Chapter 13

(H. W. S.)

BERTAT(Arab.Jebalain), negroes of the Shangalla group of tribes, mainly agriculturists. They occupy the valleys of the Yabus and Tumat, tributaries of the Blue Nile. They are shortish and very black, with projecting jaws, broad noses and thick lips. By both sexes the hair is worn short or the head shaved; on cheeks and temple are tribal marks in the form of scars. The huts of the Bertat are circular, the floor raised on short poles. Their weapons are the spear, throwing-club, sword and dagger, and also thekulbedaor throwing-knife. Blocks of salt are the favourite form of currency. Gold washing is practised. Nature worship still struggles against the spread of Mahommedanism. The Bertat, estimated to number some 80,000,c.1880, werenearly exterminated during the period of Dervish ascendancy (1884-1898) in the eastern Sudan. Settled among them are Arab communities governed by their own sheiks, while themeksor rulers of the Bertat speak Arabic, and show traces of foreign blood. (SeeFazogli.)

See Koeltlitz, “The Bertat,”Journal of the Anthropological Institute, xxxiii. 51;Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, edited by Count Gleichen (London, 1905).

BERTAUT, JEAN(1552-1611), French poet, was born at Caen in 1552. He figures with Desportes in the disdainful couplet of Boileau on Ronsard:—

“Ce poète orgueilleux, trébuché de si haut,Rendit plus retenus Desportes et Bertaut.”

“Ce poète orgueilleux, trébuché de si haut,

Rendit plus retenus Desportes et Bertaut.”

He wrote light verse to celebrate the incidents of court life in the manner of Desportes, but his verse is more fantastic and fuller of conceits than his master’s. He early entered the church, and had a share in the conversion of Henry IV., a circumstance which assured his career. He was successively councillor of the parlement of Grenoble, secretary to the king, almoner to Marie de’ Medici, abbot of Aulnay and finally, in 1606, bishop of Sées. After his elevation to the bishopric he ceased to produce the light verse in which he excelled, though his scruples did not prevent him from preparing a new edition of hisRecueil de quelques vers amoureux(1602) in 1606. The serious poems in which he celebrated the public events of his later years are dull and lifeless. Bertaut died at Sées on the 8th of June 1611. His works were edited by M.Ad. Chenevières in 1891.

BERTH,originally a nautical term, probably connected with the verb “to bear,” first found in literature at the end of the 16th century, with the alternative spelling “birth.” Its primary meaning is “sea-room,” whether on the high seas or at anchor. Hence the phrase “to give a wide berth to,” meaning “to keep at a safe distance from,” both in its literal and its metaphorical use. From meaning sea-room for a ship at anchor, “berth” comes to mean also the position of a ship at her moorings (“to berth a ship”). The word further means any place on a ship allotted for a special purpose, where the men mess or sleep, or an office or appointment on board, whence the word has passed into colloquial use with the meaning of a situation or employment. From the Icelandicbyrdi, a board, is also derived the ship-building term “berth,” meaning to board, put up bulk-heads, etc.

BERTHELOT, MARCELLIN PIERRE EUGÈNE(1827-1907), French chemist and politician, was born at Paris on the 29th of October 1827, being the son of a doctor. After distinguishing himself at school in history and philosophy, he turned to the study of science. In 1851 he became a member of the staff of the Collège de France as assistant to A.J. Balard, his former master, and about the same time he began his life-long friendship with Ernest Renan. In 1854 he made his reputation by his doctoral thesis,Sur les combinaisons de la glycérine avec les acides, which described a series of beautiful researches in continuation and amplification of M.E. Chevreul’s classical work. In 1859 he was appointed professor of organic chemistry at the École Supérieure de Pharmacie, and in 1865 he accepted the new chair of organic chemistry, which was specially created for his benefit at the Collège de France. He became a member of the Academy of Medicine in 1863, and ten years afterwards entered the Academy of Sciences, of which he became perpetual secretary in 1889 in succession to Louis Pasteur. He was appointed inspector general of higher education in 1876, and after his election as life senator in 1881 he continued to take an active interest in educational questions, especially as affected by compulsory military service. In the Goblet ministry of 1886-1887 he was minister of public instruction, and in the Bourgeois cabinet of 1895-1896 he held the portfolio for foreign affairs. His scientific jubilee was celebrated in Paris in 1901. He died suddenly, immediately after the death of his wife, on the 18th of March 1907, at Paris, and with her was buried in the Panthéon.

The fundamental conception that underlay all Berthelot’s chemical work was that all chemical phenomena depend on the action of physical forces which can be determined and measured. When he began his active career it was generally believed that, although some instances of the synthetical production of organic substances had been observed, on the whole organic chemistry must remain an analytical science and could not become a constructive one, because the formation of the substances with which it deals required the intervention of vital activity in some shape. To this attitude he offered uncompromising opposition, and by the synthetical production of numerous hydrocarbons, natural fats, sugars and other bodies he proved that organic compounds can be formed by ordinary methods of chemical manipulation and obey the same laws as inorganic substances, thus exhibiting the “creative character in virtue of which chemistry actually realizes the abstract conceptions of its theories and classifications—a prerogative so far possessed neither by the natural nor by the historical sciences.” His investigations on the synthesis of organic compounds were published in numerous papers and books, includingChimie organique fondée sur la synthèse(1860) andLes Carbures d’hydrogéne(1901). Again he held that chemical phenomena are not governed by any peculiar laws special to themselves, but are explicable in terms of the general laws of mechanics that are in operation throughout the universe; and this view he developed, with the aid of thousands of experiments, in hisMécanique chimique(1878) and hisThermochimie(1897). This branch of study naturally conducted him to the investigation of explosives, and on the theoretical side led to the results published in his workSur la force de la poudre et des matières explosives(1872), while on the practical side it enabled him to render important services to his country as president of the scientific defence committee during the siege of Paris in 1870-71 and subsequently as chief of the French explosives committee. In the later years of his life he turned to the study of the earlier phases of the science which he did so much to advance, and students of chemical history are greatly indebted to him for his book onLes Origines de l’alchimie(1885) and hisIntroduction à l’étude de la chimie des anciens et du moyen âge(1889), as well as for publishing translations of various old Greek, Syriac and Arabic treatises on alchemy and chemistry (Collection des anciens alchimistes grecs, 1887-1888, andLa Chimie au moyen âge, 1893). He was also the author ofScience et philosophie(1886), which contains a well-known letter to Renan on “La Science idéale et la science positive,” ofLa Révolution chimique, Lavoisier(1890), ofScience et morale(1897), and of numerous articles inLa Grande Encyclopédie, which he helped to establish.

BERTHIER, LOUIS ALEXANDRE,prince of Neuchâtel (1753-1815), marshal of France and chief of the staff under Napoleon I., was born at Versailles on the 20th of February 1753. As a boy he was instructed in the military art by his father, an officer of theCorps de génie, and at the age of seventeen he entered the army, serving successively in the staff, the engineers and the prince de Lambesq’s dragoons. In 1780 he went to North America with Rochambeau, and on his return, having attained the rank of colonel, he was employed in various staff posts and in a military mission to Prussia. During the Revolution, as chief of staff of the Versailles national guard, he protected the aunts of Louis XVI. from popular violence, and aided their escape (1791). In the war of 1792 he was at once made chief of staff to Marshal Lückner, and he bore a distinguished part in the Argonne campaign of Dumouriez and Kellermann. He served with great credit in the Vendéan War of 1793-95, and was in the next year made a general of division and chief of staff (Major-Général) to the army of Italy, which Bonaparte had recently been appointed to command. His power of work, accuracy and quick comprehension, combined with his long and varied experience and his complete mastery of detail, made him the ideal chief of staff to a great soldier; and in this capacity he was Napoleon’s most valued assistant for the rest of his career. He accompanied Napoleon throughout the brilliant campaign of 1796, and was left in charge of the army after the peace of Campo Formio. In this post he organized the Roman republic (1798), after which he joined his chief in Egypt, serving there until Napoleon’s return. He assisted in thecoup d’étatof 18th Brumaire, afterwards becoming minister of war fora time. In the campaign of Marengo he was the nominal head of the Army of Reserve, but the first consul accompanied the army and Berthier acted in reality, as always, as chief of staff to Napoleon. At the close of the campaign he was employed in civil and diplomatic business. When Napoleon became emperor, Berthier was at once made a marshal of the empire. He took part in the campaigns of Austerlitz, Jena and Friedland, and was created duke of Valengin in 1806, sovereign prince of Neuchâtel in the same year and vice-constable of the empire in 1807. In 1808 he served in the Peninsula, and in 1809 in the Austrian War, after which he was given the title of prince of Wagram. Berthier married a niece of the king of Bavaria. He was with Napoleon in Russia in 1812, Germany in 1813, and France in 1814, fulfilling, till the fall of the empire, the functions of “major-general” of theGrande Armée. He abandoned Napoleon to make his peace with Louis XVIII. in 1814, and accompanied the king in his solemn entry into Paris. During Napoleon’s captivity in Elba, Berthier, whom he informed of his projects, was much perplexed as to his future course, and, being unwilling to commit himself, fell under the suspicion both of his old leader and of Louis XVIII. On Napoleon’s return he withdrew to Bamberg, where he died on the 1st of June 1815. The manner of his death is uncertain; according to some accounts he was assassinated by members of a secret society, others say that, maddened by the sight of Russian troops marching to invade France, he threw himself from his window and was killed. Berthier was not a great commander. When he was in temporary command in 1809 the French army in Bavaria underwent a series of reverses. Whatever merit as a general he may have possessed was completely overshadowed by the genius of his master. But his title to fame is that he understood and carried out that master’s directions to the minutest detail.

BERTHOLLET, CLAUDE LOUIS(1748-1822), French chemist, was born at Talloire, near Annecy in Savoy, on the 9th of December 1748. He studied first at Chambery and afterwards at Turin, where he graduated in medicine. Settling in Paris in 1772, he became the private physician of Philip, duke of Orleans, and by his chemical work soon gained so high a reputation that in 1780 he was admitted into the Academy of Sciences. In 1785 he declared himself an adherent of the Lavoisierian school, though he did not accept Lavoisier’s view of oxygen as the only and universal acidifying principle, and he took part in the reform in chemical nomenclature carried out by Lavoisier and his associates in 1787. Among the substances of which he investigated the composition were ammonia, sulphuretted hydrogen and prussic acid, and his experiments on chlorine, which he regarded, not as an element, but as oxygenated muriatic (oxymuriatic) acid, led him to propose it as a bleaching agent in 1785. He also prepared potassium chlorate and attempted to use it in the manufacture of gunpowder as a substitute for saltpetre. When, at the beginning of the French Revolution, the deficiency in the supply of saltpetre became a serious matter, he was placed at the head of the commission entrusted with the development of its production in French territory, and another commission on which he served had for its object the improvement of the methods of iron manufacture. He was also a member in 1794 of the committee on agriculture and the arts, and technical science was further indebted to him for a systematic exposition of the principles of dyeing—Élémens de l’art de la teinture, 1791, of which he published a second edition in 1809, in association with his son, A.B. Berthollet (1783-1811). After 1794 he was teacher of chemistry in the polytechnic and normal schools of Paris, and in 1795 he took an active part in remodelling the Academy as the Institut National. In the following year he and Gaspard Monge were chosen chiefs of a commission charged with the task of selecting in Italy the choicest specimens of ancient and modern art for the national galleries of Paris; and in 1798 he was one of the band of scientific men who accompanied Napoleon to Egypt, there forming themselves into the Institute of Egypt on the plan of the Institut National. On the fall of the Directory he was made a senator and grand officer of the Legion of Honour; under the empire he became a count; and after the restoration of the Bourbons he took his seat as a peer. In the later years of his life he had at Arcueil, where he died on the 6th of November 1822, a well-equipped laboratory, which became a centre frequented by some of the most distinguished scientific men of the time, their proceedings being published in three volumes, between 1807 and 1817, as theMémoires de la société d’Arcueil. Berthollet’s most remarkable contribution to chemistry was hisEssai de statique chimique(1803), the first systematic attempt to grapple with the problems of chemical physics. His doctrines did not meet with general approval among his contemporaries, partly perhaps because he pushed them too far, as for instance in holding that two elements might combine in constantly varying proportions, a view which gave rise to a long dispute with L.J. Proust; but his speculations, in particular his insistence on the influence of the relative masses of the acting substances in chemical reactions, have exercised a dominating influence on the modern developments of the theory of chemical affinity, of which, far more than T.O. Bergman, whom he controverted, he must be regarded as the founder.

BERTHON, EDWARD LYON(1813-1899), English inventor, was born in London, on the 20th of February 1813, the son of an army contractor and descendant of an old Huguenot family. He studied for the medical profession in Liverpool and at Dublin, but after his marriage in 1834 he gave up his intention of becoming a doctor, and travelled for about six years on the continent. Keenly interested from boyhood in mechanical science, he made experiments in the application of the screw propeller for boats. But his model, with a two-bladed propeller, was only ridiculed when it was placed before the British admiralty. Berthon therefore did not complete the patent and the idea was left for Francis Smith to bring out more successfully in 1838. In 1841 he entered Magdalene College, Cambridge, in order to study for the Church. There he produced what is usually known as “Berthon’s log,” in which the suction produced by the water streaming past the end of a pipe projected below a ship is registered on a mercury column above. In 1845 he was ordained, and after holding a curacy at Lymington was given a living at Fareham. Here he was able to carry on experiments with his log, which was tested on the Southampton to Jersey steamboats; but the British admiralty gave him no encouragement, and it remained uncompleted. He next designed some instruments to indicate the trim and rolling of boats at sea; but the idea for which he is chiefly remembered was that of the “Berthon Folding Boat” in 1849. This invention was again adversely reported on by the admiralty. Berthon resigned his living at Fareham, and subsequently accepted the living of Romsey. In 1873, encouraged by Samuel Plimsoll, he again applied himself to perfecting his collapsible boat. Success was at last achieved, and in less than a year he had received orders from the admiralty for boats to the amount of £15,000. Some were taken by Sir George Nares to the Arctic, others were sent to General Gordon at Khartum, and others again were taken to the Zambezi by F.C. Selous. Berthon died on the 27th of October 1899.

BERTHOUD, FERDINAND(1727-1807), Swiss chronometer-maker, was born at Plancemont, Neuchâtel, in 1727, and settling in Paris in 1745 gained a great reputation for the excellence and accuracy of his chronometers. He was a member of the Institute and a fellow of the Royal Society of London, and among other works wroteEssais sur l’horlogerie(1763). He died in 1807 at Montmorency, Seine et Oise. He was succeeded in business by his nephew, Louis Berthoud (1759-1813).

BERTILLON, LOUIS ADOLPHE(1821-1883), French statistician, was born in Paris on the 1st of April 1821. Entering the medical profession, he practised as a doctor for a number of years. After the revolution of 1870, he was appointed inspector-general of benevolent institutions. He was one of the founders of the school of anthropology of Paris, and was appointed a professor there in 1876. HisDémographie figurée de la France(1874) is an able statistical study of the population of France. He died at Neuilly on the 28th of February 1883.

His sonAlphonse Bertillon, the anthropometrist, was born in Paris in 1853. He published in 1883 a workEthnographie moderne des races sauvages,but his chief claim to distinction lies in the system invented by him for the identification of criminals, which is described by him in hisPhotographie judiciaire, Paris, 1890 (seeAnthropometry). He was officially appointed in 1894 to report on the handwriting of thebordereauin the Dreyfus case, and was a witness for the prosecution before the cour de cassation on the 18th of January 1899.

BERTIN,a family of distinction in the history of French journalism. The most important member of the family, generally regarded as the father of modern French journalism,Louis François Bertin(1766-1841), known as Bertinaîné, was born in Paris on the 14th of December 1766. He began his journalistic career by writing for theJournal Françaisand other papers during the French Revolution. After the 18th Brumaire he founded the paper, with which the name of his family has chiefly been connected, theJournal des Débats. He was suspected of royalist tendencies by the consulate and was exiled in 1801. He returned to Paris in 1804 and resumed the management of the paper, the title of which had been changed by order of Napoleon to that ofJournal de l’Empire. Bertin had to submit to a rigorous censorship, and in 1811 the conduct, together with the profits, was taken over entirely by the government. In 1814 he regained possession and restored the old title and continued his support of the royalist cause—during the Hundred Days; he directed theMoniteur de Gand—till 1823, when theJournal des Débatsbecame the recognized organ of the constitutional opposition. Bertin’s support was, however, given to the July monarchy after 1830. He died on the 13th of September 1841.Louis François Bertin de Vaux(1771-1842), the younger brother of Bertinaîné, took a leading part in the conduct of theJournal des Débats, to the success of which his powers of writing greatly contributed. He entered the chamber of deputies in 1815, was made councillor of state in 1827, and a peer of France in 1830. The two sons of Bertinaîné,Edouard François(1797-1871) andLouis Marie François(1801-1854), were directors in succession of theJournal des Débats. Edouard Bertin was also a painter of some distinction.

BERTINORO, OBADIAH,Jewish commentator of the Mishnah, died in Jerusalem about 1500. Bertinoro much improved the status of the Jews in the Holy Land; before his migration thither the Jews of Palestine were in a miserable condition of poverty and persecution. His commentary on the Mishnah is the most useful of all helps to the understanding of that work. It is printed in most Hebrew editions of the Mishnah. Surenhusius, in his Latin edition of the last-named code (Amsterdam 1698-1703), translated Bertinoro’s commentary.

BERTINORO,a town and episcopal see of Emilia, Italy, in the province of Forli, 8 m. S.E. direct of Forli and 5½ m. N. of the station of Forlimpopoli, and 800 ft. above sea-level. Pop. (1901) town, 3753; commune, 7786. The town commands a fine view to the north over the plain of Emilia and the lower course of the Po, itself lying on the foothills of the Apennines. It appears to have been first fortified by Frederick Barbarossa, and its castle stood frequent sieges in the middle ages. Polenta, 2½ m. to the south of it, was the birthplace of Francesca da Rimini. The castle is almost entirely ruined, but the church of S. Donato, of the Lombard period, with Byzantine capitals, is interesting; Giosuè Carducci has written a fine ode on the subject (La Chiesa di Polenta, Bologna, 1897).

See C. Ricci, “Della Chiesa e castello di Polenta” inAtti e Memorie della Deputazione di Storia patria per le prooniae di Romagna, ser. iii. vol. ix. (Bologna, 1891), 1 seq.

(T. As.)

BERTOLD(1442-1504), elector and archbishop of Mainz, son of George, count of Henneberg, entered the ecclesiastical profession, and after passing through its lower stages, was made archbishop of Mainz in 1484. He appears to have been a firm supporter of law and order, an enemy of clerical abuses and a careful administrator of his diocese. Immediately after his election as archbishop he began to take a leading part in the business of the Empire, and in 1486 was very active in securing the election of Maximilian as Roman king. His chief work, however, was done as an advocate of administrative reform in Germany. During the reign of the emperor Frederick III. he had brought this question before the diet, and after Frederick’s death, when he had become imperial chancellor, he was the leader of the party which pressed the necessity for reform upon Maximilian at the diet of Worms in 1495. His proposals came to nothing, but he continued the struggle at a series of diets, and urged the Germans to emulate the courage and union of the Swiss cantons. He gained a temporary victory when the diet of Augsburg in 1500 established a council of regency (Reichsregiment), and in 1502 persuaded the electors to form a union to uphold the reforms of 1495 and 1500. The elector died on the 21st of December 1504. Bertold was a man of great ability and resourcefulness, and as a statesman who strove for an ordered and united Germany was far in advance of his age.

See J. Weiss,Berthold von Henneberg, Erzbischof von Mainz(Freiburg, 1889).

BERTOLD VON REGENSBURG(c.1220-1272), the greatest German preacher of the later middle ages, was a native of Regensburg, and entered the Franciscan monastery there. From about 1250 onwards his fame as a preacher spread over all the German-speaking parts of the continent of Europe. He wandered from village to village and town to town, preaching to enormous audiences, always in the open air; the earnestness and straightforward eloquence with which he insisted that true repentance came from the heart, that pious pilgrimages and the absolution of the Church were mere outward symbols, appealed to all classes. He died in Regensburg on the 13th of December 1272. His German sermons, of which seventy-one have been preserved, are among the most powerful in the language, and form the chief monuments of Middle High German prose. His style is clear, direct and remarkably free from cumbrous Latin constructions; he employed, whenever he could, the pithy and homely sayings of the peasants, and is not reluctant to point his moral with a rough humour. As a thinker, he shows little sympathy with that strain of medieval mysticism which is to be observed in all the poetry of his contemporaries.

The best edition of Bertold’s German sermons is that by F. Pfeiffer and J. Strobl (2 vols., 1862-1880; reprinted, 1906); there is also a modern German version by F. Göbel (4th ed., 1906). The Latin sermons were edited by G. Jakob (1880). See C.W. Stromberger,Bertold von Regensburg, der grosste Volksredner des deutschen Mittelalters(1877), K. Unkel,Bertold von Regensburg(1882), and E. Bernhardt,Bruder Bertold von Regensburg(1905); A.E. Schönbach,Studien zur Geschichte der altdeutschen Predigt(Publications of the Vienna Academy, 1906).

BERTRAM, CHARLES(1723-1765), English literary impostor, was born in London, the son of a silk dyer. In 1747, being then teacher of English at the school for Danish naval cadets at Copenhagen, he wrote to Dr William Stukeley, the English antiquarian, that he had discovered a manuscript written by a monk named Richard of Westminster, which corrected and supplemented theItineraryof Antoninus in Britain. He subsequently sent to Stukeley a copy of various parts of the work and a facsimile of a few lines of the manuscript. These were so cleverly executed that they quite deceived the English palaeographers of the period. Stukeley, finding that a chronicler of the fourteenth century, Richard of Cirencester, had also been an inmate of Westminster Abbey, identified him with Bertram’s Richard of Westminster, and, in 1756, read an analysis of the “discovery” before the Society of Antiquaries, which was published with a copy of Richard’s map. In 1757 Bertram published at Copenhagen a volume entitledBritannicarum Gentium Historiae Antiquae Scriptores Tres. This contained the works of Gildas and Nennius and the full text of Bertram’s forgery, and though Bertram’s map did not correspond with that of Richard, Stukeley discarded the latter and adopted Bertram’s concoction in hisItinerarium Curiosumpublished in 1776. Although Thomas Reynolds in hisIter Britanniarum(1799), an edition of the British portion of Antoninus’Itinerary, was distinctly sceptical as to the value of Bertram’s manuscript, its authenticity was generally accepted until the middle of the 19th century. No original of the manuscript could then be found at Copenhagen, and B.B. Woodward, librarian of Windsor Castle, proved conclusively, by a series of articles in theGentleman’s Magazinein 1866 and 1867, thatthe supposed facsimile of calligraphy produced by Bertram was a blend of the style of various periods, while the greater portion of the idiomatic Latin in the book was a mere translation of 18th century English phraseology. Nevertheless, as late as 1872, a translation of Bertram’s forgery was included in Bohn’s Antiquarian Library as one of theSix English Chronicles, and there is no doubt that the work had a wide and misleading influence upon many antiquarian writers. Bertram died in 1765.

BERTRAND, HENRI GRATIEN,Comte(1773-1844), French general, was born at Châteauroux. At the outbreak of the Revolution, he had just finished his studies, and he entered the army as a volunteer. During the expedition to Egypt, Napoleon named him colonel (1798), then brigadier-general, and after Austerlitz his aide-de-camp. His life was henceforth closely bound up with that of Napoleon, who had the fullest confidence in him, honouring him in 1813 with the title of grand marshal of the court. It was Bertrand who in 1809 directed the building of the bridges by which the French army crossed the Danube at Wagram. In 1813, after the battle of Leipzig, it was due to his initiative that the French army was not totally destroyed. He accompanied Napoleon to Elba in 1814, returned with him in 1815, held a command in the Waterloo campaign, and then, after the defeat, accompanied Napoleon to St Helena. He did not return to France until after Napoleon’s death, and then Louis XVIII. allowed him to retain his rank, and he was elected deputy in 1830. In 1840 he was chosen to go to bring Napoleon’s remains to France. He died at Châteauroux on the 31st of January 1844. His touching fidelity has made his name very popular in France.

BERTRICH,a village and watering place of Germany, in the Prussian Rhine province, in a narrow valley running down to the Mosel near Cochem. Its waters are efficacious in cases of gout, rheumatism and biliary affections. Pop. 500.

BÉRULLE, PIERRE DE(1575-1629), French cardinal and statesman, was born at Sérilly, near Troyes, on the 4th of February 1575. He was educated by the Jesuits and at the university of Paris. Soon after his ordination in 1599, he assisted Cardinal Duperron in his controversy with the Protestant Philippe de Mornay, and made numerous converts. He founded the Congregation of the French Oratory in 1611 and introduced the Carmelite nuns into France, notwithstanding the opposition of the friars of that order, who were jealous of his ascendancy. Bérulle also played an important part as a statesman. He obtained the necessary dispensations from Rome for Henrietta Maria’s marriage to Charles I., and acted as her chaplain during the first year of her stay in England. In 1626, as French ambassador to Spain, he concluded the treaty of Monzon. After the reconciliation of Louis XIII. with his mother, Marie de’ Medici, through his agency, he was appointed a councillor of state, but had to resign this office, owing to his Austrian policy, which was opposed by Richelieu. Bérulle encouraged Descartes’ philosophical studies, and it was through him that the Samaritan Pentateuch, recently brought over from Constantinople, was inserted in Lejay’sPolyglot Bible. His treatise,Des Grandeurs de Jésus, was a favourite book with the Jansenists. He died on the 2nd of October 1629. His works, edited by P. Bourgoing (2 vols., 1644) were reprinted, by Migne in 1857.

SeeM. de Bérulle et les Carmélites; Le Père de Bérulle et l’oratoire de Jésus; Le Cardinal de Bérulle et Richelieu(3 vols., 1872-1876), by the Abbé M. Houssaye; and H. Sidney Lear’sPriestly Life in France in the Seventeenth Century(London, 1873).

BERVIE,orInverbervie, a royal and police burgh of Kincardineshire, Scotland. Pop. (1901) 1207. It is situated at the mouth of Bervie Water and is the terminus of the North British railway’s branch line from Montrose, which lies 14 m. S.W. The leading industries include manufactures of woollens, flax and chemicals, and there is also a brisk trade in live-stock. Bervie unites with Arbroath, Brechin, Forfar and Montrose in returning one member (for the “Montrose burghs”) to parliament. David II., driven by stress of weather, landed here with his queen Joanna in 1341, and, out of gratitude for the hospitality of the townsfolk, granted them a charter, which James VI. confirmed. Hallgreen Castle, a stronghold of the 14th century, is maintained in repair. About one m. south is the fishing village of Gourdon (pop. 1197), where boat-building is carried on. There is a small but steady export business from the harbour, which has a pier and breakwater. St Ternan’s, the Romanesque parish church of Arbuthnott, 2½ m. north-west, stands on the banks of the Bervie. In the chapel dedicated to St Mary, which was afterwards added to it, is the burial-place of the Arbuthnotts, who took their title from the estate in 1644. John Arbuthnot, Queen Anne’s physician and the friend of Swift and Pope, was a native of the parish. Kinneff, 2 m. north, on the coast, is of interest as the place where the Scottish regalia were concealed during the siege of Dunottar Castle.

BERWICK, JAMES FITZJAMES,Duke of(1670-1734), marshal of France, was the natural son of James, duke of York, afterwards James II. of England, by Arabella Churchill (1648-1730), sister of the great duke of Marlborough. He was born at Moulins (Bourbonnais) on the 21st of August 1670. He received his education in France at the hands of the Jesuits, and at the age of fifteen, his father having succeeded to the throne, he was sent to learn the business of a soldier under the famous general of the empire, Charles of Lorraine. He served his first campaign in Hungary, and was present at the siege of Buda. He then returned to England, was made a colonel of the 8th Foot, and in 1687 created duke of Berwick, earl of Teignmouth and Baron Bosworth. He then went out afresh to Hungary and was present at the battle of Mohacz. On his return to England he was made K.G., colonel of the 3rd troop of horse guards (Royal Horse Guards Blue) and governor of Portsmouth, but soon afterwards the revolution forced him to flee to France. He served under James II. in the campaign in Ireland, and was present at the battle of the Boyne. For a short time he was left in Ireland as commander-in-chief, but his youth and inexperience unfitted him for the post, and he was a mere puppet in stronger hands. He then took service in the French army, fought under Marshal Luxembourg in Flanders, and took part in the battles of Steinkirk and Neerwinden, at the latter of which he was taken prisoner. He was, however, immediately exchanged for the duke of Ormond, and afterwards he served under Villeroi. In 1695 he married the widow of Patrick Sarsfield, who died in 1698. His second marriage, with Anne Bulkeley, took place in 1700. As a lieutenant-general he served in the campaign of 1702, after which he became naturalized as a French subject in order to be eligible for the marshalate. In 1704, he first took command of the French army in Spain. So highly was he now esteemed for his courage, abilities and integrity, that all parties were anxious to have him on their side (Éloge, by Montesquieu). His tenure of the command was, however, very short, and after one campaign he was replaced by the Marshal de Tessé. In 1705 he commanded against the Camisards in Languedoc, and when on this expedition he is said to have carried out his orders with remorseless rigour. His successful expedition against Nice in 1706 caused him to be made marshal of France, and in the same year he returned to Spain as commander-in-chief of the Franco-Spanish armies. On the 25th of April 1707, the duke won the great and decisive victory of Almanza, where an Englishman at the head of a French army defeated Ruvigny, earl of Galway, a Frenchman at the head of an English army. The victory established Philip V. on the throne of Spain. Berwick was made a peer of France by Louis XIV., and duke of Liria and of Xereca and lieutenant of Aragon by Philip. Thenceforward Berwick was recognized as one of the greatest generals of his time, and successively commanded in nearly all the theatres of war. From 1709 to 1712 he defended the south-east frontier of France in a series of campaigns which, unmarked by any decisive battle, were yet models of the art of war as practised at the time. The last great event of the War of the Spanish Succession was the storming of Barcelona by Berwick, after a long siege, on the 11th of September 1714. Three years later he was appointed military governor of the province of Guienne, in which post he became intimate withMontesquieu. In 1718 he found himself under the necessity of once more entering Spain with an army; and this time he had to fight against Philip V., the king who owed chiefly to Berwick’s courage and skill the safety of his throne. One of the marshal’s sons, known as the duke of Liria, was settled in Spain, and was counselled by his father not to shrink from doing his duty and fighting for his sovereign. Many years of peace followed this campaign, and Marshal Berwick was not again called to serve in the field till 1733. He advised and conducted the siege of Philipsburg, and while the siege was going on was killed by a cannon-shot on the 12th of June 1734. Cool, self-possessed and cautious as a general, Marshal Berwick was at the same time not wanting in audacity and swiftness of action. He was a true general of the 18th century, not less in his care for the lives of his men than in his punctiliousness and rigidity in matters of discipline.

TheMémoiresof Marshal Berwick, revised, annotated and continued by the Abbé Hooke, were published by the marshal’s grandson in 1778. Montesquieu made many contributions to this.

BERWICKSHIRE,a county of Scotland, forming its south-eastern extremity, bounded N. by Haddingtonshire and the North Sea; E. by the North Sea; S.E. by the county of the borough and town of Berwick; S. by the Tweed and Roxburghshire, and W. by Mid-Lothian. Its area is 292,577 acres or 457 sq. m., and it has a coast-line of 21 m. The county is naturally divided into three districts: Lauderdale, or the valley of the Leader, in the W.; Lammermuir, the upland district occupied by the hills of that name in the N.; and the Merse (the March or Borderland, giving a title to the earls of Wemyss), the largest district, occupying the S.E. The Lammermuirs are a range of round-backed hills, whose average height is about 1000 ft., while the highest summit, Says Law, reaches 1749 ft. From these hills the Merse stretches to the S. and E., and is a comparatively level tract of country. The coast is lofty, rocky and precipitous, broken by ravines and not accessible, except at Eyemouth Harbour, for small vessels, and at Coldingham and Burnmouth for fishing boats. St Abb’s Head, a promontory with a lighthouse upon it, rises to 310 ft. The Eye is the only river of any size which falls directly into the sea. The others—the Leader, the Eden, the Leet and the Whiteadder with its tributaries, the Blackadder and the Dye—all flow into the Tweed. Of these the largest and most important is the Whiteadder, which has its source in the parish of Whittingehame on the East Lothian side of the Lammermuirs, and, following a sinuous course of 35 m., joins the Tweed within the bounds or liberties of Berwick. There are small lochs at Coldingham, Legerwood, Spottiswoode, the Hirsel, near Coldstream, Hule Moss on Greenlaw Moor, and tiny sheets of water near Duns and Mersington.

Geology.—The north portion of the county embraces that part of the Silurian tableland of the south of Scotland which stretches from the Lammermuir Hills east to St Abb’s Head. The strata consist mainly of grits, greywackes, flags and shales, repeated by innumerable folds, trending north-east and south-west, which are laid bare in the great cliff section between Fast Castle and St Abb’s Head. This section of the tableland includes sediments, chiefly of Tarannon age, which form a belt 10 m. across from the crest of the Lammermuir Hills to a point near Westruther and Longformacus. In the Earnscleuch Burn north-east of Lauder representatives of Llandovery, Caradoc and Llandeilo rocks, together with the Arenig cherts, appear along an anticlinal fold in the midst of the younger strata. Again in the extreme north-west of the county near Channelkirk and to the north of the Tarannon belt radiolarian cherts and black shales with graptolites of Upper Llandeilo and Caradoc age are met with. The Lower Old Red Sandstone rocks, which rest unconformably on the folded and denuded Silurian strata, appear at Eyemouth and Reston Junction, and at St Abb’s Head are associated with contemporaneous volcanic rocks which are evidently on the same horizon as the interbedded lavas of Lower Old Red age in the Cheviots. The intrusive igneous materials of this period are represented by the granitic mass of Cockburn Law and the porphyrites of the Dirrington Laws. The Upper Old Red Sandstone, consisting of conglomerates and sandstones, rest unconformably alike on the Silurian platform as at Siccar Point and on the lower division of that system. The age of these beds has been determined by the occurrence of remains ofHoloptychius nobilissimusin the sandstones at Earlston and in the Whiteadder north of Duns. On the Black Hill of Earlston these strata are traversed by a sheet of trachyte resembling the type of rock capping the Eildon Hills (seeRoxburghshire:Geology). Overlying the strata just described there is a succession of volcanic rocks extending from Greenlaw southwards by Stichil and Kelso to Carham, which, at several localities, are followed by a band of cornstone resembling that near the top of the Upper Old Red Sandstone in the midland valley of Scotland. Next in order comes a great development of the Cementstone group of the Carboniferous system which spreads over nearly the whole of the low ground of the Merse and attains a great thickness. At Marshall Meadows north of Berwick-on-Tweed, thin bands of marine limestone occur, which probably represent some of the calcareous beds above the Fell sandstones south of Spittal.

Climate and Agriculture.—Owing to the maritime position, the winter is seldom severe in the lowland districts, but spring is a trying season on account of the east winds, which often last into summer. The mean annual rainfall is 30½ in. and the average temperature for the year is 47° F., for January 37° F., and for July 58.5° F. The climate is excellent as regards both the health of the inhabitants and the growth of vegetation. The soils vary, sometimes even on the same farm. Along the rivers is a deep rich loam, resting on gravel or clay, chiefly the former. The less valuable clay soil of the Merse has been much improved by drainage. The more sandy and gravelly soils are suitable for turnips, of which great quantities are grown. Oats and barley are the principal grain crops, but wheat also is raised. The flocks of sheep are heavy, and cattle are pastured in considerable numbers. Large holdings predominate—indeed, the average size is the highest in Scotland—and scientific farming is the rule. The labourers, who are physically well developed, are as a whole frugal, industrious and intelligent, but somewhat migratory in their habits. This feature in their character, which they may have by inheritance as Borderers, has admirably fitted them for colonial life, to which the scarcity of industrial occupation has largely driven the surplus population.

Other Industries.—Next to agriculture the fisheries are the most important industry. The Tweed salmon fisheries are famous, and the lesser rivers of the Merse are held in high esteem by anglers. Eyemouth, Burnmouth, Coldingham and Cove are engaged in the sea fisheries. Cod, haddock, herring, ling, lobsters and crabs are principally taken. The season for herring is from May to the middle of September and for white fish from October to the end of May. Coal, copper ore and ironstone exist in too small quantities to work, and the limestone is so far from a coal district as to be of little economic value. Earlston sends out ginghams and woollen cloths. At Cumledge on the Whiteadder, blankets and plaids are manufactured, and paper is made at Chirnside. The other manufactures are all connected with agriculture, such as distilleries, breweries, tanneries, &c. The trade is also mainly agricultural. Fairs are held at Duns, Lauder, Coldstream and Greenlaw; but the sales of cattle and sheep mostly take place at the auction marts at Reston, Duns and Earlston. There are grain markets at Duns and Earlston. Berwick, from which the county derives its name, is still its chief market. There is, however, no legal or fiscal connexion between the county and the borough.

The North British railway monopolizes the communications of the county. The system serves the coast districts from Berwick to Cockburnspath, and there is a branch from Reston to St Boswells.

Population and Government.—The population of Berwickshire was 32,290 in 1891 and 30,824 in 1901, in which year the number of persons speaking Gaelic and English was 74, and one person spoke Gaelic only. The only considerable towns are Eyemouth (pop. in 1901, 2436) and Duns (2206). The county returns onemember to parliament. Lauder is the only royal burgh, and Duns the county town, a status, however, which was held by Greenlaw from 1696 to 1853, after which date it was shared by both towns until conferred on Duns alone. Berwickshire forms a sheriffdom with Roxburgh and Selkirk shires, and there is a resident sheriff-substitute at Duns, who sits also at Greenlaw, Coldstream, Ayton and Lauder. In addition to board and voluntary schools throughout the county, there is a high school, which is also a technical school, at Duns, and Coldstream and Lauder public schools have secondary departments. Duns school is subsidized by the county council, which pays the expenses of students attending it from a distance.

History.—Traces of Roman occupation and of ancient British settlement exist in various parts of the Merse. Edin’s or Etin’s Hall, on Cockburn Law, 4 m. north of Duns, is still called the Pech’s or Pict’s House, and is one of the very few brochs found in the Lowlands. After the Romans withdrew (409) the country formed part of the Saxon kingdom of Northumbria, and the inhabitants were converted to Christianity through the missionary efforts of Modan in the 6th, and Oswald, Aidan and Cuthbert (traditionally believed to have been born in the vale of the Leader) in the 7th centuries. The Northmen invaded the seaboard, but the rugged coast proved an effectual barrier. The Danes, however, landed in 886, and destroyed the nunnery at Coldingham, founded about 650 by Ebba, daughter of Æthelfrith, king of Northumbria, after whom the adjoining promontory of St Abb’s Head was named. After the battle of Carham (1018) the district, which then constituted part of the division of Lothian, was annexed to Scotland. Birgham (pron. Birjam), 3½ m. west of Coldstream, was the scene of the conference in 1188 between William the Lion and the bishop of Durham, which discussed the attempt of the English church to assert supremacy over the Scottish. Here also met in 1289 a convention of the Scots estates to consider the projected marriage of Prince Edward of England to the Maid of Norway; and here was signed in 1290 the treaty of Birgham, assuring the independence of Scotland. During the long period of international strife the shire was repeatedly overrun by armies of the English and Scots kings, who were constantly fighting for the ancient frontier town of Berwick. It was finally ceded to England in 1482, and the people afterwards gradually settled down to peaceful pursuits. The ford at the confluence of the Leet and Tweed near Coldstream gave access to south-eastern Scotland. Edward I. crossed it with his army in 1296, encamping at Hutton the day before the siege of Berwick, and it was similarly employed as late as 1640, when the marquess of Montrose led the Covenanters on their march to Newcastle, although James VI. had already caused a bridge to be constructed from Berwick to Tweedmouth. There are several places of historic interest in the county. Upon the site of the nunnery at Coldingham King Edgar in 1098 founded a Benedictine priory, which was one of the oldest monastic institutions in Scotland and grew so wealthy that James III. annexed its revenues to defray his extravagance, a step that precipitated the revolt of the nobles (1488). The priory was seriously damaged in the earl of Hertford’s inroad in 1545, and Cromwell blew up part of the church in 1650. The chancel (without aisles) was repaired and used as the parish church. The remains contain some fine architectural features, such as, on the outside, the Romanesque arcades surmounted by lancet windows at the east end, and, in the interior, the Early Pointed triforium. On the coast, about 4 m. north-west of Coldingham, are the ruins of Fast Castle—the “Wolf’s Crag” of Scott’sBride of Lammermoor—situated on a precipitous headland. From Sir Patrick Hume it passed to Sir Robert Logan of Restalrig, who is alleged to have been one of the Gowrie conspirators, and to have intended to imprison James VI. within its walls (1600). Four miles west is the Pease or Peaths bridge, built by Thomas Telford in 1786 across the deep pass which was of old one of the strongest natural defences of Scotland. The bridge is 123 ft. high, 300 ft. long and 16 ft. wide. Near it are the ruins of Cockburnspath Tower, once a strong fortress and supposed to be the “Ravens wood” of theBride of Lammermoor. In the south-west of the shire besides Dryburgh Abbey (q.v.) there are, at Earlston, the remains of the castle that was traditionally the residence of Thomas the Rhymer. Hume Castle, the ancient seat of the Home family, a picturesque ruin about 3 m. south of Greenlaw, is so conspicuously situated as to be visible from nearly every part of the county. Coldstream and Lamberton, being close to the Border, were both resorted to (like Gretna Green in the west) by eloping couples for clandestine marriage. In Lamberton church was signed in 1502 the contract for the marriage of James IV. and Margaret Tudor, which led, a century later, to the union of the crowns of Scotland and England.

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