BERGEXROTII BERGHEM 557 now used for barracks, two arsenals, several powder magazines, and a number of earthen- ware and other manufactories of small impor- tance. It has a considerable trade in sardines. The place was one of the strongholds of the Netherlands in their struggle with the Span- iards, and was repeatedly besieged by the lat- ter without success. The fortifications are pro- tected by a morass, and after the Spanish wars were much strengthened by the engineer Coe- horn. They were taken however by the French in 1747 under Count Lowendal. The town having been restored to the Dutch upon the declaration of peace, it again surrendered to the French under Pichegru in 1795. The Eng- lish besieged it in 1814 without success. BERGEA'ROTII, Cnstav, a German-English his- torian, born in Prussia in 1813, died in Madrid in February, 1869. He was assessor to the high court of Berlin from 1843 to 1848, when he joined the extreme liberals. After the revolution of 1848 he went to the United States, wrote an account of a vigilance com- mittee to which he belonged in California in 1850, and after several voyages across the At- lantic settled in England in 1850, with the ob- ject of collecting from the record office mate- rials for the history of the Tudors. The master of the rolls commissioned him to report on the important discoveries in the archives of Siman- cas, and he pursued his task amid great diffi- culties at Simancas and in London, Brussels, and Madrid. He edited several volumes in the " Calendar of the State Papers " (London, 1870-'71), under the direction of the master of the rolls, and was still prosecuting his re- searches when he died. He also wrote an es- say on Wat Tyler, the story of Queen Joanna for the supplementary volume of the " Calen- dar of Spanish Papers," and the abstract of D'Avila's account of the murder of Don Carlos by Philip II. Mr. W. C. Cartvvright published in 1870 a "Memorial Sketch of Bergenroth." BERGERiC, a town of France, in the depart- ment of Dordognc, on the right bank of the river Dordogne, 25 m. S. S. W. of Perigueux ; pop. in 1866, 12,116. It is ill built, but finely situated, and divided into two parts, one of which is called St. Martin de Bergerac and the other Madeleine. The town grew out of the abbey of St. Martin, founded in 1080. It was taken by the English in 1345, who were not finally dispossessed till 1450. It was a strong- hold of the Calvinists, and suffered much dur- ing the religious wars. Its fortifications were demolished by Richelieu in 1621 ; and the re- vocation of the edict of Nantes (1685) destroyed its prosperity. There are iron founderies and smelting furnaces in the vicinity and the town has a trade in Perigord truffles, and in wine, brandy, and liqueurs. The Bergerac red and white wine, often called petit champagne, is pro- duced on the Dordogne and Gironde, the best being the Montbazillac, St. Nexans, and Sance. BERGERAC, Savinien Cyrano de, a French author and duellist, born at Bergerac in 1620, died in Paris in 1655. He was compelled by serious wounds to retire from the military service, in which he had distinguished himself by his reck- less courage, and took up his residence in Paris, where he became a notorious duellist. He was never at a loss for quarrels. When the sight of his long nose, which was covered with scars, provoked a smile, a duel was the result. He ordered the actor Montneury not to play for a month, and he was compelled to obey him. Bergerac's pen was no less formidable a weapon than his sword. He had controversies with Loret, Scarron, Montfleury, and others. He studied philosophy under Gassendi, mas- tered the principles of Descartes, and gave some attention to the philosophers of antiquity. His best works are Le pedant joue, a comedy writ- ten when he was at college, and Agrippine, a tragedy. Corneille and Moliere found in his writings suggestions for some of their happiest efforts ; and Swift is supposed by some critics to have been indebted to his Histoire eomique des etats et empires de la lune and Histoire eomique du toleil for incidents of his " Gulli- ver's Travels." The works of Bergerac were published at Paris in 1677 and 1741. BEKGII.U'S, Heinrirh, a German geographer, born at Cleves, May 3, 1797. In 1815 he served as a volunteer in the German army under Gen. Tauenzien in France, and made use of his observations during the campaign in the preparation of his map of France (1824), the best up to that time. From 1816 to 1821 he was employed upon the trigonometrical sur- vey of Prussia under the war department. He also aided in the preparation of Weiland's map of the Netherlands and Reymann's map of Ger- many. In 1824 he was appointed professor of applied mathematics in the Berlin academy of architecture, and held that office till 1855. Besides contributing to various periodicals, he has published a map of Asia in 18 sheets ; a physical atlas, the basis of that published by A. Keith Johnston ; and a collection of hydro- graphical maps for the Prussian navy. He ed- ited the Hertha (1825-'9) and several other geographical periodicals ; and his works include Allegemeine Lander- und Volkerkunde (6 vols., Stuttgart, 1837-'41); Die Volker des Erdballs (2 vols., 2d ed., Brussels and Leipsic, 1852) ; Grundlinien der phyrikalischen Erdbeschrei- bung (2d ed., Stuttgart, 1856); Grundlinien der Ethnographic (2d ed., 1856) ; and a trans- lation of Catlin's works on the North American Indians (1848). BERGHEM, Nikolaas, a Dutch painter, born in Haarlem in 1624, died Feb. 18, 1683. Ho was the son of the painter Peter Klaas van Haarlem, and studied under his father, Van Goyen, Weenix, and others. It is said thai one day when pursued by his father into Van Goyen's studio, Van Goyen exclaimed to the other pupils Berg hem, " Hide him ; " and thus he received his name. His paintings were early in great demand. He was extremely in- dustrious, and his works, most of which are
