Chapter V: Front Matter (5)

Beethoven's third style arose imperceptibly from his second. His deafness had very little to do with it, for all his epoch-making discoveries in orchestral effect date from the time when he was already far too much inconvenienced to test them in a way which would satisfy any one who depended more upon his ear than upon his imagination. It is indeed highly probable that there are no important features in Beethoven's latest style that may not be paralleled by the tendencies of all great artists who have handled their material until it contains nothing that has not been long familiar with them. Such tendencies lead to an extreme simplicity of form, underlying an elaboration of detail which may at first seem bewildering until we realize that it is purely the working out to its logical conclusions of some idea as simple and natural as the form itself. The form, however, will be not merely simple, but individual. Different works will show such striking external differences of form that a criticism which applies merely _a priori_ or historic standards will be tempted by the fallacy that there is less form in a number of such markedly different works than in a number of works that have one scheme in common. All this is eminently the case with Beethoven's last works. The extreme simplicity of the themes of the first two movements of the quartet in B flat, _op._ 131, and the tremendous complexity of the texture into which they are woven, at first impress us as something mysterious and intangible rather than astonishing. The boldness with which the slow introduction is blended in broad statement and counter-statement with the _allegro_, is directly impressive, as is also the entry of the second subject with its dark harmony and tone, but the work needs long familiarity before its vast mass of thought reveals itself to us in its true lucidity. Such works are "dark with excessive bright." When we enter into them they are transparent as far as our vision extends, and their darkness is that of a depth that shines as we penetrate it. In all probability only a veil of familiarity prevents our finding the same kind of difficulty in Beethoven's earlier works. What is undoubtedly newest in the last works is the enormous development of those polyphonic elements which are always essential to the life of a composition, but which have very different functions and degrees of prominence in different forms and stages of the art. Polyphony inevitably draws attention to detail, and thus Beethoven in his middle period found its more obvious manifestations but little conducive to the breadth of designs which were not as yet sufficiently familiar to take any but the foremost place. Hence, among other interesting features of that second period, his marked preference for themes founded on rhythmic figures of one note, e.g. the famous "four taps" in the C minor symphony; an identical rhythm in a melodious theme of very different character in the G major concerto; a similar figure in the _Sonata Appassionata_; the first theme of the _scherzo_ of the F major quartet, _op._ 59, No. 1, and the drum-beats in the violin concerto. Such rhythms give thematic life to an inner part without causing it to assume such melodic interest as might distract the attention from the flow of the surface. But in proportion as polyphony loses its danger so does the prominence of such rhythmic figures decrease, until in Beethoven's last works they are no more noticeable than other kinds of simplicity. The impression of crowded detail is naturally more prominent the smaller the means with which Beethoven works and the less outwardly dramatic his thought. Thus those most gigantic of all musical designs, the 9th symphony, and the Mass in D, are, but for the mechanical difficulties of the choral writing, almost like works of the second period as far as direct impressiveness is concerned; and in the same way the enormous pianoforte sonata, _op._ 106, is in its first three movements easier to follow than the extremely terse and subtle works on a smaller scale that preceded it (sonata in A major, 101, and the two sonatas for violoncello, _op._ 102).

His enormous development of polyphonic interest soon led Beethoven to employ the fugue, not only, as in previous works, by way of episodic contrast to passages and designs in which the form and not the texture is the main object of interest, but as the culminating expression of a condition or art in which the unity of form and texture is so perfect that the mind is free to concentrate itself on the texture alone. This union was not effected without a struggle, the traces of which present a close parallel to that abrupt emphasis which we noticed in some of Beethoven's early works. In his fugue-writing the notion that the chief interest lies in the texture is as yet so difficult to hold together with the perception that these fugues are based on a modern firmness and range of form, that the texture is forced upon the listener's attention by a continual series of ruthlessly logical bold strokes of harmony. From this and from the notorious violence of Beethoven's choral writing, and also from his well-known technical struggles in his years of pupilage, the easy inference has been drawn that Beethoven never was a great master of counterpoint, an inference that is absolutely irreconcilable with such plain facts as, to take but one early example, the brilliant piece of triple counterpoint in the _andante_ of the string quartet in C minor, _op._ 18, No. 4, and the complete absence of anything like crudeness in his handling of harmonics, basses or inner parts at any period of his career. Beethoven may have mastered some things with difficulty, but he mastered nothing incompletely; and where he is not orthodox it is safest to conclude that orthodoxy is wrong. Had he lived for another ten years he would certainly have produced an immense amount of choral work, and with it many other great instrumental works in which this last remaining element of conflict between texture and form would have dwindled away. But while this would doubtless result in such work being easier to follow and might even have given us a version of the great fugue, _op._ 133 (discarded from the string-quartet, _op._ 131), that did not surpass the bounds of practical performance, it would yet be no sound criterion by which to stigmatize as an immaturity the roughness of the polyphonic works that we know. That roughness is, like the abrupt epigrammatic manner of some of his early works, the necessary condition in which such material realizes mature expression. Without it that material could receive but the academic handling of a dead language. And by it was created that permanent reconciliation of polyphony and form from which has arisen almost all that is true in "Romantic" music, all that is peculiar to the thematic technique of Wagnerian opera, and all the perfect smoothness of Brahms's polyphony.

The incalculable depth of thought and closeness of texture in Beethoven's later works are, of course, the embodiment of a no less incalculable emotional power. If we at times feel that the last quartets are more introspective than dramatic, that is only because Beethoven's dramatic sense is higher than we can realize. The subject is too large and too subtle for dogmatism to be profitable; and we cannot in Beethoven's case, as we can in Bach's, cite a complete series of illustrations of his musical ideas from his treatment in choral music of words which themselves interpret the intention of the composer. There is so little but the music itself by which one can express Beethoven's thought, that the utmost we can do here is to refer the reader, as before, to the articles on SONATA FORMS, HARMONY, INSTRUMENTATION, OPERA and MUSIC, where he will find further attempts to indicate in what sense pure music can be described as dramatic and expressive of emotion.

As our range of investigation widens, and thoroughness of analysis and study increases, so we shall surely find in ourselves an ever-deepening conviction that Beethoven, whether in range, depth and truth of thought, perfect sense of beauty, or absolute conscientiousness of execution, is the greatest musician, perhaps the greatest artist, that ever lived. There is no means of measuring Beethoven's influence upon subsequent music. Every composer of every school claims it. The immense changes he brought about in the range of music have their most obvious effect in the possibilities of emotional expression; and so any outbreak of vulgarity or sentimentality can with impunity claim descent from Beethoven, though its ancestry may be no higher than Meyerbeer. Again, we have already referred to that confusion of thought which regards a series of works markedly different in form as containing less form than any number of works cast in one mould. Hence the works of Beethoven's third period have been cited in defence of more than one "revolution," attempted in a form which never existed in any true classic, for the purpose of setting up something the revolutionist has not yet succeeded in inventing. To measure Beethoven's influence is like measuring Shakespeare's. It is an influence either too vaguely universal to name or too profoundly artistic to analyse. Perhaps the truest account of it would be that which ignored its presence in the works of ill-balanced artists, or even in the works of those who profited merely by an increase of technical and harmonic resource which, though effected by Beethoven, would, after the French Revolution and the Napoleonic wars, almost certainly have to some extent arisen from sheer necessity of finding expression for the new experience of humanity, if Beethoven had never existed. Setting aside, then, all instances of mere domination, and of a permanently established new world of musical thought, and omitting Schubert and Weber as contemporaries, the one attracted and the other partly repelled, we may, perhaps, take three later composers, Schumann, Wagner and Brahms, as the leading examples of the way in which Beethoven's influence is definitely traceable as a creative force. The depth and solemnity of Beethoven's melody and later polyphonic richness is a leading source of Schumann's inspiration, though Schumann's artistic schemes exclude any high degree of formal organization on a large scale. Beethoven's late polyphony is carried on by Brahms to the point at which perfect smoothness of style is once more possible, and there is no aspect of his form which Brahms neglects or fails to realize with that complete originality which has nothing to fear from its ancestry. Wagner does not handle the same art-forms; his task is different, but Beethoven was the inspiring source, not only of his purely musical sense, but also of his whole sense of dramatic contrast and fitness. When he had shaken off the influence of Meyerbeer, which has so often been confused with that of Beethoven, there remained to him, pre-eminently in his music and more imperfectly realized in his drama, a power of combining contrasted emotions such as is the privilege of only the very greatest dramatic artists. Bach and Beethoven are the sources of the polyphonic means of expression by which he attains this. Beethoven alone is the extraneous source of his knowledge that it was possible. And it is as certain as anything in the history of art that there will never be a time when Beethoven's work does not occupy the central place in a sound musical mind.

ANNOTATED LIST OF BEETHOVEN'S WORKS

Up to 1823 we give in most cases the dates of publication, the date of
composition being generally from one to three years earlier. Beethoven
seldom had less than a dozen projects in hand at once, and their
immediate chronology is inextricable; whereas publication generally
means final revision. This list is purposely incomplete in order that
unimportant works may not distract attention, even when they are late
and on a large scale.

Sonata = Pianoforte sonata.
Violin or violoncello sonata = for pianoforte, V. or Vc.
Pianoforte trio = Pfte., V., Vc.
Pianoforte quartet = Pfte., V., viola and Vc.
String trio = V., Va., Vc.
String quartet = VV., Va. and Vc.
Pianoforte or violin concerto = Concerto with orchestra.

1785. 3 pfte. quartets, of which the third contains important
material for the sonatas, _op._ 2, Nos. 1 and 3. (Thayer's attribution
of the masterly bagatelles, _op._ 33, published 1803, to this period
can only be rationalized by some similar rough first idea.)

1790. 24 variations on an air by Righini (published 1801). A very
remarkable work, anticipating Schumann's _Papillons_ in its humorous
close. It was Beethoven's chief early _tour-de-force_ in pianoforte
playing.

1795. 3 pfte. trios, _op._ 1 (E-flat, G, C minor).

1796. 3 pfte. sonatas, _op._ 2 (F minor, A and C, dedicated to Haydn).

1797. String trio, _op._ 3, 2 violoncello sonatas, _op._ 5, F and G
mi., sonata, _op._ 7, E-flat.

1798. 3 string trios, _op._ 9; G, D, C mi., 3 sonatas, _op._ 10 (C mi.,
F, D). Trio for pfte., clarinet and violoncello in B-flat, _op._ 11.

1799. 3 violin sonatas (D, A, E-flat), _op._ 12. Pfte. sonata
(_Pathetique_ not Beethoven's title) C mi., _op._ 13, 2 pfte.
sonatas, _op._ 14, E, G (the first arranged by the composer as a
string quartet in F).

1801. Pianoforte concertos, _op._ 15 in C, _op._ 19 in B-flat (the
latter composed first). Quintet for pianoforte and wind instruments,
_op._ 16 (also arranged, with new details, as quartet for pianoforte
and strings), composed 1797. 6 string quartets, _op._ 18 (F, G, D, C
mi., A, B-flat). 1st symphony (C), _op._ 21. 2 violin sonatas, A mi.,
_op._ 23; F ma., _op._ 24 (made into two opus-numbers by an accident
in the _format_ of the volumes).

1802. Pianoforte score of the _Prometheus_ ballet, _op._ 24 (ousted
by the F ma. violin sonata, and reissued as _op._ 43). Sonata in
B-flat, _op._ 22. Sonata in A-flat, _op._ 26 (with the funeral march).
2 sonatas ("quasi fantasia"), _op._ 27, E-flat, C-sharp mi. Sonata in
D, _op._ 28 (_Pastorale_ not Beethoven's title). String quintet in C,
_op._ 29.

1803. 3 violin sonatas, _op._ 30 (A, C mi., G). 3 sonatas, _op._ 31,
G, D mi., E-flat (the last appearing in 1804). Variations, _op._ 34.
15 variations and fugue on theme from _Prometheus_, _op._ 35.

1804. 2nd symphony (D), _op._ 36 (1802). 3rd pfte. concerto (C mi.),
_op._ 37 (1800).

1805. The "Kreutzer" sonata, _op._ 47, for pfte. and violin (A) (finale
at first intended for _op._ 30, No. 1). "Waldstein" sonata for pfte.,
_op._ 53 (C). First version of opera _Leonore_ in three acts (with
overture "No. 2").

1806. Sonata in F, _op._ 54. _Eroica Symphony_, No. 3, _op._ 55
(E-flat), written in 1804 in honour of Napoleon Bonaparte. It was
just finished when news arrived that Napoleon had made himself
emperor, and Beethoven was with difficulty restrained from destroying
the score. It is still the longest extant perfect design in
instrumental music. The finale glorifies the material (and much of
the form) of the variations, _op._ 35. The _scherzo_ is the first
full-sized example of Beethoven's special type. _Leonore_ reproduced
in two acts with overture No. 3. 32 variations in C mi. (no
opus-number, but a very important work on the lines of a modernized
_chaconne_).

1807. Triple concerto (pfte., V. and Vc.), _op._ 56, chiefly
interesting as a study for the true concerto-form which had given
Beethoven difficulty. Sonata, _op._ 57 (F mi., _Appassionata_, not
Beethoven's title). New overture, _Leonore_, "No. 1," composed for
projected performance of the opera at Prague (posthumously published
as _op._ 138).

1808. 4th pfte. concerto, _op._ 58 (G). 3 string quartets, _op._ 59,
F, E mi., C (dedicated to Count Rasoumovsky, in compliment to whom
Russian tunes appear in the finale of No. 1 and the _scherzo_ of No.
2). Overture to _Coriolanus_, _op._ 62.

1809. 4th symphony, _op._ 60 (B-flat). Violin concerto (D), _op._ 61
(also arranged by the composer for pianoforte). 5th symphony, _op._
67 (C mi.) (1806), the first in which trombones appear. 6th symphony
(Pastorale), _op._ 68; violoncello sonata, _op._ 69 (A). 2 pianoforte
trios, _op._ 70 (D, E-flat).

1810. Pianoforte score of _Leonore_ (2nd version) published. String
quartet, _op._ 74 (E-flat, called "Harp" because of _pizzicato_
passages in first movement). Fantasia, _op._ 77, interesting as
consisting of a long and capricious series of dramatic beginnings and
breakings off of themes, as if in search for a firm idea, which is at
last found and developed as a set of variations. This scheme thus
foreshadows the choral finale of the 9th symphony even more
significantly than the Choral Fantasia.

Sonata, _op._ 78, F-sharp (extremely terse and subtle, and a great
favourite with Beethoven, who preferred it to the C-sharp mi.).

1811. 5th pfte. concerto, _op._ 73, E-flat (_The Emperor_ not
Beethoven's title). Fantasia for pfte., orchestra and chorus, _op._
80. Sonata, _op._ 81a (_Les Adieux, l'absence, et le retour_), first
movement written when the archduke Rudolph had to leave Vienna (4th
May 1809), and the rest on his return on the 30th of January 1810. It
was an anxious time both for Beethoven and his excellent royal
friend, for whom he had great affection. (Battle of Wagram, 6th July
1809.) (We may here note that _op._ 81b is an unimportant and very
early sextet.) The overture to _Egmont_, _op._ 84; _Christus am
Oelberge_ (the Mount of Olives), _op._ 85, oratorio (probably
composed between 1800 and its first performance in 1803).

1812. The rest of the _Egmont_ music, _op._ 84. 1st mass, _op._ 87 (C)
(first performance, 1807).

1814. Final version of _Leonore_, performed as _Fidelio_ with great
alterations, skilful revision of the libretto, very important new
material in the music and a new overture.

1815. Sonata, _op._ 90 (E mi.).

1816. 7th symphony, _op._ 92 (A); 8th symphony, _op._ 93 (F)
(Beethoven was planning a group of three of which the last was to be
in D mi., which we shall find significant). String quartet, _op._ 95
(F mi.). Violin sonata, _op._ 96 (G). Pianoforte trio, _op._ 97
(B-flat); _Liederkreis_, _op._ 98.

1817. Sonata, _op._ 101 (the first indisputably in Beethoven's "third
manner"). 2 violoncello sonatas, _op._ 102 (C, D, the second
containing Beethoven's first modern instrumental strict fugue).

1819. Arrangement for string quintet, _op._ 104, of C mi. trio, _op._
1, No. 3 (a wonderful study in translation, comparable only to Bach's
arrangements and very unlike Beethoven's former essays of the kind).
Sonata, _op._ 106 (B-flat), the largest and most symphonic pianoforte
work extant, surpassed in length only by Bach's _Goldberg_ variations
and Beethoven's 33 variations on Diabelli's waltz.

1821. 25 Scotch songs accompanied by pfte., V. and Vc., _op._ 108
(the first set of a large and much neglected collection, mostly
posthumous, many of great interest and beauty and very Beethovenish,
which has shocked persons who expect sympathetic insight into
folk-music to prevail over Beethoven's artistic impulse). Sonata,
_op._ 109 (E).

1822. Sonata, _op._ 110 (A-flat). Overture, _Die Weihe des Hauses_,
_op._ 124 (C), a magnificent essay in orchestral free fugue,
published 1825.

1823. Sonata, _op._ 111 (C mi., the last pianoforte sonata). 33
variations on a waltz by Diabelli, who sent his waltz round to
fifty-one musicians in Austria asking each to contribute a variation;
the whole to be published for the benefit of the widows and orphans
left by the war. Beethoven answered with the greatest set ever
written, and it was published in a separate volume. Among the other
fifty composers were Schubert and an infant prodigy of eleven, Franz
Liszt! The mass in D (_Missa Solemnis_), _op._ 123, begun in 1818 for
the installation of the archduke Rudolph as archbishop of Olmutz, was
not finished until 1826, two years after the installation. The 9th
symphony, _op._ 125 D mi. (see note on 7th and 8th symphonies);
sketches begun 1817; project of setting Schiller's _Freude_ already
in Beethoven's mind before he left Bonn. 6 bagatelles, _op._ 126,
Beethoven's last pianoforte work a very remarkable and unaccountably
neglected group of carefully contrasted lyric pieces.

1824. String quartet, _op._ 127 (E-flat, published 1826).

1825. String quartet, _op._ 130 (B-flat), with finale, _op._ 133
(grand fugue); string quartet, _op._ 132 (A mi., with slow movement
in Lydian mode, a _Heiliger Dankgesang_ on recovery from illness.
Theme of finale first thought of as for instrumental finale to 9th
symphony).

1826. String quartet, _op._ 131 (C-sharp, mi.). String quartet, op.
135 (F). New finale to _op._ 130, Beethoven's last composition.
(D. F. T.)

AUTHORITIES.--A.W. Thayer, _Beethovens Leben_ (1866-1879); L. Nohl,
_Life of Beethoven_ (Eng. trans., 1884), and _Letters_ (Eng. trans.,
1866); Sir G. Grove, _Beethoven and his Symphonies_ (1896), and in
Grove's _Dictionary of Music_.

BEETLE (O. Eng. _bityl_; connected with "bite"), a name commonly applied to those insects which possess horny wing-cases; it is used to denote the cockroaches (q.v.) (black beetles), as well as the true beetles or _Coleoptera_ (q.v.), the two belonging to different orders of _Insecta_.

The adjective "beetle-browed," and similarly "beetling" (of a cliff), are derived from the name of the insect. From another word (O. Eng. _betel_, connected with "beat") comes "beetle" in the sense of a mallet, and the "beetling-machine," which subjects fabrics to a hammering process.

BEETS, NIKOLAAS (1814-1903), Dutch poet, was born at Haarlem on the 13th of September 1814; constant references in his poems and sketches show how deeply the beauty of that town and its neighbourhood impressed his imagination. He studied theology in Leiden, but gave himself early to the cultivation of poetry. In his youth Beets was entirely carried away on the tide of Byronism which was then sweeping over Europe, and his early works--_Jose_ (1834), _Kuser_ (1835) and _Guy de Vlaming_ (1837)--are gloomy romances of the most impassioned type. But at the very same time he was beginning in prose the composite work of humour and observation which has made him famous, and which certainly had nothing that was in the least Byronic about it. This was the celebrated _Camera Obscura_ (1839), the most successful imaginative work which any Dutchman of the 18th century produced. This work, published under the pseudonym of "Hildebrand," goes back in its earliest inception to the year 1835, when Beets was only twenty-one. It consists of complete short stories, descriptive sketches, studies of peasant life--all instinct with humour and pathos, and written in a style of great charm; it has been reprinted in countless editions. Beets became a professor at the university of Leiden, and the pastor of a congregation in that city. In middle life he published further collections of verse--_Cornflowers_ (1853) and _New Poems_ (1857)--in which the romantic melancholy was found to have disappeared, and to have left in its place a gentle sentiment and a depth of religious feeling. In 1873-1875 Beets collected his works in three volumes. In April 1883 the honorary degree of LL.D. Edin. was conferred upon him. He died at Utrecht on the 13th of March 1903.

BEFANA (Ital., corrupted from _Epifania_, Epiphany), the Italian female counterpart of Santa Claus, the Christmas benefactor (St Nicholas). On Epiphany, or Twelfth Night, she plays the fairy godmother to the children, filling their stockings with presents. Tradition relates that she was too busy with house duties to come to the window to see the Three Wise Men of the East pass on their journey to pay adoration to the Saviour, excusing herself on the ground that she could see them on their return. They went back another way, and Befana is alleged to have been punished by being obliged to look for them for ever. Her legends seem to be rather mixed, for in spite of her Santa Claus character, her name is used by Italian mothers as a bogey to frighten the babies. It was the custom to carry her effigy through Italian towns on the eve of the Epiphany.

BEFFROY DE REIGNY, LOUIS ABEL (1757-1811), French dramatist and man of letters, was born at Laon on the 6th of November 1757. Under the name of "Cousin Jacques" he founded a periodical called _Les Lunes_ (1785-1787). The _Courrier des planetes ou Correspondance du Cousin Jacques avec le firmament_ (1788-1792) followed. _Nicodeme dans la lune, ou la revolution pacifique_ (1790) a three-act farce, is said to have had more than four hundred representations. In spite of his protests against the evils of the Revolution he escaped interference through the influence of his brother, Louis Etienne Beffroy, who was a member of the Convention. Of _La Petite Nanette_ (1795) and several other operas he wrote both the words and the music. His _Dictionnaire neologique_ (3 vols., 1795-1800) of the chief actors and events in the Revolution was interdicted by the police and remained incomplete. Beffroy spent his last years in retirement, dying in Paris on the 17th of December 1811.

BEGAS, KARL (1794-1854), German historical painter, was born at Heinsberg near Aix-la-Chapelle. His father, a retired judge, destined him for the legal profession, but the boy's tastes pointed definitely in another direction. Even at school he was remarked for his wonderful skill in drawing and painting, and in 1812 he was permitted to visit Paris in order to perfect himself in his art. He studied for eighteen months in the atelier of Gros and then began to work independently. In 1814 his copy of the Madonna della Sedia was bought by the king of Prussia, who was attracted by the young artist and did much to advance him. He was engaged to paint several large Biblical pictures, and in 1825, after his return from Italy, continued to produce paintings which were placed in the churches of Berlin and Potsdam. Some of these were historical pieces, but the majority were representations of Scriptural incidents. Begas was also celebrated as a portrait-painter, and supplied to the royal gallery a long series of portraits of eminent Prussian men of letters. At his death he held the post of court painter at Berlin. His son OSKAR (1828-1883) was also a painter and professor of painting at Berlin. REINHOLD, the sculptor, is noticed below.

BEGAS, REINHOLD (1831- ), German sculptor, younger son of Karl Begas, the painter, was born at Berlin on the 15th of July 1831. He received his early education (1846-1851) in the ateliers of C.D. Rauch and L. Wichmann. During a period of study in Italy, from 1856 to 1858, he was influenced by Bocklin and Lenbach in the direction of a naturalistic style in sculpture. This tendency was marked in the group "Borussia," executed for the facade of the exchange in Berlin, which first brought him into general notice. In 1861 he was appointed professor at the art school at Weimar, but retained the appointment only a few months. That he was chosen, after competition, to execute the statue of Schiller for the Gendarmen Markt in Berlin, was a high tribute to the fame he had already acquired; and the result, one of the finest statues in the German metropolis, entirely justified his selection. Since the year 1870, Begas has entirely dominated the plastic art in Prussia, but especially in Berlin. Among his chief works during this period are the colossal statue of Borussia for the Hall of Glory; the Neptune fountain in bronze on the Schlossplatz; the statue of Alexander von Humboldt, all in Berlin; the sarcophagus of the emperor Frederick III. in the mausoleum of the Friedenskirche at Potsdam; and, lastly, the national monument to the emperor William (see BERLIN), the statue of Bismarck before the Reichstag building, and several of the statues in the Siegesallee. He was also entrusted with the execution of the sarcophagus of the empress Frederick.

See A.G. Meyer, "Reinhold Begas" in _Kunstler-Monographien_, ed. H.
Knackfuss, Heft xx. (Bielefeld, 1897; new ed., 1901).

BEGGAR, one who begs, particularly one who gains his living by asking the charitable contributions of others. The word, with the verbal form "to beg," in Middle English _beggen_, is of obscure history. The words appear first in English in the 13th century, and were early connected with "bag," with reference to the receptacle for alms carried by the beggars. The most probable derivation of the word, and that now generally accepted, is that it is a corruption of the name of the lay communities known as Beguines and Beghards, which, shortly after their establishment, followed the friars in the practice of mendicancy (see BEGUINES). It has been suggested, however, that the origin of "beg" and "beggars" is to be found in a rare Old English word, _bedecian_, of the same meaning, which is apparently connected with the Gothic _bidjan_, cf. German _betteln_; but between the occurrence of _bedecian_ at the end of the 9th century and the appearance of "beggar" and "beg" in the 13th, there is a blank, and no explanation can be given of the great change in form. For the English law relating to begging and its history, see CHARITY, POOR LAW and VAGRANCY.

BEGGAR-MY-NEIGHBOUR, a simple card-game. An ordinary pack is divided equally between two players, and the cards are held with the backs upwards. The first player lays down his top card face up, and the opponent plays his top card on it, and this goes on alternately as long as no court-card appears; but if either player turns up a court-card, his opponent has to play four ordinary cards to an ace, three to a king, two to a queen, one to a knave, and when he has done so the other player takes all the cards on the table and places them under his pack; if, however, in the course of this playing to a court-card, another court-card turns up, the adversary has in turn to play to this, and as long as neither has played a full number of ordinary cards to any court-card the trick continues. The player who gets all the cards into his hand is the winner.

BEGONIA (named from M. Begon, a French patron of botany), a large genus (natural order, Begoniaceae) of succulent herbs or undershrubs, with about three hundred and fifty species in tropical moist climates, especially South America and India. About one hundred and fifty species are known in cultivation, and innumerable varieties and hybrid forms. Many are tuberous. The flowers are usually showy and large, white, rose, scarlet or yellow in colour; they are unisexual, the male containing numerous stamens, the female having a large inferior ovary and two to four branched or twisted stigmas. The fruit is a winged capsule containing numerous minute seeds. The leaves, which are often large and variegated, are unequal-sided.

Cuttings from flowering begonias root freely in sandy soil, if placed in heat at any season when moderately firm; as soon as rooted, they should be potted singly into 3-in. pots, in sandy loam mixed with leaf-mould and sand. They should be stopped to keep them bushy, placed in a light situation, and thinly shaded in the middle of very bright days. In a few weeks they will require another shift. They should not be overpotted, but instead assisted by manure water. The pots should be placed in a light pit near the roof glass. The summer-flowering kinds will soon begin blooming, but the autumn and winter flowering sorts should be kept growing on in a temperature of from 55 deg. to 60 deg. by night, with a few degrees more in the day. The tuberous-rooted sorts require to be kept at rest in winter, in a medium temperature, almost but not quite dry. In February they should be potted in a compost of sandy loam and leaf-mould, and placed in a temperate pit until May or June, when they may be moved to the greenhouse for flowering. If they afterwards get at all pot-bound, weak manure should be applied. After blooming, the supply of water must be again slackened; in winter the plants should be stored in a dry place secure from frost; they are increased by late summer and autumn cuttings, after being partially cut down.

BEGUINES (Fr. _beguine_, Med. Lat. _beguina, begina, beghina_), at the present time the name of the members of certain lay sisterhoods established in the Netherlands and Germany, the enclosed district within which they live being known as a beguinage (Lat. _beginagium_). The equivalent male communities, called also Beguines (Fr. _beguins_, Lat. _beguini_), but more usually Beghards (Lat. _baghardi, beggardi, begehardi_, &c., O. Fr. _begard-i_, Flem. _beggaert_), have long ceased to exist. The origin of the names Beguine and Beghard has been the subject of much controversy. In the 15th century a legend arose that both name and organization were traceable to St Begga, daughter of Pippin of Landen, who consequently in 1630 was chosen by the Beguines as the patron saint of their association. In 1630 a professor of Louvain, Erycius Puteanus (van Putte), published a treatise, _De Begginarum apud Belgas instituto et nomine suffragium_, in which he produced three documents purporting to date from the 11th and 12th centuries, which seemed conclusively to prove that the Beguines existed long before Lambert le Begue. For two centuries these were accepted as genuine and are admitted as such even in the monumental work of Mosheim. In 1843, however, they were conclusively proved by the German scholar Hallmann, from internal evidence, to be forgeries of the 14th and 15th centuries. It is now universally admitted that both the institution and the name of the Beguines are derived from Lambert le Begue, who died about the year 1187. The confusion caused by the spurious documents of Puteanus, however, led, even when the legend of St Begga was rejected, to other suggestions for the derivation of the name, e.g. from an imaginary old Saxon word _beggen_, "to beg" or "pray," an explanation adopted even by Mosheim, or from _begue_, "stammering," a French word of unknown origin, which only brings us back to Lambert again, whose name of Le Begue, as the chronicler Aegidius, a monk of Orval (Aureae Vallis), tells us, simply means "the stammerer," _quia balbus erat_ (_Gesta pontificum Leodiensium, c_. A.D. 1251). Doubtless this coincidence gave a ready handle to the scoffing wits of the time, and among the numerous popular names given to the Beghards--_bons garcons, boni pueri, boni valeti_ and the like--we find also that of Lollards (from Flemish _lollen_, "to stammer").

About the year 1170 Lambert le Begue, a priest of Liege, who had devoted his fortune to founding the hospital and church of St Christopher for the widows and children of crusaders, conceived the idea of establishing an association of women, who, without taking the monastic vows, should devote themselves to a life of religion. The effect of his preaching was immense, and large numbers of women, many of them left desolate by the loss of their husbands on crusade, came under the influence of a movement which was attended with all the manifestations of what is now called a "revival." About the year 1180 Lambert gathered some of these women, who had been ironically styled "Beguines" by his opponents, into a semi-conventual community, which he established in a quarter of the city belonging to him around his church of St Christopher. The district was surrounded by a wall within which the Beguines lived in separate small houses, subject to no rule save the obligation of good works, and of chastity so long as they remained members of the community. After Lambert's death (c. 1187?) the movement rapidly spread, first in the Netherlands and afterwards in France--where it was encouraged by the saintly Louis IX.--Germany, Switzerland and the countries beyond. Everywhere the community was modelled on the type established at Liege. It constituted a little city within the city, with separate houses, and usually a church, hospital and guest-house, the whole being under the government of a mistress (_magistra_). Women of all classes were admitted; and, though there was no rule of poverty, many wealthy women devoted their riches to the common cause. The Beguines did not beg; and, when the endowments of the community were not sufficient, the poorer members had to support themselves by manual work, sick-nursing and the like.

The Beguine communities were fruitful soil for the missionary enterprise of the friars, and in the course of the 13th century the communities in France, Germany and upper Italy had fallen under the influence of the Dominicans and Franciscans to such an extent that in the Latin-speaking countries the tertiaries of these orders were commonly called _beguini_ and _beguinae_. The very looseness of their organization, indeed, made it inevitable that the Beguine associations should follow very diverse developments. Some of them retained their original character; others fell completely under the dominion of the friars, and were ultimately converted into houses of Dominican, Franciscan or Augustinian tertiaries; others again fell under the influence of the mystic movements of the 13th century, turned in increasing numbers from work to mendicancy (as being nearer the Christ-life), practised the most cruel self-tortures, and lapsed into extravagant heresies that called down upon them the condemnation of popes and councils.[1] All this tended to lower the reputation of the Beguines. During the 14th century, indeed, numerous new beguinages were established; but ladies of rank and wealth ceased to enter them, and they tended to become more and more mere almshouses for poor women. By the 15th century in many cases they had utterly sunk in reputation, their obligation to nurse the sick was quite neglected, and they had, rightly or wrongly, acquired the reputation of being mere nests of beggars and women of ill fame. At the Reformation the communities were suppressed in Protestant countries, but in some Catholic countries they still survive. The beguinages found here and there in Germany are now simply almshouses for poor spinsters, those in Holland (e.g. at Amsterdam and Breda) and Belgium preserve more faithfully the characteristics of earlier days. The beguinage of St Elizabeth at Ghent has some thousand sisters, and occupies quite a distinct quarter of the city, being surrounded by a wall and moat. The Beguines wear the old Flemish head-dress and a dark costume, and are conspicuous for their kindness among the poor and their sick nursing.

It is uncertain whether the parallel communities of men originated also with Lambert le Begue. The first records are of communities at Louvain in 1220 and at Antwerp in 1228. The history of the male communities is to a certain extent parallel with the female, but they were never so numerous and their degeneration was far more rapid. The earliest Flemish Beghard communities were associations mainly of artisans who earned their living by weaving and the like, and appear to have been in intimate connexion with the craft-gilds; but under the influence of the mendicant movement of the 13th century these tended to break up, and, though certain of the male beguinages survived or were incorporated as tertiaries in the orders of friars, the name of Beghard became associated with groups of wandering mendicants who made religion a cloak for living on charity; _beguigner_ becoming in the French language of the time synonymous with "to beg," and _beghard_ with "beggar," a word which, according to the latest authorities, was probably imported into England in the 13th century from this source (see BEGGAR). More serious still, from the point of view of the Church, was the association of these wandering mendicants with the mystic heresies of the Fraticelli, the Apostolici and the pantheistic Brethren of the Free Spirit. The situation was embittered by the hatred of the secular clergy for the friars, with whom the Beguines were associated. Restrictions were placed upon them by the synod of Fritzlar (1269), by that of Mainz (1281) and Eichstatt (1281). and by the synod of Beziers (1299) they were absolutely forbidden. They were again condemned by a synod held at Cologne in 1306; and at the synod of Trier in 1310 a decree was passed against those "who under a pretext of feigned religion call themselves Beghards ... and, hating manual labour, go about begging, holding conventicles and posing among simple people as interpreters of the Scriptures." Matters came to a climax at the council of Vienne in 1311 under Pope Clement V., where the "sect of Beguines and Beghards" were accused of being the main instruments of the spread of heresy, and decrees were passed suppressing their organization and demanding their severe punishment. The decrees were put into execution by Pope John XXII., and a persecution raged in which, though the pope expressly protected the female Beguine communities of the Netherlands, there was little discrimination between the orthodox and unorthodox Beguines. This led to the utmost confusion, the laity in many cases taking the part of the Beguine communities, and the Church being thus brought into conflict with the secular authorities. In these circumstances the persecution died down; it was, however, again resumed between 1366 and 1378 by Popes Urban V. and Gregory XI., and the Beguines were not formally reinstated until the pontificate of Eugenius IV. (1431-1447). The male communities did not survive the 14th century, even in the Netherlands, where they had maintained their original character least impaired.

See J.L. von Mosheirn, _De beghardis et beguinabus commentarius_
(Leipzig, 1790); E. Hallmann, _Die Geschichte des Ursprungs der
belgischen Beghinen_ (Berlin, 1843); J.C.L. Giesclcr, _Eccles. Hist._
(vol. iii., Eng. trans., Edinburgh, 1853), with useful excerpts from
documents; Du Cange, _Glossarium_; Herzog-Haurk, _Realencyklopadie_
(3rd ed., 1897) s. "Beginen," by Herman Haupt, where numerous further
authorities are cited. (W. A. P.)

FOOTNOTE:

[1] In the year 1287 the council of Liege decreed that "all Beguinae
desiring to enjoy the Beguine privileges shall enter a Beguinage, and
we order that all who remain outside the Beguinage shall wear a dress
to distinguish them from the Beguinae."

BEHAIM (or BEHEM), MARTIN (1436?-1507), a navigator and geographer of great pretensions, was born at Nuremberg, according to one tradition, about 1436; according to Ghillany, as late as 1459. He was drawn to Portugal by participation in Flanders trade, and acquired a scientific reputation at the court of John II. As a pupil, real or supposed, of the astronomer "Regiomontanus" (i.e. Johann Muller of Konigsberg in Franconia) he became (c. 1480) a member of a council appointed by King John for the furtherance of navigation. His alleged introduction of the cross-staff into Portugal (an invention described by the Spanish Jew, Levi ben Gerson, in the 14th century) is a matter of controversy; his improvements in the astrolabe were perhaps limited to the introduction of handy brass instruments in place of cumbrous wooden ones; it seems likely that he helped to prepare better navigation tables than had yet been known in the Peninsula. In 1484-1485 he claimed to have accompanied Diogo Cao in his second expedition to West Africa, really undertaken in 1485-86, reaching Cabo Negro in 15 deg. 40' S. and Cabo Ledo still farther on. It is now disputed whether Behaim's pretensions here deserve any belief; and it is suggested that instead of sharing in this great voyage of discovery, the Nuremberger only sailed to the nearer coasts of Guinea, perhaps as far as the Bight of Benin, and possibly with Jose Visinho the astronomer and with Joao Affonso d'Aveiro, in 1484-86. Martin's later history, as traditionally recorded, was as follows. On his return from his West African exploration to Lisbon he was knighted by King John, who afterwards employed him in various capacities; but, from the time of his marriage in 1486, he usually resided at Fayal in the Azores, where his father-in-law, Jobst van Huerter, was governor of a Flemish colony. On a visit to his native city in 1492, he constructed his famous terrestrial globe, still preserved in Nuremberg, and often reproduced, in which the influence of Ptolemy is strongly apparent, but wherein some attempt is also made to incorporate the discoveries of the later middle ages (Marco Polo, &c.). The antiquity of this globe and the year of its execution, on the eve of the discovery of America, are noteworthy; but as a scientific work it is unimportant, ranking far below the _portolani_ charts of the 14th century. Its West Africa is marvellously incorrect; the Cape Verde archipelago lies hundreds of miles out of its proper place; and the Atlantic is filled with fabulous islands. Blunders of 16 deg. are found in the localization of places the author claims to have visited: contemporary maps, at least in regard to continental features, seldom went wrong beyond 1 deg. It is generally agreed that Behaim had no share in Transatlantic discovery; and though Columbus and he were apparently in Portugal at the same time, no connexion between the two has been established. He died at Lisbon in 1507.

See C.G. von Murr, _Diplomatische Geschichte des beruhmten Ritters
Behaim_ (1778); A. von Humboldt, _Kritische Untersuchungen_ (1836);
F.W. Ghillany, _Geschichte des Seefahrers Martin Behaim_ (1853); O.
Peschel, _Geschichte der Erdkunde_, 214-215, 226, 251, and _Zeitalter
der Entdeckungen_, esp. p. 90; Breusing, _Zur Geschichte der
Geographie_ (1869); Eugen Gelcich in the _Mittheilungen_ of the Vienna
Geographical Society, vol. xxxvi. pp. 100, &c.; E.G. Ravenstein,
_Martin de Bohemia_, (Lisbon, 1900), _Martin Behaim, His Life and His
Globe_ (London, 1909), and _Voyages of Diogo Cao and Bartholomeu
Dias_, 1482-1488, in _Geographical Journal_, Dec. 1900; see also
_Geog. Journal_, Aug. 1893, p. 175, Nov. 1901, p. 509; Jules Mees in
_Bull. Soc. Geog._, Antwerp, 1902, pp. 182-204; A. Ferreira de Serpa
in _Bull. Soc. Geog._, Lisbon, 1904, pp. 297-307. (C. R. B.)

BEHAR, or BIHAR, a town of British India, in the Patna district of Bengal, which gives its name to an old province, situated on the right bank of the river Panchana. Pop. (1901) 45,063. There are still some manufactures of silk and muslin, but trade has deserted Behar in favour of Patna and other places more favourably situated on the river Ganges and the railway, while the indigo industry has been ruined by the synthetic products of the German chemist, and the English colony of indigo planters has been scattered abroad.

The old province, stretching widely across the valley of the Ganges from the frontier of Nepal to the hills of Chota Nagpur, corresponds to the two administrative divisions of Patna and Bhagalpur, with a total area of 44,197 sq. m. and a population of 24,241,305. It is the most densely populated tract in India, and therefore always liable to famine; but it is now well protected almost everywhere by railways. It is a country of large landholders and formerly of indigo planters. The vernacular language is not Bengali, but a dialect of Hindu; and the people likewise resemble those of Upper India. The general aspect of the country is flat, except in the district of Monghyr, where detached hills occur, and in the south-east of the province, where the Rajmahal and Santal ranges abut upon the plains.

Behar abounds in great rivers, such as the Ganges, with its tributaries, the Ghagra, Gandak, Kusi, Mahananda and Sone. The Ganges enters the province near the town of Buxar, flows eastward and, passing the towns of Dinajpur, Patna, Monghyr and Colgong, leaves the province at Rajmahal. It divides the province into two almost equal portions; north of the river lie the districts of Saran, Champaran, Tirhoot, Purnea, and part of Monghyr and Bhagalpur, and south of it are Shahabad, Patna, Gaya, the Santal parganas, and the rest of Monghyr and Bhagalpur. The Ganges and its northern tributaries are navigable by country boats of large burden all the year round. The cultivation of opium is a government monopoly, and no person is allowed to grow the poppy except on account of government. The Behar Opium Agency has its headquarters at the town of Patna. Annual engagements are entered into by the cultivators, under a system of pecuniary advances, to sow a certain quantity of land with poppy, and the whole produce in the form of opium is delivered to government at a fixed rate.

Saltpetre is largely refined in Tirhoot, Saran and Champaran, and is exported both by rail and river to Calcutta. The manufactures of less importance are tussore-silk, paper, blankets, brass utensils, firearms, carpets, coarse cutlery and hardware, leather, ornaments of gold and silver, &c. Of minerals--lead, silver and copper exist in the Bhagalpur division, but the mines are not worked. One coal-mine is worked in the parganas. Before the construction of railways in India, the Ganges and the Grand Trunk road afforded the sole means of communication from Calcutta to the North-Western Provinces. But now the railroad is the great highway which connects Upper India with Lower Bengal. The East Indian railway runs throughout the length of the province. The climate of Behar is very hot from the middle of March to the end of June, when the rains set in, which continue till the end of September. The cold season, from October to the first half of March, is the pleasantest time of the year.

_History._--The province of Behar corresponds to the ancient kingdom of Magadha, which comprised the country now included in the districts of Patna, Gaya and Shahabad, south of the Ganges. The origin of this kingdom, famous alike in the political and religious history of India, is lost in the mists of antiquity; and though the Brahmanical _Puranas_ give lists of its rulers extending back to remote ages before the Christian era, the first authentic dynasty is that of the Saisunaga, founded by Sisunaga (c. 600 B.C.), whose capital was at Rajagaha (Rajgir) in the hills near Gaya; and the first king of this dynasty of whom anything is known was Bimbisara (c. 528 B.C.), who by conquests and matrimonial alliances laid the foundations of the greatness of the kingdom. It was in the reign of Bimbisara that Vardhamana Mahavira, the founder of Jainism, and Gautama, the founder of Buddhism, preached in Magadha, and Buddhist missionaries issued thence to the conversion of China, Ceylon, Tibet and Tatary. Even to this day Behar, where there are extensive remains of Buddhist buildings, remains a sacred spot in the eyes of the Chinese and other Buddhist nations.

Bimbisara was murdered by his son Ajatasatru, who succeeded him, and whose bloodthirsty policy reduced the whole country between the Himalayas and the Ganges under the suzerainty of Magadha. According to tradition, it was his grandson, Udaya, who founded the city of Pataliputra (Patna) on the Ganges, which under the Maurya dynasty became the capital not only of Magadha but of India. The remaining history of the dynasty is obscure; according to Mr Vincent Smith, its last representative was Mahanandin (417 B.C.), after whose death the throne was usurped, under obscure circumstances, by Mahapadma Nanda, a man of low caste (_Early Hist. of India_, p. 36). It was a son of this usurper who was reigning at the time of the invasion of Alexander the Great; and the conqueror, when his advance was arrested at the Hyphasis (326 B.C.), meditating an attack on Pataliputra (the Palimbothra of the Greeks), was informed that the king of Magadha could oppose him with a force of 20,000 cavalry, 200,000 infantry, 2000 chariots, and 3000 or 4000 elephants. The Nanda dynasty seems to have survived only for two generations, when (321 B.C.) Chandragupta Maurya, the founder of the great Maurya dynasty, seized the throne. This dynasty, of which the history belongs to that of India (q.v.), occupied the throne for 137 years. After the death of the great Buddhist king, Asoka (c. 231), the Maurya empire began to break up, and it was finally destroyed about fifty years later when Pushyamitra Sunga murdered the Maurya king Brihadratha and founded the Sunga dynasty. Descendants of Asoka continued, however, to subsist in Magadha as subordinate rajas for many centuries; and as late as the 8th century A.D. petty Maurya dynasties are mentioned as ruling in Konkan. The reign of Pushyamitra, who held his own against Menander and succeeded in establishing his claim to be lord paramount of northern India, is mainly remarkable as marking the beginning of the Brahmanical reaction and the decline of Buddhism; according to certain Buddhist writers the king, besides reviving Hindu rites, indulged in a savage persecution of the monks. The Sunga dynasty, which lasted 112 years, was succeeded by the Kanva dynasty, which after 45 years was overthrown (c. 27 B.C.) by the Andhras or Satavahanas. In A.D. 236 the Andhras were overthrown, and, after a confused and obscure period of about a century, Chandragupta I. established his power at Pataliputra (A.D. 320) and founded the famous Gupta empire (see GUPTA), which survived till it was overthrown by the Ephthalites (q.v.), or White Huns, at the close of the 5th century. In Magadha itself the Guptas continued to rule as tributary princes for some centuries longer. About the middle of the 8th century Magadha was conquered by Gopala, who had made himself master in Bengal, and founded the imperial dynasty known as the Palas of Bengal. They were zealous Buddhists, and under their rule Magadha became once more an active centre of Buddhist influence. Gopala himself built a great monastery at Udandapura, or Otantapuri, which has been identified by Sir Alexander Cunningham with the city of Behar, where the later Pala kings established their capital. Under Mahipala (c. 1026), the ninth of his line, and his successor Nayapala, missionaries from Magadha succeeded in firmly re-establishing Buddhism in Tibet.