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BEZA BEZIERS 603 Saladin and retaken by the crusaders, in whose hands it remained till the overthrow of their power in 1291. From that period till the com- mencement of the 17th century it remained an insignificant place; but the Druse prince Fakreddin rebuilt it as the seat of his govern- ment. In 1772 a Russian fleet bombarded and plundered the city. With the Egyptian invasion of Syria Beyrout passed into the possession of Mehemet Ali ; but in 1840 the English fleet bombarded it and drove out the Egyptians. BEZA, or Beze, Theodore de, a French religious reformer, born at Vezelay, June 24, 1519, died in Geneva, Oct. 13, 1605. He was brought up for the law by his uncle, who was a councillor of the parliament of Paris, and studied at Bourges under Melchior Volmar, who enlisted his sympathies for Luther. From 1539 to 1548 he was in Paris, addicted to pleas- ure and literature, and published there loose Latin poetry under the title of Juvenilia. A severe illness changed the turn of his mind, and in 1548 he retired to Geneva, where he made a public profession of the reformed re- ligion. He taught Greek at Lausanne till 1558, when he went to Germany to intercede with the German princes in behalf of the French Huguenots, after which Calvin obtained for him the rectorship and chair of theology at the academy of Geneva. In 1559 he converted Antoine de Bourbon and his wife Jeanne d'Al- bret to Protestantism, and in 1561 he was the oflScial representative of the Huguenots at the conferences of Poissy, where he displayed abil- ity and moderation. In 1562 he went to Paris to preach the reformation, became chaplain to the prince de CondS and afterward to Coligni, and rejoiced over the assassination of the duke de Guise, though he was not believed to have connived at any deeds of violence. Returning to Geneva in 1563, he took the place of Calvin on the latter's death in 1564, and was the spokesman of the Huguenots at the synods of La Rochelle and Nimes, and on many other occasions. He married for the second time at the age of 69, and at 78 wrote a spirited poem in refutation of the rumors of his conversion. He was the virtual founder of the academy of Geneva, and produced after Greek models an admirable drama on the sacrifice of Abraham. He published in 1556 a version of the New Testament, which passed through many edi- tions, and took part in a translation of the Bible revised from the Hebrew and Greek texts, which was issued in 1588 by the pastors of the church of Geneva. His Traduction en vers francoig des psaumes omw par Marat (Lyons, 1563) has been reprinted many times together with Marot's for the use of French Protestant congregations. Among his numer- ous other works is UHistoire ecclesiastique des eglises reformees au royaume de France depute Van 1521 jusqu'en 1563 (3 vols., 1580). As his name is not ostensibly associated with the authorship of this work, his claims to it are contested by some writers, but generally decid- ed in his favor. The best known biographies are by Schlosser (Heidelberg, 1809) and Baum (2 vols., Leipsic, 1843-'51). See Heppe, Theo- dor Beza, Leben und Ausgewahlte Schriften (Elberfeld, 1861). BEZA'S CODEX (sometimes called the Codex Cantabrigiensis, from its present place of de- posit, the university of Cambridge, England), a, very ancient MS. on vellum, containing in its present state the four Gospels and Acts, but with several omissions. It is usually cited by critics as MS. D of the Gospel and Acts. In the arrangement of the Gospels John stands second. It contains the Greek text with a Lat- in translation on opposite pages. It is written in large uncial letters, and is generally assigned to the 6th century ; hut there are some addi- tions which cannot be earlier than the 10th cen- tury. It forms a quarto volume of 10 inches by 8, and now consists of 414 leaves. Originally, as is shown by the paging, there were at least 512 leaves. The principal hiatus is between the Gospels and Acts, which it is presumed was oc- cupied by the Epistles. Its critical authority is not ranked high. It is chiefly remarkable for extensive interpolations, which amount in Acts alone to more than 600. The MS. was pre- sented in 1581 to the university of Cambridge by Theodore Beza, who said that it was found in the monastery of St. Ireneaus at Lyons, whence it had probably been taken by some Huguenot soldier. The MS. has been several times carefully collated, and has been twice printed, once by Kipling in facsimile (Codex Beza Cantabrigiensis, 2 vols. fol., 1793), and later in ordinary type with an introduction and ^annotations (8vo, London, 1864). BEZIERS (anc. Baeterra or Baterrce), a town of Langnedoc, France, in the department of He'rault, at the junction of the Orb with the Languedoc canal or canal du Midi, 38 m. S. W. of Montpellier ; pop. in 1866, 27,722. Situated upon a commanding eminence, its fine appear- ance led to the proverb, Si Deus in terris, pel- let habitare Basterris ; but the interior of the town is far from attractive. The old walls flanked with towers still remain, but the cita- del has been razed and converted into pleasure grounds, in which there is a monument of Riquet, the native engineer of the Languedoc canal. The cathedral of St. Nazaire is a Gothic building surmounted with towers like a Gothic castle. In the church of the Madeleine 7,000 persons were burnt during the Albigensian war. The convents and the bishopric were abolished in 1789, and the episcopal palace has been since used for courts of law and public offices. The town possesses a communal college, a public li- brary, and an economical and archaeological soci- ety. Silk stockings, woollen and cotton goods, parchment, verdigris, starch, gloves, glass, and famous sweetmeats are manufactured ; but the principal industry is that of distilling, and the brandy made here is almost as good as cognac. Owing to the situation near the sea, the com- merce is very active in wine (which is produced