BEAU FO RT BE AUM ARCH AIS. 



463 



Rhone, opposite Tarascon, with which it communi- 

 cates by a bridge of boats. It has a commodious 

 harbour for vessels which ascend the river from the 

 Mediterranean, seven leagues distant, and is famous 

 for its great fair (founded in 1217, by Raymond II., 

 count of Toulouse), held yearly, from the 22d July, 

 during ten days. In former times, this fair was 

 frequented by merchants and manufacturers from 

 most countries of Europe, the Levant, and even from 

 Persia and Armenia, so that many thousand booths 

 were erected for foreigners in the adjoining valley. 

 Before 1632, the fair of B. was exempt from all 

 taxes, and the annual sale amounted to several mil- 

 lion dollars. Since that time, B. has gradually de- 

 clined, and its trade, the articles of which are the 

 productions of the vicinity, was valued, in 1816, at 

 23,000,000 francs. 



BEAUFORT ; a seaport and post-town in a district of 

 the same name, in South Carolina, on Port Royal 

 island, at the mouth of the Coosawhatchie ; 60 miles 

 N. E. Savannah, 72 S. W. Charleston ; Ion. 80 33' 

 W.; lat. 32 31' N. ; population about 1000. It is 

 a very pleasant and healthy town, with an excellent 

 harbour, though but little commerce. It contains 

 three churches and a seminary, incorporated as a 

 college. 



BKAUFORT, Henry, legitimate brother of Henry 

 IV., king of England, was made bishop of Lincoln, 

 whence he was translated to Winchester. He was 

 also nominated chancellor of the kingdom, and sent 

 ambassador to France. In 1426, he received a car- 

 dinal's hat, and was appointed legate in Germany. 

 In 1431, he crowned Henry VI. in the great church 

 of Paris. He died at Winchester, 1447. He was a 

 haughty, turbulent prelate, and Shakspeare is con- 

 sidered as giving a true portrait of him, when he 

 describes his last scene. 



BEAUHARNAIS, Alexander, viscount, was born in 

 1760, in Martinique. He served with distinction, as 

 major, in the French forces under Rochambeau, 

 which aided the United States in their revolutionary 

 war, and married Josephine Tascher de la Pagerie, 

 who was afterwards the wife of Napoleon. At the 

 breaking out of the French revolution, he was chosen 

 a member of the national assembly, of which he was, 

 for some time, president, and which he opened, after 

 the king's departure, with the following words : 

 Messieurs, le roi est parti cette nuit : passons a I'ordre 

 du jour. In 1792, he was general of the army of 

 the Rhine, and in 1793, was appointed minister of 

 war. In consequence of the decree removing men 

 of noble birth from the army, he retired to his coun- 

 try-seat. He was falsely accused of having promoted 

 the surrender of Mentz, and was sentenced to death, 

 July 2.3, 17'J4, when thirty-four years old. (For in- 

 formation respecting his son Eugene, viceroy of 

 Italy, see Eugene; respecting his daughter Hor- 

 tense, see Bonaparte; and respecting his elder 

 brother, Francois Beauharnais, see the following 

 article). 



BEAUHARXAIS, Frangois, marquis de, was born at 

 La Rochelle, August 12, 1756. He violently op- 

 pos ed the motion of his younger brother, the viscount 

 Al exander, to take from the king the chief command 

 of the army, and would not listen to any of the 

 amendments proposed, saying, // n'y a point d'amen- 

 dement avec I'honneur. He was called in consequence 

 of this, le feal Beauharnais sans amendement. In 

 1 792, with the count d'Hervilly, the baron de Vio- 

 menil and others, he formed the project of a new 

 flight of the royal family ; but the arrest of his com- 

 panion, the baron Chambon, prevented the execution 

 of the plan. He was appointed major general in the 

 army of the prince of Conde, and wrote, in 1792, to 

 the president of the national assembly, protesting 



against their unlawful treatment of the king, and 

 offering to appear himself among his defenders. 

 When Bonaparte became first consul, the ina r quis 

 sent him a letter, in which he exhorted him, by the 

 rlory which he would gain by such a course, to re- 

 store the sceptre to the house of Bourbon. The 

 empress Josephine married her niece, the daughter 

 of the marquis, to the emperor's aid, Lavalette 



. v.), and effected the recall of the inarquis. Ap- 

 pointed senator, and ambassador to the court of Spain, 

 tie united, in 1807, with the prince of the Asturias 

 (now Ferdinand VII.), against the prince of "peace, 

 and fell into disgrace with Napoleon, who banished 

 him. After the restoration, he returned to Paris, 

 where he died, January 10, 1819. 



BEAUMARCHAIS, Pierre Augustin Caron de, the 

 author of the "Barber of Seville," and " Marriage of 

 Figaro," was born at Paris in 1732. He was the son 

 of a watchmaker, who destined him for his trade. 

 He early gave striking proofs of his mechanical and 

 also of his musical talents. He was afterwards the 

 teacher on the harp of the daughters of Louis XV., 

 and was admitted into their society. By a rich mar- 

 riage, he laid the foundation of his immense wealth. 

 He now aspired to literary reputation. His Eugenie 

 appeared in 1767; Les deux %mis in 1770. The 

 first still holds its place on the stage. He showed 

 all his talents in his lawsuit against Goesman and La 

 Blanche, when he wrote against the former (who 

 belonged to the parliament Maupeou, so called, which 

 was engaged in a dispute with the ministry) his cele- 

 brated Memoires (Paris, 1774), which entertained all 

 France. Had he remained more quiet, he probably 

 would have gained his process. The fame of his 

 Memoires alarmed even Voltaire, who was jealous of 

 every kind of glory. The Barber of Seville and the 

 Marriage of Figaro have given him a permanent re- 

 putation. Shortly before the revolution, he was 

 involved in the process against the banker Korn- 

 mann. In 1792, he wrote La Mere covpable, but 

 never regained his former fame. He was once more in 

 his true element in his memoir Mes six Epoques. He 

 relates, in that work, the dangers to which lie was 

 exposed, in a revolution, where a celebrated name, 

 talent, and riches, were sufficient causes of proscrip- 

 tion. He still possessed, at the age of more than 

 sixty, all the vigour of his youth, and had lost nothing 

 but his gayety. His contract to supply the United 

 States with military stores, during their revolutionary 

 war, had increased his fortune, of which he always 

 made a noble use ; but he lost about a million livres 

 by Jjis famous edition of the works of Voltaire, the 

 very^mperfect execution of which was not answerable 

 to .theTmmense cost. He lost still more, at the end 

 of 1792-, by his attempt to provide the French army 

 with 60,000 muskets. Discontented with the present, 

 despairing of the future, wearied with struggling 

 against the revolution and his creditors for the ruins 

 ot his wealth, he died at the age of sixty-nine years, 

 without any particular disease, in May, 1799. His 

 biography appeared in 1802 ; and, in 1809, an edi- 

 tion of his works, in seven vols. 



Beaumarchais was a singular instance of versatility 

 of talent, being at once an artist, politician, projector, 

 merchant, ai)d.dramatist. He was passionately attached 

 to celebrity. His Marriage of Figaro excited one of 

 those extraordinary sensations for which Paris has 

 always been remarkable. The English modifications 

 and versions of this comedy convey but a slight no- 

 tion of the mischievous subtlety and deep spirit of in- 

 trigue in the original. He left to his heirs a claim 

 against the United States of a million of francs for 

 supplies furnished during the war, which has been 

 repeatedly presented to congress, but always rejected 

 on the ground that he acted only as the agent of the 



