BEEF. 778 KEEVE. BEEF (Dutch rif ; probably connected with Icel. rifa, fissure, from rlfa, to split, Kng. rive). A barrier of rock or sand extending along the shore of an island or continent. The most com- mon tyj)e of a rock reef is that formed b}' coral organisms which flourish in the shallow portions of tropical seas. (See Coral I.sland and CoB^iX Kjeef. ) The sediment carried seaward by rivers and the sands beaten up by waves accumulate along the seashore as sand reefs inclosing long, narrow lagoons. See Bab. BEEF. See Sail. BEEL (AS. reol, hreol, Icel. hrwll, rwll, Gael. ruidhil. weaver's reel). A lively, gliding dance whose origin is probably Celtic, though its re- semblance to a Danish national dance has led many to ascribe it to Scandinavian sources. It is usually danced by two couples, but admits of a greater number. The music is in general writ- ten in 8-bar phrases in common time of four crotchets in a measure, but sometimes in jig time of six quavers. The principal characteristic of all reel figures is a circular movement during which the performers face each other and describe a series of figures of eight. The strathspey (q.v. ) is merely a slow form of the reel. BEENTTBY. The act of entering into pos- session of lands in the exercise of a right re- served to a lessor or grantor in a lease, deed, or other conveyance upon certain conditions. In order to take advantage of a right of reentry, a person should first demand payment, or com- pliance with the terms of the lease or convey- ance, and upon a refusal or neglect to do so, en- ter peaceably, if he can, but otherwise he must proceed at law. Right of reentry may be waived by receiving rent accruing after breach of a con- dition, with knowledge of that fact. BEES, Abbah.m (1743-1825). A British encyclopedist, born at Llanbrynmair, Wales. He studied for the ministry at Hoxton Academy; was for many years mathematical tutor there, and pastor of a Presbyterian church in South- wark. In 1783 he was settled over a church in the Old .Jewry. Between 1781 and 178G he im- proved and greatly enlarged Chambers's Ci/clo- pcrdia, which had first appeared in two folio vol- umes in 1728. Encouraged by the success of this vork. he set to work tipon The Xew djclopcedia, or Vniiersal Dictionary of Arts and Scieyices, Biography, Geography, Uistory, etc. The first volume of this was issued January 2, 1802, and the last, or forty-fifth volume, in August 1820. BEES, John Krom (18.51—). An American astronomer, born in New York City and educated there at Columbia College and School of Mines. After teaching at Washington College, Saint Louis, he became adjunct (1881) and then full professor (1884) of astronomy and geodesy at Columbia University. He had witnessed the solar eclipse of 1878 at Fort Worth and published a i-eport thereon: and in 1884 published Observa- tions of the Transit of Venus, December 6, 1SS2. He became a prominent member of the American Meteorological Society and wrote on international time systems and on variation of latitude, espe- cially that of Xew York City. In lOflO he received the title of Clievalier of the Legion of Honor in recognition of services as juror in the department of instruments of precision at the Paris Exposi- tion. Professor Rees was intimately connected with Rutherfurd in the latter's work of celestial photography, and was one of the American dele- gates to the Astronomical Congress on Pliotogra- phy. EEEVE (AS. gerefa, probably from ge-, gen- eralizing prefix + *rdf, OHG. ruova, Icel. ruf, number, or from r^f, famous, Goth. hrOps, OHG. ruof, Ger. liuf, outcry, AS. hropan, to cry out). The name given in England, especially in Anglo- Saxon times, to various officials. The reeve was ordinarily the presiding officer of a district, and was known bj' his district, e.g. tunyerefa, the reeve of the township; sclryerefu, the reeve of the shire (our modern sherifl'). In later times the reeve is prominent in constitutional liistory, since he and four men from each townsliip at- tended the great hundred courts held by the sher- iffs twice a year. Furthermore, it was the reeve and four men from each township on the royal demesne who were summoned to the Council of Saint Albans in 1213, this being the first instance in hich the commons were represented at a Great Council. Consult Stubbs, Constitutional History of England, vol. i. (Gth ed., Oxford. 1897). BEEVE, Clara (1729-1807). An English novelist, daughter of William Reeve, perpetual curate of St. Nicholas, Ipswich, in Suffolk. She was educated by her father. On his death (1755) she settled with her mother and two sis- ters at Colchester, in Essex, where she began authorship. In 1772 she translated Barclay's Argents, a famous Latin romance of the seven- teenth centurj', under the title of The Phcenix. In 1777 appeared The Champion of Virtue, a Gothic Story, reissued the next year with its title changed to The Old English Baron. This romance, interesting in itself, is also of considerable sig- nificance as a link between Horace Walpole's Castle of Otranto and the romances of Mrs. Ann Radcliffe. Miss Reeve also wrote other novels and some verse. In historical criticism she pro- duced the pleasant Progress of Romance (1785). Consult Beers, English Romanticism (New Y'ork, 1808), and see Romanticism. BEEVE, Henry (1813-95). An English man of letters, born at Norwich, and educated at (Ge- neva and Munich. He traveled extensively and met the leading literary people of his day. From 1837 to 1887 he was registrar of the Privy Coun- cil, and from 1855 until his death he was editor of the Edinburgh Reriew. He trans- lated De Tocqueville's Democracy in America (18.35-40) and Guizot's Washington (1840): edited Greville's Journal of the Reigns of King Geroge IV. and Milliam IV. (1874) ; and wrote Royal and Republican France (1872), and Pe- trarch (1878). BEEVE, T.PPING (1744-1823). An American lawyer and jurist, born at Brook Haven. Suffolk County. Long Island. He graduated at Prince- ton in 1763. was a tutor there from 17G7 to 1770. and in 1772 established himself at Litchfield, Conn., in the practice of law. He was an ardent patriot during the Revolution, was a member of several important local committees of safety and defense, and served as a recruiting officer. Short- ly after the close of the war he opened at Litch- field a law school, which for a number of years was the best kno^^l and most successful institu- tion of the sort in the country. This school he
