usive, and the Tweed; is divided into the Merse, a
richly fertile plain in the S., the Lammermoors, hilly and pastoral,
dividing the Merse from Mid and East Lothian, and Lauderdale, of hill and
dale, along the banks of the Leader; Greenlaw the county town.

BERZE`LIUS, JOHAN JAKOB, Baron, a celebrated Swedish chemist, one of
the creators of modern chemistry; instituted the chemical notation by
symbols based on the notion of equivalents; determined the equivalents of
a great number of simple bodies, such as cerium and silenium; discovered
silenium, and shared with Davy the honour of propounding the
electro-chemical theory; he ranks next to Linnaeus as a man of science in
Sweden (1779-1848).

BESANCON (57), capital of the dep. of Doubs, in France; a very
strong place; fortified by Vauban; abounds in relics of Roman and
mediaeval times; watchmaking a staple industry, employing some 15,000 of
the inhabitants; manufactures also porcelain and carpets.

BESANT, MRS. ANNIE, _nee_ WOOD, born in London; of Irish
descent; married to an English clergyman, from whom she was legally
separated; took a keen interest in social questions and secularism;
drifted into theosophy, of which she is now an active propagandist; is an
interesting woman, and has an interesting address as a lecturer; _b_.
1847.

BESANT, SIR WALTER, a man of letters, born at Portsmouth; eminent
chiefly as a novelist of a healthily realistic type; wrote a number of
novels jointly with James Rice, and is the author of "French Humourists,"
as well as short stories; champion of the cause of Authors _versus_
Publishers, and is chairman of the committee; _b_. 1838.

BESENVAL, BARON, a Swiss, commandant of Paris under Louis XVI.; a
royalist stunned into a state of helpless dismay at the first outbreak of
the Revolution in Paris; could do nothing in the face of it but run for
his life (1722-1791).

BESIKA BAY, a bay on the Asiatic coast, near the mouth of the
Dardanelles.

BESME, a Bohemian in the pay of the Duke of Guise; assassinated
Coligny, and was himself killed by Berteauville, a Protestant gentleman,
in 1571.

BESS, GOOD QUEEN, a familiar name of Queen Elizabeth.

BESSARA`BIA (1,688), a government in the SW. of Russia, between the
Dniester and the Pruth; a cattle-breeding province; exports cattle, wool,
and tallow.

BESSAR`ION, JOHN, cardinal, native of Trebizond; contributed by his
zeal in Greek literature to the fall of scholasticis