No More Learning

18, 1803. He studied in Aberdeen, and was
professor of moral philosophy in Marischal
College from 1760 till his death. He wrote
metaphysical essays and poems. The Min-
strel) is his chief work. The first book (1771)
passed through four editions before the second
part appeared (1774).
Beaumarchais, Pierre Augustin Caron de
(bő-mär-shā'). A French dramatist; born in
Paris, Jan. 24, 1732; died there, May 18, 1799.
He was the son of a Parisian watchmaker
named Caron, learned his father's trade, and
by his vehement attack on a rival who pirated
his patent attracted attention at court. His
handsome appearance and manners procured
advancement. Ile taught the daughters of
Louis XV. to play the harp; married a rich
widow. His first plays, Eugénie) (1767) and
(The Two Friends) (1770), had only moder-
His great plays are: “The Bar-
ber of Seville) (1775) and (The Marriage of
Figaro) (1784), which had unprecedented suc-
The (Memoirs of Sieur Beaumarchais)
ate success.
cess.


## p. 49 (#65) ##############################################

BEAUMONT — BECKER
49
by himself (1774-78; new ed. by Sainte-Beuve,
1873), have never been surpassed for their
satire and logic. Beaumarchais is a figure in
Goethe's drama "Clavigo. His (Theatre) has
been edited by Saint-Marc Girardin (Paris,
1861); his (Complete Works, by Moland (1774)
and by Fournier (1875); the Barber of Se-
ville, by Austin Dobson (Oxford, 1884). *
Beaumont, Francis. An English dramatist;
born in 1584, at Grace-Dieu, Leicestershire, the
family seat; died in London, March 6, 1616.
He wrote first (Salmacis and Hermaphrodi-
tus, a poem on Ovid's legend (1602); and a
(Masque of the Inner Temple, represented at
court in 1612-13. From early youth he was
associated with John Fletcher. Their differ-
ences are best appreciated by comparing Beau-
mont's "Triumph of Love) with Fletcher's
( Triumph of Death, included in (Four Plays
or Moral Representations in One) (1647).
Their plays written together include : (Philas-
ter); (The Maid's Tragedy); King and No
King); (The Scornful Lady); (The Knight
of the Burning Pestle); Cupid's Revenge); and
(The Coxcomb. Their first collected edition,
(Comedies and Tragedies,' appeared in 1647;
more complete in 1679. *
Beaunoir, Alexandre Louis Bertrand (bon-
wär') (true name Robinoir). A French dram-
atist (1746-1823). His more than 200 comedies
were very popular. Among the best of them
are : Love Goes A-Begging'; Jennie, or The
Losers Don't Pay. '
Bebel, Ferdinand August (bā'bel). A Ger-
man socialist; born in Cologne in 1840. In his
youth he was an apprentice, and while learn-
ing and practicing the turner's trade, he acquired
a practical knowledge of the difficulties and
disabilities of the workingmen. He settled in
Leipzig in 1860, joined various labor organiza-
tions, and became one of the editors of the
Volkstaat and of the better-known Vorwärts.
Membership in the North German Reichstag
was followed by his election to the German
Reichstag, of which he was a member from
1871 to 1881, and which he entered again in
1883- He is the leader of his party in the
Reichstag. Bebel's earnestness, large sympathy,
and wide range of knowledge impress his
hearers, although his appearance and manner
in the Reichstag do not at first win them.
These qualities are also characteristic of his
numerous published books, among which are :
(Our Aims) (1874); (The German Peasant War)
(1876); (The Life and Theories of Charles
Fourier) (1888); (Women in Socialism, the
Christian Point of View in the Woman Ques-
tion' (1893).
Bebel, Heinrich (bā'bel). A notable Ger-
man humanist (1472–1518). He was an alum-
nus of Cracow and Basel Universities, and
from 1497 professor of poetry and rhetoric at
Tübingen. His fame rests principally on his
Facetiæ) (1506), a curious collection of bits
of homely and rather coarse-grained humor and
anecdote, directed mainly against the clergy ;
and on his (Triumph of Venus,' a keen satire
on the depravity of his time.
Beccadelli, Antonio degli (bek'ä-del’ē). An
Italian humanist and poet (1394-1471); born
at Palermo. His book of epigrams, (Her-
maphroditus) (1432), shows abundant wit and
fancy, but oversteps the bounds of decency.
Beccari, Agostini (bek-är'ē). An Italian
pastoral poet; born in Ferrara, 1540 (? ); died
there (? ) 1590. He wrote (The Sacrifice) (1554)
before his fifteenth birthday, this piece being a
pastoral in rather stilted metre and quite sopho-
moric in flavor; but as the maiden essay of
the kind in literature, and as the model upon
which Tasso constructed his Aminta, it is not
to be overlooked.
Bechstein, Ludwig (bech'stin). A German
poet and novelist (1801-60), chiefly remembered
for (The Legend Treasure and the Legend-
ary Cycles of Thuringia' (1835-38); (German
Fairy-Tale Book) (1845, 41st ed. 1893); and
others. Among his epical poems are: (The
Children of Haymon) (1830); (The Dance
of Death) (1831); New Natural History of
Pet Birds) (1846), a humorous didactic poem;
and (Thuringia's Royal House) (1865). Of his
numerous novels, chiefly historical, the best-
known is Journeys of a Musician) (1836-37).
Beck, Karl (bek). An Austrian poet; born at
Baja, Hungary, May 1, 1817; died in Vienna,
April 10, 1879. His poems reflect the passion-
ate temperament of his Hungarian country-
men in sonorous verses of consummate finish.
Among his works are : (Nights) (1838); (The
Poet Errant) (1838); Jankó (1842), a romance
in verse ; (Songs of the Poor Man) (1847);
(Jadwiga) (1863), a tale in verse; Mater
Dolorosa) (1854), a novel.
Becke, Louis. An Australian author; born
in Port Macquarrie, Australia, about 1850. He
went to sea at the age of fourteen, and has
spent his life trading in the South Pacific.
His publications are: (By Reef and Palm)
(1895); (South Sea Stories) (1896); (The Ebb-
ing of the Tide) (1896); and with W. Jeffrey,
(A First-Fleet Family' (1896).
Becker, August (bek'er). A German poet
and novelist (1828–91); author of Young
Friedel, the Minstrel? (1854), a lyrical epic,
and the novels: (The Rabbi's Bequest) (1866);
(Proscribed) (1868); (The Carbuncle) (1870);
(My Sister) (1876), descriptive of the doings
of Lola Montez and the events of 1848 in
Bavaria; (Painter Fairbeard? (1878); (The
Sexton of Horst) (1889).
Becker, Karl Friedrich. A German his-
torical writer; born in Berlin, 1777; died there,
March 15, 1806. He wrote various popular
works on historical topics, the best-known
being «The World's History for Children and
their Teachers) (1801-5), a truly successful
undertaking.
Becker, Nikolaus. A German poet (1809-
45), known as the author of the Rhine-song
)
4


## p. 50 (#66) ##############################################

50
BECKFORD- BEECHER
(They never shall obtain it, the free, the Ger-
man Rhine, which became immensely popular
throughout Germany, and provoked Alfred de
Musset's “We have had it, your German Rhine,
and Lamartine's more conciliatory Peace-
Marseillaise) (1841).
Beckford, William. A noted English man
of letters; born at Fonthill, Wiltshire, Sept. 29,
1759; died at Bath, May 2, 1844. Heir to a large
fortune, he traveled extensively, and after his
return home built a costly residence at Font-
hill, where he amassed many art treasures. He
is famous as the author of "Vathek,' an Oriental
romance of great power and luxurious imagina-
tion, written originally in French ( 1781 or 1782),
and translated into English by himself, although
another translation (by Henley) had been
published anonymously and surreptitiously in
1784(? ). Among his other writings are: Bio-
graphical Memoirs of Extraordinary Painters )
(1780), a satirical burlesque; “Dreams, Waking
Thoughts, and Incidents (1783), a series of let-
ters from various parts of Europe ; (Italy, with
Sketches of Spain and Portugal) (1834). *
Becque, Henri François (bek). A French
dramatist; born in Paris, April 9, 1837, the pio-
neer of realism on the Parisian stage, where
he produced (The Prodigal Son (1868); (The
Abduction (1871); (The Ravens) (1882); (The
Parisian) (1885).
Becquer, Gustavo Adolfo (bek'ker). A
Spanish poet and novelist; born in Seville,
Feb. 17, 1836; died in Madrid, Dec. 22, 1870.
His lyrics, chiefly elegiac, show much feeling,
and his tales and legends are among the best
creations of modern Spanish prose.
Beddoes, Thomas Lovell. An English poet ;
born in Rodney Place, Clifton, July 20, 1803;
died in Basle, Jan. 26, 1849. He was educated
at Oxford and Göttingen, and lived a strange
wandering life as a doctor and politician in
Germany and Switzerland, with occasional visits
to England. (The Bride's Tragedy) (1822)
was quite remarkable and attracted attention ;
but his best is (Death's Jest-Book,' on which
he was at work from 1825 until his death. It
was published posthumously by T. F. Kelsau
(1850), who also edited his other poems with
memoir (1851).
Bede or Bæda. The greatest figure in an-
cient English literature; was born near Monk-
wearmouth, Durham, about 673; died in the
monastery of Jarrow, May 26, 735.
Left an
orphan at the age of six, he was educated in
the Benedictine Abbey at Monkwearmouth
and entered the monastery of Jarrow, where he
was ordained priest in his thirtieth year. His
industry was enormous. « First,” says Green,
( among English scholars, first among English
theologians, first among English historians, it
is in the monk of Jarrow that English liter-
ature strikes its roots. In the six hundred
scholars who gathered around him for instruc-
tion he is the father of our national education. ! )
Bede wrote homilies, lives of saints, hymns,
epigrams, works on grammar and chronology,
and the great Ecclesiastical History of Eng.
land' in five books, gleaned from native chron-
icles and oral tradition. This was translated
from Latin into Anglo-Saxon by King Alfred.
The first editions were issued from Strassburg
in the 15th century.
Bede, Cuthbert, pseudonym of Edward
Bradley. An English author; born in Kid-
derminster in 1827; died in Lenton, Dec. 12,
1889. He graduated at Durham University,
and was rector of Denton, Stretton, and finally
Lenton from 1883 until his death. He con-
tributed to Punch and other London period.
icals, and published the Adventures of Mr.
Verdant Green, an Oxford Freshman) (Lon-
don, 1855), a humorous picture of college life.
His other works include: (Mr. Verdant Green
Married and Done For) (1856); (The White
Wife,' a collection of Scottish legends (1864);
(Little Mr. Bouncer and his Friend Verdant
Green (1873-74); and many books of travels.
Beecher, Catherine Esther. An American
author and educator, daughter of Lyman, and
sister of Henry Ward Beecher; born in East-
hampton, L. I. , Sept. 6, 1800; died in Elmira,
N. Y. , May 12, 1878. From 1822 to 1832 she
conducted a school in Hartford, Conn. ; and
afterwards taught for two years in Cincinnati,
Ohio. The remainder of her life was devoted
to training teachers and supplying them to
needy fields, especially in the Western and
Southern States. She wrote numerous works
on education and on the woman question,
among which are: (The Religious Training
of Children in the School, the Family, and
the Church) (1864); (Woman's Profession as
Mother and Educator, with Views in Opposi.
tion to Woman Suffrage) (1871).
Beecher, Charles. An American clergyman
and author, brother of Henry Ward Beecher;
born in Litchfield, Conn. , Oct. 7, 1815. He
graduated from Bowdoin College in 1834, and
has had charge of Congregational and Pres.
byterian churches ; especially in Fort Wayne,
Ind. , Newark, N. J. , and Georgetown, Mass.
Among his published works are: (David and
his Throne! (1855); 'Spiritual Manifestations)
(1879); and (The Autobiography and Corre-
spondence of Lyman Beecher? (1863).
Beecher, Edward. An American clergyman
and author, brother of Henry Ward Beecher;
born in Easthampton, N. Y. , Aug. 27, 1803;
died in Brooklyn, N. Y. , July 28, 1895. He
graduated at Yale, studied theology at Andover
and New Haven; was pastor of various Con-
gregational churches, especially at Park Street,
Boston (1826-30), and Salem Street, Boston
(1844-55). He was president of Minois Col-
lege, Jacksonville (1830-44), and for some years
professor of Exegesis in the Chicago Theologi-
cal Seminary. He wrote many religious books,
including (The Conflict of Ages) (1853) and
(The Concord of Ages) (1860); in which he
explained the existence of sin and misery in
the world as the results of a pre-existent state,
(


## p. 51 (#67) ##############################################

BEECHER – BELCIKOVSKI
51
to be harmonized at last in an eternal con-
cord of good.
Beecher, Henry Ward. An American clergy-
man; born in Litchfield, Conn. , June 24, 1813;
died in Brooklyn, N. Y. , March 8, 1887. He
was the son of Lyman Beecher; graduated
from Amherst in 1834; studied in Lane Theo-
logical Seminary, near Cincinnati, Ohio; and
began clerical duty as pastor of a church in
Lawrenceburg, Ind. , removing to Indianapo-
lis in 1839. From 1847 until his death he was
pastor of Plymouth Congregational Church in
Brooklyn. He was one of the founders of the
Independent and of the Christian Union (now
the Outlook). He was also a prominent anti-
slavery orator, as well as a famous lecturer.
Among his numerous publications are : (Star
Papers; or Experiences of Art and Nature)
(1855); Freedom and War) (1863); (Eyes
and Ears) (1864); and a novel, Norwood, or
Village Life in New England? (1867). His
(Sermons) were edited by Dr. Lyman Abbott
(2 vols. , 1868). *
Beecher, Lyman. An American clergyman;
born in New Haven, Conn. , Oct. 2, 1775; died
in Brooklyn, N. Y. , June 10, 1863. His ances-
tors were Puritans. He graduated from Yale
in 1796, and became pastor of the Presbyterian
Church in East Hampton, L. I. ; then of a
Congregational church in Litchfield, Conn. , in
1810; and then of the Hanover Street Congre-
gational Church in Boston, Mass. In 1832 he
became president of Lane Theological Semi-
nary, near Cincinnati, Ohio. His influence
throughout the country was very great, espe-
cially on the questions of temperance and of
slavery. His “Six Sermons on Intemperance)
had a great effect, and have been frequently re-
published and translated into many languages.
His sermon on the death of Alexander Ham-
ilton in 1804, with his Remedy for Dueling
(1809), did much toward breaking up the prac-
tice of dueling in the United States. His col-
lected (Sermons and Addresses) were published
in 1852.
Beecher, Thomas Kinnicutt. An American
clergyman, son of Lyman, and brother of Henry
Ward Beecher; born in Litchfield, Conn. , Feb.
10, 1824. He became pastor in Brooklyn in
1852, and in Elmira, N. Y. , in 1854. He has
been a very successful lecturer and an effective
writer on current topics. He had published in
book form (Our Seven Churches) (1870).
Beers, Ethel Lynn. An American poet;
born in Goshen, N. Y. , Jan. 13, 1827; died in
Orange, N. J. , Oct. 10, 1879. She was a de-
scendant of John Eliot, the apostle to the In-
dians.
She has published All Quiet along
the Potomac, and Other Poems) (1879).
Beers, Henry Augustin. An American
author; born in Buffalo, N. Y. , July 2, 1847.
He graduated from Yale in 1859, became tutor
there in 1871, and professor of English litera-
ture in 1880. He has published among other
works: (A Century of American Literature)
(1878); (The Thankless Muse,' poems (1886);
(From Chaucer to Tennyson) (1890); "Initial
Studies in American Letters) (1892); (A Sub-
urban Pastoral, and Other Tales) (1894); (The
Ways of Yale) (1895).
Beers, Jan van (bārz). A Flemish poet
(1821-88); from 1860 professor at the Athenæum
in Antwerp. His principal works, full of sen-
timent and melodious quality, are: (Youth's
Dreams) (1853); Pictures of Life) (1858);
(Sentiment and Life) (1869).
Beethoven, Ludwig van (bā'to-ven). A
German composer of Dutch extraction; born
at Bonn, 1770; died at Vienna, 1827. His music
is world-famous. In his “Correspondence and
in the noted (Brentano Letters) he is a writer
of personal impressions of great interest and
charm. *
Beets, Nicolaas (bāts). A Dutch poet,
novelist, and critic; born in Haarlem, Sept.
13, 1814. His early lyrics, and the poetical
tales (José) (1834); "Kuser) (1835); (Guy the
Fleming' (1837), are in the vein of Byron.
He showed a maturer talent in (Ada of Hol-
land) (1840), and the lyric cycles (Cornflow-
ers) (1853), “The Children of the Sea'. (1861),
and others; but is chiefly esteemed as a prose-
writer of rare excellence, author of "Camera
Obscura) (1839, 18th ed. 1888), a series of tales
and sketches of Dutch types, published under
the pseudonym of Hildebrand. ”
Behn, Aphra. An English novelist and
dramatist; born in Wye, Kent, in July 1640;
died in London, April 16, 1689. She is buried
in the Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey.
Her life was adventurous and interesting. She
early went to the West Indies, returned to
London about 1658, and gaining entrance to
court, pleased Charles II. by her wit. He
sent her to Ant erp as a spy. She was the
first woman in England to live by her pen.
Her plays and poems are superior to her nov-
els; but they are all stamped with indelicacy,
and do not deserve the praise bestowed on
them by Dryden, Otway, and others. Her dra.
mas long held the stage. They include:
Abdelazar, or the Moor's Revenge); (The
Forced Marriage); and many others. Among
her novels, (Oroonoko, or the Royal Slave)
(founded on the adventures of a West-Indian
native prince of that name) alone has any
merit.
Behrens, Bertha. See Heimburg.
Bekker, Elisabeth (bek'er). A Dutch novel-
ist; born at Vlissingen, July 24, 1738; died in
The Hague, Nov. 5, 1804. Married to Adriaan
Wolff, a Reformed Church minister at Beem-
ster, who died in 1777, she lived afterwards in
closest friendship with Agathe Deken, who
also collaborated in her most important works,
to wit: (History of Sara Burgerhart) (1782);
(History of William Leevend) (1784-85); (Let-
ters of Abraham Blankaart) (1787–89); 'Cor-
nelia Wildschut) (1793-96).
Belcikovski, Adam (bel-chê-kov-skē). A
Polish dramatist; born in Cracow, 1839. Among


## p. 52 (#68) ##############################################

BELINSKY - BELLMAN
52
his numerous historical dramas and comedies
are: King Don Juan (1869); Hunyadi)
(1870); (Francesca da Rimini) (1873); (The
Oath (1878); (King Boleslav the Bold (1882).
He also wrote valuable essays on Polish liter-
ature.
Belinsky, Vissárion Grigóryevich (bel-in'.
skē). A Russian literary critic (1811-48). He
wrote an excellent (View of Russian Literature
since the 18th Century.
Bell, Acton. See Brontë, Anne.
Bell, Currer. See Brontë, Charlotte.
Bell, Ellis. See Brontë, Emily.
Bell, Lilian. An American novelist; born
in Kentucky, 1867. She has written (The Love
Affairs of an Old Maid) and A Little Sister
to the Wilderness. )
Bell, Robert. An Irish author and editor;
born in Cork, Jan. 16, 1800; died in London,
April 12, 1867. Educated at Trinity College,
Dublin, he went to London in 1828. He be-
came editor of magazines and useful editions
of books. He is best known for his annotated
edition of English poets from Chaucer to Cow-
per (24 vols. , 1854-57). He wrote: History
of Russia) (3 vols. , London, 1836); Life of
Canning) (1846); (Wayside Pictures through
France, Belgium, and Holland (1849); two
novels; three comedies; and a collection of
(Early Ballads) (1864).
Bellamy, Edward. An American writer;
born in Chicopee Falls, Mass. , March 29, 1850.
He was educated in Germany; admitted to
the bar; was on the staff of the Evening Post
of New York in 1871-72; and on his return
from the Sandwich Islands in 1877, he founded
the Springfield News. He is best known by
his novel (Looking Backward) (1888), a so-
cialistic work, of which an immense number
of copies were sold in two years. His other
books are: (Six to One: a Nantucket Idyl
(1878); Dr. Heidenhoff's Process) (1880);
(Miss Ludington's Sister) (1884); and (Equal-
ity) (1897).
Bellamy, Mrs. Elizabeth Whitfield (Croom).
An American novelist, writing under the pseu-
donym “Kamba Thorpe ”; born at Quincy,
Fla. , 1839. She has written: Four Oaks)
(1867); "Little Joanna (1876); (Old Man Gil-
bert) (1888); (The Luck of the Pendennings.
Bellam Jacobus (bel'ä-mi). A Dutch
poet; born at Vlissingen, Nov. 12, 1757; died
in Utrecht, March II, 1786. First known
through his Anacreontic "Songs of my Youth)
(1782), which were followed by the inspired
(Patriotic Songs) (1783), he is now chiefly re-
membered for his poetical romance (Roosje
(1784), which in touching simplicity and ardent
feeling is unequaled in Dutch literature.
Bellamy, Joseph. An American clergyman
and educator; born in Cheshire, Conn. , in 1719;
died in Bethlehem, Conn. , March 6, 1790. He
graduated at Yale in 1735; in 1740 became pas-
tor of the church in Bethlehem, where he re-
mained until his death. About 1742 he estab-
lished a divinity school, in which many cel.
ebrated clergymen were trained. Among his
published works, besides his (Sermons) are :
(True Religion Delineated? (1750); (The
Nature and Glory of the Gospel (1762); and
(The Half-Way Covenant) (1769).
Bellay, Joachim du (be-lā'). A distin.
guished French poet and prose-writer; born
at the Château de Liré, near Angers, about
1524; died in Paris, Jan. I, 1560. Next to Ron-
sard the most prominent member of the
famous « Pléiade. ) He had few of the advan-
tages of a school education, but by his own
industry became acquainted with the poets of
antiquity and of France. His first volume of
poems was a collection of his "Sonnets to
Olive. His Antiquities of Rome) was done
into English verse by Edmund Spenser, (The
Ruins of Rome) (1591). His principal work
is a Defense and Illustration of the French
Language) (1549), in which he depreciates the
old forms of French poetry and sets up the
classic poets of antiquity as models. After his
death were published more of his sonnets, also
odes, and some translations.
Belleau, Rémy (bel-lo'). A noted French
poet; born at Nogent-le-Rotrou, 1528; died in
Paris, March 16, 1577. One of the “Pléiade,
and ranked by some as its best poet, in
preference to Bellay. His poems are graceful
and melodious, and show less affectation of
sentiment than those of many of his contem-
poraries. He made an elegant and spirited
translation of “The Odes of Anacreon (1576).
His Bergerie (1572), a compound of prose
and verse, is of unequal merit; but it contains
some passages --e. g. , the (April) — which are
of consummate beauty. A curious work is his
fanciful Loves and New Exchanges of Pre-
cious Stones! (1566): it is perhaps his best
performance.
Belli, Giuseppe Gioachino (bel'lē). A noted
Roman humorist and satirical poet (1791-1863).
He wrote in the popular dialect of the Traste-
vere ; and in early life scourged with stinging,
irreverent, and often vulgar satire, the tyranny
of the popes and the scandalous lives of the
clergy. Becoming afterward a zealous convert
to the faith of the Roman Church, he en-
deavored to call in and destroy the wicked
indiscretions of his youth. In his last years he
published a beautiful translation of the Roman
Breviary. His published sonnets amount to
more than 2,000; his other published Italian
verses fill four considerable volumes; while
two thirds of his vast remains have never
been gathered and edited. Of this last, much
is clothed in language too coarse to bear the
light of modern culture.
Bellman, Carl Michael (bel'män). A noted
Swedish poet; born in Stockholm, Feb. 4, 1740;
died there, Feb. 11, 1795. His poems were often
improvisations, and the airs of his songs were
largely of his own composition. As singer of
the rollicking life of a capital city he is un-
surpassed. A colossal bronze bust of Bellman


## p. 53 (#69) ##############################################

BELLOWS - BENJAMIN
53
Ben
by Byström was erected in the Zoological
Garden at Stockholm in 1829, and there a pop-
ular festival is held yearly in his honor. *
Bellows, Henry Whitney. A prominent
Unitarian divine and miscellaneous writer;
born at Walpole, N. H. , June 11, 1814; died in
New York, Jan. 30, 1882. He became pastor of
All Souls Church, New York, 1839; was chief
founder and long editor of the Christian In-
quirer (1846); president and chief originator of
the United States Sanitary Commission during
the Civil War (1861-65). He wrote: (Public
Life of Washington (1866); “Relation of Pub-
lic Amusements to Public Morality); (The Old
World in its New Face) (2 vols. , 1868–69), a
record of travel in Europe. He was an effect-
ive preacher and public speaker.
Belloy, Pierre Laurent de (bel-wä'), prop-
erly Buirette. A French dramatist; born 1727;
died 1775. He won success with the tragedies
(The Siege of Calais) (1765) and (Gaston and
Bayard (1771), and was elected to the Acad-
emy in 1771.
Belmontet, Louis (bel-môn-tā'). A French
poet and publicist (1799-1879); studied and
practiced law in Toulouse, until involved in
difficulties with the magistracy on account of
some satirical poems, when he went to Paris
and there produced his principal works: (The
Sad Ones) (1824), a cycle of elegies; (The
Supper of Augustus) (1828); and with Soumet,
(A Festival of Nero) (1829), a tragedy which
exceeded 100 performances. Subsequently he
became an ardent partisan of Bonapartism,
pleading its cause as a journalist and poetically
extolling the Napoleonic dynasty in many en-
thusiastic odes.
Belot, Adolphe (be-lo'). A French novelist
and dramatist (1829–90); traveled extensively
and settled at Nancy as a lawyer. He won
reputation with a witty comedy, “The Testa-
ment of César Girodot) (1859, with Villetard);
and being less successful with his following
dramatic efforts, devoted himself to fiction.
Of his novels may be mentioned : (The Venus
of Gordes) (1867, with Ernest Daudet); (The
Drama of the Rue de la Paix) (1868); (Arti-
cle 47' (1870): all of which were dramatized.
Bembo, Pietro (bem'bo). A celebrated Ital-
jan humanist; born in Venice, May 20, 1470;
died in Rome, Jan. 18, 1547. In 1513 he be-
came secretary of Latin letters Pope Leo
X. ; the Venetian republic appointed him in
1530 State historiographer. His poetical works,
Latin and Italian, are marked rather by ele-
gance of style, purity of idiom, and correctness
of taste, than by force or originality of thought
or liveliness of fancy. His works include a
History of Venice 1487-1513,' and a number
of poems, dialogues, and essays. There are 16
books of his Latin Letters) written in the
name of Leo X.
Bender, Prosper (bend'er). An American
descriptive ter; bor at Quebec, 1844. Ori-
ginally a Canadian physician, he removed to
Boston, Mass. (1883), and practices medicine
there. He has written: "Old and New Can-
ada'; 'Literary Sheaves) (1881).
lict, David. A Baptist divine and his-
torian; born at Norwalk, Conn. , 1779; died
1874. He was pastor at Pawtucket, R. I. , for
twenty-five years, and preached till over ninety
years of age. Among his chief works were :
(History of All Religions); (Fifty Years
among the Baptists); History of the Do-
natists) ; etc.
Benedict, Frank Lee. A popular American
novelist and poet; born in New York, 1834.
Among his numerous novels may be named:
John Worthington's Name); Miss Van Kort-
land' (1870); Her Friend Lawrence) (1879);
(The Price She Paid) (1883).
Benedictoff, Vladimir Grigorjevich (be-ne-
dik'tof). A Russian poet (1810-73), whose
lyrics excel in deep sentiment and ideal en-
thusiasm ; some, like (Two Apparitions, (The
Lake, (The Mountain Peaks,' may be ranked
with the finest of any literature.
Benedictsson, Victoria. See Ahlgren.
Benedix, Roderich Julius (be'ne-diks). A
German dramatist; born in Leipsic, Jan. 21,
1811; died there, Sept. 26, 1873. His first com-
edy, 'The Moss-Covered Pate) (1841), was re-
ceived throughout Germany with extraordinary
popular favor. Its successor, Doctor Wasp,'
was no less successful. Of the long catalogue
of his comedies, nearly every one was received
with marked favor in Germany and in foreign
countries wherever they were presented. The
secret of this success is found in the ever
lively action, and in the author's intimate
knowledge of the stage with its immemorial
yet ever fresh and telling effects. His (Col-
lected Dramatic Works) were published in 27
volumes.
Beniczky-Bajza, Illona (ben-is'skē bi'tsä).
A Hungarian novelist; born in Buda-Pesth,
in June 1840. Daughter of the critic Joseph
Bajza, and one of the most prolific writers of
Hungary. Her most noteworthy works are :
(Prejudice and Enlightenment) (1872); "It is
She) (1888); “Martha) (1890); 'The Mountain
Fairy) (1890).
Benjamin, Park. An American journalist,
poet, and lecturer; born at Demerara, British
Guiana, Aug. 14, 1809; died in New York,
Sept. 12, 1864. He studied law originally. His
poems, of a high order of merit, have never
been collected. (The Contemplation of Na-
ture, read on taking his degree at Washington
College, Hartford, 1829; the satires (Poetry)
(1843); (Infatuation) (1845); (The Nautilus);
(To One Beloved); and (The Old Sexton,' are
among his works. He was associated edito-
rially with Epes Sargent and Rufus W. Gris-
wold.
Benjamin, Park. An American lawyer, edi.
tor, and miscellaneous writer, son of the pre-
ceding; born in New York, May 11, 1849. A
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54
BENJAMIN – BENTON
as
graduate of the United States Naval Academy
(1867), he served on Admiral Farragut's flag-
ship, but resigned in 1869. As a lawyer he has
been a patent expert.