e off; let us pass to the next business of the
House"; was convicted of treachery to the cause of the Revolution and put
to death; as the father of Hortense, who married Louis, Napoleon's
brother, he became grandfather of Napoleon III. (1760-1794).

BEAUHARNAIS, EUGENE DE, son of the preceding and of Josephine, born
at Paris, step-son of Napoleon, therefore was made viceroy of Italy; took
an active part in the wars of the empire; died at Muenich, whither he
retired after the fall of Napoleon (1781-1824).

BEAUHARNAIS, HORTENSE EUGENIE, sister of the preceding, ex-queen of
Holland; wife of Louis Bonaparte, an ill-starred union; mother of
Napoleon III., the youngest of three sons (1783-1837).

BEAUMAR`CHAIS, PIERRE AUGUSTIN CARON DE, a dramatist and pleader of
the most versatile, brilliant gifts, and French to the core, born in
Paris, son of a watchmaker at Caen; ranks as a comic dramatist next to
Moliere; author of "Le Barbier de Seville" (1775), and "Le Mariage de
Figaro" (1784), his masterpiece; astonished the world by his conduct of a
lawsuit he had, for which "he fought against reporters, parliaments, and
principalities, with light banter, clear logic, adroitly, with an
inexhaustible toughness of resource, like the skilfullest fencer." He was
a zealous supporter of the Revolution, and made sacrifices on its behalf,
but narrowly escaped the guillotine; died in distress and poverty. Of the
two plays he wrote, Saintsbury says, "The wit is indisputable, but his
chansons contain as much wit as the Figaro plays." He made a fortune by
speculations in the American war, and lost by others, one of them being
the preparation of a sumptuous edition of Voltaire. For the culmination
and decline, as well as appreciation, of him, see the "French
Revolution," by Carlyle (1732-1799).

BAUMA`RIS, principal town in Anglesea, Wales, on the Menai Strait,
near Bangor, a favourite watering-place, with remains of a castle erected
by Edward I.

BEAUMONT, CHRISTOPHE DE, archbishop of Paris, born at Perigord,
"spent his life in persecuting hysterical Jansenists and incredulous
non-confessors"; but scrupled to grant, though he fain would have
granted, absolution on his deathbed to the dissolute monarch of France,
Louis XV.; issued a charge condemnatory of Rousseau's "Emile," which
provoked a celebrated letter from Rousseau in reply (1703-1781).

BEAUMONT, FRANCIS, dramatic poet, born in Leicestershire, of a
family of good stand