skilfully managed his defence, that he enlisted the public in his interest. It seemed, indeed, as if he was pleading, not his own, but every body's cause; in fact, this individual lawsuit became a struggle between the people, as represented by one of them assuming, for the first time in France, the title of citizen, and the hated parliament, or, rather, the old order of things, which was assaulted and battered down with all the weapons ingenuity, boldness, and wit could furnish. The memorials of Beaumarchais were indeed masterpieces of pungent eloquence, and, although worsted by his opponent in the point of law, he succeeded in coming off victorious in the eyes of the public. Meanwhile he had won one of his brightest triumphs as a dramatist. Le Barbier de Séville was performed in 1775, and the liveliness and comic power of the play were in perfect contrast with the sad dulness of his former dramas. Owing to some secret service he had done to the king, he was soon relieved from the incapacity resulting from the judgment rendered against him; his great lawsuit was submitted to a supreme court, and, on July 21, 1778, he definitively gained his cause. He was then the most popular man in France, and, at the same time, on the very best terms with the government. This he made use of to accomplish a great undertaking he had been pursuing for the 3 preceding years. As early as 1775 he had submitted to the king a memorial in which he insisted upon the necessity for the French government to come secretly to the assistance of the English colonies of America against England, giving as his deliberate opinion that they would prove unconquerable. Beaumarchais passed a part of the year 1775 in England as an agent of the French ministry; had interviews with Arthur Lee, and was in the most intimate relations of correspondence with Vergennes. His secrecy, his sagacity in interpreting a hint from a minister without forcing him to commit himself even verbally, his quickness of perception and his social attractions, made him a convenient instrument. His papers served to fix the wavering purpose of the king, and when Maurepas, the chief minister, hesitated about espousing the cause of the insurgent Americans, Beaumarchais, by letters, representations, and adroit flattery, assisted to bring him to the decision, which his own love of ease would have shunned. The French cabinet ostensibly professed to decline sending any assistance, but they consented to help Beaumarchais in his plan to furnish the colonies with arms and ammunition. For that purpose they had secretly advanced to him 1,000,000 livres, an equal sum being furnished by Spain, and delivered to him arms and ammunition from the public arsenals, on the condition that he would pay for or replace the same. Beaumarchais, under the firm of Roderique Hortalez and Co., as early as the beginning of 1777, forwarded 3 of his own ships, carrying 200 pieces of ordnance, 25,000 muskets, 200,000 lbs. of gunpowder, and other ammunition. He had also engaged more than 50 officers, who sailed on board the Amphitrite, his largest ship; and among the number were La Rouerie, Pulaski, and Steuben, who so powerfully aided in the success of the American troops. This first fleet safely arrived at Portsmouth, and inspired the colonists with renewed hope. Several other ships were sent during the same year, and about the month of September Beaumarchais's disbursements amounted to more than 5,000,000 francs. Congress, being under the impression that these supplies were gratuitously furnished by the French government, under a disguised form, neglected to make remittances to Beaumarchais, who found himself in embarrassed circumstances, from which he was relieved by the French government advancing him another million of francs. The forwarding of supplies was continued, and toward the beginning of 1779, no less than 10 vessels sailed at once, but few of them reached their destination. At that time the United States were indebted to Roderique Hortalez and Co., or, rather, Beaumarchais, to the amount of more than 4,000,000 francs. Although congress did not hesitate to acknowledge its obligations toward the French firm, the settlement of so large indebtment met with many difficulties, and it was not till 1835 that the final balance of about 800,000 francs was paid to the heirs of Beaumarchais. The transaction, far from having been profitable to the latter, as it has been frequently asserted, resulted in losses, which he was enabled to withstand through government aid and some more successful speculations of various kinds. One of the largest, which, however, ended by being disadvan tageous, was the first complete edition of Voltaire's works, known as the "Kehl edition." Amid all the bustle of commercial affairs, Beaumarchais did not neglect literature, and, in 1784, he came out with the most celebrated of his plays, Le Mariage de Figaro. "To write this piece," a biographer says, "was certainly a difficult task; but to have it performed was a thing which would have been impossible to any one but Beaumarchais." Louis XVI. had emphatically decided that it should never be performed under his reign; and, nevertheless, the performance took place 6 months later. It was certainly one of the most striking events among the forerunners of the French revolution. The eagerness to see the play was unprecedented, and such was the anxiety to be present at the first representation that thousands of persons thronged to the entrance of the theatre from the early morning. Ladies of the highest rank passed the day and dined in the private boxes of actresses, to secure their seats, and 2 men were smothered in the rush at the opening of the doors. Words are inadequate to express the public rapture, and the piece had to be performed for 2 years in succession. The first 67 representations brought to the theatre 346,197 francs, which netted 293,755 francs clear profit, out of which Beaumarchais received 41,499. This was a trifle for a man who was engaged in immense speculations, such as the establishment of a bank of discount, nearly on the plan of the bank of England, and the supply of water to the inhabitants of Paris, for which he was virulently abused by Mirabeau, who was then a zealous pamphleteer. In 1787 he was again entangled in a lawsuit, when he had as his opponent Bergasse, a dashing young lawyer from Lyons; but his cause was devoid of interest, and apparently not very creditable to his morality, and while he was successful before the court he lost it before the public. In 1792 his last drama, La Mère coupable, was performed. During the reign of terror, being anxious to give evidence of his patriotism, he bought some 60,000 muskets in Holland for the French republic, but, through some mismanagement, they were not delivered in time, and Beaumarchais was charged with the intention of selling them to the émigrés. He thought it prudent not to wait for a trial, and went to England, from whence he sent an apologetical memoir, entitled Mes six époques. He, however, return ed to his native country, and was committed to prison. His life was saved by Manuel. He continued in obscurity during the directory, and died suddenly in the 68th year of his age. His complete works were published (Paris, 1809, 7 vols. 8vo) by his friend, Gudin de la Brenellerie, who left interesting MSS. upon his life. Another edition was brought out by Fevine (Paris, 1827, 6 vols. 8vo), with a biographical notice by St. Marc Girardin. A very full and able memoir of his life, by M. de Loménie, published in 1857, under the title of Beaumarchais et son temps, has been translated into English and reprinted in this country. BEAUMARIS, a seaport town of North Wales, island of Anglesea, near the northern entrance of the Menai strait, a few miles from the Menai bridge. It has the ruins of a castle built by Edward I. in 1293. BEAUMELLE, LAURENT ANGLIVIEL DE LA, a French writer, known by the unrelenting enmity of Voltaire against him, born Jan. 28, 1726, at Valleraugue, department of Gard, died at Paris, Nov. 17, 1773. While at Berlin, he was introduced to Voltaire, whose pride he deeply wounded by a remark in one of his books called Mes pensées. Returning to France, he was arrested at Voltaire's instigation, and confined for 6 months in the Bastile. Restored to liberty, he wrote a very witty pamphlet in answer to an attack directed against him by Voltaire during his captivity; and then devoted all his time to the composition of his Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire de Madame de Maintenon, which was received with marked favor; but when he was about availing himself of his success, he was arrested a second time, and confined again for more than a year in the state prison. In 1764 he married a young lady who was possessed of some property, and he had the hope of quietly living on her estate; when suddenly Voltaire's renewed hostility called him again into the literary arena. During this new contest, La Beaumelle displayed such tact, energy, and wit, that he sometimes got the better of his powerful rival. At last, in 1770, he obtained permission to return to Paris, receiving, moreover, an appointment as assistant in the royal library, and afterward a pension, His son, VICTOR LAURENT SUZANNE MOISE, born in France in 1772, died at Rio Janeiro in 1831, served as colonel of engineers in the! army of the emperor Don Pedro, and published an interesting pamphlet on the Brazilian empire. BEAUMETZ, BON ALBERT BRIOIS DE, a member of the French constituent assembly, born Dec. 24, 1759, at Arras, died at Calcutta about 1809. He greatly contributed to reform the old laws, and insisted upon the establishment of trial by jury. He was elected president of the national assembly, May 27, 1790. On the adjournment of that body, he was appointed member of the departmental directory at Paris. In 1792, being charged with attempting to restore the monarchical government, he emigrated, wandering through Germany, England, the United States, and at last went to the East Indies, where he died. According to another report, he was permitted to return to France after the 18th Brumaire, and breathed his last a few months after arriving in his native country. He was the author of a valuable book entitled, Code pénal des jurés de la haute cour nationale, Paris, 1792. BEAUMONT, a post village on the Neches river, and the capital of Jefferson co., Texas. The surrounding prairies are filled with herds of cattle and horses, the raising of which is the principal occupation of the inhabitants of Beaumont. Small vessels ply regularly between this port and Galveston. BEAUMONT, CHRISTOPHE DE, archbishop of Paris, born July 26, 1703, in Périgord, died Dec. 12, 1781, at Paris. He is known by his severity toward the Jansenists, whom he wished to subject to the famous bull Unigenitus; but especially by his quarrels with the philosophers of his time. J. J. Rousseau addressed to him a letter, which is thought to be very eloquent. The archbishop was disowned by the government, and exiled, while the ministry insisted on his resignation, but he refused. His somewhat fiery zeal for religion did not exclude true kindness and charity; he not only forgave offences, but sometimes relieved his enemies from their troubles. He was held in great esteem by several sovereigns of Europe, and admired by Frederic the Great of Prussia, who offered him an asylum in his kingdom. He was buried in the church of Notre-Dame. BEAUMONT, FÉLIX BELLATOR, comte de, a member of the imperial senate in France, born Dec. 25, 1793, at Paris. He first served in the army, was in the Russian campaign, was taken prisoner at Dresden, and liberated in 1815. He was present at the disastrous battle of Waterloo, served a few years under the Bourbons, and was discharged in 1826. After leading, for 9 years, a private life, employed in agricultural pursuits, he was sent to the chamber of deputies, where he took his seat in the opposition; he was reelected in 1842 and 1846. He was also a member of the constituent assembly in 1848, and of the legislature in 1849. His fortune, standing, and ability, as well as his political sentiments, commended him to Napoleon III., who appointed him senator Jan. 26, 1852. BEAUMONT, FRANCIS, born at Grace Dieu, Leicestershire, in 1585, died in March, 1616; one of the most prominent of the old English dramatists, connected for some time in literary labor with John Fletcher, so that their plays are usually published under the joint names of Beaumont and Fletcher. Of the private life of Beaumont, very little is known. He was the 3d son of Francis Beaumont, judge of the court of common pleas in the time of Queen Elizabeth, and was for a short time at Oxford, whence he went to London, and studied law at the inner temple. When he was 16, he turned Ovid's Salmacis and Hermaphroditus into English rhyme, and before he was 19, had become an intimate friend of Ben Jonson. His connection, a kind of dramatic partnership, with Fletcher, appears to have lasted about 12 years. It is not possible to determine with strict accuracy to how many plays he contributed, but it is supposed by the best critics that out of 52 dramas, several of which are now lost, and which were published under the joint names of Beaumont and Fletcher, only 17 really were written in part by him. Like those of other dramatists of that age, his plays contain much of value, with many passages of great force and beauty. Except by scholars, they are now rarely read or referred to. He was buried in Westminster abbey. tractive features of the gallery. Beaumont was also an intimate friend of Wordsworth. BEAUMONT, J. T. G. LEPRÉVOT DE, born in Normandy, lived during the last part of the 18th century, became known by discovering the plot called the pacte de famine, the object of which was a monopoly of bread during the reigns of Louis XV. and Louis XVI. A lengthened captivity was the reward of his efforts to unravel this mystery. Being made aware in 1768 of a compact by which a private company had received from the government the right of starving the country, he wrote a strong denunciation to be sent to the parliament of Rouen, which had just made complaints about monopolies; but, by some indiscretion, the document was made known to the minister of police, who had Beaumont immediately arrested and incarcerated in the Bastile, where he was kept for 11 months; then he was transferred to various prisons, his captivity lasting no less than 21 years. He was liberated Sept. 5, 1789, 2 months after the taking of the Bastile. BEAUMONT, SIR JOHN, English poet, born in 1582, died in 1623. He was elder brother of Francis Beaumont, the dramatist, and published a small volume of poems, remarkable for its high moral tone. He also wrote a poem called "The Crown of Thorns," in 8 books, which is lost. Winstanley, in his "Honor of Parnassus," describes Sir John Beaumont as one of "the great souls of numbers." BEAUMONT, WILLIAM, a surgeon in the U. S. army, born in 1796, and died at St. Louis, April 25, 1853. He is principally noted for his discoveries regarding the laws of digestion and for his experiments upon the body of Alexis St. Martin. In 1822 Beaumont was stationed at Michillimackinac, Michigan. On June 6, St. Martin, a young man 18 years of age, in the service of the American fur company, was acciBEAUMONT, SIR GEORGE HOWLAND, a mu- dentally shot, receiving the whole charge of a nificent patron of art and an amateur of consid- musket in his left side, from a distance of about erable merit, born at his family seat in Leices- one yard, carrying with it portions of his clothtershire, England, Nov. 6, 1753, and died Feb. 7, ing, and fracturing two ribs, lacerating the 1827. He received his education at Eton, and lungs, and entering the stomach. Notwithsubsequently devoted himself with enthusiasm standing the severity of the wound, Dr. Beauto the study of painting and to the collection mont undertook his cure, and by careful and of works of art. His landscapes, although de- constant treatment and attention, the following ficient in practical skill, are frequently well im- year found him enjoying good health with his agined, and the figures and other accessories former strength and spirits. In 1825 Dr. Beauskilfully disposed. As a friend and patron of mont commenced a series of experiments upon artists, in whose society he took much delight, the stomach of St. Martin, showing its operahis claims to consideration are numerous. He tions, secretions, the action of the gastric was among the first to discover and encourage juices, &c.; these experiments he was obliged the genius of Wilkie, some of whose finest to discontinue after a few months, but renewed works were painted for him, and his gallery them at various intervals until his death; contained, beside many choice works of the old his patient during so many years presenting the masters, fine specimens of the best modern Eng- remarkable spectacle of a man enjoying good lish painters. He was also instrumental in es- health, appetite, and spirits, with an aperture tablishing the British national gallery, and as opening into his stomach 24 inches in circuman inducement to parliament to purchase the ference, through which the whole action of the celebrated Angerstein collection for that pur- stomach might be observed. The result of his pose, offered to present 16 of his best pictures to experiments was published by Dr. Beaumont the collection. The offer was accepted, and in 1833, and has been recognized throughout this munificent gift is now one of the most at the medical world as a valuable addition to sci BEAUMONT DE LA BONNIERE ence. St. Martin is still living, having visited Europe in 1857. BEAUMONT DE LA BONNIÈRE, GUSTAVE AUGUSTE DE, a French advocate and writer, born Feb. 6, 1802, in the department of Sarthe. In 1831 he was commissioned, with Alexis de Tocqueville, to visit the United States in order to make inquiry about the penitentiary system established here; and the result of their voyage was a report which has become a standard work on the subject, Du système pénitentiaire aux Etats Unis et de son application en France. Beside this work, while De Tocqueville published his Democratie aux Etas Unis, Beaumont produced a kind of novel, Marie, ou de l'esclarage aux Etats Unis, which has been translated and reprinted in this country. In 1839, another book from his pen, L'Irlande politique, sociale et religieuse, commanded public attention, and was rewarded, as well as the preceding one, with the Monthyon prize of the French institute. In 1840, Beaumont was elected to the chamber of deputies, sided with those members forming the so-called dynastic opposition, and favored electoral reform in 1847. Being sent to the constituent assembly in 1848, he was a member of the committee on foreign affairs. Gen. Cavaignac appointed him ambassador to England. He was reelected to the legislative assembly, where he did not play a conspicuous part, and since the coup d'état of December, 1851, he has been in retirement. In 1836 he married a granddaughter of Gen. Lafayette. BEAUMONT DE LA BONNIERE, MARO ANTOINE, Comte de, a French general, born Sept. 23, 1760, in the vicinity of Tours, died Feb. 4, 1830. He entered the service as a captain in 1784. Being a colonel in 1792, he opposed the fury of the revolutionists at Lyons, was arrested and sentenced to death; but his regiment, which had become very much attached to him, rescued him at the moment he was taken to the scaffold. He afterward served with distinction in Italy and Germany. Napoleon I. made him a senator in 1807, and a count of the empire in 1808. Still he was among the first to join the Bourbons, and was promoted to the peerage by Louis XVIII., to whom he remained faithful. BEAUNE, a town of France, department of Côte d'Or, 20 miles S. S. W. of Dijon, in a fine country, at the foot of a hill which produces excellent wine; pop. in 1856, 10,453. Its most remarkable public buildings are the church of Notre Dame and the hospital founded in 1444. Its ramparts, beautifully planted, afford fine promenades. Previously to the revocation of the edict of Nantes, Beaune was among the leading manufacturing cities of eastern France; it still produces cloth, cutlery, leather, vinegar, casks, &c., but its actual importance is mostly derived from its wine trade, which is quite considerable. The vineyards by which it is surrounded yield a large quantity of wine, which is considered the best of the second growths of Burgundy, The mathematician Monge was born here, BEAUNOIR, whose real name was ROBINEAU, ALEXANDRE LOUIS BERTRAND, a French dramatist, born April 4, 1746, at Paris, died Aug. 5, 1823. He was a witty, graphic, and original writer, and produced no less than 200 plays, by which he made more than 300,000 crowns. During the revolution, Beaunoir emigrated to Belgium, then to Russia, where Paul I. intrusted him with the direction of the imperial theatre. In 1801 he returned to France. BEAUPRÉAU, a town of France, department of Maine et Loire, 26 miles S. W. of Angers, on the Erve. It has manufactories of linen, woollen mills, dye works, and tanneries; but is particularly known by the bloody battle which was fought under its walls, April 2, 1793, between the Vendeans and the republicans, under Gen. Ligonier. The latter were defeated. Pop. 3,790. BEAUSOBRE, ISAAC DE, a French Calvinist divine, born March 8, 1659, at Niort, died June 6, 1738, at Berlin. He received orders 2 years previous to the revocation of the edict of Nantes, and was appointed pastor at Chatillonsur-Indre. On the closing of his church, he ran the risk of being imprisoned for holding secret religious meetings at his house, and was compelled to leave France. He took refuge at Rotterdam, and afterward went to AnhaltDessau, where he lived for nearly 7 years. In 1694 he returned to Berlin, and the elector Frederic William III. appointed him pastor of one of the French churches in that city. He soon after became chaplain to the queen of Prussia, and entered, in 1707, the consistory, where he held his seat for nearly 30 years. He was a scholar of uncommon attainments and a perspicuous writer. BEAUSOLEIL, JEAN DU CHATELET, baron de, a Flemish mineralogist and alchemist, born in Brabant, about 1578, died in the Bastile, in 1645. He travelled over most of the countries of Europe, seeking mines by means of the diviningrod, the great compass, the seven-angles compass, the mineral astrolabe, the metallic rake, &c. He twice visited France, and was, on a charge of sorcery, dispossessed of all his jewels and instruments, and a little later confined in the Bastile, where he died. His wife shared his labors, and probably his fate. BEAUTEMPS-BEAUPRÉ, CHARLES FRANçois, an eminent French hydrographer, born in 1766, near Ste. Menehould, died in 1854. His whole life was devoted to hydrographic pursuits and to the drawing of maps and charts, which are highly esteemed for their accuracy. Among his works are the Atlas de la mer Bal tique; Carte hydrographique générale; Plan de l'Escaut; and especially the Atlas accompanying the account of the voyage undertaken in 1791, by D'Entrecasteaux, in search of the unfortunate La Pérouse. This last work was only published in 1808; but a copy of the manuscript maps had fallen into the hands of the English, who used them in their explorations in the Pacific. He is called the father of hydrography, and was chief hydrographer and keeper of the rich collection of maps and charts belonging to the French navy, beside being member of the Institute and of the Bureau des Longitudes. BEAUTY, the quality of objects which gives delight to the æsthetic faculty. It is found in nature, in scenery, sounds, and forms, and is produced in art, in poetry, music, painting, sculpture, and architecture. To trace its development or manifestations would be to give a history of all the arts, and we purpose here only to treat the subject abstractly. From the time of Plato, beauty, truth, and goodness have been the categories which have occupied philosophy. Truth is the ideal or absolute in the domain of intellect, goodness in that of volition or action, and after centuries of earnest speculation, beauty has at length found its place as the ideal in the domain of sensibility. As æsthetics treats of the works of art which exhibit human passion, and of the law by which we love, pity, fear, sympathize, and wonder, so beauty, which is the theme of æsthetics, is the ultimate aim of the passions and sentiments. The divine purpose revealed to the intellect is truth, revealed in human life is virtue, and revealed to the heart is beauty.-In the philosophy of Plato, which contains the oldest important extant speculations on this subject, beauty is an archetypal idea proceeding from the infinite mind and imaged in material forms. It resides primarily in God, and in the human soul, is a cardinal spiritual fact, and would remain a reality though matter were annihilated. Plato, indeed, affirmed the order of the universe to be a harmonious manifestation of beauty, yet he preferred to dwell upon and praise the idea, and proposed no theory of objective beauty, of the laws by which a beautiful idea becomes a beautiful object. Though he inaugurated the 3 categorical ideas, he yet did not nicely draw the distinction between our notions of the beautiful and of the good. The enthusiastic disciple of Socrates, he made the moral element everywhere dominant in his philosophy, yet his mind was so sensitively æsthetic that he affirmed that only the spectacle of eternal beauty could give worth to this mortal life. Swayed by a twofold love, he refrained from dialectic severity. Wishing to make both beauty and goodness supreme, and unable to set either above the other, he blended them into one, and called them by a common name which embraced both the words beautiful and good.-Aristotle has treated the subject briefly and from an objective stand-point, and unlike Plato, he links beauty not with goodness but with truth. According to him, that object is beautiful which is composed with such order and proportion that we can see its parts and embrace them all together. The same view was adopted and strikingly expressed by St. Augustine in his remark, that unity is the source of beauty, that that thing is beautiful whose central principle and organic relations we can perceive. Thus, as the Platonic theory made that beautiful which satisfies the moral nature, so the Aristotelian affirmed beauty only in that which satisfies the intellect.-The theory of Plato was cherished in the school of Alexandria, where Plotinus stated it in an admirable treatise. Material beauty, he says, is but the reflection of spiritual beauty. Mind alone is beautiful, and in loving the beautiful it loves only the shadows of itself. But the theory of Aristotle, adopted by St. Augustine, and subsequently by Boethius, was received by those of the schoolmen who speculated of beauty. The 2 greatest masters of the scholastic method were the Dominican Thomas Aquinas, and the Franciscan Dun Scotus, and while the former of these and his disciples made intellect supreme, and the latter and his disciples made will supreme, there was found no third master to assert the claims of sentiment or beauty. Thus beauty, whose alliance, in ancient philosophy, had been sought by each of the other members of the triple sisterhood, was now forsaken and an outcast.-Nor was the discussion renewed till long after the revival of letters.-In Italy, where the sternest people of antiquity has been succeeded by the most sensitive of modern nations, the modern culture of the beautiful took its rise; and its first fruits were the poems of Dante and Petrarch, and many paintings as well as poems before the end of the 15th century. The love of beauty seemed a national instinct, universal among the populace, patronized by the wealth of princes, encouraged by the learning of academies. Yet the criticism and speculation upon the subject went far behind the improvement in taste and the delight in art. Reflection among the Italians has never been able to rival the activity and power of their imagination, and though their country is the nursery of all that is best in painting, sculpture, and music, they have contributed little that is important to the philosophy of the beautiful.-In France the questions which occupied Cartesianism were foreign to æsthetics, and only minds of a second order in that great school gratified themselves with reproducing the traditions of antiquity, and feebly restating the theory of Aristotle and St. Augustine. Thus Crousaz made the beautiful to consist in 5 elements, order, regularity, proportion, unity, and variety, and André distinguished it into various degrees and sorts from the various combinations of these sources. The Père Buffier advanced the curious theory, which was afterward adopted by Sir Joshua Reynolds, that beauty consists in mediocrity, and that things are beautiful just in proportion as they are ordinary and usual. Diderot, without the Platonic faith in the idea of beauty, and unable to discover a common quality in all beautiful objects, could affirm the existence of beauty neither in the mind of man nor in the material universe. With a mind of singular acuteness, which delighted in the discovery of relations, he strangely imagined this delight to be one of the pleasures of taste, and boldly proposed the theory that beauty consists in the idea of relation-that objects are beautiful in proportion as |