Beau Brummel, George Bryan Brummel
brum'el, George Bryan Brummel (1778-1840), a famous leader of fashionable London society. He was a favorite of the Prince of Wales , afterward George IV. Inheriting a fortune, he lived in splendid style, gave magnificent dinners and enjoyed the most aristocratic society. For twenty-one years his word was law in all matters pertaining to court dress and etiquette. Then suddenly, the Prince's favor was withdrawn. Brummel's money, too, had been spent or lost at the gaming table, and the "Beau" retired to Calais to live his last years in poverty. His mind gave way under the strain and he died in a lunatic asylum. 2026 Editor's Note: Beau Brummell effectively invented the modern man's suit : he swept away the powdered, bejeweled excess of the 18th century for understated, impeccably tailored dark clothes and a spotless cravat — the ancestor of every business suit. The arbiter of elegance died penniless and insane from syphilis in a French asylum, but 'Beau Brummell' still means the ultimate dandy. (Ed: BR 2026-06-02)
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Beaufort
HENRY, CARDINAL, natural son of John of Gaunt and half brother of Henry IV., King of England, born 1377; was made Bishop of Lincoln, whence he was translated to Winchester. He repeatedly filled the office of Lord Chancellor, and took part in all the most important took partments the mi times. He died April 11, 1447.
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Beaufort Scale
a non-instrumental scale of wind force devised by and named for Admiral Beaufort. It runs from 0 (calm; smoke rising vertically) to 12 (hurricane; wind about 75 miles per hour), with intermediate numbers for breezes, high winds, gales, and storms. BELGIUM. Corner-stone of new Louvain Library laid, July 28, 1921. To be completed in 1925 at a cost of $1,000,000, the gift of Americans.
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Beauharnais
the name of a noble French family, of which the following are historical personages:
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Beauharnais
ALEXANDRE, VICOMTE DE, born at Martinique, 1760. He served under Rochambeau in the War of American Independence. On his afterward taking up his residence in France, he was elected a Deputy to the States-General, where he espoused the Democratic or Liberal party, became President of the National Assembly, and played a conspicuous part in the Revolution. Beauharnais served with distinction in the French army, but became ultimately a victim to the Revolutionary Tribunal just previous to the fall of Robespierre, in 1794. His widow, Josephine Tascher de la Pagerie, became the first wife of Napoleon I. in 1796.
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Beauharnais (II)
FRANCOIS, MARQUIS DE, elder brother of the preceding, born in 1756. He was a Major-General in the French army, protested against revolu tionary excesses in a letter to the President of the National Assembly, and, on Bonaparte becoming First Consul, recommended him to restore the scepter to the House of Bourbon. He was afterward Ambassador to Spain, but fell into disgrace with Napoleon, and was banished. He returned to Paris after the Restoration, and died March 4, 1846.
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Beaumont (Cit city and county-seat)
cit city and county-seat of Jefferson co., Tex.; on the Neches river and several railroads; 80 miles N. E. of Houston. It is an important shipping point; is at the head of tidewater navigation; and has a variety of important manufactures. It has become the center of the large petroleum fields of Texas, the Beaumont oil field being one of the largest in the world. Pop. (1910) 20,640; (1920) 40,422.
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Beaumont, Francis
Francis (1586-1616), and Fletcher, John (1576-1625), two English dramatic writers. Little is known of the lives of these two men except that for ten years they were so closely associated as friends and literary partners that we rarely hear their names separately. Beaumont was educated at Oxford; Fletcher at Cambridge. They drifted to London. Their intimacy began in 1608 and continued until broken by Beaumont's death. Together they produced about fifty-two plays. The best known are The Maid's Tragedy, The Knight of the Burning Pestle, Philaster, and The Faithful Shepherdess. Of the two, Fletcher was undoubtedly the greater poet. He was more inventive and his style showed more grace and delicacy. Beaumont was the weightier, the more earnest of the two. The contemporaries of these dramatists placed them above Shakespeare; but as a fact their work marks the decadence of the drama. Their plays are full of romance and beauty, but they lack the vigor, the depth, the insight into character shown in Shakespeare's work. They are also lacking in moral tone, in fact, have been called "studiously indecent." All your better deeds Shall be in water writ, but this in marble. There is a method in man's wickedness,-- It grows up by degrees. Beggars must be no choosers. Death hath so many doors to let out life. Of all the paths (that) lead to a woman's love Pity's the straightest. What's one man's poison, signor, Is another's meat or drink.
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Beauregard, Pierre Gustave
bo'reh-gard', Pierre Gustave (1818-1893), an American soldier. He was a native of New Orleans and a graduate of West Point . He distinguished himself in the Mexican War, but resigned from the Union Army to enter the Confederate service. He is noted as the commander who gave orders for the reducing of Fort Sumter, which was accomplished April 12, 1861, and may be said to have precipitated the Civil War beyond all hope of recall. He led the victorious Confederates at the battle of Bull Run in the same year, and was with Johnston at Shiloh. After the close of the war, he engaged in various commercial enterprises. He accepted at one time the management of the nefarious Louisiana lottery, a course which occasioned his friends much regret. See Sumter ; Civil War 2026 Editor's Note: Beauregard fired the war's opening shots at Fort Sumter — and designed the Confederate battle flag , the very banner whose display still bitterly divides America. In a surprising turn, the defeated general spent his later years in Louisiana advocating civil rights and voting for Black citizens, an unexpected coda to the man who helped start the war to preserve slavery. (Ed: BR 2026-06-11)
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Beausoleil, Jean du Chatelot, Baron de
German mineralogist and alchemist, who lived during the first half of the seventeenth century. He travelled over most European countries looking for metals with the aid of a divining ring. In 1626 his instruments were seized under the pretext that Belloc they were bewitched, and he himself prisoned in the Bastille, where he died in 1645. In 1617 he published a work entitled Diorisinus, id est definitis verae philisophiæ de materia prima lapidis philosophalis. Beausoleil was the greatest of French metallurgists of his time.
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