ing that part of Africa; "A Memoir of Thomas J. Beecham," his only son, a youth of great promise, who died in 1846; and some pamphlets of minor importance.—W. B. B.
BEECHER, Lyman, D.D., an American theologian and preacher of celebrity, the father of Mrs. Beecher Stowe, (see Stowe), was born in New England some years before the American revolution. He came of humble but respectable parentage, and though early sensible of the inward impulse which he felt for knowledge, he followed his father's craft—that of a blacksmith—until the proceeds of his daily labour enabled him to commence his collegiate studies at Yale, Newhaven. Having earned a name as a pulpit orator, he was appointed to a pastoral charge at Litchfield, Connecticut; and having published six sermons on temperance, which found a wide sale in England as well as America, he was invited to undertake the superintendence of the most influential presbyterian church in Boston. Whilst there, he took an active part in the establishment of a theological seminary at Cincinnati, to be conducted on industrial principles. When finished, Dr. Beecher was appointed principal of the institution. Whilst holding this position, he took a decided share in the agitation in favour of the Slavery Abolitionist Society, and narrowly escaped having his house burnt in consequence. He soon afterwards retired from his presidential chair. In 1853 he published a religious work, entitled "The Conflict of Ages," which attracted considerable attention, both in England and his own country. He died in 1862.—E. W.
BEECHEY, Frederick William, a distinguished naval officer (holding, at the time of his death, the rank of rear-admiral in the English service), was the son of Sir William Beechy, R.A. He was born in 1796, and entered the royal navy at the age of ten. He obtained a lieutenant's commission in 1815, was advanced to the rank of commander in 1822, to that of captain in 1827, and became a rear-admiral in 1854. Few officers have passed through a more varied career of service, or earned a juster distinction. The seas that he within the tropics, and those that are beneath the arctic circle, were, by turns, the scene of his active labours, and we owe to his pen the record of the events in which he bore a share, and the best descriptions—often of high value to science—of the localities which his duties led him to visit. While yet a boy, Beechey bore a part in Commander Schomberg's brilliant action with a French squadron off the coast of Madagascar in 1811, and in 1815 was actively engaged in the English attack upon New Orleans. His first experience in arctic navigation was acquired in 1818, when he sailed, under Franklin, as lieutenant in the Trent, one of the two vessels placed under the command of Captain Buchan, for the purpose of exploring the polar sea in the direction of Spitzbergen. For the highly interesting narrative of this expedition, of which no detailed account was published until 1843, we are indebted to Admiral Beechey: "A voyage of discovery towards the North Pole, performed in H.M. ships Dorothea and Trent, &c." In the following year, Beechey accompanied Parry in that officer's first voyage to the polar seas, serving as lieutenant on board the Hecla, and shared in the rewards allotted on the return of the expedition to England, after passing a long winter upon the ice-bound coasts of Melville Island. In 1821-22 the scene of his labours was shifted to the sunny shores of the Mediterranean, where, in the sloop Adventure, he took part in the labours of Captain Smythe, in surveying the coasts of northern Africa. The results of his researches, during the progress of these labours, within the region of the ancient Cyrenaica, were subsequently placed before the public through the medium of his own pen; "Proceedings of the expedition to explore the northern coast of Africa, from Tripoli eastward, &c." So accomplished an explorer was not allowed to remain long unemployed, and in 1825 the subject of our memoir was appointed to the command of the Blossom, fitted out mainly for the purpose of co-operating with the expeditions of Parry and Franklin—the former then engaged in his third voyage of discovery in the arctic seas, and the latter pursuing his second overland journey to the northern shores of the New World. It is with this voyage of the Blossom that Admiral Beechey's name is most distinctly associated. The Blossom was absent from England during three and a half years, within which period, and before proceeding to the main object of the voyage, her commander surveyed many of the dispersed islands of the Pacific, several of which he was the first to visit. At Petropaulovski, on the coast of Kamschatka, he learnt the tidings of Parry's return to England. Passing through Behring Strait in the summer of 1826, and reaching the inlet of Kotzebue Sound, on the American shore, the Blossom thence proceeded to explore the coast to the north-eastward. She was unable to double the "Icy Cape" of Captain Cook, but a party detached in the barge, under the command of Mr. Elson, succeeded in advancing to the eastward as far as Point Barrow (lat. 71° 25´, long. 156° 7´ W.) They were then, as it afterwards appeared, only 160 miles distant from the spot which Franklin and his companions had reached, by travelling along the coast to the westward of the Mackenzie river, four days previously. A detailed narrative of this voyage, in the course of which the Blossom traversed 73,000 miles, was published by Captain Beechey on his return to England in the autumn of 1828. After being for a time engaged in surveying duties upon the coast of South America, Captain Beechey's services were for several years continuously employed in similar labours upon the shores of the Irish Sea. The numerous observations which he made in the course of these duties threw much light upon the tidal phenomena of the British coasts, and were embodied in two valuable memoirs which appeared in the Philosophical Transactions (1848 and 1851). After the cessation of his active duties afloat, Beechey was appointed superintendent of the marine branch of the board of trade, the duties of which he executed till his death. He died on November 29, 1856. Admiral Beechey was a fellow of the Royal Society, and held, at the time of his decease, the office of president of the Royal Geographical Society of London.—W. H.
BEECHEY, Sir William, portrait painter, much overrated, born at Burford, Oxfordshire, in 1753. He was educated for the law, which he unfortunately left, and at nineteen became a Royal Academy student, and went through the usual statue-copying, and foolish stippling. In 1776 he began to be known, and exhibited two heads; and in 1779, passed from mere gentlemen and ladies with harps, to such fancy portraits as "Lavinia," a young lady near some corn; and "The Witch of Endor," an old woman drawn from a model. In 1788 he began to paint the nobility, and to have his door crowded with carriages; and, six years later, was confessed to be rich and prosperous, by being-made associate of the Academy. Down came the gold in showers; he was now made portrait painter to Queen Charlotte; and noble sitters besieged him, as they did Opie when he threatened to use artillery to clear his staircase. He now ventured to rival Reynolds, and to paint a portrait of Mrs. Siddons as the tragic muse, with the result we might have expected. He still rose, rose, and in 1798, executed a portrait of the farmer-king on horseback, reviewing the guards on the Highwaymen's Heath of Hounslow. For this feat of art, Beechey was of course knighted. After twenty-six years' service, the lucky painter was elected royal academician, and henceforward the ball was indeed under his feet. He painted all the royal family; Lord Cornwallis; the sea-king Lord St. Vincent; that English Roman, Kemble; Hope, the novelist; astute-looking Wilkie; and miserly Nollekens. This, as far as money went, was all well, but when we come to talk of fame. Sir William was unlucky. All his life he was overridden by superior rivals—first Reynolds, who built up his heads so solidly; then brilliant superficial Lawrence; later still, Owen, Jackson, and Phillips. Beechey was a good, plain, common-sense, "beefy" English painter, and nothing more. He painted broadly, and with fair colour; but in rather a dull, ponderous, pompous manner, without grace or vigour. He had no poetry, no mind, no elegance, but was tolerably true to what he saw of nature. Both in morals and painting, he was eminently "a respectable man." He died at Hampstead in 1839, and was buried with academic honours.—W. T.
BEECK or BEIUS, John, a Dutch protestant theologian, author of "Verantwording voor de Werdrukte Waerheyt," lived towards the middle of the seventeenth century.
BEECK, Johann Martin, a German protestant theologian, born at Lubeck in 1665; died in 1727. He published "Disp. de plagio divinitus prohibito, in Exod. xxi. 16," and "Explanata prophetarum Loca Difficiliora."
BEEK, David, born at Arnheim in Guelderland, 1621, was one of Vandyke's best pupils. He was so rapid at fa-presto, that Charles I. once said to him, "Parbleu, Beek, why, I think you could paint while riding post." He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, and never lived out of the scented atmosphere of courts, the consequence of which was he grew rich and famous,
