sign of nervous exhaustion. As a writer, he was brilliant and prolific. His fame would be more enduring if he had written five books, instead of fifty.

Obituary.

Beaton or Beatoun or Beton (David, Cardinal and Archbishop, an implacable enemy of Protestants. He knew neither rest nor mercy in his determination to crush the Reformed Faith, and his execution of George Wishart drew down upon him the execration of all good men), 1449-1546. "I am a priest! Fie! Fie! All is gone."

Cardinal Beaton was assassinated in May, 1546, in the chamber of his castle, by a band of men who sympathized with the Reformers, headed by Norman Leslie.

Beaufort (Henry, half-brother of Henry IV. He was made cardinal in 1426, and in 1430 he crowned Henry IV. at Notre Dame. He presided over the tribunal that sent the Maid of Orleans to the stake, and is supposed to have participated in the murder of the Duke of Gloucester), 1370-1447. "I pray you all pray for me." Some authorities give his last words thus: "And must I then die? Will not all my riches save me? I could purchase a kingdom, if that would save my life! What! is there no bribing death? When my nephew, the Duke of Bedford, died, I thought my happiness and my authority greatly increased; but the Duke of Gloucester's death raised me in fancy to a level with kings, and I thought of nothing but accumulating still greater wealth, to purchase at last the triple crown. Alas! how are my hopes disappointed! Wherefore, O my friends, let me earnestly beseech you to pray for me, and recommend my departing soul to God!"

Harpsfield: Hist. Eccles. edit. Duaci, 1622, p. 643.

A few minutes before his death, his mind appeared to be undergoing the tortures of the damned. He held up his two hands, and cried—"Away! away!—why thus do ye look at me?" He seemed to behold some horrible spectre by his bedside.[4]

Becket (Thomas à, first Saxon archbishop of Canterbury after the Norman conquest), 1117-1170. "For the name of Jesus and the defense of the church I am willing to die."

He was assassinated by four barons, servants of Henry II. The Roman Catholic Church regarded him as a martyr; and in 1172 he was canonized.

Bede (surnamed "The Venerable;" an English monk, and the author of "Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum"), 673-735. "Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost."

It is related that on the night of his death he continued dictating to his amanuensis a translation of some work, probably of the gospel of St. John, into Anglo-Saxon. He asked the scribe how many chapters remained. "Only one," he replied; "but you are too weak to dictate." "No," said Bede, "take your pen and write quickly." After some time the scribe said, "Master, it is finished;" to which Bede replied, "Thou hast said truly, consummatum est," and shortly after expired.

Lippincott.

Beecher (Henry Ward, distinguished American clergyman, for many years pastor of Plymouth Congregational Church, Brooklyn, N. Y.), 1813-1887. "Now comes the mystery."

Beethoven (Ludwig van), 1770-1827. "I shall hear in heaven."

When about thirty-five years old, while at work upon his opera of "Leonora," known in English as "Fidelio," he was attacked with deafness. The malady began gradually, but after a year made more rapid progress, and soon his hearing was entirely destroyed.

Some authorities give his last words thus: "Is it not true, dear Hammel, that I have some talent after all?" Hammel was an old friend with whom he had once quarrelled, and who, after being separated from him for a long time, came to him when he was upon his death bed.

Beethoven received the sacraments of the Roman church, and at about one in the afternoon of the same day he sank into apparent unconsciousness, and a distressing conflict with death began which lasted the rest of that day, the whole of the next day, and until a quarter of six on the evening of the day following. As the evening closed in, there came a sudden storm of hail and snow, covering the ground and roofs of the Schwarzspanierplatz, and followed by a flash of lightning, and an instant clap of thunder. So great was the crash as to arouse even the dying man. He opened his eyes, clinched his fist, and shook it in the air above him. This lasted a few seconds while the hail rushed down outside, and then the hand fell, and the great composer was no more.

Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians.

Bellarmino (Cardinal Roberto), 1542-1621. "It is safest to trust in Jesus," to one who enquired whether it is safer to trust in the Virgin Mary than in Jesus.

Bentham (Jeremy, English philosopher and jurist, author of "Defence of Usury," "Theory of Penalties and Rewards," "The Rationale of Judicial Evidence," "Panopticon," and many other works of interest and value. He devoted much of his time and ability to the development of the theory that "Utility is the test and measure of virtue"), 1748-1832. "I feel now that I am dying."

Bérenger (de Tours, celebrated French ecclesiastic), 998-1088. "I shall not long hesitate between conscience and the Pope, for I shall soon appear in the presence of God, to be acquitted, I hope; to be condemned, I fear."