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some of them were subsequently performed in Germany and England with great success. In 1835, in accordance with a long-cherished desire, he visited England, where his reception was so flattering that he has continued to reside there ever since. After filling the position of musical director at the Lyceum theatre, in London, for 2 years, he turned his attention to the English musical stage, and in 1838 produced the "Gypsy's Warning," in 1844 the "Brides of Venice," and a year or two afterward, the "Crusaders," all of which were quite successful. In 1850, he accompanied Jenny Lind on her musical tour through the United States, as director of her concerts, of which the orchestra, drilled and conducted by him, was always a marked feature. Since his return to Europe he has resided generally in London, and is frequently before the public as director of some one of the great musical festivals which annually take place in various parts of England. Beside the works mentioned, Benedict has composed much music for the piano-forte, on which he is an admirable performer, and a number of orchestral and vocal pieces. His music is spirited, dramatic, and melodious, and so completely has he assimilated his style to English tastes, that he is considered more national than many native composers.

BENEDICT-BEUERN, a village of Bavaria, in the circle of upper Bavaria, noted for having once contained a Benedictine abbey, founded in 740. It has glass works of some celebrity, and quarries of marble. The village is situated in the neighborhood of the offshoots of the mountains of the Tyrol, one of whose summits, not far from the village, has an altitude of more than 6,000 feet.

BENEDICTINE ORDER, the most ancient and widely spread religious order of the western church, founded by St. Benedict. The monastic institution, which originated in the East, had taken root also in the West before the time of St. Benedict, chiefly through the influence of St. Athanasius and other prelates, who were either orientals or had visited the oriental monasteries; and also through the profound impression created by the life of St. Anthony. It was necessary, however, to modify very much the customs of the eastern anchorets, and to adapt the monastic rule to the character and habits of the people of the West, and also to their different climate. It was also requisite to introduce some regularity, and a fixed system of government, among the separate and disconnected religious communities. The rule of St. Benedict was accordingly drawn up by him, and generally adopted. His order spread rapidly and widely throughout western Christendom, and in its most flourishing period numbered 37,000 abbeys. In the reign of Henry VIII. there were in England 28 mitred abbots aud 1 prior of the Benedictine order, who were peers of the realm, and sat in the house of lords. From this order have proceeded 24 popes, 15,000 bishops, and 40,000 canonized or beatified saints,

BENEDICTINE ORDER

among whom are some of the most illustrious men that adorn the annals of the church, as, for example, St. John of Damascus and St. Bernard. It has had also among its members many imperial and royal princes, nobles, statesmen, and eminent warriors, who have retired from the world to the shadow of its peaceful walls. The rules of the Benedictine order are very few and simple, giving it a great flexibility, and power of adaptation to different countries and times. Hence we see it undergoing very great changes and modifications, and shooting out many branches from its parent trunk. From the beginning, the Benedictines devoted themselves very much to sacred science; and from an early period they also commenced a zealous cultivation of every branch of human learning and the fine arts. With these intellectual pursuits they united those of agriculture and gardening. This cultivation of science caused the custom to be early introduced of ordaining the Benedictine monks to the priesthood, contrary to the previous usage. For several centuries they were also the principal teachers of youth in all the branches of education, from the lowest to the highest, and possessed a vast number of colleges and schools. To their care and laborious copying of MSS., the world is indebted for the preservation and transmission of the entire body of classical and other ancient learning through the dark ages. In the ordinary course of things, the order became very rich and powerful, and following the general law of human institutions, fell to a considerable extent into a state of decadence from its primitive ideal. We therefore find, from the 9th century downward, very frequent and stringent measures of reformation adopted by popes, councils, and prelates, and, to a considerable extent, accepted and carried out within the bosom of the order. Reformers also sprung up within the bosom of the order itself, and new Benedictine families were formed on the basis of the ancient rule and discipline. One of these reformers was St. Benedict of Aniani, called "the second Benedict," who died 821. The principal branches of the great Benedictine family which have sprung up in the course of ages, are, the Clunians, Cistercians, Camaldolese, Vallombrosians, Grammontensians, Carthusians, Fontevraudians, Bernardines, Guilbertines, Humiliati, Cœlestines, Feuillants, Trappists, Olivetans, and Benedictines of St. Maur. The latter are well known for their learned and magnificent edition of the fathers. -The number of Benedictine monks of the original stem, at the present time, is estimated at 1,600, and their chief seat is Monte Casino. There is a large Benedictine community at Youngstown, in Pennsylvania, which is rapidly increasing, and has already sent out several smaller colonies. There are also two Trappist monasteries in the United States, one in Kentucky, the other in Iowa, each governed by a mitred abbot. The Trappists and Carthusians are the severest of all the Latin religious orders, and still preserve all their original

strictness and rigor.-BENEDICTINE NUNS have existed from an early period, and claim St. Scholastica, sister of St. Benedict, as their foundress, with great probability, although some dispute the existence of female convents under the Benedictine rule during the lifetime of St. Benedict. They have been widely spread in former times, and have undergone the same changes and revolutions as their parent order. At one time there were many convents into which only noble ladies were admitted, and these became so far secularized that they even ceased to take any vows, and left the order, and even married whenever they chose. Every reformed congregation of Benedictine monks usually had also female convents under its direction, which adopted a similar discipline. Two remarkable reformations sprung up in the female order itself, one under the direction of the high-born and saintly abbess, Antoinette of Orleans, who founded the congregation of Our Blessed Lady of Mount Calvary, in the 17th century; the other in the same century, under the abbess Mechtilitis, who founded the congregation of the Perpetual Adoration.

BENEDICTION, the act of blessing, of wishing to a person or thing the grace of God. It has always existed as a custom among Jews and Christians. The Jewish priests bestowed benedictions upon the people when they remained obedient to the law, and maledictions when they neglected it. The patriarchs, when near their death, invoked blessings upon their children and family, and at the same time pointed out the son who should succeed as head of the family and tribe. The children of Israel having arrived in the promised land, were assembled between the mountains of Ebal and Gerizim, and from the summit of Gerizim benedictions were pronounced upon those who should observe the duties of religion; and from the top of Ebal, maledictions upon those who should violate them.-In the Roman Catholic church, benedictions are of several kinds, and are performed either by sprinkling holy water, by signs of the cross, or by appropriate prayers. Some are bestowed upon persons endowed with authority, or devoted to certain estates, as kings, queens, abbots, abbesses, virgins, knights; others upon objects used in worship, as vases, linens, ornaments, churches, cemeteries, water, oil; others upon objects of eminent use to men, as houses, ships, the sea, rivers, railroads, fire-arms, the nuptial ring, gardens, fountains, flocks, and fruits of the earth; and others, by the superior ecclesiastics, upon Christian people. Three times a year, from the balcony in front of St. Peter's, the pope solemnly gives his benediction, urbi et orbi, to Rome and to the world. The benediction of the Blessed Sacrament is one of the most solemn functions in the Roman Catholic church. The consecrated host is exposed on an elevated throne above the altar, being placed in an ostensorium for that purpose. Many lights are burn

ing, incense is offered, hymns and prayers are sung, and finally, the priest blesses the people, by making the sign of the cross over them with the ostensorium. This ceremony is specially prescribed in Corpus Christi, but is used now very frequently in other festivals, and in many churches every Sunday after vespers.-In Protestant churches, the benediction is usually given in words similar to those prescribed by Moses to Aaron. It is often accompanied with laying on of hands, especially in the celebration of marriages, the ordination of pastors, the confirmation of converts, and the baptism of children.

BENEFICE (Lat. beneficium), an ecclesiastical living, originally including every species of preferment, as well those to which dignities and offices were attached, viz., bishoprics, deaconries, and prebends, as the lesser sort, viz., rectories, vicarages, perpetual curacies, and endowed chaplainries; but in its popular acceptation it includes only the latter class, and the distinction is recognized in recent acts of parliament. The name is derived from the beneficium of the Romans, which was a grant of an estate, privilege, or endowment of any kind to a subject by the sovereign. It was afterward the designation of a grant of land by any large proprietor to a retainer or follower as a reward of services, being the same that later was denominated a fief or fee, the essential incident of which was perpetuity, that is to say, it was a permanent stipendiary estate held of a superior, and usually subject to some condition indicating vassalage. The principle of the feudal tenure was applied, in the middle ages, to ecclesiastical benefices to this extent, that they were held of the pope, as a superior lord, though these benefices had not the hereditary character of a fee, so far as respected the office or dignity connected therewith, and the lands or emolument conferred by a grant were usually attached to such office or dignity, and on the death of the incumbent, reverted to the ecclesiastical superior who was entitled to appoint a successor. This, at all events, was the claim of the popes, though it was the subject of contest between them and the principal European sovereigns. When the term came to be applied to ecclesiastical grants, it was gradually disused in respect to all others, and the fadum, fee, was substituted.

BENEFIT OF CLERGY, in English criminal law, the privilegium clericale, exemption of the clergy from penalties imposed by law for certain crimes. This privilege no longer exists, but it was for many centuries an important element in the administration of criminal law, and still is a curious and instructive part of the history of England. The origin of this privilege was a claim made by the ecclesiastics at an early period for the entire exemption of their order from the jurisdiction of the common law courts. Before the Norman conquest, in the county courts, where the greater part of the civil business of the kingdom was trans

acted, the bishop of the diocese presided with the sheriff, thus uniting civil and ecclesiastical authority, but the foreign clergy who came over with the Normans, and were installed in the chief preferments of the English church, obtained from William the Conqueror a separation of ecclesiastical courts from the civil. In the reign of Stephen, a still further innovation was made by giving sole jurisdiction to the bishop over ecclesiastical persons and causes. This gave rise to the contest between spiritual and temporal courts, and the breach was continually widened by jealousy of the Catholic clergy. The claim of exclusive jurisdiction was not successfully maintained, except in respect to ecclesiastical causes, but by various statutes and the popular regard for the church, which imposed some check upon the most arbitrary monarchs, the persons of the clergy were exempted from penalties for certain crimes; but though there was a constant struggle on the part of the clergy to assert this exemption on the ground that the clergy were amenable only to the ecclesiastical courts, it was as steadily resisted by the common law courts, and the privilege was allowed only in the cases specifically provided for by common law or statute. It is not easy in the conflict of jurisdiction, and the varying legislation of parliament, to determine how far the exemption existed by common law and how far it was enacted by statute. It did not extend to all crimes; and the distinction made can hardly be explained upon principle, but seems to have been in some degree arbitrary, or, perhaps, a compromise. Thus it was not allowed in high treason, nor in petit larceny, nor any mere misdemeanor (by which was meant petty crimes less than felony), and was, as a general rule, allowable only in capital felonies, but not all even of that class. The exemption was mainly founded on statute 25 Edward III., by which it was proIvided that clerks convicted for treason or felonies touching other persons than the king himself, should have the privilege of holy church. By the common law, benefit of clergy was denied in 3 kinds of felony, viz.: lying in wait for one on the highway (insidiatio viarum), ravaging a country (depopulatio agrorum), and burning of houses (combustio domorum); and in all these cases, even after the statute above mentioned, the privilege continued to be denied. From time to time it was enacted afterward, in various statutes, that certain crimes should be without benefit of clergy, as murder, rape, burglary, larceny from the person, or from a dwelling house, any one being therein, and many other offences. As to the persons entitled to benefit of clergy, it was originally limited to such as had the habitum et tonsuram clericalem, that is, the regular clergy; but the claim being made in behalf of the retainers of ecclesiastics, and other laymen, who were not entitled to it, a test was adopted that only such as could read should be allowed the privilege. But, in the reign of Henry VII., it was

found that as many laymen as divines had by this test an exemption, and a law was then passed making a distinction between lay scholars and such as were in orders. The former were to be admitted but once to the benefit of clergy, and were to be subjected to a slight punishment, as burning in the hand, or perhaps this was merely intended as a permanent mark of having once had the benefit of clergy, so that the person should not be admitted to claim it again. The distinction was abolished in the reign of Henry VIII., but revived again by statute 1 Edward VI., by which it was also enacted that peers having a place in parliament should have the benefit of peerage, equivalent to that of clergy, for the first offence, although they could not read, and without being burnt in the hand, for all offences then clergyable to commoners, and also for the crimes of housebreaking, highway robbery, horse-stealing, and robbing of churches-a significant intimation of the state of morals among the highest nobility in that era. In the duchess of Kingston's case, it was held that peeresses were entitled to the benefit of the statute. The ordinary course when a claim was made to benefit of clergy was, after burn ing in the case of the laity, and without it in case of the clergy, to deliver the prisoner over to the bishop to be dealt with according to the canon law. Then followed a purgation, as it was called, that is to say, the offender was called before the bishop and required to make oath of his innocence, which was to be maintained by the oaths of 12 witnesses, called compurgators, that they believed him, upon which he was acquitted. This was the general result. The scandalous perjury and prostitution of the forms of legal proceedings exhibited in this mock purgation, induced the temporal courts to avoid it altogether, by delivering over the convicted clerk absque purgatione facienda

the effect of which was that he could not be relieved from other legal consequences of his crime, except the punishment of death. It was in consequence enacted by 18 Elizabeth, that the offender should be delivered out of prison with a proviso that he might, in the discretion of the judge, be kept in gaol a year. Thus the law continued for a long period without alteration, except the extension to all commoners not in orders, of the benefit of clergy in clergyable offences, subject, however, to being burned in the hand and imprisoned for a year. All these provisions of law still required, as the condition of exemption, that the person claiming exemption should be able to read, so that those who could not read (except peers) were hanged, to remedy which unequal severity it was enacted by 5 Anne that the benefit of clergy should be granted to all who were entitled to ask it without requiring them to read. Finally, by statutes 7 and 8 George IV., which is a revision of all the previous acts relating to crimes, the benefit of clergy was entirely abolished. In the United States this privilege

has never been recognized as existing. There is a single statute (act of congress, April 30, 1790), in which it is provided that benefit of clergy shall not be allowed for any offences punishable by death.

BENEKE, FRIEDRICH EDUARD, a German philosopher, born in Berlin, Feb. 17, 1798, found, after a long disappearance, drowned in a canal at Charlottenburg, June 4, 1856. After serving as a volunteer in the campaign of 1815, he studied theology and philosophy at Halle and Berlin, giving special attention to the English philosophers. In 1820 he lectured in the university of Berlin as a private teacher, but the continuance of his lectures was forbidden in 1822, on account of his departure from the philosophical principles of Hegel. He then taught for a few years in Göttingen, but, returning to Berlin in 1827, he then received permission to lecture in the university, in which he was elected extraordinary professor of philosophy after Hegel's death, in 1832. The starting point of his system is, that philosophy must be founded upon a strict and careful examination of the phenomena of consciousness. He thus adopts, in mental philosophy, the method observed by Bacon in the natural sciences, and his system is described as an empirical psychology.

BENEVENTE, a seaport town of Brazil, province of Espirito Santo, 47 miles S. of Victoria, at the mouth of the river Benevente, on the Atlantic.

BENEVENTO, a city of southern Italy; pop. 16,300; capital of the Roman delegation of Benevento. It is situated 32 miles N. E. of Naples, on elevated ground, near the confluence of the Calore and Sabbato, and is built of the ruins of an ancient town, of which it occupies the site. It abounds in remains of antiquity. It has the arch of Trajan, now called the Golden Gate. This city, supposed to have been founded immediately after the Trojan war, was conquered by the Romans in 269 B. C., who, having just defeated King Pyrrhus beneath its walls, gave to it the name of Beneventum, or fortunate event. It belonged for a time to the Byzantine empire, but was taken by the Goth Totila in 545, and by the Lombards in 589, under whom it became the capital of a duchy. After the fall of the Lombard kingdom, it recovered its independence, but suffered many attacks from the Saracens, and was captured by the Norman chief, Robert Guiscard, in 1077, who transferred it to the pope. Four councils of the church were held here in the 11th and 12th centuries. In 1806, Napoleon instituted it a principality for Talleyrand. It was restored to the pope in 1815. In 1266, near Benevento, was waged the battle in which Charles of Anjou defeated Manfred, king of Naples. The delegation of Benevento contains an area of 90 sq. m., and a population of 20,500. BENEVOLENCE, a system of loan to the crown without the sanction of parliament practised by several British monarchs, in defiance of Magna Charta. Henry VII. levied it successfully. Elizabeth tried it, but wisely withdrew

from the contest with her subjects. James I. raised the doctrine of prerogative to a higher pitch than had ever been tried, and Charles I., by his royal exactions, dispensing with the power of the parliament, and by imprisoning the recusants, brought upon himself all the calamities of his life. The petition of right disclaimed the king's authority to levy taxes without the consent of parliament, and the bill of rights, in 1688, renewed its provisions, and placed the power of the purse in the hands of parliament. BENEZET, ANTHONY, an American philanthropist, a native of France, born at St. Quentin, in the province of Picardy, Jan. 31, 1713, died in Philadelphia, May 5, 1784. He was of a wealthy and noble Protestant family, which fled from France to Holland, and thence to England, in 1715, after the revocation of the edict of Nantes. In London the family adopted the religious opinions of the Quakers, and they removed from that city to America in 1731. Young Anthony was placed by his parents in a counting-house, but finding that commerce of fered temptations to a worldly spirit, he left his master, and bound himself as an apprentice to a cooper. Finding this business too laborious for him, he declined it, and, in 1742, accepted the appointment of instructor in the Friends' English school, of Philadelphia. The employment of a teacher of youth accorded with his inclination, and he cheerfully devoted to it the greatest part of his life. "Few men," says Dr. Rush, "since the days of the apostles, ever lived a more disinterested life." One of the first objects of his enthusiastic philanthropy was the abolition of the slave-trade, and the emancipation and education of the negroes. To this end he opened an evening school in Philadelphia for the negro popu lation, and published several valuable tracts. His style was forcible and fervid, and he distributed his works at his own expense throughout every part of the United States, and sent letters directly to the queen of Great Britain and the queen of Portugal, begging them to use their influence to abolish the African trade. He was interested, also, in behalf of the aborigines of America, and urged the adoption of measures for their civilization and Christianization. During the terrific campaigns of Frederic the Great, of Prussia, he wrote a letter to that monarch, in which he endeavored to convince him of the unlawfulness of war. While the British army was in possession of the city of Philadelphia he was indefatigable in his efforts to relieve sufferings, and his courage and gentleness secured the civilities and respect of the British and German officers, even when they were unable to grant his requests. So great was his sympathy with every thing that was capable of feeling pain that he resolved, toward the close of his life, to eat no animal food, and this misapplication of a moral feeling was, probably, the cause of the disease of which he died. He resigned his school 2 years before his death, in order to devote himself wholly to the instruction of the blacks, and, after the death

of his widow, he bequeathed his entire estate for the support of a school for the education of negro children. His funeral was attended by persons of all religious denominations, among whom were several hundred negroes. The worth of Benezet's writings is alluded to by the British philanthropist, Clarkson, who confesses that one of them enlightened his own mind and quickened his zeal in the early part of his life. The character, at once acute and benevolent, of Benezet, is revealed in his remarkable saying, that "it is the highest act of charity to bear with the unreasonableness of mankind."

BENGAL, one of the 3 presidencies of British India, and the most important division of Hindostan. In 1854, excluding the possessions of the native princes, the presidency was estimated to contain 225,000 sq. m., lying between lat. 10° and 28° N., and long. 83° and 99° E. Since then large accessions of territory have been made, one of the latest of which is derived from the mediatization of the king of Oude. The province of Bengal, lying almost entirely within the tropics, is subjected to great extremes of heat, the climate having proved more dangerous to Europeans than almost any other in British India. Sanatoriums have, however, been established among the mountain regions of northern India, to which invalids are accustomed to retire and enjoy the bracing airs which there visit them, as in a temperate zone. Many years ago, Calcutta, situated in the south-eastern quarter of Bengal, was considered one of the most unhealthy spots on the globe, but, in the course of time, a temperate and regular mode of living, and better knowledge of the diseases of the country, have been introduced, while, by the draining of marshes, cutting of canals, clearing the grounds of trees and jungle, the climate has been greatly improved. The seasons in Bengal are commonly divided into the hot, cold, and rainy, the hot season setting in in March and continuing to the end of May, when the weather becomes nearly intolerable, even to the native. The thermometer frequently rises to 100°, and even to 110° F. During this period the troops are not employed on active service if it can be avoided, and it is often found among those merely stand ing on guard that their dresses are dripping wet with perspiration at midnight. In the middle parts of Bengal this terrific heat is mitigated by occasional thunder storms, with rain and hail, but in the districts contiguous to Bahar a scorching west wind blows during the whole season. The rainy season begins in June and lasts 4 months. The rain is heavy and constant; as much as 5 inches has sometimes fallen in one day, and during the last 2 months alternate fogs and rains prevail, rendering the state of the atmosphere indescribably unpleasant. The setting in of the S. W. monsoon, about the beginning of June, is accompanied by awful thunder and lightning. The cold season, from November to the latter part of February,

is pleasant, the thermometer often sinking as low as 70° F.-The general aspect of Bengal is that of a level country, intersected by numerous rivers and encompassed by lofty ranges of mountains. That part of the Delta watered by the Ganges as it approaches the sea is a perfect labyrinth of creeks and rivers, of jungle and stagnant waters, called the Sunderbunds, a region infested with tigers, and producing inexhaustible supplies of timber. At the annual inundation this region presents the appearance of a vast inland sea, when a curious spectacle is displayed to the stranger, of fields for hundreds of miles covered with water, the rice rising above it, the enormous dikes built to restrain the floods, and the boats floating in immense numbers. This region, lying between the rivers Hoogly and Chittagong, abounds in quantities of salt sufficient for the entire wants of Bengal. Into these Sunderbunds the waters of the 2 mighty rivers, the Ganges and the Bramapootra, meeting, pour their streams, after traversing Bengal in opposite directions, from points 1,200 miles asunder. Many navigable streams pour into these rivers, affording the most ample internal communication. The soil of Bengal in general is a mixture of clay with sand, fertilized by various salts and an immense quantity of decayed animal and vegetable substances. It is a rich black mould, very deep, and loose in its texture, bearing incontestable proof of a country redeemed from the sea, as the bed of sand on which it lies contains shells, and frequently pieces of rotten wood. Even boats and anchors, buried at some remote period, have been found. whole of the soil of Bengal is characterized by amazing fertility, and this quality, in no little degree, is owing to the annual inundation of the Ganges and other great rivers. The lands are very easily cultivated, and yield prolific crops without any manuring beyond that deposited by the inundation. The principal crop is rice, but very good wheat and barley are grown, and various kinds of pulse are raised in great abundance, such as peas, kidney beans, &c., while maize, millet, and other small grains, the food of the poorer classes, are generally sown, especially in the hill regions of the west, and the immense and universal consumption of oil by the natives causes the cultivation of mustard, sesamum, linseed, &c., to be largely attended to. Bengal husbandry, among the natives, is still in a very primitive state. The plough is a rude contrivance, drawn by one pair of oxen, who are relieved by others until the day's ploughing is completed. Weeding, after the crops have risen above ground, is performed by means of a short spade, the laborers sitting down to their task. There are 2 seasons of reaping, one in April, called the little harvest, for the smaller grains, and the great harvest, which is wholly for the rice, of which, however, there are 3 crops sometimes in a year. Different crops are sometimes sown together in one field, which are greatly injured by successive ripening and gathering. After the corn of all kinds is reap

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