Page:Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography Volume 1.pdf/517

BEL he is now the president. Having determined to devote himself to the practice of dentistry, he commenced delivering a course of lectures on dental surgery at Guy's hospital in 1817, which he has delivered annually to the present time. He also delivered lectures for some time on comparative anatomy in the same school. Mr. Bell early evinced a taste for the study of natural history, especially zoology, and this was fostered by his connection with the Linnæan Society. He was with Messrs. Vigors, Sowerby, and others, a founder and contributor to the Zoological Journal of which five volumes were published. He was also one of the members of the Zoological Club of the Linnæan Society, a body that afterwards connected itself with the Zoological Society. Of the council of this latter body Mr. Bell was for many years a member. In 1828 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society, and has several times been elected on its council. In 1840 he was made secretary of the Royal Society, an office that he held till 1853, when he was elected president of the Linnæan Society, in the place of Mr. Robert Brown, who had resigned. He took an active part in establishing the Ray Society, which was started in 1844, for the publication of rare and costly works on natural history. He was elected the first president, and still holds this position. In 1836 he was appointed professor of zoology in King's college, London. The works and papers of Mr. Bell on the various departments of zoology are very numerous. In 1836 he published in Van Voorst's series of British Natural History, a "History of British Quadrupeds." In 1853 he completed the publication in the same series of a "History of the British Stalk-Eyed Crustacea." Both these works are illustrated, and are a standard authority on the subjects on which they treat. He is also distinguished for his knowledge of the class of reptiles, and in 1829 published a "History of British Reptiles" in Van Voorst's series. In 1833 he commenced a "Monograph of the Testudinata," and the article "Reptiles," in Darwin's Zoology of the voyage of the Beagle, was written by him. His papers, published in the Philosophical Transactions, the Transactions of the Linnæan and Zoological Society, in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society, and in the Natural History Journals, are very numerous. A list of them is given in the Bibliographia Zoologiæ et Geologiæ, by Agassiz and Strickland, published by the Ray Society.—E. L.  BELL,, was born at Newcastle; he carried off at the Royal Academy a prize for his picture of "Venus soliciting Vulcan to forge armour for Æneas," returned to his native city, painted landscapes and portraits, and died 1804.—W. T.  BELL,, D.D., an English divine, chaplain to the princess Amelia, aunt to George III., and afterwards prebendary of Westminster and treasurer of St. Paul's, was born in 1731, and died in 1816. An unexpected augmentation of his revenue from the last-mentioned office, enabled him to perform several munificent charities, particularly that of founding eight scholarships at Cambridge, for the benefit of sons of indigent clergymen. He wrote "A Dissertation on the Causes which principally contribute to render a Nation Populous, 1756," and "An Inquiry into the Missions of John the Baptist and Jesus Christ."—J. S., G.  BELLA,, the head of the democratic party at Florence, died about 1295. He was descended of a noble and very ancient family. He succeeded in humbling the nobility by a kind of martial law called Ordinamento di giustizia; but his zeal for reform procured him many enemies, and in 1294 he was expelled from the city. He died in exile.  BELLA, M. S. A., a French portrait painter, born at Paris in 1674, and died in 1734.  BELLA,, a Florentine artist, born 1610, originally a goldsmith and engraver. Died 1664. He studied under Cesare Dandini.—W. T.  BELLACATO,, an Italian physician, born at Padua in 1501; resided and practised in his native city, where he died in 1575. His eulogist, Tommasini, asserts that he was so loaded with favours by great personages, as to have no time to spare for literary purposes, and his only writings were published in conjunction with those of other men. Thus, his "Consultationes aliquæ pro variis Affectibus," were printed with the Consultationes of J. B. Montanus in 1583, and other writings under the same title with those of Victor Trincavella in 1587. His "Lectiones Medicæ Practicæ" were only published in 1676, appended to a work by G. J. Welsch. According to Tommasini, he prepared an edition of the Aphorisms of Hippocrates, which was never printed.—W. S. D.  BELLAGAMBA, J., a painter of Douay. <section end="517H" /> <section begin="517I" />BELLAGATTA,, an Italian physician, the son of a printer, was born at Milan on the 9th May, 1704. Being at first destined to an ecclesiastical life, he commenced his education with that view; but feeling a strong taste for medicine, he abandoned his theological studies, and went to study at the university of Padua, where he obtained his degree of doctor. In 1733 he was offered the position of pensioned physician in the town of Arona, which he accepted, and retained until the end of the year 1741, when he again received the ecclesiastical habit; but on the 2nd February, 1742, he was suddenly carried off by an attack of apoplexy. His published writings are not numerous. They consist of two "Philosophical Letters" to a friend, printed at Milan in 1730, in which the author speaks of the influenza which prevailed in Europe during that year; a treatise on the "Misfortunes of Medicine," in which he attributes the falling off of medical science to false imitations, the multiplicity of systems, the prejudices of men, and the presumption of the ignorant; an account of a miracle effected by San Francesco di Paola on the 28th March, 1735; and a description of a meteor observed on the 16th December, 1737. Amongst his manuscripts was found one entitled "Dialoghi de fisica, animastica moderna, speculativa, mecanica, experimentale," in which he treats of the production of organized bodies, of creation, the immateriality of the soul, movement, sensation, &c. This appears never to have been published.—W. S. D. <section end="517I" /> <section begin="517J" />* BELLAGUET,, born at Sens, the 9th of March, 1807. He is at present the chef de bureau in the department of public instruction at Paris, having been previously professor at the college Rollin. M. Bellaguet is an industrious writer, having, besides various contributions to the principal periodicals, translated many valuable historical works. In 1852 the Academy des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres awarded him a medal, for his translation from the Latin of the Chronicles of the Order of Saint Denis.—J. F. W. <section end="517J" /> <section begin="517K" />BELLAMONT,, earl of, and the son of Richard Coote, first earl of Colooney in Ireland, was born in Ireland previous to the middle of the 17th century. In 1688 he was returned member of parliament for Droitwich in Worcestershire, but was attainted the following year in one held by James II. in Dublin, in consequence of his publicly joining the party of the prince of Orange. In 1695, William III., considering him "a man of resolution and integrity," induced him to accept the arduous office of governor of New York, then in a state of great misrule, and infested with pirates. About the same time Colonel Levingston induced the government to give a grant to fit out a vessel as a privateer for the notorious William Kidd, and a grant was made to Lord Bellamont, Kidd, and others, of all the captures he should take. Kidd turned pirate, and was ultimately induced to surrender himself to Lord Bellamont, who succeeded in securing a large amount of booty, which he scrupulously consigned to agents for the government, and transmitted Kidd to London for trial. Lord Bellamont died at New York on the 5th March, 1700, having administered the duties of his high office with efficiency and great integrity. His death was looked upon as a public calamity, and a public fast was proclaimed on the occasion.—J. F. W. <section end="517K" /> <section begin="517L" />BELLAMY,, an actress of celebrity, and a woman who attracted some attention in her day, was a native of Ireland. She was born on the 23d of April, 1733, being the putative child of Captain Bellamy, but in reality the offspring of Lord Tyrawley. Shortly after her birth she was sent to Boulogne, whence she came to England, while yet a girl, and made her first appearance on the stage at Covent Garden, when only fourteen years of age, in the character of Monimia. Here her success was decided; and she went to Dublin, where she was well received. Her ability was such that even Garrick played King John to her Constance. But though she attained to a high position in her profession, she was extravagant and dissolute; so that in her latter years she was exposed to much distress, and died in 1788. Memoirs of her were published, purporting to be autobiographical, but, it is believed, written by Bicknell. She had a fine expressive face, an animated manner, and a voice full of sweetness and eminently touching—one of the many examples of noble qualities of heart and mind failing to secure to their possessor either happiness or respect.—J. F. W. <section end="517L" /> <section begin="517Zcontin" />BELLAMY,, a Dutch poet, born at Flushing on the 12th November, 1757. The son of a baker in that town, <section end="517Zcontin" />