92 6 B E S 
affecting on the fad condition of the prifoners in the feve- 
ral gaols, that the immediate regulation of them, as to 
accommodations and health, with the eftablifhment of 
the Hotel de Force, were among the happy effects of it. 
The abbe de Belplas was ferviceable to humanity, not 
only by his difcourfes, but by his works. We have by 
him a treatife, Of the Caufes of Public Happinefs, 177.8, 
2. vols. j 21UO. replete with excellent fuggeftions, political 
and moral, enriched with great and noble ideas, to which 
nothing is wanting but a more methodical arrangement. 
The fame cenfure might be palfed upon his Ettay on the 
Eloquence of the Pulpit ; a produdtion of his youth, of 
which the fecond edition of 1778 was carefully retouched. 
The abbe de Befplas was beneficent as much from incli¬ 
nation as from principle; he had the art of uniting viva¬ 
city with gentlenefs, of pleafing without affording room 
for fcandal, of being inftrudtive without pedantry, and to¬ 
lerant without indifference ; in his whole figure and de¬ 
portment was feen that ferenity, that gentle gaiety, which 
ever accompanies an honed and contented heart. 
BESPO'KE, irrcg. partial), from ke.fptak ; which fee. 
To BESPOT', v. a. [from fpot.~\ To mark with fpots. 
—Mildew refts on the wheat, befpotting the (talks with a 
different colour from the natural. Mortimer. 
To B ESPREAD', v. a. prefer, befpreacl ; part. pair, be- 
Jpread; [from fpread -2 To fpread over ; to cover over.—• 
The globe is equally bcfprcad ; fo that no place wants pro¬ 
per inhabitants. Derham. 
To B ESPRIN'K LE, v. a. [from Jprinkle. To fprinkle 
over; to leafier over.—Herodotus imitating the father 
poet, whofe life he Had written, hath befprinklcd his work 
with many fabuloiities. Broum. 
To BESPUT'TER, v. a. [from, /putter."] To fputter 
over fomething; to dawb any thing by fluttering, or 
throwing out fpittle upon it. 
BESSARA'BIA, or Budziac Tartarv, a fmall 
territory of Europe, bounded on the weff by Moldavia, 
on the fouth by the Danube, on the eaft by the Black Sea, 
and on the north by Rufiia. The inhabitants are the Bud¬ 
ziac Tartars. It was of old inhabited by the Arpii, a 
people of Lower Maefia, and their country was called the 
Dcfert of the Getce. It became afterwards part of the king¬ 
dom of Hungary, then of Moldavia, of which it is dill by 
fome confidered as a part. The country is partly mardry, 
and partly mountainous. The chief towns are Bender, 
Akerman, Kilia, and Ifmail. 
BESSA'RION, titular patriarch of Condantinople and 
archbifhop of Nice, and one of thofc illuftrious perfons 
who contributed to the refurrection of letters in the 15th 
century, was born at Trebifond. He was zealous to re¬ 
unite the Greek with the Latin church, and engaged the 
emperor John Pal.eologus to intered himfelf in bringing 
this great work about. He patted into Italy, appeared at 
the council of Florence, harangued the fathers, and made 
himfelf admired, as well by his modedy as by his uncom¬ 
mon abilities. The Greek fchifmatics conceived fo mortal 
an averfion to him, that he was obliged to remain in Italy; 
where pope Eugenius IV. honoured him with the purple 
in 1439. He fixed his abode at Rome, and would have 
been railed to the papal chair, if cardinal Alain had not 
oppofed it, as injurious to the Latin church, to choofe a 
Greek, however illudrious. He was employed in feveral 
embafiies, but that to France proved fatal to him. When 
legate at this court, he happened to vifit the duke of Bur¬ 
gundy before he faw Louis XI. which fo difconcerted 
the capricious haughty monarch, as to occafion him a very 
ungracious reception. Nay, the king even took the car¬ 
dinal legate by his mod magnificent beard, faying in his 
tine Latin, Barbara Grceca genus retinent quod haberefolebant ; 
and this affront fo chagrined the cardinal as to occafion his 
death, at Ravenna, .upon his return in 1472. Belfarion 
loved the literati and prote&ed them. Argyropilus, The¬ 
odore of Gaza, Poggius, Laurentius Valla, &c.- formed a 
kind of academy in his houfe. His library was large and 
Curious ; and the fenate of Venice, to whom he gave it, 
3 
B E S 
prcferve it to this day with attention and regard. He left 
fome works, which rank among thofe that helped to re¬ 
vive letters; as, Defenfio Dodtrinae Platonicas, &c. Tranf- 
lations of fome pieces of Aridotle; Orations, Epidles, &c. 
BESS AY', a town of France, in the department of the 
Allier, and chief place of a canton, in the diftridt of 
Moulins: eight miles fouth of Moulins. 
BESSE, f. A copper coin at Ormus, four cotbegs, in 
value one penny three farthings derling. 
Besse, a town of France, and principal place of a dif- 
trict, in the department of Puy de Dome: fix leagues fouth 
of Clermont, and four and a half weft of Ift'oire. Lat. 45. 
31. N. Ion. 20. 3S. E. Ferro. 
Besse, a town of France, in the department of the Var, 
and chief place of a canton, in the diftricl of Brignols ; 
ftx miles fouth-eaft of Brignols. 
Besse, a town of France, in the department of the 
Sarre, and chief place of a canton, in tire diftridf of St. 
Calais, on the river Braye : five miles Tenth of St. Calais. 
BES'SEN AY, a town of France, in the department of 
the Rhone and Loire, and chief place of a canton, in the 
diftt ift of Camp-de-Lyon : four leagues w eft of Lyons. 
BES'SENB ACFI, a town of Germany, in the circle of 
the Lower Rhine and archbifliopric of Mentz : fix miles 
eaft of AfcliafFenburg. 
BESSER'NE, a fmall ifland of Denmark: two miles 
fouth-eaft of Veyeroe. 
BES'SET (Henry de), tieur de la Chapelle-Milon, in- 
fpedtor of the fine arts under the marquis de Villacerf, and 
comptroller of the public works, when the great Colbert 
was appointed in 1683 fuperintendant of them. He was 
at the fame time fecretary to the academy of inferiptions 
and medals. His account'd the campaigns of Rocroi and 
Fribourg, in 1644 and 1645, 121110. written with an ele¬ 
gant fnnplicity, is a comple model in that fpecies of com¬ 
petition. He died in 1693. 
BES'SICA, a diftrift of Thrace towards mount Haem us, 
to the fouth of the Hebrus. It was inhabited by a fierce 
and barbarous people noted for their robberies. Their 
chief city Ufcudama is now Adrianople. They lived un¬ 
der their own king till the confulate of M. Licinius Lu- 
cullus and C. Caflius Varus ; when the conful Lucullus 
invaded their country, and, having gained a great vidtory 
over them, took their metropolis, and fubjedled the whole 
nation to the Roman laws. The Romans, notwithftand- 
ing they had fubdued them by force of arms, (till fuffered 
them to live under their own kings; for Pifo, while he 
governed Macedon in quality of proconful, having trea- 
cheroufiy feized Rabocentus, whom Suetonius calls prince 
of the Beffi, caufed him to be publicly beheaded. This 
affront fo exafperated the whole nation, that they revolted ; 
but were overthrown by Odtavius the father of Auguftus. 
During the civil wars of Rome they attempted to recover 
their liberty, but were again defeated by the famous M. 
Brutus. 
BESSIE'RES, a town of France, in the department of 
the Upper Garonne : five leagues north-eaft of Touloufe. 
BES'SIGHEIM, a town of Germany, in the circle of 
Swabia, and duchy of Wurtemburgh, near the conflux 
of the Eiis and Neckar: eight miles fouth of Heilbron, 
and thirteen north of Stuttgart. 
BES'SIN, before the revolution, a fmall country of 
France, in Lower Normandy, near the lea coaft. 
BESSI'NES, a towu of France, in the department of 
the Upper Vienne, and chief place of a canton, in the dif- 
tridh of Bellac : fix leagues north"of Limoges. 
BES'SONIE (La), a town of France, in the department 
of the Tarn, and chief place of a canton, in the diftrici of 
Caftres : three leagues north-nOrth-eaft of Caftres, and 
five fouth-fouth eaft of Alby. 
BES'SUS, a governor of Bactriana, who after the bat¬ 
tle of Arbela feized Darius, his fovereign, and put him to 
death. After this murder, he a (Turned the title of king y 
and was fome time after brought before Alexander, who 
gave him to Oxatres, the brother of Darius. The prince 
ordered 
