601 



BECCAFUMI, DOMENICO. 



BECKER, FERDINAND WILHELM. 



602 



more important works may be mentioned Studley Castle. For some 

 years before his death he had been very extensively employed in 

 constructing the architectural works of the South-Eastern Railway 

 Company. The terminus at London Bridge, the stations on the North 

 Kent line, the New Town, Ashford, Kent, the Warden Hotel, and the 

 Pilot House, Dover, &c., are among the chief of these works. Like 

 his theatres they are mostly well adapted to their purpose, and like 

 them they have little other merit. 



But during his life Mr. Beazley was not merely known as an architect. 

 He was also one of the most prolific playwrights of the day, having 

 written, it is said, upwards of a hundred dramatic pieces. They were 

 mostly farces, and other light occasional pieces, which were forgotten 

 by the end of the season in which they were produced : but one or 

 two still occasionally occupy the stage. They have no literary preten- 

 sions, but, like his buildings, they appear to have exhibited great 

 mechanical dexterity, and a keen perception of the immediate require- 

 ments of the subject. Mr. Beazley wrote two novels, the ' Oxonians' 

 and the 'Roue 1 ;' and furnished the words to the English versions of 

 the 'Sonnambula' and some other operas. Though apparently so 

 constantly employed, Mr. Beazley was well known in society as a diner- 

 out and a cheerful companion. He died suddenly at his residence, 

 Tunbrirlge Castle, Kent, October 12, 1851. 



(Builder, 1851 ; Gentleman'* Magazine, 1851.) 



BKCCAFU'MI, DOME'NICO, a very celebrated painter of Siena, 

 of the 16th century. According to Vasari he was born at Siena in 

 1484, and died there in 1549; others give the respective dates as 

 1470 and 1551. His real name was Mecherino : that of Beccafumi 

 he derived from his patron Lorenzo Beccafumi, who placed him as a 

 boy with Capanna, an obscure painter, to learn painting. He occupied 

 himself chiefly in copying, and he was especially attracted by some 

 pictures by Pietro Perugino, whose style he acquired, and never lost, 

 notwithstanding a subsequent sojourn in Rome, and thi! opportunities 

 he had of improving himself from the recent works of Michel Augelo 

 and Raphael in the Vatican. He was in Rome during the pontificate 

 of Julius II., but remained there only two years. He painted in dia- 

 temper and in oil ; better iu the former style, and his small figures 

 are superior to his larger ones. Latterly when the fame of Michel 

 Angelo in Tuscany attained its extreme height, Beccafumi seems to 

 have felt a necessity for invigorating his own style, and he accordingly 

 forsook his original softness of design for a species of clumsy plump- 

 ness, and his heads became harsh and ugly. He was correct in per- 

 spective, was fond of reflections and forcshortenings, and excelled all 

 IJH Sienese contemporaries iu energy of composition ; in other respects 

 he was surpassed by his great rival Razzi. His best works are in 

 Siena; he executed some at Florence, at Pisa, and some at Qcuoa for 

 Prince Doria. He executed also some of the designs of the foot-pave- 

 ment of the cathedral of Siena : these designs are a species of ' niello ;' 

 the outlines of the figures are cut into the stone, and filled up after- 

 wards with a black cement. Those of Beccafumi have been engraved 

 by Andreani and Cosati. Beccafumi cast also a few works in bronze, 

 and is said to have executed some woodcuts, which, with the prints 

 after his designs by other masters, are enumerated by Heiueken. 

 (Vasari, Vile de' Pittori, Ac. ; Lanzi, Storia Pittorica, tc. ; Heineken, 

 Dictionnaire da A rtiitct, <kc. ; Rumohr, Italieninche Forschunyen ; 

 Brulliot, Dictionnaire da Monogrammet, etc.) 



BECCARI'A, CESARE BONESANA, MARQUIS OF, was born at 

 Milan in 1735. The political speculations of France having spread 

 to Italy, co-operated with the instructions of Qenovesi at Naples, and 

 the perusal of the political works of Montesquieu, in directing Beccaria 

 to the study of moral and political philosophy. In his twenty-seventh 

 year Beccaria published bis first work, entitled ' Del Disordine e de' 

 remedii delle mouete ncllo stato di Milano ' (' Of the Abuses of the 

 Coinage in the State of Milan and their Remedies'). Count Firmian, 

 the Austrian governor of Lombardy, encouraged Beccaria, the counts 

 Verri, Frisi, and others to form a society in Milan, for the diffusion 

 of literature and liberal opinions; and in 1764 and 1765 the society, 

 in imitation of the 'Spectator' of Addison, published ' II CaffeY a 

 periodical, which was completed in 2 vols. 4to, and consisted chiefly 

 of papers on men and manners, with occasional discussions of impcrt- 

 ant moral and political topics. The best papers are by Beccaria hi* 

 most humorous is on ' smells,' and his most original on ' style.' The 

 last is an attempt to prove that all men have an equal capacity for 

 poetry, eloquence, etc., and that they only require proper training. 

 While this work was going on, Beccaria read in 1764, to the Literary 

 Society, the manuscripts of his work ou ' Crimes and Punishments,' 

 and in the same year, at their request, published it under the title of 

 ' Trattato del Delitti e Delle Prne,' (' Treatise on Crimes and Punish- 

 ments '), 12mo. The work had great success. In Italy three editions 

 were sold within six, and six editions within eighteen, months. In a 

 few years it was translated into almost all the languages of Europe. 

 It has been twice trausl'it'id into French. It was translated in 1802 

 into modern Greek by Coray, for the benefit of his countrymen. An 

 anonymous English translation appeared in 1766, with a translation 

 of a commentary attributed to Voltaire. 



The arrangement of the work is immethodical. The style is clear 

 and occasionally eloquent. It breathes a fervid love of freedom and 

 humanity. In thought it is deep and original the subject was a 

 most important and interesting on?. These thing)) nil contributed to 



its popularity, and Beccaria led the way, in which he has had a host 

 of followers. His arguments have been repeated, strengthened, and 

 enforced ; and in England particularly the progress of criminal legis- 

 lation has been on the whole in the track he pointed out. He advo- 

 cates education as a means of preventing crime, and here too we are 

 endeavouring to follow his precepts. 



Beccaria's success in this publication was not unalloyed. Accusa- 

 tions of impiety and sedition were brought against him in Milan, from 

 the effects of which nothing but the powerful friendship of Count 

 Firmian protected him. In 1768 the Austrian government founded a 

 professorship of political philosophy for him at Milan, which he filled 

 with distinguished success. In 1769 he published a 'Discourse on 

 Commerce and Public Administration,' which was translated into 

 French by J. A. Comparet; and in 1781 a report of a plan for pro- 

 ducing uniformity in the weights and measures of Milan. He died of 

 apoplexy in November 1793. The lectures which he delivered as a 

 professor were published at Milan in 1802, and they form a part of the 

 series of ' Italian Economists,' published at Milau in 1804. 



BECCARIA, GIOVANNI BAPTISTA, born at Mondovi October 3, 

 1716, went to Rome and commenced the study of theology in 1732, 

 entered the congregation of clerks regular, and was afterwards pro- 

 fessor of philosophy at Palermo and Rome till 1748, when the king 

 of Sardinia invited him to Turin. He published in 1753 ' Dell' Elet- 

 tricismo Naturale ed Artificiale.' In 1758 he published ' Lettere sull' 

 Elettricismo,' addressed to Beccari, president of the Institute of 

 Bologna. In 1759 he was engaged to measure a degree of the meri- 

 dian in Piedmont, which he began in 1760, and finished before 

 1774, in which, year the result was published at Turin, in a work 

 entitled ' Gradus Taurinensis.' He afterwards replied to some objec- 

 tions of Cassini in ' Lettere d'un Italiano ad un Parigino." There 

 are some papers of his in the 'PhiL Trans.,' 1766-69. He pub- 

 lished also 'Experiments atque Observationes,' &o., 1769; 'Dell' 

 Elettricismo Artificiale,' 1772, of which an English translation was 

 published, at the recommendation of Franklin; 'Dell' Elettricita 

 Terrestre Atmosferica a Cielo Sereno,' 1755 ; besides various other 

 smaller pieces, of which a catalogue is in ' Mcmorie Stoiiche Intorno 

 a gli Studi del Padre Beccaria,' by the Abbe" Landi. He left a large 

 number of manuscripts to M. Balbe, who wrote the account of him in 

 the ' Biographic Universclle,' from which the preceding is abridged. 

 He died May 1781. 



Beccaria is principally known by his experiments on electricity, to 

 which he was led by Franklin's writings. He showed that the passage 

 of electricity is not instantaneous through the best conductors ; that 

 water, in small tubes, is a very imperfect conductor, and that its power 

 in that respect increases as the tube becomes larger : he also first showed 

 the electric spark in its passage through water, by confining the fluid 

 in small tubes. The Piedmontese measure of the meridian is not now 

 considered as entitled to much confidence. It has been of late years 

 remeasured by Plana and Carlini, and the astronomical part proved to 

 be erroneous. 



BECHSTEIN, JOHANN MATTHIAS, was born July 11, 1757, at 

 Waltershausen, in the duchy of Saxe-Gotha. He was educated in the 

 gymnasium at Gotha, and at the university of Jena. Though intended 

 for the Church, he early entertained so strong a passion for ornithology 

 and botany, and particularly for the improvement of forest management, 

 that he determined to abandon his former profession. Having become 

 convinced of the advantages of an institution for giving instruction as 

 to the growth and management of timber, he proposed a plan for the 

 establishment of one to the Duke of Saxe-Qotha in 1791, but the duke 

 declined. Bechstein then opened one at his own risk at Kemnote, near 

 Waltershausen, at which the instruction began in 1794, and the insti- 

 tution was opened for the reception of students in the following year. 

 At the same time he organised a society for 'Forest and Hunting 

 Science," the useful effects of which are shown in many pages of its 

 ' Annals;' and in a journal, ' The Diana,' that Bechstein also published. 

 As his institution instead of receiving support from the ducal govern- 

 ment had impediments thrown in its way, Bechstein listened to an 

 offer of George, duke of Saxe-Meiningen, and removed to Dreissigsacker 

 in 1800. In the service of this prince he remained till his death iu 

 1 822 as privy and forest councillor. 



Among Bechstein's numerous works- we may mention his ' Forest 

 Insectology," 3 vols., 1818; 'Forest Botany,' 1810, which has gone 

 through several editions ; ' Forest and Hunting Science iu all its 

 Branches,' 5 vols., 1818-21, which has been continued by Laurop; 

 ' Complete Handbook of Forest Science,' 1801-09; ' Portraits of Objects 

 of Natural History,' 8 vols., 1793-1810 ; and the ' Natural History of 

 Cage-Birds,' 1840, which has gone through several editions in Germany, 

 and has been translated and published in English. 



BECKER, FERDINAND WILHELM, was born on the 24th of 

 April 1805 at Hbxler on the Weser, where his father, the distinguished 

 philologist, Dr. Karl Ferdinand Becker, lived as a physician. The 

 family removed from Hoxter to Gottingen, and it was in the high 

 school of that town that Becker received his first classical education, 

 while his father led him to collect minerals and plants, and thus to lay 

 an early foundation for his subsequent studies iu natural science. In 

 1816 the family left Gottingen, and settled at Offenbach, near Frank- 

 furt on tho Main. Here Becker continued to devote his attention 

 chiefly to botany, chemistry, and natural philosophy, partly under the 



