sins, are granted on the day of his beatification; which, though not so pompous as that of canonization, is, however, very splendid. Beatification differs from canonization in this, that the pope does not act as a judge in determining the state of the beatified, but only grants a privilege to certain persons to honor him by a particular religious worship, without incurring the penalty of superstitious worshippers; but, in canonization, the pope speaks as a judge, and determines, ex cathedra, upon the state of the canonized. Beatification was introduced when it was thought proper to delay the canonization of saints, for the greater assurance of the truth of the steps taken in the procedure. Some particular orders of monks have assumed to themselves the power of beatification. Thus Octavia Melchiorica was beatified by the Dominicans. (See Canonization.)

BEATON, David, archbishop of St. Andrews, and cardinal, was born in 1494. Pope Paul III raised him to the rank of cardinal in December, 1538; and, being employed by James V in negotiating his marriage at the court of France, he was there consecrated bishop of Mirepoix. Soon after his instalment as archbishop, he promoted a furious persecution of the reformers in Scotland; but the king's death put a stop, for a time, to his arbitrary proceedings, he being then excluded from affairs of government, and confined. He raised, however, so strong a party, that, upon the coronation of the young queen Mary, he was admitted into the council, made chancellor, and received a commission as legate a latere from Rome. He now began to renew his persecution of heretics, and, among the rest, of the famous Protestant preacher George Wishart, whose sufferings at the stake he viewed from his window, with apparent exultation. B. was murdered in his chamber, May 29, 1546. He united with great talents equally great vices, and left several children, the fruit of open concubinage.

BEATTIE, James, LL. D., a pleasing poet and miscellaneous writer, was born at Lawrencekirk, in the county of Kincardine, in 1735. He lost his father when he was only seven years of age, but was placed early at the only school his birthplace afforded, whence he was removed to Marischal college, Aberdeen. He there studied Greek, under the principal, Thomas Blackwell, and made a general proficiency in every branch of education, except mathematics. In 1753, he ob

tained the degree of A. M., and accepted the office of school-master and parishclerk to the parish of Fordoun, looking forward to the church of Scotland as his principal prospect, for which reason he still attended, during winter, the divinity lectures at Marischal college. In June, 1758, these views were somewhat changed, by the attainment of the situation of one of the masters of the grammarschool of Aberdeen. In 1761, he published a volume of poems, which were received favorably, but which he subsequently thought very little of, and endeavored to buy up. They nevertheless procured him some powerful friends, whose patronage obtained him the appointment of professor of moral philosophy and logic at Marischal college. In 1765, he published a poem, the Judgment of Paris, (4to.), which proved a failure, although it was afterwards added to a new edition of his poems, in 1766. The work which procured him the greatest fame was his Essay on Truth, which first appeared in 1770. It was so popular, that, in four years, five large editions were sold; and it was translated into several foreign languages. Among other marks of respect, the university of Oxford conferred on the author the degree of LL. D.; and George III honored him, on his visit to London, with a private conference and a pension. He was also solicited to enter the church of England by flattering proposals from the archbishop of York and the bishop of London; which proposals he declined, lest his opponents should attribute the change to self-interest. The popularity of this celebrated essay, which was written in opposition to the prevalent scepticism of Hume and others, was principally owing to its easiness of style, and to a mode of treating the subject, calculated for the meridian of slight scholarship and medium intellect. This is often a great source of immediate celebrity but, thus produced, it is usually as transitory as spontaneous, which has proved the case in the present instance. A few months after the appearance of the Essay on Truth, B. published the first book of the Minstrel (4to.), and, in 1774, the second; which pleasing poem is, indisputably, the work by which he will be the longest remembered. To a splendid edition of his Essay on Truth, published, by subscription, in 1776, he added some miscellaneous dissertations on Poetry and Music, Laughter and Ludicrous Composition, &c. In 1783, he published Dissertations, Moral and Critical (4to.); and

in 1786, appeared his Evidences of the Christian Religion (2 vols., 12mo.) In 1790, he published the first volume of his Elements of Moral Science, the second of which followed in 1793; and to the latter was appended a dissertation against the slave-trade. His last publication was an Account of the Life, Character and Writings of his eldest son, James Henry Beattie, an amiable and promising young man, who died at the age of 22, in 1790. This great affliction was followed, in 1796, by the equally premature death of his youngest and only surviving son, in his 18th year; which losses, added to the melancholy loss of reason by his wife, wholly subdued his constitution; and, after two paralytic strokes, he died at Aberdeen, in August, 1803. B. was a religious and an amiable man, but constitutionally more calculated for a poet than a philosopher, and for a pleader than a controversialist. He was, however, a respectable, if not a strong writer, and might have been thought more of at present, had he been thought less of heretofore.

BEAUCAIRE; a small, well-built, commercial city of France, with 8000 inhabitants (lon. 4° 43′ E.; lat. 43° 48′ N.), in Lower Languedoc, now in the department of the Gard, on the right bank of the Rhone, opposite Tarascon, with which it communicates by a bridge of boats. It has a commodious harbor for vessels which ascend the river from the Mediterranean, 7 leagues distant, and is famous for its great fair (founded in 1217, by Raymond II, count of Toulouse), held yearly, from the 22d July, during 10 days. In former times, this fair was frequented by merchants and manufacturers from most countries of Europe, the Levant, and even from Persia and Armenia, so that many thousand booths were erected for foreigners in the adjoining valley. Before 1632, the fair of B. was exempt from all taxes, and the annual sale amounted to several million dollars. Since that time, B. has gradually declined, and its trade, the articles of which are the productions of the vicinity, was valued, in 1816, at 23,000,000 francs.

BEAUFORT; a seaport and post-town in a district of the same name, in South Carolina, on Port Royal island, at the mouth of the Coosawhatchie; 60 miles N. E. Savannah, 72 S. W. Charleston; lon. 80° 33′ W.; lat. 32° 31′ N.; population about 1000. It is a very pleasant and healthy town, with an excellent harbor, though but little commerce. It con

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tains 3 churches and a seminary, which was incorporated as a college, endowed with funds amounting to 60 or $70,000, having a handsome edifice, and a library of 700 volumes, but it has hitherto assumed only the form of an academy.

BEAUFORT, Henry, legitimate brother of Henry IV, king of England, was made bishop of Lincoln, whence he was trans-. lated to Winchester. He was also nominated chancellor of the kingdom, and sent ambassador to France. In 1426, he received a cardinal's hat, and was appointed legate in Germany. In 1431, he crowned Henry VI in the great church of Paris. He died at Winchester, 1447. He was a haughty, turbulent prelate, and Shakspeare is considered as giving a true portrait of him, when he describes his last scene.

BEAUHARNAIS, Alexander, viscount; born in 1760, in Martinique; served with distinction, as major, in the French forces under Rochambeau, which aided the U. States in their revolutionary war; married Josephine Tascher de la Pagerie, who was afterwards the wife of Napoleon. At the breaking out of the French revolution, he was chosen a member of the national assembly, of which he was, for some time, president, and which he opened, after the king's departure, with the following words:-Messieurs, le roi est parti cette nuit: passons à l'ordre du jour. In 1792, he was general of the army of the Rhine, and, in 1793, was appointed minister of war. In consequence of the decree removing men of noble birth from the army, he retired to his country-seat. He was falsely accused of having promoted the surrender of Mentz, and was sentenced to death, July 23, 1794, when 34 years old. (For information respecting his son Eugene, viceroy of Italy, see Eugene; respecting his daughter Hortense, see Louis Bonaparte; and respecting his elder brother, François Beauharnais, see the next article.)

BEAUHARNAIS, François, marquis de; born at La Rochelle, Aug. 12, 1756; voted with the right side in the national assembly. He violently opposed the motion of his younger brother, the viscount Alexander, to take from the king the chief command of the army, and would not listen to any of the amendments proposed, saying, Il n'y a point d'amendement avec l'honneur. He was called, in consequence of this, le féal Beauharnais sans amendement. In 1792, with the count d'Hervilly, the baron de Viomenil and others, he formed the project of a new

flight of the royal family; but the arrest of his companion, the baron Chambon, prevented the execution of the plan. He was appointed major-general in the army of the prince of Condé, and wrote, in 1792, to the president of the national assembly, protesting against their unlawful treatment of the king, and offering to appear himself among his defenders. When Bonaparte became first consul, the inarquis sent him a letter, in which he exhorted him, by the glory which he would gain by such a course, to restore the sceptre to the house of Bourbon. The empress Josephine married her niece, the daughter of the marquis, to the emperor's aid, Lavalette (q. v.), and effected the recall of the marquis. Appointed senator, and ambassador to the court of Spain, he united, in 1807, with the prince of the Asturias (now Ferdinand VII), against the prince of peace, and fell into disgrace with Napoleon, who banished him. After the restoration, he returned to Paris, where he died, Jan. 10, 1819.

BEAUMARCHAIS, Pierre Augustin Caron de; born at Paris, 1732; son of a watchmaker, who destined him for his trade. He early gave striking proofs of his mechanical and also of his musical talents. He was afterwards the teacher on the harp of the daughters of Louis XV, and was admitted into their society. By a. rich marriage, he laid the foundation of his immense wealth. He now aspired to literary reputation. His Eugenie appeared in 1767; Les deux Amis in 1770. The first still holds its place on the stage. He showed all his talent in his lawsuit against Goesman and La Blache, when he wrote against the former (who belonged to the parlament Maupeou, so called, which was engaged in a dispute with the ministry) his celebrated Memoires (Paris, 1774), which entertained all France. Had he remained more quiet, he probably would have gained his process. The fame of his Memoires alarmed even Voltaire, who was jealous of every kind of glory. The Barber of Seville and the Marriage of Figaro have given him a permanent reputation. Shortly before the revolution, he was involved in the process against the banker Kornmann. In 1792, he wrote La Mère coupable, but never regained his former fame. He was once more in his true element in his memoir Mes six Époques. He relates, in that work, the dangers to which he was exposed, in a revolution, where a celebrated name, talent and riches, were sufficient

causes of proscription. He still possessed, at the age of more than sixty, all the vigor of his youth, and had lost nothing but his gayety. His contract to supply the U. States with military stores, during their revolutionary war, had increased his fortune, of which he always made a noble use; but he lost about a million livres by his famous edition of the works of Voltaire, the very imperfect execution of which was not answerable to the immense cost. He lost still more, at the end of 1792, by his attempt to provide_the French army with 60,000 muskets. Discontented with the present, despairing of the future, wearied with struggling against the revolution and his creditors for the ruins of his wealth, he died, at the age of 69 years, without any particular disease, in May, 1799. His biography appeared in 1802; and, in 1809, an edition of his works, in 7 vols.-B. was a singular instance of versatility of talent, being at once an artist, politician, projector, merchant and dramatist. He was passionately attached to celebrity. His Marriage of Figaro excited one of those extraordinary sensations, for which Paris has always been remarkable. The English modifications and versions of this comedy convey but a slight notion of the mischievous subtlety and deep spirit of intrigue in the original. B. left to his heirs a claim against the U. States of a million of francs for supplies furnished during the war, which has been repeatedly presented to congress, but always rejected on the ground that B. acted only as the agent of the French government, from whom he received funds to that amount.

BEAUMONT, Francis, and FLETCHER, John; two dramatic writers. The former was born in 1585, studied at Oxford, and died in 1616; the latter was born at London in 1576, and died there, in 1625, of the plague. Animated by the same inclination, they both devoted themselves to poetry. Their plays, about 50, appeared under their joint names (London, 1679, and lately, 1812, in 14 vols.), and it is impossible now to determine their respective shares in these productions. According to the testimony of some of their contemporaries, Fletcher was the inventing genius, while Beaumont, though the younger, was more distinguished for maturity and correctness of judgment. Shakspeare was their model, and, like him, they intermix pathetic and low comic scenes; but their attempts to surpass their model sometimes lead them into extravagances. The desire, also, of

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 a 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, wheu 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, occasionally, 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 delle Pene (On Crimes and Punishments), Naples, 1764, and several others. With the eloquence of true feeling, and a lively

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