Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Bent, James" to "Bibirine" by Various

iii., Greek Prose Literature, was never published). A fifth edition of pts. i. and ii., by R. Volkmann, began in 1892. Other works by Bernhardy are: _Eratosthenica_ (1822); _Wissenschaftliche Syntax der griechischen Sprache_ (1829, suppts. 1854, 1862); _Grundlinien zur Encyclopadie der Philologie_ (1832); the monumental edition of the Lexicon of Suidas (1834-1853); and an edition of F.A. Wolf's _Kleine Schriften_ (1869). See Volkmann, _G. Bernhardy_ (1887). BERNI, FRANCESCO (1497-1536), Italian poet, was born about 1497 at Lamporecchio, in Bibbiena, a district lying along the Upper Arno. His family was of good descent, but excessively poor. At an early age he was sent to Florence, where he remained till his 19th year. He then set out for Rome, trusting to obtain some assistance from his uncle, the Cardinal Bibbiena. The cardinal, however, did nothing for him, and he was obliged to accept a situation as clerk or secretary to Ghiberti, datary to Clement VII. The duties of his office, for which Berni was in every way unfit, were exceedingly irksome to the poet, who, however, made himself celebrated at Rome as the most witty and inventive of a certain club of literary men, who devoted themselves to light and sparkling effusions. So strong was the admiration for Berni's verses, that mocking or burlesque poems have since been called _poesie bernesca_. About the year 1530 he was relieved from his servitude by obtaining a canonry in the cathedral of Florence. In that city he died in 1536, according to tradition poisoned by Duke Alessandro de' Medici, for having refused to poison the duke's cousin, Ippolito de' Medici; but considerable obscurity rests over this story. Berni stands at the head of Italian comic or burlesque poets. For lightness, sparkling wit, variety of form and fluent diction, his verses are unsurpassed. Perhaps, however, he owes his greatest fame to the recasting (_Rifacimento_) of Boiardo's _Orlando Innamorato_. The enormous success of Ariosto's _Orlando Furioso_ had directed fresh attention to the older poem, from which it took its characters, and of which it is the continuation. But Boiardo's work, though good in plan, could never have achieved wide popularity on account of the extreme ruggedness of its style. Berni undertook the revision of the whole poem, avowedly altering no sentiment, removing or adding no incident, but simply giving to each line and stanza due gracefulness and polish. His task he completed with marvellous success; scarcely a line remains as it was, and the general opinion has pronounced decisively in favour of the revision over the original. To each canto he prefixed a few stanzas of reflective verse in the manner of Ariosto, and in one of these introductions he gives us the only certain information we have concerning his own life. Berni appears to have been favourably disposed towards the Reformation principles at that time introduced into Italy, and this may explain the bitterness of some remarks of his upon the church. The first edition of the _Rifacimento_ was printed posthumously in 1541, and it has been supposed that a few passages either did not receive the author's final revision, or have been retouched by another hand. A partial translation of Berni's _Orlando_ was published by W.S. Rose (1823). BERNICIA, the northern of the two English kingdoms which were eventually united in the kingdom of Northumbria. Its territory is said to have stretched from the Tyne northwards, ultimately reaching the Forth, while its western frontier was gradually extended at the expense of the Welsh. The chief royal residence was Bamburgh, and near it was the island of Lindisfarne, afterwards the see of a bishop. The first king of whom we have any record is Ida, who is said to have obtained the throne about