BENYOWSKY-BENZOIN.

some 80 or 100 miles from where Dr. Barth crossed.
Dr. Barth regards this river as offering the best
channel for the introduction of civilization into the
heart of Central Africa. If not actually connected
in some way with the Shari (q. v.), and consequently
with Lake Tsad, 'the breadth of the water-parting
between these two basins [the Niger and the Tsad],
at the utmost, cannot exceed 20 miles, consisting
of an entirely level flat, and probably of alluvial
soil.
The level of the Tsad, and that of the
river B. near Gewe, where it is joined by the Mayo
Kebbi, seem to be almost the same; at least, accord-
ing to all appearance, the B., at the place mentioned,
is not more than 850 or 900 feet above the level
of the sea.' A second expedition to explore the B.
was undertaken by Dr. Baikie in 1861.

BENYOWSKY, MAURICE AUGUSTUS, COUNT DE,
a man of remarkable character and extraordinary
fortunes, was born at Verbowa, in Hungary, 1741.
He served in the Seven Years' War, and during his
youth displayed that restless love of adventure
which marked his subsequent career. He went to
Dantzic for the purpose of studying navigation, and
from thence made several voyages to Hamburg and
Plymouth. When about to start for the East Indies
in 1767, he received a pressing invitation to join the
Polish Confederation, with which he complied, and
shared most of the dangers and glories of the
campaign against the Russians until he was taken
prisoner in May 1769. After being transferred
from one Russian prison to another, he was, in
December 1769, banished to Siberia, and from
thence, in a few months, to Kamtchatka. During
the voyage, his exertions and skill saved the
vessel that carried him. This recommended the
prisoner to the governor, Nilov, who was further
pleased by B.'s skill as a chess-player, and made
him tutor in his family. In this capacity he
gained the affections of Aphanasia, daughter of the
Lovernor, by whom he was assisted in his plans
for escape; which, however, was not effected with-
out a struggle, in which the governor was killed.
B., with ninety-six companions, in a ship well
armed and provisioned, and with a considerable
amount of treasure, set sail from Kamtchatka
in May 1771. Having visited some of the islands
of Japan and Formosa, B. arrived at Macao on the
22d of September, where he remained until the
14th January, and then sailed for France. He
had not been here long when the French govern-
ment proposed that he should found a colony at
Madagascar, and he at once acquiesced. B. arrived
on the island in February 1774, and was made king
in 1776 by the chiefs in conclave, he adopting the
native costume. Returning to Europe with a view
to establish commercial relations between France
and Madagascar, B. met with a very cold reception
from the French government, and returned to the
service of Austria, in the hope that the emperor
would assist him in his schemes-a hope not fulfilled.
He next made unsuccessful overtures to the British
government, but at length receiving assistance from
private persons in England and America, departed
again for Madagascar, where he arrived in 1785;
and, involving himself in contention with the French
government of the Isle of France, was killed in
battle, May 28, 1786. B. was a man of remark-
able resources, great decision of character, courage,
and sagacity. He was particularly well versed in
human nature, a knowledge which proved of essen-
tial service to him during his brief but most
remarkable career.-Memoirs and Travels of Count
de Benyowsky, Written by Himself, and Edited by W.
Nicholson (2 vols. 4to. London, 1790).

BENZE'RTA, LAKES OF, the ancient Hipponitis

Palus and Sisara Palus, two lakes within the dominions of Tunis, from which town they are about 30 miles distant, in a north-west direction. They are each about 9 miles long, and the larger one, which is clear and salt, is about 5 miles broad; the smaller, which is turbid and fresh, 34. They are about two miles apart, but united by a channel with a general depth of 6 feet and breadth of 75. Tunis is supplied with fish mainly from these lakes. So valuable is the fishing, that a wealthy Arab rents it from the Bey of Tunis for £4000 per annum.

BE'NZILE, BE'NZOILE, or BE'NZOYLE, is the radicle or root of the group of substances which comprehends as members the hydride of benzoyle (oil of bitter almonds), benzoic acid, benzoin, and benzole. It is prepared by passing a stream of chlorine gas through fused benzoin, or by heating one part of benzoin with two parts of concentrated nitric acid. B. floats to the upper part of the liquid mixture as a liquid oil, which solidifies on cooling. B. is a tasteless solid, insoluble in water, but readily dissolved by ether and alcohol, and on concentration of the ethereal or alcohol solution, the B. crystallises in regular six-sided prisms, of a yellow colour. When heated to 194° to 198°, it fuses. Its composition is expressed by the chemical formula C28H1004, and many chemists name the substance possessing this formula benzile, reserving the title benzoile, or benzoyle, for a substance polymeric (see POLYMERISM) with benzile, which has not yet been isolated, but which may be represented by C17H3O.

BENZO'IC ACID, or the Flowers of Benzoin and Benjamin, occurs naturally in many balsamiferous plants, and especially in Benzoin (q. v.), from which it may be readily obtained by several processes, which it is not necessary here to describe. B. A. is always in the form of snow-white, glistening, feathery crystals, with a fairy aspect of lightness. It has a very fragrant and pleasant aromatic odour, due to the presence of a trace of an essential oil, and a hot bitter taste. It is readily dissolved by alcohol and ether, but sparingly soluble in water. B. A. is one of the materials present in Tinctura Camphora Composita, and has been administered in chronic bronchial affections; but the benefit derivable from its use in such cases is questionable. B. A. taken into the stomach, increases within 3 or 4 hours the quantity of hippuric acid in the urine. It forms a numerous class of compounds with the oxides of the metals, lime, &c., called benzoates. The chemical formula for crystallised B. A. is HO,C14H5Oя.

BE'NZOIN, BE'NJAMIN, or BENZO'IC GUM, a fragrant resinous substance, formed by the drying of the milky juice of the Benzoin or Benjamin Tree (Styrax, or Lithocarpus Benzoin), a tree of the natural order Styracaceae, and a congener of that which produces STORAX (q. v.), a native of Siam, and of Sumatra and other islands of the Indian Archipelago. The tree grows to nearly two feet in diameter; the smaller branches are covered with a whitish rusty down; the leaves are oblong, acuminate, and entire, downy and white beneath; the flowers are in compound racemes. B. comes to us in reddishyellow transparent pieces. Different varieties, said to depend upon the age of the trees, are of very different price; the whitest, said to be the produce of the youngest trees, being the best. There is a variety known in commerce as Amygdaloidal Benzoin, which contains whitish almond-like tears diffused through its substance, and is said to be the produce of the younger trees. B. is obtained by making longitudinal or oblique incisions in the stem of the tree; the liquid which exudes soon hardens by

BENZOLE-BEOWULF.

exposure to the sun and air. B. contains about 10 great power it possesses of dissolving caoutchouc, -14 per cent. of Benzoic Acid (q. v.); the remainder gutta-percha, wax, camphor, and fatty substances. of it is resin. B. is used in perfumery, in pastilles, It is thus of service in removing grease-stains from &c., being very fragrant and aromatic, and yielding woollen or silken articles of clothing. When heated, a pleasant odour when burned. It is therefore it also dissolves sulphur, phosphorus, and iodine. much used as incense in the Greek and Roman B., when acted upon by chlorine, nitric acid, &c., Catholic Churches. Its tincture is prepared by gives rise to a very numerous class of compounds. macerating B. in rectified spirit for seven to fourteen days, and subsequent straining, when the BE'NZOYLE, HYDRIDE OF, is the volatile or Compound Tincture of Benjamin, Wound Balsam, essential oil belonging to the benzoic series. It is Friar's Balsam, Balsam for Cuts, the Com-represented by the formula C14H502,H, and has mander's Balsam, or Jesuit's Drops, is obtained. been already considered under ALMONDS, VOLATILE It is frequently applied to wounds directly; or still OIL, or ESSENTIAL OIL of (q. v.). better, when the edges of the wound are brought together, and bound with lint or plaster, the tincture of B. may be used as an exterior varnish. In the preparation of Court-plaster, sarcenet (generally coloured black) is brushed over with a solution of isinglass, then a coating of the alcoholic solution of benzoin. The tincture is likewise employed in making up a cosmetic styled Virgin's Milk, in the proportion of two drachms of the tincture to one pint of rose-water; and otherwise it is used in the preparation of soaps and washes, to the latter of which it imparts a milk-white colour, and a smell resembling that of vanilla. B. possesses stimulant properties, and is sometimes used in medicine, particularly in chronic pulmonary affections. It may be partaken of most pleasantly when beaten up with mucilage and sugar or yolk of egg. The name Asa dulcis (q. v.) has sometimes been given to it, although it is not the substance to which that name seems properly to have belonged.-The milky juice of Terminalia Benzoin, a tree of the natural order Combretaceae, becomes, on drying, a fragrant resinous substance resembling B., which is used as incense in the churches of the Mauritius. It was at one time erroneously supposed that B. was the produce of Benzoin odoriferum, formerly Laurus Benzoin, a deciduous shrub, of the natural order Lauraceœ, a native of Virginia, about 10-12 feet high, with large, somewhat wedge-shaped, entire leaves, which still bears in America the name of Benzoin, or Benjamin Tree, and is also called Spicewood or Fever-bush. It has a highly aromatic bark, which is stimulant and tonic, and which is much used in North America in intermittent fevers. The berries are also aromatic and stimulant, and are said to have been used in the United States during the war with Britain as a substitute for pimento or allspice. An infusion of the twigs acts as a vermifuge.

BE'NZOLE, BE'NZINE, or PHENE, is a compound of carbon and hydrogen (C12H.), formed during the destructive distillation of coal (see COAL-GAS), and found dissolved in the naphtha which is condensed from the vapours evolved from the gas retort. It may be prepared from coal-tar naphtha by subjecting the tar to a temperature of 32° F., when the B. solidifies, while the other naphtha constituents remain liquid. Two gallons of the naphtha yield a pint of pure rectified benzole. It can also be obtained (1) by subjecting oil-gas to a pressure of 30 atmospheres ;. (2), by the dry distillation of kinic acid (q. v.); and (3) by cautiously heating a mixture of one part of benzoic acid and three parts of quick-lime, when the material which distils over is impure benzole. At ordinary temperatures, B. is a thin, limpid, colourless liquid, evolving a characteristic and pleasant odour. At 32° F., it crystallises in beautful fern-like forms, which liquefy at 40°; and at 177°, it boils, evolving a gas which is very inflammable, burning with a smoky flame. It readily dissolves in alcohol, ether, turpentine, and wood-spirit, but is insoluble in water. It is valuable to the chemist from the

BEOWULF, an Anglo-Saxon epic poem, which is one of the greatest literary and philological curiosities, and one of the most remarkable historical monuments in existence. The date of the events described is probably about the middle of the 5th c.; and as the legends refer to the Teutonic races which afterwards peopled England, it is believed that the poem, in its original shape, was brought by the Anglo-Saxons from their original seats on the continent. Only one MS. of the poem is known to exist; that, namely, in the Cottonian Library, which was seriously injured by the fire of 1731. This MS. consists of two portions, written at different times and by different hands, and is manifestly a copy, executed perhaps about the beginning of the 8th c., from an older and far completer version of the poem. But, even in the form in which it came from the hands of its last recaster, B. is the oldest monument of considerable size of German national poetry, and notwithstanding the Christian allusions which fix the exising text at a period subsequent to 597 A.D., a general heathen character pervades it, which leaves little doubt as to the authentic nature of the pictures which it presents of Teutonic life in ante-Christian times. Much learned labour has been bestowed on this strange relic, chiefly by Mr. Kemble, of whose beautiful edition, published by Pickering in 1833, and dedicated to James Grimm, the celebrated Teutonic scholar, as also of his subsequent translation and second preface, we shall avail ourselves in the following sketch.

At first Mr. Kemble was disposed to regard B. as an historical epic, but his view of it latterly came to be, that though to some extent historical, it must be regarded, in so far as the legends are concerned, as mainly mythological; and this remark he conceived to apply to the hero not less than to the incidents related. But Beowulf, the god, if such he was, occupies only a small space in the poem, and seems to be introduced chiefly for the purpose of connecting Hrothgar, king of Denmark, whom Beowulf, the hero, comes to deliver from the attacks of the monster Grendel, with Scef or Sceaf, one of the ancestors of Woden, and the common father of the whole mythical gods and heroes of the north. Sceaf is traditionally reported to have been set afloat as a child on the waters, in a small boat or ark, having a sheaf (Ang.-Sax. sceaf) of corn under his head; whence his name. The child was carried to the shore of Sleswig, and being regarded as a prodigy, was educated and brought up as king. Between Sceaf and Beowulf, Scyld intervened, according to the opening canto of the poem; but when compared with kindred traditions, the whole genealogy becomes involved in extreme obscurity, and Scyld seems sometimes to be identified with Sceaf, and sometimes with Woden. But the view of the connection between Beowulf and Sceaf is strengthened by the following considerations. The old Saxons, and most likely the other conterminal tribes, called their harvest month (probably part of August and September) by the name Beo or Bewod, in all probability

BEOWULF-BEQUEATH.

their god of agriculture or fertility. Whether, | permitted to dwell in tranquillity.
or to what extent, this divinity is identical with
the mythical hero of the poem, Mr. Kemble does
not venture to determine, though he indicates a
strong leaning to the affirmative; and the identity
of the hero of a later tradition with the divinity of
an earlier one, as a subsequent translator (Wacker-
barth) remarks, need not surprise us when we con-
sider, that it is the usual course, where one religion
supersedes another, for the gods of the abandoned
system to descend gradually in that which follows,
first, into demi-gods or supernatural heroes, and at
last into mere traditionary heroes.

But in so far as the main points of historical interest are concerned-viz., the date of the legions, and the race and regions to which they belong-the results of the historical and of the mythological view seem to be pretty nearly the same. The poem falls entirely out of the circle of the Northern Sagas, and probably belongs to Sleswig. All the proper names are Anglo-Saxon in form, but not the slightest mention is made of Britain, the Ongle mentioned being manifestly Angeln (see ANGLES), and not Anglia. From these and many other considerations, the learned editor infers that B. records the mythical beliefs of our forefathers; and in so far as it is historical, commemorates their exploits at a period not far removed in point of time from the coming of Hengest and Horsa, and that in all probability the poem was brought over by some of the AngloSaxons who accompanied Cerdic and Cyneric, 495

A. D.

The poem opens with an incident which reminds us of one of the most beautiful of Mr. Tennyson's earlier poems, the Mort d'Arthur, and seems to show a similarity between British and Saxon traditions. We give it in the simple words of Mr. Kemble's prose translation.

'At his appointed time then Scyld departed, very decrepit, to go into the peace of the Lord; they then, his dear comrades, bore him out to the shore of the sea, as he himself requested, and while that he, the friend of the Scyldings, the beloved chieftain, had power with his words; long he owned it! There upon the beach stood the ringed-prowed ship, the vehicle of the noble, shining like ice, and ready to set out. They then laid down the dear prince, the distributer of rings, in the bosom of the ship, the mighty one beside the mast; there was much of treasures, of ornaments, brought from afar. Never heard I of a comelier ship having been adorned with battle-weapons and with war-weeds, with bills and mailed coats. Upon his bosom lay a multitude of treasures which were to depart afar with him, into the possession of the flood. They furnished him not less with offerings, with mighty wealth, than those had done who in the beginning sent him forth in his wretchedness, alone over the waves. Moreover they set up for him a golden ensign, high over head; they let the deep-sea bear him; they gave him to the ocean. Sad was their spirit, mournful their mood. Men know not in sooth to say (men wise of counsel, or any men under the heavens) who received the freight.'

The poem, still keeping to the royal house of Denmark, goes on to narrate that Scyld is succeeded by B. (the elder), who is followed by Healfdene and his four children, of whom the second, Hrothgar, becomes king. There was success in arms given to Hrothgar, the dignity of war; so that his dear relations gladly obeyed him, until the young people waxed a mighty kindred band.' Hrothgar builds a magnificent palace, called Heorot. Here 'he distributed rings, treasure at the feast; the hall rose aloft, high and curved with pinnacles it awaited the hostile waves of loathed fire.' But Hrothgar is not long

"The grim stranger Grendel, almighty haunter of the marshes, one that held the moors, fen and fastness, the dwellings of the monster race,' and who seems to be a sort of combination of the man and the monster, 'whose cursed hide recketh not of weapons,' could not endure every day to hear joy loud in the hall.' 'He the Grendel set off then, after night was come, to visit the lofty house, to see how the Ring-Danes had ordered it, after the service of beer. He found then therein a troop of nobles, sleeping after the feast: they knew not sorrow, the wretchedness of men, the knew not aught of misfortune; the grim and greedy one was soon prepared, savage and fierce, and in their sleep he seized upon thirty of the thanes. Thence he again departed, exulting in his prey, to go home, with the carcasses of the slain, to visit his own dwellings.' Similar exploits are repeated, and Healfdene's son is continually seethed in the sorrow of the time;' nor might the prudent hero turn away the ruin, till Hygelac's thane, chief of the Geats, sends his retainers to his aid. The description of the expedition, and of many other parts of this remarkable poem, remind one strongly of Homer; and were we to describe it, we should do so by assigning it a place somewhere between the Iliad and Hiawatha. B. is the leader of this friendly band, and the chief incidents of the poem relate to his encounters, first with Grendel, and afterwards with a dragon.

The domestic arrangements which were made for the reception of B. and his companions present a striking, and probably genuine picture of the manners of our ancestors; and convey some information as to a liquor which has not ceased to find favour with their children. ""Sit now to the feast, and joyfully eat, exulting in victory among my warriors, as thy mind may excite thee." Then was for the sons of the Geats, altogether, a bench cleared in the beer-hall; there the bold of spirit, free from quarrel, went to sit; the thane observed his office, he that in his hand bare the twisted ale-cup; he poured the bright sweet liquor; meanwhile the poet sang serene in Heorot, there was joy of heroes, no little pomp of Danes and Westerns.

Further on there is an interesting description of the Danish queen: 'There was laughter of heroes, the noise was modulated, words were winsome; Wealtheow, Hrothgar's queen, went forth; mindful of their races, she, hung round with gold, greeted the men in the hall; and the freeborn lady gave the cup first to the prince of the East Danes; she bad him be blithe at the service of beer, dear to his people. He, the king proud of victory, joyfully received the feast and hall-cup. The lady of the Helmings then went round about every part of young and old; she gave treasure-vessels, until the opportunity occurred, that she, a queen hung round with rings, venerable of mood, bore forth the meadcup to Beowulf. Wise of words, she greeted the Geat, she thanked God because her will was accomplished, that he believed in any earl, as a consolation against the crimes.'

It seems strange that beer should be the only drink on so great an occasion, seeing that wine is continually mentioned, and the hall is usually called the 'Wine Hall.' A spirited metrical translation of B., by A. D. Wackerbarth, was published in 1849 (Pickering).

BEQUEA'TH, to leave personal property by will or testament to another. In the case of real estate, the proper term to employ is devise. But although it is usual and safe so to use these words, neither of them is essential to the validity of an English will, but other words, showing clearly the intention of the testator, will suffice. In the Scotch law, the term

BEQUEST-BERBERA.

B. can only apply to personal estate. Real estate, indeed, according to the existing regulations of that system, cannot be left or conveyed by will or testament; a testamentary disposition or settlement, expressed in certain technical terms of present conveyance, being necessary for the purpose. See WILL; TESTAMENT; LEGACY; DISPOSITION (Mortis Causa); SETTLEMENT; REAL ESTATE; PERSONAL ESTATE.

BEQUE'ST, a legacy of personal property left by resigned. He consistently rejected all the offered

BERBERIDEÆ-BERCHTA.

piece-goods, &c. As soon as the fair-which usually, expect from their high physical organisation. They extends from November to April-is over, the huts are carefully taken down, and packed up, and nothing remains to mark the site of the town but the bones of animals slaughtered for food during the continuance of the fair.

BERBERI'DEÆ, or BERBERIDACEÆ, a natural order of exogenous plants, of which the different species of Barberry (q. v.) afford the best known examples. Many of the plants of this order are spiny shrubs; some are perennial herbaceous plants. Their leaves are alternate, their flowers sometimes solitary, sometimes in racemes or panicles. The calyx consists of 3, 4, or 6 deciduous sepals; the corolla, which arises from beneath the germen, consists of petals equal in number to the sepals, and opposite to them, or twice as many; the stamens are equal in number to the petals, and opposite to them; the anthers are 2-celled, each cell opening curiously by a valve which curves back from bottom to top; the carpel is solitary and 1-celled; the fruit is either a berry or a capsule. This order, which is nearly allied to Vitaceae (q. v.), (Vines, &c.), contains more than 100 known species, chiefly belonging to the temperate parts of the northern hemisphere, and of South America.

The

live in clay-huts and tents; but, in their larger
villages, they have stone-houses. They have herds
of sheep and cattle, and practise agriculture, and
are especially fond of the cultivation of fruit-trees.
They possess water-mills and oil-presses.
mines of iron and lead in the Atlas are wrought by
them, and they manufacture rude agricultural
implements, as well as swords, guns, and gunpowder.
They formerly professed the Christian religion; but
since the Arabs drove them from the fertile plains
between the mountains and the sea, they appear to
have retrograded in every way, and they are now
among the most bigoted adherents of the religion of
Mohammed; although their former creed has left a
few traces, as in the names Mesi for God, and
observed among them. See Barth's Africa, vol. i.
angelus for angel, and many curious customs still

BERBI'CE, the east division of British Guiana, having its middle division, Demerara, on the W.; the Atlantic on the N.; Dutch Guiana or Surinam on the E.; and on the S., the basin of the Amazon, or rather, perhaps, the upper waters of the Surinam. From being a Dutch possession, this part of the coast, between the Amazon and the Orinoco, fell under the power of England in 1796. It was, BE'RBERS, the general name usually given to however, soon restored to Holland at the peace of Amiens, but only to be recaptured in 1803. It the tribes inhabiting the mountainous regions of stretches in long. between 57 and 58° W., and in Barbary and the northern portions of the Great lat. indefinitely southward, from about 6° 30′ N. Desert. It is derived, according to Barth, either B. is subdivided into six parishes. The population, from the name of their supposed ancestor, Ber, in 1834, was returned at 21,589, of whom 570 were which we recognise in the Lat. A-fer, an African whites; and the principal products are sugar, coffee, (see letter B); or from the Greek and Roman term and cotton. But details generally of trade and Barbari. The name by which they call themselves, statistics, and of climate also, may be more easily and which was known to the Greeks and Romans, and satisfactorily treated under the general head of is Amázigh, or Mazigh, Mazys, Amoshagh, Imoshagh, BRITISH GUIANA, than under the separate divisions &c., according to locality, and whether singular or of B., Demerara, and Essequibo. New Amsterdam, plural. These tribes have a common origin, and are the descendants of the aboriginal inhabitants of standing on the right bank of the river near its mouth, is at once the chief town and the seaport of Northern Africa. They appear to have been origin- the district. The Berbice river, though by no means ally a branch of the Semitic stock; and although the largest in the colony, is navigable certainly to they have been conquered in succession by the the greatest distance from the sea. While the Phoenicians, Romans, Vandals, and Arabs, and have become, in consequence, to some extent, a mixed vastly more considerable Essequibo is interrupted race, they still remain, in great part, their distinctive by rapids within 50 miles of the coast, the Berbice race, they still remain, in great part, their distinctive admits a draught of 12 feet for 100 miles, and one peculiarities. Till the cleventh century, the B. seem of 7 feet for 60 more, the influence of the tide to have formed the larger portion of the population reaching nearly the whole way; and even as far as inhabiting the southern portion of the Mediterranean, lat. 3° 55' N.-175 miles from its outlet by the crow's from Egypt to the Atlantic Ocean; but, on the flight-it was found to have still a width of 100 feet, great Arab immigrations which then took place, with a depth of from 8 to 10. they were driven to the Atlas Mountains, and to the desert regions where they now live. In Tripoli, the allegiance they pay to the Turks is little more than nominal; in Algeria, where they usually are termed Kabyles, they are yet unconquered by the French; and in Morocco, where they are called 'Shellooh,' they are only in form subject to the emperor. The B. occupying the desert, who are called, Tuaric, or Tawarek, by the Arabs, have become much mixed with the negro race. The number of the B. is estimated at between three and four millions. They are of middle stature, sparely but strongly built. The complexion varies from a red to a yellow brown, and the shape of the head and of the features has more of the European than the oriental type. The hair is, in general, dark, and the beard small. The eyes are dark and piercing. Their manners are austere, and in disposition they are cruel, suspicious, and implacable. They are usually at war either with their neighbours or among themselves; are impatient of restraint; and possessed of a rude, wild spirit of independence, which makes it impossible for them to unite for any common purpose, or to make the advances in civilisation which one might otherwise

BERCHE'MIA. See SUPPLE JACK.

BE'RCHTA (in Old German, Peracta, and the original form of the name Bertha, being from the same root as the English word bright, and meaning 'shining,' 'white') is, in German mythology, the name given in the south of Germany and in Switzerland to a spiritual being, who was apparently the same as the Hulda (gracious, benign) of Northern Germany. This being represented originally one of the kindly and benign aspects of the unseen powers; and so the traditions of Hulda (q. v.) in the north continued to represent her. But the B. of the south, in the course of time, became rather an object of terror, and a bugbear to frighten children; the difference probably arising from the circumstance, that the influence of Christianity in converting the pagan deities into demons was sooner felt in the south than in the north. Lady B. has the oversight of spinners. The last day of the year is sacred to her, and if she find any flax left on the distaff that day, she spoils it. Her festival is kept with a prescribed kind of meagre fare-oatmeal-gruel, or pottage, and fish. If she catches any person eating other food on that day, she cuts them up, fills their