BERNARDINE, ST., OF SIENA, born at Massa Carrara, in Italy, of noble family; founder of the Observantines, a branch, and restoration on strict lines, of the Franciscan order; established 300 monasteries of the said branch; his works, written in a mystical vein, fill five folio vols. (1380-1444).

BERNAUER, AGNES, wife of Duke Albrecht of Bavaria, whom his father, displeased at the marriage, had convicted of sorcery and drowned in the Danube.

BERNE (47), a fine Swiss town on the Aar, which almost surrounds it, in a populous canton of the same name; since 1848 the capital of the Swiss Confederation; commands a magnificent view of the Bernese Alps; a busy trading and manufacturing city.

BERNERS, JOHN BOUCHIER, LORD, writer or translator of romance; was Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1516, and governor of Calais from 1520; translated Froissart’s “Huon of Bordeaux,” &c.

BERNERS, JULIANA, writer on hunting and hawking; lived in the 14th century; said to have been prioress of a nunnery.

BERNESE ALPS, a chain in the Middle Alps, of which the eastern half is called the Bernese Oberland; form the watershed between the Aar and the Rhone.

BERNHARD, DUKE OF WEIMAR, a great German general; distinguished himself on the Protestant side in the Thirty Years’ war; fought under the standard of Gustavus Adolphus; held command of the left wing at the battle of Luetzen, and completed the victory after the fall of Gustavus; died at Neuburg, as alleged, without sufficient proof, by poison (1604-1639).

BERNHARDT, SARAH, a dramatic artiste, born in Paris; of Jewish descent, but baptized as a Christian; distinguished specially as a tragedienne; of abilities qualifying her to shine in other departments of the profession and of art, of which she has given proof; b. 1844.

BERNI, FRANCESCO, an Italian poet, born in Tuscany, who excelled in the burlesque, to whom the Italian as a literary language owes much; remodelled Boiardo’s “Orlando Innamorato” in a style surpassing that of the original.

BERNIER, a French physician and traveller, born at Angers; physician for 12 years to Aurungzebe, the Great Mogul; published “Travels,” a work full of interest, and a model of exactitude (1625-1688).

BERNIER, THE ABBE, born in Mayenne, France; one of the principal authors of the Concordat; promoted afterwards to be Bishop of Orleans (1762-1806).

BERNI`NA, a mountain in the Swiss canton of Grisons, 13,290 ft. high, remarkable for its extensive glaciers.

BERNINI, GIOVANNI LORENZO, an Italian painter, sculptor, and architect, born at Naples; produced his “Apollo and Daphne” at eighteen, his masterpiece; was architect to the Pope, and designed the colonnade of St. Peter’s; he died wealthy (1598-1680).

BERNOUIL`LI, name of a Swiss family of mathematicians, born at Basel, though of Dutch origin—­JAMES, JOHN, and DANIEL, of whom John is the most celebrated; was professor first at St. Petersburg and then at Basel; discovered the exponential calculus and the method of integrating rational fractions, as well as the line of swiftest descent (1667-1748).