Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume II.djvu/617

 BETHUNE BETROTHMENT 597 BETHP5JE, a fortified town of Artois, France, in the department of Pas-de-Oalais, on the Law and Aire canals, built on a rock above the river Brette, 16 m. N. N. W. of Arras ; pop. in 1866, 8,178. It has a Gothic cathedral, a communal college, and several hospitals. The triangular fortress and citadel are among Vau- ban's finest works. Linen, cloth, beet-root su- gar, and other articles, are manufactured here, and the trade is important. The town was ruled by local counts from the llth to the middle of the 17th century. The title of count of Bethune became extinct in 1807. Gaston d'Orleans took Bethune from the Spaniards in 1645; it was retaken by Prince Eugene in 1710, and definitively annexed to France by the treaty of Utrecht (1713). The first artesian wells are said to have been bored here. BETHUNE, George WashiDgton, D. D., an Amer- ican clergyman and author, born in New York in March, 1805, died in Florence, Italy, April 27, 1862. His father, Divie Bethune, a native of Scotland, emigrated to America, settled in New York as a merchant, and became eminent as a man of business and philanthropist. His mother, Joanna, was the daughter of Isabella Graham. (See GRAHAM.) George Bethune was educated at Dickinson college and Princeton theological seminary, and for a short time acted as seaman's chaplain in Savannah, Ga. In 1828 he became pastor of the Dutch Reformed church at Rhinebeck, N. Y., removed in 1830 to Utica, N. Y., and in 1834 to Philadelphia, where he remained as pastor of a church till 1849, when he went to Brooklyn, N. Y., to become pastor of the newly organized "Re- formed Dutch Church on the Heights." His health having become impaired, he resigned this charge in 1859 and went to Italy, where he remained about a year. For a few months after his return he was associate pastor of a church in New York. In 1861 he again went to Italy, taking up his residence in Florence, where he died suddenly from an attack of apoplexy. Dr. Bethune was one of the finest scholars and most brilliant orators among the American clergy. He edited, with biographi- cal and critical notices, a volume of "British Female Poets," and prepared a unique edition of Izaak Walton's "Complete Angler," sup- plying much matter relating to angling in Ame- rica, a work for which his love of nature and fondness for piscatorial sports admirably quali- fied him. Many of his addresses and sermons have been separately printed. His last public appearance in America was at a Union mass meeting in New York, April 20, 1861, where he delivered a speech which was one of his most eloquent efforts. He wrote "Lays of Love and Faith," a volume of poems of considerable merit; "Early Lost and Early Saved; " "The History of a Penitent ; " " Memoirs of Joanna Bethune," his mother; and "Lectures on the Heidelberg Catechism," an elaborate work in dogmatic theology, originally prepared as a se- ries of lectures for his own congregation. The last two works were published after his death. A memoir of his life, by A. R. Van Nest, D. D., was published in 1867. BETL1S, or BItlis, a town of Asiatic Turkey, in Kurdistan, about 10 m. S. W. of Lake Van and 60 m. W. of the city of Van ; pop. about 10,000, of whom one third are Armenians and Kurd's. It is. situated in a wide ravine, has several mosques and convents, caravansaries, and an ancient castle on a high rock, formerly the residence of the local khans. Cotton cloths, celebrated for their bright red dye, and various other articles, are manufactured here. Excel- lent tobacco is exported to Erzerum and Con- stantinople. The adjoining country is remark- able for its fertility, and abounds in game. BETROTHMENT, a mutual promise of mar- riage. Among the ancient Greeks, the father made a selection for his daughter. The young couple kissed each other for the first time in the presence of their friends, and it was cus- tomary for the bridegroom to bring flowers daily until the wedding day to the house of his bride. In the laws of Moses there are some pro- visions respecting the state of the virgin who is betrothed, but nothing particularly refer- ring to the act of betrothment. Selden's Uxor Hebraica gives the schedule of later Hebrew contracts of betrothment, which are still in use among the orthodox Jews. The spowalia of the Romans were invested with great legal importance. Children could be betrothed in their seventh year, and a public record was kept of the engagement, certified by the seals of witnesses, the bridegroom giving as a pledge to the bride an iron ring {annulus pronubus), after which she proceeded to his house, where sandals, a spindle, and a distaff were presented to her, while a hymn was sung in honor of Thalassius. In the middle ages the Roman and canon statutes constituted the law on the sub- ject. While the Greek church considered be- trothments as binding as weddings, the church of Rome viewed them simply as promises of marriage. But as much confusion ensued, the council of Trent decreed that no betrothment was valid without the presence of a priest and of two or three witnesses. This decree was adopted in France by Louis XIII. in 1639, and became known as the ordonnance de Bloii. Until the revolution of 1789, when betroth- ments ceased to have legal importance, they were generally celebrated in France by pro- nouncing the nuptial blessings in front of the church, by reading the marriage contract, and by exchanging presents, while the French bride- groom, as was also the case with the Roman bridegroom, had to pay a certain amount of earnest money to ratify the bargain. In Eng- land, formal engagements of this kind were usual down to the time of the reformation. In Shakespeare and other writers many illustra- tions occur, from which it may be inferred that betrothments were celebrated by the inter- change of rings, the kiss, the joining of hands, and the attestation of witnesses. The ecclesias-