Beauty waning

Declining in beauty. Beauvais, ( bo - vai,) an ancient city of France, cap. dep. Oise, on the The rain, 41 m. N. by W. of Paris; Lat. 49 26 7" N.; Lon. 205 E.; on a branch line of the railway from Paris to Boulogne. It is a large, but ill-built city. Had the cathedral been finished on its original plan, it would have been the finest Gothic edifice in France, but the choir only is complete. The church of St. Stephen, erected in 997, is celebrated for its fine painted gla windows. Manf. Cloths, linens, and flannels. B. existed under the Romans, and was held by the Normans and the English, from the latter of whom it was wrested in the 15th century. In 1472, it was besieged by Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, and though without a garrison, the citizens, led on by the heroine Jeanne Fouquet (surnamed Hachette ), repelled the enemy. An annual festival is still celebrated in honor of this event. Beaux-esprits, ( bōz - ez -prēz',) n. pl. A French compound word applied to men of wit or genius. It is now somewhat antiquated, and is almost invariably used in an ironical sense. Beaver, (be'vur,) n. [A. S. beafer ; Dan. baever ; Sw. and Goth. befwer ; Lat. fiber , from fibra , the edge or bank of a river.] ( Zool .) The common name of the genus Castor , family Sciurid a . There are but two species, the European B. , Castor fiber , and the American B., Castor Canadiensis, so much alike that the description of the one may be applied to the other indiscriminately. The B. may be readily distinguished from every other quadruped by its broad, horizontally flattened tail, which is Fig . 328. - AMERICAN BEAVER. (Castor Canadiensis.) of a nearly oval form, but rises into a slight convexity on its upper surface, and is covered with scales. The hind feet are webbed, and together with the tail, which acts as a rudder, serve to propel it through the water with considerable facility. It is about three feet long, exclusive of the tail, which is one foot more; its color is a deep chestnut, the hair very fine, smooth, and glo y; but it occasionally varies, and is sometimes found perfectly black. The incisor teeth are very large and hard; Bo hard, indeed, that they were used by the N. American Indians to cut bone and to fashion their horn-tipped spears, till they were superseded by the introduction of iron tools from Europe. Of all quadrupeds the B. is considered as po e ing the greatest degree of natural or instinctive sagacity in constructing its habitation; preparing, in concert with others of its own species, a kind of arched caverns or domes, supported by a foundation of strong pillars, and lined or plastered internally with a degree of neatne and accuracy unequalled by the art of any other quadruped. But it should seem, however, that the architecture of the B. is nowhere so conspicuous as in the northern parts of America. The favorite resorts of the B. are retired, watery, and woody situations. In such places they a emble to the number of some hundreds: living, as it were, in families, and building their arched receptacles. From this we may perceive to what a degree animals, una isted either by language or reason, are capable of concurring for their of the birch, the plane, . When the frost is very severe, the hunters sometimes break large holes in the ice; and, on the B. resorting to these apertures to breathe the fresh air, they either kill them with their hatchets, or cover the holes with large substantial nets. This being done, they undermine and subvert the whole fabric; when the B. , expecting to make their escape in the usual way, fly with precipitation to the water, and, rushing to the opening, fall directly into the net. The B. is pursued both for its fur, and for the sake of a peculiar odoriferous secretion, termed castor or castoreum, q. v., which is contained in two little bags, the inguinal glands, each about the size of a hen's egg. The fur was formerly a most important article of commerce; but the animals have in recent times been exterminated from so many extensive tracts which they once inhabited, that it is now far le considerable than it was half a century ago. To this may be added, that the present custom of using silk and other materials in lieu of B fur in the manufacture of hats, has wonderfully les sened the demand for it, as well as reduced the price. The foregoing account relates to the American beaver. The European species does not boast of such architectural habits, but lives in burrows along the banks of the Rhone, the Danube, the Weser, and other large northern rivers; yet, from some of the descriptions which have been given of it, it may be inferred that, considering the material within its reach, its instinctive skill is not greatly inferior to that which dwells on this side of the Atlantic. mutual benefit, and of attaining, by dint of numbers, those advantages which each, in a state of solitude, seems unfitted to po e ; for, if we view the B. only in the light of an individual, and unconnected with others of its kind, we shall find that many other quadrupeds excel it in cunning, and almost all in the powers of annoyance and defence. When kept in a state of solitude or domestic tamene , it appears calm and indifferent to all about it; without attachments or antipathies; and never seeking to gain the favor of man, nor aiming to offend him. Few subjects in natural history have more attracted the attention of travellers, or have been more minutely described by naturalists, than the instinctive building operations of the B. , and they have accordingly had attributed to them powers so marvellous, as to render ridiculous that which, if regarded merely as a high species of animal instinct, could not fail to command universal admiration. The situation of the B. -houses is various. Where the B. are numerous, they are found to inhabit lakes, ponds, and rivers, as well as those narrow creeks which connect the numerous lakes of North America; but the two latter are generally chosen by them, when the depth of water and other circumstances are suitable, as they have then the advantage of a current to convey wood and other nece aries to their habitations, and because, in general, they are more difficult to be taken than those that are built in standing water. They always select those parts that have such a depth of water as will resist the frost in winter, and prevent it from freezing to the bottom. The B. that build their houses in small rivers, or creeks, in which the water is liable to be drained off when the back supplies are dried up by the frost, are wonderfully taught by instinct to provide against that evil by making a dam quite acro the river, at a convenient distance from their houses. The B. -dams differ in shape according to the nature of the place in which they are built. If the water in the river, or creek, have but little motion, the dam is almost straight; but where the current is more rapid, it is always made with a considerable curve, con county. Bea'ver, n . and a. The fur of the beaver; a hat made of its fur; -or, adjectively, anything made of the fur of the beaver; as, a beaver hat.