472 



BEETLE BEGUINES, 



there in composition, under the instruction of Haydn. 

 I nder Haydn niiil AlbftMhllbMgV li' made rapid 

 progress, mid became, likewise, a great plajer on the 

 piano forte, astonishing every one liy his extempore 

 performances. In 1809, lie was invited to the new 

 court of the king; of Westphalia, at which several 

 men of distinction, and among them his pupil in inu- 

 lie the aivhdnke Kodolph, now bishop of Olnuilz, 

 persuaded him to remain, by the promise of a yearly 

 salary. He composed his |irineipal works after 1801. 

 A few yiars hetore his death, a cold, \vhieh he had 

 aught Iiy composing in die open air, produced a 

 deafness, which became, hy dr-in ,. \ . ry great. He 

 lived, afterwards, very much retired, in the village 

 tit' M.hlliiiiM ii. near Vienna. Instnnnental music has 

 received from his (-(impositions a new character. Beet- 

 hoven united the humour of Haydn witll the melan- 

 choly of Mo/jirt. and the diameter of his music most 

 resembles ( 'hernhini's. His boldness is remarkable. 

 Keichhardt, in a comparison of l!t ethovcn with 

 llaylnand Mozart, says, "The Quarteft of Haydn 

 was the offspring of hi- amiable and original charac- 

 ter. In naivete ami pood humour he is unrivaled. 

 The more powerful nature and richer imagination of 

 Moznrt embraced a wider field, and many of his 

 compositions express the whole height and depth of 

 his character. He placed more value also on exqui- 

 site finish. Beethoven, early acquainted with Mo- 

 zart's compositions, gave a still bolder cast to his 

 ideas. '' Besides his great symphonies and overtures, 

 his (|iiintetts, quartetts, and trios for stringed instru- 

 ments, tiis numerous sonatas, variations, and other 

 pieces for the piano forte, in which he shows the 

 great richness of his imagination, he also composed 

 vocal music, but with less success. To this depart- 

 ment belongs his opera Leonore (in its altered state, 

 called Fidelia), some masses, an oratorio (Christ on 

 the Mount of Olives), and songs for the piano forte, 

 among \vhieh the composition of Matthison's Adelaide, 

 called, by the British, Rosalie, and some songs of 

 Goethe are celebrated. B. died March 26th, 1827, 

 near Vienna, in the greatest poverty. 



BEETLE (scarabeeiis, L.) ; a tribe of coleopterous 

 insects, belonging to the family lamellicornua, C. 

 The beetle tribe comprises a large number of insects, 

 among which some are very remarkable for projec- 

 tions or horns growing from the head and corselet. 

 The species found in warm climates are generally of 

 large size and formidable appearance, though by no 

 means noxious. They all are winged, flying with 

 much rapidity and force ; when on the ground, their 

 movements are slow and heavy. The body of the 

 perfect insect is oval, or nearly so, and the antennce 

 are composed of eight or ten pieces, inserted into a 

 cavity under the border of the head. From the ar- 

 rangement of the antenna, which is peculiar to this 

 family, its essential or distinctive character is formed. 

 The extremities of the antennae are club-shaped, and 

 composed of plates or joints, either disposed like the 

 leaves of a book, or arranged perpendicularly to the 

 axis, like the teeth of a comb. The two first legs of 

 beetles, and even the others, in some instances, are 

 dentated externally, and suited for burrowing. The 

 trachea are all vesicular. 



The larves or young are soft, flexible, whitish, 

 semi-cylindric worms, having the body divided into 

 twelve rings, and having a scaly head, armed with 

 strong jaws. They have nine stigmata, or breathing 

 holes, on each side ; and the feet, which are six, are 

 scaly. The body is thicker at the posterior than at 

 the anterior extremity, rounded, and almost uniformly 

 curved downwards, so that the larve moves with 

 difficulty over an even surface, and frequently tum- 

 bhs down'. The period during which the larves 

 remain in the state of destructive worms, varies in 



dim-rent species; those of some kinds becoming 

 nymphs at the end of several months, and of others, 

 not sooner than in three or four years. During this 

 period, they live in the earth, where they feed upon 

 the roots of vegetables, animal matter in a state of 

 decomposition, Ike. It is in this stage of their exis- 

 tence that various species prove exceed! ugly injurious 

 to tanners, from their great numbers and voracity. 

 When about to undergo their change of form, they 

 make an egg-shaped cover or cocoon, from fragments 

 gnawed oft wood, c., which are stuck together by 

 a peculiar glutinous fluid furnished hy their bodies. 

 The larves have a cylindric stomach, surrounded by 

 three ranges of minute ceeca, a very -short, small 

 intestine, an exceedingly large colon, and moderate- 

 siied rectum. In the perfect insect, none of these 

 inequalities exist, as there is but one long intestine, 

 of equal size throughout. All of the beetle tribe are 

 not destructive or injurious in their inceptive state, 

 as many of them breed in the dung-heap, or feed 

 upon the excrement of animals, which they serve to 

 prepare more completely as manure. The tumble 

 bug, which is well known, forms a ball of dung, 

 the centre of which the egg is deposited, rolls it off 

 to a distance, and buries it in the ground. Great 

 numbers, uniting in this work, speedily clear away 

 excrementitious matter, that might otherwise soon 

 prove offensive. Among the ancient Egyptians, a 

 species of beetle was held in great veneration, and 

 Eusebius informs us (De Prcrp. Evang.) that it was 

 regarded as the animated image of the sun. We 

 find it generally embalmed with the Egyptian mum- 

 mies, placed immediately upon the root of the nose. 

 A number of models of these insects, in clay and 

 stone, have been found in the places already ex- 

 plored in the ancient dominion of the Pharaohs. 

 Linnaeus bestowed the name of scarabatus sacer on 

 this species, which is found in Africa and Europe. 



BEFANA (Ital. ; from Befania, which signifies Epi- 

 phany) is a figure, generally representing an old 

 woman, which is exhibited, in Italy, on the day of 

 Epiphany, by children, or in shops, &c., where things 

 for children are sold. In Germany, presents are 

 given to children on Christmas-eve, and in France, 

 on new-year's evening, but in Italy, on the day of 

 Epiphany, and it is said that the befana brings them 

 to good children. Generally, a little bag is hung in 

 the chimney, and. next morning, the children find 

 the presents there. 



BEG (prince, or lord) ; the title of certain Turkish 

 officers, several of whom are subject to a beglerbeg. 

 See Bey. 



BEGGARY. See Pauperism. 



BEGLERBEG (prince of princes, or lord of lords) is 

 the title of a high officer among the Turks, the 

 governor of a province, called a beglerbeglic, who has 

 under him several sangiacs, begs, agas, &c. The 

 governors of Sophia, Kiutaha, and Damascus, in 

 particular, have this title. 



BEGUARDS, or BEGHARDS. See Beguines. 



BEGUINES (bcguttce) ; females who, without having 

 taken the monastic vows, or bound themselves to 

 obey the rules of an order, unite for the purpose of 

 devotion and charity, and form societies, living to- 

 gether in houses called beguinages (which have oeen 

 frequently enriched by donations), distinguishing 

 themselves above others of the laity, by their indus- 

 try, their retired life, and their attention to the edu- 

 cation of children. These societies originated, to- 

 wards the end of the eleventh century, in Germany 

 and the Netherlands, and were very flourishing in 

 the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. They still 

 exist in considerable numbers in the Netherlands. 

 In imitation of them, males formed similar societies, 

 under the name of bfg/tards. These societies, who-e 



