464 



BEAUMONT AND FLKTCHER BEAVER. 



French government, from whom he received funds to 

 Ilia! amount. 



BEAUMONT, Francis, and FLETCHER, John ; two 

 nniiifiit English dnuuutic writers. The former was 

 hum in 1585, studied at Oxford, and died in 1616; 

 the latter was born at London in 1576, and died there 

 in 1625, of the plague. Animated by the same in- 

 clination, they both devoted thcniM -Ises to poetry. 

 Their plays, about fifty, appeared under their joint 

 names (London, 1(37!'- one vol. fol. ; 1711, eight \ols., 

 8vo; and, 1812, fourteen voN.), and it is impossible 

 now to determine their respective sliares in these 

 productions. According to the testimony of some of 

 their contemporaries, Fletcher was the inventing ge- 

 nius, while Heaumont, though the younger, was more 

 distinguished for maturity and correctness of judg- 

 ment. Shakspeare was their model, and, like him, 

 they intermix pathetic and low comic scenes ; but 

 their attempts to surpass their model sometimes lead 

 them into extravagances. The desire, also, of pleas- 

 ing the public at times induces them to deviate from 

 a correct standard of taste. They succeed best in 

 comic scenes. Their contemporaries preferred them 

 even to Shakspeare, affirming that the English drama 

 reached its perfection in them. Impartial posterity 

 has reversed this decision, and adjudged the palm to 

 Shakspeare. They are said to have frequented ta- 

 \ernsandalehouses, to study the human character, 

 and to has e been arrested, while disputing in such a 

 place, respecting the conclusion of a play. One 

 wished to have the king in the piece to be assassi- 

 nated, the other opposed it ; and being overheard, 

 they were apprehended on suspicion of conspiring the 

 death of their sovereign. 



BKADMONT, madame Leprince de ; born at Rouen, 

 1711 ; died at Annecy, in Savoy, 1780. She lived 

 partly in France, and partly in England, where she 

 devoted her talents to the instruction of youth. She 

 has written a great many romances and works for 

 children. A simple and easy style, a pleasing moral, 

 well chosen historical passages, and a happy imagi- 

 nation, render her writings agreeable, although much 

 is too artificial, and the theological views are no 

 longer of value. Her Magazin des Enfans, was for- 

 merly the manual of all governantes and French 

 boarding-schools. 



BKAOTV. See Philosophy, 



BEAVER (castor, L.) ; a genus of claviculated, mam- 

 miferous quadrupeds, of the order glires, L., roderttia, 

 C., or gnawers. It is only in a state of nature that 

 the beaver displays any of those singular modes of 

 acting, which have so long rendered the species 

 celebrated. These may be summed up in a state- 

 ment of the manner in which they secure a depth of 

 water that cannot be frozen to the bottom, and their 

 mode of constructing the huts in which they pass the 

 winter. They are not particular as to the site which 

 they select for the establishment of their dwellings, 

 but if it is in a lake or pond, where a dam is not re- 

 quired, they are careful to build where the water is 

 sufficiently deep. In standing waters, however, they 

 have not the advantage afforded by a current for the 

 transportation of their supplies of wood, which, when 

 they build on a running stream, is always cut higher 

 up than the place of their residence, and floated down. 

 The materials used for the construction of their dams 

 are the trunks and branches of small birch, mulberry, 

 willow, and poplar trees, &c. They begin to cut 

 down their timber for building early in the summer, 

 but their edifices are not commenced until about the 

 middle or latter part of Angust, and are not complet- 

 ed until the beginning of the cold season. The strength 

 of tht-ir teeth, and their perseverance in this work, 

 may be fairly estimated by the size of the trees they cut 

 down. Dr Best informs us, that he has seen a mul - 



berry tree, eight inches in diameter, which hail beec 

 n:twed down by the heaver. We were shown, 

 while on the hanks of the Little Miami river, several 

 stumps of trees, which had evidently been felled by 

 tin se animals, of at least five or six inches in diame- 

 ter. The trees are cut in such a way as to fall into 

 the water and then floated towards the site of the dam 

 or dwellings. Small shrubs, &c., cut at a distance, 

 they drag with their teeth to the stream, and then 

 launch and tow them to the place of deposit. At a 

 short distance above a beaver dam, the number 01 

 trees which have been cut down appears truly sur- 

 prising, and the regularity of the stumps might lead 

 persons unacquainted with the habits of the animal, 

 to believe that the clearing was the resuH of human 

 industry. 



The figure of the dam varies according to circum- 

 stances. Should the current be very geiitle, the dam 

 is carried nearly straight across ; out when the. 

 stream is swift, it is unitormly made with a consider- 

 able curve, having the convex part opposed to the 

 current. Along with the trunks and branches of 

 trees they intermingle mud and stones, to give 

 greater security ; and, when dams have been long 

 undisturbed and frequently repaired, they acquire 

 great solidity, and their power of resisting the pres- 

 sure of water, ice, &c., is greatly increased by the 

 willow and birch occasionally taking root, and 

 eventually growing up into something like a regular 

 hedge. The materials used in constructing the dams 

 are secured solely by the resting of the branches, &c. 

 against the bottom, and the subsequent accumulation 

 ot mud and stones by the force of the stream, or by 

 the industry of the beavers. 



The dwellings of the beavers are formed of the 

 same materials as their dams, are very rude, and 

 adapted in size to the number of their inhabitants : 

 seldom more than four old, or six or eight young 

 ones, are found in one of the lodges, though double 

 that number have been sometimes seen. In building 

 their houses, they place most of the wood crosswise, 

 and nearly horizontally, observing no other order than 

 that of leaving a cavity in the middle. Branches 

 projecting inwards are cut off with their teeth, and 

 thrown among the rest. The houses are not of sticks, 

 and then plastered, but of all the materials used in 

 the dams sticks, mud, and stones, if the latter can 

 be procured. This composition is employed from the 

 foundation to the summit. The mud is obtained from 

 the adjacent banks or bottom of the stream or pond 

 near the door of the hut. The beaver always carries 

 mud or stones by holding them between his fore paws 

 and throat. Their work is all performed at night, 

 and with much expedition. When straw or grass is 

 mingled with the mud used in building, it is an acci- 

 dent owing to the nature of the spot whence the mud 

 is obtained. As soon as any portion of the materials 

 is placed, they turn round, and give it a smart blow 

 with the tail. The same sort of blow is struck by 

 them on the surface of the water when they are in 

 the act of diving. The outside of the hut is covered 

 or plastered with mud, late in the autumn, and after 

 frost has begun to appear. By freezing, it soon be- 

 comes almost as hard as stone, effectually excluding 

 their great enemy, the wolverene, during the winter. 

 Their habit of walking over the work frequently, has 

 led to the absurd idea of their using the tail as a 

 trowel. The houses are generally from four to six 

 feet thick at the apex of the cone ; some have been 

 found as much as eight feet thick at top. The door 

 or entrance is always on the side farthest from land, 

 and is near the foundation, or a considerable depth 

 underwater: this is the only opening into the hut. 

 The large houses are sometimes found to have pro- 

 jections of the main building thrown out, for the 



