97 



BERYL. 



BEVEL. 



93 





Molesme in that province, but brought into repute by Stephen Hard- 

 ing, an Englishman, third abbot of Citeaux, who is therefore reckoned 

 the principal founder. Their monastery and church here have been 

 destroyed, and even of the ruins there are hardly any remains. They 

 were also called White Monks from the colour of their habit. Fuller, 

 in his ' Worthies,' book iii., probably errs, when he makes the Bernar- 

 dines to be a stricter order of Cistercians. 



The monasteries of the Bernardine or Cistercian Order, which became 

 very numerous in a short time, were generally founded in solitary and 

 uncultivated places, and were all dedicated to the Virgin Mary. It 

 was a rule with the Cistercians not to allow another house, even of 

 their own order, to be built within a certain distance. Stevens, in his 

 continuation of Dugdale's ' Monasticon,' vol. ii., says, if we may believe 

 the historians of this order, they had in all 6000 houses. The ' His- 

 toire des Ordres Monastiques,' says, that within fifty years of its institu- 

 tion there were 500 abbeys of this order, and within a century they are 

 -tated to have had 1800. Their wealth was so great, that St. Bernard, 

 the reformer of the order, states, that " he knew several abbots, each of 

 whom had more than sixty horses in his stable, and such a prodigious 

 variety of wines in his cellar that it was scarcely possible to taste the 

 half of them at a single entertainment." (Mosheim's 'Ecclesiastical 

 History," Maclaine's edit., cent. xii. part ii., note.) 



One of their most famous establishments iu England was the abbey 

 ni Buckfastleigh, in Devonshire, some of the remains of which still 

 exist, which was re-established as a Benedictine immediately after the 

 Conquest. Here the monks, however, performed good service by 

 introducing great agricultural improvements, and to the exertions of 

 the monks of another of their abbeys at Birkland, founded in the 13th 

 century, who attended particularly to their orchards, and grafted their 

 trees with the choicest specimeuts from Normandy, the Devonshire 

 cider may owe its repute if not its origin. (Dr. Oliver's ' Monasticon 

 Dicccesis ExonieusiH," 1846.) Manning and Bray, however ('History 

 of Survey '), state that the monastery of Waverley in that county, was 

 the first house of the Cistercian Order established in England, although 

 I 'lice was for a while claimed by the abbey of Furness in Lanca- 

 shire. The ' Annals of Waverley,' printed by Gale, give a minute 

 account of the dispute. The abbot of Waverley had precedence as 

 well in the chapters of the Cistercian abbots through England, as a 

 superiority over the whole order in this country. 



Iu the 26 Hen. VIII. the number of Bernardine or Cistercian abbeys 

 in England, of which thirty-six were among the greater monasteries. 

 amounted to seventy-five, besides twenty-six Cistercian nunneries. Of 

 the latter, one only was endowed with more than 200/. per annum. 

 The total revenue of the Cistercian houses in England amounted to 

 1S.691/. 12*. 6d. 



Stevens, in his work already quoted, vol. ii. p. 23, has translated a 

 lung history ' Of the Original and Progress of the Order of Cistercians," 

 from the French ' Histoire des Ordres Mouastiques," &e., torn. v. 

 Dugdale and Stevens, between them, have printed the rules and regu- 

 of this order, with the various bulls of confirmation and privi- 

 lege granted to it by different popes. Stevens has likewise given a list 

 of the learned men of the Order of the Beniardines or Cistercians iu 

 England, thirty-six hi number. St. Bernard's College in Oxford (since 

 refounded as St. John's College) was founded by Archbishop Chichele, 

 in 1 437, for scholars of the Cistercian Order who might wish to study 

 in Oxford, but had no place belonging to their order in which they 

 could associate together, and be relieved from the inconveniences of 

 sr]ration in halls and inns, where they could not keep up their pecu- 

 liar customs and statutes. The figure of St. Bernard still stands in a 

 niche in the upper part of St. John's College tower. 



St. Alberic, who became abbot of Citeaux in 1099, drew up the 

 .itutes of this order. The Harleian Manuscript 3708 (British 

 ml, a volume of the 14th century, contains another body of 

 statutes for the order, compiled in the years 1289 and 1300. 



The habit of this order was a white cassock with a black hood and 

 scapulary, and a girdle of black wool round the waist ; in the choir 

 they wore a white cowl, and over it a hood with a rochet ; when they 

 went abroad they wore a cowl and great hood all black. The dress of 

 the lay-brethren was of a dark colour, and their hood like that of the 

 monks except in its hue. The Cistercian nuns wore a white tunic, 

 Mack scapular, Mock girdle, and in the choir either cowls or mantles. 

 The dress of the lay-sinters was of a dark colour; that of the noviciates 

 white ; and all wore a black veil and white wimple. (Fosbroke's 

 I'.iitish MonachUm,' 3rd edit., 1844.) 



Tin- abbot of Citeaux in Burgundy continued to be the superior 

 gviier.il and father of the whole Bernardino or Cistercian Order till the 

 French Revolution. 



The Reformation lessened their numbers iu Germany. Attempts at 

 removing the corruptions which wealth introduced, split the order 

 into several branches ; the various political changes in Germany have 

 also diininir.!,.:.! the number of their establishments, but several yet 

 exist in Italy, Poland, Germany, and France. In the latter country, 

 the most noticeable is that of La Trappe, of which a branch has been 

 settled in England. 



I ; I ; I ! V I, ( Bkomtttalrol Emerald; AquuMnrim : >'i/w/</), a precious 

 xtone found in primary rocks in Grenada, Salzburg, Siberia, Upper 

 Egypt, Himlostan, and North America. It is of various shades of 

 green and blue, and in distinguished as containing a considerable 



ARTS AND SCI. 1>1V. VOL. II. 



amount of the rare earth glttcma. A specimen of Siberian beryl, 

 analysed by Klaproth, contained the following substances : 



Silica 66-45 



Alumina 16-75 



Glucina 15'50 



Oxide of Iron -60 



99-30 



BETA-ORSELLI ACID. [LICHENS, COLOURING MATTERS or.] 



BETA^ORCEIN. [LICHENS, COLOURING MATTERS or.] 



BETH. [BEIT.] 



BETROTHMENT. We sometimes hear of parties being betrothed 

 to each other, which means that each has pledged his or her troth or 

 truth to the other, to enter at some convenient time, fixed or unde- 

 termined, into the state of matrimony. It now has seldom any other 

 meaning than that the parties have engaged themselves privately, 

 sometimes, though it is presumed very rarely, in the presence of one 

 or more friends who might, if necessity of doing so arose, bear testi- 

 mony to such an engagement having been entered into. Even the 

 rustic ceremonies which heretofore were in use to give some kind of 

 formality to such contracts seem almost to have fallen into entire dis- 

 use. In ancient times however there were engagements of this kind of 

 a very formal nature, and they were not thought unworthy the notice 

 of the great legislators of antiquity. In the laws of Moses there are, 

 certain provisions respecting the state of the virgin who is betrothed. 

 In the Roman law, the " sponsalia," or betrothment, is defined to be a 

 " promise of a future marriage." It could take place after the parties 

 were seven years of age. There was no fixed time after betrothment at 

 which marriage necessarily followed, but it might for various reasons 

 be deferred for several years. The spousalia might be made without 

 the two parties being present at the ceremony. (' Dig.' xxiii. t. i.) 



The canonists speak of betrothing aiid of man-yiny, describing the 

 former as being sponsalia, or espousals, with the verba de futuro, the 

 latter with the rerba de pnetmti. In England, there is no doubt that 

 formal engagements of this kind were usual down to the time of thu 

 Reformation. One class of documents which have descended in 

 families who have been careful in the preservation of their ancient 

 evidences, are marriage contracts, which are generally between parents, 

 and set out with stating that a marriage shall be solemnised between 

 certain parties when they attain to a certain age, or at some distant 

 period, as after six months or a year ; and amongst the terms of the 

 contract it is not unusual to find stipulations respecting the apparel of 

 the future bride, and the cost of the entertainment which is to be pro- 

 vided on the occasion. When these contracts were entered into by the 

 parents, there is reason to believe that the youngev parties solemnly 

 plighted their troth to each other. 



The late Mr. Francis Douce, who was very learned in all matters 

 relating to the popular customs of our own and other nations, describes 

 the ceremony of betrothment (' Illustrations of Shakspeare and of 

 Antient Manners,' vol. i. p. 108) as having consisted in "the inter- 

 chaugeinent of rings the kiss the joining of hands, to which is to be 

 added the testimony of witnesses." In France, where the ceremony in 

 known by the name of jianpa'dlcs, the presence of the curd, or of a 

 priest commissioned by him, was essential to the completeness of the 

 contract. In England, such contracts were brought under the cogni- 

 zance of the ecclesiastical law. Complaints are made by a writer about 

 the time of the Reformation, cited in Ellis's edition of Brand's ' Popular 

 Antiquities,' that certain superstitious ceremonies had become con- 

 nected with these engagements ; but Mr. Douce was unable to find in 

 any of the ancient rituals of the Church any prescribed form in which 

 this kind of espousals were to be celebrated. The Church however 

 undertook to punish the violation of the contract. Whoever, after 

 betrothment, refused to proceed to matrimony, in facie cccleeia', was 

 liable to excommunication till relieved by public penance. Tlu's was 

 taken away by stet. 26 Geo. II. c. 33, and the aggrieved party was left 

 to seek his remedy by an action at common law for breach of promise 

 of marriage. (Blackst. ' Comm.,' Dr. KBIT'S ed., v. i. p. 452.) 



The northern nations, including the English and the Scotch, called 

 this ceremony by the expressive term, hand-fatting, or hand-fwstning. 

 In Germany, the parties are called respectively " bride " and " bride- 

 groom," " briiut " aud " briiutigam," from the time of the betrothment 

 (verlobung) until the marriage, when these designations cease. 



BETULIN (C.oH.^O., ?), a resiuoid body obtained from the bark of 

 the birch. It is colourless, insoluble in water, slightly soluble in alcohol, 

 and very soluble in ether. It fuses at 392 Fahr., and may be sublimed 

 iu a stream of air. 



BEVEL, or DEVIL, is the name applied both to the oblique angle 

 formed by two surfaces which meet at either more or less than a right 

 angle, and to the instrument employed by carpenters and joiners for 

 taking and transferring such angles. The common carpenter's bevel 

 consists of a straight wooden stock, mortised at one end to receive a 

 thin blade, which is usually formed of steel, and attached to the stock 

 by a pin in such a way that it may be turned to any required angle, 

 and secured by a tightening screw. This kind of bevel may be 

 described as an adjustible T-rule, the transom of which may be placed 

 at any required angle with the stock. In some cases the pin or pivot 

 which connects the blade with the stock passes through a slot or long 



u 



