BECCAEIA
BEDDOES
BECCARIA-BONESANA, the Marquis
Cesare, Italian reformer. B. Mar. 15,
1735. He studied philosophy, accepted
the teaching of the French Encyclopaedists,
and became the leading figure of a group of
Italian Eationalists. His famous plea for
penal reform, Trattato del delitti e delle
pene, was published anonymously at
Monaco in 1764, and under his own name
in 1781. It was enthusiastically received
by the French Eationalists, and, by the
many translations, it had a great influence
all over Europe. Beccaria opposed capital
punishment and insisted that general
education would lessen crime. He was
cautious as to religion, because, as he wrote
to the Abbe Morellet, he " heard the noise
of the chains rattled by superstition and
fanaticism." In 1768 he became professor
of State-Law in the Milan Academy.
D. Nov. 28, 1794.
BECKER, Professor Erich, Ph.D.,
German philosopher. B. Sep. 1, 1882. Ed. Bonn, where he graduated and became a private teacher. Since 1909 he has been professor of philosophy at the Miinster University. He is a Monist (see p. 419 of his Naturphilosoiriiie, 1914) in philosophy, or "critical realist," and a utilitarian in ethics, and has written many philosophical works. He regards reality as psychic, but rejects the idea of a separable soul.
BECKER, Sir Walter Frederick,
K.B.E., shipowner. B. 1855. Ed. Fal- mouth Classical and Grammar School. He has large shipowning interests in various countries, and since 1880 has been much engaged in his business in Sicily and Italy. Sir Walter, who is an Agnostic, has a high philanthropic record. He founded, maintained, and is chairman of the Maternity and Eescue Home at Turin. During the War he founded, maintained, and directed a hospital at Turin for the British Expeditionary Force, and did much other valuable work for British soldiers and sailors. He lives at Turin. 59
BECKERS, Professor Hubert, German
philosopher. B. Nov. 4, 1806. Ed. Munich.
He became in 1832 a private teacher of
philosophy at Munich, and in 1847 pro
fessor of philosophy at the same university.
In 1853 he was admitted to the Bavarian
Academy of Science. Beckers followed
Schelling s Pantheism and wrote a number
of works on Schilling and philosophy.
D. Mar. 11, 1889.
BECKFORD, William, author of Vathelc. B. Sep. 29, 1759 ; son of the Lord Mayor of London. Ed. privately Fonthill and Geneva. From 1777 to 1782 he made the Continental tour, and during the next two years he wrote his brilliant oriental story, Vathek. The statement attributed to him by Eedding, that he wrote the work in three days, is false (see L. Melville, The Life and Letters of W. B., 1910, ch. vii). The work was written in French, published in Paris in 1787, and published anony mously in English in 1784. He wrote also on Italy, Spain, and Portugal, and bought Gibbon s library. Melville, who clears his character of many gossipy charges, says that he " leant towards Agnosticism" (p. 276). He believed in an " Eternal Power " and rejected all creeds. D. May 2, 1844.
BEDDOES, Thomas, M.D., physician. B. Apr. 13, 1760. Ed. Bridgnorth Gram mar School and Oxford (Pembroke College), and (for medicine) London and Edinburgh. He was reader in chemistry at Oxford 1788-92, but he resigned, under pressure, on account of his sympathies with the French Eevolution and his attacks on the clergy. For some years he directed a medical institute at Bristol, and he then lived by private practice. Beddoes, a Deist and friend of Erasmus Darwin (see Memoirs of the Life of T. B., J. E. Stock, 1811), was an able and learned writer and an enthusiast for human progress. " From Beddoes I hoped for more good for the human race than any other individual," said Southey (Diet. Nat. Biog.}. D.Dec. 24, 1808. GO
