B E R 
he could rely ; and, in cafe of difagreement as to the ver- 
dicl, an umpire was finally to determine. 
The next important object that engaged the attention 
of this minifter, occurred in 1780: the American war en¬ 
riched the (ubjefts of thofe powers who were wife enough 
to maintain a rigorous and productive neutrality. The 
Dutch navigated the Baltic under the Danifii flag, and a 
Angle merchant of Copenhagen, Mr. Kcenig, was the no¬ 
minal proprietor of between five and fix hundred fail of 
merchantmen.. The neutrality of Denmark, however, was 
at times but little refpeCted, and that of the petty free 
towns of Hamburgh, Bremen, and Lubec, flill lei's. The 
emprefs, who was applied to by the courts of Copenhagen 
and Stockholm, found her ambition flattered with the idea 
of becoming proteChxls of the north. She accordingly 
placed herfelf at the head of an armed neutrality; and, as 
the meafure proved fucccfsful, always affe'dted to conlider 
it as her own plan. But it is now well known that this 
fclremc was-fjrft broached by the artful Vergennes; th,at the 
court of Denmark was interefted, and the king of Sweden 
influenced, to procure its (ucc.efs,_and that fome artful ob¬ 
jections, made purpofely by the latter, rendered the em- 
prefs more eager for its adoption. Prufiia, Auftria, Por¬ 
tugal, and molt of the nations of Europe, acceded to a 
treaty, which acquired popularity by having the free¬ 
dom of the leas for its avowed object. Denmark alone, 
however, reaped advantage from it; and the mini/ter of 
that country, readily anticipating the confluences, pre¬ 
ceded all the other powers, in ordering the plenipotentiary 
at the court of Ruffin to affix his figoature to it, which was 
accordingly accomplilhed on the 19th of July, 1780. 
No fooner had this object been attained, than another 
of far greater confequence to the caufe of (uttering huma¬ 
nity was undertaken and achieved. The degrading (late 
•of the villeins (a body that compofed the great majority 
ef the people of Europe during the middle age) is known 
to every one. They exifted in a ftate of bondage, but a 
degree removed from the fltuation of domefiic animals, 
either in condition or talent; they did not poftefs any rights, 
for they were not conlidered as c'rtizens ; they were not al¬ 
lowed to acquire any properly, for they were flaves. The 
countries on the borders of the Baltic were (fill retained in 
this horrid thraldom, when the emprefs Catherine, wifii- 
ing to conceal an atrocious action beneath a blaze of glory, 
convoked deputies from all the provinces of her extenfive 
■empire, in Mofcow, its ancient capital, in 1767. The af- 
franchifement of the peafants was one of the fubjecls de¬ 
bated on at this novel afiembly ; but the hoyars, or no¬ 
bles, clothing the dread of the diminution of their wealth 
with the pretext of an infurredtion of their ferfs, threat¬ 
ened to poinard the firft who fhoukl make “ fo unjtt(liva¬ 
ble a propolition ;” and this put an end to the fitting of 
ithe Ruffian ftates-general. This failure on the part of 
the emprefs, inftead of deereafing, added to tire zeal of 
the eider Bernftorff ; for that great minifter had already 
conceived the plan of liberating the Danilh peafantry out 
of bondage. The experiment was fiift tried on the do¬ 
mains of the crown ; the example of the prince was foon 
followed by the nobles ; in fine, what a fentiment of vir¬ 
tue could never perhaps have effected was produced in a 
ihort time by a fort of faffiionable humanity, and icon af¬ 
ter confirmed by a pofitive law : a column, eredted in the 
vicinity of Copenhagen, attefls at the fame time the gra¬ 
titude of the liberated peafantry and the glory of Bern¬ 
ftorff. The nephew of this great man, not content with 
the enfranchifement of his own countrymen, turned his 
-eyes towards the colonies of Denmark, and refolved to a- 
jneliorate the lot of the negroes. The traffic in the fiefh 
and blood of our fellow-creatures Lie was determined to 
reform ; and he accordingly preferihed a day, beyond 
which the (ale of an African fhould be deemed unlawful; 
and in 1804 this abominable traffic in that country is to 
ceafe. After this Ihort account of the adminiftration of a 
• great minifter and a great man, it is painful to add, that 
lie was fnatched fuddenly away, and died at Copenhagen, 
B E R gig 
on the 21 ft of June, 1797. In his perfon, the count de 
Bernftorff was about the middle fize : his figure was no¬ 
ble and prepoflefling : his language was choice, fluent, and 
lie may be laid to have poffieffed a natural eloquence, for 
it can be acquired only in a free country. He was model!, 
polite, frank', and, although a ftatefman, was never known 
to forfeit his promife. He polfelfed neither the .coldnef’s 
nor the faithlelfnefs of a politician ; his heart was replete 
with i'enfibility, and, although accuftomed to fit beneath 
the canopy of a throne, he never once forgot that he was 
a man. 
BERNU'LPB, [beam, ilfue, and ulph, help, Sax. ore 
that provideth for his children. J A king of the Mercians. 
BER'NUS, a mountain of European Turkey, in Mace¬ 
donia: ten miles louth-eaft of Saloniki. 
BER'NY, a town of France : two leagues S. of Paris, 
To BEROB', v. a. [from rob. J To rob ; to plunder ; 
to wrong any, by talcing away fomething from him by. 
Health or violence. Not itfcd : 
She faid, Ah, deareft lord! what evil ftar 
On you hath frown’d, and pour’d his influence bad, 
That of yonrfelf you thus berobbed are r Spenfcr. 
BEROE'A, anciently a-city of Macedonia, to the fouth 
of E.deffa, or Higte, and fouth-eaft: ot Cyrtus. The peo¬ 
ple are commended in feripture for their reception of the 
gofpel on a fair and impartial examination.—Another 
Bercea of Syria, called alio Bcroe, and by the inhabitants 
Bcro'ea. It was the tradition for fome ages, that it is the 
modern Aleppo ; called Chalcp in Nicetas, Nicephorus, 
and Zonaras; from which it is fuppoied the prelent ap¬ 
pellation Aleppo is derived. 
BE'ROLHEIM, a town of Germany, in-the circle of 
Franconia, and principality of Anjpach, (ituated on the A-lt- 
muhl, with two churches: five miles weft of Weiflenburgh. 
BERGOT', or Bairout, a town of Phoenicia, a pro¬ 
vince of Syria, in Turkey in Afia. It is the ancient Be- 
rytus ; but there are now no remains of its former beauty,, 
except its fituation. It (lands in a plain, which from the 
foot of Lebanon runs out into the fea, narrowing to a point, 
about two leagues from the ordinary line of the fliore, and 
on the north fide forms a long road, which receives the 
river of Nabr-el-Salib, called alfo Nahr-Bairout. 
BERO'SUS, a native of Babylon, prieft to Belus. He 
palled into Greece, and remained a long time at Athens. 
Pie compofed an hiftcry of Chaldrea, ana fignalized hirrt- 
felf by his aftronomical predictions, and was rewarded for 
his learning with a ft a toe in the gymnafmm at Athens. 
The age in which he lived is not precifely known, though 
fome fix it in the reign of Alexander, or 268 years B. C. 
Some fragments of his Chaldtean hiftory are preferved by 
Jofe,phus, c'ontra Appian. & in Antiq. Jud. 105. The book 
that is now extant under his name, and (peaks of kings 
who never exifted, is 'a’fuppofititious fabrication. 
BERQU 1 N' (Lewis de), a gentleman of Artois, who 
was biynt for being a-proteftanf, at Paris, 1529. He was 
lord of a village, whence he took his name, and for fome 
time made a conliderable figure at the court of France, 
where he was honoured with the title of king’s counfellor. 
Erafmus fays, that his great crime was openly profeffing 
to hate the monks ; and from thence arofe his warm con- 
teft with William Qpernus, one of the moll violent inqui- 
fitors of his/time. A charge of hereby was brought againfi: 
him, and the articles of his accufation were drawn out of a 
book which lie had publifhed. The caufe being tried, 
fentence was palled againfi him ; viz. that his books be 
committed to the flames; that he retract his errors, and 
make a proper fubmiffion ; and, if he refufe to comply, that 
he be burnt. Being a man of an undaunted fpirit, he 
would fubmit to nothingp and, being therefore condemned 
as an obftinate heretic, lie was ftjrangled on the Greve, and 
afterwards burnt. He fuffered death with great ccnltancy 
and re.fdlution, being then about forty years of age. 
BER'RE, a town of France, in the department of the 
Mouths-of the Rhone, and chief place of a canton, in the- 
•diftrief. 
