Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 03.djvu/17

EETHLEHEMITES. specially bound to exercise hospitality and to tend the sick, even though they have infectious diseases. In 166S a female order of the name was founded in Guatemala, but it never spread. The male order spread in South America, but in 1820 was secularized, and in 1845 was extinct. The followers of John Huss were styled Beth- leheniites. from the Bethlehem Church in Prague, where their leader preached.

BETHLEHEM, Musical or Bach Festival. Musically, Bethlehem. Pa., is the most remark- able town or settlement in the United States. To a great degree it is a iloravian town, having been founded by the Moravians about 1740, and being still under the influence of the policy then inaugurated. In 1780 the settlement had an orchestra, probably the first in America, which fact, together with the strong musical tendency of the liturgj- of the Moravian Church, with its realistically religious hymns, imdoubtedly led up to the developments of the present day. Early in its church history flutes, horns, viols, and trombones were permanent factors in the church music. The modern festival is frequently referred to as the American musical Oberammergau, or the American Bayreuth. It resembles the latter in many ways, and particularly in the emplovment of a quartet of trombones to summon the people to the performances, as do the trumpets in the German town. Its resemblance to Oberammergau is in the essentially religious character of the festival, the penneating Protestant sentiment of which is admirably expressed in the music of Bach. The festival of 1901 was remarkable as being the first time in America in which the Christmas Oratorio had been given in its entirety. Besides this great work were given the Passion according to Saint Matthew and the Mass ill B Minor, the latter having been pre- sented for the first time in America two years before. J. Frederick Wolle, a pupil of Rhein- berger, and the organist of the Moravian Church, has charge of the music. The choir consists of 110 members, with a separate chorus of 100 boys, for the chorals, and an orchestra of 60 instrumentalists. They are all natives of the place, with the exception of the leading vocal and instrumental soloists. The festivals are of a very high character, and it is purposed to continue their annual performance.

BETH'LEM. See Bedlam.

BETHLEN-GABOR, bet'len ga1)6r, or Ga- BBiEL Bethlex, or Bethlehem (1580-1629). Prince of Transylvania. 1613-29. He was a mem- ber of a prominent Protestant family of Upper Hungary, which possessed, also, important estates in Transylvania. In 1613, with the assistance of the Sultan, and in defiance of the Emperor, he was made ruler of Transylvania. In 1619 he took advantage of the Bohemian struggle, and openly took up arms against Austria. He overran Hun- gary, took Presburg, and spread devastation and terror to the gates of Vienna. The enthu- siastic Hungarians elected him King (1620). His allies, the Protestants of Germany, having been crushed in the battle of Prague,' Bethlen- Oiflbor concluded peace with the Emperor Ferdi- nand II., receiving the town of Kaschau, with seven Hungarian counties adjoining Transyl- vania, the principalities of Oppeln and Ratilior in Silesia, and the dignity of Prince of the Empire. This treaty, however, waa soon bro- ken by the Emperor, and Bethlen-Gfibor, raising an army of 60.000 men, invaded iloravia, and obtained the solemn renewal of the for- mer treaty. His marriage with Catharine of Brandenburg in 1625 involved him once more in the Thirty Years' War; but he finally retired from the contest in the following year, and thenceforth devoted himself exclusively to the internal affairs of Transylvania. He died in 1629, after a lingering and painful illness. He was known as one of the 'three great Magvars' of his age. Bethlen-Giibor was an able adminis- trator as well as a brilliant general, and his reign was as beneficial to Transylvania on the side of internal progress as it was glorious for its military exploits. He encouraged the sci- ences and letters and promoted education. His brother Stephex succeeded him, but was soon compelled to resign the throne. To the same family of Bethlen belong .JoHx and Wolfgaxg, both chancellors of Transylvania, the former of whom is celebrated for his work, Reruin Tran- tijlvanicariim Lihri IT. (Hermannstadt, 1683), which gives the history of the principality from 1629 to 1G63, and the latter of whom wrote a history in 16 books, the MS. of which, from long neglect, had been much damaged, but which was afterwards restored and completed and published (6 vols.) at Hermannstadt in 1792, under the title of Wolfpangi de Bethlen Bistoria de Rebus Transi/hunicis. Io.ilj-l(i09.

BETHMANN-HOLLWEG, bat'man liol'vaK, Moritz August von ( 1795-1877 ). A German jur- ist and statesman, born at Frankfort-on-the-Main. He studied law at Guttingen and Berlin, and became professor of civil law at Berlin. He held a similar chair at Bonn from 1829 to 1842, and in 1845 was appointed a counselor of State. From 1849 to 1852 he was a member of the First Chamber of the Prussian Parliament, and from 1852 to 1855 a member of the Second Cham- ber. He was Minister of Public Instruction from 1858 to 1862, and was a supporter of the Moder< ate Constitutional Party. He published Griind- riss zu Vorlesiingen iiberden gemeinen undpreus- sischen Civilpro^ess (1832), Vrsprung der lorn- hardischen Stiidtefreiheit (1846), Ueber Gesetx- gebung und Rechtsirissenschaft als Aufgabe un- serer Zeit (1876), and other works.

BETH’NAL GREEN. A metropolitan borough of Greater London. See LoxDOX.

BETH PE'OR (Heb., house or dwelling of Peor. i.e. the god of Baal-Peor). A city belonging to Reuben, opposite a ravine, in which Israel is said to have received the Deuteronomic laws (Deut. iii. 29), and the locality in which Moses is supposed to have been buried! The exact place cannot be' identified, but that it was somewhere in the Nebo-Pisgah Mountains seems certain. If it is on the southern si<le of Wady Ayun Musa, as some geographers hold, the "'ravine' would be Wady Hesban. .in el-ilinyeh. on the northern side of the mountain ridge, "has also been suggested as a possible location of the city, which has an extended view over the Plain of Shittim. The former, however, would be more accessible from the plain.

BETH'PHAGE ( Heb., house of figs). A vil- lage near Jerusalem, but a short distance from Bethany (Mark xi. 1: Matt. .x.i. 1; Luke six. 29). The site is unknown.