B E R 
Englifh fhips. This vermin multiplied To fall in St. 
George’s' itland, that they even covered ‘^e ground, and 
had nefts in tlie trees. They deftroyed ail the. fruits and 
corn within doors; nay, they increafed to Inch a degree, 
that Sr. George’s ifland was unable to maintain them, and 
t.liey twain over to the neighbouring islands, where they 
made as great havock. This calamity latled five years, 
and at latl ceated all of a hidden. 
On the expiration of Moor’s government, he was fuc- 
ceeded by captain Tucker, who particularly encouraged 
the culture of tobacco. Being a fevere difciplinarian, he 
held all under him to rigidly to duty, that five ot his Cub- 
je6ls planned as bold an enterprile for liberty as was per¬ 
haps ever put in execution. Their names were Barker, a 
gentleman; another Barker, a joiner; Goodwin, a fliip- 
carpenter ; Pact, a Tailor; and Saunders, who planned 
the enterprife. Their management was-as artful as their' 
delign was bold. Underttanding that the governor was 
deterred from tithing in an open boat, on account of the 
dangers attending it, they propofed to build him one of a 
particular contlrudtion, which accordingly they did in a 
Tecret part of the itland ; but, when the governor went to 
view his boat, he found that the builders had put to fea 
in it. Having provided themfelves with a few necetfaries, 
they Tailed for England; and notwithstanding the florins 
they encountered, their being plundered by a French pri¬ 
vateer, and the incredible hardfhips they underwent, they 
landed in forty-two days at Corke, in Ireland, where they 
were generoutly relieved and entertained by the earl of 
Thomond. 
In 1619, Tucker refigned his government to captain 
Butler. By this time the high character which the itlands 
bore in England rendered it fafiiionable for men of the 
liighetl rank to encourage their fettlement ; and feveral 
of the firft nobility of England had purchafed plantations 
among them. Captain Butler brought over with hint 500 
patfengers, who became planters on the itlands, and railed 
a monument to the memory of Sir George Somers. No 
fewer than 3000 Englifh were now fettled in the place, 
and feveral perfons of dillinCtion had curiofity enough to 
vilit it from England. Among thefe was Waller the poet, 
who fpent feveral months in the Somer-iflands, which he 
has celebrated in one of his poems as the mod delightful 
place in the world. The air is to healthy, that lick peo¬ 
ple from the continent of America frequently go thither 
for tlie recovery of their health. The winter is hardly 
perceptible, it may be faid to be perpetually fpring, tlie 
trees never lofe their verdure,. and t-he leaves only fall 
when new ones begin to appear; birds Ping and breed with¬ 
out intermillion; but thefe advantages are counterbalanced 
by frightful dorms, accompanied by formidable thunders, 
which are announced by a circle round the moon. Some 
fertile plains are feen, but in general the country is moun¬ 
tainous. The foil is of divers colours, brown, white, and 
red, of which the former is the bed ; although light and 
dony, it is in general rich and fertile ; the water is in ge¬ 
neral fair, having but little frefli, except rain-water pre- 
ferved in ciderns. The inhabitants gather two harveds of 
Indian corn in a year, one in July, the other in December : 
this forms the principal food of the inhabitants. T hey 
likewife cultivate tobacco, legumes, and fruit fufficient 
for their wants. Their trees are principally the cedar and 
palmetto,- tlie former is much efteemed for its fragrance, 
its durability, and beauty, and for the facility with which 
it is wrought. Of this wood they build their (hips, their 
houfes, and churches. The palmetto, a fpecies of wild 
palm, is not let's common, nor lefs ufeful ; the fruit re- 
tembles a plumb in its colour, form, and fize ; the wood 
Peeves-for building, and the leaves, which arc of an amaz¬ 
ing-length, are tiled to cover houfes. Befides thefe, they 
have orange-trees, olive, laurels, pear-trees, &c. The 
red wood is peculiar to thefe iflands, its coloured fruit 
feeds worms, which change to flies a little larger than 
cochineal, indead of which they are ufed. Another plant 
peculiar to them is a kind or creeping darnel, whofe root 
Vol. II. No. in. 
; . HER 9,13 
is mod, powerfully emetic. Here are a great, variety of 
birds, both of land and water; fith likewife abound upon 
the coad. Among the infects the fpider is remarkable for 
its lai-ge fize, but its beautiful colours diminilh the difguPr 
it infpires ; its web is in colour and fnbftance a perfect 
raw (ilk, and, running from tree to tree, (mail birds are 
fometimes to entangled as hardly to be able to efcape. 
There are no venomous reptiles in the ifland. In 1765, ;i 
fociety of the principal inhabitants engaged to form a li¬ 
brary of all bodks of economics in every language ; to em¬ 
ploy all healthy perfons of both fexes, according to their 
talents and their characlef, and to reward thofe who drilce 
out any new art, or improve one already known ; to pro¬ 
vide for the honed workman, who is become old or pati. 
labour; and to indemnify any individual who diotild, from 
any circumtlanCe, be opprelfed. Building of (hips and 
tloops for the Americans, is the principal trade of tlie in¬ 
habitants. Thefe itlands extend from north.ead to (outh- 
vved about fifteen leagues : the whole diorc is furrounded 
with rocks, mod of which are dry at low water, but co¬ 
vered at flood : 240 leagues fouth-ead from cape Fear in 
Virginia, and 280 ead from the continent of South Ca¬ 
rolina. The north point of thefe itlands lies lat. 32. 34. N. 
Ion. 63. 28. W. Greenwich. 
Bermudas Cedar,/ in botany. See Juniperus. 
BERMUDI A r N A,/'. in botany. See Sjsyrjnchium,. 
BER'NACLE.y. A fpecies of goofe. See Anas. 
BERNA'DA, a town of Italy, in the kingdom of Na¬ 
ples, and province of Calabria Ultra: five miles wed of 
St. Severina. 
BERNAGUR', a town of Hjndoftan, in the country of 
Bengal : five miles north-wed of Moorfhedabad. 
BER'NARD, [either of beam, Old Eng. a child, and 
ard, Dut. nature; or, as Verdigan, q. d. bebrn-heart, one 
of a dout heart.] A proper name of men. 
Bernard (St;), one of the fathers of the church, born, 
in 1091, at Fontaine, in Burgundy. In 1115, the monat- 
tery of Clairvaux was founded, and Bernard was made 
the fird abbot of this religious lioufe, where many famous 
men were bred up under his tuition. He acquired fo much 
edeem among the clergy, nobility, and common people, 
that no ecclefiadical affair or difpute was carried on with¬ 
out having recourfe to his advice. 11 was owing to lvim, 
that Innocent II. was acknowledged fovereign pontiff'; 
and after the death of Peter Leonis, anti-pope, that Vic¬ 
tor, who had been named fucceffor, made a voluntary ab¬ 
dication of his dignity. He convicled Abelard at the 
council of Sens, in 1140. He oppofed the monk Raoul ; 
lie perfecuted the followers of Arnaud de Brefle and in 
1148, he got Gilbert de la Porvice, bifliop of Poitiers, and 
Eon de l’Etoile, to be condemned in the council of Rheims. 
By fuch zealous behaviour he verified, fays Mr. Bayle, 
the interpretation of his mother’s dream. She dreamt, 
when (lie was with child of him, that (lie fliould bring 
forth a white dog, whole barking fliould be very loud. 
Being atlonitlied at this dream, the confulted a monk, who 
faid to her, “ Be of good courage ; you (hall have a fon 
who (hall guard the.houfe of God, and bark loudly againft 
the enemies of the faith.” He died in 1153, after having- 
founded 160 monafteries, and wrought innumerable mira¬ 
cles, and was made one of the great faints of tlie Romith 
communion. He left many works; the bed edition is 
that publiflied in 1690, by father Mabillon, 2 vols. folio. 
Bernard (Edward), a learned atlronomer, critic, and 
linguiff, was born at Perry St. Paul, near Towcefter, the 
2d of May 163S, and educated at Merchant-Taylor’s 1 
fchool, and at St. John’s college Oxford. Having laid in- 
a fund of clalfical learning in the Greek and Latin lan¬ 
guages, he applied fiimfelf very diligently at the .uni- 
verlity to the (ludy of hitlory, the eatlern languages, and 
mathematics, under the celebrated Dr. Wallis. In 1668 
lie went to Leyden to confult feme Oriental manuferipts 
left to that univerfity by Jofeph Scaliger and Levin War¬ 
ner, and efpecially the 5th, 6th, and 7th, books of Apol-’ 
lonius’s Conids, the Greek text to which is loti, and this- 
10 Z Arabic 
