Florentine style, which was completed in 1-657. The upper story is occupied by a picture-gallery of some value. The town-hall dates from 1406, and was restored in 1*861. Among the ecclesiastical buildings the first place is held by the cathedral, a richly-decorated Gothic edifice, begun in 1421 and completed in 1573, from the neighbourhood of which a splendid view of the Alps is obtained. Educational institutions are very numerous, comprising a university, founded in 1834, which is attended by 250 students, a gymnasium, and a veterinary school. Attached to the university are a botanical garden and an observatory ; and there are, besides, a valuable museum, a public library of 45,000 volumes, especially rich in works relating to Swiss history, and several literary and scientific societies. Among the charitable establishments are two large hospitals (the Inselspital and the Burgerspital), a foundling hospital, two orphan asylums, and a lunatic asylum. Another asylum was erected in 1854, about 2? miles from the city. The penitentiary is capable of containing 400 prisoners. Among other buildings of interest are the granary, which, till 1830, used to be stored with corn in case of famine; the clock tower, with its automatic pantomime ; the arsenal, with its mediaeval treasures ; the mint ; and the Murtner Gate. The most frequent ornament throughout the city is the figure of the bear, in allusion to the mythical origin of the name of Bern ; and the authorities still maintain a bear s den at municipal expense. Although, properly speaking, not a commercial city, Bern carries on some trade in woollen cloth, printed calico, muslin, silk stuffs, straw hats, stockings, and other articles of home manufacture. The climate is severely cold in winter, owing to the elevation of the situation. The population,
which is mainly Protestant, was 36,000 in 1870.
Bern was founded, or at least fortified, by Berthold V. of Ziihringen, about the end of the 12th or beginning of the 13th century, and gradually became a refuge for those who were oppressed by feudal exactions in the neighbouring countries. In 1218 it was declared a free imperial city by the Emperor Frederick II. At first its constitution was purely democratic ; but in 1293 a legislative body of 200 citizens was appointed, which formed tho germ of one of the most remarkable oligarchies in modern European history. The extension of territory, gradually etfected by the valour of the Bernese, rendered necessary a more elaborate and rigid organization than that which had sufficed while the limits of the city were almost the limits of the state ; and the power of the .nobility at home was strengthened by every new success against the enemies of the city. The blow that decided the fate of Bern was struck at Laupen on June 21, 1339, when Rudolph von Erlach beat the allied army of the neighbouring states. It continued to flourish, and in 1352 joined the Swiss Confederation. A fire destroyed the city in 1405, but it was rebuilt on the same plan. In the 17th century the gradually increasing aristocratic tendency reached its climax. The adoption of new burghers was forbidden, and the burghers proper were carefully distinguished from those who were merely permanent inhabitants of the city; the burghers were divided into those capable of holding office in the state and those destitute of that privilege ; and the privileged class itself, which, by 1785, numbered only 69 families, was subdivided into a higher and a lower grade. This ( lite grew more and more exclusive and domineering, and at last became unendurable to their humbler fellow-citizens. In 1748 the discontent made itself evident in a formidable conspiracy, of which the unfortunate Henzi was one of the leaders. The conspiracy was crushed, but the opposition broke out through other channels. At last the French Revolution came to submerge the aristocracy in a general Helvetian republic ; and when the flood had passed the ancient landmarks eould not be replaced, though a restoration was attempted with at first an appearance of success. The Liberal party has long been the strongest in the canton, which has at last returned almost to democracy ; for, in 1870, the referendum was introduced, by which it is agreed that all laws, after being discussed by the Great Council, shall first receive the sanction of the people before they come into force.
BERNADOTTE, Jean-Baptiste-Jules, afterwards King Charles XIV. of Sweden and Norway, was the son of a lawyer at Pau in B6arn, and was born January 26, 1764. He was destined by his parents for the law, but chose the profession of arms, and enlisted in 1780 as a private in the royal marines. When the Revolution swept away the arbitrary distinction of classes, and opened up to all alike the path of preferment, the abilities of Bernadotte were speedily acknowledged. In 1792 he was made a colonel, in the following year a general of brigade, and soon after a general of division. In the campaigns of the Rhine and of Italy his military talents found ample scope for display; and his diplomatic abilities had also been tested as ambas sador at the court of Vienna. During Bonaparte s absence in Egypt Bernadotte was appointed minister of war. He reorganized the whole army, and prepared the way for the conquest of Holland. Notwithstanding the rivalry that all along existed between him and Napoleon, Bernadotte was made a marshal on the establishment of the empire. He was also nominated to the government of Hanover, and took part in the campaign of 1805 at the head of a force of 20,000 men. He distinguished himself at the battle of Austerlitz, and in 1806 he was created prince of Ponte- Corvo. In 1810 the death of Prince Augustenburg of Sweden having left the throne of that kingdom without an heir, the Swedish States in Council nominated Bernadotte as successor to Charles XIII. of Sweden, a distinction for which he was scarcely less indebted to his nobility of character than to his military talents. During the great campaigns of 1813 and 1814 Bernadotte joined the coalition against Napoleon, and it was his Swedish contingent that mainly decided the battle of Leipsic. It is stated, on good authority, that he had formed the ambitious design of succeeding the emperor on the French throne. As crown prince of Sweden he devoted his whole energies to the welfare of his adopted country. Owing to the infirmities of the king he was intrusted with the entire conduct of the government. On the death of Charles XIII., in February 1818, Bernadotte ascended the throne. For the events of his administration, so conducive to the prosperity of that country, the reader is referred to the article Sweden. He died at Stockholm, March 8, 1844, leaving an only son, Oscar, who succeeded him.
BERNARD, St; one of the most illustrious Christian teachers and representatives of monasticism in the Middle Ages, was born at Fontaines, near Dijon, in Burgundy, in 1091. The sou of a knight and vassal of the duke of Burgundy who perished in the first crusade, Bernard may have felt for a time the temptations of a military career, but the influence of a pious mother and his own inclina tions towards a life of meditation and study led him to the cloister. While still a youth he is said to have been " marvellously cogitative " (" mire cogitativus" St Bern. Op., vol. ii. coL 1063), and the ascendency of his mind and character were soon shown. He joined the small monas tery of Citeaux in 1113 when twenty-two years of age, and such were the effects of his own devotion and eloquent enthusiasm in commending a religious life, that he drew after him not only his two younger brothers, but also his two elder ones, Guido and Gerard, both of whom had naturally taken to soldiering, and the elder of whom was married and had children. The effect of his preaching is said to have been that " mothers hid their sons, wives their husbands, companions their friends," lest they should be drawn away by his persuasive earnestness.
only on account of its neighbourhood (it was only a few miles distant from Dijon), but by its reputation for auste rity. The monks were few and very poor. They were under an Englishman of the name of Stephen Harding, originally from Dorsetshire, whose aim was to restore the Benedictine rule to its original simplicity and give a new impulse to the monastic movement. In Bernard, Harding found a congenial spirit. No amount of self-mortification
could exceed his ambition. He strove to overcome his