Page:Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography Volume 1.pdf/571

BER who inhabited the mountain regions. On Mountjoy, the site of a temple of Jupiter, he erected one of his monasteries, and on the site of a column dedicated to the same divinity, in one of the passes of the-mountains, he placed the other. They were intended not only as houses for religious seclusion, but as hospitals for the entertainment of pilgrims on the way to Rome. The monks have ever since been fulfilling the pious intention of the founder, not only hospitably receiving strangers who come to their gate, but with the assistance of the famous St. Bernard dogs, tracing out and relieving those who wander among the snow. St. Bernard continued his missionary labours till his death in 1008.—J. B.  BERNARD,, the disciple and biographer of Archbishop Usher, was educated at Cambridge, and incorporated M.A. of Oxford in 1628. He had been two years before ordained by Usher at Drogheda, where he was chaplain and librarian to the primate, and he was soon promoted to the deanery of Ardagh. While here he assisted his patron in the preparation of materials for his work on the antiquities of the British churches. In 1642, on account of the troubles in Ireland, he was compelled to take refuge in England, taking with him the valuable library under his care. He was presented to the rectory of Whitchurch in Shropshire, where he remained till his death in 1661. His principal works are—"The whole Proceedings of the Siege of Drogheda," 1642; "The Life and Death of Dr. James Usher, in a sermon preached at his funeral," 1656; "The Judgment of the late Archbishop of Armagh," &c., 1657; "Clavi Trabales," a collection of pieces by Usher, Hooker, &c., 1661.—J. B.  BERNARD,, a French litterateur, known by the name of, born near Suxerrè in 1756; died in 1833. At the time of the Revolution, he became member of the administration of the department of Youne; he afterwards was sent by the same department to the legislative assembly, and drew up several reports relative to the organization of the public service, and on the repression of mendicity. He published an abridgment of Buffon's Natural History, &c.—J. G.  BERNARD,, a French annalist, born at Calais, 1640; died in 1720. Author of "Les Annales de Calais," Saint Omer, 1715; a very rare work, containing an account of the sieges of Calais.  BERNARD,, born at Grenoble in 1710; died 1775. Voltaire's praise of Bernard gave him reputation, if not popularity, and led to his being generally spoken of with the kindly epithet of "gentil." Bernard was always fond of letters, but was discouraged by his patrons from exercising his talent of verse. He passed into the service, as secretary, of the marshal de Coigny. He was present at the battles of Parma and Guæstalla. It was only in secret he could exercise his poetical talents during the marshal's life, but after his death he was more free, having obtained some office which left him a great deal of time to himself. His verses were admired, and secured him the favour and support of Madame Pompadour. He read and recited his poems to circles gathered to hear them; they were praised. The charm was lessened or destroyed when they were printed, but the poet was unconscious of his failure. Dissipation and disease had destroyed his mental powers, and he languished some years in entire fatuity. His poems were collected in 1803 by M. Fayolle. Their character is feeble elegance.—J. A., D.  BERNARD,, a French mathematician and engineer, born in 1748; died in 1816. His chief work is his "Nouveaux principes d'hydraulique," a work the more valuable as it is the summary of important engineering practice—the result of the works undertaken by him to confine and deepen the bed of the Durance, and to improve the navigation of the Rhone from Arles to its embouchure.—J. P. N.  BERNARD,, a puritan divine, who first translated Terence into English, was born in Lincolnshire probably about the year 1566. He was educated, it would appear, by the charity of two ladies, daughters of the Lord Chief Justice Wray, who sent him to Cambridge with the view of his taking orders in the church of England. In 1601 he was installed vicar of Worksop in Nottinghamshire, and in 1612 rector of Batcombe in Somersetshire. He died at the latter place in 1641. He wrote "The Faithful Shepherd;" "Look beyond Luther; or, an Answer to the question, Where this our Religion was before Luther's time?" "The Isle of Man, or the Legal Proceedings in Man-shire against Sin;" "Thesaurus Biblicus."—J. S., G.  BERNARD,, member of the French national convention, born at Valerangue, Gard, In 1745. He was educated at Nimes for the protestant ministry; but the persecutions to which the professors of the reformed religion were subjected induced him to demit the charge to which he had been appointed at Saint-Affrique, Aveyron, and to enter on a political career. In 1792 he presided at the electoral assembly, whose office it was to appoint deputies to the convention. In October of the same year, he was nominated a member of the committee of accusation, but in the process against Louis XVI. he declined to vote with the majority for the punishment of death. He was afterwards chosen a member of the council of the ancients, to which he was elected secretary in 1796 and president in 1797. Quitting the council the following year, he retired to Belmont, in the neighbourhood of Saint-Affrique, and recommenced the exercise of his ministerial functions. He died at the advanced age of eighty years.—G. M. <section end="571H" /> <section begin="571I" />BERNARD,, le baron Louis, brother of the preceding, born at Valerangue on the 15th August, 1771. Arriving in Paris while his brother sat in the convention, he became attached to the bureau for the administration of military affairs, and was afterwards nominated, by the first consul, inspector of reviews. In 1807 he entered into the service of Joseph, who took him to Naples, where he made him intendant of his guard, and conferred on him the title of baron. In 1814 he hastened to give his allegiance to the new regime, and was named by Louis XVIII. inspector of reviews, and chevalier of Saint Louis.—G. M. <section end="571I" /> <section begin="571J" />BERNARD,, born at Paris, 1618; died 1687. He studied under Vonet, and executed large oil frescos, and cabinet pictures of history and landscape. He also engraved in mezzotint. His son, the banker, was the millionaire whom Louis XIV. showed over Marly, in order to induce him to consent to a loan.—W. T. <section end="571J" /> <section begin="571K" />BERNARD, duke of Septimania and Toulouse, held a high station at the court of Louis le Debonnaire through the favour of the empress, but was subsequently degraded and banished under charge of gross immoralities. He recovered rank and influence by assisting Louis against his rebellious sons, but was put to death by Charles the Bald.—W. B. <section end="571K" /> <section begin="571L" />BERNARD,, a French general, born at Dôle, 28th April, 1779; died 5th November, 1839. At the age of fifteen years, he was admitted into the Polytechnic school, where his mind was formed under the teaching of Lagrange, Laplace, &c. He first entered the army of the Rhine, in which he soon obtained the rank of captain; and in 1805, having been intrusted by the emperor with an important mission, he was appointed his aid-de-camp. He was in the service of Napoleon during the Hundred Days, and fought at Waterloo. After the Restoration, he went to the United States, where he was employed for many years by the government on various important public services. On his return to France', he became aid-de-camp to the king, soon afterwards lieutenant-general of engineers, and finally, in 1836, minister of war.—G. M. <section end="571L" /> <section begin="571M" />BERNARD,, a young surgeon of a ship which sailed between England and the coast of Africa. On the voyage his ship met with another vessel, the Eclair, whose crew were suffering from the ravages of the yellow fever. They had no surgeon on board; many had already died, and others were sickening. Bernard volunteered his services, went on board the infected vessel, and sailed in it to England. When the ship arrived, the noble philanthropist did not quit the post of duty; but resolving that no other life should be risked in ministering to the diseased and helpless crew, he remained in the vessel, caught the infection, and died in 1845. Sydney Bernard left a poor widow, but to the disgrace of those who were acquainted with his heroic conduct, no acknowledgment was ever made of his services in the shape of gift or pension to her.—J. T. <section end="571M" /> <section begin="571N" />BERNARD, probably a Belgian by birth, taught theology and philosophy at Utrecht towards the commencement of the twelfth century. He wrote a commentary on the Eclogæ of Theodulus, which exists in MS. in the Biblotheque Imperiale of Paris. His "Epistola ad Raymundum Castri Ambosii, de modo rei familiaris utilius gubernandæ," is also extant. Two works, "Megacosmus" and "Microcosmus," generally attributed to Bernard de Chartres, are by some ascribed to this author.—J. S., G. <section end="571N" /> <section begin="571Zcontin" />BERNARD,, an English philanthropist, born at <section end="571Zcontin" />