Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume II.djvu/647

 BIDDLE BIELA 627 sentatives of Pennsylvania 1810-'ll, and was distinguished by his efforts to establish a gener- al system of education. Toward the close of the war of 1812-'15 he was a member of the state senate, and ardently supported the war. He wrote the report of the senate committee upon the propositions from the Hartford convention, which attracted great attention. In 1817 he was the candidate of the democratic party for congress, but was defeated by the federalists. In 1819 President Monroe appointed him a government director of the United States bank, and in 1823, on the resignation of Langdon Oheves, he became its president, retaining this place during the violent agitations concerning that institution under Gen. Jackson, till the ter- mination of its charter in 1836. He was then chosen president of the newly established United States bank of Pennsylvania. In 1839, his health being much impaired, he resigned, leaving the bank apparently in a prosperous condition. Two years afterward it was de- clared insolvent, on which occasion he pub- lished a series of letters in vindication of his administration. He was an earnest promoter of public improvements, and exercised by his popular manners, force of character, and finan- cial ability, a commanding influence. He was president of the trustees of Girard college. His speeches and writings are elegant and vigorous. BIDDLE, Kirlianl, an American lawyer and author, brother of the preceding, bom in Phil- adelphia, March 25, 1796, died in Pittsburgh, July 7, 1847. He early became the leader of the Pittsburgh bar. In 1827 he visited England, and while there published a critical "Review of Capt. Basil Hall's Travels in North America" (1830), and "A Memoir of Sebastian Cabot, with a Review of the History of Maritime Discovery " (London and Phila- delphia, 1831). He was a member of congress from 1837 to 1840. BIDEFORD, a seaport town of Devonshire, England, on both sides of the Torridge, which is here crossed by a bridge of 24 arches and 677 ft. long, 35 m. N. W. of Exeter ; pop. in 1871, 6,953. The town has a large mediaeval church with interesting monuments, a fine quay 1,200 ft. long, and manufactures of ropes, sails, earthenware, and leather. It is health- ful, and is a place of summer resort. BIDLOO, Godfrled, a Dutch anatomist, born in Amsterdam, March 12, 1649, died in Leyden in April, 1713. He was a surgeon in the army, professor at the Hague and at Leyden, and nearly eight years physician of William III. of England. Subsequently he returned to his chair at Leyden, teaching anatomy, sur- gery, and chemistry. His principal work, Anatomia Humani Corporis (Amsterdam, 1685; Utrecht, 1750), though inaccurate in some respects, was an important advance upon the science of the period. Cowper, the English anatomist, bought 300 copies of the plates of this work, and published them with alterations as his own at Oxford in 1693. BIDPAY, or PUpay, the reputed author of a collection of ancient Hindoo fables, which have been spread for 2,000 years throughout the East and the West, and have been translated into almost all languages. Eighteen of the fables of La Fontaine are copies or close imitations of them. Recent savants are of opinion that the author of the fables of Bidpay was a Brah- man named Vishnu-Sarma, and that they origi- nated from the ancient Hindoo collection Pan- tchatantra ("Five Sections"), of which an edition in Sanskrit has been published by Kose- garten (2 vols., Bonn, 1848-'59), and a Ger- man version by Benfey (2 vols., Leipsic, 1859). The same materials were subsequently worked up in the Sanskrit Hitopadesa (" Salutary In- struction"), of which an English translation by Wilkins, a Latin by Schlegel and Lassen, and a German by Max Muller have been published. The principal source of the numerous medi- aeval imitations was the Pehlevi version pre- pared for Chosroes I., and preserved in an Arabic translation of the 8th century. BIEBRICH, or Bieberieh, a town of Prussia, in the province of Hesse-Nassau, on the right hank of the Rhine, 3 m. S. of Wiesbaden ; pop. in 1871, including Mosbach, 6,642. The palace of Biebrich, a fine modern building, though somewhat dilapidated, has long been the sum- mer residence of the dukes of Nassau, several of whom are buried in the church here. The adjoining gardens are very pretty and exten- sive, and accessible to the public. They con- tain fine alleys, famous greenhouses, and a large fountain; and within their circuit is a miniature castle built on the ruins of the old castle of Mosbach, on the bank of a small ar- tificial lake. Many Roman antiquities were removed to the castle from the former abbey of Ebersbach. S. E. of Biebrich, in the direc- tion of Castel (opposite Mentz), are traces of a Roman fort. Csar in his second expedition against the Suevi, and Agrippa, are supposed by some authorities to have crossed the Rhine in this vicinity. Biebrich became a free port in 1831, and is accessible to steamers and large sailing vessels. BIEFVE, Edonard de, a Belgian painter, born in Brussels, Dec. 4. 1808. He studied in Pa- ris under David d' Angers, and on his return to Belgium excelled by his historical pictures and portraits. His " Compromise of the Brussels Nobles of Feb. 16, 1566," executed by order of his government, was much admired at the Paris exhibition of 1855, and is in the museum of Brussels. For the king of Prussia he paint- ed "The Knights of the Teutonic Order recog- nizing the Elector of Brandenburg as their Grand Master." Among his other works are "The Introduction of Rubens to Charles V.," " Masaniello," " Ugolino," and "Raphael and LaFornarina." BIEL. See BIENXE. BIELA, TTilhelm Ton, baron, a German sol- dier and astronomer, born at Rosla, near Nordhausen, March 19, 1782, died in Venice,