B E C 



body is liable. As the principlcj of government indiieclly 

 I'upportcJ ill this work were hollilc to abfoliite power, they 

 incurred the charge of fubvcrtiiig the Icgilimatc fourcis 

 of authority ; and the marquis owed his protection to the 

 influence of count Firmian. Having efcaped the danger 

 that threatened him, he diverted liis attention from fpcc.i- 

 lations of this nature to nictapliyfical fiJijeCls. Bcfides 

 fome papers, contributed to a periodical work, entilkd 

 " The Coftce-Houfe," he publilhed " Difquifitions on tlse 

 Nature of Stylf,'' maintainini:j that by nature all men pof- 

 fcfs an equal degree of genius tor poetry and elocution, and 

 by the obfervance of proper rules all would be able to \vrite 

 equally well. Beccavia was much attached to men ol let- 

 ters, a patron to thofe who needed encouragement, and a 

 cordial friend. He was ciiarged, however, with venality in 

 the exercife of an office of magillracy which he held ; and 

 hence his enemies compared him to had Bacon, witli relpecl 

 both to abilities and corruption. He died November 1794. 

 Month. Mag. 1798. Gen.Biog. 



Bf.ccaria, Giamdattista, an eminent philofopher of 

 the eighteenth centuiy, and a monk of the Ecoles-Pies, wos 

 a native of Mendovi in Piedmont, and became profcflor ot 

 philofophy and mathematics, iirfl at Palermo, and then ;\t 

 ilonie. His ellahliihed reputation occafioned his removal 

 to Turni, where he occupied the chair of experimental phi- 

 lofophy. lu confcquence of his appointment to the office 

 of preceptor to the princes of Sardinia, he was introduced 

 to the Sardinian court; but ntithir this employment, nor the 

 honour conneAed witli it, diverted him from the indefatigable 

 profecution of his ilndies ; and the pecuniary advantages 

 liiat refulttd from the appointment were princip?dy devo- 

 ted to the increafc of his library and the improvement ot his 

 j)hilofopliical apparatus. Amidft the variety of his philo- 

 fophical purfuits, his attention was particularly engaged by 

 experiments and inveftigations in eleftricity; and in this 

 department of fcience he acquired fingular reputation. For 

 an account of his principal difcoveries and obfervations, 

 fee Atmosphere, and Electricity. His chief works 

 on this fubjed were " Dell' Elettricifmo Artiilciale et Na- 

 turale," Turin, 1753, A-^^- i "^ which an Englith tranfla- 

 tion was puhlifhed, in 1776, 410. and " Lettere dell' Elet- 

 tricifmo," Bologn. 1758, fol. He alfo publilhed effays 

 •' On the caufe of Storms and Tcmpells," " On the Meri- 

 dian of Turin," and on other phyfical and aftronomical fub- 

 jefts. Father Beccaria, no lefs refpe£tablc for his virtues than 

 his knowledge, died at Turin in an advanced age, May 22, 

 1781. Nouv. Did. Hift. 



Beccaria, James Bartholomew, born at Bononia, 

 in 1682, received the early part of his education among the 

 Jefuits. Turning his mind to the ftudy of natural philofo- 

 phy, he foon became diftinguiilied for the variety and depth 

 of his knowledge in phylics, and in mathematics, of which 

 he was made public profetTor, and, in conjunftion with 

 Morgagni, and other celebrated charailers at Bononia, 

 affilled in forming an academy there for teaching mathe- 

 matics, natural hillory, chemillry, anatomy, and medicine. 

 He lirll gave lectures in natural hillory, and in 1712, was 

 appointed to the chair of medicine, which he alfo now prac- 

 tifed with great fuccefs. On the death of Valfalva, he was 

 made prefident of the inftitution, and in that polt, intro- 

 duced many ufeful regulations for the government of the 

 academy, wiiich are lUU continued. He v^-as a frequent 

 correfpondent with, the Royal Society of London, of which 

 he was made aii honorary member. Among other commu- 

 nications fr,)m Beccaria, which appear in the Pliilofophical 

 Tranfaclions, are his " Obfervations on the Weather," " On 

 the Ignis Fatuus," and " On the power fome peifons have 



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ewjoytd of fiipporting life for a great length of time, with- 

 out food." This was afterwards publilhed at Padua, under 

 the title of " De jejuniis longis DilTertatio," fo!. 1748. He 

 died Jan. 1766, being 84 years of age. Among his pubh- 

 cations arc " Ditfeitatio Meteorologica Medica, in qua 

 aeris temperies et morbi Bononix grafl'antes annis, 1729, et 

 fequcnti, delcribuntur." " De quamplurimis piiofphoris 

 nunc primam deteftis, Commentarius," Bonon, 4I0. 174^^. 

 " Scriptura Medico-legalis," 1749. For the titles of liis 

 other eompofitions, and of numerous unedited pieces, fe: 

 Gen. Biog. and Hal. Bib. Anat. 



BECCLES, in Geography, is a market and corporate 

 town of Suffolk, in England, fituated on the noi them bor- 

 der of that county joining to Norfolk. It is fifteen miles 

 S.W. of Yarmouth, and 108 N. E. from London. Though 

 not a borough tovvif, Beccles has its corporation, conlilliiig 

 of a portreeve, and thirty-fix other perfons, who are dillin- 

 guifhed by the names of ttuelves, and tiuenly-fours. From 

 the twelves, the officer called portreeve is annually elefted. 

 Tlie town confillsof feveral flreets, which concentrate in a 

 fpacious area, wiiere the markets are held every Saturday. 

 Here are a large handfome church, whofe tower is detached 

 from it, and the ruins of another called Ingate church, which 

 was for.-rerly the parifh church. The church-yard, from its 

 elevated fituation, commands many fine and extended views 

 of the adjacent country, and the mcandrings of the river 

 Waveney which adjoins this ccmeteiy. Here are a town-hall 

 and goal ; the former is a fubllanlial building where the 

 quarter fefiions are held ; and the latter has been lately 

 much enlarged and improved conformably to the Howar- 

 dian plan. A public grammar fchool was founded here in 

 1712, l)y Dr. Fauconberg, who endowed it with certain 

 lands for the maintenance of a clergyman, and to qualify 

 youth for the uiiiveriity. Sir John Leman, knight, alfo 

 founded a free Englifh fchool in 1631, for the education of 

 forty-eight boys ; alfo for a mailer and ulher, who are ap- 

 pointed by trullecs, being part of the corporation. On the 

 north-wefl fide of the town is a very large common field, 

 containing nearly 1600 acres, where the inhabitants are al- 

 lowed, under certain rellridlions, to turn a number of horfes 

 and cattle. Beccles futiered by a dellruftive fire, which 

 happened on the 29th of November, 1586, when more than 

 80 houfes were confumed, with property calculated at 

 20,03ol. value. It is rather a fingular circunillance, that nei- 

 ther mail, nor turnpike roads, communicate with this town : 

 though it was fome time fince propofed at a public meeting 

 to carry the turnpike road to Yarmouth through this place ; 

 but the prdpofition was negatived by a conliderable majo- 

 rity of the inhabitants. Here are three annual fairs. The 

 number of houfes in the townfliip is 601 ; of inhabitants 

 27S8, of which 1245 are males, and 1543 are females. In 

 the vicinity of this town are the following, befides other gen- 

 tlemens feats. i?rt'ufnjn^/ja?n //a//, fir Edmund Bacon, bart. 



— Langley Part, fir Thomas Beauchamp Proftor, bart 



Benacre Hall, fir Thomas Gooch, bart. — Solterly Hall, MileJ 

 Barne, efq. 



BEC-D'OISEAU, in Zoology, the name lately given by 

 French naturalifls to that mofl lingular Auflralafian animal 

 Platypus analinus of Vivarium naturae ; and Duck-billed pla- 

 typus oi "Dr. Shaw. It is alfo called 0;-«i//io;7j;Wjaj'/>ara(/o*aj-,, 

 by M. Blumenback of Goettingen. See Platypus. 



BECEDE, La, in Geography, a fmall town of France on 

 the Aude, and chief place of a canton in the dillrift of 

 Caftelnaudary, i^ league north of Caftelnaudary. 



BECF-AAL, in Ichthyology, a French name of the 

 Eledrical eel, anguille eleclrique. 



BECHAN, in Geography, a river of North Wales, 



which 



