BERI, a town in the Punjab, 40 m.  NW. of Delhi, in a trading centre.

BERKELEY, a town in Gloucestershire, famous for its cattle.

BERKELEY, GEORGE, bishop of Cloyne, born in Kilkenny; a philanthropic man, who conducted in a self-sacrificing spirit practical schemes for the good of humanity, which failed, but the interest in whom has for long centred, and still centres, in his philosophic teaching, his own interest in which was that it contributed to clear up our idea of God and consolidate our faith in Him, and it is known in philosophy as Idealism; only it must be understood, his idealism is not, as it was absurdly conceived to be, a denial of the existence of matter, but is an assertion of the doctrine that the universe, with every particular in it, as man sees it and knows it, is not the creation of matter but the creation of mind, and a reflex of the Eternal Reason that creates and dwells in both it and him; for as Dr. Stirling says, “the object can only be known in the subject, and therefore is subjective, and if subjective, ideal.”  The outer, as regards our knowledge of it, is within; such is Berkeley’s fundamental philosophical principle, and it is a principle radical to the whole recent philosophy of Europe (1684-1753).

BERKSHIRE (238), a midland county of England, with a fertile, well-cultivated soil on a chalk bottom, in the upper valley of the Thames, one of the smallest but most beautiful counties in the country.  In the E. part of it is Windsor Forest, and in the SE.  Bagshot Heath.  It is famous for its breed of pigs.

BERLICHINGEN, GOETZ VON, surnamed “The Iron Hand,” a brave but turbulent noble of Germany, of the 15th and 16th centuries, the story of whose life was dramatised by Goethe, “to save,” as he said, “the memory of a brave man from darkness,” and which was translated from the German by Sir Walter Scott.

BERLIN` (1,579), capital of Prussia and of the German empire; stands on the Spree, in a flat sandy plain, 177 m. by rail SE. of Hamburg.  The royal and imperial palaces, the great library, the university, national gallery and museums, and the arsenal are all near the centre of the city.  There are schools of science, art, agriculture, and mining; technical and military academies; a cathedral and some old churches; zoological and botanical gardens.  Its position between the Baltic and North Seas, the Spree, the numerous canals and railways which converge on it, render it a most important commercial centre; its staple trade is in grain, cattle, spirits, and wool.  Manufactures are extensive and very varied; the chief are woollens, machinery, bronze ware, drapery goods, and beer.

BERLIN DECREE, a decree of Napoleon of Nov. 21, 1806, declaring Britain in a state of blockade, and vessels trading with it liable to capture.

BERLIOZ, HECTOR, a celebrated musical composer and critic, born near Grenoble, in the dep. of Isere, France; sent to study medicine in Paris; abandoned it for music, to which he devoted his life.  His best known works are the “Symphonie Fantastique,” “Romeo and Juliet,” and the “Damnation of Faust”; with the “Symphonie,” which he produced while he was yet but a student at the Conservatoire in Paris, Paganini was so struck that he presented him with 20,000 francs (1803-1869).