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  permitted, he was an almost omnivorous reader of solid books; during one cruise he read entirely through the 'Encyclopædia Britannica.' In command he was a strict disciplinarian; but at a time when strictness not unfrequently degenerated into cruelty, no charge of tyranny was ever made against him; and yet, says his perhaps partial biographer, 'the pardonable weakness of forgiving a little more frequently would, perhaps, have brought the commander's character nearer to perfection.'

By his early death, and the previous bankruptcy of his agent, his widow, with six children, was left but poorly provided for. The efforts of his friends in her behalf produced no result, and she was eventually reduced to accept the situation of matron of Greenwich Hospital school as a refuge from pecuniary distress.



BEAVOR, EDMOND (d. 1745), captain in the royal navy, was made a lieutenant on 2 March 1733-4, and whilst serving in the West Indies was promoted by Sir Chaloner Ogle to command the Stromboli fireship in the summer of 1743, and, in company with the Lion, 60 guns, was sent home with a convoy of thirty merchant-ships. Very bad weather scattered the fleet; several of the convoy were lost, and the Stromboli, dismasted and in an almost sinking condition, just managed to get into Kinsale harbour. There she was refitted, and arrived in the Downs on 21 Dec. Towards the end of the next year he was appointed to the Fox frigate, and during the spring and summer of 1745 was employed cruising, with some success, against the Dunkirk privateers in the North Sea In September he was in Leith roads, engaged in assisting the transport of the army, and in stopping, so far as possible, the communications of the rebels. On the evening of the 21st, after the defeat of Sir John Cope's army in the morning, the Fox became a place of refuge for numbers of the soldiers who could not get into the castle, the town gates being held by the enemy. Beavor's position was not an easy one for a young officer; for he had no instructions, and did not know how far his authority extended. The rebels were in possession of Leith, and would not allow him to communicate with the shore, even to get fresh provisions. On 6 Oct. he wrote that there were 1,200 rebels quartered in Leith; and though he thought that a few shot might dislodge them, he was not certain that it would meet with their lordships' approval. A few weeks later he put to sea on a cruise, and in a violent storm the Fox went down with all hands, 14 Nov. 1745.



BEAZLEY, SAMUEL (1786–1851), architect and playwright, was born in 1786 in Parliament Street, Westminster, where his father carried on the business of an architect and surveyor, and died at his residence, Tunbridge Castle, Kent, on 12 Oct. 1851. When at school at Acton, a boy of twelve years old, he wrote a farce and constructed the stage upon which he and his comrades performed it. As a youth he volunteered for service in the Peninsula, and experienced many romantic adventures, which he was fond of relating in after-life to his friends. As an architect he enjoyed a considerable practice, especially in the construction of theatres, of which he certainly designed more than any other architect of his day. The Lyceum, St. James's, City of London, the Strand front of the Adelphi, and the colonnade of Drury Lane were among those erected by him in London, and he prepared drawing for two theatres in Dublin, two in Belgium, one in Brazil, and two in different parts of India. Without presenting much artistic attraction, his theatres possessed the merit of being well adapted to their purposes. He designed one or two country houses and some new buildings for the university of Bonn. His last most important works were erected for the South-Eastern Railway Company, and include their terminus at London Bridge, most of their stations on the North Kent line, and the Lord Warden Hotel and Pilot House at Dover. Like his theatres, they were always well suited to their purposes. He was a most prolific writer of dramatic pieces, of which upwards of one hundred are ascribed to his pen. They are chiefly farces and short comedies, showing considerable mechanical dexterity. Among the best known are: 'Five Hours at Brighton,' the first of the author's plays performed, 'The Boarding House,' 'Is he Jealous?' an operetta in one act composed for Mr. Wrench, and first performed at the Theatre Royal English Opera House on 2 July 1816, 'Gretna Green,' 'The Steward,' 'Old Customs,' 'The Lottery Ticket,' 'My Uncle,' 'Bachelors' Wives,' 'Hints to Husbands,' 'Fire and Water,' and