Page:Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography Volume 1.pdf/593

BES the duchies. At the same time he was a member of the Frankfort national assembly, where he acted as one of its vice-presidents. When, in January, 1851, Austrian and Prussian commissaries for the regulation of the existing disorders were sent into the duchies, Beseler resigned his office, and retired to Brunswick.—K. E.  BESENVAL,, baron de, was born at Soleure in 1722, and at nine years of age entered the Swiss guards, of which corps his father was colonel. Possessed of a handsome person, an excellent address, and considerable talent, as well as military influence from his parentage, his rise in the French army was rapid; and when the Revolution broke out he was a lieutenant-general, and commandant of all the military in and around Paris. In this post his vacillating and temporizing conduct brought severe blame on Besenval, though it is almost certain that the fault really lay with the king and his advisers. However, certain it is, that immediately after the taking of the Bastile, Besenval decamped, was arrested, tried, and acquitted with great difficulty; after which event he lived quite forgotten in Paris till his death in 1794. His "Mémoires," first published in 1805-1807, are entertaining, and of considerable historical value.—J. S. S.  BESENZI,, was born at Reggio, 1624 (Charles I.), and died in 1666. He was an imitator of Albano.  BESHITZI, or BESHIETZI,, a learned Caraite, at Constantinople, whence he is sometimes called Stambuli. His work "Adereth Eliyahu" (The mantle of Elijah), treats, in six sections, of the doctrines and ceremonies of the Caraite sect of Jews. Quotations from it occur in R. Cudworth's De Vera Notione Sacræ Cœnæ, and, frequently, in John Selden's De Uxore Hebræa, and De Synedriis. Beshitzi, who died in 1490, left his work incomplete: it was continued by his learned disciple and relative, Caleb Affandopulo.—T. T.  BESHITZI,, great-grandson of the last-named. If we may credit the account given of him in Dod Mardochai, M. B. was a prodigy of learning and energy. At sixteen years of age, adorned with every accomplishment, he set out on his travels to the East in quest of wisdom, and although he died at the age of eighteen, he had given to the world 245 books, of which, unfortunately, nothing has reached us but a fragment of one, quoted by his panegyrist, chap. 9.—T. T.  BESIERS,, a French chronicler, born at Bayeux, 1719; died 1782. Author of some topographical works relating to Caen and Bayeux.—J. G.  * BESKOW,, the son of a wealthy merchant and iron-founder, born at Stockholm, 19th April, 1796. Exhibiting in youth great talents for music and painting, he received instruction in these arts, especially the former. Later in life he distinguished himself as a poet. In 1814 he received a government appointment, and afterwards became private secretary to the crown prince. In 1826 he was elevated to the rank of the nobility. The following year he became chamberlain, and in 1833 steward, of the royal household. Two years earlier he assumed the direction of the royal theatre, to which he had furnished several excellent pieces, but this office he resigned in consequence of his other duties. He was one of the eighteen who composed the Swedish Academy, of which, in 1834, he was appointed secretary. He spent four years between 1824 and 1828 in visiting the principal European countries, and making himself acquainted with their most distinguished men. In 1818 Beskow published a collection of his poems in 2 vols., of which in the following year a second edition appeared, and these were succeeded at different times by the tragedies of "Erik XIV." of "Hildegarde," "Torkel Knutson" (which has been pronounced the best acting drama of Sweden), "King Birgen and his race," and "Gustavus Adolphus in Germany." Some of these tragedies were translated into German by Oehlenschlager, and the music to his opera, "The Troubadours," was composed by the crown-prince, now king of Sweden. It is as a dramatic writer, and especially as a writer of the historic-drama, that Von Beskow takes his highest place in the literature of his country. In 1832 he published "Recollections of his Wanderings," in 2 vols., and he has been an active contributor to most of the periodicals of his native land. In 1842 he received the title of doctor of philosophy. A liberal and patriotic spirit characterizes the writings of Von Beskow.—M. H.  BESLER,, a German pharmaceutist, was born at Nuremberg in 1561, and died in 1629. He practised as an apothecary at Nuremberg, and established a private botanic garden, in which he cultivated many interesting medicinal plants. He formed also a collection of curiosities. He published "Hortus Eystettensis" in 4 volumes folio, containing 356 copperplates, and 1086 figures of plants from various parts of the world. The expense of the work was defrayed by the bishop of Eichstadt. Plumier has called a genus of plants Beslera.—J. H. B. <section end="593H" /> <section begin="593I" />BESLER,, a German medical man, and nephew of Basil, was born at Nuremberg on 5th July, 1607, and died on 8th February, 1661. He studied at Heilbronn, Altdorf, and Padua. In 1631 he took the degree of doctor of medicine at Altdorf, and afterwards became a fellow of the college of physicians of Nuremberg. He was a zealous student of natural history, and has published works on the vegetable kingdom, on the plants of Eichstadt, besides medical dissertations.—J. H. B. <section end="593I" /> <section begin="593J" />BESLY,, born in 1572, and died in 1644; studied law at the universities of Bordeaux and Toulouse, and practised at Paris for two years. He, in 1597, settled at Fontenay as avocat and jurisconsult, and opposed strenuously the reception of the decrees of the council of Trent. Besly was a diligent student of the antiquities of France. He had collected a library, which is mentioned as of great value by Louis Jacob in his Traité des plus Belles Bibliotheques du Monde. In 1620 we find Besly maire et capitaine of Fontenay. In that year he wrote to Dupuy, expressing great terror at the civil disturbances which were every day increasing. "He lived," he said, "in a cut-throat place," and he expressed strong fears for the security of his books and manuscripts, which he finally sent for safety to Poitiers. In 1629 he was appointed avocat and conseiller d'etat. In 1631 he retired from public life, giving up his business and his appointments to his son. His son did not inherit his literary and antiquarian tastes; and had it not been for Dupuy and the bishop of Poitiers, his manuscripts would have perished; as it was, many were lost. His library was dispersed. Poems of his are scattered over several publications, for the most part laudatory of the literary works of his friends, and as bad as such things generally are; several Tracts on local antiquities were published after his death, and "Lives of Counts and Bishops of Poitiers." He assisted Duchesne in the "Histoire de la Maison de Chasteignier," and a commentary by him on Ronsard's poems is printed with the early editions of Ronsard.—J. A., D. <section end="593J" /> <section begin="593K" />BESNARD,, a German physician, born at Buschwieler in Alsace, on the 20th May, 1748, received his early education at Hagenau from the priests, and was afterwards sent to Strasburg, where he studied medicine. After taking his degree, he was soon appointed first physician to the count palatine Maximilian; but in 1783 he visited Paris, with the view of submitting to the Academy of Sciences, his opinions upon the nature of venereal diseases, and upon the evils of the mercurial treatment, which he wished to see given up. Some patients were intrusted to him, under the inspection of a committee of the Society of Medicine, to be treated according to his new method; but the experiments were stopped by the outbreak of the first Revolution. Besnard returned in 1790 to the palatinate, practised for a time at Mannheim, and was afterwards placed at the head of the hospital of Munich. It was by the exertions and influence of Besnard, that the benefits of vaccination were extended to Bavaria. He died on the 16th June, 1814. His writings are not numerous; the most important of them are written in German, namely, a treatise on the "Organization of the Military Hospitals of the Palatinate," published at Munich in 1801; "Serious advice, founded on experience, to the friends of humanity against the use of mercury," Munich, 1808; and a treatise on the venereal disease, published at the same place in 1811.—W. S. D. <section end="593K" /> <section begin="593L" />BESNIER,, a French botanist, was born during the first half of the 18th century. He has published works on gardening, one being entitled "Le Jardinier-Botaniste."—J. H. B. <section end="593L" /> <section begin="593M" />BESNIER,, a jesuit, born at Tours, 1648; died at Constantinople, 1705. He devoted himself to philological studies, and wrote a work to prove the possibility of learning all languages by means of one. He also assisted P. P. Bouhours and Letellier in translating the New Testament into French.—J. G. <section end="593M" /> <section begin="593Zcontin" />BESOLD or BESOLDE,, a German lawyer, born at Tübingen, 1577; died 1638. He had a great reputation, and the duke of Wurtemberg confided to him the most important <section end="593Zcontin" />