· BENEDICTINES-BENEDICTION. Several not more The rule of St Benedict was less severe than that frankest kindness to all strangers visiting his capital, of Dunfermline, Coldingham, Kelso, Arbroath, whatever the nature of their religious opinions. The Paisley, Melrose, Newbottle, Dundrennan, and only accusation brought against him by his Roman others. In Germany, several Benedictine monks subjects was, that he wrote and studied too much, distinguished themselves as promoters of education but ruled too little,' or left affairs of business too in the 10th c.; while in the latter half of the much in the hands of the Cardinal Valentine. After 11th c., the B. Lanfranc and Anselm, archbishops a painful illness, B. XIV. died May 3, 1758.-His of Canterbury, laid the foundation of medieval most important work is that on Synods. A complete scholasticism. In Italy, also, the B. gained disedition of his writings was published under the care tinction as literati, jurists, and physicians; but of the Jesuit de Azevedo (12 vols., Rome, 1747-almost everywhere corruption of manners appears 1751), and in 16 vols., Venice, 1777. to have accompanied increasing wealth, until graduBENEDICTINES, the general name of all the ally it became the practice to receive, almost monks following the rule of St Benedict. The first exclusively, the sons of noble and wealthy persons' Benedictine monastery was that founded at Monte as novices among the Black Monks.' Cassino, in the kingdom of Naples, about 529, by St of the popes attempted a reformation of the order, Benedict himself. The order increased so rapidly, and at the general Council of Constance, 1416, after the 6th c., that the B. must be regarded as the a plan of reform was laid down, but failed in main agents in the spread of Christianity, civilisa- being carried into practice. In the 15th c., the B. tion, and learning in the west. had 15,107 monasteries, of which only 5000 were They are said at one time to have had as many as 37,000 monasteries, left after the Reformation, and now As early as 1354, and counted among their branches the great order than about 800 can be counted. of Clugny, founded about 910; the still greater order this order could boast of having numbered among of the Cistercians, founded in the following cenits followers 24 popes, 200 cardinals, 7000 archtury; the congregations of Monte Cassino in 1408, bishops, 15,000 bishops. 1560 canonised saints, of St Vanne in 1600, and of St Maur on the Loire, and 5000 holy persons judged worthy of canonisain 1627. To this last congregation all the Benediction, and 37,000 monasteries, besides 20 emperors, tine houses in France were affiliated. It had after-10 empresses, 47 kings, above 50 queens, 20 sons of wards its chief seat at St Maur, near Vincennes, and emperors, 48 sons of kings, 100 princesses, and an immense number of the nobility. Its more lately at St Germain-des-Prés, near Paris. Tanner (Notit. fine conventual buildings at St Maur on the Loire, Monast.) enumerates 113 abbeys and other instituwere destroyed during the revolutionary troubles. tions of B. in England, and 73 houses of Benedictine nuns. From their dress-a long black Numbering among its monks such scholars as Mabillon, Montfaucon, Sainte-Marthe, D'Achery, gown, with a cowl or hood of the same, and a Martene, Durand, Rivet, Clemencet, Carpentier, scapulary-the B. were commonly styled Black Monks.' The institution of convents for nuns of Toustain, and Tassin, it has rendered services to literature which it would be difficult to over- this order cannot be traced back beyond the 7th c. estimate. Besides admirable editions of many of the fathers, the world of letters owes to the B. of St which the eastern ascetics followed. Besides implicit Maur, the Art de Vérifier les Dates (1783-1787, in 3 obedience to their superior, the B. were to shun vols. fol.); a much enlarged edition of Ducange's laughter, to hold no private property, to live sparely, Glossarium Medice et Infimæ Latinitatis (1733- to exercise hospitality, and, above all, to be industri1736, in 6 vols. fol.), with a Supplement (1766, in 4 Compared with the ascetic orders, the B., both vols. fol.); the De Re Diplomatica (1681 and 1709, in dress and manners, may be styled the gentlemanly fol.); the Nouveau Traité de Diplomatique (1750-order of monks; and whatever may be said of their 1765 in 6 vols. 4to); L'Antiquité Expliquée (1719-religion, they deserve a high tribute of respect for 1724, in 15 vols. fol.); the Monuments de la Monarchie Francaise (1729-1733, in 5 vols. fol.); the Acta Sanctorum S. Benedicti (1688-1702, in 9 vols. fol.); the Annales Ordinis S. Benedicti (1713-1739, in 6 vols. fol.); a new and much improved edition of the Gallia Christiana (1715-1856, in 14 vols. fol.); the Veterum Scriptorum Spicilegium (1653-1677, in 13 vols. 4to); the De Antiquis Monachorum Ritibus (1690, in 2 vols. 4to); the De Antiquis Ecclesia Ritibus (1700-1702, in 3 vols. 4to); the Thesaurus Novus Anecdotorum (1717, in 5 vols. fol.); the Veterum Scriptorum et Monumentorum Amplissima Collectio (1724-1733, in 9 vols. fol.); the Histoire Litteraire de la France (1733-1749, in 9 vols. 4to). The B. were suppressed in France, along with the other monastic orders, at the Revolution in 1792; and their splendid conventual buildings at St Maur on the Loire were destroyed. They have lately been revived; and the B. of Solesme, established in 1837, aspiring to follow in the footsteps of the B. of St Maur, have resumed some of the works which that body left unfinished, and entered on literary enterprises of their own, such as the Spicilegium Solesmense, in 10 vols. 4to, of which three have already appeared. The chief B. houses in Germany were those of Prüm, Ratisbon, Fulda, Ellwang, and Saltzburg; in Spain, they had Valladolid, Burgos, and Montserrat; in Italy, Monte Cassino, Padua, and Capua. In England, most of the richest abbeys and all the cathedral priories (excepting Carlisle) belonged to this order. In Scotland the B. had the monasteries ous. their artistic diligence and literary undertakings. BENEDICTION (from the Lat. benedicere, to BENEDICTUS-BENEFIT SOCIETIES. different forms, till, under the elaborate ritual of the papacy, it has come to be considered an essential preliminary to almost all important acts, and is often performed with great pomp. One of the most superb spectacles that a stranger at Rome can witness, occurs on Easter Sunday, when the pope, in his august robes of office, and attended by his cardinals, pronounces after mass, in the presence of worshipping thousands, a solemn B. urbi et orbi (on the city and the world). The B., however, is not confined to a form of prayer, but is accompanied with sprinkKing of holy-water, use of incense, anointing, making the sign of the cross, &c. The cases in which a B. is bestowed are too numerous to mention, but the chief are as follows: The coronation of kings and queens, the confirmation of all church dignitaries, and the consecration of church vessels, bells, and sacred robes; the nuptial ceremony, the absolution of the sick penitent (called the Beatific B.), and the last sacrament. Besides these, lands, houses, cattle, &c., often receive a B. from the priest. In the English church-service, there are two benedictions; in the Scotch, only one. In the Greek Church, when the B. is being pronounced, the priest disposes his fingers in such a manner as to convey symbolically to those of the faithful who are close enough to observe the arrangement, the doctrine of the Trinity and the twofold nature of Christ. BENEDICTUS, in Music, a portion of the service of the mass of the Romish Church, also introduced in the service of the Anglican Church, in the morning prayer, but with English words. sense BENEFICE, or BENEFICIUM (Lat. 'a good deed,' also a favour,' and hence a grant,' or a provision' generally, and now more especially, a provision made for an ecclesiastical person), was a term formerly applied to feudal estates, but is now used to denote certain kinds of church preferment, such as rectories, vicarages, and other parochial cures, as distinguished from bishoprics, deaneries, and other ecclesiastical dignities or offices. In this a distinction is accordingly taken by the 1 and 2 Vict. c. 106, s. 124, between benefices and cathedral preferments; by the former being meant all parochial or district churches, and endowed chapels and chapelries; by the latter, all deaneries, archdeaconries, and canonries, and generally all dignities and offices in any cathedral or collegiate church, below the rank of a bishop. See note in 3. Stephen's Com., p. 27. By the 5 and 6 Vict. c. 27, s. 15, which is an act to enable incumbents to devise lands on farming leases, it is enacted that the word B. shall be construed to comprehend all such parochial preferment as we have above described, the incumbent of which, in right thereof, shall be a corporation sole' (q. v.); and by an act passed in the same session, chapter 108, being an act for enabling ecclesiastical corporations to grant long leases, it is, by section 31, declared that B. shall mean every rectory, with or without cure of souls, vicarage, &c., the incumbent or holder of which shall be a corporation sole. But by a later act, the 13 and 14 Vict. c. 98, which is an act to extend a former act, the 1 and 2 Vict. c. 106, against pluralities, the term B. is, by section 3, explained to mean B. with the cure of souls and no other, anything in any other act to the contrary notwithstanding. Benefices are also exempt or peculiar, by which is meant that they are not to be under the ordinary control and administration of the bishop; but, by section 108 of the 1 and 2 Vict. c. 106, above mentioned, it is provided that such exempt or peculiar benefices shall nevertheless, and so far as relates to pluralities and residence, be subject to the archbishop or bishop within whose province or diocese they are locally situated. There are, in general, four requisites to the enjoyment of a benefice. 1st, Holy orders, or ordination at the hands of a bishop of the established church or other canonical bishop (a Roman Catholic priest may hold a benefice in the Church of England on abjuring the tenets of his church, but he is not ordained again); 2d, Presentation, or the formal gift or grant of the B. by the lay or ecclesiastical patron; 3d, Institution at the hands of the bishop, by which the cure of souls is committed to the clergyman; and 4th, Induction, which is performed by a mandate from the bishop to the archdeacon to give the clergyman possession of the temporalities. Where the bishop is himself also patron, the pre sentation and institution are one and the same act, and called the collation to the benefice. In Scotland, the law on this subject is regulated by the 6 and 7 Vict. c. 61, passed in 1843, and com-, monly called Lord Aberdeen's Act. See ESTATE, LIVING, PARISH, PLURALITIES. BENEFICIARY is applied to the holder of a benefice. It may also denote a legal term sometimes a person who is in the enjoyment of any interest or estate held in trust by others, in which latter sense it is strictly and technically used in the law of Scotland, all having right or interest in trust-funds and estate being in that system called beneficiaries. The technical term in the law of England corresponding to this latter meaning of the word is cestui que trust (q. v.). Patent rights and copyrights are denominated B. privileges. See TRUST and TRUSTEE. BE'NEFIT SOCIETIES, associations for mutual benefit chiefly among the labouring classes, and of which there are now great numbers; being better known under the name of FRIENDLY SOCIETIES, we refer for an account of them to that head. Meanwhile, we confine attention to that particular species of associations called BENEFIT BUILDING SOCIETIES. These are societies established for the purpose of raising, by periodical subscriptions, a fund to assist members in obtaining small portions of heritable property, freehold, or otherwise. They are now regulated by an act of parliament passed in 1836, the 6 and 7 Will. IV. c. 32, which, it is declared, shall extend to all societies established prior to June of the same year. This act declares it shall be lawful to establish such societies, for the purpose of enabling the members to erect and purchase dwelling-houses, or acquire other real or leasehold estate, but which shall be mortgaged to the society until the amount or value of the shares drawn on shall be fully repaid with interest and all other appropriate payments. A share is not to exceed in value £150, and the corresponding monthly subscription is not to be more than twenty shillings. A majority of the members may make rules and regulations for the government and guidance of the society, such rules not being repugnant to the provisions of the act, nor to the general laws of the realm; and for offences against these rules and regulations, fines, penalties, and forfeitures may be inflicted. No member shall be allowed to receive any interest or dividend on his share until the same has been realised, except on the withdrawal of such member according to the rules of the society. The 4th section of the act appears to suggest, in the present state of the law, something like a difficulty as to the precise legal character and position of these societies, unless it may be held to be removed substantially by the enactments of a recent act, which we shall presently notice. By the 4th section referred to, all the provisions of two previous acts relating to friendly societies the 10 Geo. IV. BENEFIT SOCIETIES-BENEFIT OF CLERGY. c. 56, and the 4 and 5 Will. IV. c. 40, are extended to these benefit building societies. These two acts, however, are both wholly repealed by the 18 and 19 Vict. c. 63, which consolidates and amends the law relating to friendly societies; and in the latter we do not find any corresponding enactment giving the benefit of its provisions to building societies expressly and by name, nor does it contain any allusion to or recital of the above act of the 6 and 7 Will. IV. But by its 2d, 3d, 4th, and 5th sections, it saves the rights and privileges of societies existing at its date (1855) under former acts; and by section 11, on the preamble that many provident, benevolent, and charitable institutions and societies are formed, and may be formed, for the purpose of relieving the physical wants and necessities of persons in poor circumstances, or for improving the dwellings of the labouring classes, or for granting pensions, or for providing habitations for the members or other persons elected by them; and it is expedient to afford protection to the funds thereof,' it is enacted that, if the registrar shall certify that the rules of such institution or society are not repugnant to law, thereupon the following sections of the act shall extend and apply to such institution and society-that is to say, the 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st, and 22d sections, which relate to the appointment, duties, and responsibilitities of the societies' trustees, and to the duty and responsibility of the treasurer. The other sections define the mode of determining disputes according to the rules of the society, either by arbitrators, or by application to the county court of the district in England, the court of the assistant-barrister in Ireland, and the sheriff's court in Scotland-the Lord Chancellor being empowered to make such rules and orders, and the judges of the Court of Session in Scotland such acts of Sederunt as may be necessary for regulating the procedure. By an apparent oversight, a similar control over the court of the assistant-barrister in Ireland is not given to the Irish Chancellor, or to any other Irish judicial authority. spoke of their great value in implanting habits of economy and feelings of self-respect. 'The first payment is productive, and every succeeding one improves the investor's position, while the determination to save is strengthened by every month's deposit. A payment of 10s. per month is worth in one year £6, 3s. 3d.; in five years, £35, 2s. 9d.; in seven years, £50, 7s. 5d. ; in ten years, £77, 19s. 3d. ; in fourteen years, £121, 168.-£37, 16s. of which is interest. The total sum which has been deposited in four societies in Bradford, is £1,179,790, of which £222,522 was received last year (1858). The average annual receipts are about £150,000. The total of the advances on mortgage is £632,457.' In London, Birmingham, and other parts of England, there are now numerous benefit building societies, of which these are an example; and the good they have done, and are doing, could scarcely be exaggerated. In Scotland, associations of this kind are less numerous, besides being chiefly composed of persons in the middle ranks of society, who wish to buy and occupy a superior class of houses. While freehold property in England, to the value of 408. per annum, imparts a qualification to vote for a member of parliament for the county connected with the town in which the property is situated, no such qualification exists in Scotland, where land is held from the crown, or in feudal tenure, not freehold; and perhaps this accounts in some measure for the want, in Scotland, of that general enthusiasm for supporting building societies, which forms a striking feature in the humbler department of urban society in England. See FREEHOLD. BENEFIT OF CLERGY. This expression relates to happily a former state of the law of England, which at once shews the power of the clergy and the ignorance of the people. It was otherwise called privilegium clericale, and in the days of its real meaning and force, the benefit or privilege meant little short of the total exemption of the clerical order, in respect of crimes and offences, from the jurisdiction and authority of the secular magistrate-an exemption pretended to be Building societies are of two kinds: those which founded upon the text of Scripture, Touch not are to terminate at the end of a specified period- mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm.' The usually twelve or fourteen years-and those of a only exception to this was the priest being held in permanent nature. As attended with numerous custody by the king himself; but even in that case, inconveniences, the terminating are giving way to he could only remain in such regal custody with the permanent associations, and these latter alone the pleasure and consent of the bishop, who had need be described. The object which a member has entire control over his person, and over the inquiry distinctly in view is to be the proprietor of a dwell-into his offence. If a priest or clerk' happened to be ing-house. Instead of paying rent to a landlord, he proposes to set aside so much of his earnings monthly towards the purchase-money of a property, The advantage of this plan is two-fold. Instead of continually paying rents, and never becoming any richer, he finds that his instalments, which are only a little more than what a rent would be, make him his own landlord, and give him an improved social position. In the best arranged societies, members are allowed to pay much or little as instalments, according to their ability; and in cases of sickness or want of work, the payments may be for a time suspended. The method of acquiring a property is as follows: A member fixes on a house which he wishes to buy, and proposes to the society that he wishes to borrow the price of it. The society appoints a surveyor to report as to the value of the building, and if satisfied on that point, make the purchase in name of the applicant, who, under proper guarrantees, enters on possession immediately. A usual period of payment is about thirteen years, a sum equal to 5 per cent, of the principal, and 5 per cent. interest, being paid every year. Mr. J. A. Binns, in describing these societies, in a paper read at the Social Science Congress at Bradford, 1859, imprisoned by the secular arm, on a criminal charge or capital felony, he was, on the Bishop's demand, to be instantly delivered up without any further inquisition; not, indeed, to be let loose upon the country, but to be detained by the ordinary, till he had either purged himself from the offence, or, having failed to do so, had been degraded; and this state of things continued till the reign of Henry VI., when it was settled that the prisoner should first be arraigned, and might either then claim his B. of C. by plea declining the jurisdiction, or, as was most usually practised, after conviction, by way of arresting judgment. The test of admission to this singular privilege was the clerical dress and tonsure; and a story is told of one William de Bussy, a serjeant-at-law, 1259 A. D. (the practising lawyers then were all priests), who, being called to account for his great knavery and malpractices, claimed the benefit of his orders or clergy, which till then remained an entire secret, and to this end wished to untie his coif, that he might shew that he had the clerical tonsure; but this was not permitted, and the bystanders seizing him, not by the coif, but by the throat, dragged him to prison. See 1 Stephen, p. 17. But in course of time BENEFIT OF INVENTORY-BENEVOLENCE. a much wider and more comprehensive criterion was established, all who could read, whether of the clergy or laity-a mark of great learning in those days and therefore capable of becoming clerks, being allowed the privilege. But laymen could only claim it once, and upon so doing, were burned on the hand, and discharged; to be again tried, however, by the bishop, whose investigation usually resulted in an acquittal, which, although the offender had been previously convicted by his country, or perhaps by his own confession, had the effect of restoring him to his liberty, his credit, and his property-in fact, the episcopal acquittal so entirely whitewashed him, that in the eye of the law he became a new and innocent person. The mode in which the test of reading was applied was as follows: On conviction, the felon demanded his clergy, whereupon a book (commonly a psalter) was put into his hand, which he was required to read, when the judge demanded of the bishop's commissary, who was present, Legit ut clericus? and upon the answer to this question depended the convict's fate: if it were simply legit, the prisoner was burned on the hand, and discharged; but if non legit, he suffered the punishment due to his offence. But by 5 Anne, c. 6, the B. of C. was extended to all persons convicted of clergyable offences, whether they could read or not; and by the same statute and several subsequent ones, instead of burning on the hand, a discretionary power was given to the judge to inflict a pecuniary fine or imprisonment. But all further attempts to modify and improve the law on this subject proving impracticable, the B. of C. was at last totally abolished, by the 7 and 8 Geo. IV. e. 28; and now by the 4 and 5 Vict. c. 22, the same is the law with regard to the peers. This privilege had never any existence or legal meaning in Scotland; and a learned writer on the law of that country complains of its introduction into a statute applicable to Scotland (Hutchison's Justice of the Peace in Scotland, vol. ii., p. 191). See on the subject of this article generally, Kerr's Blackstone, vol. iv., p. 452; Hale's Pleas of the Crown, part 2, c. 45; and Reeves's History of the English Law. BENEFIT OF INVENTORY, in the Scotch law, was a legal privilege whereby an heir secured himself against unlimited liability for his ancestor, by giving up, within the annus deliberandi (q. v.), an inventory of his heritage or real estate, to the extent of which, and no further, was the heir liable. But the annus deliberandi is now abolished, and the privilege in question is of the less consequence, seeing that by the 10 and 11 Vict. c. 47, ss. 23 and 25, decrees of service infer only a limited representation of a deceased party, and the heir is only liable to the extent of the inheritance descending to him. See ANNUS DELIBERANDI, HEIR, INHERITANCE, DEBT, and MORTGAGE. BENEKE, FREDERIC EDUARD, professor of philosophy in Berlin, was born in that city in 1798, and studied theology and philosophy, first at Halle, and then at Berlin. In 1820, he commenced lecturing in the latter university, but his lectures were soon interdicted by the minister Altenstein, as his philosophical views were quite opposed to those of Hegel. After a few years his lectures were again allowed, and on Hegel's death, in 1832, he was appointed extraordinary professor of philosophy. In March 1854, B. disappeared suddenly from his residence, and nothing more was heard of him until June 1856, when his body was found in the canal at Charlotteburg in the same place in which he had sought his death. B. has more affinity with British thinkers than any other German philosopher. He holds that the only possible foundation for philo sophy lies in a strict adherence to the facts of our consciousness. His system of psychology is therefore what the Germans call 'empirical," and his method is the Baconian as pursued in natural science. Of his numerous writings may be mentioned Psychologische Skizzen (2 vols. 1825-1827); Lehrbuch der Psychologie als Naturwissenschaft (Text-book of Psychology as a Natural Science, 2d ed. 1845); System der Logik (2 vols. 1842); Erziehungs-und-Unterrichtslehre (A Treatise Education, 1842). The best German educationists recommended B.'s psychology as more capable of practical application than the prevailing systems of Germany. on BENEVENTO (ancient Beneventum), a city of Southern Italy, capital of the Papal delegation of the same name, but situated within the kingdom of Naples. It occupies the site of the ancient city, out of the materials of which it is entirely built, on the declivity of a hill, near the confluence of the Calore and Sabato, about 32 miles north-east of Naples. B. is about two miles in circumference, is surrounded by walls, has a citadel, a fine old cathedral, some noteworthy churches, and a magnificent arch, erected to the honour of the Emperor Trajan, by the senate, 114 A.D., which, with the single exception of that of Ancona, is the best preserved specimen of Roman architecture in Italy. It is an archiepiscopal see, and has a population of about 17,000. B. is a place of very great antiquity. Some writers attribute its origin to Diomed, and in the cathedral is a bas-relief representing the Calydonian boar adorned for sacrifice, said to be the gift of the Greek hero himself. Others give the credit of its origin to Auson, a son of Ulysses and Circe. It was, however, in the possession of the Samnites, when history first takes notice of it, and it appears to have been captured from them hy the Romans, some time during the third Samnite war. It was certainly in the hands of the Romans 274 B.C., who changed its name from Maleventum to Beneventum, six years later, and made it a Roman colony. The Carthaginians under Hanno were twice decisively defeated in the immediate neighbourhood, during the second Punic war. It rapidly rose to a place of importance under the Roman empire, and was visited at various times by several of the emperors. Under the Lombards, who conquered it in the 6th c., B. continued to flourish, and became the capital of a duchy which included nearly the half of the present kingdom of Naples. In the 9th c. the duchy was separated into three states-B., Salerno, and Capua. In 1077, the whole was taken possession of by the Normans, excepting the town and its present delegation, which had previously (1053) been presented to the pope, by the Emperor Henry III. During the 11th and 12th centuries, four councils were held at the city of Benevento. Since that time, with some slight intervals, it has remained under the direct dominion of the popes, who govern it through a resident cardinal with the title of Legate. In 1806, it was erected into a principality by Napoleon, who made Talleyrand Prince of B.; but it was restored to the pope at the At the revolution of 1848-1849, B. peace of 1815. remained faithful to the pope. BENEVOLENCE, in the history of the law of England, was a species of forced loan, arbitrarily levied by the kings in violation of Magna Charta, and in consequence of which it was made an article in the Petition of Rights, 3 Car. I., that no man shall be compelled to yield any gift, loan, or B., tax, or such like charge, without common consent by act of parliament; and by the statute BENGAL. 1 Will. and Mary, st. 2, c. 2, it is declared, that levying money for or to the use of the crown, by pretence of prerogative, without grant of parliament, or for longer time, or in other manner than the same is or shall be so granted, is illegal. See Hallam's Constitutional History of England, and 1 Stephen's Com., p. 167. BENGAL, a term used in three distinct senses-as presidency, sub-presidency and province, in Hindustan. In 1765, the soubah or viceroyalty of this name was, along with Bahar and part of Orissa, ceded by the Great Mogul, virtually in full sovereignty, to the English East India Company. As a natural consequence of this acquisition of territory, the presidency of Calcutta, which had been separated from that of Madras in 1707, came to be styled the presidency of Bengal. Moreover, in 1773, this, the youngest of the three distinct governments of British India, was elevated above both its older rivals by an act of parliament, which declared its immediate ruler to be ex officio the governor-general of the whole of the Company's dominions. With its commanding position on and around the delta of the Ganges and the Brahmaputra, B., as a presidency, grew almost as uninterruptedly as a tree, alike to the north-west and to the south-east-far beyond the basins of its own mighty rivers. Within less than 90 years, it had overleaped, without a break in its continuity, at once the Irrawaddy and the Indus. Benares in the one direction, was the first considerable increment, having been absorbed in 1775; while the last addition of importanceunless one should except Oude, which, however, had really become British in 1801-was Pegu, in the other direction, the Burmese war of 1852 filling up the gap on the coast which that of 1826 had still left between Assam and Aracan on the north, and Tenasserim on the south. From Tenasserim to the Punjab inclusive, B., as a presidency, embraced about 29° of long., and about 21° of lat. Further, it comprised, to the south-east, the detached settlements of Penang, Malacca, and Singapore; while to the north-west it might, for a time at least, have claimed Afghanistan. The whole of this vast tract was, either directly or indirectly, under the immediate rule of the governor-general, advised, and in some cases, controlled, by a council of 5 members, of whom one was the commander-in-chief, and at least one other was not to be a Company's servant. Thus, without reckoning the nominally independent principalities, the three grand divisions of B., as a presidency, present six times the area, and nearly five times the population of Great Britain. In their mutual relations, these three grand divisions still form one and the same presidency of Bengal, as distinguished from the presidencies of Madras and Bombay. They are all, more or less directly, subject to one and the same central authorityan authority which the recent transfer of our eastern empire does not appear, at least in express terms, to have disturbed or modified. They possess also one and the same military organisation to overawe or protect them. Of that military organisation the form and extent are at present under discussion, for the B. native army virtually committed suicide in the summer of 1857. Other features, whether local or universal, of Bengal, either as a presidency or as a sub-presidency, will fall naturally under either more general or less general heads. Bengal Proper alone, the ancient soubah or the modern province, now claims more special notice. B. Proper, then, is bounded on the N. by Nepaul, Sikim, and Bhotan; on the E. by Assam; on the S. by the Bay of Bengal; on the S.W. by Orissa and Gundwana; and on the W. by Bahar. Taking its widest range, it measures about 350 miles from west to east, by an average of about 300 from south to north, and covers an area, in round numbers, of 100,000 square miles. It embraces about 30 administrative districts: and its population may be stated at 26 millions. Thus, Bengal Proper differs but little, in extent and population, from Great Britain, while of its own sub-presidency, it comprises nearly one-half of the area, and more than threefifths of the population. Next to Calcutta, the cities of note are Moorshedabad, Dacca, Burdwan, Purneah, Hoogly, Midnapore, Rajmahal, Bancorah, Recently, however, the presidency of B., having Berhampore, &c. In B. Proper, within the district proved to be too extensive for a consolidated of Hoogly, there stands also the French settleadministration, has been divided into three portions ment of Chandernagore, containing somewhat less -one portion remaining under the governor-general, than square miles, with a population of 32,670. and two being assigned to subordinate function- The Hoogly district, moreover, contained, at one aries, the lieutenant-governors, respectively of 'The time, two other dependencies of foreign countries, North-western Provinces,' and of Bengal.' The the Dutch Chinsura, and the Danish Serampore, first portion, under the direct sway of the governorgeneral, consists of the Punjab (q. v.); the Cis Sutlej states, 4 in number-Oude, Nagpoor, Pegu, Tenasserim; and the 3 detached settlements already mentioned in and near the Straits of Malacca. The two other portions, occupying, between them, the entire space from Pegu to the Cis-Sutlej states, meet near the confluence of the Gogra and the Ganges, Patna being situated in 'Bengal," and Benares in 'The North-western Provinces.' The western section contains the districts of Delhi, Meerut, Allygurh, Rohilcund, Bareilly, Shahjehanpoor, Bijnour, Agra, Furruckabad, Allahabad, Cawnpore, Futtehpoor, Benares, Goruck pore, Azimghur, Jounpoor, Mirzapore, Ghazeepore, &c.; and the eastern section contains the districts of Jessore, Burdwan, Bancorah, Bhagulpore, Monghir, Cuttack, Balasore, Midnapore, Moorshedabad, Rungpoor, Dacca, Silhet, Patna, Bahar, Chittagong, the Sunderbunds, Assam, Aracan, &c. According to official returns of 1857, respectively ceded to England in 1824 and 1845. B. Proper, as a whole, may be regarded as almost a dead level. It is only on the south-west frontier that it shews any hill-country, for towards the north it is said nowhere to reach even a single spur of the Himalaya. The principal rivers are the Ganges and the Brahmaputra, the former intersecting the country diagonally from northwest to south-east, and the latter crossing its more easterly portion in a direction to the west of south. During their lower courses, these main channels are so interlaced together as to form perhaps the most singular net-work of waters in the world; and their first point of confluence is said to be Jaffergunge-the head also of tide-water-in lat. 23° 52′ N., and long. 89° 45' E., at a distance of 160 miles from the sea. But the thousand-isled delta commences 120 miles further up the Ganges, where the highest offset, the Bhagirathi, breaks off to the right, afterwards to join a similar offset, the |