BESSEMER, SIR HENRY, civil engineer and inventor, born at Charlton, Herts; of his many inventions the chief is the process, named after him, of converting pig-iron into steel at once by blowing a blast of air through the iron while in fusion till everything extraneous is expelled, and only a definite quantity of carbon is left in combination, a process which has revolutionised the iron and steel trade all over the world, leading, as has been calculated, to the production of thirty times as much steel as before and at one-fifth of the cost per ton (1813-1898).

BESSEMER PROCESS.  See BESSEMER.

BESSIERES, JEAN BAPTISTE, DUKE OF ISTRIA, marshal of France, born at Languedoc, of humble parentage; rose from the ranks; a friend and one of the ablest officers of Napoleon, and much esteemed by him; distinguished himself in the Italian campaign, in Egypt, and at Marengo; was shot at Luetzen the day before the battle (1768-1813).

BESSUS, a satrap of Bactria under Darius, who assassinated his master after the battle of Arbela, but was delivered over by Alexander to Darius’s brother, by whom he was put to death, 328 B.C.

BESTIARY, a name given to a class of books treating of animals, viewed allegorically.

BETHANY, village on E. of the Mount of Olives, abode of Lazarus and his sisters.

BETHEL (i. e. house of God), a place 11 m.  N. of Jerusalem, scene of Jacob’s dream, and famous in the history of the patriarchs.

BETHENCOURT, a Norman baron, in 1425 discovered and conquered the Canaries, and held them as a fief of the crown of Castile.

BETHLEHEM (3), a village 6 m.  S. of Jerusalem, the birthplace of Jesus Christ and King David, with a convent containing the Church of the Nativity; near it is the grotto where St. Jerome translated the Bible into Latin.

BETHLEN-GABOR, prince of Transylvania, assumed the title of king of Hungary; assisted Bohemia in the Thirty Years’ war (1580-1629).

BETHNAL GREEN (129), an eastern suburb of London, a parliamentary borough, a poor district, and scene of benevolent enterprises.

BETTERTON, THOMAS, born at Westminster, a tragic actor, and as such an interpreter of Shakespeare on, it is believed, the traditional lines.

BETTINA, the Countess of Arnim, a passionate admirer of Goethe.

BETTY, W. HENRY, a boy actor, known as the Infant Roscius; amassed a fortune; lived afterwards retired (1791-1874).

BEULE, a French statesman and archaeologist; superintended excavations on the Acropolis of Athens; held office under Macmahon (1826-1874).

BEUST, COUNT VON, a German statesman, born at Dresden; Minister for Foreign Affairs in Saxony; of strong conservative leanings, friendly to Austria; became Chancellor of the Austro-Hungarian empire; adopted a liberal policy; sympathised with France in the Franco-German war; resigned office in 1871; left “Memoirs” (1809-1886).