BETTINELLI

BETTINELLI (XAVIER), one of the most celebrated Italian literati of the eighteenth century, was born at Mantua, the 18th of July 1718. After studying under the Jesuits in his native city and at Bologna, he entered in 1736 upon the noviciate of this society. He then undertook a new course of study; and afterwards taught the belles-lettres, from the year 1739 to 1744, at Brescia, where the Cardinal Quirini, Count Mazzuchelli, Count Duranti, and other scholars, formed an illustrious academy. He there began to distinguish himself by some pieces of poetry, composed as scholastic exercises. Being sent to Bologna to pursue his divinity, he continued, at the same time, to cultivate his poetical talent, and wrote also, for the theatre of the college, his tragedy of Jonathan. The number of learned and literary persons collected in this city exceeded by far what he had met with at Brescia. The Institute, recently founded by the Count Marsigli, the Clementine Academy of Design, the School of the astronomical poet Manfredi, the growing reputation of his ingenious and learned pupils, Zanotti, Algarotti, and others, at this time fixed the attention of the literary world on Bologna. It was in the midst of this society, to which he was admitted, that Bettinelli completed his education, and attained the age of thirty. He went in 1748 to Venice, where he became Professor of rhetoric. He left it for various missions, and returned to it again often. We may see by his epistles in free verse (or sciolti), that he was connected on friendly terms with all that this city and state could boast most illustrious. He was destined by the Superiors of his order for the oratorical department; but the weakness of his chest compelled him to relinquish it. The superintendence of the college of nobles at Parma was entrusted to him in 1751; he principally directed the studies of poetry and history, and the entertainments of the theatre. He remained here eight years, but not without visiting, at intervals, different cities of Italy, either on the affairs of his order, or for pleasure, or for health. In 1755, he undertook a longer journey, traversed a part of Germany, proceeded as far as Strasburg and Nancy, and returned by way of Germany into Italy; taking with him two young princes, sons or nephews of the Prince of Hohenlohe, who had requested him to take charge of their education. He made the year following another journey into France, along with the eldest of these two young Princes, and lodged, while at Paris, at the College of Louis-le-Grand. It was during this excursion that he wrote the famous Letters of Virgil, which were published at Venice with his sciolti verses, and those of Frugoni and Algarotti. The opinions, and we may add without much hesitation, the literary heresies, maintained in these letters against the two great luminaries of Italian poetry, and particularly against Dante, created him many enemies, and, what was still more unpleasant to him, embroiled him with Algarotti. Willing to know something more of France than Paris, he made several excu-

Bettinelli sions into Normandy and other provinces; he went also into Lorraine, to the court of King Stanislaus; from thence he proceeded to Lyons, and from thence to Geneva. Soon after his arrival he went to visit Voltaire. This celebrated writer sent to his inn an edition of his works, upon which he inscribed this stanza, in allusion to Bettinelli's Letters of Virgil:

Compatriote de Virgile,
Et son secrétaire aujourd'hui,
C'est à vous d'écrire sous lui;
Vous avez son âme et son style. *

From Geneva, where he consulted Tronchin the physician, Bettinelli proceeded to Marseilles, from thence to Nîmes, and returned by Genoa to Italy and Parma, where he arrived in 1759. The same year, he took a journey to Venice, and afterwards to Verona, where he meant to settle. He resided here till 1767. Having resumed the occupations of preaching and teaching, he, according to the Chevalier Pindemonti, in his Poesie campestri, converted the youth to God in the church, and to good taste in his own house. He afterwards lived for some years at Modena, and he had just been appointed professor of rhetoric there, when, in 1773, the order of Jesuits was abolished in Italy.

He then returned into his own country, where he resumed his literary labours with new ardour. He there published several works, and regretting, as it appears, that he had written so much in his life without having been able, till then, to write anything to please the women (perhaps in consequence of the habit which he wore), he determined to make up for lost time, by publishing, one after the other, his Correspondence between two Ladies—his Letters to Lesbina on Epigrams—his Letters on the Fine Arts—and, lastly, his Twenty-four Letters on Love. These he published in 1796, when the war raged in all parts of Italy, and when the siege laid by the French to Mantua compelled him to leave it. He retired to Verona, and there formed the most intimate friendship with the Chevalier Hippolito Pindemonti, notwithstanding the disproportion of their age. In 1797, after Mantua had surrendered, he returned there. Though nearly eighty years old, he resumed his labours and his customary manner of life. He began, in 1799, a complete edition of his works, which was finished at Venice, in 24 volumes duodecimo. Arrived at the age of ninety years, he still retained the gaiety and vivacity of his mind, and died the 13th of September 1808, after fifteen days of illness, with the firmness of a philosopher, and the sentiments of a believer. Without giving a list of all his works, or specifying the separate editions, it will be sufficient to refer to them in the order in which they are placed in this last edition.

1. Ragionamenti Filosofici, con Annotazioni. These philosophical discourses, which occupy the two first volumes, form a system of religious morality, in which the author endeavours to exhibit man under

all his relations, and in all states, following the order of the sacred writings, and treating, first, of man as created,—as reasonable,—as lord of the other creatures,—and in all the different states of solitude, society, innocence, error, repentance, &c. He only finished ten of these discourses. The notes are themselves little philosophical treatises,—On Beauty in general,—On Beauty of Expression,—On Physiognomy, &c.

2. Dell' Entusiasmo delle Belle Arti, 2 volumes, in three parts, of which the last is an appendix to the two others, and treats of the history of enthusiasm in different nations, and the influence which climates, governments, and all the modifications of society, have had on enthusiasm. In the two first parts, the author, who was not very subject to enthusiasm, sometimes writes a little obscurely on it, becomes turgid when he endeavours to be sublime, and remains a stranger to the warmth which he affects.

3. Dialoghi d'Amore, 2 volumes. The object of the author is to point out the influence which the imagination, vanity, friendship, marriage, honour, the love of glory, the study of the sciences, and fashion, have on the passion of love; and afterwards to trace the influence which it exercises on the productions of the arts of genius, and of the dramatic art in particular. The last dialogue, which is entitled, On Love and on Petrarch, is followed by the Eulogy of Petrarch, one of the author's best pieces.

4. Risorgimento negli Studi, nelle Arti e ne' Costumi dopo il Mille, 3 volumes; a work regarded in Italy as superficial, but which, nevertheless, contains some enlightened sentiments, and in which facts are often presented under a philosophical point of view, which wants neither novelty nor justness.

5. Delle Lettere e delle Arti Mantuane: Lettere ed Arti Modenesi, 1 volume,—almost entirely filled with anecdotes of literary history, tending to the glory of Mantua, the country of the author.

6. Lettere dieci di Virgilio agli Arcadi. 1 vol. These letters, which have been translated into French by M. de Pommereul, Paris, 1778, are, of all the works of Bettinelli, that which has made the most noise. They are followed in this volume by Letters from an Englishman to a Venetian, which treat somewhat vaguely on different topics of literature.

7. Italian Letters from a Lady to her Friend on the Fine Arts, and Letters from a Friend, copied from the Originals, 3 vols. of which the letters on the fine arts occupy only the first.

8. Poetry, 3 volumes, containing seven small poems, sixteen epistles in easy verse, sonnets, canzonets, &c. Without ever showing himself a great poet, the author is always elegant and ingenious. These three volumes are preceded by a well-written discourse on Italian poetry. Several of the epistles and smaller poems are seasoned with attic salt. Such is the poem in four cantos entitled, La Raccolta, in which Bettinelli very happily turns into ri-

Bettinelli dicule those insipid collections of verses, which, in his time, appeared on every occasion in Italy.

Beykaneer. 9. Tragedies, 2 vols. These tragedies are Xerxes, Jonathan, Demetrius Poliorcetes, and Rome Delivered, a translation from Voltaire. Prefixed to them are some letters written in French, and a discourse in Italian, on the Italian tragedy. Some letters on tragedy, among others one on the tragedies of Alfieri, follow; and the second of these two volumes concludes with an eulogy on Father Granelli, a Jesuit, a preacher, and a poet, author of some tragedies, which are in much esteem, particularly for the elegance and beauty of the style.

10. Lettre a Lesbia Cidonia sopra gli Epigrammi, 2 vols. consisting of twenty-five letters, intermixed with epigrams, madrigals, and other light pieces, translated and original.

11. Lastly, an Essay on Eloquence, to which are added, some letters, discourses, and other miscellaneous. It would be hazardous to pronounce a judgment on so great a diversity of productions, the author of which has so lately ceased to live and write. It should seem, in general, that he is distinguished more for wit and talent than for warmth and genius; that his writings contain literary opinions dictated by a taste not always correct, and which, having been publicly declared early in life, have often reduced the author to the unpleasant dilemma, either of retracting or of persisting, in spite of his better judgment, in what he must have perceived to be the errors of his youth; that his philosophy, of which the morality is pure, wants, when it aspires to metaphysical questions, both determinate principles and just conclusions, and is too often verbose and declamatory; but that, though his ideas are not always entitled to praise, his style is so almost always; that having been to blame, according to the Italian critics, in paying too little respect to the great writers of the fourteenth century, he has the merit of having remained constantly attached to those of the sixteenth, and to the authors who were his contemporaries, and who have taken him for their guide; and also of having defended to the last, both by his opinions and his example, the finest of the modern languages against the corruption which threatens, or rather which overwhelms it on all sides.—See Bio-graphie Universelle, Tom. IV. (z.)

BEYKANEER or BICANERE, a principality of Asia, situate in the north-west of Hindostan, the precise dimensions and limits of which are scarcely ascertained by modern geographers. It extends from about 27° 40' north latitude to 29° 45', and from 72° 10' to 75° 15' east longitude; and its superficial area probably amounts to about 17,000 square miles. It is bounded on the north by a country occupied by the Batties or people of Batneer; on the east by the territories of Hurriana and Shekhawuttee, in the province of Delhi; on the south-east by Jey-pour; on the south-west by Jesselmere; and on the west by Bahawulpour. But these may be deemed obscure limits, for the countries named in them are scarcely better known than the subject of this article.

Description. A vast proportion of the soil of Beykaneer is a barren sandy desert, or a hard flat clay, sounding like

a board under horses' feet, and entirely destitute of inhabitants, water, and vegetation. Many miles are occupied in hills and valleys of loose heavy sand; the former from 20 feet to 100 in height, shifting their position and altering their shape according to the influence of the wind; and, during the heats of summer, clouds of moving sand threaten to overwhelm the traveller. Sometimes the phenomenon called mirage is exhibited in this desert, consisting of an optical illusion, whereby a spectator believes that he beholds a lake or a wide river well defined before him, reflecting surrounding objects, while there is nothing but a level uninterrupted surface in view.

Vegetation is exceedingly scanty throughout, except in a few patches, which are skilfully and industriously cultivated; and the whole country seems to depend on external supplies of grain. Nevertheless, in the midst of arid tracts, the water-melon, a juicy fruit, grows in profusion, attaining the remarkable size of three or four feet in circumference, from a stalk no larger than that of the common melon. The seeds are sown by the natives, and also grow wild, but it is difficult to account for such an enlargement of size with so little moisture. Water seems to be obtained only at an immense depth; the wells at Beykaneer are often from 300 to 345 feet deep, yet not above three feet in diameter; all are lined with masonry; and one of the most curious objects in the city of Beykaneer, is considered to be a well 300 feet deep, and 15 or 20 in diameter, worked by four pairs of oxen drawing as many buckets of water. The water is always brackish, scanty, and insalubrious, and this, combined with the nature of the soil, principally occasions the prevalent sterility of this country.

The wild ass, remarkable for its speed and its shyness, is found here, sometimes solitary, but oftener in herds. At a kind of shuffling trot, peculiar to itself, it will leave the best horses behind. Antelopes are seen in some parts, also foxes, smaller than those of Britain, and the desert rat is in great numbers, occasioning serious inconvenience to equestrians from the holes it makes where the ground is sufficiently solid. Of domesticated animals, horses, bullocks, and camels, are in abundance; the last kept in great herds for various purposes. The horses brought from the vicinity of the Lucky Jungle, an adjoining district, where they are reared on excellent pasture and with the strictest attention, are much prized. But the original breed was greatly improved by the introduction of fine Persian horses, brought hither during the successive invasions of Hindostan by Nadir Shah, and other eastern potentates. At present they bear very high prices, some of them bringing even L. 250 Sterling, a large sum in a poor country. But some decrease in the extent and quality of the breed has lately resulted from the impolitic conduct of the officers of the Rajah of Beykaneer, by whom the owners are compelled to sell them at an undervalue. When purchased thus, the horses are sent on speculation to different parts of the Indian peninsula.

We are little acquainted with the manners and customs of the inhabitants of this country, otherwise

Beykaneer, than by their correspondence with those of the same tribes disseminated elsewhere in India. The natives are divided into two principal classes, Rajpoots and Jauts; the former the rulers, the latter the mass of the people. The Jauts are of small stature, black, ill-looking, and bear strong indications of poverty and wretchedness; the Rajpoots are stout and handsome, with Jewish features, of haughty manners, an indolent disposition, and greatly addicted to intoxication with opium. It is doubtful whether the Rajpoots of Beykaneer entertain those elevated and magnanimous sentiments so peculiar to their tribe, whether they are animated by that high sense of honour and impatience of indignity, which, united to the violence of their passions, lead to the most terrible catastrophes. When a man of rank finds himself beset by an enemy, from whom he has no chance of escape, he inquires whether, by surrender, he can preserve the honour of his family; should the answer be equivocal or unfavourable, he clothes himself in yellow, the symbol of despair, and repairing along with his nearest relatives to the apartments of the females, the whole are involved in promiscuous destruction; nor is it uncommon, on such occasions, for the women themselves to commit suicide. The Rajpoot then rushes furiously against his enemies, and though he should be successful and prevail over them, rather than survive his dire calamity, he plunges his sword in his own breast. The same sense of dishonour induces females of rank to deem themselves contaminated by the gaze of any man but their most intimate relatives; and it also leads them to ascend the funeral pile of their husbands, lest, by survivorship, they should lose the consideration of the world. The people of the East, while more placid and resigned to fate, are, at the same time, agitated by more acute and ungovernable passions than the inhabitants of the Western World. A Mahometan officer of high rank, who was hard pressed by a victorious enemy, approaching the place where his wife and daughter had sought refuge on the banks of a river, gave the following account of his conduct: "I leapt from my horse, and seizing each by a hand, rushed with them into the water up to their waists, and covered the rest of their persons with a cloth: I drew my sword to defend them with my life from further insult, and, happily for my honour, their faces were not seen by the eyes of a stranger." Of late the Rajpoots of Beykaneer have been accused of being cruel and treacherous.

The population of this territory is altogether uncertain; but, from the scarcity of water, it is probably very much restricted. The inhabitants are dispersed in towns and villages, of which Beykaneer, near the southern frontier, in about 27° 55' north latitude, the capital, and Churoo, on the eastern frontier, are the chief. Beykaneer, surrounded by lofty white walls, strengthened with numerous round towers crowned by battlements, presents the imposing picture of a great and magnificent city in the midst of a wilderness. But, on entering the gates, the illusion vanishes; it proves to consist, for the most part, of huts built of mud, and painted red. Nevertheless, there are some high houses, several temples, and at one corner a lofty and fine

looking fortress, a quarter of a mile square, environed by a wall 30 feet high, and a good dry ditch. The interior is a confused assemblage of towers and battlements, overtopped by houses, and it contains the royal palace, a curious old edifice. Churoo, independent of the suburbs, is above a mile and a half in circuit, and, although situate among sand-hills, has a handsome appearance. All the houses have terraces, and are built of a pure white limestone like those of Beykaneer. Villages are occasionally seen in the most dismal situations, to which their miserable aspect corresponds. They consist of a few round huts of straw, with low walls and conical roofs like little stacks of corn, and surrounded by hedges of thorny branches stuck in the sand. A modern traveller speaks thus, in describing the town of Pooggul: "If I could present to my reader the foreground of high sand-hills,—the village of straw huts,—the clay walls of the little fort going to ruins, as the soil which supported them was blown away by the winds, and the sea of sand which formed the rest of the prospect, he would probably feel, as I did, a sort of wonder at the people who could reside in so dismal a wilderness; and of horror at the life to which they seemed to be condemned." The city of Beykaneer is said to stand 219 miles north-west of Delhi, but its real position is south-west, and we conceive the distance to be not less than 260 or 280 miles. Fortresses are not so common in this territory as in a large portion of Hindostan, owing to the equality of the surface.

Scarcely anything definite can be said regarding the occupation and pursuits of the people in their trade and manufactures. Cattle of an inferior breed, and horses, are the only exports; rice, sugar, opium, and indigo, are obtained from the Punjab; salt from Samber; wheat from Jeypour; and spices, copper, and coarse cloth, are imported from Jesselmere.

Beykaneer is governed by a Rajah, who is a sovereign and independent prince, though he seems formerly to have been tributary to the monarch of Delhi; and even acknowledged the supremacy of Britain, when Delhi had fallen under a foreign power. He enjoys an absolute sway over the lives and property of his subjects, and maintains considerable state in his reception of strangers. His revenues do not exceed L. 50,000 per annum, though occasionally augmented to nearly double that sum by vexatious imposts on merchandise in transitu. Therefore, those caravans which were accustomed to take the route of this province from Surat to Tatta, a town on the Indus, follow another course, in order to avoid such exactions. The resources of Beykaneer are thus very small, which is not surprising, considering they are derived from a country that becomes an absolute desert even within a few yards of the capital. The Rajah's forces amount to 10,000 men, of whom 2000 are cavalry, and he has 35 pieces of artillery; all which troops are paid by assignments of land. Soorat Sing, the reigning Rajah, having profusely dissipated the treasure accumulated by his predecessors, became cruel and tyrannical. Oppressive exactions to relieve pressing necessities alienated the regard of his subjects, and an army of mercenaries became necessary to preserve his authority. He was suspected of poi-

Beykaneer soning an elder brother, and undoubtedly murdered the envoy of another prince passing through his dominions. Yet, being strict in his external devotions, and religiously abstaining from prohibited food, his people have admitted him to the character of sanctity. The sovereign of Beykaneer has to contend with many enemies, who, in their turn, are opposed by the most powerful obstacles. Water must be carried by an invading army; for the natives either poison the wells, fill them up, or cover them over in such a manner that they cannot possibly be found; and, besides, they mix arsenic with bread, which is insidiously disposed of in the hostile camp. Some years ago, George Thomas, a celebrated adventurer, who raised himself to the government of a neighbouring territory, invaded Beykaneer, and compelled the Ra-

jah to purchase peace with L.25,000. He also aided Beykaneer in the Batties in expelling him, on occasion of an incursion he had made into their country. More recently, a war having commenced between the Rajahs of Joudpour and Jeypour contending for the hand of an eastern Princess, the interference of Soorut Sing excited the wrath of some of the competitors against himself. Five different armies invaded Beykaneer in 1808, when the Rajah filled up all the wells within ten miles of the walls of his capital. The contest was protracted for a considerable time, but we are unacquainted with its issue.

See Franklin's Memoirs of General Thomas.—Scott's Memoirs of Eradut Khan.—Franklin's Tracts.—Elphinstone's Account of Caubul. (8.)