Chapter 15

See Th. G. Pinches,P.S.B.A., May 1884; H. Winckler,Zetischrift für Assyriologie, ii. 2, 3 (1887);Records of the Past, new series, i. pp. 22-31 (1888); A.H. Sayce,The Higher Criticism, pp. 497-537 (1893).

(A. H. S.)

BELT, THOMAS(1832-1878), English geologist and naturalist, was born at Newcastle-on-Tyne in 1832, and educated in that city. As a youth he became actively interested in natural history through the Tyneside Naturalists’ Field Club. In 1852 he went to Australia and for about eight years worked at the gold-diggings, where he acquired a practical knowledge of ore-deposits. In 1860 he proceeded to Nova Scotia to take charge of some gold-mines, and there met with a serious injury, which led to his return to England. In 1861 he issued a separate work entitledMineral Veins: an Enquiry into their Origin, founded on a Study of the Auriferous Quartz Veins of Australia. Later on he was engaged for about three years at Dolgelly, another though small gold-mining region, and here he carefully investigated the rocks and fossils of the Lingula Flags, his observations being published in an important and now classic memoir in theGeological Magazinefor 1867. In the following year he was appointed to take charge of some mines in Nicaragua, where he passed four active and adventurous years—the results being given in hisNaturalist in Nicaragua(1874), a work of high merit. In this volume the author expressed his views on the former presence of glaciers in that country. In subsequent papers he dealt boldly and suggestively with the phenomena of the Glacial period in Britain and in various parts of the world. After many further expeditions to Russia, Siberia and Colorado, he died at Denver on the 21st of September 1878.

BELT(a word common to Teutonic languages, the Old Ger. form beingbalz, from which the Lat.balteusprobably derived), a flat strap of leather or other material used as a girdle (q.v.), especially thecinctura gladiior sword-belt, the chief “ornament of investiture” of an earl or knight; in machinery, a flexible strap passing round from one drum, pulley or wheel to another, for the purpose of power-transmission (q.v.). The word is applied to any broad stripe, to the belts of the planet Jupiter, to the armour-belt at the water-line of a warship, or to a tract of country, narrow in proportion to its length, with special distinguishing characteristics, such as the earthquake-belt across a continent.

BELTANE,Beltene, Beltine, orBeal-Tene(Scottish Gaelic,bealltain), the Celtic name for May-day, on which also was held a festival called by the same name, originally common to all the Celtic peoples, of which traces still linger in Ireland, the Highlands of Scotland and Brittany. This festival, the most important ceremony of which in later centuries was the lighting of the bonfires known as “beltane fires,” is believed to represent the Druidical worship of the sun-god. The fuel was piled on a hill-top, and at the fire the beltane cake was cooked. This was divided into pieces corresponding to the number of those present, and one piece was blackened with charcoal. For these pieces lots were drawn, and he who had the misfortune to get the black bit becamecailleach bealtine(the beltane carline)—a term of great reproach. He was pelted with egg-shells, and afterwards for some weeks was spoken of as dead. In the north-east of Scotland beltane fires were still kindled in the latter half of the 18th century. There were many superstitions connecting them with the belief in witchcraft. According to Cormac, archbishop of Cashel about the year 908, who furnishes in his glossary the earliest notice of beltane, it was customary to light two fires close together, and between these both men and cattle were driven, under the belief that health was thereby promoted and disease warded off. (SeeTransactions of the Irish Academy, xiv. pp. 100, 122, 123.) The Highlanders have a proverb, “he is between two beltane fires.” The Strathspey Highlanders used to make a hoop of rowan wood through which on beltane day they drove the sheep and lambs both at dawn and sunset.

As to the derivation of the word beltane there is considerable obscurity. Following Cormac, it has been usual to regard it as representing a combination of the name of the god Bel or Baal or Bil with the Celticteine, fire. And on this etymology theories have been erected of the connexion of the Semitic Baal with Celtic mythology, and the identification of the beltane fires with the worship of this deity. This etymology is now repudiated by scientific philologists, and theNew English Dictionaryaccepts Dr Whitley Stokes’s view that beltane in its Gaelic form can have no connexion withteine, fire. Beltane, as the 1st of May, was in ancient Scotland one of the four quarter days, the others being Hallowmas, Candlemas, and Lammas.

For a full description of the beltane celebration in the Highlands of Scotland during the 18th century, see John Ramsay,Scotland and Scotsmen in the 18th Century, from MSS. edited by A. Allardyce (1888); and see further J. Robertson in Sinclair’sStatistical Account of Scotland, xi. 620; Thomas Pennant,Tour in Scotland(1769-1770); W. Gregor, “Notes on Beltane Cakes,”Folklore, vi. (1895), p. 2; and “Notes on the Folklore of the North-East of Scotland,” p. 167 (Folklore Soc. vii. 1881); A. Bertrand,La Religion des Gaulois(1897); Jamieson,Scottish Dictionary(1808). Cormac’sGlossaryhas been edited by O’Donovan and Stokes (1862).

BELUGA(Delphinapterus leucas), also called the “white whale,” a cetacean of the familyDelphinidae, characterized by its rounded head and uniformly light colour. A native of the Arctic seas, it extends in the western Atlantic as far south as the river St Lawrence, which it ascends for a considerable distance. In colour it is almost pure white; the maximum length is about twelve feet; and the back-fin is replaced by a low ridge. Examples have been taken on the British coasts; and individuals have been kept for some time in captivity in America and in London. SeeCetacea.

BELVEDERE,orBelvidere(Ital. for “fair-view”), an architectural structure built in the upper part of a building or in any elevated position so as to command a fine view. The belvedere assumes various forms, such as an angle turret, a cupola, a loggia or open gallery. The name is also applied to the whole building, as the Belvedere gallery in the Vatican at Rome. For Apollo Belvidere seeGreek Art, Plate II. fig. 55.

BELVIDERE,a city and the county-seat of Boone county, Illinois, U.S.A., in the N. part of the state, on the Kishwaukee river, about 78 m. N.W. of Chicago. Pop. (1890) 3867; (1900) 6937 (1018 foreign-born); (1910) 7253. It is served by the Chicago & North-Western railway, and by an extensive inter-urban electric system. Among its manufactures are sewing machines, boilers, automobiles, bicycles, roller-skates, pianos, gloves and mittens, corsets, flour and dairy products, Borden’s condensed milk factory being located there. Belvidere was settled in 1836, was incorporated in 1852 and was re-incorporated in 1881.

BELZONI, GIOVANNI BATTISTA(1778-1823), Italian explorer of Egyptian antiquities, was born at Padua in 1778. His family was from Rome, and in that city he spent his youth. He intended taking monastic orders, but in 1798 the occupation of the city by the French troops drove him from Rome and changed his proposed career. He went back to Padua, where he studied hydraulics, removed in 1800 to Holland, and in 1803 went to England, where he married an Englishwoman. He was 6 ft. 7 in. in height, broad in proportion, and his wife was of equally generous build. They were for some time compelled to find subsistence by exhibitions of feats of strength and agility at fairs and on the streets of London. Through the kindness of Henry Salt, the traveller and antiquarian, who was ever afterwards his patron, he was engaged at Astley’s amphitheatre, and his circumstances soon began to improve. In 1812 he left England, and after travelling in Spain and Portugal reached Egypt in 1815, where Salt was then British consul-general. Belzoni was desirous of laying before Mehemet Ali a hydraulic machine of his own invention for raising the waters of the Nile. Though the experiment with this engine was successful, the design was abandoned by the pasha, and Belzoni resolved to continue his travels. On the recommendation of the orientalist, J.L. Burckhardt, he was sent at Salt’s charges to Thebes, whence he removed with great skill the colossal bust of Rameses II., commonly called Young Memnon, which he shipped for England, where it is in the British Museum. He also pushed his investigations into the great temple of Edfu, visited Elephantine and Philae, cleared the great temple at Abu Simbel of sand (1817), made excavations at Karnak, and opened up the sepulchre of Seti I. (“Belzoni’s Tomb”). He was the first to penetrate into the second pyramid of Giza, and the first European in modern times to visit the oasis of Baharia, which he supposed to be that of Siwa. He also identified the ruins of Berenice on the Red Sea. In 1819 he returned to England, and published in the following year an account of his travels and discoveries entitledNarrative of the Operations and Recent Discoveries within the Pyramids, Temples, Tombs and Excavations in Egypt and Nubia, &c.He also exhibited during 1820-1821 facsimiles of the tomb of Seti I. The exhibition was held at the Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly, London. In 1822 Belzoni showed his model in Paris. In 1823 he set out for West Africa, intending to penetrate to Timbuktu. Having been refused permission to pass through Morocco, he chose the Guinea Coast route. He reached Benin, but was seized with dysentery at a village called Gwato, and died there on the 3rd of December 1823. In 1829 his widow published his drawings of the royal tombs at Thebes.

BEM, JOSEF(1795-1850), Polish soldier, was born at Tarnow in Galicia, and was educated at the military school at Warsaw, where he especially distinguished himself in mathematics. Joining a Polish artillery regiment in the French service, he took part in the Russian campaign of 1812, and subsequently so brilliantly distinguished himself in the defence of Danzig (January-November 1813) that he won the cross of the Legion of Honour. On returning to Poland he was for a time in the Russian service, but lost his post, and his liberty as well for some time, for his outspokenness. In 1825 he migrated to Lemberg, where he taught the physical sciences. He was about to write a treatise on the steam-engine, when the Polish War of Independence summoned him back to Warsaw in November 1830. It was his skill as an artillery officer which won for the Polish general Skrynecki the battle of Igany (March 8, 1831), and he distinguished himself at the indecisive battle of Ostrolenká (May 26). He took part in the desperate defence of Warsaw against Prince Paskievich (September 6-7, 1831). Then Bem escaped to Paris, where he supported himself by teaching mathematics. In 1833 he went to Portugal to assist the liberal Dom Pedro against the reactionary Dom Miguel, but abandoned the idea when it was found that a Polish legion could not be formed. A wider field for his activity presented itself in 1848. First he attempted to hold Vienna against the imperial troops, and, after the capitulation, hastened to Pressburg to offer his services to Kossuth, first defending himself, in a long memorial, from the accusations of treachery to the Polish cause and of aristocratic tendencies which the more fanatical section of the Polish emigrant Radicals repeatedly brought against him. He was entrusted with the defence of Transylvania at the end of 1848, and in 1849, as the general of the Szeklers (q.v.), he performed miracles with his little army, notably at the bridge of Piski (February 9), where, after fighting all day, he drove back an immense force of pursuers. After recovering Transylvania he was sent to drive the Austrian general Puchner out of the Banat of Temesvár. Bem defeated him at Orsova (May 16), but the Russian invasion recalled him to Transylvania. From the 12th to 22nd of July he was fighting continually, but finally, on the 31st of July, his army was annihilated by overwhelming numbers near Segesvár (Schässburg), Bem only escaping by feigning death. Yet he fought a fresh action at Gross-Scheueren on the 6th of August, and contrived to bring off the fragments of his host to Temesvár, to aid the hardly-pressed Dembinski. Bem was in command and was seriously wounded in the last pitched battle of the war, fought there on the 9th of August. On the collapse of the rebellion he fled to Turkey, adopted Mahommedanism, and under the name of Murad Pasha served as governor of Aleppo, at which place, at the risk of his life, he saved the Christian population from being massacred by the Moslems. Here he died on the 16th of September 1850. The tiny, withered, sickly body of Bem was animated by an heroic temper. Few men have been so courageous, and his influence was magnetic. Even the rough Szeklers, though they did not understand the language of their “little father,” regarded him with superstitious reverence. A statue to his honour has been erected at Maros-Vásárhely, but he lives still more enduringly in the immortal verses of the patriot poet Sandor Petöfi, who fell in the fatal action of the 31st of July at Segesvár. As a soldier Bem was remarkable for his excellent handling of artillery and the rapidity of his marches.

See Johann Czetz,Memoiren über Bems Feldzug(Hamburg, 1850); Kálmán Deresényi,General Bem’s Winter Campaign in Transylvania, 1848-1849(Hung.), (Budapest, 1896).

(R. N. B.)

BEMA(βῆμα), in ecclesiastical architecture, the semicircular recess or exedra, in the basilica, where the judges sat, and where in after times the altar was placed. It generally is roofed with a half dome. The seats,θρόνοι, of the priests were against the wall, looking into the body of the church, that of the bishop being in the centre. The bema is generally ascended by steps, and railed off. In Greece the bema was the general name of any raised platform. Thus the word was applied to the tribunal from which orators addressed assemblies of the citizens at Athens. That in the Pnyx, where the Ecclesia often met, was a stone platform from 10 to 11 ft. in height. Again in the Athenian law court counsel addressed the court from such a platform: it is not known whether each had a separate bema or whether there was only one to which each counsel (? and the witnesses) in turn ascended (cf. W. Wyse in his edition of Isaeus, p. 440). Another bema was the platform on which stood the urns for the reception of the bronze disks (ψῆφοι) by means of which at the end of the 4th century the judges recorded their decisions.

BEMBERG, HERMAN(1861- ), French musical composer, was born of French parents at Buenos Aires, and studied at the Paris Conservatoire, under Massenet, whose influence, with that of Gounod, is strongly marked in his music. As a composer he is known by numerous songs and pieces for the piano, as well as by his cantataLa Mort de Jeanne d’Arc(1886), comic operaLe Baiser de Suzon(1888) and grand operaElaine(produced at Covent Garden in 1892). Among his songs the dramatic recitativeBallade du Désespéréis well known.

BEMBO, PIETRO(1470-1547), Italian cardinal and scholar, was born at Venice on the 20th of May 1470. While still a boy he accompanied his father to Florence, and there acquired a love for that Tuscan form of speech which he afterwards cultivated in preference to the dialect of his native city. Having completed his studies, which included two years’ devotion to Greek under Lascaris at Messina, he chose the ecclesiastical profession. After a considerable time spent in various cities and courts of Italy, where his learning already made him welcome, he accompanied Giulio de’ Medici to Rome, where he was soon after appointed secretary to Leo X. On the pontiff’s death he retired, with impaired health, to Padua, and there lived for a number of years engaged in literary labours and amusements. In 1529 he accepted the office of historiographer to his native city, and shortly afterwards was appointed librarian of St Mark’s. The offer of a cardinal’s hat by Pope Paul III. took him in 1539 again to Rome, where he renounced the study of classical literature and devoted himself to theology and classical history, receiving before long the reward of his conversion in the shape of the bishoprics of Gubbio and Bergamo. He died on the 18th of January 1547. Bembo, as a writer, is thebeau idealof a purist. The exact imitation of the style of the genuine classics was the highest perfection at which he aimed. This at once prevented the graces of spontaneity and secured the beauties of artistic elaboration. One cannot fail to be struck with the Ciceronian cadence that guides the movement even of his Italian writings.

His works (collected edition, Venice, 1729) include aHistory of Venice(1551) from 1487 to 1513, dialogues, poems, and what we would now call essays. Perhaps the most famous are a little treatise on Italian prose, and a dialogue entitledGli Asolani, in which Platonic affection is explained and recommended in a rather long-winded fashion, to the amusement of the reader who remembers the relations of the beautiful Morosina with the author. The edition of Petrarch’sItalian Poems, published by Aldus in 1501, and theTerzerime, which issued from the same press in 1502, were edited by Bembo, who was on intimate terms with the great typographer. SeeOpere de P. Bembo(Venice, 1729); Casa,Vita di Bembo, in 2nd vol. of his works.

BEMBRIDGE BEDS,in geology, strata forming part of the fluvio-marine series of deposits of Oligocene age, in the Isle of Wight and Hampshire, England. They lie between the Hamstead beds above and the Osborne beds below. The Bembridge marls, freshwater, estuarine and marine clays and marls (70-120 ft.) rest upon the Bembridge limestone, a freshwater pool deposit (15-25 ft.), with large land snails (AmphidromusandHelices), freshwater snails (Planorbis, Limnaea), and the fruits ofChara. The marls contain, besides the freshwaterLimnaeaandUnio, such forms asMeretrix, OstreaandMelanopsis. A thin calcareous sandy layer in this division has yielded the remains of many insects and fossil leaves.

See “Geology of the Isle of Wight,”Mem. Geol. Survey, 2nd ed. 1889.

BEMIS, EDWARD WEBSTER(1860- ), American economist, was born at Springfield, Massachusetts, on the 7th of April 1860. He was educated at Amherst and Johns Hopkins University. He held the professorship of history and political economy in Vanderbilt University from 1887 to 1892, was associate professor of political economy in the university of Chicago from 1892 to 1895, and assistant statistician to the Illinois bureau of labour statistics, 1896. In 1901 he became superintendent of the Cleveland water works. He wrote much on municipal government, his more important works being some chapters inHistory of Co-operation in the United States(1888);Municipal Ownership of Gas in the U.S.(1891);Municipal Monopolies(1899).

BÉMONT, CHARLES(1848- ), French scholar, was born at Paris on the 16th of November 1848. In 1884 he graduated with two theses,Simon de MontfortandLa Condamnation de Jean Sansterre(Revue historique, 1886). HisLes Chartes des libertés anglaises(1892) has an introduction upon the history of Magna Carta, &c., and hisHistory of Europe from 395 to 1270, in collaboration with G. Monod, was translated into English. He was also responsible for the continuation of theGascon Rolls, the publication of which had been begun by Francisque Michel in 1885 (supplement to vol. i., 1896; vol. ii., for the years 1273-1290, 1900; vol. iii., for the years 1290-1307, 1906). He received the honorary degree of Litt. Doc. at Oxford in 1909.

BEN(from Old Eng.bennan, within), in the Scottish phrase “a but and a ben,” the inner room of a house in which there is only one outer door, so that the entrance to the inner room is through the outer, the but (Old Eng.butan, without). Hence “a but and a ben” meant originally a living room and sleeping room, and so a dwelling or a cottage.

BENARES,the Holy City of the Hindus, which gives its name to a district and division in the United Provinces of India. It is one of the most ancient cities in the world. The derivation of its ancient nameVaranasiis not known, nor is that of its alternative nameKasi, which is still in common use among Hindus, and is popularly explained to mean “bright.” The original site of the city is supposed to have been at Sarnath, 3½ m. north of the present city, where ruins of brick and stone buildings, with three loftystupasstill standing, cover an area about half a mile long by a quarter broad. Sakya Muni, the Buddha, came here from Gaya in the 6th centuryB.C.(from which time some of the remains may date), in order to establish his religion, which shows that the place was even then a great centre. Hsüan Tsang, the celebrated Chinese pilgrim, visited Benares in the 7th centuryA.D.and described it as containing 30 Buddhist monasteries, with about 3000 monks, and about 100 temples of Hindu gods. Hinduism has now supplanted Buddhism, and the Brahman fills the place of the monk. The modern temples number upwards of 1500. Even after the lapse of so great a time the city is still in its glory, and as seen from the river it presents a scene of great picturesqueness and grandeur. The Ganges here forms a fine sweep of about 4 m. in length, the city being situated on the outside of the curve, on the northern bank of the river, which is higher than the other. Being thus elevated, and extending along the river for some 4 m., the city forms a magnificent panorama of buildings in many varieties of oriental architecture. The minarets of the mosque of Aurangzeb rise above all. The bank of the river is entirely lined with stone, and there are many very fine ghats or landing-places built by pious devotees, and highly ornamented. These are generally crowded with bathers and worshippers, who come to wash away their sins in the sacred river Ganges. Near the Manikarnika ghat is the well held to have been dug by Vishnu and filled with his sweat; great numbers of pilgrims bathe in its venerated water. Shrines and temples line the bank of the river. But in spite of its fine appearance from the river, the architecture of Benares is not distinguished, nor are its buildings of high antiquity. Among the most conspicuous of these are the mosque of Aurangzeb, built as an intentional insult in the middle of the Hindu quarter; the Bisheshwar or Golden Temple, important less through architectural beauty than through its rank as the holiest spot in the holy city; and the Durga temple, which, like most of the other principal temples, is a Mahratta building of the 17th century. The temples are mostly small and are placed in the angles of the streets, under the shadow of the lofty houses. Their forms are not ungraceful, and many of them are covered over with beautiful and elaborate carvings of flowers, animals and palm branches. The observatory of Raja Jai Singh is a notable building of the year 1693. The internal streets of the town are so winding and narrow that there is not room for a carriage to pass, and it is difficult to penetrate them even on horseback. The level of the roadway is considerably lower than the ground-floors of the houses, which have generally arched rooms in front, with little shops behind them; and above these they are richly embellished with verandahs, galleries, projecting oriel windows, and very broad overhanging eaves supported by carved brackets. The houses are built ofchanarstone, and are lofty, none being less than two storeys high, most of them three, and several of five or six storeys. The Hindus are fond of painting the outside of their houses a deep red colour, and of coveringthe most conspicuous parts with pictures of flowers, men, women, bulls, elephants and gods and goddesses in all the many forms known in Hindu mythology.

Benares is bounded by a road which, though 50 m. in circuit, is never distant from the city more than five kos (7½ m.); hence its name, Panch-kos road. All who die within this boundary, be they Brahman or low caste, Moslem or Christian, are sure of admittance into Siva’s heaven. To tread the Panch-kos road is one of the great ambitions of a Hindu’s life. Even if he be an inhabitant of the sacred city he must traverse it once in the year to free himself from the impurities and sins contracted within the holy precincts. Thousands from all parts of India make the pilgrimage every year. Benares, having from time immemorial been a holy city, contains a vast number of Brahmans, who either subsist by charitable contributions, or are supported by endowments in the numerous religious institutions of the city. Hindu religious mendicants, with every conceivable bodily deformity, line the principal streets on both sides. Some have their legs or arms distorted by long continuance in one position; others have kept their hands clenched until the finger nails have pierced entirely through their hands. But besides an immense resort to Benares of poor pilgrims from every part of India, as well as from Tibet and Burma, numbers of rich Hindus in the decline of life go there for religious salvation. These devotees lavish large sums in indiscriminate charity, and it is the hope of sharing in such pious distributions that brings together the concourse of religious mendicants from all quarters of the country.

The city of Benares had a population in 1901 of 209,331. The European quarter lies to the west of the native town, on both sides of the river Barna. Here is the cantonment of Sikraul, no longer of much military importance, and the suburb of Sigra, the seat of the chief missionary institutions. The principal modern buildings are the Mint, the Prince of Wales’ hospital (commemorating the visit of King Edward VII. to the city in 1876) and the town hall. The Benares college, including a first-grade and a Sanskrit college, was opened in 1791, but its fine buildings date from 1852. The Central Hindu College was opened in 1898. Benares conducts a flourishing trade by rail and river with the surrounding country. It is the junction between the Oudh & Rohilkhand and East Indian railways, the Ganges being crossed by a steel girder bridge of seven spans, each 350 ft. long. The chief manufactures are silk brocades, gold and silver thread, gold filigree work, German-silver work, embossed brass vessels and lacquered toys; but the brasswork for which Benares used to be famous has greatly degenerated.

The Hindu kingdom of Benares is said to have been founded by one Kas Raja about 1200B.C.Subsequently it became part of the kingdom of Kanauj, which inA.D.1193 was conquered by Mahommed of Ghor. On the downfall of the Pathan dynasty of Delhi, aboutA.D.1599, it was incorporated with the Mogul empire. On the dismemberment of the Delhi empire, it was seized by Safdar Jang, the nawab wazir of Oudh, by whose grandson it was ceded to the East India Company by the treaty of 1775. The subsequent history of Benares contains two important events, the rebellion of Chait Singh in 1781, occasioned by the demands of Warren Hastings for money and troops to carry on the Mahratta War, and the Mutiny of 1857, when the energy and coolness of the European officials, chiefly of General Neill, carried the district successfully through the storm.

TheDistrict of Benaresextends over both sides of the Ganges and has an area of 1008 sq. m. The surface of the country is remarkably level, with numerous deep ravines in the calcareous conglomerate. The soil is a clayey or a sandy loam, and very fertile except in the Usar tracts, where there is a saline efflorescence. The principal rivers are the Ganges, Karamnasa, Gumti and Barna. The principal crops are barley, rice, wheat, other food-grains, pulse, sugar-cane and opium. The main line of the East Indian railway runs through the southern portion of the district, with a branch to Benares city; the Oudh & Rohilkhand railway through the northern portion, starting from the city; and a branch of the Bengal & North-Western railway also terminates at Benares. The climate of Benares is cool in winter but very warm in the hot season. The population in 1901 was 882,084, showing a decrease of 4% in the decade due to the effects of famine.

TheDivision of Benareshas an area of 10,431 sq. m., and comprises the districts of Benares, Mirzapur, Jaunpur, Ghazipur and Ballia. In 1901 the population was 5,069,020, showing a decrease of 6% in the decade.

See E.B. Havell,Benares(1906); M.A. Sherring,The Sacred City of the Hindus(1868).

BENBOW, JOHN(1653-1702), English admiral, the son of a tanner in Shrewsbury, was born in 1653. He went to sea when very young, and served in the navy as master’s mate and master, from 1678 to 1681. When trading to the Mediterranean in 1686 in a ship of his own he beat off a Salli pirate. On the accession of William III. he re-entered the navy as a lieutenant and was rapidly promoted. It is probable that he enjoyed the protection of Arthur Herbert, earl of Torrington, under whom he had already served in the Mediterranean. After taking part in the bombardment of St Malo (1693), and superintending the blockade of Dunkirk (1696), he sailed in 1698 for the West Indies, where he compelled the Spaniards to restore two vessels belonging to the Scottish colonists at Darien (seePaterson, William) which they had seized. On his return he was appointed vice-admiral, and was frequently consulted by the king. In 1701 he was sent again to the West Indies as commander-in-chief. On the 19th of August 1702, when cruising with a squadron of seven ships, he sighted, and chased, four French vessels commanded by M. du Casse near Santa Marta. The engagement is the most disgraceful episode in English naval history. Benbow’s captains were mutinous, and he was left unsupported in his flagship the “Breda.” His right leg was shattered by a chain-shot, despite which he remained on the quarter-deck till morning, when the flagrant disobedience of the captains under him, and the disabled condition of his ship, forced him reluctantly to abandon the chase. After his return to Jamaica, where his subordinates were tried by court-martial, he died of his wounds on the 4th of November 1702. A great deal of legendary matter has collected round his name, and his life is really obscure.

See Yonge’sHist. of the British Navy, vol. i.; Campbell’sBritish Admirals, vol. iii.; also Owen and Blakeway’sHistory of Shrewsbury.

BENCE-JONES, HENRY(1814-1873), English physician and chemist, was born at Thorington Hall, Suffolk, in 1814, the son of an officer in the dragoon guards. He was educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge. Subsequently he studied medicine at St George’s hospital, and chemistry at University College, London. In 1841 he went to Giessen in Germany to work at chemistry with Liebig. Besides becoming a fellow, and afterwards senior censor, of the Royal College of Physicians, and a fellow of the Royal Society, he held the post of secretary to the Royal Institution for many years. In 1846 he was elected physician to St George’s hospital. He died in London on the 20th of April 1873. Dr Bence-Jones was a recognized authority on diseases of the stomach and kidneys. He wrote, in addition to several scientific books and a number of papers in scientific periodicals,The Life and Letters of Faraday(1870).

BENCH(an O. E. and Eng. form of a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. Ger.Bank, Dan.baenkand the Eng. doublet “bank”), a long narrow wooden seat for several persons, with or without a back. While the chair was yet a seat of state or dignity the bench was ordinarily used by the commonalty. It is still extensively employed for other than domestic purposes, as in schools, churches and places of amusement. Bench or Banc, in law, originally was the seat occupied by judges in court; hence the term is used of a tribunal of justice itself, as the King’s Bench, the Common Bench, and is now applied to judges or magistrates collectively as the “judicial bench,” “bench of magistrates.” The word is also applied to any seat where a number of people sit in an official capacity, or as equivalent to the dignity itself, as “the civic bench,” the “bench of aldermen,” the “episcopal bench,” the “front bench,”i.e.that reserved for the leaders of either party in the British House of Commons. King’s Bench(q.v.) was one of the three superior courts of common law at Westminster, the others being the common pleas and the exchequer. Under the Judicature Act 1873, the court of king’s bench became the king’s bench division of the High Court of Justice. The court of common pleas was sometimes called the common bench.

Sittings in bane were formerly the sittings of one of the superior courts of Westminster for the hearing of motions, special cases, &c., as opposed to thenisi priussittings for trial of facts, where usually only a single judge presided. By the Judicature Act 1873 the business of courts sitting in bane was transferred to divisional courts.

BENCH-MARK,a surveyor’s mark cut in stone or some durable material, to indicate a point in a line of levels for the determination of altitudes over a given district. The name is taken from the “angle-iron” which is inserted in the horizontal incision as a “bench” or support for the levelling staff. The mark of the “broad-arrow” is generally incised with the bench-mark so that the horizontal bar passes through its apex.

BENCH TABLE(Fr.banc; Ital.sedile; Ger.Bank), the stone seat which runs round the walls of large churches, and sometimes round the piers; it very generally is placed in the porches.

BEND,(1) (From Old Eng.bendan), a bending or curvature, as in “the bend of a river,” or technically the ribs or “wales” of a ship. (2) (From Old Eng.bindan, to bind), a nautical term for a knot, the “cable bend,” the “fisherman’s bend.” (3) (From the Old Fr.bende, a ribbon), a term of heraldry, signifying a diagonal band or stripe across a shield from the dexter chief to the sinister base; also in tanning, the half of a hide from which the thinner parts have been trimmed away, “bend-leather” being the thickest and best sole-leather.

BENDA,the name of a family of German musicians, of whom the most important is Georg (d. 1795), who was a pupil of his elder brother Franz (1709-1786),Concertmeisterin Berlin. Georg Benda was a famous clavier player and oboist, but his chief interest for modern musical history lies in his melodramas. Being a far more solid musician than Rousseau he earns the title of the musical pioneer of that art-form (i.e.the accompaniment of spoken words by illustrative music) in a sense which cannot be claimed for Rousseau’s earlierPygmalion. Benda’s first melodrama,Ariadne auf Naxos, was written in 1774 after his return from a visit to Italy. He was a voluminous composer, whose works (instrumental and dramatic) were enthusiastically taken up by the aristocracy in the time of Mozart. Mozart’s imagination was much fired by Benda’s new vehicle for dramatic expression, and in 1778 he wrote to his father with the greatest enthusiasm about a project for composing a duodrama on the model of Benda’sAriadne auf NaxosandMedea, both of which he considered excellent and always carried about with him. He concluded at the time that that was the way the problems of operatic recitative should be solved, or rather shelved, but the only specimen he has himself produced is the wonderful melodrama in his unfinished operetta,Zaide, written in 1780.

BENDER(more correctlyBendery), a town of Russia, in the government of Bessarabia, on the right bank of the Dniester, 37 m. by rail S.E. of Kishinev. It possesses a tobacco factory, candle-works and brick-kilns, and is an important river port, vessels discharging here their cargoes of corn, wine, wool, cattle, flour and tallow, to be conveyed by land to Odessa and to Yassy in Rumania. Timber also is floated down the Dniester. The citadel was dismantled in 1897. The town had in 1867 a population of 24,443, and in 1900 of 33,741, the greater proportion being Jews. As early as the 12th century the Genoese had a settlement on the site of Bender. In 1709 Charles XII., after the defeat of Poltava, collected his forces here in a camp which they called New Stockholm, and continued there till 1713. Bender was taken by the Russians in 1770, in 1789 and in 1806, but it was not held permanently by Russia till 1812.

BENDIGO(formerlySandhurst), a city of Bendigo county, Victoria, Australia, 101 m. by rail N.N.W. of Melbourne. Pop. (1901) 31,020. It is the centre of a large gold-field consisting of quartz ranges, with some alluvial deposits, and many of the mines are deep-level workings. The discovery of alluvial gold in 1851 brought many immigrants to the district; but the opening up of the quartz reefs in 1872 was the principal factor in the importance of Bendigo. It became a municipality in 1855 and a city in 1871. It is the seat of Anglican and Roman Catholic bishops. Besides mining, the local industries are the manufacture of Epsom pottery, bricks and tiles, iron-founding, stone-cutting, brewing, tanning and coach-building. The surrounding district produces quantities of wheat and fruits for export, and much excellent wine is made.

BENDL, KARELorKarl(1838-1897), Bohemian composer, was born on the 16th of April 1838 at Prague. He studied at the organ school, and in 1858 had already composed a number of small choral works. In 1861 hisPoletuje holubicewon a prize and at once became a favourite with the local choral societies. In 1864 Bendl went to Brussels, where for a short time he held the post of second conductor of the opera. After visiting Amsterdam and Paris he returned to Prague. Here in 1865 he was appointed conductor of the choral society known asHlahoe, and he held the post until 1879, when Baron Dervies engaged his services for his private band. Bendl’s first operaLejlawas successfully produced in 1868. It was followed byBretislav a Jitka(1870),Stary Zenich, a comic opera (1883),Karel Skreta(1883),Dite Tabera, a prize opera (1892), andMatki Mila(1891). Other operas by Bendl areIndicka princezna, Cernohorci, a prize opera, and the two operasCarovny KvetandGina. His balladSvanda dudakacquired much popularity; he published a mass in D minor for male voices and another mass for a mixed choir; two songs toAve Maria; a violin sonata and a string quartet in F; and a quantity of songs and choruses, many of which have come to be regarded as national possessions of Bohemia. Bendl died on the 20th of September 1897 at Prague.

BENEDEK, LUDWIG,Ritter von(1804-1881), Austrian general, was born at Ödenburg in Hungary on the 14th of July 1804, his father being a doctor. He received his commission in the Austrian army as ensign in 1822, becoming lieutenant in 1825, first lieutenant in 1831 and captain in 1835. He was employed for a considerable time in the general staff, and had risen to the rank of colonel, when he won his first laurels in the suppression of the rising of 1846 in Galicia (seeAustria:History). In this campaign his bold leadership in the field and his capacity for organization were so far conspicuous that he was made aRitter(knight) of the Leopold order by his sovereign, and a freeman (Ehrenbürger) by the city of Lemberg. In 1847 he commanded a regiment in Italy, and on the outbreak of war with Sardinia he was placed in command of a mixed brigade, at the head of which he displayed against regular troops the same qualities of unhesitating bravery and resolution which had given him the victory in many actions with the Galician rebels. His conduct at Curtatone won for him the commandership of the Leopold order, and shortly afterwards the knighthood of the Maria Theresa order. At the action of Mortara his tactical skill and bravery were again conspicuous, and Radetzky particularly distinguished him in despatches. The archduke Albert, with whom he served, is said to have given him the sword of his father, the great archduke Charles. He was promoted major-general soon afterwards over the heads of several colonels senior to him, and was sent as a brigade commander to Hungary. Again he was distinguished as a fighting general at Raab, Komorn, Szegedin and many other actions, and was three times wounded. Benedek then received the cross for military merit, and soon afterwards was posted to the staff of the army in Italy. In 1852 he was made lieutenant field marshal, and in 1857 commander successively of the II., the IV. and the VIII. corps, and also aGeheimrath. In the political crisis of 1854 he had command of a corps in the army of observation under Hess on the Turkish frontier. In the war of 1859 in Italy, Benedek commanded the VIII. corps, and at the battle of Solferino was in command of the right of the Austrian position. That portion of the struggle which was fought out between Benedek and the Piedmontese army is sometimes calledthe battle of San Martino. Benedek, with magnificent gallantry, held his own all day, and in the end covered the retreat of the rest of the Austrian army to the Mincio. His reward was the commandership of the order of Maria Theresa, and Vienna and many other cities followed the example of Lemberg in 1846. His reputation was now at its highest, and his great popularity was enhanced, in the prevailing discontent with the reactionary and clerical government of previous years, by the fact that he was a Protestant and not of noble birth. He was promotedFeldzeugmeisterand in 1860 appointed quartermaster-general to the army, and soon afterwards governor-general and commander-in-chief in Hungary, in succession to the archduke Albert. In 1861 he was made commander-in-chief in Venetia and the adjoining provinces of the empire, and in the following year he received the grand cross of the Leopold order. In 1864 he resigned the quartermaster-generalship and devoted himself exclusively to the command of the army in Italy. In 1861 he had been made a life-member of the house of peers. In 1866 war with Prussia and with Italy became imminent. Benedek was appointed to command the Army of the North against the Prussians, the control of affairs in Italy being taken over by the archduke Albert. For the story of the campaign of Königgrätz, in which the Austrians under Benedek’s command were decisively defeated, seeSeven Weeks’ War. Benedek took over his new command as a stranger to the country and to the troops. Only the personal command of the emperor and the requests of the archduke Albert prevailed upon him to “sacrifice his honour,” as he himself said, in a task for which he felt himself ill prepared. When he took the field his despondency was increased by the passive obstruction which he met with amongst his own officers, many of whom resented being placed under a man of the middle class instead of the archduke Albert, and by the general state of unpreparedness which he found existing at the front. Further, his own staff was self-willed to the verge of disloyalty, and his assistants, Lieutenant Field Marshal von Henikstein, and Major-General Krismanic in particular, endeavoured to control Benedek’s operations in the spirit of the 18th-century strategists. Under these circumstances, and against the superior numbers,moraland armament of the Prussians, the Austrians were foredoomed to defeat. A series of partial actions convinced Benedek that success was unattainable, and he telegraphed to the emperor advising him to make peace; the emperor refused on the ground that no decisive battle had been fought; Benedek, thereupon, instead of retreating across the Elbe, determined to bring on a decisive engagement, and took up a position with the whole of his forces near Königgrätz with the Elbe in his rear. Here he was completely defeated by the Prussians on the 3rd of July, but they could not prevent him from making good his retreat over the river in magnificent order on the evening of the battle. He conducted the operations of his army in retreat up to the great concentration at Vienna under the archduke Albert, and was then suspended from his command and a court-martial ordered; the emperor, however, in December determined that the inquiry should be stopped. Benedek from this time lived in absolute retirement, and having given his word of honour to the archduke Albert that he would not attempt to rehabilitate himself before the world, he published no defence of his conduct, and even destroyed his papers relating to the campaign of 1866. This attitude of self-sacrificing loyalty he maintained even when on the 8th of November 1866 the officialWiener Zeitungpublished an article in which he was made responsible for all the disasters of the war. The history of the campaign from the Austrian point of view as at present known leaves much unexplained, and the published material is primarily of a controversial character. The officialÖsterreichs Kämpfespeaks of the unfortunate general in the following terms: “A career full of achievements, distinction and fame deserved a less tragic close. A dispassionate judgment will not forget the ever fortunate and successful deeds which he accomplished earlier in the service of the emperor, and will ensure for him, in spite of his last heavy misfortune (Last), an honourable memory.” Praise of his earlier career could not well be denied, and the official history is careful not to extend its eulogy to cover the events of 1866; the recognition in these words cannot therefore be set against the general opinion of subsequent critics that Benedek was the victim of political necessities, perhaps of court intrigues. For the rest of his life Benedek lived at Graz, where he died on the 27th of April 1881.

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