B E S 



without entering on the bufinefs for which he was deputed. 

 This kind of reception affefted him fo much, that on his re- 

 turn he fell fjck al Turin, and died ?t Ravenna in 1472. He 

 XK-ds regarded as a perfon of unparalleled genius and erudi. 

 lion ; and he was the author of many works, both in Greek 

 and Latin, feme of which were printed, and others left in MS. 

 The chief of thefe was hii defence of Plato, againit George 

 qf Trebifond, in a treatife entitled, " In calumniatorcm Pla- 

 tonis, lib. iv.," firft printed without a date at Rome in 1470, 

 and re-editcd at Venice in 1503 and 1516, folio. In this 

 publication he examines Plato's opinions, particularly with 

 regard to morals, and fliews that they approach much nearer 

 to the doctrines of Chrillianity tlian thofe of Aridollc. 

 Others of his printed works are letters, orations, and tr:\i:(la- 

 tionsof Xenophon's Memorabilia, the metaphyficof Arillotle, 

 :ind that, falfely afcribed to Tijeophrallus. According to 

 Urucker, thefe ti-anflations are very obfcure ; but Huet com- 

 mends Ceffhrionas the model of allgood tranflators. Brucker's 

 Hift. Philof. by Enfield, vol. ii. p. 407. Fabr. Bib. Grx-c. 

 1. V. c.43. ^9. torn. 10. p. 401. 



BESSARIONOVA Cape, in Geography, is the weft point 

 of a bay in the fea of Azof, of which the call point is cape 

 Berdinflcaya. N. lat. 46° 35'. E. long. 36" 46'. 



BESSA-STADER, or Basse-sted, a place of Iceland, 

 (N. lat. 64° 6'.) the rclidence of the king's prefecl. In 

 this place is a woollen manufatlory, with a fulling mill be- 

 longing to it. 



BESSAY, a town of France, in the department of the 

 Alher, and chief place of a canton in the dittridl of Mouhns, 

 8 miles fouth of Moulins. 



BESSE, JoKN,in Jj'w^raphy, of PeyrufCe, in the Rouergue, 

 was educated under M. Chirac, at Montpellicr, whole theory 

 of fermentation he adopted. He then went to Paris, where 

 he publill'.ed, in 1702, " Rtchcrches analytiques fur la 

 ftrufture du corps humain," 8vo. He derives all the 

 funAions of the body, and even the formation of the foetus, 

 from a due mixture of acid and alkali. He does not allow 

 the imagination of the mother to have the pov.-er of marking 

 or disfiguring the foetus in utero. The following year he 

 was created doftor of phyfic by the faculty at Paris, and 

 foon after was made phyfician to the queen dowager of Spnin. 

 In 1723, he pubiifhed " Ltttre critique, contre I'idee gene- 

 rale de I'cEConomie animale, et les oblervations fur la petite 

 verole," in i2mo. In this work, the firlt part of which was 

 written to oppofc the principles laid, down by Helvetius, he 

 gives an account of a malignant fpccies of fmall-pox, whicli 

 raged in the year 1716, and fpeaks of the benelit accruing 

 in thefe cafes from bleeding, and adminifteriiig purges, on the 

 attack of the fecondary fever, a doctrine approved by Drs. 

 Mead and Friend. He commends tlie diffection of dead bo- 

 dies, v.;ith the view of difcovering the caufes of d;fe:!fts, which 

 he frequently pradifed, and mentions his having found 13 

 calculi in the gall-bladder of a perfon who died of jaundice. 

 For other fmaller pieces by this writer, fee Haiiei's Bib. 

 Med. Piad. He died, we are told, at Paris, at an advanced 



Besse, in Commerce, a PerCan cooper coin, in value i{d 

 fterling. 



Besse, in Geography, a town of France, and principal place 

 of a diftricl in the department of the Puy de Dome, 6 leagues 

 fouth of Clermont. The town contains 1913, and the canton 

 11,016 perfons. Its extent comprehends 44^ kiiiometres 

 and 12 commuoes. N. lat. 4.5" 31'. E. long. 2^ 52'. — Alfo, 

 a town of Fiance, in the depart.nient of the Var, and chief 

 place of a canton in the difuict of Brignols, 6 miles S.E. of 

 Brignols. The town includes 1578, and the canton 8i65pcr- 

 fons. The territory coiitains 3 '.72 kiiiometres and 7 com- 

 munes. — Alfd, a town pf Frauce, in the depaittnenl of the 



Vol. IV. 



B E S 



Sartc, and chief place of a canton in the diftrift of St. Ca- 

 lais, on the river Braye, y miles fouth of St. Cslais. 



BESSENAY, a town of France, in the department of the 

 Rhone and Loire, and chief place of a canton in the diftrift 

 of Camp-de-Lyun, 4 leagues well of Lyons. 



BESSENBACH, a town of Germany, in the circle of the 

 Lower Rhine, and archbiihopric of Mentz ; 6 miles eail of 

 Afchaffenburg. 



BESSERNE, a fmall ifland of Denmark, 2 miles S.E. of 

 Veyeroc. 



BESS I, in yfncierit Geography, a people who inhabited a 

 diftriift of Thrace, near mount fixmus, called Be^cj. They 

 lived in huts, and maintained themfelvec by plundering their 

 neighbours. They were tlie moll favage and inhuman of alt 

 the Thraeians, according to the account given of them by St. 

 Jerom, Paulinus of Nola, Eutropius, and Ovid. Their chief 

 city, Ulcudama, is now known bj- the name of Adrianople. 

 Tliey lived under their own kings, undiflurbed by the neigh- 

 bouring princes, till the confulate of M. Licinius LueuUus 

 and C. Caffius Varus. Lucullus invaded their country ; after 

 a fignal viftory took pofl'effion of it, and fubjefted the 

 whole nation to the Roman laws. The Romans after- 

 wards allowed them to live under their own kings : but Pifo, 

 while he governed Macedon as proconful, having tveacheroufly 

 feized Rabocentus, whom Strabo calls prince of the BefO, 

 caufed him to be publicly beheaded ; and this affront fo eic- 

 afperated the whole nation, that they flaook off the Ro- 

 man yoke ; however, they were vanquiflied in a conCderable 

 battle by Oftavius, the father of Augullus. During the civil 

 wars of Rome, they again attempted to recover their liberty, 

 but were fubdutd by the famous M. Bmtus, junior. In the 

 reign of Auguilus, one Vologefcs, a native of the country 

 and prieft: of Bacchus, having, under pretence of religion, 

 affembled a numerous body of people, made hiir.felf mailer of 

 the whole country, and, entermg the Cherfonefus, committed 

 mod dreadful ravages ; but was at laft overcome by L. Pifo, 

 who obliged the favage inhabitar.ts to lay down their arms, 

 and fubmit to fuch cor.ditions as he was plisied to impofe. 

 From this time the Belli continued fubjeft to the Romans, 

 without making any further attempts to reco»er their ancient 

 liberty. Eutrop. 1. ii. Orof. I. iv. c. 3. Flor. L iv. c. 12. 

 Sueton. in Oclav. Dio Cafl". 1. xlvii. 



BESSIERES, in Geigraphy, a town of France, in the de- 

 partment of the Upper Garonne, y leagues N.E. of Touloufe. 

 BESSIGBEIM, a town of Germany, in the ciicle of 

 Svvabia, and duchy of \Vurtemberg, near the conflux of the 

 Ens and Necker, 8 miles fouth of the Heilbron, and 13 neith 

 of Stuttgart. The diftricl of the fame name is a good wine 

 country. 



BESSIN, the name, before the revolution, of a fmall 

 country of France, in Lower Normandy, near the fea-coaft. 



BESSINES, a town of France, in the department of the 

 Upper Vienne, and chief place of a canton in the dillricl of 

 Bellac, filuate in a deep, narrow, rocky valley, 6 leagues north 

 of Limoges. Tne town contains 2511, and the canton 9352 

 perfons. Itsterriton- includes iSokiiiometres, and 7Communcs, 

 BESSIS. See'BEs. 



Bessis Ccntffimit, denotes two thirds of centefimalintereft, 

 or ufury at eignt per cent. 



BESSOXIE, La, in Geogrnfthy, a town of France, in the 

 department of the Tarn, and chief place ot a canton in tlie 

 diltridl of Caftres, 3 leagues N.N.E. of Caftres. 



BESSY BELL, a mountain of Ireland, in the county 

 of Tyrone, I o miles fouth ot Sti-abane. 



BESTAAD, a town of Norway, 36 miles N.N.E. of 

 Drontheim. 



BESTAGNO, a town of Italy, in the duchy of Mont- 

 lenat, on the Bovmida, 1 8 miles esift of Alba. 



LI BEST AIL, 



