B E R 
Berwick, as well as to every other of the dominions of 
the crown of England; and that indiQments and other 
local matters arifing in the town of Berwick, may be tried 
by a jury of the county of Northumberland, The town 
was always confidered as the key of Scotland ; it is popu¬ 
lous, and has a confiderable manufacture of fine dockings. 
The harbour is but mean, and not navigable very fair with¬ 
in it; for the bridge is within one mile and a half of the 
bar, at the mouth of the river, though the tide flows four 
miles above the town. The bar is alfo too high for any 
(hips that draw' above twelve feet water, nor is there any 
good riding in the offings near it. Its fair is in Trinity- 
week ; markets Wednefday and Saturday. It is 54 miles 
fouth of Edinburgh, and 335- and a half north of London. 
Advancing from Berwick into Scotland, we have the 
fea on the right hand, and the river Tweed on the left. 
The river Annan has its fource at Arrick-ftone, near thofe 
of the Clyde and the Tweed. It is very remarkable, that 
though thefe three rivers rife as it were together, they run 
into different feas ; the Tweed into the German ocean, the 
Clyde into the Irifh fea, and the Annan into the Solway 
Firth, after palling through the ltewartry of Annandale, 
to which it gives name. Near Berwick is Mornington, a 
village, which gives the title of lord to a branch of the 
noble family of Douglas. About three miles farther eaft 
is a fmall harbour, with a town called Aymouth, where 
a fort was formerly raifed to curb the garrifon of Berwick. 
This town gave title of baron to John the great duke of 
Marlborough ; but, the patent being granted only to him 
and the heirs male of his own body, the honour was extin- 
guifhed with him. 
Berwick (North), a town of Scotland, in the county 
of Haddington, on the coa’ft of the German ocean, at the 
fouth fide of the entrance into the Frith of Forth. It is 
a royal borough, and afliffs, with four other places, to re¬ 
turn one member to the Britifh parliament ; nine miles 
north of Haddington. 
BER'WICKSHIRE, or Mers, a county of Scotland, 
bounded on the north-eafl by the German fea, on the fouth- 
eaft by Northumberland and Roxburghfhire, on the fouth- 
weff by Roxburghfhire and Edinburghfhire, and on the 
north-weft by Haddingtonfhire ; twenty-three miles long, 
and fifteen broad. It obtained the name of Mers, or 
March, becaufe it was one of the borders towards Eng¬ 
land. The river Tweed marks its boundary on the fide of 
Northumberland ; the country is level towards the fouth; 
but northward it is diftinguifhed by a range of hills. It is 
fertile in corn and pafture, feeding a great number of fheep 
and cattle. It contains feveral towns and thirty-five pa- 
rifires. The principal towns are Dunfe, Coldftream, Lau¬ 
der, and Aymouth. The fhire of Berwick is generally 
divided into three diftridls, viz. Mers, Lawermuir, and 
Lauderdale. The Mers is low, pleafant, and fruitful in 
corn. Lawermuir is a hilly country, abounding with game, 
and yielding pafture for fheep and black cattle. Lauder¬ 
dale is a tradl of land lying on each fide of the river Lau¬ 
der, agreeably varied with hill, dale, and foreft, produ¬ 
cing good ftore of corn and pafturage, and giving the title 
of earl to the family of Maitland. 
BE'RY, or Bury, J. The vill or feat of habitation of 
a nobleman, a dwelling or manfion houfe, being the chief 
of a manor; from the Saxon beorg, which fignifies a hill 
or caftle ; for heretofore noblemen’s feats were caftles fitu- 
ated on hills, of which we have Hill fome remains; as in 
Herefordfhire there are the beries of Stockton, Hope, &c. 
It was anciently taken for a fandtuary. See Beria. 
BE'RYL, f. Gr. from nVyo Chald. called 
by lapidaries aqua marina ,] is a pellucid gem of a bluifh 
green colour, found in the Eaft Indies, and about the gold 
mines of Peru : we have alfo fome from Silefia, but what 
are brought from thence are oftener coloured cryftals than 
real beryls ; and, when they are genuine, they are greatly 
inferior both in hardnefs and luftre to the oriental and Pe¬ 
ruvian kinds. The beryl, like rnoft other gems, is met 
with both in the pebble and columnar form, but in the lat- 
B E S 923 
ter mod frequently. In the pebble form it ufually appears 
of a roundilh but flatted figure, and commonly full of 
fmall flat faces, irregularly difpofed. In the columnar or 
cryftalline form it always conlifts of hexangular columns, 
terminated by hexangular pyramids. It never receives 
any admixture of colour into it, nor lofes the blue and 
green, but has its genuine tinge in the degrees from a very 
deep and dulky to the pale ft imaginable of the hue of fea- 
water. Cronftedt calls the lighter-coloured ftone aqua 
marina, and the darker, the beryl. In its perfedt ftate, it 
approaches to the hardnefs of the garnet, but is often foft- 
er ; and its fize is from that of a fmall tare to that of a 
horfe-bean, or even a walnut. It may be imitated by ad¬ 
ding to twenty pounds of cryftal-glafs made without mag- 
nefia, fix ounces of calcined brafs or copper, and a quarter 
of an ounce of prepared zaffre. The properties of the be¬ 
ryl were very wonderful in the opinion of the ancient na- 
turalifts: it kept people from falling into ambufeades of 
enemies, excited courage in the fearful, and cured difeafes 
of the eyes and ftoinach. It does none of thefe things 
now; becaufe thefe are not the days of fuperftition. 
Beryl-Crystai,, J'. A fpecies of what Dr. Hill calls 
tllipomacrojlyla, or imperfedt cryftals, is of an extreme pure„ 
clear, and equal, texture, and fcarcely ever fubjeft to the 
flighted: films or blemifhes. It is ever conftant to the pe¬ 
culiarity of its figure, which is that of a long and (lender 
column, remarkably tapering towards the fop, and very 
irregularly hexangular. It is of a fine tranfparence, and 
naturally of a pale brown ; ami carries fuch evident marks 
of diftindlion from all brown cryftals, that our lapidaries 
call it, by way of eminence, the beryl-cryjlal, or limply 
the beryl. 
BERY'TUS, anciently a fea-port town of Phoenicia on 
the Mediterranean, thought to have been built by Saturn. 
It was deftroyed by Tryphon, but rebuilt by the Romans. 
Agrippa placed here two legions, whence it became a co¬ 
lony. It enjoyed the jus Italicum, and had an excellent 
fchool for the ftudy of the law in Juftinian’s time. Now 
Beroot. 
BER'ZOWITZ, a town of Hungary; twelve miles 
north-north-eaft of Leutfch. 
BES, or Bessis, in Roman antiquity, two-thirds of 
the as, or Roman pound. 
BESA'GNO, a river of Italy, which rifes in the Apen¬ 
nines, and runs into the fea at Genoa. 
BESAI'LE, or Besayle, f \_befayeul, Fr. proavus „ 
Lat.] The father of the grandfather ; and in the common 
law it fignifies a writ that lies where the great grandfather 
was feifed, the day that he died, of any lands or tenements 
in fee-fimple ; and after his death a ftranger entereth the 
fame day upon him, and keeps out the heir. F. N.B. 222. 
See tit. Mart d'AnceJlor. 
BESALU', a town of Spain, in Catalonia, at the foot 
of the Pyrenees. ' It had anciently its particular counts. 
Pope Benedict VIII. erected it into an archbiftiopric, which 
was afterwards fupprefled : feven leagues from the Medi¬ 
terranean, and five north from Gerona. 
BESANCON, a city of France, and capital of the de¬ 
partment of the Doubs ; before the revolution it was the 
capital of Franche Comte, and the fee of an archbiftiop. 
Befanyon is fituated in a bottom between mountains, on 
the Doubs, whofe waters almoft furround and divide it in¬ 
to Upper and Lower town, joined by a handlome bridge. 
It has fix gates, three to the upper and three to the lower 
town. It is ftrong both by art and nature, being defend¬ 
ed by a wall flanked with eight towers like baftions; the 
citadel is a long fquare built on a (harp rock ; under the 
Romans it was one of the molt magnificent places which 
they had in Gaul, and many remains of their fuperb build¬ 
ings are yet vifible : after the death of Julian, it was near¬ 
ly deftroyed by the Germans, and a fecond time by Attila. 
It afterwards became an imperial city, till the time of 
Louis XIV. who, in the year 1674, made himfelf mailer 
of it, and united it to France. The univerfity is an an¬ 
cient and celebrated foundation, and in 1732 a literary and' 
military 
