Encyclopaedia Britannica > Volume 3, Athens-BOI

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B E U-
BEUTHEN", the chief town of a circle in the government
of Oppeln in Prussian Silesia, on the railway between
Oppeln and Cracow, about 50 miles from the former. It
is the centre of the mining district of Upper Silesia, and its
population, which numbered 15,711 in 1871, is mainly
engaged in mining operations. Cloth and linen weaving,
however, is also carried on. Beuthen is an old town,
and was formerly the capital of the lordship of Beuthen,
which belonged to the counts of Donnersmark. It is fre¬
quently called Ober Beuthen to distinguish it from the
following.
BEUTHEN, or Nieder Beuthen, a town in the
government of Liegnitz, in Silesia, on the Oder, and the
capital of the mediatized principality of Carolath-Beuthen.
The chief industries of the place are straw-plaiting, boat¬
building, and the manufacture of pottery; and a con¬
siderable traffic is carried on by means of the river.
Population in 1871, 3826.
BEVERLEY, a market and borough town in the East
Riding of Yorkshire, about a mile from the River Hull,
with which it communicates by means of a canal called the
Beverley Beck. It consists principally of one long wide
street, upwards of a mile in length, and terminated by an
ancient gateway. The magnificent collegiate church of St
John is in size and splendour superior to many cathedrals.
Having been erected at different times it exhibits various
styles of Gothic architecture. The west front is said by
Rickman to be the finest of its kind in England. It is 334
feet in length from east to west; the breadth of the nave
and side aisles is 64 feet ; the transept is 167 feet long;
and the two towers at the west end are 200 feet in height.
One of its most remarkable monuments is the Percy shrine.
St Mary’s church is also an exceedingly handsome and
spacious Gothic building. The market-place, which com¬
prises an area of nearly 4 acres, is ornamented with an
octangular market-cross. The grammar school is of great
antiquity, and has two fellowships, six scholarships, and
three exhibitions at St John’s College, Cambridge. There
are several national and two infant schools, a blue-coat
school, a mechanics’ institute, a news-room, several banks, a
theatre, a jail, and a cattle-market. There is a large trade in
grain, timber, and coal. The tanning of leather is the
principal industry; but there are also several important
manufactories of agricultural implements and of artificial
manures, as well as whiting-factories, corn and linseed mills,
and breweries and malt-kilns. It formerly returned two
members to parliament, but was disfranchised in 1870.
Population of municipal borough in 1871, 10,218.
BEVERLEY, a seaport of Massachusetts in the United
States, situated on a branch of Ann Harbour, and connected
with Salem by a bridge built in 1788. It is 16 miles N.E.
of Boston, on the Eastern Railway, and is connected with
Gloucester by a branch line. The principal industry is the
manufacture of shoes; and a considerable number of people
are employed in the coasting trade and fisheries. Popula¬
tion in 1870, 6507.
BEVERLEY, John of, a celebrated prelate, who
flourished during the 7th and 8th centuries, was born at
Harpham in Northumbria. He received his education at
Canterbury, and after his return to the north was the
instructor of the Venerable Bede. In 685 he was made
bishop of Hagolstad or Hexham, and two years later was
promoted to the archbishopric of York. He resigned his
see in 717, and retired to a college which he had founded
some years before at Beverley, where he died in 721. He
was celebrated for his scholarship as well as for his virtues.
The following works are ascribed to him:—Pro Luca
Exponendo (an exposition of Luke); Homilice in Evangelia ;
Epistolce ad Herebaldum, Audenam, et Bertinum ; Epistolce
ad Holdam abbatissam.
-BEY
BEWDLEY, a market and borough town in the parish
of Ribbesford, in the county of Worcester, 129 miles from
London, on the Severn Valley Railway. It is well built,
and stands on an eminence near the River Severn, over
which there is an elegant bridge, erected in 1797. It has
a town-hall, a free grammar school, and several charities;
and manufactures combs, brass and iron wares, leather, and
malt. It returns one member to parliament. Population of
parliamentary borough in 1871, 7614.
Bewdley, or, as it was formerly called, Beaulieu, was a place of
some importance in the 13th century, and had the right of sanc¬
tuary for those who shed blood. Henry VII. built a palace in the
town for his son Arthur, who was married there by proxy to Cathe¬
rine of Aragon ; but no remains of the building, which was greatly
injured during the wars of the 17th century, can now be traced.
The town, which was incorporated by Edward IV., formerly be¬
longed to the Marches of Wales, but was assigned to Worcester¬
shire by Henry VIII.
BEWICK, Thomas, who may be considered as the
reviver of wood-engraving in England, was born at Cherry-
burn, 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 JEsop 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 November 1828. (Life
and Letters of T. Bewick, by T. Landseer, 2 vols. pt. 8vo,
1871.)
BEYLE, Marie-Henri, better known as De Stendhal,
the most celebrated of his many noms de plume, was born
at Grenoble on the 23d January 1783. His father was an
avocat at the parliament of Grenoble, and his family, though
not noble, was of good descent. His early education was
conducted mainly by priests, who seem to have misunder¬
stood his very peculiar character, and for whom he ever
afterwards entertained a profound aversion and contempt.
At the age of twelve he was sent to the Ecole Centrale,
newly established at Grenoble, and continued in attendance
for four years, during which time he distinguished himself
in all his studies. / In 1799 he was preparing to become a
candidate for the Ecole Polytechnique when his plans were
disturbed by an offer from M. Darn, a distant relative, of
some appointment connected with the ministry for war.
In the following year he accompanied M. Dam to Milan, on
the chance of some suitable post offering itself. He was
present at the battle of Marengo; and carried away,
apparently, by the military enthusiasm consequent on