Best
WILLIAM THOMAS, an English musician, born in Carlisle, Aug. 13, 1826; received his musical training from Mr. Young, the organist of the Carlisle Cathedral. In 1848 he was appointed organist of the Philharmonic Society in Liverpool; in 1852 he went to London and became organist of the Panoptican of Science and Art, and also of the Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields; in 1854 was organist of Lincoln's Inn Chapel; in 1855, returned to Liverpool, and became organist of St. George's Hall; in 1868 was organist of the Liverpool Musical Society; and in 1872 was again engaged by the Philharmonic Society. He was the author of "The Modern School for the Organ" (1853); "The Art of Organ Playing" (1870); "Arrangements from the Scores of the Great Masters" (1873); "The Organ Student," etc. He died in Liverpool, May 10, 1897.
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Bestiary
the name given to a class of written books of great popularity in the Middle Ages, describing all the animals of creation, real or fabled, composed partly in prose, partly in verse, and generally illustrated by drawings. But they were valuable for the moral allegories they contained, no less than as handbooks of zoological facts. The oldest Latin bestiaries had an early Greek original, the well known "Physiologus," under which name about 50 such allegories were grouped. The Greek text of this famous work is found only in manuscript. There are old Syriac, Armenian, Ethiopic, Arabic, Icelandic, and numerous Latin versions. Editions of the Latin have been issued-Mai, Heider, and Cahier. An Old High German version was made earlier than the 11th century; in the 12th century, versions in French were made by Philippe de Thaun and Guillaume, a priest of Normandy. The "Bestiary of Love" of Richard de Fournival was rather a parody upon the ealier form of such books.
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Betham-Edwards
MATILDA, an English author, born in Suffolk, in 1836; was educated privately; has published numerous works in poetry, fiction, and on French rural life. She was made an officer of public instruction in France in 1891. Among her works are "The White House by the Sea," "Kitty," "France of To-Day," "A Romance of Dijon," "The Lord of the Harvest," a volume of poems, "East of Paris" (1902); "Home Life in France" (1905); "French Men, Women, and Books" (1910).
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Bethania
or BETHANY a town in Syria, about 2 miles S. E. of Jerusalem, on the way to Jericho. It is now a small place, inhabited by a few Turkish families, by whom it is called Lazari, in memory of Lazarus. The inhabitants show the pretended sites of the houses of Lazarus, of Martha, of Simon the leper, and of Mary Magdalene.
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Bethany College
a coeducational institution in Bethany, W. Va., organized in 1841; under the auspices of the Church of the Disciples; reported at the end of 1919: Professors and instructors, 29; students, 500; president, T. E. Cramblet, A. M.
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Bethel
a town of Palestine, about 10 miles from Jerusalem, now called Beitin, or Beiteen. The patriarch Jacob here had a vision of angels, in commemoration of which he built an altar. Interesting ruins abound in the vicinity.
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Bethel College
an educational institution in Russellville, Ky.; organized in 1854; under the auspices of the Baptist Church; reported at the end of 1919: Professors and instructors 12; students, 263; president, G. F. Dasher.
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Bethesda
a pool in Jerusalem, near St. Stephen's Gate, ate, and the Temple of Omar. It is 400 feet long, 130 broad, and 75 deep, and is now known as Birket Israel (see John v: 2-9).
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Bethsaida
a village on the W. shore of the Lake of Galilee, the birthplace of Peter and Andrew and Philip. Its site has been identified with a heap of grass-grown ruins. At the N. E. extremity of the lake was another Bethsaida, a village, near which the 5,000 were fed. Philip the Tetrarch raised it to the dignity of a town, and renamed it Julias, in honor of the Emperor Augustus' daughter.
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Betony
a genus of plants belonging to the order laminacea (labiates). Betonica officinalis, or wood betony, grows in shady places. It is called by Bentham and others stachys betonica. When fresh it has an intoxicating effect; the dried leaves excite sneezing. The roots are bitter and very nauseous, and the plant is used to dye wool a fine, dark yellow.
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Betrothed, The
The, a novel by Sir Walter Scott. It was published in 1825. Lady Eveline Berenger is the heroine of the novel. She is the betrothed of Sir Hugo de Lacy, a middle-aged man of noble character, who has taken the vows of a Crusader. While he is absent in fulfilment of his vow, Eveline falls in love with Damian de Lacy, Sir Hugo's nephew. She shelters him when wounded and accused of treason, and, in consequence, her name is slandered. The supernatural element is introduced. Eveline is warned by a specter that she will be Widow'd wife and wedded maid, Betrothed, betrayer, and betrayed. She comes to regard the word "betrothed" as the keynote to her destiny. She endures many trials and sorrows but is made happy in the end. Although the twentieth of the Waverley novels in order of publication, in chronological order the story stands among the first, the time being the latter part of the twelfth century during the reign of Henry II . The Betrothed and The Talisman constitute the Tales of the Crusaders. The Betrothed pictures the social conditions resulting from the Crusader's long absence in Palestine. Scott says in his introduction to the edition of 1832, "The story was, therefore, less an incident belonging to the Crusades than one which was occasioned by the singular cast of mind introduced and spread wide by those memorable undertakings."
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Betsy Trotwood
in Dickens' David Copperfield , an eccentric old lady, David's great aunt. She is bitterly disappointed because David is a nephew instead of a niece, and for a long time has nothing to do with him. Finally he seeks her out and finds her kind-hearted in spite of her oddities. She proves the best of friends to the lonely boy. Her frequent allusions to the niece she might have had, whom she calls David's "sister," are amusing.
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