Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 04.djvu/130

Beeston 7 June 1692, followed by an epidemic fever, and in October Beeston writes to Lord ––: 'By the mortality which yet continues I have lost all my family but my wife and one child, and have not one servant left to attend me but my cook, so it is very uneasy being here.' He goes on to beg that if his appointment is not to be permanent he may be as soon as possible recalled (Add. MS. 28878, fol. 135). In 1694 Beeston, as commander-in-chief, successfully resisted a very formidable invasion of Jamaica by the French. 'A Narrative by Sir William Beeston on the Descent on Jamaica by the French,' and 'A Letter from the Council in England in answer to his narrative,' conveying her majesty's thanks, are to be found in manuscript in the library of the British Museum (Addit. MS. 12430, fols. 3 and 21). In 1699 Beeston, at the instigation of the home government, helped to complete the ruin of the Scotch colony at Darien by a proclamation forbidding the inhabitants of Jamaica to trade with them or afford them any assistance ('s Annals of Jamaica, i. 327). His position as head of the executive was a more than usually difficult one. During his previous residence he had been a leader of the colonists in their struggle for self-government, now he was the recognised upholder of royal prerogative. Yet for some time he contrived to secure for himself a greater share of popularity than had been the lot of any of his immediate predecessors, and he dissolved the assembly of 1700 in tolerable harmony with all its members (ib. p. 328).

The succeeding house called upon him 'to account for the large sums of unowned money and treasure' found amidst the ruins of the earthquake, and for an account of the disbursement of 4,OOOl. royal bounty to the sufferers by the French invasion. Beeston would not comply with their demand, and the house, refusing to proceed with any other business, was dissolved. On 21 Jan. 1702 Beeston was superseded in the government, and in the first assembly of his successor, General Selwyn, an address was voted praying that Sir W. Beeston might not be permitted to quit the island without accounting for the moneys he had appropriated. Selwyn died before it could be presented, but it was received by the new governor, Colonel Beckford, grandfather of the lord mayor of London ('s Landed Gentry), who said that he did not consider Beeston responsible to the house of assembly, but to the king. Nevertheless as an act of grace he submitted to them an explanation which Beeston had made to himself of the application of the money (Proceeds. H. of Assembly MS. 12425), which must have satisfied them, as they appear to have taken no further notice of the matter, and Beeston sailed for England on 25 April (Addit. MS. 12424, Beeston's Journal). In the 'Transactions of the Royal Society' for 1696 there is 'an abstract from a letter of Sir W. Beeston to Mr. C. Bernard, containing some observations about the barometer, and of a hot bath in Jamaica' (iv. 79, abridged edition), and in the library of the British Museum there is a daily journal in the handwriting of Sir William Beeston of seven voyages made by him from 10 Dec. 1671 to 28 June 1702 (Addit. MS. 12424). Sir William Beeston's daughter, Jane, married, first, Sir Thomas Modyford, bart., and, secondly, Charles Long, to whom she was second wife (ib.)

[Authorities given in the text.]

 BEGA (8th cent.?) was a saint whose history is wrapped in much obscurity, and has been much mixed up with that of others. According to Butler (6 Sept.) she was an Irish virgin (7th cent.) who lived as an anchoret, and founded a nunnery in Copeland. Leland (Coll. iii. 36) follows another version, according to which, after founding her monastery in Cumberland, she passed into Northumbria and founded another north of the Wear; after which her history seems to become confused with that of St. Heiu and St. Begu.

In the Aberdeen breviary there is a lesson for a Saint Bega, with whom she may perhaps be identified. This St. Bega is described as an anchoret who lived in an island called Cumbria in the ocean sea, where she was sometimes visited by St. Maura. She was buried in her island, and was especially venerated at Dunbar.

[Authorities cited above.]

 BEGBIE, JAMES (1798–1869), physician, was born in 1798 and educated at the high school and university of Edinburgh, where he took the degree of M.D. in 1821. He became F.R.C.S. Edin. 1822. He was the pupil, and afterwards for some years the assistant, of Abercrombie, whose instructions and example had great influence on his character and professional life. After many years' successful general practice, Begbie became in 1847 fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, and devoted himself to consulting practice, in which he obtained great reputation and popularity. For several years he was physician in ordinary to the queen for Scotland. He died at Edinburgh on 26 Aug. 1869.

Begbie's writings consisted of a series of medical essays and memoirs, collected into a 