Page:Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography Volume 1.pdf/478

BEA classical friend David, and nearly got hung, from sympathizing with a suspended royalist. He now began to collect the drawings of Wilson, Gilpin, Hearne, Girtin, and Dance; and after some years' resistance of picture-dealers, bakings, and smokings, secured one Poussin, four Claudes, one Canaletti, one Rubens, and two Rembrandts, with specimens of Wilson, Reynolds, West, and Wilkie. He loved to show them, prose over them, rub them with a wet finger, and view them telescopically, near and far off. A useful patron of art. Sir George, aided by Lord Melville, and encouraged by George IV. who, with all his vices, had taste, originated the idea of an exhibition of the pictures of Reynolds. In 1800 this kind dilettante began to rebuild his Leicestershire hall, with the aid of Dance. He never travelled without his "Narcissus Claude," which followed him to and from London, at this time, when Wordsworth was honouring his landscape-gardening fancies with ballads and sonnets. In the lull after Waterloo, Sir George went to Switzerland and Italy, and bought the sketch of the Holy Family in bas relief, by Michel Angelo, now in the academy; he gave a commission to Gibson, the sculptor, and bought Panini's curious picture of the interior of the Colonna gallery. But now began Sir George's canvassing for the one great object for which Providence destined him—the erection of a national gallery for paintings. From 1818 to 1824, he and Lord Dover, Lord Aberdeen, and Lord Farnborough, pressed it in vain upon Lord Liverpool, who, not caring much about it, was afraid of the expense. The fear that the Angerstein collection when sold, would go to Russia, as well as the promise of the gift of Sir George's gallery, at last decided the sluggish ministers in 1823. Lord Dover's chief supporters were Lord Wharncliffe, Mr. Alexander Baring, and Mr. W. Smith of Norwich. Sir George did not long survive; death, in 1827, stopped his patronage and criticisms. His "brown tree," his receipts, his Italian ruins, and English woods are, and will long be, a warning. If he had been poor, he might have been a second-rate artist. As the kind friend of Jackson the painter, and Coleridge, he deserves respect. Sir George was afraid of nature, and wanted to mix scent with the May dew.—W. T.  BEAUMONT,, a French antiquary and agriculturist, was born at Chambéry about the year 1755, and died in 1812. He studied at the military seminary of Mégières, and afterwards established himself as an engineer at Nice. During his residence in that city he made the acquaintance of the duke of Gloucester, with whom he travelled through Switzerland, Italy, France, and England. On his return to France he resided upon his estate of Vernay, giving himself up entirely to the study of science, especially in connection with farming. He was the first to introduce the Spanish merino sheep into France. Besides numerous scattered memoirs upon various subjects, Beaumont published several books of travels, namely, "Voyage historique et pittoresque de la Ville et du Comté de Nice," 1787; "Travels through the Rhaetian Alps," London, 1792; "Description des Glaciers de Faucigny," 1793; "Travels through the Maritime Alps," London, 1795; "Travels from France to Italy through the Lepantine Alps;" and "Description des Alpes Grecques et Cottiennes," 1802; all of which contain curious observations both of an antiquarian and philosophical nature.—W. S. D.  BEAUMONT,, a French authoress, born at Rouen in 1711; died in 1780. She presented in person to the king of Poland her first romance, "Le Triomphe de la verité." In England, where she resided for some time, she published a number of works, chiefly moral tales. They form in all seventy volumes, distinguished rather for purity of sentiment than for brilliancy of execution.—J. S., G.  BEAUMONT, J. T. G., secretary of the clergy of France, lived in the second half of the eighteenth century, noted for his discovery of the Pacte de famine, the gigantic monopoly by which the ministers, nobles, magistrates, and capitalists enhanced the price of grain throughout France. He was imprisoned in the bastile, and remained in various prisons for twenty-five years. In 1789 he was set at liberty, and published the story of his captivity; Paris, 1791.—J. B.  BEAUMONT,, son of Francis Beaumont, one of the judges of the court of common pleas in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and brother of the celebrated dramatic poet, was born at the family seat at Grace-dieu, in the year 1582, and admitted a gentleman-commoner at Broadgate's-hall, Oxford, in 1596, from whence he entered one of the inns of court. He was made a baronet in the second year of Charles I.'s reign, 1626. He wrote a poem, called "The Crown of Thorns," in eight books, and several translations of considerable beauty, which were highly praised, among others, by Ben Jonson. Died in 1628.—T. J.  BEAUMONT,, an English theologian and poet, author of some commentaries, and of a stupid poem in twenty cantos, entitled "Psyche, or Love's Mysteries," &c., London, 1652; was born in 1615, and died in 1699.—J. S. G.  BEAUMONT,, bishop of Durham in the reign of Edward II., descended from the blood royal of France and Sicily, was advanced to the see of Durham in 1317. Pope John XXII. would not consent to his consecration, until he had paid so large a sum to the holy see, that he was never able entirely to discharge the debt in which it involved him. When on the road to Durham to be installed, he was attacked by a party of Scotch, who plundered his baggage and carried the bishop and his brother prisoners to Mitteford castle, and compelled them to pay so large a ransom, that the prior of Durham was forced to sell the plate and jewels of the church. He had great feuds with the archbishops of York on the question of jurisdiction. He died at Brentingham, in the diocese of York, September 24, 1333, having sat fifteen years, and lies buried near the high altar of his cathedral. He is said to have been at once avaricious and expensive; and so illiterate, that he could not read the bull for his own consecration.—T. J.  BEAUMONT DE CARRIÈRE, Baron, a French officer, was aid-de-camp to Murat; distinguished himself at the battle of Wertigen; and won his rank of brigadier-general at Austerlitz. He died in 1813.—W. B. <section end="478H" /> <section begin="478I" />BEAUMONT DE LA BONNIÈRE,, comte de, a distinguished French officer, born in Touraine in 1760. After serving as page to Louis XVI., he joined the army; and, being colonel of a dragoon regiment at Lyons during the Revolution, he would have been numbered among the victims, had not the attachment of his men rescued him when on his way to execution. He subsequently served under Massena and Buonaparte; was at Lodi, Marengo, Austerlitz, &c.; received the rank of general, and the cross of the legion of honour; and died in 1830, ennobled by Louis XVIII., to whom he had given his adhesion after the fall of Napoleon.—W. B. <section end="478I" /> <section begin="478J" />BEAUNE,, baron de Semblançay, minister of finance to Francis I., incurred the displeasure of that monarch by lending to the queen-mother the funds provided for state-service in Italy, and expiated his crime on the scaffold in 1527. <section end="478J" /> <section begin="478K" />BEAUNE,, a French prelate, born at Tours in 1527; died in 1606. He followed for some time the profession of law, and became chancellor to the duke of Alençon. Being of good family, he obtained a bishopric immediately after taking orders. He was successively bishop of Mende, archbishop of Bourges, and of Sens. The part he took in the dispute between the pope and Henry IV., brought him under the displeasure of the former. He published "Oraison funebre de Marie Stuart." <section end="478K" /> <section begin="478L" />BEAUNIER, a French artist, known for many pictures, particularly his "First Navigator," "Prodigal Son," &c.—W. T. <section end="478L" /> <section begin="478M" />BEAUNOIR,, the pseudonym of an author whose real name was, is one of the many instances of men abandoning name and patrimony to pursue a favourite study. He was born at Paris on the 4th of April, 1746; and, resisting all the entreaties of his father, who desired to bring him up to his own profession of a notary, he forfeited his inheritance and took to literature, entering the church at the same time. The drama was his absorbing passion; and he soon distinguished himself as a brilliant and sprightly writer. One of his pieces, "L'Amour quêteur," brought out in 1777, was, however, too licentious for the taste of the archbishop of Paris, who gave him the option of disavowing the comedy or retiring from the church. Robineau was true to his first love, and doffed the sacerdotal robe, and with it his own name for the anagram of Beaunoir, and continued to write a number of successful dramas. He left Paris during the Revolution, and settled, first at Belgium, and afterwards at St. Petersburg, where he became director of the theatres. Returning to his native city in 1801, he employed his pen in praise of the emperor; and with equal readiness celebrated the restoration of the Bourbons, from whom he obtained a place. Died in 1823.—J. F. W. <section end="478M" /> <section begin="478Zcontin" />BEAUPERE,, in Latin, , a French divine, who assisted at the condemnation of Joan d'Arc, in 1430. His share in that famous process was little less <section end="478Zcontin" />