IM 



BERNARD, ST. 



BERRY POMEROY. 



collection of Swim natural production*, including bean from a week 

 old to extreme old age, chamois, St-Bernard's dogs, lammergeyeni, to. 

 The town library contain! 40,000 volumes. The barrieres of Aarberg 

 and Murten are very handsome; near the former is the barengraben 

 (bear-ditch), in which for several centuries a number of bean have been 

 kept at the public expense. 



The fortifications nave been converted into public walks, which 

 overlook the Aar. The best promenades are the Platform and the 

 Enge. The former runs along a terrace 108 feet high above the Aar, 

 shaded by noble chestnut-trees, and is one of the finest walks in 

 Switzerland. The latter, which is about a mile outside the Aarberg 

 Gate beyond the bear-ditch and the shooting-house, is famous for its 

 magnificent views of the Bernese Alps. The very extensive grave-yard 

 Monbijou, in summer resembles a rich garden. 



Bern is not properly a manufacturing place : as a trading town it in 

 not inconsiderable. The chief trade is with the produce of the 

 country. There are frequent exhibitions of industrial and agricul- 

 tural products. A good deal of banking and minting business in 

 transacted in the town. The manufactures include gunpowder, beer, 

 leather, straw hati, mathematical instruments, paper, &c. There are 

 numerous educational establishments in Bern, the principal of which 

 is the academy, which has been changed into a university since 1834. 

 The name of the town is said to be the old Suabian word for Bear, 

 the site of the town having been originally a favourite haunt of the 

 animal. Foreign consuls reside in Bern. Bern is the birthplace of 

 Haller, to whom a statue is erected in the botanic garden. Before the 

 revolution of 1847 the Swiss Diet held its sessions in Bern, Zurich, and 

 Luzern alternately. The Diet held its sittings in the former Marksman* 

 GuiM, now called the Standes-Haus ; and here we believe the Federal 

 Assembly of Switzerland still holds its sessions. [SWITZERLAND.] 



BERNARD, ST., one of the chief mountain-passes in the 

 Pennine chain of Alps between the Swiss Valais and Piedmont. The 

 road that traverses it leads from Uartigny and the villages of Liddes 

 and St -Pierre in the Valais to St.-Remy and Aosta in Piedmont. 

 This pass, which is rather more steep and difficult on the Swiss than 

 on the Italian side, was formerly practicable the whole way only for 

 mules and pedestrians ; but in recent times the road has been greatly 

 improved, so that it is passable for the light cars, or char-a-bancs, of 

 the country. The most elevated part of the passage of the 

 St-Bernard is a long and narrow valley, the bottom of which is 

 occupied by a lake. At the eastern extremity of the lake, which is 

 frozen during eight or nine months of the year, stands the celebrated 

 hospice, or monastery of St-Bernard, nt an elevation of 8172 feet 

 above the level of the sea; and at the other end of the lake there is 

 a small level space, called the Plain of Jupiter or Jove, where in 

 ancient times there stood a temple of that god, and probably a house 

 of refuge, built by the Romans. From the temple the mountain 

 derived its name, it being anciently called Mous Jovis, which Latin 

 denomination was corrupted into Mout-Joux ; and it bore the latter 

 name until (as it in generally stated) the celebrity of the hospice 

 of St-Bernard gave it a new and a Christian designation. 



The hospice, or monastery, was built by St Bernard about A.D. 962. 

 It has been twice consumed by fire. Its sainted founder if said to 

 have lived forty years on the desolate spot. The monks are of the 

 order of St Augustine. Considerable landed property was formerly 

 attached to this humane and useful establishment, but in modern 

 times it mainly depended on annual allowances made by the Swiss 

 and Piedmontese government*, and on voluntary donations of private 

 individuals and rich travellers. It extended relief and eleemosynary 

 hospitality (when needed) to all classes and conditions of men ; and 

 the Protestant Swiss contributed as readily to it as the Catholic Italian. 

 The exertions of these monks to rescue lost travellers from the snow 

 and the avalanche, and the stories of their dogs are well known. 



The monastery of the Great St-Bernard is the most elevated fixed 

 habitation in Europe and close upon the limits of perpetual snow. 

 Tremendous rocks and peaks rise above it to the height of 4240 feet 

 in their highest part About half of the mountain mass may be 

 said to belong to Italy and half to Switzerland; mid D 

 from the lake there is a barrier, marking the frontier between 

 Piedmont and the Valais. A torrent which descends towards Aosta 

 and Italy is called Le Butier, and another torrent which rushes in the 

 opposite direction towards St-Pierro and the Valais is named La 

 Drance du St-Beroard. After the n-vlnti<in in Smi/.-Hand in 

 1847 the monks were expelled from their hospice, and the property 

 of the monastery sold or sequestrated by the Swiss government ; which 

 we believe has appointed persons for the management of the hospice. 

 The pan of the Great St-Bernard was frequently traversed by 

 Roman armies. Julius Ciesar ('BelL Gall.' iii. 1) says that it wax 

 used by merchants and traders, who had to pay toll to the tribes that 

 then occupied the Alps. The summit of the pass was < 

 the earliest times by an altar to a Celtic god, who was replaced after- 

 wards by the Roman Jupiter. The numerous inscriptions and 

 votive Ublets discovered in the pass sufficiently attest that it was 

 much frequented in Roman and in later times. Charlemagne and 

 Barbarossa led armies across the Alps by this pass. Napoleon I. led 

 an army of 80,000 men with cavalry and artillery to Italy by the 

 Great St-Beroard in May 1800. In the chapel of the hospice the 

 ante emperor erected a monument to General Dessaix in 1808. 



The Little St.-Bemard lies between Tarentaise and Piedmont, and 

 fonni part of the chain of the Graian Alps. [ALPS.] 



liKUXAV. IKfBE.] 



r.KKNIH-RG, DiK-hyof. [ANHAtT.] 



BERNBURG, the chief town of the duchy of Anhalt-Bernburg, is 

 situated on the Saale, in 51 47' N. hit, 11 45' E. long., and at a 

 distance of about 15 miles from the influx of the river into the Elbe, 

 and 23 miles S. by E. from Magdeburg. It consists of three quarters, 

 the Old and New Towns on the left bank, and the Bergstadt (Hill- 

 town) on the right bank of the Saale ; the last is opi-n, but the two 

 first are surrounded by a wall with four gates. They are connected 

 by a stone bridge, 173 feet long and 23 feet broad, at the end 

 of which, next to the Old Town on the north-west side, is a fine 

 gate. From this bridge to the New Town gate runs a handsome 

 street, about 1200 paces in length, part of its line being formed by 

 the market-place ; on the whole the town is well built, clean, and 

 well paved. The Bergstadt lies partly on the rapid declivity and 

 partly at the top of the high ground which skirts the Saale. It has 

 rapidly increased on account of the superior eligibility of its site ; 

 and contains the castle, situated on a steep hill (in which the heir- 

 apparent usually resides) with an orangery, playhouse, riding-house, 

 &c., the town-hall, house of industry, and mint Earthenware, paper, 

 and starch are the chief industrial products. There are three 

 churches, several chapels, a synagogue, asylums for orphans and 

 widows, six schools, and many benevolent institutions in Beruburg. 

 The population amounts to 7000. Bernburg is connected by railways 

 with nil parts of Germany, a branch line to Kothen, 1^ miles in 

 length, uniting it with the Leipzig and Magdeburg line. Although 

 Beruburg is the capital of the duchy, the duke resides usually at 

 Balltntladt, a small town of about 3800 inhabitants, situated at the 

 foot of the Lower Hare, in 51 43' N. lat, 11 18' E. long. 



BERRE. [BoucHEs-DU-Rn6NE.] 



BERRI, or BERRY, a former province of France, corresponding 

 to the present departments of Indre and Cher, with the exception of the 

 arrondissement of St-Amand in the latter, the chief ( part of which was 

 comprised in the Bourbounais. While the old tern' u>ns of 



France existed, Berri was bounded N. by Orleanais; E. ami S.E. by 

 Nivernais and Bourbonnais ; S. and S.W. by La-Marcho ; and W. by 

 Touraine and Poictou. The shape of the province was very irregular ; 

 its greatest length from N.E. to 8.W. was about 100 miles ; its greatest 

 breadth about 90 miles. Berri extended between 46 10' and 47 40' 

 N. lat, 1 and 3 E. long. It was usually divided into Le Haul Berri 

 (Upper Bern), between the Cher and the Loire, and Le Bas Berri 

 (Lower Bern), south-west of the Cher. Bourges was the capital. 



The surface of the ground is little varied ; there are no mountains 

 and few hills, except towards the banks of the Loire (which bounded 

 the province on the N.E.), east of Bourges. The chief rivers are the 

 Loire and its tributaries, the Cher, the Indre, and the Crouse, which 

 into the Vienne. The banks of the rivers Loire, Cher, and 

 Auron ore of great fertility, but of the rest of the province a con- 

 siderable part is occupied by heaths, unwholesome marshes, or sandy 

 tracts, which however are not entirely unproductive, but yield tolerable 

 grain crop*. The quantity of wood is considerable, and on the pastures 

 Urge numbers of horned cattle and fine-wooled sheep are fed. The 

 mint-nils are iron, coal, ochre, marble, and good building-stone. 

 Berri formed the diocese of the archbishop of Bourges. [G'HEii; 

 INDRE.] 



In .1 very remote period this province was inhabited by a people, 

 nrigcs, or as they are sometimes called, to distinguish them 

 from another people of the same name, the Bitnrigcs Cubi. These 

 once held, if we may credit the testimony of Livy, the supreme 

 .Ion of the Celtic tribes in Gaul ; and Ambigatus their king (a 

 contemporary of Tarquinius Priscus, king of Rome) sent out under 

 his nephews, Bellovesus and Sigovesus, two numerous bodies of Gauls 

 to attack, the one Italy and the other Germany. In the time of 

 Ctusir the Bituriges had lost their ancient pre-eminence, and were 

 under the protection of the Ardni. Their chief town was Avaricum 

 (Bourges), which Cicsar describes as nearly the finest city in Gaul, 

 :.nd very strong by situation. In the war which Cwsar, near the close 

 of his command in Gaul, carried on against Vercingetorix the Arver- 

 nian, this country became the scene of contest, and Avaricum was 

 taken after an obstinate defence by the Romans. According to the 

 division of Gaul made by the Romans, Bern was included in A.juitania 

 Prima. After the downfal of the Roman dominion this country came 

 successively into the hands of the Visigoths and Franks ; and in the 

 middle ages was under its own hereditary counts, who took their title 

 from their capital, Bourgea, a name derived from Bituriges, which 

 designation had superseded that of Avaricum. In the early part of 

 the 10th century the counts were, according to some writers, suc- 

 ceeded by the viscounts of Bourges, the last of whom, Eudes Arpin, 

 sold the province to Philippe I., king of France. From this time, 

 though often bestowed as an appanage upon various branches of the 

 royal family, it never continued long alienated from the crown. In 

 later times it has frequently given title to some of the French princes. 

 The last who held it was the younger son of Charles X., ex-king of 

 France, who was assassinated on the 13th February 1820. 



BERRY ISLANDS. [BAHAMAS.] 



BERRY POMEROY. [DITOBIBB.] 



