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

practised many branches of literary art with success, but he is most widely known for his long succession of novels, many of which have enjoyed remarkable popularity. His first stories were written in collaboration with James Rice (q.v.). Two at least of these, _The Golden Butterfly_ (1876) and _Ready-Money Mortiboy_ (1872), are among the most vigorous and most characteristic of his works. Though not without exaggeration and eccentricity, attributable to the influence of Dickens, they are full of rich humour, shrewd observation and sound common-sense, and contain characters which have taken their place in the long gallery of British fiction. After Rice's death, Sir Walter Besant wrote alone, and in _All Sorts and Conditions of Men_ (1882) produced a stirring story of East End life in London, which set on foot the movement that culminated in the establishment of the People's Palace in the Mile End Road. Though not himself a pioneer in the effort made by Canon Barnett and others to alleviate the social evils of the East End by the personal contact of educated men and women of a superior social class, his books rendered immense service to the movement by popularizing it. His sympathy with the poor was shown in another attempt to stir public opinion, this time against the evils of the sweating system, in _The Children of Gibeon_ (1886). Other popular novels by him were _Dorothy Forster_ (1884), _Armorel of Lyonesse_ (1890), and _Beyond the Dreams of Avarice_ (1895). He also wrote critical and biographical works, including _The French Humorists_ (1873), _Rabelais_ (1879), and lives of Coligny, Whittington, Captain Cook and Richard Jefferies. Besant undertook a series of important historical and archaeological volumes, dealing with the associations and development of the various districts of London--of which the most important was _A Survey of London_, unfortunately left unfinished, which was intended to do for modern London what Stow did for the Elizabethan city. Other books on _London_ (1892), _Westminster_ (1895) and _South London_ (1899) showed that his mind was full of his subject. No man of his time evinced a keener interest in the professional side of literary work, and the improved conditions of the literary career in England were largely due to his energetic and capable exposition of the commercial value of authorship and to the unselfish efforts which Sir Walter constantly made on behalf of his fellow-workers in the field of letters. See also _Autobiography of Sir Walter Besant_ (1902), with a prefatory note by S.S. Sprigge; the preface to the library edition (1887) of _Ready-Money Mortiboy_ contains a history of the literary partnership of Besant and Rice. BESENVAL DE BRONSTATT, PIERRE VICTOR, BARON DE (1722-1794), French soldier, was born at Soleure. He was the son of Jean Victor Besenval, colonel of the regiment of Swiss guards in the pay of France, who was charged in 1707 by Louis XIV. with a mission to Sweden, to reconcile Charles XII. with the tsar Peter the Great, and to unite them in alliance with France against England. Pierre Victor served at first as aide-de-camp to Marshal Broglie during the campaign of 1748 in Bohemia, then as aide-de-camp to the duke of Orleans during the Seven Years' War. He then became commander of the Swiss Guards. When the Revolution began Besenval remained firmly attached to the court, and he was given command of the troops which the king had concentrated on Paris in July 1789--a movement which led to the taking of the Bastille on the 14th of July. Besenval showed incompetence in the crisis, and attempted to flee. He was arrested, tried by the tribunal of the Chatelet, but acquitted. He then fell into obscurity and died in Paris in 1794. Besenval de Bronstatt is principally known as the author of _Memoires_, which were published in 1805-1807 by the vicomte T.A. de Segur, in which are reported many scandalous tales, true or false, of the court of Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette. The authenticity of these memoirs is not absolutely established. BESKOW, BERNHARD VON, BARON (1796-1868), Swedish dramatist and historian, son of a Stockholm merchant, was born on the 19th of April