pnugues/EB7 huggingface dataset:
BERGOO, an extensive country of interior Africa, between Darfur and Begherme. It is traversed by a large river, which appears to be the Misselad of Browne. A considerable part of the territory is described as mountainous, inhabited by warlike tribes, who sometimes swell [7:4:584]the armies of the state, sometimes make war against it. The people of Bergoo are rigid Mahommedans, but are surrounded by fierce pagan tribes, into whose territory they make frequent incursions, probably with the view of procuring slaves. They often, however, meet a formidable resistance, being encountered with poisoned arrows, and spears heated red-hot. The only grains raised in the country are dhourra and millet; but it produces a considerable quantity of natron and salgem, which are exported by the caravans to Cairo. The capital is Wara or Hara, situated on the great river which passes through Bergoo.
BERGZABERN, a canton in the circle of the Rhine, and kingdom of Bavaria, whose chief city, of the same name, contains about 1600 inhabitants. It comprehends two market-towns and twenty-nine villages, with about 6500 inhabitants.
BERIA, Berie, Berry, signifies a large open field; and hence those cities and towns in England, the names of which end with that word, are built on plain and open places, and do not derive their names from boroughs, as Sir Henry Spelman imagines. Most of our glossographers, in the names of places, have confounded the word berie with that of bury and borough, as if it had been the appellative of ancient towns; whereas the true sense of the word berie is a flat wide champaign, as is proved from sufficient authorities by Dufresne, who observes that Eeria Sancti Edmundi, mentioned by Matthew Paris, 1174, is not to be taken for the town, but for the adjoining plain.
BERING, Sinus, of Copenhagen, a Latin lyric poet, who flourished about 1560.
BERKHAMSTEAD, Great, a market-town of the hundred of Dacorum, in the county of Hertford, twenty-seven[7:4:586] miles from London. It is situated in a valley through which the Grand Junction Canal is carried, and the river Colne passes. The chief employment is making straw plait, and some thread lace. The inhabitants amounted in 1801 to 1690, in 1811 to 1963, and in 1821 to 2310.
BERKOFDSCHA or Bergovacs, a city of the government of Sofia, in Turkey in Europe. It is situated on the south side of the Balkan Mountains, near to the celebrated mine of Kerus, and has 2500 inhabitants.
BERLIN, the capital of the Prussian dominions, as well as of the province of Brandenburg. It is built on both sides of the navigable river Spree, which is divided in its course into several branches, over which are bridges connecting together the several parts of the city. It is divided into eight different quarters, and surrounded with a wall, but too weak to be useful for defensive purposes, and only adapted to the purposes of civic revenue. It is a beautifully built city, with broad streets, though as badly paved as in other continental places; and most of the houses are magnificent. The public buildings, such as the university, the schloss or royal palace, the opera-house, the guard-house, the mint, and the palace of Monbijoux, are quite equal to those in other capitals. The gates are very elegant, especially that leading to the park, called the Brandenburg gate, which is an exact copy of the propylaeum at Athens, and in the centre of which is again placed the chariot and horses which the French carried to Paris in 1807. The public walks, especially the Linden, are laid out with great taste; and the environs, in spite of a naturally poor soil, are cultivated so as to produce a very pleasing effect. Berlin is the chief seat of the science and learning of Prussia, and indeed of Germany. These are fostered by the university, by the valuable public libraries, and collections of the various objects of natural history and antiquities, by the several learned societies, and by the protection of the monarch and of the royal tamuy. The hospitals and other charitable institutions are very numerous and well regulated, and afford excel-ent means of furnishing instruction to medical pupils.

Berlin is an industrious manufacturing place, and produces silk, woollen, and cotton goods, of good quality. Paper, glass, porcelain, chemical preparations, musical ļ and mathematical instruments, and other commodities, forming a large mass, are also made within the city. The number of inhabitants in 1817 was 182,387, of whom 174,428 were Protestants. They have since increased, and at the end of 1826 amounted to 231,650. Long. 13. 15. 25. E. Lat. 52. 31. 30. N.

Berlin, a sort of vehicle, of the chariot kind, taking its name from the city of Berlin, in Germany; though some attribute the invention of it to the Italians, and derive the word from berlina, a name given by them to a sort of stage, on which persons are exposed to public shame. The berlin is a very convenient machine to travel in, being lighter, and less apt to be overturned, than a chariot. The body of it is hung high, on shafts, by leathern braces; and there is a kind of stirrup or footstool for the convenience of getting into it. Instead of side-windows, some have screens to let down in bad and draw up in good weather.
BERME, in Fortification, a space of ground left at the foot of the rampart, on the side next the country, designed to receive the ruins of the rampart, and prevent their filling up the fosse. It is sometimes palisadoed for the greater security, and in Holland it is generally planted with a quickset hedge. It is also called liziere, relais, foreland, retrait, pays de souris, &c.
BERNARDINE, St, was born at Massa, in Tuscany, in 1380. In 1404 he entered into a Franciscan monastery near Sienna, where he became an eminent preacher, and was afterwards sent to Jerusalem as commissary of the Holy Land. On his return to Italy he visited several cities, where he preached with such applause that Ferrara, Sienna, and Urbino, applied to Pope Eugenius IV. to appoint him their bishop; but Bernardine refused the honour, accepting only the office of vicar-general of the Friars of the Observance for all Italy. He repaired and founded above three hundred monasteries in that country, died in 1444, and was canonized by Pope Nicholas in 1450. His works were published at Venice in 1591, in 4 vols. 4to.
BERNARDINES, an order of monks founded by Robert, abbot of Molême, and reformed by St Bernard. They wear a white robe with a black scapulary, and when they officiate are clothed with a large gown, which is all white, and has large sleeves, with a hood of the same colour. The Bernardines differ very little from the Cistercians, and trace their origin to about the beginning of the twelfth century.
BERNAY, an arrondissement of the department of the Eure, in France, extending over 450 square miles, comprehending six cantons and 144 communes, with 79,813 inhabitants. The capital is a city of the same name on the river Charenton, with 6569 inhabitants, chiefly manufacturers of linen and woollen goods. Long. 1. 17. E. Lat. 49. 6. N.
BERNBURG, a city, the capital of the duchy of Anhalt-Bernburg. It is situated on the river Saale, by which it is divided into two parts. It is the seat of the ducal courts of judicature, revenue, and other branches of administration. The sovereign residence or castle is on an elevation, surrounded with deep ditches, below which are the gardens and a fine orangery. It is a neat well-built capital in miniature, with a college, a mint, a gymnasium, orphanhouse, and other public buildings. It has some trade in [7:4:590] brewing, in making snuff, earthenware, and ironmongery. It contains 5130 inhabitants. Long. 11. 39. 23. E. Lat. 51. 47. 55. N.
BERNCASTEL, a circle in the Prussian government of Treves, extending over 211 square miles, or 135,040 acres. It contains one town and sixty-six communes, with 32,726 inhabitants. The northern part is mountainous and woody; the southern, on the banks of the Moselle, is fruitful in corn, wine, and fruit. The town, which confers a name on the circle, stands on the Moselle, and contains 1571 inhabitants.
BERNICLE Shell. See Conchology, Index. Berniclľ. See Ornithology, Index.
BERNIER, Nicholas, an eminent musician and composer, was born at Mante on the Seine, in the year 1664. Owing to his merit in his profession he was appointed conductor of the music in the chapel of St Stephen, and afterwards in that of the king. The regent duke of Orleans admired his works, and patronized their author. Bernier died at Paris in 1734. His five books of cantatas and songs for one and two voices, the words of which were written by Rousseau and Fuselier, have procured him great reputation. There are, besides, of his composition, Les Nuits de Sceaux, and many motets, which musicians still consider masterly productions.

Bernier, Prancis, surnamed the Mogul on account of his travels and residence in that country, was born at Angers in France. After he had taken his degree of doctor of physic at Montpellier, he left his country in 1654, and visited Egypt, the Holy Land, and the kingdom of the Mogul, where he became physician to the sovereign, attended him in his journeys, and remained twelve years. Upon his return to France, he published the history of the countries he had visited, and spent the remainder of his life in composing various other works, particularly an abridgment of the philosophy of Gassendi, in 8 vols. 12mo.
BERNIER’S Island, a small island near the mouth of Shark’s Bay, on the western coast of New Holland. The island consists of regular horizontal beds of sand and limestone, containing shells which sometimes appear at the height of 150 feet above the level of the sea. Vegetation is languid; the chief production being a species of cyprus, the long roots of which spread over the soil like net-work. Cormorants and sea eagles in small numbers are found in the island; and there are three species of lizards, one of which measures between four and five feet in length. A beautiful kangaroo is peculiar to this and two neighbouring islands, which, though timid, makes a vigorous resistance in defence of its young, few animals being more conspicuous for maternal affection. Lat. 24. 50. S.
BERNINI, John Laurence, commonly called Cavalier βernin, a Neapolitan, remarkable for his skill in painting, sculpture, architecture, and mechanics. He first began to be known under the pontificate of Paul V., and Rome is indebted to this artist for some of its greatest ornaments. He died at Rome in 1680.
BERNO, abbot of Richenou, in the diocese of Constance, flourished about the year 1008, and is celebrated as a poet, rhetorician, musician, philosopher, and divine. He was the author of several treatises on music, particularly of one De Instrumentis Musicalibus, which he dedicated to Arrabon, archbishop of Mentz; and he also wrote De Mensura Monochordes. But the most celebrated of his works is a treatise De Musica seu Tonis, which he wrote and dedicated to Pclcgrin, archbishop of Cologne. This latter tract is part of the Baliol manuscript, and follows the Enchiridion of Odo; containing a summary of the doctrines delivered by Boethius, an explanation of the ecclesiastical tones, intermixed with frequent exhortations to piety, and the application of music to religious purposes.
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He was highly favoured by the Emperor Henry II. for his great learning and piety, and succeeded so well in his endeavours to promote learning, that his abbey of Riche- ∏ou was as famous in his time as those of St Gal and Cluni, then the most celebrated in France. He died in 1048, and was interred in the church of the monastery, which, but a short time before,he had dedicated to St Mark.
BEROEA, in Ancient Geography, a city of Macedonia, to the south of Edessa or Aegae, and south-east of Cyrtus. The people are commended in Scripture for their reception of the Gospel. There was another Beroea in Syria, called also Eeroe, and by the inhabitants Beroëa. It is supposed to be identical with the modern Aleppo, which appears to have been so called from Chalep, the name given to Beroea by Nicetas, Nicephorus, and Zonaras.
BEROLA, Nuova, a market-town in the Austrian kingdom of Lombardy, in the delegation of Brescia. It is situated on the river Strone, and contains two churches, an orphan-house, and 4450 inhabitants.
BEROOT. See Bairout.
BEROOZE, a circle in the Austrian kingdom of Hungary. It extends over 1680 square miles, or 1,θ75,840 acres, and comprehends nine towns and 237 villages, with 139,750 inhabitants. It is mostly a marshy plain, and suffers from the heat and moisture of the climate. The soil is productive in wheat, maize, flax, hemp, and tobacco. It has none but domestic manufactures, and no mineral wealth. The chief place has the same name, and was formerly fortified. Long. 17.20. 24. E. Lat. 45. 51. 14. N.
BEROSUS, priest of the temple of Bclus at Babylon in the time of Ptolemy Philadelphus, and author of the History of Chaldaea, a work often cited by the ancients, and of which Josephus gives some curious fragments.
BERRE, a town of France, in the department of the Mouths of the Rhone, seated on a lake of the same name. It contains 1800 inhabitants, and is remarkable for the quantity and excellence of the salt that is made there. Long. 5. 9. E. Lat. 43. 22. N.
BERRETINI da Crotona, Pietro, historical and landscape painter, was born at Crotona in 1596, and, according to some writers, was a disciple of Andrea Commodi, though others affirm that he was the disciple of Baccio Ciarpi. He is allowed to have been of as great and enlarged a genius as most of his profession, and to have painted more agreeably than many of the artists who were his contemporaries. He went to Rome when young, and applied himself diligently to study the antiques and the works of Raphael, Buonarotti, and Polidoro, by which he improved both his taste and his hand, and distinguished himself above most artists of his time. He died in 1669. Some of his best works are in the Barberini palace at Rome, and the Palazzo Pitti at Florence.
BERRETONI, Nicoo, historical painter, was born at Macerata in 1617, and became a disciple of Carlo Maratti, under whom he studied design and colouring for several years, and attained such excellence that he excited the jealousy and envy of his master, who seemed to be apprehensive of finding a powerful competitor and rival in his pupil. He died in 1682.
BERRIMAN, Dr William, was the son of Mr John Bernman, apothecary in Bishopsgate Street, London, where he was born in 1688. He studied at Oriel College, Oxford, where he took his several degrees, and became curate and lecturer of All-Hallows in Thames Street, and lecturer of St Michael’s Queenhithe. In 1720 he was appointed domestic chaplain to Dr Robinson, bishop of London, who soon after collated him to the living of St Andrew’s Undershaft; in 1727 he was elected fellow of Eton College; and he died in 1750 in the sixty-second year of his age. He wrote, 1. A seasonable Review of Mr Whiston’s Account of Primitive Doxologies; 2. An Historical Account of the Trinitarian Controversy, in eight sermons, at Lady Moyer’s lecture; 3. Brief Remarks on Mr Chandler’s Introduction to the History of the Inquisition; 4. Sermons at Boyle’s lectures, 2 vols. 8vo; 5. Christian Doctrines and Duties explained and recommended, in 2 vols. 8vo; and other works.
BERSABE, in Ancient Geography, a town in the tribe of Simeon, and the southern boundary not only of this tribe, but of the whole land of Israel, as appears by the common expression “from Dan to Bersabe,” or, as it is ir our translation, Beersheba. It was the residence of the patriarchs Abraham and Isaac, and received from the former its name, which signifies the well or fountain of the oath. Eusebius and Jerome say that there was a citadel and large village of this name in their time. In thelower age it was called Castrum Versabini.
BERSARH, in writers of the middle ages, means a kind of hunters or sportsmen, who pursued wild beasts in forests and chases. The word is either derived from the barbarous Latin bersare, to shoot with a bow, or from bersa, the fence or pales of a park.
BERTINORO, a city in the delegation of Forli, in the papal dominions in Italy, the seat of the bishop of the united dioceses of Forlempopoli and Bertinora. It stands on a hill, below which the river Ronca flows, and is celebrated for the excellence of its wine. It contains about 4000 inhabitants. Long. 12. 2. 30. E. Lat. 44. 8. 34. N.
BERY, or Bury, the villa or seat of habitation of a nobleman, a dwelling or mansion-house, being the chief of a manor. It is derived from the Saxon beorg i which signifies a hill or castle. Bery. See Beria.
BERYTUS, in Ancient Geography. See Beirout.
BESAILE, in Law, a writ that lies where the greatgrandfather was seised in fee of any lands, tenements, or messuages, at the time of his death, and after his decease a stranger enters thereon, and excludes the lawful heir.
BESANCON, an arrondissement of the department of the Doubs, in France, extending over 560 square miles, comprehending eight cantons and 201 communes, with 90,154 inhabitants. The chief city, of the same name, is situated on the river Doubs, which flows round it on three sides. It is strongly fortified, being protected by a fort and citadel; and is a well-built city, containing many Roman antiquities, and, partly from its various manufactures, partly from its canal, which is intended to unite the Saone with the Rhine, is at present in a flourishing condition. It contains, besides the cathedral, eight churches, eight hospitals, and 3293 houses, with 28,436 inhabitants. Long. 5. 56. 26. E. Lat. 47. 14. 12. N.
BESANT, or Bezant, a coin of pure gold, of uncertain value, which was struck at Byzantium in the time of the Christian emperors; and hence the gold offered by the king at the altar is called besant or bisant.
BESHESK, a circle in the Russian government ofTwer, containing 16,457 square miles, with two cities and 171 parishes, and a population of 169,500 persons. The chief place, of the same name, is on the river Mologa, and contains about 4000 inhabitants, employed chiefly in the linen manufacture. Long. 36. 45. E. Lat. 57. 55. N.
BESINGHEIM, a bailiwick, taking its name from the city, which is on the Neckar, where it receives the waters of the Ens. It contains 2310 inhabitants, and is situated in the circle of the Neckar, and kingdom of Wirtemburg. It extends over fifty-seven square miles, contains four cities, five market-towns, and thirteen villages, with 27,286 inhabitants.
BESISTAN, or Berstein. In Constantinople, Adrianople, and some other towns in Turkey, they call those places where the merchants have their shops, and expose their merchandises to sale, besistans, which are commonly large galleries, vaulted over, and having gates, which are shut every night.
BESOUL, an arrondissement of the department of the Upper Saone, in France, containing ten cantons, 239 communes, with 106,670 inhabitants, and extending oyer 905 square miles. The chief city, of the same name, is situated near the river Drugeon, and contains 915 houses, with 5376 inhabitants. Long. 5. 4. E. Lat. 47. 37. N.
BESOZZI, or Bezutius, Ambrogio, a painter of some eminence, was born at Milan in 1648. He worked for a time under Gioseffo Danedi, called Montalti, and afterwards went to Rome, where he studied from the antiques and the pictures of the greatest masters. He died at Milan in 1706, aged fifty-eight.
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BESSARABIA. See Russia.
BESSARION, titular patriarch of Constantinople, archbishop of Nice, and one of those illustrious persons who contributed to the revival of letters in the fifteenth century, was born at Trebizond. He was very zealous to reunite the Greek with the Latin church, and induced the Emperor John Palaeologus to interest himself in bringing about this great work. He passed into Italy, appeared at the council of Florence, harangued the fathers, and made himself admired as well by his modesty as by his uncommon abilities. The Greek schismatics conceived so great an aversion 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 raised to the papal chair if Cardinal Alain had not represented it as injurious to the Latin church to choose a Greek, however illustrious. He was employed in several embassies; but that to France proved fatal to him. When legate at this court, he happened to visit the Duke of Burgundy before he saw Louis XL, which so displeased the capricious and tyrannical monarch, that he gave the cardinal a very ungracious reception, and even took him by his magnificent heard, saying, in his Latin patois, Barbara Groeca genus retinent quod habere solebant; an affront which so chagrined the cardinal, as, according to Matthieu, to occasion his death at Ravenna upon his return, in 1472. Bessarion loved literary men and protected them. Argy-ropilus, Theodore Gaza, Poggius, Laurentius Valla, and others, formed in his house a kind of academy, and pursued their studies in some measure under his direction. His library was large and curious; and he left some works, as Defensio Doctrines Platonicae, translations of some pieces of Aristotle, orations, epistles, &c., which materially contributed to the revival of letters.
BESSICA, in Ancient Geography, a district of Thrace, towards Mount Haemus, to the south of the Hebrus. It was inhabited by a fierce and barbarous people, noted for their robberies. Their chief city, Uscudama, is now known by the name of Adrianople. They lived under their own kings till the consulate of Μ. Licinius Lucullus and C. Cassius Varus, when the consul Lucullus invaded their country, and, having gained a great victory over them, took their metropolis, and subjected the whole nation to the power of Rome.
BESTAIL, or Bestial, in ancient statutes, all kinds of beasts or cattle, especially those purveyed for the king’s provision.
BESTIARII, in Roman Antiquity, those who fought against beasts, or were exposed to them by a sentence of the law.
BESZPRIM, a circle in the Austrian kingdom of Hungary, near the great lake of Platten, the south-east part of which is included within it. It comprehends 1517 square miles, or 970,880 acres, and contains one city, nine towns, and 253 villages, and about 151,868 inhabitants, chiefly of Sclavonian origin. The Catholics are six ninths, the reformed two ninths, and the Lutherans one ninth of the people. The soil is rich, and yields good corn, wine, tobacco, flax, and fruits. More than one third of the land is under wood, which provides fuel, and much of it is also converted into potash. The chief place, a city of the same name, is the seat of the departments of the local administration, and contains about 4850 inhabitants. Long. 17.47. 48. E. Lat. 47. 5. 8. N.
BETANZOS, a city of Spain, in the province of Galicia, consisting of one long street, on the banks of the Mandoe, about eight miles south-east of Corunna, and containing two churches, two monasteries, and 2700 inhabitants. Long. 8. 14. 58. W. Lat. 43. 19. 30. N.
BETELFAGUI, a town of Asia, in Arabia Felix, famous for the vast quantity of coffee bought and sold there; being the mart to which the country people bring their coffee to sell, and where the Europeans come or send their factors or brokers to purchase it. Long. 57. 20. E. Lat. 15. 40. N.
BETHABARA, in Ancient Geography, a term denoting “a passage,” and therefore by many referred to the passage of the Israelites at Jericho.
BETHAGLA, or Beth-hagla, in Ancient Geography, a town of the tribe of Benjamin. In Jerome’s time there was a village called Agla, ten miles from Eleutheropolis, towards Gaza, and supposed to be Bethagla.
BETHANY, in Ancient Geography, a village at the foot of Mount Olivet, about two miles to the east of Jerusalem.
BETHARAMPHTHA, in Ancient Geography, a town of Galilee, in the Peraea, which, being walled round by Herod Antipas, was called Julias, after Julia, the daughter of Augustus, and consort of Tiberius. It stood to the north of the lake of Genesareth, at the influx of the Jordan into that lake.