516 



BEHRI BEHSERKEk. 



many members of which ha\c been distinguished. 

 The most so was John Han\\i;- I'.rnst, count, of B., 

 Danish secretary of foreign nff.iirs. He was l>orn in 

 Hanover, May 13, 1713. His I;ithcr \ v; is also M vre- 

 Uiry of state in Denmark. In 17oO, lie was made 

 member of the council of state, afirr having served 

 for a long time as foreign minister, lie soon became 

 the most influential member of Uie government, 

 which distinguished itself, iimler his direction, by a 

 \\ise neutrality during the seven years' war, and 

 other political (ti.sturlianres in F.urope ; by liberal 

 measures for improving the condition of the Danish 

 peasantry, who were even then in a state of bondage ; 

 by promoting science, and sending an expedition to 

 .\si ;1 , which t lie famous traveler Niebuhr accompa- 

 nied, lie himself .set the example of manumitting 

 the peasants, and gave the fourth part of his income 

 tn the poor. By his efforts, Denmark acquired Hol- 

 MI in. B. is described by all historians as a model of 

 wisdom, benevolence, and intelligence. Frederic V. 

 (q. v.), whose government he directed so well, died 

 in 17i>6, and he continued in his office, under Chris- 

 tian Vll. until 1770, when Struensee (q. v.) contriv- 

 ed to displace him. After the fall of Struensee, he 

 was recalled, but died when preparing for his return 

 to Denmark from Hamburg, in 1772, February 19. 

 Christian VII. had made him count. Andrew Peter, 

 count of B., his cousin, was also a very distinguished 

 statesman, successor of the preceding, and deserves 

 great praise, among other tilings, for his endeavours 

 to emancipate the peasantry. He was born August 

 28, 1735, and died June 21, 1797. His son became 

 Prussian minister of foreign affairs. 



BERRI, or BERRV, Charles Ferdinand, duke of; se- 

 cond son of the count d'Artois (afterwards Charles 

 X.) and Maria Theresa of Savoy, born at Versailles, 

 Jan. 24, 1778. Together with the duke of Angou- 

 leme, he received an inadequate education under the 

 duke of Serent : nevertheless, in his early youth he 

 displayed some talents and a good heart. In 1792, 

 he . fled with his father to Turin, served under him and 

 Conde on the Rhine, aiid early learned the art of 

 winning the love of the soldiers. With his family, 

 he repaired to Russia, and, in 1801, to England, 

 where he lived alternately at London and Hartwell, 

 continually occupied with plans for the restoration of 

 the Bourbons. April 13, 1814, he landed at Cherbourg, 

 and passed through the cities of Bajeux, Caen, Rou- 

 en, c.,. gaining over the soldiers and national guards 

 to the cause of the Bourbons, distributing alms, and 

 delivering prisoners. He made his entrance into 

 Paris, April 21, where he gained popularity by visit- 

 ing the merchants, manufacturers, and artists. May 

 15, he was appointed colonel-general, receiving a 

 civil list of 1,500,000 francs. August 1, he set out 

 on a visit to the department of the North, and the 

 fortified places in Lorraine, Franche-Comte, and Al- 

 sace. When Napoleon landed from Elba, the king 

 committed to B. the chief command of all the troops 

 in and round Paris. All his efforts to secure their 

 fidelity proving ineffectual, he was obliged to retreat, 

 on the night of March 1 9, with the troops of the house- 

 nold, to Ghent, and Alost, where the king then was. 

 The battle of Waterloo enabled him to return to Paris, 

 where he arrived July 8, and surrendered his com- 

 mand over the troops of the household into the hands 

 of the king. In August, he was made president of the 

 electoral college of the department of the North. At 

 the opening of the chambers in Paris, he took the 

 oath to maintain the constitution, and was appointed 

 president of the fourth bureau ; but he soon retired 

 from public life. Louvel (q. v.) had been, for seve- 

 ral years, meditating the extirpation of the house of 

 Bourbon, by the assassination of the duke. February 

 13, 1820, he attacked him just as he had left the 



opera house, and was on the point of stepping into 

 his carriage, and gave him a mortal blow. The duke 

 showed the greatest firmness and Christian resigna- 

 tion even to the moment of his death (Feb. 14, at six 

 o'clock in the morning). He had been carried into 

 the saloon of the opera house. Here he consoled his 

 wife, and said, Menagez-vout pour I'enfant </uc runs 

 portez dans votre sein ! (Take care of yourself, for 

 the sake of the child in your bosom !) 1 Ie then caused 

 the children, whom he had in London before his 

 marriage, to be called, and, after recommending them 

 to his wife, prepared himself for death, foravc Ins 

 murderer, confessed himself, and received tiie sacra- 

 ment. Benevolence, gratitude, and generosity, we're 

 the best features in tlie character of this prince, by 

 whose death all France was plunged into consternation 

 (See Chateaubriand's Memoires touch ant In I 'it- <-t la 

 Mart du Due de Jierri, Paris, 1820). The duke left 

 by his wife Carolina Ferdinanda Louisa, eldest 

 daughter of prince, afterwards king Francis I., ruler 

 of the two Sicilies, whom he married June 17, 1810, 

 only a daughter, Louisa Maria Theresa of Artois, 

 mademoiselle de France, born Feb. 21, 1819. Great 

 was the joy of the royal family, when the duke's wi- 

 dow was delivered, September 29, of a prince, who 

 bears the name of Henry, duke of Bourdeanx (Henri 

 Charles Ferdinand Dieudonne d'Artois, petit-fils de 

 France). (See CAambord.) Although Louvel's 

 deed had no connexion with a conspiracy, not the 

 slightest trace of an accomplice being discovered, yet 

 the mutual denunciations to which it gave rise, pro- 

 duced much party excitement, and occasioned some 

 laws of exception. (See France, and Inception, laws 

 of.) The opera house, near which the crime was 

 committed, and in which the duke died, was pulled 

 down, and a column erected on the spot. A new 

 opera house was built in another place. 



BERRI, or BERRY ; before the revolution of France, 

 a province and dukedom of that country, of which 

 Bourges was the capital, almost in the centre of 

 France. See Department. 



BERRY, William; an ingenious Scottish artist, was 

 born about the year 1730, and bred to the business 

 of a seal-engraver. After serving an apprenticeship 

 under a Mr Proctor at Edinburgh, he commenced 

 business for himself in that city, and soon became 

 distinguished for the elegance of his designs, and the 

 clearness and sharpness of his mode of cutting. At 

 this time the business of a stone-engraver in the 

 Scottish capital was confined to the cutting of ordi- 

 nary seals, and the most elaborate work of this kind 

 which they undertook, was that of engraving the ar- 

 morial bearings of the nobility. Mr Berry's labours 

 during the greater part of his life were confined to 

 the common drudgery of his art ; but he occasionally 

 ventured into that higher walk of his profession, 

 which might be said to Dear the same relation to seal- 

 engraving, which historical-painting does to portrait- 

 painting. The subject which he chose for his first 

 essay was a head of Sir Isaac Newton, which he exe- 

 cuted with such precision and delicacy, as astonished 

 all who had an opportunity of observing it. He after- 

 wards executed various other heads, any one of which 

 would have been sufficient to ensure him fame among 

 judges of excellence in this department of art. 

 Among these were heads of Thomson, author of " the 

 Seasons," Mary queen of Scots, Oliver Cromwell, 

 Julius Caesar, a young Hercules, and Mr Hamilton 

 of Bangour, the, poet. Of these only two were co- 

 pies from the antique ; and they were executed in 

 the finest style of those celebrated entaglios. He died 

 in 1783. 



BERSERKER, a descendant of the eight- handed Star- 

 kader and the beautiful Alfliilde, was, according to 

 the Scandinavian mythology, a famous warrior. He 



