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body is liable. As the principles of goTernment indiieaiy 

 tupportcd in tliis work were hollile to abfolute power, tliey 

 incurred the charge of fiibvorting tlic legitimate foiircis 

 of authority ; and the marquis owed Iiis proteetion to the 

 influence of count Tirniian. Having cfcaped tiie danger 

 that threatened him, he diverted liis attention from fpeci- 

 lations of this nature to nictapliyfical fi«bjee\s. Befides 

 fome papers, contributed to a periodical work, entitled 

 " The Codee-Houfe," he publifhed " Difquilillons on the 

 Nature of Style," maintaininij that by nature all men pof- 

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

 by the obfervance of proper rules all would be able to write 

 equally well. Beeca-'ia was much attached to men ol kt- 

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

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

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

 hence his enemies compared him to lurd Bacon, with refpcct 

 both to abilities and corruption. He died November 1794. 

 Montli. Mag. 1798. Gen.Biog. 



BixcARiA, GiAMBATTisTA, an eminent pliilofophcr of 

 the eighteenth centuiy, and a monk of the Ecoles-Pies, w ns 

 a native of Mcndovi in Piedmont, and became profclFor of 

 philofophy and mathematics, firll at Palermo, and then at 



Rome. His ellahliihed reputation occafioned his removal 

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

 lofopiiy. lu confcquence of his appointment to the office 

 of preceptor to the princes of Sardinia, he was introduced 

 to the Sardinian court; but neither this employment, nortlve 

 honour connected with it, diverted him from the indefatigable 

 profccntion of his Ihidies ; and the pecuniary advantages 

 that refulttd from the appointment were principr'ily devo- 

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

 philofophical apparatus. AmiJil the variety of his philo- 

 fophical purfuits, his attention was particularly engaged by 

 experiments an J inveftigalions in eledlricity; and in this 

 department of fcience he acquired Angular reputation. For 

 an account of his principal difcoveries and obfervations, 

 fee Atmospheke, and Electricity. His chief works 

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

 turale," Turin, 1753, 410.; of which an Engliih tranfla- 

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

 tricifmo," Bologn. 175^^, fol. He alfo publifhed efTays 

 •< On the caufe of Storms and Tempefts," " On the Meri- 

 dian of Turin," and on other pliyfical and allronomical fub- 



etls. Father Beccaria, no lefs refpeflable for his virtues than 

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

 Nouv. Diet. Hift. 



i' 



Beccaria, James Bartholomew, born at Bononia, 

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

 Jcfuits. Turning his mind to the tludy of natural philofo- 

 phy, he foon became diftinguilhed for the variety and depth 

 of hij knowledge in phyfics, and in mathematics, of which 

 he was made public profeflbr, and, in conjunftion with 

 Morgagni, and other ci-lebrated characters at Bononia, 

 affilted in forming an academy tliere for teaching mathe- 

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

 He firll gave le£lures in natural hiftory, 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 

 luade prefident of the inllitution, and in that poll, intro- 

 duced many ufeful regulations for the government of the 

 academy, wliich arc Hill continued. He was a frequent 

 correfpondent with, the Royal Society of London, of which 

 he was made an honorary member. Among other commu- 

 nications from Beccaria, which appear in the Philofophical 

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

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



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

 oat food." I'liis was afterwards publilhed at Padua, under 

 the title of " De jejuniis longis DifTertatio," fu!. I 748. He 

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

 cations are " DifTeiiatio Meteorologica Medica, in qua 

 acns tem))crics et morbi Bononix graflantes annis, 1729, et 

 fequenti, defcribuntur." " De quamplurimis phofphoris 

 nunc primum detedtis, Commentarius," Bonon, 4to. 1744. 

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

 other conipofitions, and of numerous unedited pieces, fe: 

 Gen. Biog. and Hal. Bib. Anat. 



BECCLES, in Geognifhy, is a market and corporate 

 town of Suffolk, in England, fituated on the northern 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 towit, Beccles has its corporation, confiftiiig 

 of a portreeve, and thirty-fix other perfons, who arc dlftin- 

 guifhed by the names of twelves, and tivenly-fours. From 

 the twelves, the officer called portreeve is annually elefted. 

 The town confillsof feveral llrtets, which concentrate in a 

 fpacious area, where 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 

 wa;> fonrerly the parifli church. The church-yard, from its 

 elevated fituation, commands many tine and extended views 

 of the adjacent country, and the meandrings of the river 

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

 and goal ; the former is a fubllantial building where the 

 quarter feffions arc 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 

 1 7 12, by Dr. Fauconberg, who endowed it with certain 

 landi for the maintenance of a clergyman, and to qualify 

 youth for the univerfity. Sir John Iceman, knight, alio 

 founded a free Englilh fchool in 163 1, for the education of 

 forty-eight boys ; alfo for a niafter and uflier, who are ap- 

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

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

 containing nearly 1600 acres, where tlie inhabitants are al- 

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

 and cattle. Beccles fuffered by a deilrudlive fire, which 

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

 80 houfes were confumed, with property calculated at 

 20,oool. value. It is rather a fingular circumftance, 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 confiderable majo- 

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

 number of iioufes in the townfhip is 601 ; of inhabitants 

 2788, of which 1245 ^'"'^ males, and 1543 are females. In 

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

 tlcmens feats. Raveniri^ham Hall, fir Edmund Bacon, bart. 



— Larigley Parh, fir Thomas Beauchanip Proftor, bart 



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

 Barne, efq. 



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

 French naturalills to that moll lingular Auftralafian animal 

 Platypus anatinus of Vivarium naturse ; and Duck-billed pla- 

 typus oi Dr. Shaw. It is alfo called Oriutborh'inchus paradoxus, 

 by M. Blumenback of Gocttingen. See Platypus. 



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

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

 Caltelnaudary, i| league north of Caftelnaudary. 



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

 Ele8rlcal eel, anguille eledlrique. 



BECHAN, in Geography, a river of North Wales, 



which 



