BELL, BEAUPRÉ (1704-1745), antiquary, was descended from the ancient family of Beaupré, long resident in Upwell and Outwell, Norfolk, a co-heiress of whom married Robert Bell [see BELL, ROBERT, d. 15771, an ancestor. His father, Beaupré Bell, who married Margaret, daughter of Sir John Oldfield, of Spalding, wasted the patrimony through improvident habits and violent passions. The vicissitudes of his career may be realised from an advertisement in the 'London Gazette,' No. 7613, May 1737, from Lord Harrington, the secretary of state, setting out that the life of Beaupré Bell had been threatened, his servant shot, and his house beset several times, and promising free pardon for any one who revealed his accomplices; as a further inducement Mr. Bell added a reward of fifty pounds. The son was educated at Westminster School and at Trinity College, Cambridge, taking the degree of B.A. in 1725, M.A. in 1729. He devoted himself to the study of antiquities, taking especial pleasure in ancient coins, and, by the possession of property worth, even in its reduced state, as much as 1,5007. a year, was enabled to gratify his tastes to the utmost. He issued proposals for a work on the coins of the Roman emperors; but though the book was in a forward state long before his death, it was never published. Beaupré Bell was an active member of the Spalding Society, and several papers which he communicated to it are mentioned in the Reliquiæ Galeana' (Bibl. Topog. Britt. iii.), pp. 57-66. The same volume also contains several letters to and from him (pp. 147490). Four of his letters on the 'Horologia of the Antients' are printed in the Archæologia,' vi. 133-43; two are in Nichols's 'Lit. Illustrations,' iii. 572, 582; and several others may be found in the 'Stukeley Memoirs' (Surtees Soc.) He assisted Blomefield in his history of Norfolk, and Thomas Hearne in many of his antiquarian works, and C. N. Cole's edition of Dugdale's 'Imbanking' (1772) was corrected from a copy formerly in his possession. Bell died of consumption on his road to Bath in August 1745, when the estate passed to his youngest sister, but he

left his personal property of books, medals, and manuscripts to his college at Cambridge. His remains are said to have been laid in the family burying-place in St. Mary's chapel, Outwell church, but there is no entry of the burial in the parish register, nor is there any mention of his name among the members of his family commemorated in the inscriptions on the family tomb in the chapel.

[Blomefield's Norfolk, vii. 459-60 (1807); Nichols's Lit. Anecdotes, v. 278-82; Bibl. Topog. Britt. iii. p. xii; Carthew's Launditch, iii. 4312; Stukeley Memoirs (Surtees Soc.), i. 88, 97, 275-94, 372, 427, 461–5, ii. 22–4, 280–2, 321-2.] W. P. C.

BELL, BENJAMIN (1749-1806), surgeon, son of George Bell, descended from landed proprietors of long standing in Dumfriesshire, was born at Dumfries April 1749. After education at Dumfries grammar school he was early apprenticed to Mr. James Hill, surgeon, of Dumfries; but at seventeen he was sent to the Edinburgh medical school, where the Monros, Black, and John Gregory were among his teachers. After being housesurgeon to the Royal Infirmary for about two years, he travelled on the continent, and especially studied at Paris. In August 1772 he was appointed surgeon to the Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh, which office he held for twenty-nine years. He married Grizel, daughter of Robert Hamilton, D.D., about 1775, and soon afterwards, owing to a severe accident, settled on a farm three miles south of Edinburgh, retiring from practice for a couple of years. In 1778 he became surgeon to Watson's Hospital. His first professional work, on the Theory and Management of Ulcers' (1779), attracted considerable attention, was translated into French and German, and reached a seventh edition in 1801. His most important work, A System of Surgery,' appeared in six volumes, 1782-7; it likewise reached a seventh edition in 1801, and was translated into French and German. It was a valuable work in its day, though now out of date. Bell is much to be commended for his advocacy of saving skin in every operation, a practice till then much neglected. Another of his works, On Hydrocele,' was published at Edinburgh in 1794. He gained a large practice, being a skilful and dexterous operator, and accumulated money, being distinguished for his calculating business habits. He also engaged considerably in agriculture, and wrote a number of essays on agriculture between 1783 and 1802, which were collected in a volume in 1802. They opposed corn laws and prognosticated great improvements in modes of

communication. Adam Smith commended them. Bell died at Newington House, Edinburgh, 5 April 1806.

His son, George Bell (1777-1832), succeeded to his father's appointments, and was known as a first-rate operator. His grandson, Benjamin Bell (d. 1883), son of Joseph Bell, surgeon, followed the same profession, and published a memoir of his grandfather in 1868. He also edited memoirs of Robert Paul, banker (Edinburgh, 1872), and Lieutenant John Irving, of H.M.S. Terror (Edinburgh, 1881).

[Life, Character, and Writings of Benjamin Bell, by his grandson, Benjamin Bell, Edin. 1868.]

G. T. B.

BELL, SIR CHARLES (1774-1842), discoverer of the distinct functions of the nerves, was the youngest of six children of William Bell, a clergyman of the episcopal church of Scotland. His mother was daughter of another episcopal clergyman. The family had produced many useful and prominent men for three centuries, and had been seated during that time in and near Glasgow. Charles was born at Edinburgh in November 1774, and received his chief literary education from his mother. Two others of her children became known in the world-John as an anatomist and surgeon, George Joseph as professor of Scots law in Edinburgh University. Charles had a passion for drawing; and when he went to the university of Edinburgh as a student, he soon became known for his artistic power. He had inherited it from his mother, and she from her grandfather, White, primus of Scotland. While still a student, in 1798, Bell published A System of Dissections,' illustrated by his own drawings. In 1799 he was elected a fellow of the College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, and as a fellow became one of the surgical attendants of the Edinburgh Infirmary. In 1802 he published a series of engravings of the brain and nervous system, in connection with John Bell's course of lectures. In 1804 he wrote the account of the nervous system and special senses in the ' Anatomy of the Human Body' by John and Charles Bell. Edinburgh did not then offer to him sufficient prospect of professional advancement, and after consultation with his brother George he left Scotland for London, where he arrived 28 Nov. 1804. He was already known by his published works, and he had written, but not published, his Anatomy of Expression.' He called upon Dr. Matthew Baillie, the morbid anatomist, on Wilson the anatomist, on Abernethy and Astley Cooper, the principal surgeons of the time, and on other

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prominent members of his profession. Sir Joseph Banks received him kindly, and the chief physicians and surgeons asked him to dinner; but for a time he was uncertain whether he could find a place in the world of London, and longed to return to Edinburgh, and to the society of his beloved brother George, to whom at this time and throughout his life he wrote often and at length. West, then president of the Royal Academy, advised the publishers to accept Bell's Anatomy of Expression,' and it appeared in 1806. It was widely read, and has since passed through several editions. The book is interesting, because it explains the mechanism of familiar movements of expression, and criticises wellknown works of art, and it is written in a pleasant intelligible style, and illustrated by striking drawings, but the scientific treatment of the subject is not very deep. It received all the attention which the first book on a subject deserves: Flaxman and Fuseli both enjoyed it; the queen read it for two hours; and the Nabob of Arcot had a copy in red morocco and satin. Bell now lectured to artists, and took medical pupils into his house, and, amid hard professional work and great anxiety about money, found time to make full use of all the intellectual advantages of London: heard Fox speak, saw Mrs. Siddons act, witnessed Melville's impeachment, went to Vauxhall with Mr. and Mrs. Abernethy, enjoyed operas, and read much good literature-Dryden, Spenser, Virgil, Madame de Sévigné. The first step in Bell's discoveries in the nervous system was made in 1807, and is recorded in a letter to his brother George, dated 26 Nov. 1807. He says: 'I have done a more interesting nova anatomia cerebri humani than it is possible to conceive. I lectured it yesterday. I prosecuted it last night till one o'clock, and I am sure it will be well received.' In 1811 he published 'A New Idea of the Anatomy of the Brain, submitted for the observations of his Friends, by Charles Bell, F.R.S.E.' This essay is not dated, but if the letters of Bell did not establish its exact date, this could be fixed by a copy in the British Museum, bearing Bell's known address in 1811, and presented by him, with a written inscription, to Sir Joseph Banks. The work contains an exact statement of the prevailing doctrine as to nerves, of Bell's discovery, and of the experiment which established that discovery. Bell says (p. 4): The prevailing doctrine of the anatomical schools is that the whole brain is a common sensorium; that the extremities of the nerves are organised, so that each is fitted to receive a peculiar impression, or that they are distinguished from each

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ing a just idea of their importance when he wrote of them in a letter to his brother (November 1821) that they will hereafter put me beside Harvey.' Their importance was not perceived by all who heard of them, but they were not controverted as fiercely as Harvey's had been, and scientific men at once gave their author all the honour he had justly won. Brougham was at that time dashing like a comet among the constellations of science and literature, as well as through those of politics, and he was a warm friend of Bell. It was by his advice that the compliment of knighthood was paid to the discoverer of the functions of the nerves, to his great contemporary Herschel, and to some lesser men of science. Bell had already (1829) received the medal of the Royal Society for discoveries in science. The London University had been founded under the auspices of Brougham; and Bell, with Brougham's friend Horner, was persuaded to take office in the new institution. The differing views of its originators prevented the new university from flourishing. In the midst of trivial controversies learning was stifled, and what was to have been a great source of modern science and new learning dwindled into an examining board. Bell and Horner resigned in disgust. In 1832 Bell wrote a paper in the Philosophical Transactions' on the organs of voice, and in 1833 a Bridgewater treatise on the mechanism of the hand, illustrated by drawings of his own. In 1836, with Lord Brougham, he wrote annotations of Paley's 'Natural Theology.' He had besides written several books on surgery: in 1807 a 'System of Comparative Surgery;' in 1816, 1817, 1818, quarterly reports of cases in surgery; in 1820, Letters on Diseases of the Urethra ;' in 1821, Illustrations of Great Operations;' in 1824, 'Observations on Injuries of the Spine and of the Thigh Bone,' and somewhat later a small popular work, a familiar treatise on the five senses. Besides all this labour he lectured at his house, at the Middlesex Hospital (1812-36), in the school of Great Windmill Street (Prospectus, Lancet, ix. 27), at the College of Surgeons, and on several occasions elsewhere. He went in 1809 to Haslar Hospital to help to treat the wounded of Corunna, and in 1815 to Brussels to treat the wounded of Waterloo. When he went round his wards in the Middlesex Hospital, his method was to examine a patient with minute care and in silence before the students. Then he would retire a little way from the bed, and would give his opinion of the nature of the case, and of what the treatment ought to be, adding with particular emphasis his

expectation as to the final result (communication from Rev. WHITWELL ELWIN.) Like many great medical teachers of his day, he was abused in the numbers of the Lancet (vol. v.) for reasons now difficult to discover, and not worth tracing out in detail. Bell was never completely at home in the medical world of London. In spite of his unceasing labours, perhaps partly in consequence of them, his practice did not increase in proportion to his merits, and when in 1836 he was offered the chair of surgery in the university of Edinburgh, he was glad to return to his early home. He there published in 1838 'Institutes of Surgery,' and in 1841 some 'Practical Essays.' These, like all his surgical works, are worth reading as the productions of close observation and considerable experience; but they are not of the same consequence as his physiological writings. The time he spent in the wards and at the bedside of patients was not lost to science, for the observations there made helped him to his great discoveries; but as an operating and consulting surgeon he does not stand higher than many of his contemporaries. A sensation of failing health was probably the chief reason for his retirement to Edinburgh. He still worked, but less strenuously, and in 1840 enjoyed a tour in Italy. A little more than a year later he was, as he said (letter, 24 April 1842), 'chained in activity' by terrible attacks of angina pectoris, and in one of these he died on the morning of 28 April 1842. He was staying at Hallow Park, near Worcester, and was buried in the churchyard of the parish. In Hallow church there is a tablet to his memory, with an English inscription by Lord Jeffrey.

The anxieties of life and the necessary abstraction of scientific musing made Bell at times seem grave; but his friends all agree in Lord Cockburn's statement about him: 'If ever I knew a generally and practically happy man, it was Sir Charles Bell.' 'He had, says one of his friends, 'too profound a faith in the Providence who governed the world to be otherwise than deeply thankful for his lot.' The style of his scientific papers is sometimes involved, nor are happy turns of expression frequent in his popular works. His letters are his best compositions. He had a thorough enjoyment of literature and of music, and the intervals of his scientific work were always employed. Fishing was one of his favourite recreations. He kept White's 'Natural History of Selborne' on his table, and loved the sights and sounds of the country. He had married (3 June 1811) Marion, second daughter of Charles Shaw, Esq., of Ayr, and their marriage was one of

perfect happiness. His wife's health was at first precarious, but she became strong, and lived to be more than eighty. In 1870 she published 'Letters of Sir Charles Bell,' a book which gives from his own letters an interesting picture of the character and daily, life of her husband, of his unremitting labours, of his frequent disappointments, many difficulties and glorious triumphs. The admirable preface was written off at the publisher's desk by a friend of Sir Charles Bell, the Rev. Whitwell Elwin, who happened to come in at the moment when Lady Bell was expressing to Mr. Murray her inability to compose the introduction which he thought necessary for the completeness of the book. The frontispiece is a portrait of Bell from a painting by Anthony Stewart.

[Letters of Sir Charles Bell, London, 1870; Bell's Works.]

N. M.

BELL, FRANCIS (1590-1643), Franciscan friar, was the son of William Bell of Temple Broughton, in the parish of Hanbury near Worcester, by his marriage with Dorothy Daniel of Acton Place, near Long Melford in Suffolk. He was born at Temple Broughton on 13 Aug. 1590, and in baptism received the christian name of Arthur, though on entering the religious life he assumed the name of Francis. At the age of twenty-four he entered the college of the English Jesuits at St. Omer, and after remaining there a year he was sent to the English college of St. Alban the Martyr in Valladolid, where he was ordained priest. Not long afterwards, on 9 Aug. 1618, he took the habit of St. Francis in the convent of Segovia, and on 8 Sept. 1619 he was admitted to his solemn vows and profession. Father John Gennings, who was engaged in the restoration of the English Franciscan province, sent to Spain for Bell, and placed him in the English convent newly erected at Douay. Subsequently he was appointed confessor, first to the Poor Clares at Gravelines, and afterwards to the nuns of the third order of St. Francis, then residing at Brussels. At the first general chapter of the restored Franciscan province of England, which was held (December 1630) in their convent of St. Elizabeth at Brussels, Father Bell was officially declared guardian or superior of St. Bonaventure's convent at Douay, with the charge of teaching Hebrew. Before, however, he had gone through the usual term of his guardianship, he was summoned to Brussels by Father Joseph Bergaigne, the commissary-general of the order, and for the restoring of the province of Scotland was appointed its first provincial, and sent in that capacity to the general chapter then held in

Spain. On his return he was sent on the mission to England, where he arrived on 8 Sept. 1634. Here he laboured with great zeal for nine years, but at last, on 6 Nov. 1643, he was apprehended at Stevenage in Hertfordshire by a party of soldiers belonging to the parliament army, on suspicion of being a spy. The documents found in his possession revealed his true character, and he was sent under a strong guard to London, where he was examined by three commissioners deputed by the parliament for that purpose, who committed him to Newgate. Just before this his brethren had chosen him, for the second time, guardian of their convent at Douay. He was brought to trial on 7 Dec., found guilty, and executed at Tyburn on 11 Dec. 1643.

his brethren, for he was skilled in Hebrew, As a linguist he was distinguished among Greek, Latin, Spanish, French, and Flemish. There is a fine portrait of him in Mason's 'Certamen Seraphicum Provinciæ Angliæ pro Sancta Dei Ecclesia,' printed at Douay in 1649.

He was the author of: 1. A brief Instruction how we ought to hear Mass,' Brussels, 1624; a translation from the Spanish of Andres de Soto, and dedicated to Anne, countess of Argyle. 2. The Rule of the Third Order of St. Francis.' 3. 'The Historie, Life, and Miracles, Extasies and Revelations of the blessed virgin, sister Ioane, of the Crosse, of the third Order of our holy Father, S. Francis. Composed by the Reuerend Father, brother Anthonie of Aca, Diffinitor of the Prouince of the Conception, and Chroinckler of the Order aforsaid. And translated out of Spanish into English by a Father of the same Order. At S. Omers, for Iohn Heigham, with Approbation, Anno 1625.' 8vo. This extremely rare translation of Father Antonio Daça's, Historia de la Virgen Santa Juana [Vasquez] de la Cruz' has an epistle dedicatory, signed Brother Francis Bell,' and addressed to Sisters Margaret Radcliffe and Elizabeth Radcliffe, of the second order of St. Francis, commonly called Poor Clares.

[Mason's Certamen Seraphicum, 127–57; Challoner's Missionary Priests (1741), ii. 256-98; Dodd's Church Hist. iii. 102; J. Stevens's Hist. of Antient Abbeys, i. 107; Granger's Biog. Hist. of England, 2nd ed. ii. 206; Oliver's Hist. of the Catholic Religion in Cornwall, 543; Cat. of Printed Books in Brit. Mus.]

T. C.

BELL, SIR GEORGE (1794-1877), general, son of George Bell, of Belle Vue, on Lough Erin, Fermanagh, by Catherine, daughter of Dominick Nugent, M.P., was born at Belle Vue, 17 March 1794, and whilst yet at school in Dublin was gazetted an ensign