Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 02.djvu/906

BERNHARD. Meiningen was assigned to him as a separate possession, Jnne 20, 1681.

BERNHARD, Duke of Saxe-Weimar (1604- 30). A celebrated German general. He was born in Weimar, the youngest of the eleven sons of John III., Duke of Saxe-Weimar. On the out- break of the Thirty Years' War he took the side of Protestantism against the Emperor, and first distinguished himself in 1622 at Wimpfen. Subsequently he became colonel in the army of Christian IV. of Denmark and took part in the bold expedition of Jlanscld through Silesia to Hungary. Wlien, in 1630, C4ustavus Adolphus made his appearance in (ierniany, Bernhard was one of the first who flew to his standard, and now entered upon the brilliant career which entitles him to rank as one of the most famous leaders in the Thirty Years' War. He was conspicuous in the attacli upon Wallenstein's position at Nurem- berg, in 1632, and won the indecisive victory at Liitzen, having assumed the command after the death of Gustavus Adolpluis. One of his most splendid achievements was the taking of Ratisbon in 1633. In 1634 liernhard and the Swedish gen- eral, Horn, suiTered a terrible defeat at Nord- lingen. When Richelieu took up the cause of the Protestants, Bernhard was enabled to maintain a large force by means of a French subsidy. In 1638 he opened the most brilliant campaign of his military career, the crowning success of which was the conquest of Breisach. He died suddenly at Neuenburg on the Rhine.

BERNHARD VON NORDALBINGEN,  bern'lUirt fun nord'al'bing-en. See Basedow, JOH.NN BERNII..Rn.

BERNHARDT, Fr. pron. barn'art'. Get: pron. bern'hiirt, RosiNE, called Sarah (1844 — ). A noted Frencli actress. She is a Jewess, of French and Dutch parentage, born in Paris, October 22, 1844, but having been baptized into the Christian faith by her ifather's desire, was brought up in a convent. Entering the Paris (.lonservatoire in 18.58, she gained second prizes for both tragedj' and comedy, and in 1862 made her debut in Racine's Iphirjenie at the Theatre Francais, but atti'acted little notice, and soon left the theatre, only to meet with less suc- cess in burlesqxie at the Gymnase and Porte Saint-Martin. In 1867 she began to play minor parts at the Odcon, where her performance of the Queen of Spain in Ruy Bias, and of Zanetta in Coppee's Passant, revealed the force of her genius. She was recalled to the The.itre Fran- cais in 1872, after the Franco-Prussian War. In 1874 she achieved a new triumph as Berthe de Savigny in Le Sphinx, and shortly afterwards became a regular member of the company. In her rapidly extended repertoire one of the nota- ble successes was her Dona Sol, in Victor Hugo's Uernani. In 1879 she appeared in London, where she excited great enthusiasm. The next year, after the production of Augier's L'Aven- tiirUre, she abruptly severed her connection with the Theatre Francais, but was condemned to pa.y $20,000 costs and damages for this breach of contract. Shortly afterwards she made a lucrative and very successful tour in the United States, appearing in Adrienne Lecouvreur, La Dame aux Camelias, and other plays. She has since toured extensively in both North and South America, as well as in Russia, and other parts of Europe. In 1882 she was married to Jacques Damala, a Greek actor, from whom she was separated in 1883. For several years she played at the Vaudeville and Porte-Saint-Martin thea- tres, among her productions being Sardou's Fedora and La Tosca. In 1893 she took the Theatre de la Renaissance, where were produced (rismonde and La Samaritaine. Before the Ex- position of 1000, however, she transferred herself to a larger theatre in the Place du Chatelet, which had been for a time the home of the Opera Comique. Here she appeared as Hamlet, and as L'Aiglon in Rostand's drama. The latter she brought to America, with Constant Coquelin, in 1900. Bernhardt is noted for her versatility, and besides activity upon the stage has ex- hibitetl excellent work as a painter and sculptor. She has also appeared as an author, with Dans les nuucies (1878), and a comedy called L'Aveu, produced at the Odeon in 1888. Scarcely less noted tlian her fascinating power as an actress are the personal caprices and eccentricities which help to keep her in the public eye. Among the tales that are told is that of the coffin which she ordered made and upholstered with her sou- venirs, to keep in her chamber and serve as her occasional resting-place. She is undoubtedly the foremost French actress of her time, and for years has challenged comparison with her great predecessor, Rachel. Consult Jules Huret, Sarah Bernhardt, with a preface by Edmond Rostand (Eng. trans., Philadelphia, 1899).

BERNHARDY, bern'hiir-de, Gottfried (1800-7o). A German philologist, born at Landsberg, Brandenburg. He held a professor- ship at the University of Berlin from 1825 until 1829. He was professor in the University of Halle and director of the Philological Seminary from 1829 until his death. Among his chief publications are Wissenschaftliche Syntax der (jriechischen Sprache (1829); Grundriss der romischen Litteratnr (1830); Grundriss der griechischen Litteratur (1836-45); and an edi- tion of Suidas, 4 vols. (1834-53). Consult Volk- mann, Gottfried Bernhardy (Halle, 1887).

BERNI, ber'ne. Francesco (c. 1497-1535). An Italian satiric poet. He was born at Lampo- recchio about 1497-08, and wa.s successively in the service of his relative. Cardinal Bibbiena, of Ghiberti, Bishop of Verona, and of the Car- dinal Ippolito de' Medici, who, in 1533, appointed him a canon at Florence. He died in 1535, poisoned, according to one story, by the Cardinal Innocenzo Cibo, because he would not lend him- self to a plot to kill a certain Cardinal Salviati. Berni's most serious work was a recast or rifa- cimentooi Boiardo's Orlando Innanwrato. The discrepancy between the simple sincerity of Boi- ardo's style and the florid elegance of Ariosto's continuation was felt to mar the unity of the whole, and Berni, though he could not hope to rival Ariosto's brilliancy, produced a version of Boiardo which won the warm approval of his contemporaries, though it finds scant sympathy from modern critics. Berni's Rime are more justly celebrated. They are models of easy, famil- iar, satiric verse, marred only by their frequent indecency; and, while he has had many imi- tators in tliis vein, he has remained unsurpassed. Mocking or burlesque poetry has since his day been called Poesia Bernesca. The best edition of the Rifacimento is that of Florence (1827-28), and contains a biography by Corniani. The Rime,