BELLEVUE BELLINI. 



491 



distinction, sciences. If the name of belles-lettres 

 ought to be retained at all, it would seem proper to 

 include under it poetry, rhetoric, and all prose which 

 has pretensions to elegance. A historical work, 

 therefore, would fall within the definition of belles- 

 lettres, only if its style was distinguished for elegance. 

 The same would be the case with books of travels, 

 &c. It is, however, to be hoped that this vague, 

 unnecessary name will soon be abandoned, in imita- 

 tion of the example of the Germans, who, having 

 investigated the philosophy of the arts and sciences 

 more thoroughly than any other nation, and critically 

 analysed their principles, have rejected the term ; so 

 that it is known in Germany only as matter of his- 

 tory. They class poetry with the fine arts, and its 

 history, like the history of any other art, science, na- 

 tion, or thing, with the sciences. Rhetoric, too, is 

 called a fine art It was formerly said, that the 

 difference of belles-lettres and beaux-arts consisted in 

 the difference of the means employed by each respec- 

 tively. The former, it was said, used arbitrary 

 signs, by which was meant language ; the latter, 

 natural signs, i. e., sounds and visible forms. It is 

 easy to see how untenable this division is. 



BELLEVUE (Fr. fine prospect). This name is given 

 to several villas and palaces, but particularly to a 

 beautiful country palace in the neighbourhood of 

 Paris, situated on the ridge of those mountains which 

 stretch from St Cloud towards Meudon. Mad. de 

 Pompadour (q. v.) built it The building was com- 

 menced in July, 1748, and finished in Nov. 1750. 

 After the death of Louis XV., the use of it was 

 granted to the aunts of Louis XVI., mesdames de 

 France. The first French artists of the time, Cous- 

 tou, Adam, Salu, Pigalle, Gragenard, Laprenue, had 

 exerted all their talents in embellishing Bellevue ; so 

 that this palace, at the period when it was built, was 

 considered the most charming in all Europe. After 

 the revolution, the convention decreed that Bellevue 

 should be kept in repair at the expense of the na- 

 tion, and that it should be devoted to public amuse- 

 ments. Nevertheless, it was publicly sold, during the 

 highest pitch of revolutionary excitement, ana the 

 puschaser, M. Lenchere, a postmaster in Paris, had 

 it demolished, quite in the spirit of the Bande 

 noire (q. v.) Its ruins are frequently visited, on ac- 

 count of the beautiful view of Paris from this 

 spot. 



BELLMRD, Augustin Daniel, count de, lieutenant- 

 general, peer of France, and lately French minister 

 in Brussels, distinguished as a general and diplo- 

 matist, was born in 1773, at B ontenay-le-Comte, 

 in the Vendee, and entered the military service very 

 early. Dumouriez soon after made him an officer of 

 his staff, lie fought at Jemappes, and was raised to 

 the rank of lieutenant-general after the battle of 

 Neerwinden. After Dumouriez had betrayed the 

 convention and fled, Belliard was carried as a prisoner 

 to Paris, and dismissed from the service ; but he soon 

 entered the army again as a volunteer, and was again 

 made lieutenant-general, went, in 1796, with Bona- 

 parte, to Italy, fought at Arcole, and was made general 

 of brigade on the field of battle. After the occupation 

 of Civita-Vecchia, he was sent, by Bonaparte, as 

 minister to Naples, in order to begin negotiations. 

 Belliard then accompanied his general to Egypt, 

 where he distinguished himself in the battle of Alex- 

 andria,-and that of the pyramids. In Upper Egypt, he 

 went beyond the limits of the ancient Roman empire, 

 and penetrated as for as Assyria, in a continual con- 

 test with the mamelukes and Arabs. In the battle 

 of Heliopolis, he essentially contributed to the victory, 

 lie then attacked, with 1200 men, the Turkish 

 forces in Damietta, which he retook. Whilst he was 

 hi Upper Egypt, he warmly aided the men of letters 



who accompanied the expedition, in their scientific 

 labours ; and without his assistance the antiquities 

 from Denderah to Philae might have remaine 

 undiscovered. When commandant in Cairo, he xvas 

 besieged by the Turks and English, and obtained a 

 favourable capitulation by his firmness and prudence. 

 In Egypt, he was made general of division, and, in 

 1801, commander of the division which had its head- 

 quarters at Brussels. In the campaign of 1805, he 

 participated in the victories at Ulni and Austerlitz, 

 and fought in all the great battles in the war with 

 Prussia. Aftei the occupation of Madrid, he was 

 made commandant of the city, where he suppressed 

 the insurrection which broke out in consequence of 

 the battle of Talavera. In 1812, he left Spain to go 

 to Russia, and distinguished himself, particularly "in 

 the battle on the Moskwa. After the retreat, he 

 received orders to reorganise the cavalry. At Leip- 

 zic, a cannon-ball carried away his arm. After the 

 battle at Craone (1814), Napoleon made him com- 

 mander of his cavalry and guards. After the abdi- 

 cation of the emperor, he received the order of St 

 Louis, from Louis XVIII., and was made a peer and 

 major-general of the French army, under the com- 

 mand of the duke de Berri. Napoleon returned from 

 Elba, and gave him orders to hasten to king Joachim, 

 in order to direct the operations of the Neapolitan 

 army. The vessel which was to carry him to Naples 

 was chased by a British ship, and obliged to return 

 to France. The Bourbons, after their return, im- 

 prisoned him, and placed him under the surveillance 

 of the police, but only for a short time, for, in 181G, 

 he was again a peer. Hardly had Louis Philip as- 

 cended the throne, when he sent Belliard to Berlin, 

 to treat respecting the acknowledgment of the new 

 dynasty. This mission was soon successful ; for, im- 

 mediately after the king of the Netherlands, England, 

 and the emperor of Austria, had, in fact, acknow- 

 ledged the king of the French, the king of Prussia 

 did the same. During his embassy in Brussels, Bel- 

 liard displayed uncommon activity : he contributed 

 more than any other diplomatist to the foundation of 

 the new Belgian government, and to the preservation 

 of the city of Antwerp, when the Dutch general 

 Chasse threatened to lay it in ruins ; and, in Decem- 

 ber, 1830, he was, likewise, very active. In conse- 

 quence of an order of the French government, com- 

 municated by telegraphs, he left Brussels on Tuesday, 

 arrived in Paris on Thursday, hastened to the Tuile- 

 ries, left Paris the same night, arrived on Sunday in 

 Brussels, had an audiance of king Leopold, returned 

 to Paris, where the peers were voting on the subject of 

 the hereditary peerage, and, at the very moment when 

 the secretary called out his name, opened the door in 

 great haste, voted against the hereditary peerage, 

 amid the laughter of his colleagues, and hastened 

 back to Brussels. He died Jan. 27, 1832. 



BELLINI, James, and his two sons, Gentile and 

 Giovanni (who surpassed their father) ; celebrated 

 painters, who made a new epoch in the Venetian 

 school. Of James's works nothing has been left ; 

 but several of Gentile's (e. g., a St Mark) have 

 reached our times. In the year 1479, Gentile went 

 to Constantinople, Mohammed 1 1. having sent to Ve- 

 nice for a skilful painter. He is said to have there 

 copied the bass-reliefs of the column of Theodosius, 

 and to have died at Venice, in the year 1501. The 

 most distinguished of the family was Giovanni B., 

 who was born at Venice, about 1424, and died about 

 1 516. He studied nature diligently, and his drawing 

 was good. He contributed much to make oil paint- 

 ing popular, and has left many excellent pictures, of 

 which one, the Saviour pronouncing his Benediction, 

 is to be found in the gallery of Dresden. His own 

 reputation was much increased by that of his oele- 

 3 E 2 



