four kings (any four) declared 80

Four queens (any four) declared 60

Four knaves (any four) declared 40

Sequence (ace, ten, king, queen, knave of trumps) declared 250

Aces and tens, in tricks, the winner for each one marks 10

Last trick of all (as sometimes played, the last trick before the stock is exhausted) the winner marks 10

A “declaration” can only be made by the winner of a trick immediately after he has won it, and before he draws from the stock. It is effected by placing the declared cards (one of which at least must not have been declared before) face upwards on the table, where they are left, unless they are played, as they may be. A player is not bound to declare. A card led or played cannot be declared. More than one declaration may be made at a time, provided no card of one combination forms part of another that is declared with it. Thus four knaves and a marriage may be declared at the same time; but a player cannot declare king and queen of spades and knave of diamonds together to score marriage and bézique. He must first declare one combination, say bézique; and when he wins another trick he can score marriage by declaring the king. A declaration cannot be made of cards that have already all been declared. Thus, if four knaves (one being a bézique knave) and four queens (one being a bézique queen) have been declared, the knave and queen already declared cannot be declared again as bézique. To score all the combinations with these cards, after the knaves are declared and another trick won, bézique must next be made, after which, on winning another trick, the three queens can be added and four queens scored. Lastly, a card once declared can only be used again in declaring in combinations of a different class. For example: the bézique queen can be declared in bézique, marriage and four queens; but having once been declared in single bézique, she cannot form part of another single bézique. Two declarations may, in a sense, be made to a trick, but only one can be scored at the time. Thus with four kings declared, including the king of spades, bézique can be declared and scored, but the spade marriage cannot be scored till the holder wins another trick. The correct formula is “Forty, and 20 to score.” The seven of trumps may be either declared or exchanged for the turn-up after winning a trick, and before drawing. When exchanged, the turn-up is taken into the player’s hand, and the seven put in its place. The second seven can, of course, be declared. A seven when declared is not left on the table, but is simply shown.

The winner of the last trick can declare anything hitherto undeclared in his hand. After this all declarations cease. The winner of the last trick takes the last card of the stock, and the loser the turn-up card (or seven exchanged for it). All cards on the table, that have been declared and not played, are taken up by their owners. The last eight tricks are then played, but the second player must follow suit if able, and must win the trick if able. Finally, each player counts his tricks for the aces and tens they may contain, unless (as is often done) they are scored at the time. If a player revokes in the last eight tricks, or does not win the card led, if able, the last eight tricks belong to his adversary. The deal then passes on alternately until the game (1000) is won. If the loser does not make 500, his opponent counts a double game, or double points, according as they have agreed. The score is best kept by means of a special bézique-marker.

Three- and Four-Handed Bézique.—When three play, three packs are used together. All play against each other. The player on the left of the dealer is first dealt to and has the first lead. The rotation of dealing goes to the left. If double bézique has been scored, and one pair has been played, a second double bézique may be made with the third pair and the pair on the table. Triple bézique scores 1500. All the cards of the triple bézique must be on the table at the same time and unplayed to a trick. All may be declared together, or a double bézique may be added to a single one, or a third bézique may be added to a double bézique already declared. The game is 2000 up. Sometimes the three players cut, the one who cuts the highest card plays against the other two in consultation, and continues to do so till the allies win a game, when the two cut as before to see who shall be the single player. Only two packs are then used.

When four play four packs are used. The players may then score independently or may play as partners. A second double bézique or triple bézique may be scored as before; to form them the béziques may be declared from the hand of either partner. A player may declare when he or his partner takes a trick. In playing the last eight tricks, the winner of the last trick and the adversary to his left play their cards against each other, and then the other two similarly play theirs. Four people may also play in pairs by consultation, only two packs being then required.

Polish Bézique (also called “Open Bézique” and “Fildniski”) differs from ordinary bézique in the following particulars. The game is not less than 2000 up. Whenever a scoring card is played, the winner of the trick places it face upwards in front of him (the same with both cards if two scoring cards are played to a trick), forming rows of aces, kings, queens, knaves and trump tens (called open cards). Cards of the same denomination are placed overlapping one another lengthwise from the player towards his adversary to economise space. When a scoring card is placed among the open cards, all the sevens, eights, nines, and plain suit tens in the tricks are turned down and put on one side. Open cards cannot be played a second time, and can only be used in declaring. Whether so used or not they remain face upwards on the table until the end of the hand, including the last eight tricks. A player can declare after winning a trick and before drawing again, when the trick won contains a card or cards, which added to his open cards complete any combination that scores. Every declaration must include a card played to the trick last won. Aces and tens must be scored as soon as won, and not at the end of the hand. The seven of trumps can be exchanged by the winner of the trick containing it; and if the turn-up card is one that can be used in declaring, it becomes an open card when exchanged. The seven of trumps when not exchanged is scored for by the player winning the trick containing it.

Compound declarations are allowed, i.e. cards added to the open cards can at once be used, without waiting to win another trick, in as many combinations of different classes as they will form with the winner’s open cards. For example: A has three open kings, and he wins a trick containing a king. Before drawing again he places the fourth king with the other three, and scores 80 for kings. This is a simple declaration. But suppose the card led was the queen of trumps, and A wins it with the king, and he has the following open cards—three kings, three queens, and ace, ten, knave of trumps. He at once declares royal marriage (40); four kings (80); four queens (60); and sequence (250); and scores in all, 430. Again: ace of spades is turned up, and ace of hearts is led. The second player has two open aces, and wins the ace of hearts with the seven of trumps and exchanges. He scores for the exchange, 10; for the ace of hearts, 10; for the ace of spades, 10; and adds the aces to his open cards, and scores 100 for aces; in all, 130. If a declaration or part of a compound declaration is omitted, and the winner of the trick draws again, he cannot amend his score.

The ordinary rule holds that a second declaration cannot be made of a card already declared in the same class. Thus: a queen once married, cannot be married again; a fifth king added to four already declared does not entitle to another score for kings. The fundamental point to be borne in mind is, that no declaration can be effected by means of cards held in the hand. Thus: A having three open queens and a queen in hand cannot add it to his open cards. He must win another trick containing a queen, when he can declare queens. Declarations continue during the play of the last eight tricks just the same as during the play of the other cards.

Rubicon Bézique.—Four packs are used. Nine cards are dealt by three to each player. The rules of Polish bézique hold good in regard to dealing, leading, playing to lead, drawing and declaring; but a player who receives a hand containing no picture-card (king, queen, or knave) scores 50 for carte blanche, which he shows. If he does not draw a picture-card, he can again score for carte blanche. The trump suit is decided by the first sequence or marriage declared. As four packs are used, triple and quadruple bézique may be made. Triple bézique counts 1500, quadruple 4500. Tricks are left face upwards till a brisque (ace or ten) is played, when the winner takes all the played cards and puts them in a heap; their only value is the value of the brisques, which are only counted when the scores are very close; then they are used to decide the game. They may be counted during the play, provided there are not more than twelve cards in the stock. Declarations can only be made after winning a trick and before drawing. In addition to the ordinary bézique declarations, sequence, counting 150, can be made in plain suits. Declared cards, except carte blanche, remain on the table. If the holder of carte blanche hold four aces and wins the first trick, he can declare his aces. With the exceptions already made, the scores for declarations are the same as at ordinary bézique. Declaration is not compulsory. Cards led or played cannot be declared. There are three classes of declarations, their order being (1) marriage and sequence, (2) bézique, (3) fours. A card once declared can be used for a second declaration, but only in an equal or superior class. If a card of a declared combination be played to a trick, another card of the same rank may be used to form a second similar combination; e.g. if aces be declared and one of them be played by the playing of a fifth ace, aces can be declared again. If a player has a chance of a double declaration he can declare both, but can only score one at the time. As in other variations of bézique he announces, say, “forty, and twenty to score.” He should repeat, “Twenty to score,” after every trick, until he can legally score it, but if he plays a card of the combination he cannot score the points. To the last nine tricks, after the stock is exhausted, the second player must follow suit and win the trick by trumping or over-playing, if he can. The winner of the odd trick scores 50. The game consists of one deal. In reckoning the score all fractions of 100 are neglected; the winner scores 500 for game in addition to the difference between his own points and his opponent’s. The loser is “rubiconed” if he does not score 1000 points, in which case the winner adds the loser’s points to his own, takes 300 for brisques and 1000 for game, but the loser may claim his brisques to save a rubicon, though they are not reckoned among his points. If a rubiconed player has scored less than 100 the opponent counts the score as 100.

BEZWADA, a town of British India, in the Kistna district of Madras, on the left bank of the river Kistna, at the head of its delta. Pop. (1901) 24,224. Here are the headquarters of the Kistna canal system, which irrigates more than 500,000 acres, and also provides navigation throughout the delta. The anicut or dam at Bezwada, begun in 1852, consists of a mass of rubble, fronted with masonry, 1240 yds. long. Here also is the central junction of the East Coast railway from Madras to Calcutta, 267 m. from Madras, where one branch line comes down from the Warangal coalfield in the Nizam’s Dominions, and another from Bellary on the Southern Mahratta line. Ancient cuttings on the hills west of Bezwada have been held by some to mark the site of a Buddhist monastery; by others they are considered to have been quarries. At Undavalle to the south are some noted cave-shrines.

BHAGALPUR, a city of British India, in the Behar province of Bengal, which gives its name to a district and to a division; situated on the right bank of the Ganges, 265 m. from Calcutta. It is a station on the East Indian railway. Pop. (1901) 75,760, showing an increase of 9% in the decade. The chief educational institution is the Tejnarayan Jubilee college (1887), supported almost entirely by fees. Adjacent to the town are the two Augustus Cleveland monuments, one erected by government, and the other by the Hindus, to the memory of the civilian, who, as collector of Bhagalpur at the end of the 18th century, “by conciliation, confidence and benevolence, attempted and accomplished the entire subjection of the lawless and savage inhabitants of the Jungleterry of Rajmahal.”

The District of Bhagalpur stretches across both banks of the Ganges. It has an area of 4226 sq. m. In 1901 the population was 2,088,953, showing an increase of 3% in the decade. Bhagalpur is a long and narrow district, divided into two unequal parts by the river Ganges. In the southern portion of the district the scenery in parts of the hill-ranges and the highlands which connect them is very beautiful. The hills are of primary formation, with fine masses of contorted gneiss. The ground is broken up into picturesque gorges and deep ravines, and the whole is covered with fine forest trees and a rich undergrowth. Within this portion also lie the lowlands of Bhagalpur, fertile, well planted, well watered, and highly cultivated. The country north of the Ganges is level, but beautifully diversified with trees and verdure. Three fine rivers flow through the district-the Ganges, Kusi and Ghagri. The Ganges runs a course of 60 m. through Bhagalpur, is navigable all the year round, and has an average width of 3 m. The Kusi rises in the Himalayas and falls into the Ganges near Colgong within Bhagalpur. It is a fine stream, navigable up to the foot of the hills, and receives the Ghagri 8 m. above its debouchure.

In the early days of British administration the hill people, the Nats and Santals, gave much trouble. They were the original inhabitants of the country whom the Aryan conquerors had driven back into the barren hills and unhealthy forests. This they avenged from generation to generation by plundering and ravaging the plains. The efforts to subdue or restrain these marauders proved fruitless, till Augustus Cleveland won them by mild measures, and successfully made over the protection of the district to the very hill people who a few years before had been its scourge. Rice, wheat, barley, oats, Indian corn, various kinds of millet, pulses, oil-seeds, tobacco, cotton, indigo, opium, flax and hemp and sugar-cane, are the principal agricultural products of Bhagalpur district. The jungles afford good pasturage in the hot weather, and abound in lac, silk cocoons, catechu, resin and the mahuá fruit, which is both used as fruit and for the manufacture of spirits. Lead ores (chiefly argentiferous galena) and building stone are found, and iron ore is distributed over the hilly country. Attempts made to work the galena in 1878-79 and 1900 were abandoned, and the iron ore is little worked. Gold is washed from the river sand in small particles.

The climate of Bhagalpur partakes of the character both of the deltaic districts of Bengal and of the districts of Behar, between which it is situated. The hot season sets in about the end of March, and continues till the beginning of June, the temperature at this time rising as high as 110° Fahr. The rains usually begin at the end of June and last till the middle of September; average annual rainfall, 55 in. The cold season commences at the beginning of November and lasts till March. During December and January the temperature falls as low as 41° Fahr. The average annual temperature is 78°. Bhagalpur formed a part of the ancient Sanskrit kingdom of Anga. In later times it was included in the powerful Hindu kingdom of Magadha or Behar, and in the 7th century A.D. it was an independent state, with the city of Champa for its capital. It afterwards formed a part of the Mahommedan kingdom of Gaur, and was subsequently subjugated by Akbar, who declared it to be a part of the Delhi empire. Bhagalpur passed to the East India Company by the grant of the emperor Shah Alam in 1765.

There are indigo factories, and other industries include the weaving of tussur silk and the making of coarse glass. A large trade is carried on by rail and river with Lower Bengal. The tract south of the Ganges is traversed by the loop-line of the East Indian railway, and there is also a railway across the northern tract.

The Division of Bhagalpur stretches across the Ganges from the Nepal frontier to the hills of Chota Nagpur. It comprises the five districts of Monghyr, Bhagalpur, Purnea, Darjeeling, and the Santal Parganas. The total area is 19,776 sq. m.; and in 1901 the population was 8,091,405.

BHAMO, a town and district of Burma. The town was in ancient times the capital of the Shan state of Manmaw, later the seat of a Burmese governor. It is now the headquarters of a district in the Mandalay division of Upper Burma (Chinese frontier). It is situated about 300 m. up the river from Mandalay. It is the highest station on the Irrawaddy held by British troops, and the nearest point on the river to the Chinese frontier. In 1901 it contained 10,734 inhabitants, of whom a considerable number were Chinamen, natives of India and Shan-Chinese. It stretches for a distance of nearly 4 m. along the Irrawaddy bank in a series of small villages, transformed into quarters of the town, but the town proper is confined mainly to the one high ridge of land running at right angles to the river. The surface of the ground is much cut up by ravines which fill and dry up according to the rise and fall of the river. When the Irrawaddy is at its height the lower portion of the town is flooded, and the country all round is a sheet of water, but usually for no very long time. Here or hereabouts has long been the terminus of a great deal of the land commerce from China. For years after its annexation by Great Britain in 1885 the trade routes were unsafe owing to attacks from Kachins. These have now ceased, and the roads, which were mere bridle-tracks, have been greatly improved. The two chief are the so-called Santa and Ponlaing route, through Manyün (Manwaing) and Nantien to Momein, and the southern or Sawadi route by way of Namhkam. Cart roads are now being constructed on both routes, and that south of the Taiping river could easily be continued through Manyün to Momein if the Chinese should be induced to co-operate. There is a fairly large military garrison in Bhamo distributed between two forts to the north and east of the town. There are in general stationed here a native regiment, two sections of a battery and the wing of a European regiment. Besides the barracks there are a circuit house, dâk bungalow, courthouse, and post and telegraph offices. There is a branch railway from Myitkyina to Katha, whence there is daily communication by river to Bhamo.

The District of Bhamo lies wholly in the basin of the Irrawaddy, which, as well as its tributaries, runs through the heart of it. On the east of the river is the Shan plateau, running almost due north and south. West of the Irrawaddy there is a regular series of ranges, enclosing the basins of the Kaukkwe, Mosit, Indaw and other streams, down which much timber is floated. Beyond the Kaukkwe there is a ridge of hills, which starts at Leka, near Mogaung, and diverges to the south, the eastern ridge dividing the Kaukkwe from the Mosit, and the western forming the eastern watershed of the Nam Yin and running south into Katha. It is an offshoot from the latter of these ridges that forms the third defile of the Irrawaddy between Bhamo and Sinbo. The district covers an area of 4146 sq. m., and the population in 1901 was 79,515. It is mainly composed of Shan-Burmese and Kachins. The Shan-Burmese inhabit the valleys and alluvial plains on each side of the river. The Kachins, who probably came from the sub-regions of the Himalayas, occupy the hills throughout the district. There are also settlements of Shans, Shan-Chinese, Chinese and Assamese. There are extensive fisheries in the Shwegu and Mo-hnyin circles, and in the Indaw, a chain of lakes just behind the Mosit, opposite Shwegu. The district abounds in rich teak forests, and there are reserves representing 60,000 acres of teak plantation. The whole of the country along the banks of the Irrawaddy, the Mole, Taiping and Kaukkwe, is generally in a water-logged condition during the rains. The climate in the district is therefore decidedly malarious, especially at the beginning and end of the rains. From November to March there is very bracing cold weather. The highest temperatures range a few degrees over 100° F. up to 106°, and the lowest a few degrees under 40°. The average maximum for the year is about 87°, the average minimum about 62°. The rainfall averages 72 in. a year.

(J. G. Sc.)

BHANDARA, a town and district of British India, in the Nagpur division of the Central Provinces. The town (pop. in 1901, 14,023) is situated on the left bank of the river Wainganga, 7 m. from a station on the Bengal-Nagpur railway. It has considerable manufactures of cotton cloth and brass-ware, and a first-grade middle school, with a library.

The District of Bhandara has an area of 3965 sq. m. In 1901 the population was 663,062, showing a decrease of 11% since 1891 compared with an increase of 8% in the preceding decade. The district is bounded on the N., N.E. and E. by lofty hills, inhabited by Gonds and other aboriginal tribes, while the W. and N.W. are comparatively open. Small branches of the Satpura range make their way into the interior of the district. The Ambagarh or Sendurjhari hills, which skirt the south of the Chandpur pargana, have an average height of between 300 and 400 ft. above the level of the plain. The other elevated tracts are the Balahi hills, the Kanheri hills and the Nawegaon hills. The Wainganga is the principal river in the district, and the only stream that does not dry up in the hot weather,—its affluents within the district being the Bawanthari, Bagh, Kanhan and Chulban. There are 3648 small lakes and tanks in Bhandara district, whence it is called the “lake region of Nagpur”; they afford ample means of irrigation. More than one-third of the district lies under jungle, which yields gum, medicinal fruit and nuts, edible fruits, lac, honey and the blossoms of the mahuá tree (Bassia latifolia), which are eaten by the poorer classes, and used for the manufacture of a kind of spirit. Tigers, panthers, deer, wild hogs and other wild animals abound in the forests, and during the rainy season many deaths occur from snake-bites. Iron is the chief mineral product. Gold is also found in the bed of the Sone river. Laterite, shale and sandstone occur all over the district. Native cloth, brass wares, pot-stone wares, cartwheels, straw and reed baskets, and a small quantity of silk, form the only manufactures. The principal crops are rice, wheat, millet, other food-grains, pulse, linseed, and a little sugar-cane. The district is traversed by the main road from Nagpur to the east, and also by the Bengal-Nagpur railway. It suffered in the famine of 1896-1897, and yet more severely in 1900.

Bhandara district contains 25 semi-independent chiefships. These little states are exempted from the revenue system, and only pay a light tribute. Their territory, however, is included within the returns of area and population above given. The climate of Bhandara is unhealthy,—the prevailing diseases being fever, small-pox and cholera. Nothing is known of the early history of the district. Tradition says that at a remote period a tribe of men, called the Gaulis or Gaulars, overran and conquered it. At the end of the 17th century it belonged to the Gond raja of Deogarh. In 1743 it was conquered by the Mahrattas, who governed it till 1853, when it lapsed to the British government, the raja of Nagpur having died without an heir.

BHANG, an East Indian name for the hemp plant, Cannabis sativa (see Hemp), but applied specially to the leaves dried and prepared for use as a narcotic drug. In India the products of the plant for use as a narcotic and intoxicant are recognized under the three names and forms of Bhang, Gunja or Ganja, and Churrus or Charas. Bhang consists of the larger leaves and capsules of the plant on which an efflorescence of resinous matter has occurred. The leaves are in broken and partly agglutinated pieces, having a dark-green colour and a heavy but not unpleasant smell. Bhang is used in India for smoking, with or without tobacco; it is prepared in the form of a cake or manjan, and it is made into an intoxicating beverage by infusing in cold water and straining. Gunja is the flowering or fruit-bearing tops of the female plants. It is gathered in stalks of several inches in length, the tops of which form a matted mass, from the agglutination of flowers, seeds and leaflets by the abundant resinous exudation which coats them. Churrus is the crude resinous substance separated from the plant. The use of preparations of hemp among the Mussulman and Hindu population of India is very general; and the habit also obtains among the population of central Asia, the Arabs and Egyptians, extending even to the negroes of the valley of the Zambezi and the Hottentots of South Africa. The habit appears to date from very remote times, for Herodotus says of the Scythians, that they creep inside huts and throw hemp seeds on hot stones.

BHARAHAT, or Barhut, a village in the small state of Nagod in India, lying about 24° 15′ N. by 80° 45′ E., about 120 m. S.W. of Allahabad. General A. Cunningham discovered there in 1873 the remains of a stūpa (i.e. a burial mound over the ashes of some distinguished person) which were excavated, in 1874, by his assistant, J.D. Beglar. The results showed that it must have been one of the most imposing and handsome in India; and it is especially important now from the large number of inscriptions found upon it. The ancient name of the place has not been yet traced, but it must have been a considerable city and its site lay on the high road between the ancient capitals of Ujjenī and Kosāmbī. The stūpa was circular, 70 ft. in diameter and 42 ft. high. It was surrounded by a stone railing 100 ft. in diameter, so that between railing and stūpa there was an open circle round which visitors could walk; and the whole stood towards the east side of a paved quadrangle about 300 ft. by 320 ft., surrounded by a stone wall. On the top of the stūpa was an ornament shaped like the letter T, and as the base of the stūpa was above the quadrangle, the total height of the monument was between 50 and 60 ft. But its main interest, to us, lies in the railing. This consisted of eighty square pillars, 7 ft. 1 in. in height, connected by cross-bars about 1 ft. broad. Both pillars and cross-bars were elaborately carved in bas-relief, and most of them bore inscriptions giving either the name of the donor, or the subject of the bas-relief, or both. There were four entrances through the railing, facing the cardinal points, and each one protected by the railing coming out at right angles, and then turning back across it in the shape of the letter L. This gave the whole ground plan of the monument, and no doubt designedly so, the shape of a gigantic swastika (i.e. a symbol of good fortune). By the forms of the letters of the inscriptions, and by the architectural details, the age of the monument has been approximately fixed in the 3rd century B.C. The bas-reliefs give us invaluable evidence of the literature, and also of the clothing, buildings and other details of the social conditions of the peoples of Buddhist India at that period. The subjects are taken from the Buddhist sacred books, more especially from the accounts given in them of the life of the Buddha in his last or in his previous births. Unfortunately, only about half the pillars, and about one-third of the cross-bars have been recovered. When the stūpa was discovered the villagers had already carried off the greater part of the monument to build their cottages with the stones and bricks of it. The process has gone on till now nothing is left except what General Cunningham found and rescued and carried off to Calcutta. Even the mere money value of the lost pieces must be immense, and among them is the central relic box, which would have told us in whose honour the monument was put up.

See A. Cunningham, The Stūpa of Bharhut (London, 1879); T.W. Rhys Davids, Buddhist India (London, 1903).

(T. W. R. D.)

BHARAL, the Tatar name for the “blue sheep” Ovis (Pseudois) nahura, of Ladak and Tibet. The general colour is blue-grey with black “points” and white markings and belly; and the horns of the rams are olive-brown and nearly smooth, with a characteristic backward curvature. In the absence of face-glands, as well as in certain other features, the bharal serves to connect more typical sheep (q.v.) with goats.

BHARATPUR, or Bhurtpore, a native state of India, in the Rajputana agency. Its area covers 1982 sq. m. The country is generally level, about 700 ft. above the sea. Small detached hills, rising to 200 ft. in height, occur, especially in the northern part. These hills contain good building stone for ornamental architecture, and in some of them iron ore is abundant. The Banganga is the only river which flows through the state. It takes its rise at Manoharpur in the territory of Jaipur, and flowing eastward passes through the heart of the Bharatpur state, and joins the Jamna below Agra.

Bharatpur rose into importance under Suraj Mall, who bore a conspicuous part in the destruction of the Delhi empire. Having built the forts of Dig and Kumbher in 1730, he received in 1756 the title of raja, and subsequently joined the great Mahratta army with 30,000 troops. But the misconduct of the Mahratta leader induced him to abandon the confederacy, just in time to escape the murderous defeat at Panipat. Suraj Mall raised the Jat power to its highest point; and Colonel Dow, in 1770, estimated the raja’s revenue (perhaps extravagantly) at £2,000,000 and his military force at 60,000 or 70,000 men. In 1803 the East India Company concluded a treaty, offensive and defensive, with Bharatpur. In 1804, however, the raja assisted the Mahrattas against the British. The English under Lord Lake captured the fort of Dig and besieged Bharatpur, but were compelled to raise the siege after four attempts at storming. A treaty, concluded on the 17th of April 1805, guaranteed the raja’s territory; but he became bound to pay £200,000 as indemnity to the East India Company. A dispute as to the right of the succession again led to a war in 1825, and Lord Combermere captured Bharatpur with a besieging force of 20,000 men, after a desperate resistance, on the 18th of January 1826. The fortifications were dismantled, the hostile chief being deported to Benares, and an infant son of the former raja installed under a treaty favourable to the company. In 1853 the Bharatpur ruler died, leaving a minor heir. The state came under British management, and the administration was improved, the revenue increased, a system of irrigation developed, new tanks and wells constructed and an excellent system of roads and public buildings organized. Owing to the hot winds blowing from Rajputana, the climate of Bharatpur is extremely sultry till the setting in of the periodical rains.

In 1901 the population was 626,665, a decrease of 2%. The estimated revenue is £180,000. The maharaja Ram Singh, who succeeded his father in 1893, was deprived of power of government in 1895 on the ground of intemperate conduct; and in 1900 was finally deposed for the murder of one of his personal attendants. He was succeeded by his infant son Kishen Singh. During his minority the administration was undertaken by a native minister, together with a state council, under the general superintendence of the political agent. Imperial service cavalry are maintained. The state is traversed for about 40 m. by the Rajputana railway.