BEWICK BEYROUT 601 ed in the whale fishery ; 24, of 2,500 tons, in the cod and mackerel fishery; and 5, of 1,000 tons, in the coastwise trade. BEWICK, Thomas, reviver of wood engraving in England, born at Oherryburn, Northumber- land, Aug. 12, 1753, died at Gateshead, Nov. 8, 1828. lie was apprenticed at the age of 14 to Mr. Ralph Beilby, engraver, at Newcastle- on-Tyne. Having executed in wood the dia- grams for Hutton's "Treatise on Mensuration " (published in 1770) and other scientific works, he soon after attempted something better, and at the age of 22 obtained from the society of arts a premium for his wood engraving of the " Old Hound," one of a series of illustrations to Gay's fables. Some years later he illus- trated a volume of select fables by Mr. Saint. In 1790 the first edition of the "History of Quadrupeds," illustrated, was published by Mr. Beilby, who had received him into partner- ship (8th ed., 1824). The designs in this, as well as in Bulmer's editions of Goldsmith's "Deserted Village" and ParnelTs "Hermit," were drawn and engraved by Thomas Bewick and his younger brother and pupil John. Their beauty, novelty, and admirable execution attracted general attention, and George III. would not believe they were woodcuts until he was shown the blocks. Somerville's "Chase" was the next work. All the engravings were by Thomas and the designs by John Bewick, who died of consumption in 1795, the year it was produced. Thomas Bewick produced the first volume of his "British Birds," containing the land birds, in 1797, illustrated and partly written by himself. It ranks as the finest of his works. The second volume appeared in 1804, about which time the partnership with Mr. Beilby was dissolved. He published "Se- lect Fables " by /Esop and others, illustrated, in 1818, after which he engaged in preparing for an illustrated history of fishes, which was never completed. Among his pupils, who were numerous, Luke Clennel and William Harvey have most distinguished themselves. His autobiography was published in 1862. HI A IK. a S. W. county of Texas, bounded E. by the Oibolo river and watered by the San Antonio and Medina ; area, 1,450 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 16,043, of whom 2,303 were colored. The surface is undulating, the borders of the streams are well timbered, and the soil is fer- tile when irrigated. The chief productions in 1870 were 81,997 bushels of Indian corn, 117 bales of cotton, 7,910 Ibs. of wool, and 22,952 of butter. There were 4,615 horses, 4,156 milch cows, 56,640 other cattle, 8,770 sheep, and 1,869 swine. Capital, San Antonio. Bl A 41! DISTRICT, or Territory, an unorgan- ized and almost unsettled portion of Texas, in the W. part of the state, bounded S. W. by the Rio Pecos, a branch of the Rio Grande, and N. W. by New Mexico; pop. in 1870, 1,077. The S. E. portion of the district is a table land, the N. W. portion an elevated table land with- out wood or water, while the N. E. and E. central parts are well watered by the head streams of the Colorado and Brazos. BEXLEV, Lord. See VANSITTABT, NICHOLAS. BEYLE, Marie Henri, popularly known as STENDHAL, a French author, born in Grenoble, Jan. 23, 1783, died in Paris, March 23, 1842. He was the son of a lawyer, displayed early talent at the central school of Grenoble, went to Paris in 1799, was connected with the civil and military service chiefly with the army in Italy, and was also engaged in various other pursuits according to the promptings of bis restless, roving disposition, and of his necessi- ties. Finally he became consul at Civita Vecchia (1830-'42), the exequatur at Trieste, the original place of his destination, having been denied to him on account of his Italian sympathies. He wrote voluminously under various names for many periodicals and journals. Under that of Alexandre C6sar Bombet he wrote in 1814 Let- tres de Vienne sur Haydn, suivies (Tune me de Mozart et de considerations sur Metastase et Vetat present de la musique en Italie (new ed., 1817, under the name of Stendhal), the life of Haydn being a new version of Carpani's work, and that of Mozart a free translation from the German. Both works, as well as his Viede Rossini, the only entirely original and best of the series, were translated into English (1820- '24). By his Histoire de la peinture en Italie (1817), Rome, Naples et Florence (1817), and Promenades dans Rome (2 vols., 1829 ; new ed., 6 vols., 1846), he gave additional evidence of his remarkable familiarity with Italy ; while his Del romantismo nelle arti (2 vols., Flor- ence, 1819) was written in excellent Italian. In the latter work, as in his pithy pamphlet Racine et Shakespeare (1823), which made a sensation at the time of its publication, he re- veals himself as an enthusiastic champion of the romantic and adversary of the classical school. His most famous works are V Amour (1822), Memoires d*un touriste (1838), and his romances Le Rouge et le Noir (1831) and La Chartreuse de Parme (1839) the latter a de- lineation of court life at Parma, which accord- ing to Balzac is chiefly interesting for diploma- tists and people moving in official and court cir- cles; but after he had acquired a wider popu- larity Balzac as well as Sainte-Beuve extolled him as a writer of wonderful genius, original- ity, and critical power. The number of his readers, at first limited, has been lately increas- ing. A complete edition of bis writings was published at Paris in 18 vols., 1855-'6 ; and in 1857 Prosper M6rim6e published his Corre- spondance inedite in 2 vols. BEYROUT, or Beirut (anc. Berytus), a town and the chief seaport of Syria, 55 m. N. W. of Da- mascus; pop. about 70,000, one third of whom are Moslems, and the rest Christians, Jews, Druses, and foreign residents. It is built on a triangular promontory, the apex projecting 3 m. into the sea and the base running along the foot of Mt. Lebanon. The situation is singular- ly beautiful, and the climate mild and healthy.
