Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 3.djvu/622

604 and the trade is chiefly in horses, grain, and flax. The town, which was formerly fortified, was besieged by Duguesclin in 1378; it was taken by the English in 1418 and again in 1421, and by Admiral de Coligny in 1563. The fortress was razed in 1589. Population in 1872, 5806.  BERNBURG, a city of Anhalt in Germany, and for merly the capital of the now incorporated duchy of Anhalt- Bernburg. It consists of three parts, the Altstadt or old town, the Bergstadt or hill-town, and the Neustadt or new town, the Bergstadt on the right and the other two on the left of the River Saale, which is crossed by a rather massive stone bridge. It is a well-built city, the principal public buildings being the Government house, the church of St Mary, the Gymnasium, and the house of correction. The castle, formerly the ducal residence, is in the Berg stadt, defended by moats, and surrounded by beautiful gardens. The industries of the town include the manu facture of snuff, paper, starch, and pottery ; and a con siderable traffic is carried on, especially in grain, both by river and by railway. Bernburg is of great antiquity. The Bergstadt was fortified by Otto III. in the 10th century, and the new town was founded in the 13th. For a long period the different parts were under separate magistracies, the new town uniting with the old in 1560, and the Berg stadt with both in 1824. Prince Frederick Albert removed the ducal residence to Ballenstedt in 17G5. Population in 1872, inclusive of the domain and the suburb of Wal- dau, 15,709.  BERNE. See.  BERNERS,, prioress of Sopewell nunnery, near St Albans, was the daughter of Sir James Berners, who was beheaded in the reign of Richard II. She was celebrated for her beauty, her spirit, and her passion for field sports. To her is attributed the Treatyse perteynyjige to ffawkynye, Huntynge, and Fysshynge ivith an Angle; also a right noble Treatyse on the Lygnage of Cot Armours, endynge with a Treatyse which specyfyeth of Blasynge oj Armys, printed in folio by Wynkyn de Worde in 1496. The first and rarest edition, printed at St Albans in 1486, does not contain the treatise on fishing. Haslewood, who published an edition of the work (in fac-simile of that of Wynkyn de Worde) in 1811, folio, London, has examined with the greatest care the author s claims to figure as the earliest female writer in the English language. His pre liminary dissertations contain all the scanty information that is to be had concerning her.  BERNI,, Italian poet, was born about 1490 at Lamporecchio, in Bibbiena, a district lying along the Upper Arno. His family was of good descent, but exces sively poor. At an early age he was sent to Florence, where he remained till his 19th year. He then set out for Rome, trusting to obtain some assistance from his uncle, the Cardinal Bibbiena. The cardinal, however, did nothing for him, and he was obliged to accept a situation as clerk or secretary to Ghiberti, datary to Clement VII. The duties of his office, for which Berni was in every way unfit, were exceedingly irksome to the poet, who, however, made himself celebrated at Rome as the most witty and inven tive of a certain club of literary men, who devoted them selves to light and sparkling effusions. So strong was the admiration for Berni s verses, that mocking or burlesque poems have since been called poesie bernesca. About the year 1530 he was relieved from his servitude by obtaining a canonry in the cathedral of Florence. In that city he died in 1536, according to tradition poisoned by Duke Alessandro de Medici, for having refused to poison the duke s cousin, Ippolito de Medici ; but considerable obscurity rests over this story. Berni stands at the head of Italian comic or burlesgue poets. For lightness, sparkling wit, variety of form, and fluent diction, LIs verses are unsur passed. Perhaps, however, he owes his greatest fame to the recasting (Rifacimento) of Boiardo s Orlando Innamo- rato. The enormous success of Ariosto s Orlando Furioso had directed fresh attention to the older poem, from which it took its characters, and of which it is the con tinuation. But Boiardo s work, though good in plan, could never have achieved wide popularity on account of the extreme ruggedness of its style. Berni undertook the revision of the whole poem, avowedly altering no senti ment, removing or adding no incident, but simply giving to each line and stanza due gracefulness and polish. His task he completed with marvellous success ; scarcely a line remains as it was, and the general opinion has pronounced decisively in favour of the revision over the original. To each canto he prefixed a few stanzas of reflective verse in the manner of Ariosto, and in one of these introductions he gives us the only certain information we have concern ing his own life. It should be noticed that Berni appears to have been favourably disposed towards the Reformation principles at that time introduced into Italy, and this may explain the bitterness of some remarks of his upon the church. The first edition of the Rifacimento was printed posthumously in 1541, and it has been supposed that a few passages either did not receive the author s final revision, or have been retouched by another hand. The Opere Biirlesche have been published separately. A partial translation of Berni s Orlando was published by W. S. Rose, 1823. (See for full information Panizzi s Boiardo, 1830-31.)  BERNINI,, an Italian artist, born at Naples in 1598, was more celebrated as an architect and a sculptor than as a painter. At a very early age his great skill in modelling introduced him to court favour at Rome, and he was specially patronized by Maffeo Barberini, after wards Pope Urban VIII., whose palace he designed. None of his sculptured groups at all come up to the promised excellence of his first effort, the Apollo and Daphne, nor are any of his paintings of particular merit. His busts were in so much request that Charles I. of England, being unable to have a personal interview with Bernini, sent him three portraits by Vandyck, from which the artist was enabled to complete his model. His architectural designs, including the great colonnade of St Peter s, brought him perhaps his greatest celebrity. Louis XIV., when he con templated the restoration of the Louvre, sent for Bernini, but did not adopt his designs. The artist s progress through France was a triumphal procession, and he was most liberally rewarded by the great monarch. He died at Rome in 1680, leaving a fortune of over 100.000. Few artists have had so wide renown in their own day; time has enabled us to judge more accurately of his merits.  BERNOULLI, or, a name illustrious in the annals of science, belonging to a family of respectability, originally of Antwerp. Driven from their country during the oppressive government of Spain for their attachment to the Reformed religion, the family sought first an asylum at Frankfort (1583), and afterwards at Basel, where they ultimately obtained the highest distinctions. In the course of a century eight of its members successfully cultivated various branches of mathematics, and contributed power fully to the advance of science. The most celebrated of the family were James, John, and Daniel ; but, for the sake of perspicuity they may be considered as nearly as possible in the order of family succession.

I. was born at Basel on the 27th December 1 654. He was educated at the public school of Basel, and also received private instruction from the learned Hoffmann, then professor of Greek. At the conclu sion of his philosophical studio.} at tho university, sonia 