1796. His vocation for literature was assisted by his tutor, the poet

Johan Magnus Stjernstolpe (1777-1831), whose works he edited. He entered the civil service in 1814, was ennobled in 1826 and received the title of baron in 1843. He held high appointments at court, and was, from 1834 onwards, perpetual secretary of the Swedish academy, using his great influence with tact and generosity. His poetry is over-decorated, and his plays are grandiose historical poems in dramatic form. Among them are "Erik XIV." (2 parts, 1826); and four pieces collected (1836-1838) as _Dramatiska Studier_, the most famous of which is the tragedy of "Thorkel Knutsson." His works include many academical memoirs, volumes of poems, philosophy and a valuable historical study, _Om Gustav den Tredje sasom konung och menniska_ (5 vols. 1860-1869, "Gustavus III. as king and man"), printed in the transactions of the Swedish Academy (vols. 32, 34, 37, 42, 44). He died on the 17th of October 1868. See also a notice by C. D. af Wirsen in his _Lefnadsteckningar_ (Stockholm, 1901). BESNARD, PAUL ALBERT (1849- ), French painter, was born in Paris and studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, winning the _Prix de Rome_ in 1874. Until about 1880 he followed the academic tradition, but then broke away completely, and devoted himself to the study of colour and light as conceived by the impressionists. The realism of this group never appealed to his bold imagination, but he applied their technical method to ideological and decorative works on a large scale, such as his frescoes at the Sorbonne, the Ecole de Pharmacie, the Salle des Sciences at the hotel de ville, the mairie of the first arrondissement, and the chapel of Berck hospital, for which he painted twelve "Stations of the Cross" in an entirely modern spirit. A great virtuoso, he achieved brilliant successes alike in water-colour, pastel, oil and etching, both in portraiture, in landscape and in decoration. A good example of his daring unconventionality is his portrait of Madame Rejane; and his close analysis of light can be studied in his picture "Femme qui se chauffe" at the Luxembourg in Paris. BESOM (Old Eng. _besema_, a rod), originally a bundle of rods or twigs, used for sweeping, &c.; a stiff broom. BESSARABIA, a government of south-west Russia, separated on the W. and S. from Moldavia and Walachia by the Pruth, and on the E. and N. from the Russian governments of Podolia and Kherson by the Dniester; on the S.E. it is washed by the Black Sea. Area, 17,614 sq. m. The northern districts are invaded by offshoots of the Carpathians, which reach altitudes of 800 to 1150 ft., and are cut up by numerous ravines and river valleys. Here, however, agriculture is the prevailing occupation, the soil being the fertile black earth. The crops principally raised are wheat and maize, though here, as well as in other parts of the government, barley, flax, tobacco, water-melons, gourds, fruit, wine, saffron and madder are grown. The middle of the government is also hilly (850-1000 ft.), and is heavily timbered, chiefly with beech, oak and mountain-ash, and, though to a smaller extent, with birch. The districts south of the old Roman earthworks which link the Dniester with the Pruth along the line of the Botna, just south of Bender, consist of level pasture-land known as the Budjak steppes. Here stock-breeding is the predominant calling, the people owning large numbers of sheep, cattle and horses, also goats, pigs and buffaloes. Lagoons fringe the lower course of the Pruth and the coast of the Black Sea, and marshy ground exists beside the Reuth and other tributaries of the Dniester. The climate is rather subject to extremes, the mean temperature for the year, at Kishinev, being 50 deg. Fahr., of January 27 deg., and of July 72 deg. The rainfall amounts to over 25 in. annually. Salt, saltpetre and marble are the principal mineral products. Manufacturing industry is only just beginning, wine-making (17,000,000 gallons annually), cloth-mills, iron-works, soap-works and tanneries being the principal branches. Both the Dniester and the Pruth are important waterways commercially, the former being navigable up to Mogilev and the latter to Leovo (46 deg. 30' N. lat.). Down the Dniester come timber and wooden wares from Galicia, and grain and wool from Bessarabia itself. Three branches of the railway from Odessa to Poland penetrate the government and proceed towards the Carpathians. The population numbered 988,431 in 1860 and 1,938,326 in 1897, of whom only 302,852 were urban, while 942,179 were women. In 1906 it was estimated at 2,262,400. It consists of various races, nearly one-half (920,919 in 1897) being Moldavians, the others Little Russians, Jews (37% in the towns and 12% in the rural districts), Bulgarians (103,225), Germans (60,206), with some Gypsies (Zigani), Greeks, Armenians, Tatars and Albanians. The Germans, who form some thirty prosperous colonies in the Budjak steppes west from Akkerman, have been settled there since about 1814. The government is divided into eight districts, the chief towns of which are Akkerman (pop. 32,470 in 1900), Bender (33,741 in 1900), Byeltsi (18,526 in 1897), Izmail (33,607 in 1900), Khotin (18,126), Kishinev (125,787 in 1900), Orgeyev (13,356), and Soroki (25,523 in 1900). The capital is Kishinev. Kagul, on the Pruth, and Reni on the Danube (the place to which Alexander of Bulgaria was carried when kidnapped by the Russians in 1886), are small, but lively, river-ports. The original inhabitants were Cimmerians, and after them came Scythians. During the early centuries of the Christian era Bessarabia, being the key to one of the approaches towards the Byzantine empire, was invaded by many successive races. In the 2nd century it was occupied by the Getae, a Thracian tribe, whom the Roman emperor Trajan conquered in 106; he then incorporated the region in the province of Dacia. In the following century the Goths poured into this quarter of the empire, and in the 5th century it was overrun one after the other by the Huns, the Avars and the Bulgarians. Then followed in the 7th century the Bessi, a Thracian tribe, who gave their name to the region, and in the 9th the Ugrians, that is to say the ancestors of the present Magyars of Hungary, the country being then known as Atel-kuzu. The Ugrians were forced farther west by the Turkish tribe of the Petchenegs in the 10th century, and these were succeeded in the 11th century by the Kumans (Comani) or Polovtsians, a kindred Turkish stock or federation. In the 13th century Bessarabia was overrun by the irresistible Mongols under the leadership of Batu, grandson of Jenghiz Khan. In this century also the Genoese founded trading factories on the banks of the Dniester. In 1367 Bessarabia was subdued and annexed by the ruling prince of Moldavia. During the 16th century it was in the possession alternately of the Turks and the Nogais or Crimean Tatars. From early in the 18th century it was a bone of contention between the Ottoman Turks and the Russians, the latter capturing it five times between 1711 and 1812. In the latter year it was definitely annexed to Russia, and in 1829 its frontier was pushed southwards so as to include the delta of the Danube. After the Crimean War, however, Russia ceded to Moldavia not only this later addition, but also certain districts in the south of the existing government, amounting altogether to an area of 4250 sq. m. and a population of 180,000. By the treaty of Berlin (1878) Russia recovered of this 3580 sq. m., with a population of 127,000. See Nakko, _History of Bessarabia_, in Russian (1873). (P. A. K.; J. T. Be.) BESSARION, JOHANNES, or BASILIUS (c. 1395-1472), titular patriarch of Constantinople, and one of the illustrious Greek scholars who contributed to the great revival of letters in the 15th century, was born at Trebizond, the year of his birth being variously given as 1389, 1395 or 1403. He was educated at Constantinople, and in 1423 went to the Peloponnese to hear Gemistus Pletho expound the philosophy of Plato. On entering the order of St Basil, he adopted the name of an old Egyptian anchorite Bessarion, whose story he has related. In 1437 he was made archbishop of Nicaea by John VII. Palacologus, whom he accompanied to Italy in order to bring about a union between the Greek and Latin churches with the object of obtaining help from the West against the Turks. The Greeks had bitterly resented his attachment to the party which saw no difficulty in a reconciliation of the two churches. At the councils held in Ferrara and Florence Bessarion supported the Roman church, and gained the favour of Pope Eugenius IV., who invested him with the rank of cardinal. From that time he resided permanently in Italy, doing much, by his patronage of learned men, by his collection of books and manuscripts, and by his own writings, to spread abroad the new learning. He held in succession the archbishopric of Siponto and the bishoprics of Sabina and Frascati. In 1463 he received the title of Latin patriarch of Constantinople; and it was only on account of his Greek birth that he was not elevated to the papal chair. For five years (1450-1455) he was legate at Bologna, and he was engaged on embassies to many foreign princes, among others to Louis XI. of France in 1471. Vexation at an insult offered him by Louis is said to have hastened his death, which took place on the 19th of November 1472, at Ravenna. Bessarion was one of the most learned scholars of his time. Besides his translations of Aristotle's _Metaphysics_ and Xenophon's _Memorabilia_, his most important work is a treatise directed against George of Trebizond, a violent Aristotelian, entitled _In Calumniatorem Platonis_. Bessarion, though a Platonist, is not so thoroughgoing in his admiration as Gemistus Pletho, and rather strives after a reconciliation of the two philosophies. His work, by opening up the relations of Platonism to the main questions of religion, contributed greatly to the extension of speculative thought in the department of theology. His library, which contained a very extensive collection of Greek MSS., was presented by him to the senate of Venice, and formed the nucleus of the famous library of St Mark. See A.M. Bandini, _De Vita et Rebus Gestis Bessarionis_ (1777); H. Vast, _Le Cardinal Bessarion_ (1878); E. Legrand, _Bibliographie Hellenique_ (1885); G. Voigt, _Die Wiederbelebung des klassischen Altertums_, ii. (1893); on Bessarion at the councils of Ferrara and Florence, A. Sadov, _Bessarion de Nicee_ (1883); on his philosophy, monograph by A. Kandelos (in Greek: Athens, 1888); most of his works are in Migne, _Patrologia Graeca_, clxi. BESSBOROUGH, EARLS OF. The Ponsonby family, who have contributed many conspicuous men to Irish and English public life, trace their descent to Sir John Ponsonby (d. 1678), of Cumberland, a Commonwealth soldier who obtained land grants in Ireland. His son William (1657-1724) was created Baron Bessborough (1721) and Viscount Duncannon (1723), and the latter's son Brabazon was raised to the earldom of Bessborough in 1739. He was the father not only of the 2nd earl (1704-1793), but of John Ponsonby (q.v.), speaker of the Irish House of Commons. The 2nd earl was a well-known Whig politician, who held various offices of state; and his son the 3rd earl (1758-1844) was father of the 4th earl (1781-1847), first commissioner of works in 1831-1834, lord privy seal from 1835 to 1839 and lord-lieutenant of Ireland in 1846. He was succeeded by his three sons, the 5th earl (d. 1880), 6th earl (1815-1895), a famous cricketer and chairman of the Bessborough commission (1881) to inquire into the Irish land system, and 7th earl (d. 1906), and the last named by his son the 8th earl. BESSEGES, a town of south-eastern France, in the department of Gard, on the Ceze, 20 m. north of Alais by rail. Pop. (1906) 7662. The town is important for its coal-mines, blast-furnaces and iron-works. BESSEL, FRIEDRICH WILHELM (1784-1846), German astronomer, was born at Minden on the 22nd of July 1784. Placed at the age of fifteen in a counting-house at Bremen, he was impelled by his desire to obtain a situation as supercargo on a foreign voyage to study navigation, mathematics and finally astronomy. In 1804 he calculated the orbit of Halley's comet from observations made in 1607 by Thomas Harriot, and communicated his results to H.W.M. Olbers, who procured their publication (_Monatliche Correspondenz_, x. 425), and recommended the young aspirant in 1805 for the post of assistant in J.H. Schroter's observatory at Lilienthal. A masterly investigation of the comet of 1807 (Konigsberg, 1810) enhanced his reputation, and the king of Prussia summoned him, in 1810, to superintend the erection of a new observatory at Konigsberg, of which he acted as director from its completion in 1813 until his death. In this capacity he inaugurated the modern era of practical astronomy. For the purpose of improving knowledge of star-places he reduced James Bradley's Greenwich observations, and derived from them an invaluable catalogue of 3222 stars, published in the volume rightly named _Fundamenta Astronomiae_ (1818). In _Tabulae Regiomontanae_ (1830), he definitively established the uniform system of reduction still in use. During the years 1821-1833, he observed all stars to the ninth magnitude in zones extending from -15 deg. to +45 deg. dec., and thus raised the number of those accurately determined to about 50,000. He corrected the length of the seconds' pendulum in 1826, in a discussion re-published by H. Bruns in 1889; measured an arc of the meridian in East Prussia in 1831-1832; and deduced for the earth in 1841 an ellipticity of 1/299. His ascertainment in 1838 (_Astr. Nach._, Nos. 365-366) of a parallax of 0".31 for 61 Cygni was the first authentic result of the kind published. He announced in 1844 the binary character of Sirius and Procyon from their disturbed proper motions; and was preparing to attack the problem solved later by the discovery of Neptune, when fatal illness intervened. He died at Konigsberg on the 17th of March 1846. Modern astronomy of precision is essentially Bessel's creation. Apart from the large scope of his activity, he introduced such important novelties as the effective use of the heliometer, the correction for personal equation (in 1823), and the systematic investigation of instrumental errors. He issued 21 volumes of _Astronomische Beobachtungen auf der Sternwarte zu Konigsberg_ (1815-1844), and a list of his writings drawn up by A.L. Busch appeared in vol. 24 of the same series. Especial attention should be directed to his _Astronomische Untersuchungen_ (2 vols. 1841-1842), _Populare Vorlesungen_ (1848), edited by H.C. Schumacher, and to the important collection entitled _Abhandlungen_ (4 vols. 1875-1882), issued by R. Engelmann at Leipzig. His minor treatises numbered over 350. In pure mathematics he enlarged the resources of analysis by the invention of Bessel's Functions. He made some preliminary use of these expressions in 1817, in a paper on Kepler's Problem (_Transactions Berlin Academy_, 1816-1817, p. 49), and fully developed them seven years later, for the purposes of a research into planetary perturbations (_Ibid._ 1824, pp. 1-52). See also H. Durege, _Bessels Leben und Wirken_ (Zurich, 1861); J.F. Encke, _Gedachtnissrede auf Bessel_ (Berlin, 1846); C.T. Anger, _Erinnerung an Bessels Leben und Wirken_ (Danzig, 1845); _Astronomische Nachrichten_, xxiv. 49, 331 (1846); _Monthly Notices Roy. Astr. Society_, vii. 199 (1847); _Allgemeine deutsche Biographie_, ii. 558-567. BESSEL FUNCTION, a certain mathematical relation between two variables. The _Bessel function of order m_ satisfies the differential equation d^2u 1 du / m^2 \ -------- + ----- ------ + ( 1 - ------- ) u = 0, d[rho]^2 [rho] d[rho] \ [rho]^2 / and may be expressed as the series [rho]^m / [rho]^2 [rho]^4 \ ------- ( 1 - -------- + ----------------- ... ); 2^m.m! \ 2.2m + 2 2.4.2m + 2.2m + 4 / the function of _zero order_ is deduced by making m=0, and is equivalent to the series [rho]^2 [rho]^4 1 - ------- + -------, &c. 2^2 2^2.4^2 O. Schlomilch defines these functions as the coefficients of the power of t in the expansion of exp 1/2[rho](t - t^(-1)). The symbol generally adopted to represent these functions is J_m([rho]) where m denotes the order of the function. These functions are named after Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel, who in 1817 introduced them in an investigation on Kepler's Problem. He discussed their properties and constructed tables for their evaluation. Although Bessel was the first to systematically treat of these functions, it is to be noted that in 1732 Daniel Bernoulli obtained the function of zero order as a solution to the problem of the oscillations of a chain suspended at one end. This problem has been more fully discussed by Sir A.G. Greenhill. In 1764 Leonhard Euler employed the functions of both zero and integral orders in an analysis into the vibrations of a stretched membrane; an investigation which has been considerably developed by Lord Rayleigh, who has also shown (1878) that Bessel's functions are particular cases of Laplace's functions. There is hardly a branch of mathematical physics which is independent of these functions. Of the many applications we may notice:--Joseph Fourier's (1824) investigation of the motion of heat in a solid cylinder, a problem which, with the related one of the flow of electricity, has been developed by W.E. Weber, G.F. Riemann and S.D. Poisson; the flow of electromagnetic waves along wires (Sir J.J. Thomson, H. Hertz, O. Heaviside); the diffraction of light (E. Lommel, Lord Rayleigh, Georg Wilhelm Struve); the theory of elasticity (A.E. Love, H. Lamb, C. Chree, Lord Rayleigh); and to hydrodynamics (Lord Kelvin, Sir G. Stokes). The remarkable connexion between Bessel's functions and spherical harmonics was established in 1868 by F.G. Mehler, who proved that a simple relation existed between the function of zero order and the zonal harmonic of order n. Heinrich Eduard Heine has shown that the functions of higher orders may be considered as limiting values of the associated functions; this relation was discussed independently, in 1878, by Lord Rayleigh. For the mathematical investigation see SPHERICAL HARMONICS and for tables see TABLE, MATHEMATICAL. See A. Gray and G.B. Matthews, _Treatise on Bessel's Functions_ (1895); _Encyclopadie der math. Wissenschaften_; F.W. Bessel, _Untersuchung des Teils der planetarischen Storungen_ (1824). BESSEMER, SIR HENRY (1813-1898), English engineer, was born on the 19th of January 1813, at Charlton, in Hertfordshire. Throughout his life he was a prolific inventor, but his name is chiefly known in connexion with the Bessemer process for the manufacture of steel, by which it has been rendered famous throughout the civilized world. Though this process is now largely supplemented, and even displaced, by various rivals, at the time it was brought out it was of enormous industrial importance, since it effected a great cheapening in the price of steel, and led to that material being widely substituted for others which were inferior in almost every respect but that of cost. Bessemer's attention was drawn to the problem of steel manufacture in the course of an attempt to improve the construction of guns. Coming to the conclusion that if any advance was to be made in artillery better metal must be available, he established a small iron-works in St Pancras, and began a series of experiments. These he carried on for two years before he evolved the essential idea of his process, which is the decarbonization of cast iron by forcing a blast of air through the mass of metal when in the molten condition. The first public announcement of the process was made at the Cheltenham meeting of the British Association in 1856, and immediately attracted considerable notice. Many metallurgists were sceptical on theoretical grounds about his results, and only became convinced when they saw that his process was really able to convert melted cast iron into malleable iron in a perfectly fluid state. But though five firms applied without delay for licences to work under his patents, success did not at once attend his efforts; indeed, after several ironmasters had put the process to practical trial and failed to get good results, it was in danger of being thrust aside and entirely forgotten. Its author, however, instead of being discouraged by this lack of success, continued his experiments, and in two years was able to turn out a product, the quality of which was not inferior to that yielded by the older methods. But when he now tried to induce makers to take up his improved system, he met with general rebuffs, and finally was driven to undertake the exploitation of the process himself. To this end he erected steelworks in Sheffield, on ground purchased with the help of friends, and began to manufacture steel. At first the output was insignificant, but gradually the magnitude of the operations was enlarged until the competition became effective, and steel traders generally became aware that the firm of Henry Bessemer & Co. was underselling them to the extent of L20 a ton. This argument to the pocket quickly had its effect, and licences were applied for in such numbers that, in royalties for the use of his process, Bessemer received a sum in all considerably exceeding a million sterling. Of course, patents of such obvious value did not escape criticism, and invalidity was freely urged against them on various grounds. But Bessemer was fortunate enough to maintain them intact without litigation, though he found it advisable to buy up the rights of one patentee, while in another case he was freed from anxiety by the patent being allowed to lapse in 1859 through non-payment of fees. At the outset he had found great difficulty in making steel by his process--in his first licences to the trade iron alone was mentioned. Experiments he made with South Wales iron were failures because the product was devoid of malleability; Mr Goransson, a Swedish ironmaster, using the purer charcoal pig iron of that country, was the first to make good steel by the process, and even he was successful only after many attempts. His results prompted Bessemer to try the purer iron obtained from Cumberland haematite, but even with this he did not meet with much success, until Robert Mushet showed that the addition of a certain quantity of spiegeleisen had the effect of removing the difficulties. Whether or not Mushet's patents could have been sustained, the value of his procedure was shown by its general adoption in conjunction with the Bessemer method of conversion. At the same time it is only fair to say that whatever may have been the conveniences of Mushet's plan, it was not absolutely essential; this Bessemer proved in 1865, by exhibiting a series of samples of steel made by his own process alone. The pecuniary rewards of Bessemer's great invention came to him with comparative quickness; but it was not till 1879 that the Royal Society admitted him as a fellow and the government honoured him with a knighthood. Bessemer died at Denmark Hill, London, on the 15th of March 1898. Among Bessemer's numerous other inventions, not one of which attained a tithe of the success or importance of the steel process, were movable dies for embossed stamps, a gold paint, sugar machinery, and a ship which was to save her passengers from the miseries of _mal de mer_. This last had her saloon mounted in such a way as to be free to swing relatively to the boat herself, and the idea was that this saloon should always be maintained steady and level, no matter how rough the sea. For this purpose hydraulic mechanism of Bessemer's design was arranged under the control of an attendant, whose duty it was to keep watch on a spirit-level, and counteract by proper manipulation of the apparatus any deviation from the horizontal that might manifest itself on the floor of the saloon owing to the rolling of the vessel. A boat, called the "Bessemer," was built on this plan in 1875 and put on the cross-Channel service to Calais, but the mechanism of the swinging saloon was not found effective in practice and was ultimately removed. An _Autobiography_ was published in 1905. BESSEMER, a town of Jefferson county, Alabama, U.S.A., about 12 m. S.W. of Birmingham, a little N. of the centre of the state. Pop. (1890) 4544; (1900) 6538, including 3695 negroes; (1910) 10,864. The town is served by the Alabama Great Southern (Queen & Crescent route), the Louisville & Nashville, the Kansas City, Memphis & Birmingham (St Louis & San Francisco system), the Birmingham Southern, and the Atlanta, Birmingham & Atlantic railways. Bessemer is situated in the midst of the iron ore and limestone district of Alabama, in the south part of Jones' Valley (about 3 m. wide.); to the east is the Red Ore mountain range, rich in red haematite; to the north-west are the Warrior coalfields; to the south-west, south and south-east are immense fossiliferous iron ore seams and the Cahaba coalfields; in the immediate vicinity of the city are limestone quarries, and about 18 m. north-east are the limestone kilns of Gate City. Mining, iron smelting and the manufacture of iron and coke are the chief industries of Bessemer; truck farming is also an important industry. In 1900 Bessemer was the eighth city of the state in population, second in amount of capital invested in manufacturing, and fourth in the value of its manufactured product for the year. Bessemer was laid out in 1887, and was incorporated in 1889. BESSIERES, JEAN BAPTISTE, duke of Istria (1768-1813), French marshal, was born near Cahors in 1768. He served for a short time in the "Constitutional Guard" of Louis XVI. and as a non-commissioned officer took part in the war against Spain. In the Army of the Eastern Pyrenees and in the Army of the Moselle he repeatedly distinguished himself for valour, and in 1796, as captain, he served in Bonaparte's Italian campaign. At Roveredo his conduct brought him to his chief's notice, and after Rivoli he was sent to France to deliver the captured colours to the Directory. Hastening back to the front, he accompanied Napoleon in the invasion of Styria in command of the "Guides," who formed the nucleus of the later Consular and Imperial Guard. As _chef de brigade_ he next served in the Egyptian expedition, and won further distinction at Acre and Aboukir. Returning to Europe with Napoleon, he was present at Marengo (1800) as second-in-command of the Consular Guard, and led a brilliant and successful cavalry charge at the close of the day, though its effect on the battle was not as decisive as Napoleon pretended. Promoted general of division in 1802 and marshal of France in 1804, he made the most famous campaigns of the Grande Armee as colonel-general of the Guard Cavalry (1805, 1806, 1807). In 1805 he had received the Grand Eagle of the Legion of Honour, and in 1800 was created duke of Istria. With the outbreak of the Peninsular War, Marshal Bessieres had his first opportunity of an independent command, and his crushing victory over the Spaniards at Medina del Rio Seco (1808) justified Napoleon's choice. When disaster in other parts of the theatre of war called Napoleon himself to the Peninsula, Bessieres continued to give the emperor the very greatest assistance in his campaign. In 1809 he was again with the _Grande Armee_ in the Danube valley. At Essling his repeated and desperate charges checked the Austrians in the full tide of their success. At Wagram he had a horse killed under him. Replacing Bernadotte in the command of the Army of the North, a little later in the same year, the newly-created duke of Istria successfully opposed the British Walcheren expedition, and in 1811 he was back again, in a still more important command, in Spain. As Massena's second-in-command he was present at the battle of Fuentes d'Onoro, but Napoleon never detached him for very long, and in 1812 he commanded the Guard Cavalry at Borodino and in the retreat from Moscow. Wherever engaged he won further distinction, and at the beginning of the 1813 campaign he was appointed to the command of the whole of Napoleon's cavalry. Three days after the opening of the campaign, while reconnoitring the defile of Poserna-Rippach, Bessieres was killed by a musket-ball. Napoleon, who deeply felt the loss of one of his truest friends and ablest commanders, protected his children, and his eldest son was made a member of the Chamber of Peers by Louis XVIII. As a commander, especially of cavalry, Bessieres left a reputation excelled by very few of Napoleon's marshals, and his dauntless courage and cool judgment made him a safe leader in independent command. He was personally beloved to an extraordinary extent amongst his soldiers, and (unlike most of the French generals of the time) amongst his opponents. It is said that masses were performed for his soul by the priests of insurgent Spain, and the king of Saxony raised a monument to his memory. His younger brother, BERTRAND, BARON BESSIERES (1773-1855), was a distinguished divisional leader under Napoleon. After serving with a good record in Italy, in Egypt and at Hohenlinden, he had a command in the _Grande Armee_, and in 1808 was sent to Spain. He commanded a division in Catalonia and played a notable part at the action of Molins de Rey near Barcelona. Disagreements with his superior, General Duhesme, led to his resignation, but he subsequently served with Napoleon in all the later campaigns of the empire. Placed on the retired list by the Bourbons, his last public act was his defence of the unfortunate Ney. The rest of his long life was spent in retirement. BESSUS, satrap of Bactria and Sogdiana under Darius III. In the battle of Gaugamela (1st of October 331) he commanded the troops of his satrapy. When Alexander pursued the Persian king on his flight to the East (summer 330), Bessus with some of the other conspirators deposed Darius and shortly afterwards killed him. He then tried to organize a national resistance against the Macedonian conqueror in the eastern provinces, proclaimed himself king and adopted the name Artaxerxes. But he was taken prisoner by treachery in the summer of 329. Alexander sent him to Ecbatana, where he was condemned to death. Before his execution his nose and ears were cut off, according to the Persian custom; we learn from the Behistun inscription that Darius I. punished the usurpers in the same way. BEST, WILLIAM THOMAS (1826-1897), English organist, the son of a solicitor, was born at Carlisle on the 13th of August 1826. Having decided upon a musical career, he received his first instruction from the cathedral organist. He applied himself especially to Bach's music, and became a player of great skill. His successive appointments were to Pembroke chapel, Liverpool, 1840; to a church for the blind, 1847, and the Liverpool Philharmonic Society, 1848. For a short time (1854-1855) he was in London at the Panopticon in Leicester Square, the church of St Martin-in-the-Fields, and Lincoln's Inn chapel. In 1855 he returned to Liverpool as organist of St George's Hall, where his performances rapidly became famous throughout England. Ill-health compelled him at last to retire in 1894. He was engaged as solo organist at all the Handel festivals at the Crystal Palace, and also as organist at the Albert Hall, where he inaugurated the great organ in 1871. He had been in the receipt of a civil list pension of L100 a year since 1880, and in 1890 went to Australia to give organ recitals in the town hall of Sydney. Best died at Liverpool on the 10th of May 1897. His command over all the resources of his own instrument was masterly; his series of Saturday recitals at St George's Hall, carried on for many years, included the whole field of organ music, and of music that could be arranged for the organ, ancient and modern; and his performances of Bach's organ works were particularly fine. His own compositions for the organ, chiefly comprised in the publication entitled _Organ Pieces for Church Use_, have a strong and marked individuality. Best, unlike many soloists, was an all-round musician, and fully acquainted with every branch of the art. His bust, by Conrad Dressler, has been placed on the platform in front of the Liverpool organ, as a memorial of his long series of performances there. BESTIA, the name of a family in ancient Rome, of which the following were the most distinguished.