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BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER-BEAVER.

pleasing the public at times induces them to deviate from a correct standard of taste. They succeed best in comic scenes. Their contemporaries preferred them even to Shakspeare, affirming that the English drama reached its perfection in them. Impartial posterity has reversed this decision, and adjudged the palm to Shakspeare. They are said to have frequented taverns and alehouses, to study the human character, and to have been arrested, while disputing in such a place respecting the conclusion of a play. One wished to have the king in the piece assassinated, the other opposed it; and, being overheard, they were apprehended on suspicion of conspiring the death of their sovereign.

BEAUMONT, madame Leprince de; born at Rouen, 1711; died at Annecy, in Savoy, 1780; lived partly in France, partly in England, where she devoted her talents to the instruction of youth. A simple and easy style, a pleasing moral, well chosen historical passages, and a happy imagination, render her writings agreeable, although much is too artificial, and the theological views are no longer of value. She has written a great many romances and works for children. Her Magazin des Enfans was formerly the manual of all governantes and French boarding-schools.

BEAUTY. (See Philosophy.)

BEAVER (castor, L.); a genus of claviculated, mammiferous quadrupeds, of the order glires, L., rodentia, C., or gnawers. -Having drawn up, with great care, the natural history of this species in another work (American Natural History, vol. ii., p. 21), we shall avail ourselves of some of the most interesting statements, and refer the reader thereto for more ample details, as well as for the fabulous history of the animal.-It is only in a state of nature that the beaver displays any of those singular modes of acting, which have so long rendered the species celebrated. These may be summed up in a statement of the manner in which they secure a depth of water that cannot be frozen to the bottom, and their mode of constructing the huts in which they pass the winter. They are not particular as to the site which they select for the establishment of their dwellings, but if it is in a lake or pond, where a dam is not required, they are careful to build where the water is sufficiently deep. In standing waters, however, they have not the advantage afforded by a current for the transportation of their supplies of wood,

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which, when they build on a running stream, is always cut higher up than the place of their residence, and floated down. The materials used for the construction of their dams are the trunks and prarches of small birch, mulberry, willow and poplar trees, &c. They begin to cut down their timber for building early in the summer, but their edifices are not con. menced until about the middle or latter part of August, and are not completed until the beginning of the cold season. The strength of their teeth, and their perseverance in this work, may be fairly estimated by the size of the trees they cut down. Doctor Best informs us, that he has seen a mulberry tree, eight inches in diameter, which had been gnawed down by the beaver. We were shown, while on the banks of the Little Miami river, several stumps of trees, which had evidently been felled by these animals, of at least five or six inches in diameter. The trees are cut in such a way as to fall into the water, and then floated towards the site of the dam or dwellings. Small shrubs, &c., cut at a distance, they drag with their teeth to the stream, and then launch and tow them to the place of deposit. At a short distance above a beaver dam, the number of trees which have been cut down appears truly surprising, and the regularity of the stumps might lead persons, unacquainted with the habits of the animal, to believe that the clearing was the result of human industry.-The figure of the dam varies according to circumstances. Should the current be very gentle, the dam is carried nearly straight across; but when the stream is swift, it is uniformly made with a considerable curve, having the convex part opposed to the current. Along with the trunks and branches of trees they intermingle mud and stones, to give greater security; and, when dams have been long undisturbed and frequently repaired, they acquire great solidity, and their power of resisting the pressure of water, ice, &c., is greatly increased by the willow and birch occasionally taking root, and eventually growing up into something like a regular hedge. The materials used in constructing the dams are secured solely by the resting of the branches, &c. against the bottom, and the subsequent accumulation of mud and stones by the force of the stream, or by the industry of the beavers. -The dwellings of the beavers are form ed of the same materials as their dams, are very rude, and adapted in size to the number of their inhabitants : seldom more

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BEAVER-BECCARIA.

than four old, or six or eight young ones, are found in one of the lodges, though double that number have been sometimes seen. In building their houses, they place most of the wood crosswise, and nearly horizontally, observing no other order than that of leaving a cavity in the middle. Branches projecting inwards are cut off with their teeth, and thrown among the rest. The houses are not of sticks, and then plastered, but of all the materials used in the dams-sticks, mud and stones, if the latter can be procured. This composition is employed from the foundation to the summit. The mud is obtained from the adjacent banks or bottom of the stream or pond near the door of the hut. The beaver always carries mud or stones by holding them between his fore paws and throat. Their work is all performed at night, and with much expedition. When straw or grass is mingled with the mud used in building, it is an accident owing to the nature of the spot whence the mud is obtained. As soon as any portion of the materials is placed, they turn round, and give it a smart blow with the tail. The same sort of blow is struck by them on the surface of the water when they are in the act of diving. The outside of the hut is covered or plastered with mud, late in the autumn, and after frost has begun to appear. By freezing, it soon becomes almost as hard as stone, effectually excluding their great enemy, the wolverene, during the winter.. Their habit of walking over the work frequently, has led to the absurd idea of their using the tail as a trowel. The houses are generally from four to six feet thick at the apex of the cone: some have been found as much as eight feet thick at top. The door or entrance is always on the side farthest from land, and is near the foundation, or a considerable depth under water: this is the only opening into the hut. The large houses are sometimes found to have projections of the main building thrown out, for the better support of the roof, and this circumstance has led to all the stories of the different apartments in beaver huts. These larger edifices, so far from having several apartments, are double or treble houses, the parts having no communication except by water. It is a fact, that the muskrat is sometimes found to have taken lodgings in the huts of the beaver. The otter, also, occasionally intrudes: he, however, is & dangerous guest, for, should provisions grow scarce, it is not uncommon for him to devour his host. All the beavers

of a community do not co-operate in fabricating houses for the common use of the whole. The only affair in which they have a joint interest, and upon which they labor in concert, is the dam. Beavers also make excavations in the adjacent banks, at regular distances from each other, which have been called washes. These are so enlarged within, that the beaver can raise his head above water to breathe without being seen, and, when disturbed at their huts, they immediately swim under water to these washes for greater security, where they are easily taken by the hunters.-The food of the beaver consists chiefly of the bark of the aspen, willow, birch, poplar, and, oecasionally, alder: to the pine it rarely resorts, unless from severe necessity. They provide a stock of wood from the trees first mentioned, during summer, and place it in the water, opposite the entrance into their houses.-The beaver produces from two to five at a litter. It is a cleanly animal, and always performs its evacuations in the water, at a distance from the hut: hence no accumulation of filth is found near their dwellings.—The beaver is about two feet in length; its body thick and heavy; the head compressed, and somewhat arched at the front, the upper part rather narrow; the snout much so. The eyes are placed rather high on the head, and the pupils are rounded; the ears are short, elliptical, and almost concealed by the fur. The skin is covered by two sorts of hair, of which one is long, rather stiff, elastic, and of a gray color for two thirds of its length next the base, and terminated by shining, reddish-brown points; the other is short, thick, tufted and soft, being of different shades of silver-gray or light lead color. The hair is shortest on the head and feet. The hind legs are longer than the fore, and are completely webbed. The tail is 10 or 11 inches long, and, except the third nearest the body, is covered with hexagonal scales. The third next the body is covered with hair like that on the back. (See Godman's Am. Nat. Hist., vol. ii, p. 19, et seq.)

BECCARIA, Cesare Bonesana, marchese di, born at Milan, 1735, was early excited, by Montesquieu's Lettres Persanes, to the cultivation of his philosophical talents, and afterwards favorably known as a philosophical writer by his memorable work, full of a noble philanthropy, Dei Delitti e delle Pene (On Crimes and Punishments), Naples, 1764, and several others. With the eloquence of true feeling, and a lively

BECCARIA—BECKET.

imagination, he opposes capital punishments and the torture. This work led to the establishment of more settled and more correct principles of penal law, and contributed to excite a general horror against inhuman punishments. B. was a true friend, a good son, a tender husband and a real philanthropist. He is also known, in Italy, as the author of a philo sophical grammar and theory of style, Ricerche intorno alla Natura dello Stilo (Milan, 1770), and of several good treatises on style, on rhetorical ornament, &c., contained in the journal Il Caffe, edited by him, in conjunction with his friends Visconti, Verri and others. A fit of apoplexy put an end to his useful life in November, 1793.

BECCARIA, Giovanni Battista; born, 1716, at Mondovi; went to Rome in 1732, where he studied, and afterwards taught grammar and rhetoric; at the same time, he applied himself with success to mathematics. He was appointed professor of philosophy at Palermo, and afterwards at Rome. Charles Emanuel, king of Sardinia, invited him to Turin, in 1748, to fill the professorship of natural philosophy at the university there. Electricity had, at that time, through the experiments of Franklin and others, become an object of universal interest. He therefore published his Dell' Elettricismo naturale ed artifiziale (Turin, 4to). The experiments which this work contains on atmospherical electricity are so numerous and various, that Priestley affirmed, in his History of Electricity, that Beccaria's labors far surpass all that had been done, before and after him, on this subject. The academies in London and Bologna elected him a member. He wrote many other valuable works on this subject. The most important, Dell' Elettricismo artifiziale (1772), contains all that was then known of electricity. Franklin, who esteemed the works of B., had them translated into English. In 1759, the king employed him to measure a degree of the meridian in Piedmont. He began the measurement in 1760, together with the abbot Canonica, and published the result in 1774. The doubts expressed by Cassini of the exactness of this measurement, drew from him his Lettere d'un Italiano ad un Parigino, in which he showed the influence of the proximity of the Alps on the deviation of the pendulum. As his thoughts were entirely absorbed by his studies, he often neglected the nicer rules of good-breeding, without losing, however, the general esteem. He died April 27, 1781. 3

VOL. II.

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BECHER, John Joachim; author of the first theory of chemistry; born at Spire, in 1635. He finished his restless life at London, in 1685, after having resided in many parts of Germany. He had many enemies, and has been accused, not entirely without justice, of charlatanry; yet his influence on the science of chemistry gives him still a claim to remembrance. He brought it into a nearer connexion with physics, and sought for the causes of all the phenomena of the inorganic universe in these two departments of science. This is the object of his principal work, Physica subterranea. At the same time, he began to form a theory of chemistry and conceived the idea of a primitive acid, of which all the others were only modifications. He also made researches into the process of combustion. He maintained that every metal consists of a common earthy matter, of a common combustible principle, and of a peculiar mercurial substance. If we heat a metal so that it changes its form, we disengage the mercurial substance, and nothing remains but the metallic calx. This was the first germ of the phlogistic theory, which was further developed by Stahl, and prevailed until the time of Lavoisier. The numerous works of B. are, even now, not without interest.

BECK, Christian Daniel; one of the must active living philologists and historians, born in Leipsic, Jan. 22, 1757. He is professor at the university in that city, and has rendered himself famous by a great number of excellent works. His editions of the classics are in high esteem. Between 1787 and 1806 appeared the 4 volumes of his work, Introduction to a Knowledge of the General History of the World and of Nations, until the Discovery of America. He also translated Goldsmith's History of Greece, and Ferguson's History of the Roman Republic. Of his theological works, we may mention his Commentarii historici Decretorum Religionis Christianæ, et Formulæ Luther (Leipsic, 1800). He has also edited a learned periodical work.

BECKET, Thomas, the most celebrated Roman Catholic prelate in the English annals, was born in London, 1119. He was the son of Gilbert, a London merchant. His mother is said to have been a Saracen lady, to whose father Gilbert was prisoner, in Jerusalem, being taken captive in one of the crusades. The lady is said to have fallen in love with the prisoner, and to have followed him to London, where he married her. After studying at Oxford

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and Paris, B. was sent, by the favor of Theobald, archbishop of Canterbury, to study civil law at Bononia, in Italy, and, on his return, was made archdeacon of Canterbury and provost of Beverley. His claim to the good opinion of Theobald was founded on his skill in negotiation shown in a matter of the highest importance to England—the soliciting from the pope the prohibitory letters against the crowning of Eustace, the son of Stephen, by which that design was defeated. This service not only raised Becket in the esteem of the archbishop, but in that of king Henry II, and was the foundation of his high fortune. In 1158, he was appointed high chancellor and preceptor to prince Henry, and at this time was a complete courtier, conforming, in every respect, to the humor of the king. He was, in fact, his prime companion, had the same hours of eating and going to bed, held splendid levees, and courted popular applause. In 1159, he made a campaign with the king in Toulouse, having in his own pay 700 knights and 1200 horsemen; and it is said he advised Henry to seize the person of Louis, king of France, shut up in Toulouse without an army. This counsel, however, so indicative of the future martyr, being too bold for the lay counsellors of one of the boldest monarchs of the age, was declined. In the next year, he visited Paris, to treat of an alliance between the eldest daughter of the king of France and prince Henry, and returned with the young princess to England. He had not enjoyed the chancellorship more than four years, when his patron Theobald died, and king Henry was so far mistaken as to raise his favorite to the primacy, on the presumption that he would aid him in those political views, in respect to church power, which all the sovereigns of the Norman line embraced, and which, in fact, caused a continual struggle, until its termination by Henry VIII. It has been asserted, that B. told the king what he was to expect from him; but, independent of the appointment itself, there is evidence to prove his eagerness to obtain the dignity, and the disgust entertained by Henry at the first symptoms of the real temper of the man whom he had been so anxious to promote. B. was consecrated archbishop in 1162, and immediately affected an austerity of character which formed a very natural prelude to the part which he meant to play. Pope Alexander III held a general council at Tours, in 1163, at which B. attended, and made a formal complaint of the infringements

by the laity on the rights and immunities of the church. On his return to England, he began to act in the spirit of this representation, and to prosecute several of the nobility and others, holding church possessions, whom he also proceeded to excommunicate. Henry, an able and politic monarch, was anxious to recall certain privileges of the clergy, which withdrew them from the jurisdiction of the civil courts; and it was not without a violent struggle, and the mediation of the pope, that B. finally acquiesced. The king soon after summoned a convocation or parliament at Clarendon, to the celebrated constitution of which, although the archbishop swore that he would never assent, he at length subscribed it, and, alleging something like force for his excuse, by way of penance, suspended himself from his archiepiscopal functions until the pope's absolution could arrive. Finding himself the object of the king's displeasure, he soon after attempted to escape to France; but, being intercepted, Henry, in a parliament at Northampton, charged him with a violation of his allegiance, and all his goods were confiscated. A suit was also commenced against him for money lent him during his chancellorship, and for the proceeds of the benefices which he had held vacant while in that capacity. In this desperate situation, he, with great difficulty and danger, made his escape to Flanders, and, proceeding to the pope at Sens, humbly resigned his archbishopric, which was, however, restored. He then took up his abode at the abbey of Pontigny, in Normandy, whence he issued expostulatory letters to the king and bishops of England, in which he excommunicated all violators of the prerogatives of the church, and included in the censure the principal officers of the crown. Henry was so exasperated, that he banished all his relations, and obliged the Cistercians to send him away from the abbey of Pontigny; from which he removed, on the recommendation of the king of France, to the abbey of Columbe, and spent four years there in exile. After much negotiation, a sort of reconciliation took place in 1170, on the whole to the advantage of Becket, who, being restored to his see, with all its former privileges, behaved, on the occasion, with excessive haughtiness. After a triumphant entry into Canterbury, the young king Henry, crowned during the life-time of his father, transmitted. him an order to restore the suspended and excommunicated prelates, which he refused to do, on the pretence that the pope

BECKET-BEDE.

alone could grant the favor, although the latter had lodged the instruments of censure in his hands. The prelates immediately appealed to Henry in Normandy, who, in a state of extreme exasperation, exclaimed, “What an unhappy prince am I, who have not about me one man of spirit enough to rid me of a single insolent prelate, the perpetual trouble of my life!" These rash and too significant words induced four attendant barons, Reginald Fitz-Urse, William de Tracy, Hugh de Morville and Richard Breto, to resolve to wipe out the king's reproach. Having laid their plans, they forthwith proceeded to Canterbury, and, having formally required the archbishop to restore the suspended prelates, they returned in the evening of the same day (Dec. 29, 1170), and, placing soldiers in the court-yard, rushed, with their swords drawn, into the cathedral, where the archbishop was at vespers, and, advancing towards him, threatened him with death if he still disobeyed the orders of Henry. B., without the least token of fear, replied, that he was ready to die for the rights of the church; and magnanimously added, "I charge you, in the name of the Almighty, not to hurt any other person here, for none of them have been concerned in the late transactions." The confederates then strove to drag him out of the church; but, not being able to do so, on account of his resolute deportment, they killed him on the spot with repeated wounds, all which he endured without a groan.-The conduct of Henry, and the consequences of this assassination, form a part of English history wherein the discerning student will perceive the subtle policy of the court of Rome, which eagerly availed itself of this opportunity to advance its general object, with a due regard to the power of Henry and his strength of character. The perpetrators of the deed, on taking a voyage to Rome, were admitted to penance, and allowed to expiate their enormity in the Holy Land.Thus perished Thomas Becket, in his 52d year, a martyr to the cause which he espoused, and a man of unquestionable vigor of intellect. He was canonized two years after his death, and miracles abounded at his tomb. In the reign of Henry III, his body was taken up, and placed in a magnificent shrine, erected by archbishop Stephen Langton; and of the popularity of the pilgrimages to his tomb, the Canterbury Tales of Chaucer will prove an enduring testimony.

BECKMANN, John, for almost 45 years

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professor of philosophy, economy, policy, finance and commerce in Göttingen, was born at Hoya in 1739. In 1763, he was appointed, on Büsching's recommendation, professor of the Lutheran gymnasium in St. Petersburg. In 1766, he became professor in Göttingen, where he lectured with great success. B. died in 1811, being a member of most of the learned societies of the north of Europe. There are a number of text-books, in the different sciences above-mentioned, by him. Among his other works is a History of Inventions, Leipsic, 1780-1805, 5 vols.

BED, in gunnery; the frame of timber or planks in which cannon, mortars, &c. are placed, to give them a steady and even position, necessary for aiming.

BED OF JUSTICE. (See Lit de Justice.) BEDE, or BEDA, an eminent ecclesiastic of the eighth century, usually called the venerable Bede, was born in the year 672 or 673, in the neighborhood of Wearmouth, in the bishopric of Durham. From the age of 7 to that of 19, he pursued his studies in the monastery of St. Peter, at Wearmouth. Being then ordained deacon, he was employed in the task of educating the youth who resorted to the monastery for instruction, and pursued his own studies with unremitting ardor. In his thirtieth year, he was ordained priest; and, his fame for zeal and erudition reaching the ears of pope Sergius, he was invited to Rome, but, in consequence of the death of that pontiff, never went there. It is not even certain that he ever left Northumberland, which, of course, reduces the incidents of his life to his literary pursuits and domestic occupations, as he accepted no benefice, and never seems to have interfered in civil transactions. His church history was published in 731. His last literary labor was a translation of the Gospel of St. John into Saxon, which he completed, with difficulty, on the very day and hour of his death. The writings of Bede were numerous and important, considering the time in which they were written, and the subjects of which they treat, which extended to ecclesiastical affairs, religion and education only. His English Ecclesiastical History is the greatest and most popular of his works, and has acquired additional celebrity by the translation of king Alfred. The collections which he made for it were the labor of many years. Besides his own personal investigations, he kept up a correspondence with the monasteries throughout the Heptarchy, to obtain archives and records for his purpose; and

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