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tered his leg, he would not be removed from the quarter deck, but continued fighting till the morning, when the French sheered off. The admiral made signal for his ships to follow, but his orders were not attended to; and he was thus obliged to return to Jamaica, where he caused the officers who had behaved so basely to be tried by a court-martial, and the most culpable suffered as they deserved. The heroic tar did not long survive this disappointment: it aggravated the effects of his wound, and he died on the 4th Nov. 1702.

BENCH, v. & n. Sax. benc; Fr. banc; a BENCHER. mound, heap, any eminent or rising place. See BANK. Any thing elevated as a seat. Grown to mean a seat of justice, where judges sit. It is also used to designate the persons seated on a bench for the purpose of administering justice.

Those gentlemen of the inns of court are called benchers, who have been readers; they being admitted to plead within the bar are also called inner barristers. The benchers being the seniors of the house, are intrusted with its government and direction, and out of them is a treasurer yearly chosen.

Blount. Chamber.

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Dryden.

Fools to popular praise aspire Of publ.c speeches, which worse fools admire; While from both benches, with redoubled sounds. The' applause of lords and commoners abounds. Id.

"Twas benched with turf, and goodly to be seen, The thick young grass arose in fresher green.

I was taking a walk in the gardens of Lincoln's Inn; a favour that is indulged me by several benchers, who are grown old with me. Tatler.

BENCH, OF BANC, in law. See BANK. BENCH, AMICABLE. See AMICABLE BENCHES. BENCH, FREE, signifies that estate in copyhold lands which the wife, being espoused a virgin, has, after the decease of her husband, for her dower, according to the custom of the manor. As to this free bench, manors have various customs; and in those of East and West Enbourne, in the county of Berks, and other parts of England, there is a custom alluded to in the

Spectator, 614, 623, that when a copy-hold tenant dies, the widow shall have her free bench in all the deceased husband's lands, whilst she lives single and chaste; but if she is guilty of incontinency, she shall forfeit her estate; nevertheless, upon her coming into the court of the manor, riding on a black ram, and having his tail in her hand, and at the same time repeating a form of words prescribed, the steward is obliged, by the custom of the manor, to re-admit her to her free bench.

BENCH, KING'S, a court in which the king was formerly accustomed to sit in person, on which account it was moved with the king's household. This was originally the only court in Westminster-hall, and from this it is thought, that the courts of common pleas and exchequer were derived. As the king in person is still presumed in law to sit in this court, though only represented by his judges, it is said to have supreme authority; and the proceedings in it are supposed to be coram nobis, that is, before the king. This court consists of a lord chief justice and three other justices or judges, who are invested with a sovereign jurisdiction over all matters whether of a criminal or public nature. All crimes against the public good, though they do not injure any particular person, are under the cognizance of this court; and no private subject can suffer any unlawful violence or injury against his person, liberty, or possessions, but a proper remedy is afforded him here; not only for satisfaction of damages sustained, but for the punishment of the offender; and wherever this court meets with an offence contrary to the first principles of justice, it may punish it. It frequently proceeds on indictments found before other courts, and removed by certiorari into this. Persons illegally committed to prison, though by the king and council, or either of the houses of parliament, may be bailed in it; and in some cases even upon legal commitments. Writs of mandamus are issued by this court, for the restoring of officers in corporations, &c. unjustly turned out, and freemen wrongfully disfranchised. court of King's Bench, is now divided into a crown and plea side; the one determining criminal, and the other civil causes. On the crown side, or crown office, it takes cognizance of all criminal causes, from high treason down to the most trivial misdemeanour or breach of the peace. Into this court also indictments from all inferior courts may be removed by writ of certiorari; and tried either at bar, or at nisi prius, by a jury of the county out of which the indictment is brought. The judges of this court are the supreme coroners of the kingdom; and the court itself is the principal court of criminal jurisdiction known to the laws of England. For which reason, by the coming of the court of King's Bench into any county (as it was removed to Oxford on account of the sickness in 1665), all former commissions of oyer and terminer, and general gaol-delivery, are at once absorbed and determined ipso facto. Into the court of King's Bench has reverted all that was good and salutary of the star-chamber. On the plea side, this court determines all personal actions commenced by bill or writ; as actions of debt, upon the

The

'case, detinue, trover, ejectment, trespass, waste, &c. against any person in the custody of the marshal of the court, as every person sued here is supposed to be by law.

BENCOOLEN, BENCAULU, or FORT MARLBOROUGH. The chief establishment of the East India Company, on the Island of Sumatra, on the south-west coast. Lat. 3° 50′ S., long. 102° 3' E.

The lands for this settlement were taken pos session of, by treaty with the natives, so far back as 1685; and in 1698 this settlement had already cost the company £200,000. It was at this time very unhealthy. The foundations of Fort Marlborough were laid in 1714; but, in 1719, the settlers were expelled by the natives who, however, being more alarmed at the Dutch in the absence of the English, soon permitted the latter

to resettle.

In 1760 the French, under Comte d'Estaign, destroyed the English settlements here. But they were quickly re-established; and three years after Fort Marlborough, which had hitherto been a subordinate of Fort George, or Madras, was formed into an independent presidency. The establishment, however, exceeding the revenue £90,000 per annum, and the settlement having become of little importance as a commercial establishment, since pepper could be more advantageously supplied from Prince of Wales' Island and Malabar; in August, 1801, the directors ordered it to be reduced to a residency, under the government of Bengal. One cargo of pepper of the value of £15,000 is all that is now sent annually from Bencoolen; and in 1810 the woollen goods exported in return, were valued only at £4276. In fact provisions and refreshments of all sorts are scarce and expensive here, and the trade is insignificant. The imports are opium, piece goods, and grain; and the chief exports pepper, other spices, and bullion.

BEN-COWSE, a fortified town of southern Algiers. The walls are of mud, and it is defended by a small garrison, with three or four pieces of cannon. In its vicinity are to be seen the remains of a considerable city, consisting of broken pillars, walls, and cisterns; here too, the inhabitants show the tombs of what they call the seven sleepers, whom they suppose to have been Mussulmans, and to have taken their final sleep here. It is about sixty-three miles south-west of Constantia.

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BEND, in heraldry, an honorable ordinary formed by diagonal lines drawn from the dexter, or right corner at top, to the sinister base, or left corner at bottom, which is supposed to represent a shoulder belt or scarf, and to show the wearer to be valiant in war. The content of the bend when charged is the third part of the field, but uncharged it contains only the fifth. The bend taken absolutely signifies the dexter-bend, as in fig. 1. Otherwise it is called a bend sinister, as in fig. 2. Bends are composed of either plain or crooked lines; engrailed, wavy, crenelle, flory, &c. as in fig. 4. the bend crenelle.

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The bend has four different diminutives; namely, the bendlet, the garter, the cottice, and the ribbon. In-bend is when a charge is borne sloping from the dexter chief to the sinister base,

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after the manner of a bend, as in fig. 3. a wyvern volant in-bend.

BEND EMIR, or BUND EMEER, called the Cyrus by ancient geographers, a river of Persia, which flows through the plain of Mendesht, and on entering the districts of Kurjan is divided into numerous artificial channels, for the purpose of irrigation. The portion which is not expended in this way, is received by the lake .Baktegan.

BENDER, a town of Bessarabia, in European Turkey, seated on the river Dneister, memorable for being the retreat of Charles XII. after he was defeated by the Russians at the battle of Pultowa, in 1709. In 1770 the Russians, under Panin, took Bender by storm, put the greater number of the inhabitants to the sword, and reduced the town to ashes. It was given back, however, at the peace of Kaynardgi. Prior to this siege, Bender contained 30,000 inhabitants, of whom one-half were soldiers. The Russians got possession of it a second time, on the 15th November, 1789, almost without firing a shot; and, although it was restored at the peace of Jassy, they again made themselves masters of it in the last war, and retained it at the peace of 1812. 100 miles east of Jassy, and 100 west of Oczakov. Long. 29° 36′ E., lat. 46° 50′ 32" N.

BENDIDIA, in antiquity, Bevddela, festivals, not unlike the Bacchanalia, celebrated by the Athenians in honor of Diana.

BENDING, in a general sense, the reducing a straight body into a curve, or giving it a crooked form. The bending of timber boards, &c. is effected by means of heat, whereby their fibres are so relaxed that you may bend them into any figure.

BENDING, in the sea-language, the tying two ropes or cables together: thus they say, bend the cable, that is, make it fast to the ring of the anchor; bend the sail, make it fast to the yard.

BENDLETS, in heraldry, one

of the diminutives of the bend, which is in size half the breadth of the bend. Bendlets are sometimes borne in an unusual manner, called enhanced, i, e. lifted up to a place in which they are not usually borne, as three bendlets, gules.

BENDS, in a ship, the same with what is called wails or wales: the outmost timbers of a ship's side, on which men set their feet in climbing up. They are reckoned from the water, and are called first, second, or third bend. They are the chief strength of a ship's sides; and have the beams, knees, and foot-hooks bolted to them.

BENDY, in heraldry, or bendwise; an epithet for a thing that is divided four, six, or more parts drawn sloping like a bend, as in the annexed figure, bendy wavy. The general custom of England is to make

an even number; but in other countries this is not regarded.

BENEAPED. A ship is said to be beneaped, when the water does not flow high enough to

bring her off the ground, over a bar, or out of a dock.

BENEATH. Sax. beneo; Dut. beneden. The imperative of to be, compounded with neath, according to Mr. Tooke. Below, lower. Sometimes used in the Bible for the place of future punishment.

And he seide to hem, ye ben of bynethe, I am of aboue: ye ben of this world, I am not of this world. Wiclif. Jon. cap. viii.

Our country sinks beneath the yoke;
It weeps, it bleeds, and each new day a gash
Is added to her wounds.
Shakspeare.

I destroyed the Amorite before them; I destroyed his fruits from above, and his roots from beneath.

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Thy reliques, Rowe, to this fair urn we trust
And sacred, place by Dryden's awful dust :
Beneath a rude and nameless stone he lies,
To which thy tomb shall guide enquiring eyes.

Pope. Epitaph on Mr. Rowe.

BENEDEK, a market town of Transylvania, in the county of Lower Weissenburg, not far from the borders of Hungary, with Hungarian and Walachian inhabitants, and a Protestant church.

BENEDETTO, (ST.) or BENDITTO, a considerable town of Italy, in the Mantuan, seated on the Po; famous before the revolution for the richest and finest convent in all Italy. The celebrated countess Mathilda died and was buried in it.

BENEDICT, Lat. benedicere, beneBENEDICTION, dictum. Having mild and BENEDICTIONARY. salubrious qualities. An old physical term. It is now applied to wishing well or imploring benefits; also for thanks.

It is not a small thing won in physick, if you can make rhubarb, and other medicines that are benedict, as strong purges as those that are not without some malignity. Bacon.

A sovereign shame so hows him; his unkindness, That stript her from his benediction, turn'd her To foreign casualties, gave her dear rights To his dog-hearted daughters.

From him will raise

Shakspeare.

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God's favour.

Prosperity is the blessing of the Old Testament; adversity is the blessing of the new; which carrieth the greater benediction, and the clearer revelation of Bacon. Ridley observes, there is not the least mention of any saint whose name corresponds with this, either in the Roman Calendar, the service in Usum Sarum, or in the benedictionary of Bishop Athelwold.

Gammer Gurton's Needle, act iv. sc. 1. Note. Such ingenious and industrious persons are delighted in searching out natural rarities; reflecting upon the Creator of them his due praises and benedictions, Ray 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, it appearing to have been sung in all the churches, as early as St. Chrysostom's time.

BENEDICT, abbot of Peterborough, was educated at Oxford, became a monk in the monastery of Christ Church in Canterbury, and some time after was chosen prior. Though he had been a great admirer of Becket, and wrote a life of him, 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. A. D. 1189; and was advanced to be keeper of the great seal A. D. 1191. But he did not long enjoy this high dignity, as he died A. D. 1193. He also wrote a History of Henry II. and Richard I. from A. D. 1170, to A. D. 1192: which has been much and justly esteemed by our greatest antiquaries, as containing one of the best accounts of the transactions of those times. A beautiful edition of this work was published at Oxford, in two volumes, by Mr. Hearne, A. D. 1735.

BENEDICT (ST.) the founder of the order of the Benedictin monks, was born in Italy about A. D. 480. He was sent to Rome when very young, and there received the first part of his education. At fourteen he was removed from thence to Subiaco, about forty miles distant. Here he lived a most ascetic life, and shut himself up in a cavern, where nobody knew any thing of him except St. Romanus, who, we are told, used to descend to him by a rope, and to supply him with provisions. Being afterwards discovered by the monks of a neighbouring monastery, they chose him their abbot. Their manners, however, not agreeing with his, he returned to his solitude; whither many persons followed him, and put themselves under his direction, so that in a short time he built twelve monasteries. In 528, or 529, he retired to mount Cassino, where idolatry was still prevalent, there being a temple of Apollo erected on it. He instructed the people in the adjacent country, and having converted them, broke the image of Apollo, and built two chapels on the mountain. Here he founded a monastery, and instituted the order of his name, which in time became so famous. Here too he composed his Regula Monachorum, which Gregory the Great mentions as the most sensible and best written piece of that kind ever published. The time of his death is uncertain,

but is placed between 540 and 550. 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.

BENEDICT XIII. (Vincenzio Maria Orsini), was the eldest son of the duke of Gravina, a nobleman of Naples. In 1672 he was raised by family influence to the dignity of cardinal, but it was with difficulty that he could be made to accept of the pontificate. With a view to reform his court he held a provincial synod in the Lateran in 1725, but was defeated by the Jesuits. He also is said to have expressed a wish for the diffusion of scriptural knowledge, and encouraged the distribution of the Bible in modern languages. Another great object with him was, if possible, to unite the four religious communities of Christendom, and he proposed, that four councils should be held in different places, consisting of representatives of the Romish, Greek, Lutheran, and Calvinistic churches. This scheme failed; but the purity of his intention seems undeniable. Benedict lived with the utmost frugality, and has been called more a monk than a pope. His great fault was his implicit confidence in cardinal Coscia, to whom he left the entire management of his government, and who much abused it. He died February 1731, in the sixth year of his pontificate. His works were published in 1728, in three volumes folio, under the title of Opere di Benedetto XIII.

BENEDICT XIV. (Pope), Prosper Lambertini of Bologna, was also celebrated for his learning and moderation, which gained him the esteem of all sensible Protestants. He was the patron of learned men and celebrated artists; and an elaborate writer on theological subjects. His works make twelve vols. in folio. He died in 1758.

BENEDICTINS, in church history, an order of monks, who profess to follow the rules of St. Benedict. The Benedictins, being those only that are properly called 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 color of their habit. The time when this order came into England is well known; for to it the English are said to owe their conversion from idolatry. In 596 Pope Gregory sent hither Augustin, prior of the monastery of St. Andrew at Rome, with several other Benedictin monks. St. Augustin became archbishop of Canterbury; and the Benedictins 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 1354, after an exact enquiry, found that since the first rise of the order, there had been of it twenty-four popes, near 200 cardinals, 7000 archbishops, 15,000 bishops, 15,000 abbots of renown, above 4000 saints, and upwards of 37,000 monasteries. There have been likewise of this order twenty emperors and ten empresses, forty-seven kings, and above fifty queens, twenty sons of emperors, and forty-eight sons of kings; about 100 princesses, daughters of kings and emperors; besides dukes, marquisses, earls, countesses, &c.

innumerable. The order has produced a vast number of eminent authors and other learned men. Their Rabanus set up the school of Germany. Their Alcuinus founded the university of Paris. Their Dionysius Exiguus perfected the ecclesiastical computation. Their Guido invented the scale of music; and their Sylvester the organ. They boast to have produced Anselmus, Ildephonsus, Venerable Bede, &c. There are nuns likewise who follow the order of St. Benedict; among whom those who call themselves mitigated, eat flesh three times a week, on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays: the others observe the rule of St. Benedict in its rigor, and eat no flesh unless they are sick.

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 was so universal that emperors themselves did not decline it. Under the name benediction the Hebrews also frequently understand the presents which friends make one to another, in all probability because they are generally attended with blessing, and compliments, both from those who give and those who receive them.

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, which is not in the former; thus, the chalice is consecrated, and the pix blessed; as the former, not the latter, is anointed; though, in common usage, these two words are applied promiscuously. The spirit of superstition has introduced into the Romish church benedictions for almost every thing. We read of forms of benedictions for wax candles, for boughs, for ashes, for church vessels, and ornaments; for flags or ensigns, arms, first-fruits, houses, ships, pascal eggs, cilicium, or the hair cloth of penitents, church-yards, &c. In general, these benedictions are performed by aspersions of holy water, signs of the cross, and prayer suitable to the nature of the ceremony. The forms of these benedictions are found in the Roman pontifical, in the Roman missal, in the book of ecclesiastical ceremonies printed in pope Leo X's time, and in the rituals and ceremonies of the different churches, which are found collected in father Martene's work on the Rites and Discipline of the Church.

The

BENEDICTION, BEATIC, benedictio beatica; is the viaticum given to dying persons. pope too begins all his bulls with this form: Salutem et apostolicum benedictionem.

BENEDICTION, NUPTIAL, the external ceremony performed by the priest in the office of matrimony, This is also called sacerdotal and matrimonial benediction, by the Greeks poλoyia and αροτέλεια. The nuptial benedition is not essential to, but the confirmation of, a marriage in the civil law.

BENEDICTIONALIS LIBER, an ancient church book, containing the forms of the divers sorts of benedictions given by bishops, priests,

&c.

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This supposition grants the opinion to conduce to order in the world, consequently to be very beneficial to mankind. Tillotson.

The war, which would have been most beneficial to us, and destructive to the enemy, was neglected. Swift. Are the present revolutions in circular orbs more beneficial than the other would be? Bentley.

BENEFICE, in authors of the middle age, is used for a fee, sometimes denominated more peculiarly beneficium militare. In this sense, benefice was an estate in land, at first granted for life only; so called, because held ex mero

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