Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 3.djvu/621

Rh France of the progress of the Turkish arms in the East. The capture of Edessa in 1144 sent a thrill of alarm and indignation throughout Christian Europe, and the French king was urged to send forth a new army to reclaim the Holy Land from the triumphant infidels. The Pope was consulted, and encouraged the good work, delegating to St Bernard the office of preaching the new crusade. Weary with growing years and cares the abbot of Clairvaux seemed at first reluctant, but afterwards threw himself with all his accustomed power into the new movement, and by his marvellous eloquence kindled the crusading madness once more throughout France and Germany. Not only the French king, Louis VII., but the German emperor, Conrad III., placed hinr.self at the head of a vast army and set out for the East by way of Constantinople. Detained there too long by the duplicity of the Greeks, and divided in counsel, the Christian armies encountered frightful hard ships, and were at length either dispersed or destroyed. Utter ruin and misery followed in the wake of the wildest enthusiasm. Bernard bccam.e an object of abuse as the great preacher of a movement which had terminated so disastrously, and wrote in humility an apologetic letter to the Pope, in which the divine judgments are made as usual accountable for human folly. This and other anxieties bore heavily upon even so sanguine a spirit. Disaster abroad and heresy at home left him no peace, while his body was worn to a shadow by his fasting and labours. It was, as he said, &quot;the season of calamities.&quot; Still to the last, with failing strength, sleepless, unable to take solid food, with limbs swollen and feeble, his spirit was uncon querable. &quot; Whenever a great necessity called him forth,&quot; as his friend and biographer Godfrey says, &quot; his mind conquered all his bodily infirmities, he was endowed with strength, and to the astonishment of all who saw him, he could surpass even robust men in his endurance of fatigue.&quot; He continued absorbed in public affairs, and dispensed his care and advice in all directions often about the most trivial as well as the most important affairs. Finally the death of his associates and friends left him without any desire to live. He longed rather &quot; to depart and be with Christ.&quot; To his sorrowing monks, whose earnest prayers were sup posed to have assisted his partial recovery when near his end, he said, &quot; Why do you thus detain a miserable man ? Spare me. Spare me, and let me depart.&quot; He expired August 20, 1153, shortly after his disciple Pope Eugenius III. His character appears in our brief sketch as that of a noble enthusiast, selfish in nothing save in so far as the church had become a part of himself, ardent in his sym pathies and friendships, tenacious of purpose, terrible in indignation. He spared no abuse, and denounced what he deemed corruption to the Pope as frankly as to one of his own monks. He is not a thinker nor a man in advance of his age, but much of the best thought and piety of his time are sublimed in him to a sweet mystery and rapture of sentiment which has still power to touch amidst all its rhetorical exaggerations. His writings are very numerous, consisting of epistles, sermons, and theological treatises. The best edition of his works is that of Father Mabillon, printed at Paris in 1690 in 2 vols. folio, and reprinted more than once finally in 1854 in 4 vols. 8vo. His life, written by his friend and disciple Godfrey, is also contained in this edition of his works.  BERNARD,, professor of philosophy and mathe matics, and minister of the Walloon church at Leyden, was born at Nions, in Dauphine, September 1, 1658. Having studied at Geneva, he returned to France in 1679, and was chosen minister of Venterol, in Dauphine, whence he afterwards removed to the church of Yinsobres. As he continued to preach the Reformed doctrines in opposition to the royal ordinance, he was obliged to leave the country and retired to Holland, where he was well received, and appointed one of the pensionary ministers of Gouda. In July 168G he commenced his Histoire Abregee de V Europe, which he continued monthly till December 1688. In 1692 he began his Lettres Historiques, containing an account of the most important transactions in Europe ; he carried on this work til) the end of 1698, after which it was continued by others. When Leclerc discontinued his Billiotheque Univcrselle in 1691, Bernard wrote the greater part of the twentieth volume and the five follow ing volumes. In 1698 he collected and published Actes tt Negotiations de la Paix de Itysivic, in four volumes 12mo. In 1699 he began a continuation of Bayle s Nouvelles de la Rcpublique dcs Ltttres, which continued till December 1710. In 1705 he was unanimously elected one of the ministers of the Walloon church at Leyden ; and about the same time he succeeded M. de Valder in the chair cf philosophy and mathematics at Leyden. In 1716 he pub lished a supplement to Moreri s Dictionary, in two volumes folio. The same year he resumed his Nouvelles de la RepuUiqite des Lettres, and continued it till his death, on the 27th of April 1718. Besides the rorks above men tioned, he was the author of two practical treatises, one on late repentance, the other on the excellence of religion.  BERNARD,, French general of engineers, and aide-de-camp to Napoleon, was born at Dole in 1779. He was educated at the Ecole Polytechnique, and entered the army in the corps of engineers. He rose rapidly, and served for some time as aide-de-camp to Napoleon. Sub sequently to the emperor s fall he emigrated to the United States, where he executed a number of extensive military works, consisting of vast canals, numerous forts, and 1400 leagues of frontier fortifications. He returned to France after the Revolution of 3.830, and in 1836 was secretary at war to Louis Philippe. He died in 1839.  BERNARDIN,, of Siena, a celebrated preacher, was born at Massa Carrara in 1380. His family, the Albizeschi, was noble, and his father was chief magistrate of Massa. He lost both parents before his eighth year, and was educated by his aunt, a pious woman. After completing his course of study he passed some years as a voluntary assistant in the hospital of Scala, and in 1404 entered the order of St Francis. His eloquence as a preacher made him celebrated throughout Italy, nor was his fame diminished by his visit to the Holy Land, from which he returned with fresh zeal. Three cities, Siena, Ferrara, and Urbino, successively sought the hon our of having him as their bishop, but without avail. In 1438 he was made vicar-general of his order in Italy. He died on the 20th May 1444, at Aquila in Abruzzo. His canonization took place in 1450 by the order of Nicholas V. A collection of his works was published in 1571 by Rudolfi, bishop of Sinigaglia.  BERNAY, the chief town of an arrondissement in the department of Eure, in France, on the left bank of the Charentonne, 26 miles W.N.W. of Evreux. It is beautifully situated in the midst of green wooded hills, and still justiiies Madame de Stael s description &quot; Bernay is a basket of flowers.&quot; Of great antiquity, it still possesses numerous quaint wooden houses and several ancient ecclesiastical buildings of considerable interest. The abbey church is now used as a market, and the abbey, which was originally founded by Judith of Britanny about 1017, and underwent a restoration in the 17th century, serves for municipal and legal purposes. The glass-work in the church of Notre Dame de la Couture is of great antiquarian interest. Among the industrial establishments of the place are cotton, woollen, and ribband factories 