[Bertrand] and Raton, two personages in La Fontaine's fable of the Monkey and the Cat, of whom R. cracks the nut and B. eats it.
[Ber`trand, Henri Gratien, Comte], a French general, and faithful adherent of Napoleon, accompanied him in all his campaigns, to and from Elba, as well as in his exile at St. Helena; conducted his remains back to France in 1840 (1770-1844).
[Bertrand de Molleville], Minister of Marine under Louis XVI.; a fiery partisan of royalty, surnamed the enfant terrible of the monarchy (1744-1818).
[Berton, Pierre], French composer of operas (1726-1780). Henri, his son, composed operas; wrote a treatise on harmony (1761-1844).
[Bérulle, Cardinal], born at Troyes; founder of the order of Carmelites, and of the Congregation of the Oratory (1576-1629).
[Berwick, James Fitz-James, Duke of], a natural son of James II., a naturalised Frenchman; defended the rights of his father; was present with him at the battle of the Boyne; distinguished himself in Spain, where he gained the victory of Almanza; was made marshal of France; fell at the siege of Philippsburg; left "Memoirs" (1670-1734).
[Berwick, North], a place on the S. shore of the Forth, in Haddingtonshire; a summer resort, specially for the golfing links.
[Berwick-on-Tweed] (13), a town on the Scotch side of the Tweed, at its mouth, reckoned since 1835 in Northumberland, though at one time treated as a separate county; of interest from its connection with the Border wars, during which it frequently changed hands, till in 1482 the English became masters of it.
[Berwickshire] (32), a fertile Scottish county between the Lammermoors, inclusive, 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 Linnæus as a man of science in Sweden (1779-1848).