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 These two acts, however, are both wholly repealed by the 18 and 19 Vict.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 procedurc. 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 founded upon the text of Scripture, 'Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm.' The only exception to this was the priest being held in custody by the king himself; but even in that case, he could only remain in such regal custody with the pleasure and consent of the bishop, who had entire control over his person, and over the inquiry into his offence. If a priest or clerk' happened to be 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 Building societies are of two kinds: those which are to terminate at the end of a specified periodusually twelve or fourteen years-and those of a permanent nature. As attended with numerous inconveniences, the terminating are giving way to the permanent associations, and these latter alone need be described. The object which a member has distinctly in view is to be the proprietor of a dwell 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, | lawyers then were all priests), who, being called and if satisfied on that point, make the purchase in to account for his great knavery and malpractices, name of the applicant, who, under proper guarrantees, claimed the benefit of his orders or clergy, which enters on possession immediately. A usual period till then remained an entire secret, and to this of payment is about thirteen years, a sum equal end wished to untie his coif, that he might shew to 5 per cent, of the principal, and 5 per cent. that he had the clerical tonsure; but this was not interest, being paid every year. Mr. J. A. Binns, permitted, and the bystanders seizing him, not by in describing these societies, in a paper read the coif, but by the throat, dragged him to prison. at the Social Science Congress at Bradford, 1859, | 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. c. 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. BE'NEFIT 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. BENE VOLENCE, 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. were as follows: 1 Will. and Mary, st. 2, c. 2, it is declared, that the areas and populations of the presidency of B. 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. BENGA'L, 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. Gov.-general's Domain, Totals (British), Grand Totals, Square Miles. Population. 340,871 41,807,760 84,982 30,016,137 246,785 37,505,599 672,638 109,329,496 596,790 47,909,199 1,269,428 157,238,695 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 settle administration, has been divided into three portions ment of Chandernagore, containing somewhat less -one portion remaining under the governor-general, than 4 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 governor- respectively ceded to England in 1824 and 1845. general, consists of the Punjab (q. v.); the Cis B. Proper, as a whole, may be regarded as almost a Sutlej states, 4 in number-Oude, Nagpoor, Pegu, dead level. It is only on the south-west frontier Tenasserim; and the 3 detached settlements already that it shews any hill-country, for towards the mentioned in and near the Straits of Malacca. The north it is said nowhere to reach even a single two other portions, occupying, between them, the spur of the Himalaya. The principal rivers are entire space from Pegu to the Cis-Sutlej states, meet the Ganges and the Brahmaputra, the former near the confluence of the Gogra and the Ganges, intersecting the country diagonally from northPatna being situated in 'Bengal,' and Benares in 'The west to south-east, and the latter crossing its North-western Provinces.' The western section more easterly portion in a direction to the west of contains the districts of Delhi, Meerut, Allygurh, south. During their lower courses, these main Rohilcund, Bareilly, Shahjehanpoor, Bijnour, Agra, channels are so interlaced together as to form Furruckabad, Allahabad, Cawnpore, Futtehpoor, perhaps the most singular net-work of waters in the Benares, Goruck pore, Azimghur, Jounpoor, Mirza- world; and their first point of confluence is said to pore, Ghazeepore, &c.; and the eastern section be Jaffergunge-the head also of tide-water-in lat. contains the districts of Jessore, Burdwan, Bancorah, 23° 52′ N., and long. 89° 45′ E., at a distance of 160 Bhagulpore, Monghir, Cuttack, Balasore, Midna- miles from the sea. But the thousand-isled delta pore, Moorshedabad, Rungpoor, Dacca, Silhet, commences 120 miles further up the Ganges, where Patna, Bahar, Chittagong, the Sunderbunds, Assam, the highest offset, the Bhagirathi, breaks off to Aracan, &c. According to official returns of 1869, the right, afterwards to join a similar offset, the BENGAL. Jellinghee, in forming the Hoogly of Calcutta. | abandoned by every tide, where the singularly powerBesides these two grand arteries, the province is ful evaporation-said to be sometimes an inch a watered by many less considerable rivers, chiefly day on the depth of the adjacent bay-impairs the northerly tributaries of the Ganges; so that even health of the labourer in proportion as it facilitates in the driest season there is scarcely any spot 20 his labour. Of all these commodities, indigo (q. v.) miles distant from a navigable stream. During the is, in one important view, the most valuable, as rainy months, almost every water-course in the being more likely than any other to attract English more level regions inundates the adjacent plains; agriculturists to India. From the earliest times the while, down in the delta, the separate floods some- dye appears to have been cultivated on the Lower times mingle themselves into a breadth of 100 Ganges, which for ages enjoyed, in this respect, the miles. To say nothing of temporary inconvenience monopoly of the European trade. But when once the and loss, these visitations often inflict permanent cultivation of the plant was introduced into America, damage such as is wholly irreparable. The soil, it gradually engrossed the market-the greater care in most parts of the province, is so decidedly alluvial, in the preparation making up for a natural inferiority that hardly a rock or a stone meets the ascending in the article itself; and it was only when British voyager within a distance of 400 miles from the capital and skill undertook the manufacture, that sea-a soil offering but a feeble barrier to torrents B. began to resume her original supremacy in this which, besides gathering, as they rise, velocity branch of agriculture. The annual rainfall at Caland momentum, are liable to change their direction cutta varies from 50 inches to 85, diminishing with each increase of depth and width. A twofold gradually towards the interior. At Calcutta also evil is the result. The Ganges and the Brama- the mean temperature for the year, from 1841 to putra, resuming, as it were, their gifts of a former 1850 inclusive, averaged 73-4° F. at sunrise, 87.2° at age, cut for themselves new passages, to the in- 2 hours and 40 minutes P. M., and 82° at sunset-the jury of private individuals, while their old ones largest differences between the several years of the become so many seething swamps, to the preju- series having been respectively 1.6°, 2.9°, and 1·4°. dice of the public health. To a partial extent, Iron and coal are understood to abound, though by such calamities have been averted by embankments. no means continuously, in a tract as large as In these circumstances, the intercourse is ordinarily England, running to the west from Rajmahal-a carried on by water; the Bengalee, in fact, may tract, however, not wholly situated in Bengal be viewed as almost amphibious; and on the Proper. The Bengalees are a feeble and unwarLower Ganges alone, there are said to be-unless like race. Within the period of authentic history, in so far as steam may have reduced the number- the province has always been subject to foreigners. about 30,000 professional boatmen. Speaking gen- Its last change of owners was in 1757, when a erally, the communications by land are merely single battle, gained against odds of twenty to one, beaten paths. The only exception of note-and transferred it from the Mogul's viceroy to the that certainly a noble one-is the Grand Trunk English East India Company-the Mogul's own grant Road, which traverses the province from Calcutta of 1765 merely ratifying the decision of Plassy. upwards on its way to Delhi, Lahore, and the With respect to education, which is more, or less, of Indus. Much of the country is covered by thick European character, the province numbers about woods and impenetrable jungles, which abound in 5000 pupils, who, so far as they have been classified, wild animals, such as the jackal, the leopard, the consist of 31 Christians, 689 Mohammedans, and tiger, and the elephant. The last is often tamed 4134 Hindus, besides those who are described as 'of for domestic use, the more common beasts of other persuasions.' burden being the camel and the horse, the latter BENGAL, BAY OF, a portion of the Indian Ocean, of an altogether inferior variety. Lying, as B. of the figure of a triangle, or rather of a quadranProper does, between the 21st parallel and the 27th, gle, for the northern extremity, instead of running its climate and productions, so far as the latitude to a point, measures about 250 miles from Balasore alone is concerned, may be expected to be toler- to Chittagong. Its southern side, drawn from ably uniform over the entire province. But other Coromandel to Malacca, so as merely to leave causes intervene to affect the result. Thus the on the right both Ceylon and Sumatra, may be nearer any place is to the sea, the heavier are the stated at 1200 miles. The Bay of B. receives many rains, and the broader is the overflow; the difference large rivers-the Ganges and the Brahmaputra on of moisture, however, being, in the remoter locali- the north, the Irrawaddy on the east, and on the ties, often made up by irrigation. Moreover, in an west the Mahanuddy, the Godavery, the Kistna inverse proportion to the latitude, the alternate or Krishna, and the Cauvery. On the west coast, monsoons of the Bay of Bengal (see next article), there is hardly anything worthy of the name of with their respective influences on the thermometer harbour; while on the east there are many good and barometer, are more sensibly felt in the mari-ports-such as Aracan, Cheduba, Negrais, Syriam, time tracts. Lastly, to these special causes must be added a cause of more general character-the difference of elevation. Hence, wheat and barley, for instance, grow only on the higher grounds, while rice cannot thrive unless within the range of the inundations, yielding, too, an endless diversity of varieties, according to the infinitely fluctuating conditions under which it may be cultivated. Besides grains and vegetables in great variety and abundance, B. Proper gives to commerce opium, indigo, silk, sugar, tobacco, coffee, and cotton. See CALCUTTA. Cotton manufactures, once extensively carried on, particularly in the district of Dacca, have latterly given way to British competition. The article of salt, to come up under another head in connection with revenue, claims separate notice. Most of what is consumed in B. Proper is made in deserts on the coast, alternately covered and Martaban, Tavay River, King's Island, besides several more in the islands between Pegu and Sumatra. The evaporation, as stated in the previous article, sometimes amounts, in the hottest season, to about an inch a day. The monsoons prevail over the whole of the north part of the Indian Ocean, of which the Bay of B. is a part, and also over the maritime tracts of B. itself. The northeast monsoon is clearly the ordinary trade-wind of the northern hemisphere; while that from the south-west is shewn by Maury, in his Physical Geography of the Sea, to be a deflection of the ordinary trade-wind of the southern hemisphere. Generally speaking, the north-east and south-west monsoons prevail respectively in summer and winter. Maury, however, shews that, on different parallels, there are different seasons for the alternate changes. BENGAL ARMY-BENI-HIASSAN. BENGA'L ARMY. A succinct account of the military forces in India, European and native, will be found under EAST INDIA ARMY; including a notice of the changes made consequent on the transfer of the Company's powers to the crown, in 1858. BENGA'L LIGHT, BLUE LIGHT, or BENGAL FIRE, is a brilliant signal-light used at sea during shipwreck, and in ordinary pyrotechny for illuminating a district of country. It is prepared from nitre, sulphur, and the tersulphuret of antimony. The materials are reduced to fine powder, thoroughly | dried, and intimately mixed in the following proportions by weight: nitre, 6; sulphur, 2; tersulphuret of antimony, 1. The mixture constitutes the B. L., and when kindled by a red-hot coal, red-hot iron, or flame, immediately bursts into rapid and vivid combustion, evolving a brilliant, penetrating, but mellow light, which, during the darkness of night, readily overcomes the gloom for a considerable space. As the fumes evolved during the combustion of the B. L. contain an oxide of antimony, and are poisonous, the light cannot be used with safety in rooms or enclosed spaces. BENGALI' LANGUAGE. See HINDustan. BENGAʼZI, a seaport town of Barca, North Africa, finely situated on the east coast of the Gulf of Sidra, in lat. 32° 6' N. and long. 20° 2′ E. It has a population of about 2500, who carry on a trade with Malta and Barbary in oxen, sheep, wool, and corn. It has a castle, the residence of a bey, who governs it for the pasha of Tripoli. Its harbour is rapidly filling up with sand. with sand. B. is chiefly interesting to the traveller, as having been the site of the ancient city of Hesperis, in the neighbourhood of which were several singularly luxuriant dells of large extent, enclosed within steep rocks rising to the height of 60 or 70 feet. These were supposed to answer well the description of the fabled Gardens of the Hesperides. It first rose to importance under Ptolemy III., who called it Berenice, in honour of his wife. It had then a large population, chiefly of Jews. Justinian afterwards fortified it, and adorned it with baths. BENGEL, JOHANN ALBRECHT, a distinguished German theologian and commentator, whose writings have exercised considerable influence in England, was born at Winnenden, in Würtemberg, June 24, 1687. His early life was chequered by many vicissitudes. After completing his theological curriculum in 1707, he became curate of Metzingen; a year after, he was appointed theological tutor at Tübin posed to be laid down in the Apocalypse, that the world would endure for the space of 77777 years; and that the 'breaking loose and the binding of Satan' would take place in the summer of 1836. BENGUE'LA, a country of Western Africa, the limits of which are not very definitely fixed. It is usually represented as lying between lat. 9° and 16° S., and long. 12° and 17° E. The river Coanza separates it from Angola on the N., the mountains behind Cape Negro bound it on the S., and the Atlantic Ocean on the W. Its surface is generally mountainous, rising from the coast-line inland, in a series of terraces; several important rivers flow through it in a north-west direction to the Atlantic. These rivers have numerous affluents, and water is everywhere so plentiful that it may be found by digging two feet beneath the surface. Vegetation of the most luxuriant and varied description is the consequence of this humidity. The fruit-trees, both of tropical and subtropical climates, succeed The inhabitants, however, are extremely well. too ignorant or indolent to take advantage of the productiveness of the soil. Animals of all kinds common to Western Africa abound in B., both on land and in water. Peacocks are said to be accounted sacred in B., and kept tame about the graves of the great chiefs. Sulphur, copper, and petroleum are found in the mountains, and also gold and silver in small quantities. The coast is unusually unhealthy, but the interior is more salubrious. B. is inhabited by a variety of petty tribes, some of which are cannibals, and barbarous beyond even the barbarism of Africa. As might be anticipated, religion exists only in the form of Fetichism. The Portuguese claim B., but they exercise no real power in the interior. BENGUE'LA, ST. PHILIP DE, the Portuguese capital of the above region, on the Atlantic, near the mouth of the river Catumbella. Lat. 12° 33' S., long. 13° 25' E. It is very unhealthy; so inimical to European life, indeed, that the Portuguese affirm their countrywomen could not live three months in it. It has a miserable appearance, being built of half-baked bricks, and made ruinous-like by a practice that prevails of never repairing the houses, which, whenever they exhibit symptoms of decay, are abandoned for new ones erected in the vicinity. Pop. 3000, chiefly free blacks or slaves. It was a great slave-station at one time, exporting annually 20,000 slaves. The trade has fallen off greatly of late years. The town was, some time ago, invaded by a herd of thirsty elephants in quest of water, and almost entirely destroyed. BENI', a river of South America, in the state of Bolivia, formed by the junction of all the streams that rush down from the Eastern Andes between 14° and 18° S. lat. Flowing through the province of Moxos, it joins the Mamore to form the Madeira, one of the largest affluents of the Amazon. of the largest affluents of the Amazon. BENICA'RLO, a poor, dirty, walled town of Spain, in the province of Valencia. Pop. 6000, who manufacture 'full-bodied' wines for export to Bordeaux, where they are used in cooking clarets for Bad brandy is also manufacthe English market. tured here; and the town being situated on the Mediterranean, a little fishing is carried on. Later in life, he held several high offices; gen. among others, that of Consistorial councillor and prelate of Alpirsbach, in Würtemberg, where he died 2d December 1752. He was the first Protestant author who treated the exegesis of the New Testament in a thoroughly critical and judicious style. He did good service also in the rectification of He did good service also in the rectification of the text of the Bible, and in paving the way for classifying the sacred manuscripts into families. The short notes in his Gnomon Novi Testamenti (Tübingen, 1742) have been generally regarded as valuable, and translated into various languages. They were especially made use of by John Wesley, in his Notes on the New Testament, which forms one of the standards of Wesleyan Methodism. Indeed Wesley's work may be regarded as little more than an BE'NI-HA'SSAN, a village of Upper Egypt, on abridged translation from Bengel. An Exposition of the east bank of the Nile, in lat. 27° 53′ N., and the Revelation of St. John (Stuttgard, 1740), and a long. 30° 55′ E. The place is remarkable for the chronological work-the Ordo Temporum a Principio numerous grottos in its vicinity, which are among per Periodos Economa Divine Historicus atque the most interesting in Egypt. These catacombs are Propheticus (Tübingen, 1741), gained for B., in his excavated in the calcareous bank-apparently, at one time, a great reputation; some regarding him as time, washed by the Nile, now flowing further west an inspired prophet, but the majority as a visionary. in which the low hills that rise in this part of the In these works he calculated, on the basis he sup- valley terminate. The catacombs are about thirty |