pnugues/EB7 huggingface dataset:
BENDY, in Heraldry, is the field divided into four, six, or more parts, diagonally, and varying in metal and colour.
BENCAPED, among sailors. A ship is said to be bencaped when the water does not flow high enough to bring her off the ground, out of the dock, or over the bar.
BENE, a city of the province of Mondovi, in the kingdom of Sardinia. It stands on a hill between the rivers Sturo and Tanaro, and contains several churches and other religious houses, with 5180 inhabitants.
BENEDICITE, among ecclesiastical writers, an appellation given to the song of the three children in the fiery furnace, on account of its beginning with the word benedicite. The use of this song in Christian worship is very ancient, having been sung in all the churches as early as the time of St Chrysostom.
BENEDICT XIV. Pope (Prosper Lambertini of Bologna), celebrated for his learning and moderation, which gained him the esteem of all Protestants. He was the patron of learned men and celebrated artists, and an elaborate writer on theological subjects. His works fill 12 vols. in folio. He died in 1758.

Benedict, St, the founder of the order of the Benedictine monks, was born in Italy about a. d. 480. He was sent to Rome when he was very young, and there received the first part of his education. At fourteen years of age he was removed from this to Sublaco, about forty miles distant. Here he lived a most ascetic life, having shut himself up in a cavern, where nobody knew any thing of him except St Romanus, who used to descend to him by a rope, and to supply him with provisions. But being afterwards discovered by the monks of a neighbouring monastery, they chose him for their abbot. Their manners, however, not agreeing with those of Benedict, he returned to his solitude, whither many persons followed him, and put themselves under his direction; so that in a short time he was enabled to build twelve monasteries. In the year 528 or 529 he retired to Mount Cassino, where idolatry was still prevalent, a temple of Apollo having been erected there. He instructed the people in the adjacent country, and, having converted them, broke in pieces the image of Apollo, and built two chapels on the mountain. Here he also founded a monastery, and instituted the order of his name, which in time became so famous, and extended itself all over Europe. In this place, too, he composed his Regula Monachorum, which Gregory the Great speaks of as the most sensible and best written piece of the kind ever published. The period of his death is uncertain. He was looked upon as the Elisha of his time, and is reported to have wrought a great number of miracles, which are recorded in the second book of the Dialogues of St Gregory the Great.

Benedict, abbot of Peterborough, was educated at Oxford, became a monk in the monastery of Christ Church in Canterbury, and was some time afterwards chosen prior by the members of that society. Although he had been a great admirer of Archbishop Becket, and wrote a life of that prelate, he was so much esteemed by Henry II., that, by the influence of that prince, he was elected abbot of Peterborough a.d. 1177. He assisted at the coronation of Richard I. in 1189, and was appointed keeper of the great seal in 1191. But he did not long enjoy this high dignity, as he died on Michaelmas day 1193. Besides his life of Archbishop Becket, he composed a History of Henry II. and Richard L, from 1170 to 1192. A beautiful edition of this work was published at Oxford, in two volumes, by Mr Hearne, A. d. 1735.
BENEDICTINES, in Ecclesiastical History, an order of monks who profess to follow the rules of St Benedict. The Benedictines, who of all the regular clergy are alone entitled to the appellation of monks, wear a loose black gown with large wide sleeves, and a capuche or cowl on their heads, ending in a point behind. In the canon law they are styled black friars, from the colour of their habit-

The rules of St Benedict, as observed by the English monks before the dissolution of the monasteries, were as follows: The monks of this order were obliged to perform, seven times in twenty-four hours, their devotions, the whole circle of which had reference to the passion and death of Christ; they always went two and two together; every day in Lent they fasted till six in the evening, and abated of their usual time of sleeping and eating, but they were not allowed to practise any voluntary austerity without leave of their superior; they never conversed in their refectory at meals, but were obliged to attend to the reading of the Scriptures; and they all slept in the same dormitory, but not two in a bed, and they lay in their clothes. For sma faults they were shut out from meals, for greater they were debarred religious commerce and excluded from tn e [7:4:563]chapel; and, as to incorrigible offenders, they were excluded from the monasteries. Every monk had two coats, two cowls, a table-book, a knife, a needle, and a handkerchief; and the furniture of their cells was a mat, a blanket, a rug, and a pillow.

The time when this order came into England is well known; for to it the English owe their conversion from idolatry. In the year 596 Pope Gregory sent hither Augustin, prior of the monastery of St Andrew at Rome, with several other Benedictine monks. Augustin became archbishop of Canterbury, and the Benedictines founded several monasteries in England, as also the metropolitan church of Canterbury, and all the cathedrals that were afterwards erected.

Pope John XXII., who died in 1334, found, after an exact inquiry, that, since the first rise of the order, it had produced 24 popes, near 200 cardinals, 7000 archbishops, 15,000 bishops, 15,000 abbots, above 4000 saints, and upwards of 37,000 monasteries. There have been likewise of this order 20 emperors and 10 empresses, 47 kings and above 50 queens, 20 sons of emperors and 48 sons of kings, above 100 princesses, daughters of kings and emperors, besides dukes, marquises, earls, countesses, &c. innumerable. The order has produced a vast number of eminent writers and other learned men. Rabanus set up the school of Germany; Alcuinus founded the university of Paris; Dionysius Exiguus perfected the ecclesiastical computation; Guido invented the scale of music, Sylvester the organ; and they boast of having produced Ansel-mus, Ildephonsus, Venerable Bede, and many others of equal or superior name. There are nuns likewise who follow the rule of St Benedict.
BENEDICTION, in a general sense, the act of blessing, or giving praise to God, or returning thanks for his favours. Neither the ancient Jews nor the early Christians ever ate without a short prayer. The Jews are obliged to rehearse a hundred benedictions a day; of which eighty are to be spoken in the morning. The first treatise of the first order in the Talmud, entitled Seraim, contains the form and order of the daily benedictions. Benedictions were likewise given among the ancient Jews, as well as Christians, by the imposition of hands. And when at length the primitive simplicity of the Christian worship began to give way to ceremony, they added the sign of the cross, which was made with the same hand as before, only elevated or extended. Hence benediction, in the modern Romish church, is used, in a more particular manner, to denote the sign of the cross made by a bishop or prelate, as conferring some grace on the people. The custom of receiving benediction, by bowing the head before the bishops, is very ancient; and it was so universal, that emperors themselves did not decline this mark of submission.

Nuptial Benediction, the external ceremony performed by the priest in the office of matrimony. The nuptial benediction is not essential to, but the confirmation of, a marriage in the civil law.

Beatic Benediction, Benedictio beatica, is the viaticum given to dying persons.

Benediction is also used for an ecclesiastical ceremony, whereby a thing is rendered sacred or venerable. In this sense benediction differs from consecration, as in the latter unction is applied, but not in the former. Thus the chalice is consecrated, and the pix blessed, as the former, not the latter, is anointed; but, in common usage, these two words are applied promiscuously.
BENEFICIARII, in Boman Antiquity, denote soldiers who attended the chief officers of the army, being exempted from other duty. Beneficiarii were also soldiers discharged from the military service, and provided with beneficia or pensions to subsist on. The latter were probably the same with the former, and both might therefore be comprised in the same definition. They were old experienced soldiers, who, having servedduring thelegal period, or received a discharge as a particular mark of honour, were invited again to the service, in which they were held in [7:4:564]great esteem, exempted from all military drudgery, and appointed to guard the standard, or some such honourable duty. When thus recalled to service, they were denominated evocati; before their recall they were styled emeriti. Beneficiarii was also a term applied to those who had been raised to a higher rank by the favour of the tribunes or other magistrates. The word beneficiarius frequently occurs in the Roman inscriptions found in Britain, where consulis is always joined with it; but besides beneficiarius consulis, we find in Gruter beneficiarius tribuni, praetorii, legati, prcefecti, proconsulis, and such like expressions.
BENEFICIARY, Beneficiarius, is more particularly used for a beneficed person, or him who receives and enjoys one or more benefices. A beneficiary is not the proprietor of the revenues of his church; he has only the administration of them, though not accountable for his conduct therein to any but God and his superior.

Beneficiary is also used, by the writers of the middle ages, for a feudatory or vassal. The denomination was however applied to the clerks or officers who kept the accounts of the beneficia, and made the writings necessary thereto.
BENEFICIUM, in Roman military matters, denoted a promotion to a higher rank by the favour of some person in authority.
BENEFIELD, Sebastian, an eminent divine of the seventeenth century, was born in 1559, at Prestonbury in Gloucestershire, and educated at Corpus Christi College, Oxford. In 1608 he took the degree of doctor in divinity, and five years afterwards was chosen Margaret professor in that university. Several years before, he had been presented to the rectory of Meysey-Hampton, in Gloucestershire. He published commentaries upon the first, second and third chapters of Amos; a considerable number of sermons; and some Latin treatises. He died in 1630.
BENEFIT Societies. See Friendly Societies.
BENEVENTE, a town of the province of Alentejo, in Portugal, on the river Corraya, which here empties itself into the Tagus. The inhabitants are about 2500, and depend on the trade of its small harbour, which is only accessible to vessels drawing little water.
BENEVENTO, a small province or delegation of the papal dominion, according to the settlement made by the treaty of Vienna in 1815. Naples, however, having at that date claims and possession, which she relinquished in some measure, still exercises authority over the schools, roads, posts, and the sale of salt, tobacco, and iron. It contains about 85 square miles, and 24,000 inhabitants. The capital city, from which the name is derived, stands at the junction of the rivers Sabato and Calore, has several ancient monuments of celebrity, and contains about 14,000 inhabitants, who are employed in gold and silver works. Long. 14. 52. E. Lat. 4L 6. N.
BENEVENTUM, in Ancient Geography, a town of the Samnites, formerly called Alaleventum from the unwholesomeness of the wind, an appellation under which it is mentioned by Livy; but after a Roman colony had been led thither in the- 485th year of the city, the name Beneventum, as a more auspicious denomination, was applied to it. It is mentioned by Horace as an ancient city.
BENGUELA, a considerable country on the western coast of Africa, between Congo and Angola. Being occupied by the Portuguese, to the exclusion of all other European nations, the knowledge of it is withheld from the latter with the most jealous care. The general observations made upon the coast of Angola will in a great measure apply to it. The air is said to be unwholesome and the water bad, while the natives are extremely rude and uncivilized. The mountains contain mines of copper, which is extracted only in very small quantities. The Portuguese have formed the port of St Philipe de Benguela on the Bahia das Vallas or Cone’s Bay, and have [7:4:571]made it the centre of their trade upon this coast, which is carried on chiefly with the view of procuring slaves. The articles almost exclusively in demand among the natives are coral and beads, which are not only used as ornaments, but circulate as money. The few ships also which now pass to and from the East Indies touch here for refreshment. Long. 13. 30. E. Lat. 12. 28. S.
BENHINNOM, in Ancient Geography, a valley in the suburbs and to the east of Jerusalem, forming part of that of Kidron, infamous for the sacrifice of children, or passing them through the fire. The place in the valley where the idol stood to which the sacrifice was made was called Tορhet, frθ m the beating of drurns or tabours in order to drown the shrieks of the children; and it had also the name Geenοη, or the Valley of Ennom, whence some derive Gehenna, the place of future punishment.
BENI Arax or Beni Rashid, a tribe of Arabs in the southern district of Algiers, possessed formerly of considerable power, but who, even in Shaw’s time, were so much reduced, that their principal fortress consisted only of a poor village.
BENICARLO, a city of Spain, in the province of Valencia, on the coast of the Mediterranean. It is celebrated for its red wine, of which more than 220,000 casks are annually exported from the harbour. The population amounts to 5850 persons.
BENIGANIM, a town of the province of Valencia, in Spain, containing 3800 inhabitants, who cultivate vineyards producing excellent wine.
BENNET, Henry, earl of Arlington, was born of an ancient family in Middlesex. In the beginning of the civil war he was appointed under-secretary to George Lord Digby, secretary of state; he afterwards entered himself as a volunteer for the royal cause, and did his majesty good service, especially at Andover, in Hampshire, where he received several wounds. He left not the king when success abandoned his standards, but attended to his interest in foreign parts. He was made secretary to the duke of York, received the honour of knighthood from Charles II. at Bruges in 1658, and was sent as envoy to the court of Spain. His majesty, upon his return to England, called him home, made him keeper of his privy purse, and principal secretary of state. He had always a peculiar hatred of the lord chancellor Hyde, who, on the other hand, considered him a concealed Papist. In 1670 he was of the council distinguished by the title of the Cabal, and one of those who advised the shutting up of the exchequer. In 1672 he was made earl of Arlington and viscount Thetford, and soon after knight of the garter. In 1673 he was appointed one of the three plenipotentiaries from the court of Great Britain to Cologne, to mediate a peace between the emperor and the king of France. The house of commons this year drew up articles of impeachment against him. In 1674 he was made chamberlain of his majesty’s household, in recompense of his long and faith, ful service, and particularly for having filled the office ] of principal secretary of state during the space of twelve years, to his majesty’s great satisfaction. But afterwards his interest began to decline, while that of the earl of Danby increased; for upon his return from his unsuccessful journey to Holland in 1675, his credit had so much sunk that several persons at court diverted the king with mimicking his person and behaviour; yet he held his office of chamberlain till the day of his death, which took place in 1685. His Letters to Sir William Temple were published after his death.

Bennet, Dr Thomas, an eminent divine, born at Salisbury on the 7th of May 1673, and educated at St John’s College, Cambridge. In 1700 he was made rector of St James’s in Colchester; he afterwards became lecturer of St Olave’s, Southwark, and morning-preacher at St Lawrence, Jewry; and at last he was presented to the vicarage of St Giles’s, Cripplegate, worth L.500 a year. While he held this station, he engaged in several expensive lawsuits in defence of the rights of the church, to which he recovered L.150 a year. He wrote, ļ. An Answer to the Dissenter’s Plea for Separation; 2. A Confutation of Popery; 3. A Discourse of Schism; 4. An Answer to a book entitled Thomas against Bennet; 5. A Confutation of Quakerism; 6. A brief History of the joint Use of preconceived Forms of Prayer; 7. An Answer to Dr Clarke’s Scripture doctrine of the Trinity; 8. A Paraphrase, with Annotations on the Book of Common Prayer; 9. A Hebrew Grammar; and other pieces. He died on the 9th October 1728, in the fifty-sixth year of his age.
BENOIT, Renatus, a famous doctor of the Sorbonne, and curate of Eustathius at Paris, in the sixteenth century. He was a secret favourer of the Protestant religion; and that his countrymen might be able to read the Bible in their own tongue, he published at Paris the French translation which had been made by the reformed ministers at Geneva. This translation was approved of by several doctors of the Sorbonne before it went to the press, and King Charles IX. had granted a privilege for the printing of it; yet when it was published it was immediately condemned. He had, before that time, been confessor to Mary queen of Scotland during her stay in France, and attended her when she returned into Scotland. Some time previous to the death of Henry III. Dr Benoit, or some of his friends with his assistance, published a book entitled Apologie Catholique; in which it was shown that the Protestant religion which Henry king of Navarre professed was not a sufficient reason to deprive him of his right of succeeding to the crown of France. When Henry IV. had resolved to embrace the Catholic religion, Dr Benoit assisted at the assembly in which the king abjured the reformed religion. In 1597 Henry promoted him to the bishopric of Troyes in Champagne, but he could never obtain the pope’s bulls to be installed. However, he enjoyed the temporalities of that bishopric till he resigned it. He died in 1608.
BENOWM, the capital of the Moorish kingdom of Ludamar, in Central Africa, on the southern border of the Great Desert. It consists of a large collection of dirty huts resembling tents, and has more the appearance of a large encampment of shepherds than of a metropolis. Mr Park was detained here in long and cruel captivity, exposed to every outrage which bigotry and barbarism could devise or execute. Long. 7. 10. W. Lat. 15. 5. N.
BENSERADE, Isaac de, an ingenious French poet of the seventeenth century, was born at Lyons. He made himself known at court by his verses and his wit, and had the good fortune to please the cardinals Richelieu and Ma[7:4:573]zarin. After the death of Richelieu, he got into favour with the duke de Brèze, whom he accompanied in most of his expeditions; and when this nobleman died, he returned to court, where his poetry became highly esteemed. He wrote, I. A Paraphrase upon Job; 2. Verses for Interludes; 3. Rondeaux upon Ovid; 4. Several Tragedies. A sonnet which he sent to a young lady with his paraphrase on Job, being put in competition with the Urania of Voiture, caused him to be much spoken of; for those who gave the preference to Benserade’s performance were styled the Jobists, and their antagonists were called the Uranists; and the dispute long divided the whole court and the wits. Some years before his death he applied himself to works of piety, and translated almost all the Psalms. According to the Abbé Olivet, Benserade withdrew from court towards the close of his life, and made Gentilly the place of his retirement. The abbé further says, that when he himself was a youth, it was the custom to visit the remains of the ornaments with which Benserade had embellished his house and gardens, where every thing savoured of his poetical genius; and that the trees were covered with inscriptions carved in the bark, which Voltaire thinks the best of his productions. Benserade died on the 19th October 1691, in the eighty-second year of his age.
BENSHEIM, a city of the province of Storkenburg, in the duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt. It is situated on the river Lauterbach, near the Rhine, and contains 3146 inhabitants, mostly manufacturers or cultivators of vineyards.
BENSON, George, a learned dissenting minister, born at Great Salkeld, in Cumberland, in 1699. His progress in learning was so precocious, that at eleven years of age he was able to read the Greek Testament. He afterwards studied at Dr Dixon’s academy at Whitehaven, from which he removed to the university of Glasgow. In 1721 he was chosen pastor of a congregation of dissenters at Abingdon, in Berkshire; in 1729 he received a call from a society of dissenters in Southwark, with whom he continued eleven years; and in 1740 he was chosen by the congregation of Crutched Friars, colleague to the learned and judicious Dr Lardner. From the time of his engaging in the ministry, he proposed to himself the critical study of the Scriptures, particularly of the New Testament, as a principal part of his business. The first fruits of these studies which he presented to the public was u A Defence of the reasonableness of Prayer, with a Translation of a Discourse of Maximus Tyrius, containing some popular Objections against Prayer, and an Answer to these.” The light which Mr Locke had thrown on the obscurest parts of St Paul’s Epistles, by making him his own expositor, encouraged and determined Mr Benson to attempt to illustrate the remaining epistles in the same manner. Accordingly, in 1731, he published, as a specimen, a Paraphrase and Notes on the Epistle to Philemon. This was well received, and the author, encouraged to proceed in his design, proceeded with great diligence to publish paraphrases and notes on the two Epistles to the Thessalonians, the first and second to Timothy, and the Epistle to Titus; adding dissertations on several important subjects, particularly on inspiration. In the year 1735 he published his History of the First Planting of Christianity, taken from the Acts of the Apostles, and their Epistles, in 2 vols. 4to. In this work, besides illustrating throughout the history of the Acts and most of the.epistles, by a view of the history of the times, the occasion of the several epistles, and the state of the churches to which they were addressed, he established the truth ° up 6 Çhristian religion on a number of facts, the most public, important, and incontestible. He also wrote, the reasonableness of the Christian Religion, the History of the Life of Jesus Christ, a Paraphrase and Notes on the seven Catholic Epistles, and several other works, which procured him great reputation. One of the universities in Scotland sent him a diploma conferring a doctor’s degree; and many of high rank in the church of England, as Herring, Hoadley, Butler, Benson, and Conybeare, showed him great marks of favour and regard. He died in the year 1763, in the sixty-fourth year of his age.