Page:Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography Volume 1.pdf/464

BAZ  prizes. Author of "The Court of Maria di Medicis;" a "History of France under Louis XIII.," which is judiciously and conscientiously written; besides several other works.  BAZIN,, a Parisian physician, who died in 1754. He practised at Strasburg, and devoted his special attention to botany and natural history. His works are—"Observations on Plants, and their analogy with Insects;" a "Treatise on the Growth of Plants;" "Letters on Polyps;" "Natural History of Bees, and of other Insects."—J. H. B.  BAZIN,, a French diplomatist, born at Blois, 25th September, 1538; died in 1592. He at first held the office of procureur du roi in his native town, but in 1572 he was appointed to accompany the bishop of Valence to Poland, charged with an important mission, which he conducted with ability and success. On his return he was accused of protestantism, and was obliged to go into exile.—G. M.  BAZIN,, a French engraver, born at Troyes in 1636; died in 1706; engraved many plates of portraits and religious subjects, all of a size (4to), which has ever since become identified with his name. He studied under Claude Mellan.  BAZIRE or BASIRE,, a French revolutionist, born at Dijon in 1764; died 3d April, 1794. He had been at first educated for the church, but afterwards embraced the profession of the law. At the outbreak of the Revolution, he was elected member of the directory for the district of Dijon, and afterwards deputy for the department of the Côte d'Or to the legislative assembly. He at first ranked among the "montagnards," and voted for the death of Lotus XVI., but he was opposed to the Reign of Terror, and, being brought before the revolutionary tribunal on a pretended charge of corruption, was condemned to death, and executed the same day.—G. M.  BAZIUS,, a Swedish historian, born in 1581; died in 1640. He had three sons, one of whom, Benedict, was preceptor to Charles Gustavus, afterwards Charles X. Bazius was author of many moral, literary, and historical dissertations.  BAZOT,, a French writer, born at Nievre, 13th March, 1782. He published many works of merit, and was the editor of the "Biographic Nouvelle des Contemporains," a publication of great value.—J. F. W.  BEALE,, a portrait painter of the time of Charles II., daughter of a clergyman named Cradock, and born in Suffolk in 1632. In that age of profligate ribbon-wearing men, of sneering atheists, and persecuted good people, this lady seems to have lived an honest life, in the simple pursuit of a gentle sort of unambitious art. She attempted to imitate her master, the Dutchman Lely, and, as the fops behind her chair doubtless said, surpassed him. Her colour was clear and strong, good points in colour, and her impaste, for the somewhat skimming hand of woman, solid and globular. The critics recommend her for that thoroughly critical merit, i.e. giving an Italian air to honest English heads, a little giddy and bewigged perhaps, but still honest English. She copied the old masters too, good woman, to learn how to become original. She married an obscure painter named Beale, and had by him two, sons, both of whom afflicted the world with indifferent paintings; but one of them had the good sense to leave art and turn physician. Amiable Mistress Beale died in 1697.—W. T. <section end="464H" /> <section begin="464I" />BEALE or BELUS,, an English lawyer and canonist of the latter half of the sixteenth century, was descended from the family of Beale of Woodbridge in Suffolk. During Queen Mary's reign, being a staunch Puritan, he was in exile on the continent, where, indulging his bibliomaniacal turn, he amassed a library of rare and costly books, from which were drawn the materials for a work, published at Frankfort in 1579, with the title "Rerum Hispanicarum Scriptores Aliquot, ex bibliotheca clarissimi viri Domini Roberti Beli Angli." On his return to England he married Editha St. Barbe, sister to the lady of Sir Francis Walsingham. That statesman introduced him at court, and in 1571 attached him as secretary to the English embassy at Paris. In 1576 he was sent as ambassador to the prince of Orange, and, some years later, was employed in negotiations with the court of Spain. He was a clerk of the privy council at the time when Elizabeth determined on the execution of Mary Queen of Scots, and, at the suggestion of Walsingham, he was appointed to convey the fatal warrant to Fotheringay. In 1600 he was one of the commissioners who negotiated the peace of Boulogne. Died in 1601.—J. S., G. <section end="464I" /> <section begin="464J" />BEAN,, master of St. Paul's school, and incumbent of St. Mary, Aldermanbury. He was of Corpus Christi college, Cambridge; B.A. 1809, M.A. 1813. He published an atlas of classical geography in 1835, and died in 1854. <section end="464J" /> <section begin="464K" />* BEARD, R., D.D., born August 4, 1800, at Portsea. In 1825 Dr. Beard settled in Manchester as a christian pastor, and soon attracted a large congregation. He has been a most industrious contributor to the periodical literature of the day, and is the author of many articles in the Foreign, British, and Westminster Reviews, and in the Journal of Sacred Literature. His separate publications are very numerous, and include a "Life of Toussaint L'Ouverture;" "The People's Dictionary of the Bible," and several translations from the French and German. <section end="464K" /> <section begin="464L" />BEARE, G., painted the portraits of the duke of Bedford and George IV. <section end="464L" /> <section begin="464M" />BEATILLO,, an Italian, born at Bari, near Naples, in 1570; died in 1642. Author of a "History of the City of Bari," and of "Lives of the Saints." <section end="464M" /> <section begin="464Zcontin" />BEATON,, cardinal, and archbishop of St. Andrews, was descended from the ancient family of the Beatons of Balfour in Fife, and was born in 1494. He commenced his education in the university of St. Andrews, and completed it in the university of Paris. After finishing his studies, he remained for some time at the French court in the capacity of resident Scottish minister. During this period he received from his uncle, Archbishop James Beaton, the rectory of Campsie, near Glasgow; and in 1524 the archbishop, who had shortly before been made primate, resigned the rich abbacy of Aberbrothock, and prevailed upon the regent to confer it upon his nephew, but with the reservation to himself of one half of its revenues during his life. David Beaton returned to Scotland in 1525, and speedily attained great influence with the government. He was appointed by the parliament, one of the six persons to whom the charge of the young king's person and education was specially committed, and soon became a great favourite with the king, who, in 1528, made him Lord Privy Seal. In 1533, Beaton was sent on a special mission to the French court, for the purpose of strengthening the ancient league between the two countries, and negotiating a marriage between James and a princess of the blood-royal of France. The ambassador seems to have ingratiated himself with the French king, Francis I., and to have concluded with him a secret treaty for the protection of the Roman Catholic faith; but the marriage was postponed in consequence, it was alleged, of the ill health of the princess. At length, in 1536, James, becoming impatient of the obstacles thus interposed to the consummation of his wishes, set sail for France, to prosecute his suit in person, and Francis, having given his consent to the union of his daughter Magdalene with the Scottish king, their nuptials were solemnized with great splendour on the 1st of January, 1537. The royal pair landed in Scotland on the 19th of May following. But the young queen was already far gone in consumption, and to the inexpressible grief of her husband and the whole nation, she expired on the 10th of July, before she had completed her seventeenth year. A few months after the death of Magdalene, Beaton was again dispatched to France, to open negotiations for the marriage of James with Mary of Guise, widow of the duke of Longueville. During his residence at the French court, Beaton received from Francis, the bishopric of Mirepoix, and through his interest the pope, Paul III., was induced, a few months later, to raise the able and aspiring churchman to the dignity of a cardinal, under the title of "St. Stephen de Caelio Monte." He returned to Scotland with the new queen in July, 1538, and in the autumn of 1539, was elevated to the primacy in the room of his uncle, James Beaton, who had for some years, privately delegated to him almost the whole authority of his office.

At this period a conflict was impending between the partisans of the Romish faith and the supporters of the Reformed doctrines in Scotland—several of the latter had already suffered martyrdom—and Beaton signalized his entrance upon the primacy by fanning into a fierce flame the fire of persecution against the Protestants. He presided at the trial of no fewer than five persons accused of heresy, who were all, without hesitation, condemned to the stake, and executed on the Castle-hill of Edinburgh. In the spring of 1540 he went to St. Andrews, attended by a numerous train of the leading nobility and gentry, the archbishop of Glasgow, and other prelates, and an immense concourse of the clergy; and having convened them in a sort of ecclesiastical council in the cathedral, he harangued them on the <section end="464Zcontin" />