who was a priest in the temple of Belus, and lived in the days of Alexander the Great. When the Macedonian conqueror became master of Babylon, Berosus having learned Greek from his followers, seems to have gone to Cos in the Ægean, where he opened a school for astronomy and astrology. He afterwards removed to Athens, where his soothsaying was so famous, that a statue with a golden tongue was erected in honour of him. But it is as the author of a history of the Chaldean kings that he has been remembered. It was written in three books, we are informed by Tatian, but unfortunately none of it is preserved, save some extracts in the works of Josephus and Eusebius. These have, however, been found invaluable in tracing the series of Babylonian kings.—J. B.
BERQUIN, Arnaud, a French writer—known by the honourable title of "L'Ami des Enfants"—was born at Bordeaux in 1749. At the age of twenty-five he made his first appearance as an author by the publication of a volume of idyls, which displayed both elegance and feeling, and were well received. His next attempt was not so successful, being a versification of Rousseau's episode of Pygmalion; but Berquin failed in transfusing into his paraphrase the vigour and warmth of the original, though his language was aided by a series of illustrations, representing the movements of the statue:—
" The mortal and the marble still at strife,
And timidly expanding into life."
The "Tableaux Anglais"—a well-chosen selection of various philosophical essays from current English literature—came next, followed by some well-written romances. The reputation, however, of Berquin, is enduringly founded on his writings for children, original and translated. Of the former he published six volumes in monthly parts, in 1784, entitled "l'Ami des Enfants," which received the high praise from the Academie Francaise of being the most useful publication of that year. Of the latter, he rendered into his own language Sandford and Merton, and other books. He was one of the editors of the Moniteur, and conducted the Feuille Villageoise, in conjunction with Ginguené and Grouville. He died at Paris on the 21st December, 1791. Berquin was of an amiable and gentle disposition, not without a vein of quiet humour. These qualities are conspicuous in his writings, but the grace and sweetness of his style scarcely compensate for his want of vigour; and it must be confessed that he is often prolix.—J. F. W.
BERQUIN, du Vallon N., a nephew of Arnaud Berquin, was born in St. Domingo towards the end of the last century. The success of his uncle induced him to become an author. In 1803 he published a work on Louisiana and Florida, which insured him the indignation of the people of the latter state. He wrote, too, a book on St. Domingo. In the belles-lettres he tried his hand at an ode on "The Return of the Bourbons," and "Aspatia," a tragedy in five acts, which are little read. Without either the elegance or facility of his uncle, he was more feeble and prolix, faults for which he could not, like his relative, offer the excuse that he wrote for children.—J. F. W.
BERQUIN, Louis de, a gentleman of Artois in France, burned for heresy at Paris in 1529. He was a friend of Erasmus, and corresponded with that illustrious philosopher. The opinions for which he suffered were denounced as Lutheran by the Sorbonne, but if they were so he was willing to deny their origin. Like the German reformer, however, he condemned unsparingly saint-worship, and the lazy and immoral habits of monks. Francis I., who was interested in his favour, saved him more than once from the hands of the Sorbonne, but at last grew weary of resisting his desire for martyrdom.—J. S., G.
BERR, Frederic, a musician, was born at Manheim in 1794, and died in 1838. His father, Jacob, taught him to play the violin as soon as he could hold one. He next learned the bassoon, the instrument of his preference, and afterwards applied himself to the clarionet, on which he gained remarkable distinction. When he was sixteen he entered the band of a French regiment, of which six months afterwards he was appointed master. From this time he was always attached to the French service, till he became professor of the clarionet in the conservatoire at Paris. In 1835 he was made a member of the legion of honour. He wrote above five hundred original pieces for a military band, besides many effective arrangements, several solo pieces for the bassoon, and still more for the clarionet, which are among the most esteemed in the whole range of music for this instrument.—G. A. M.
BERRE or BERRIL, Hughes, a French satiric poet, lived in the first part of the thirteenth century. He witnessed the taking of Constantinople by the Latins. Author of "la Bible au signor de Berre," a satire on the vices of the age.
BERREDO, Bernardo Pereira da. This writer was born at Villa de Sergra, towards the end of the seventeenth century. He embraced the military career, in which many of his ancestors had distinguished themselves, and took a prominent part in many engagements. His bravery at the battle of Saragossa in 1710, in which he was severely wounded, raised him to the dignity of governor of Maranham. He was afterwards appointed captain-general of Mazagan, where he spent his many leisure hours in studying and writing. He is the author of the annals of that state, "Annaēs historicos do estado do Maranhăo," so often mentioned by Baena. He died at Lisbon in 1748.—A. C. M.
BERRES, Christian Joseph von, one of the greatest surgeons and anatomists of Vienna, and first professor of the faculty of medicine in that city, was born in 1797 at Göding in Moravia, where his father practised as a surgeon. He was descended from a Spanish soldier named Perez, who settled himself in Germany at the close of the Thirty Years' war. In 1817, when only twenty-one, he was already professor of anatomy at the high school of Lemberg, and came in 1830 in the same position to the university of Vienna, where he acquired great credit and fame. His greatest work, and that upon which his reputation with the scientific world mainly rests, is his "Anthropotomy," a treatise on the structure of the human body, of which the second edition especially, published in 1835, gave him a European reputation, as in it he enriched the science of embryology with most ingenious discoveries. His favourite study was that of microscopic anatomy, on which he published several important and valuable papers, and a large work in folio, entitled "Anatomy of the Microscopic Structure of the Human Body," of which twelve parts, illustrated with plates from his own drawings, appeared at Vienna in the years 1836-42. It is remarkable that Berres was almost entirely self-instructed, and that he never took his academical degree; his title of doctor was conferred upon him as a distinction after he had attained the height of his fame. It will perhaps be interesting to the numerous photographers of the present day to know, that this distinguished anatomist was one of the first practitioners of their art; and that when Daguerre's discoveries first astonished all Europe, Berres made numerous and costly experiments with the view of bringing it to perfection. Berres died at Vienna on the 24th December, 1844, at the age of forty-eight.—W. S. D.
BERRETINI. See Pietro da Cortona.
BERRETONI, Nicolo, an Italian historical painter, born at 1627, at Montefeltro. He studied under Carlo Maratti, who grew jealous of him. After leaving Carlo, he imitated (this was a weak vine that must have a prop) Guido, and died in 1682.
BERRIAT, Jacques Sant Prix, born at Grenoble, 23rd September, 1769, became professor of political economy at Isere in 1796—a science which, although it attracted the attention of many very enlightened philosophers in France during the 18th century, never found much favour with any classes of the people. M. Berriat lectured and wrote on criminal and other branches of law. He died at Paris, 4th October, 1849.—J. F. C.
BERRIER, Jean-François-Constant, a French litterateur, born at Sire in Sitois, 1766; died 1824. During the Reign of Terror he took refuge in the army, where he served as principal agent in the commissariat department of Kellerman's army. He was denounced as participating in royalist intrigues, and passed some time in prison. His works consist principally of congratulatory odes, and some dramatic vaudevilles.—J. G.
BERRIERE, Thomas, of French extraction, born in England in 1663; died in 1693. He executed busts for two guineas, and produced an anatomical figure that had a run in apothecaries' shops.—W. T.
BERRIMAN, William, an English divine, born in London in 1688. He studied at Oriel college, Oxford, and there acquired a full and critical knowledge of Greek, Hebrew, Chaldee, Arabic, and Syriac, which he applied with great skill to the interpretation of Scripture. His first work was written in connection with the Trinitarian controversy, and appeared in 1719. It was named "A Seasonable Review of Mr. Whiston's account of Primitive Doxologies," and recommended him to Dr. Robinson, bishop of London, who made him his domestic chaplain, and in 1722 gave him the living of St. Andrew, Undershaft. His fame
