Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Bent, James" to "Bibirine" by Various

24. VI. Songs and lyric choruses with orchestra, two vols. VII. Songs

1609 words  |  Chapter 21

and lyric choruses with pianoforte, 2 vols. including arrangements of the orchestral songs. VIII. Operas: _Benvenuto Cellini_; _Les Troyens_ (five acts in two parts, _La Prise de Troie_ and _Les Troyens a Carthage_); Recitatives for the dialogue in Weber's _Freischutz_. IX. Arrangements, including the well-known orchestral version of Weber's _Invitation a la danse_. X. Fragments and new discoveries. Adolphe Julien's biography of Berlioz (1888) first gave a careful account of the details of his life. See also the books by R. Pohl (1884), P. Galibert (1890), E. Hippeau (1890), G. Noufflard (1885), L. Mesnard (1888), Louise Pohl (1900), and D. Bernard (trans. by H.M. Dunstan, 1882). An illuminating essay on Berlioz is in Filson Young's _Mastersingers_ (1902). See also the essay in W.H. Hadow's _Studies in Modern Music_ (1st series, 1908). Berlioz's _Traite d'instrumentation_ has been translated into German and brought up to date by Richard Strauss (Peters' edition [1906]). BERM (probably a variant of "brim"), a narrow ledge of ground, generally the level banks of a river. In parts of Egypt the whole area reached by the Nile is included in the berm. Thus of the lands near Berber, Mr C. Dupuis writes (in Sir William Garstin's _Report on the Upper Nile_, 1904), "In most places there is a well-defined alluvial berm of recent formation and varying width, up to perhaps a couple of kilometres." In military phraseology the berm is the space of ground between the base of a rampart and the ditch. BERMONDSEY, a south-eastern metropolitan borough of London, England, bounded N. and E. by the Thames, S.E. by Deptford, S.W. by Camberwell, and W. by Southwark. Pop. (1901) 130,760. It is a district of poor streets, inhabited by a labouring population employed in leather and other factories, and in the Surrey Commercial Docks and the wharves bordering the river. The parish of Rotherhithe or Redriff has long been associated with a seafaring population. A tunnel connecting it with the opposite shore of the river was opened in June 1908. The neighbouring Thames Tunnel was opened in 1843, but, as the tolls were insufficient to maintain it, was sold to the East London Railway Company in 1865. The Herold Institute, a branch of the Borough Polytechnic, Southwark, is devoted to instruction in connexion with the leather trade. Southwark Park in the centre of the borough is 63 acres in extent. Bermondsey is in the parliamentary borough of Southwark, including the whole of Rotherhithe and part of the Bermondsey division. The borough council consists of a mayor, 9 aldermen, and 54 councillors. Area 1499.6 acres. The name appears in Domesday, the suffix designating the former insular, marshy character of the district; while the prefix is generally taken to indicate the name of a Saxon overlord, Beormund. Bermondsey was in favour with the Norman kings as a place of residence, and there was a palace here, perhaps from pre-Norman times. A Cluniac monastery was founded in 1082, and Bermondsey Cross became a favoured place of pilgrimage. The foundation was erected into an abbey in 1399, and Abbey Road recalls its site. Similarly, Spa Road points to the existence of a popular spring and pleasure grounds, maintained for some years at the close of the 18th century. Jacob Street marks Jacob's Island, the scene of the death of Bill Sikes in Dickens's _Oliver Twist_. Tooley Street, leading east from Southwark by London Bridge railway station, is well known in connexion with the story of three tailors of Tooley Street, who addressed a petition to parliament opening with the comprehensive expression "We, the people of England." The name is a corruption of St Olave, or Olaf, the Christian king of Norway, who in 994 attacked London by way of the river, and broke down London Bridge. See E.T. Clarke, _Bermondsey, its Historic Memories_ (1901). BERMUDAS, a group of islands in the Atlantic Ocean, forming a British colony, in 32 deg. 15' N. and 64 deg. 50' W., about 580 m. E. by S. from Cape Hatteras on the American coast. The group, consisting of small islands and reefs (which mark the extreme northern range of the coral-building polyps), is of oval form, measuring 22 m. from N.E. to S.W., the area being 20 sq. m. The largest of the islands is Great Bermuda, or the Main Island, 14 m. long and about a mile in average width, enclosing on the east Harrington or Little Sound, and on the west the Great Sound, which is thickly studded with islets, and protected on the north by the islands of Watford, Boaz, Ireland and Somerset. The remaining members of the group, St George, Paget, Smith, St David, Cooper, Nonsuch, &c., lie N.E. of the Main Island, and form a semicircle round Castle Harbour. The fringing islands which encircle the islands, especially on the north and west, leave a few deep passages wide enough to admit the largest vessels. _Geology._--The Bermudas consist of aeolian limestones (cf. BAHAMAS) which in some of the larger islands form irregular hills attaining a height of some 200-250 ft. These limestones are composed chiefly of comminuted shells drifted and deposited by the wind, and they are very irregularly stratified, as is usually the case with wind-blown deposits. Where fresh the rock is soft, but where it has been exposed to the action of the sea it is covered by a hard crust and often loses all trace of stratification. The surface is frequently irregularly honeycombed. Even the reefs are not wholly formed of coral. They are ridges of aeolian limestone plastered over by a thin layer of corals and other calcareous organisms. The very remarkable "serpuline atolls" are covered by a solid crust made of the convoluted tubes of serpulae and _Vermetus_, together with barnacles, mussels, nullipores, corallines and some true incrusting corals. They probably rest upon a foundation of aeolian rock. The Bermudas were formerly much more extensive than at present, and they may possibly stand upon the summit of a hidden volcano. There are evidences of small oscillations of levels, but no proofs of great elevation or depression. _Soil, Climate, &c._--The surface soil is a curious kind of red earth, which is also found in ochre-like strata throughout the limestone. It is generally mixed with vegetable matter and coral sand. There is a total want of streams and wells of fresh water, and the inhabitants are dependent on the rain, which they collect and preserve in tanks. The climate is mild and healthy, although serious epidemics of yellow fever and typhus have occurred. The maximum reading of the thermometer is about 87 deg. F. and its minimum 49 deg., the mean annual temperature being 70 deg. The islands attract a large number of visitors annually from America. Vegetation is very rapid, and the soil is clad in a mantle of almost perpetual green. The principal kind of tree is the so-called "Bermudas cedar," really a species of juniper, which furnishes timber for small vessels. The shores are fringed with the mangrove; the prickly pear grows luxuriantly in the most barren districts; and wherever the ground is left to itself the sage bush springs up profusely. The citron, sour orange, lemon and lime grow wild; but the apple and peach do not come to perfection. The loquat, an introduction from China, thrives admirably. The mild climate assists the growth of esculent plants and roots; and a considerable trade is carried on with New York, principally in onions, early potatoes, tomatoes, and beetroot, together with lily bulbs, cut flowers and some arrowroot. Medicinal plants, as the castor-oil plant and aloe, come to perfection without culture; and coffee, indigo, cotton and tobacco are also of spontaneous growth. Few oxen or sheep are reared in the colony, meat, as well as bread and most vegetables, being imported from America. The indigenous mammals are very few, and the only reptiles are a small lizard and the green turtle. Birds, however, especially aquatic species, are very numerous. Insects are comparatively few, but ants swarm destructively in the heat of the year. Fish are plentiful round the coasts, and the whale-fishery was once an important industry, but the fisheries as a whole have not been developed. _Towns, and Administration._--There are two towns in the Bermudas: St George, on the island of that name, founded in 1794 and incorporated in 1797; and Hamilton, on the Main Island, founded in 1790 and incorporated in 1793. St George was the capital till the senate and courts of justice were removed by Sir James Cockburn to Hamilton, which being centrally situated, is more convenient. Hamilton, which is situated on the inner part of the Great Sound, had a population in 1901 of 2246, that of St George being 985. In Ireland Island is situated the royal dockyard and naval establishment. The harbour of St George's has space enough to accommodate a vast fleet; yet, till deepened by blasting, the entrance was so narrow as to render it almost useless. The Bermudas became an important naval and coaling station in 1869, when a large iron dry dock was towed across the Atlantic and placed in a secure position in St George, while, owing to their important strategic position in mid-Atlantic, the British government maintains a strong garrison. The Bermudas are a British crown colony, with a governor resident at Hamilton, who is assisted by an executive council of 6 members appointed by the crown, a legislative council of 9 similarly appointed, and a representative assembly of 36 members, of whom four are returned by each of nine parishes. The currency of the colony, which had formerly twelve shillings to the pound sterling, was assimilated to that of England in

Chapters

1. Chapter 1 2. 2. (From the O. Eng. _beonet_, a coarse, rushy grass growing in wet 3. 1691. An able writer and skilful diplomatist, Bentivoglio was marked out 4. 1794. His father owned the _General Evening Post_ in conjunction with 5. episode of 1832-1833. As the South under Calhoun's lead became 6. 1854. An unsuccessful campaign for the governorship of Missouri in 1856 7. 1. Beowulf, with fourteen companions, sails to Denmark, to offer his 8. 2. All fear being now removed, the Danish king and his followers pass 9. 3. Richly rewarded by Hrothgar, Beowulf returns to his native land. He 10. 4. After Beowulf has reigned prosperously for fifty years, his country 11. 5. The news of Beowulf's dear-bought victory is carried to the army. 12. 1863. The chief articles of export are cereals, flour, wool, hemp, skins 13. 2. BERENICE, daughter of Ptolemy Philadelphus, wife of Antiochus Theos 14. 3. BERENICE, the daughter of Magas, king of Cyrene, and the wife of 15. 4. BERENICE, also called CLEOPATRA, daughter of Ptolemy X., married as 16. 5. BERENICE, daughter of Ptolemy Auletes, eldest sister of the great 17. 2. BERENICE, daughter of Agrippa I., king of Judaea, and born probably 18. 1729. In 1730 his enemy and rival, Prince Dolgoruki, was interned here 19. 5140. It lies pleasantly in the narrow well-wooded valley of the 20. 1587. He succeeded to his mother's estate of Charlton in Wiltshire, was 21. 24. VI. Songs and lyric choruses with orchestra, two vols. VII. Songs 22. 1842. The English language is universal. The colony is ecclesiastically 23. 1609. Sir George, from whom the islands took the alternative name of 24. book i. by William, abbot of St Thierry near Reims; book ii. by 25. 1820. He was educated at Sherborne school, and Trinity College, Oxford. 26. 1846. He was specially interested in legal history and in church 27. 1824. Prince Frederick removed the ducal residence to Ballenstedt in 28. introduction to his story of Arthur of Little Britain he excuses its 29. introduction to _Huon of Bourdeaux_ (Early English Text Society 30. 1880. In 1878 she published a prose sketch, _Dans les nuages; les 31. 1893. During those ten years she made several extended tours, including 32. 1896. In that year she made a success with an adaptation of Alfred de 33. Introduction and General View, 1836; pt. ii, Greek Poetry, 1845; pt. 34. 547. Aethelfrith, king of Bernicia, united Deira to his own kingdom, 35. 1755. He became known as one of the most expert epigrammatists in the 36. 1759. Having finished his literary studies, he was, according to custom, 37. 6. 45 Assyrian " 526 " 38. 1853. He published in 1883 a work _Ethnographie moderne des races 39. 1776. Although Thomas Reynolds in his _Iter Britanniarum_ (1799), an 40. 1698. His second marriage, with Anne Bulkeley, took place in 1700. As a 41. 167. It is in poor preservation and was partly rebuilt in 1820. Remains 42. 1895. He died at Hampstead, on the 9th of June 1901. Sir Walter Besant 43. 1796. His vocation for literature was assisted by his tutor, the poet 44. 1. LUCIUS CALPURNIUS BESTIA, Roman tribune of the people in 121 B.C., 45. 2. LUCIUS CALPURNIUS BESTIA, one of the Catilinarian conspirators, 46. introduction and notes by G. Gravier (Rouen, 1874), and an English 47. 5281. It lies near the lower end of the fine Nant Ffrancon (valley of 48. 1905. Bethlehem has often been called the American Bayreuth. Among the 49. 1736. He taught the belles-lettres from 1739 to 1744 at Brescia, where 50. 2866. The Worcester-Shrewsbury line of the Great Western is here joined 51. 1783. With his father, who was an _avocat_ in the parlement of Grenoble, 52. introduction to the Daru family, with which the Beyles were connected. 53. introduction of additional cards. The cards rank as follows:--Ace, ten, 54. 1850. In 1851 he set up as a medical practitioner in Bombay, where his

Reading Tips

Use arrow keys to navigate

Press 'N' for next chapter

Press 'P' for previous chapter