B E R 



very high price. T5erchem died in 16^!^ We have ftveral 

 etchings by this mailer, that are executed in a line, bold, 

 riallerly ftyle ; and from thefe John VilTcher feems to have 

 formed that adaiiruble llyle in which he engras'ed the copies 

 from Berchem's piclures. Pilkington and Strutt. 



Bfrchem, in Geography, a town of Brabant; 4 miles 

 S. '\"v', of Raveftcin. 



Berchem, or Bergen, a town of Germany, in the circle 

 of V/eftrjhalia, and duchy of JuHers ; 9 miles call of Juliers. 



BlZRCHEROIT, or Bekkcoits, in Commerce, a weight 

 uffd at Archangel, and in all the Ruffian dominions. It is 

 equal to about 364 pounds Englifh avoirdupois. 



BERCHET, Peter, in Biography, an hiftorical painter, 

 was born in France, in 1659, and placed, at the age of 15, 

 under the care of La Fofle, fo that in 3 years he was qua- 

 lified to be employed in the royal palaces. In 168 1, he came 

 over to England, and worked under Rambour, a French 

 painter of architecture. Berchet painted the ceiling in the 

 chapel of Trinity college, Oxford, the ftaircafe at the 

 duke of Schomberg's houfe in London, and the fummer- 

 houle at Ranclagh. His drawings in the Academy were 

 much approved. Towards the clofe of life he only painted 

 'fmall hillorical pieces, the fubjefts of which were taken from 

 fabulous hiftory ; and his lall performance was a Bacchana- 

 lian pifture, to which he afrixtd his name the day before he 

 died, in the year 1721. He occafionally amufcd himfelf 

 with the point. Pilkington and Strutt. 



BERCHING, in Geography, a fmall town of Germany, in 

 the biihopi'ic of Eichllett, or Aiehlladt, feated on the river 

 Sulz. 



BERCHORIUS, Bercheur, Peter, in Biography, 

 a learned divide and voluminous writer of the 14th century, 

 was born at the village of St. Pierre du Chemin, 3 leagues 

 from Poiftiers in France, and was conllituted grammatical 

 preceptor to the novices of the Bencdiiline monaftery at 

 Clugni, in the year 1340. He died prior of the Benedict 

 convent of St. Eloi at Paris, probably at an advanced age, 

 in the year 1362, as we learn from his epitaph in that mo- 

 naftery. Berchorius was one of thofe writers, who affected 

 to interpret alkgorically, not only texts of Scripture, but 

 alfo poetical fables and profane hiftories, which they arbi- 

 trarily applied to the explication or contirmation of the myf- 

 teries of Chriftianity. His three grand printed works are, 

 •' Reduftorium iSlorale fiiper totam Bibliam," in 26 books, 

 fnft printed Argentorat. 1473, fol. and containing all the 

 incidents and (lories in the Bible, reducedinto allegories: 

 " Repertorium, or Rediiftorium, Morale," in 14 books, 

 which is a dictionary of things, perfons, and places, all which 

 are fuppofed to be myftical, and are therefore e;:plained in 

 their moral and practical fenfe ; and " Diftionarnim ]VIo- 

 rale," in two parts, and feeming to be principally deligned 

 as a moral repertory for ftudents in theology. Thefe pieces 

 were all printed at a very early period; and a folio edition 

 of them was printed, in 3 volumes, at Venice, in 1583. 

 Berchorius was alfo the author of a comment on a profody, 

 called " DoftrinaleMttricum," which was ufed as a fchool- 

 book in France. Glafiius, in his " Philologia Sacra," writ- 

 ten about the year 1623, and of which a third edition was 

 printed at Francof. and Hamb. in 1653, afcribcs to this 

 author the famous work entitled " Gefta Romanorum ;" 

 the writer of which has for a long time remained unknown 

 to the moft diligent enquirers into Gothic literature. The 

 learned Mr. Thomas Warton concurs in this opinion, and 

 thinks it amply confirmed by the general coincidence of the 

 plan, manner, method, and extculion between the " Gefta 

 Romanorum," and the three works of Berchorius above- 

 rnentloned. He fuppofes it was writtes about the; year 1 340, 



B E R 



with a view of rendering the exercifcs cf his fcholars, in the 

 monatlery at Chigni, in Latimly, more agreeable and eafy, 

 by means of an entertaining Latin ilory-boek, capable 

 of being readily applied to Icffonj of religion. This piece 

 operated pov/erfuUy on the general body cf our old poetry, 

 and alforded a variety of inventions, not only to Chaucer, 

 Gower, and Lydgatc, but to their dillant fucctfibrs. It 

 was firft printed in the Gothic letter without date, and as it 

 is fuppofed, before or about the year I473,in folio ; and con- 

 tains i$i cliapters. The fecond edition was printed in the 

 fame or following year at Louvain, in 4to, and contains 181 

 chapters. Another edition was printed in folio, in ijfi^. 

 At the commencement of typography in England, a tranf- 

 lation of it in Engliih was printed by Wynkin de Worde, 

 and it was afterwards frequently reprinted. This work is 

 compiled fiom the obfolete Latin chronicles of the later 

 Roman, or rather German ftory, heightened by romantic 

 inventions, from legends of the faints, oriental apologues, 

 and many of the Shorter fictitious narratives, which came 

 into Europe with the Arabian literature, and were familiar 

 in the ages of ignorance and imagination. The claffics arc 

 fometimes cited for authorities ; but thefe are of the lower 

 order, fuch as Valerius Maximus, Macrobius, Aulus Gel- 

 lius, Seneca, Pliny, and Boethins. To every tale is fub- 

 joined a moralifation, reducing it into a Chriflian or moral 

 leffon. Walton's Hilt. Eng. Poetry, vol. iii. 



BERCHTOLDSDORF, or Petersdorf, m Geogra- 

 phy, a town of Germany, in the archduchy of Aullria, 6 

 miles fouth-wcft of Vienna. 



BERCHTOLSGADEN, or Bergtolsgades, a pro- 

 voltfnip and principahty of Germany, in the circle of Bava- 

 ria, environed by the archbifhopric of Saltzburg, but exempt 

 from the jurifdidtion of that fee. It is wholly mountainous, 

 and contains two towns and a few villages, and alfo feveral 

 lakes. At Bergtolfgaden, as v/ell as at Hallein, in the prin- 

 cipality of Salf/burg, fait is found in its fofide llate. In 

 order to obtain it, large cavities, or chambers, are dug in 

 the mines, and filled with frefh water. Some of thefe are 

 fo large that the water muil ftand in them during two years 

 before it is futnciently impregnated with fait ; in others, this 

 procefs does not require more than a few weeks. When the 

 water is fatuiated, it is carried through the mountain by 

 pipes into a lefervoir, whence it is conveyed to the caul- 

 drons. Of thefe there are four at Hallein, and two at Berg- 

 tolfgaden, which are not above four leagues diftant from 

 each other. The fait annually made at the former of thefe 

 places, amounts to 400,000 quintals, and at the ktter to 

 160,000. Count Razoumowlki fuppofes (Hilt. et. Mem. de 

 la Scciete des Sciences Phyfiques de Laufanne, vol. iii. for 

 [787and 1788), that the mines at Hallein, and thofe at Berg- 

 tolfgaden, are parts of the fame bank of fiilt, which, in his 

 opinion, is a continuation of that at Gmund in Auftria, 

 about 8 leagues from Hallein ; and the iiTegularity of the 

 fliata feems to indicate that the connexion betweeu the two 

 mines rauft have been broken by fom.e violent convulfion. 



BERCKEL, a town of Holland, 5 miles eaft of Delft. 

 — Alfo, a river of Germany, which rifes in the bilhopric of 

 Munfter, and runs into the LTcl at Zutphen. 



BERCKSENBROECK, a town of Holland, 6 miles 

 north of Rotterdam. 



BERD, a river of Siberia, which runs into the Oby, 

 near Berlkoi. 



BERDA, in Ichthyology, a fpecies of SpARtJS, that inha- 

 bits the Red fca. It is of a whitilh grey; lateral fcaks marked 

 in the Jiiiddle with a fingle tranfverfe brown band ; dorfal 

 fpines recumbent. Forik. Fn. -Arab. The body of this 

 fifli is oval : back gibbous, with pale bands j beneath white; 

 7, fcale» 



