the court, and the followers of the court, patronised songs of gallantry, rondeaux, triolets, madrigals and sonnets, containing sallies of wit, conceits and effusions of gallantry, in the affected style then prevalent. No one succeeded so well in this art as B., who was therefore called, by way of eminence, le poète de la cour. He received many pensions for his performences, and lived at great expense. Wearied, at last, with the life which he led at court, he retired to his country-seat, Gentilly, and died 1691.

BENSLEY, Thomas; a printer in Fleet street, London. He and Bulmer are among the first typographical artists in England. He distinguished himself first by the edition which he printed of the English translation of Lavater's Physiognomy, London, 1789, 5 vols., 4to. The most beautiful productions of his press are Macklin's splendid edition of the English translation of the Bible (1800-15,7 vols., folio), and that of Hume's History of England (1806, 10 vols., folio), both adorned with excellent copper-plates. Among his impressions of a smaller size, the editions of Shakspeare (1803, 7 vols.), and Hume (1803, 10 vols.), with masterly engravings on wood, are distinguished. He has also furnished several well-executed impressions on parchment, and first used the printing-press invented by Koenig and Bauer, for Elliotson's English translation of Blumenbach's Physiology (London, 1818).

BENTHAM, Jeremy, an English lawyer, born in 1749, never appeared at the bar, nor has he published his chief works himself. They have been arranged and translated into French by his friend M. Dumont, and printed partly in Paris and partly in London. Among them are Traités de Législation, civile et pénale, &c. (Paris, 1802, 3 vols.), and Théorie des Peines et des Récompenses (London, 1801, 2 vols.). B. is a friend of reform in parliament, and of a thorough correction of civil and criminal legislation. His Fragments on Government, in opposition to Blackstone, appeared anonymously in 1776, and with his name, London, 1823. In France, his literary labors found a better reception than in England or Germany. A small pamphlet on the liberty of the press (London, 1821) was addressed by him to the Spanish cortes, during their discussion of this subject; and, in another Three Tracts relative to the Spanish and Portuguese Affairs, London, 1821), he refuted the idea of the necessity of a house of peers in Spain, as well as Mon

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tesquieu's proposition, that judicial forms are the defence of innocence. His latest work is the Art of Packing (London, 1821); that is, of arranging juries so as to obtain any verdict desired. His previous work, Essai sur la Tactique des Assemblées législatives, edited, from the author's papers, by Etienne Dumont (Geneva, 1815), and translated into German, contains many useful observations. His Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation (London, 1823, 2 vols.) treats of the principal objects of government in a profound and comprehensive manner. Zanobelli has translated Bentham's Theory of Legal Evidence into Italian (Bergamo, 1824, 2 vols.). Among the earlier works of B. was his Defence of Usury, showing the Impolicy of the present legal Restraints on the Terms of pecuniary Bargains (1787).

BENTIVOGLIO, Cornelio; cardinal and poet, born at Ferrara, 1668, of a family that held the highest offices in the former republic of Bologna. He early distinguished himself by his progress in the fine arts, literature, philosophy, theology and jurisprudence. While at Ferrara, he patronised the literary institutions there. Pope Clement XI made him his domestic prelate and secretary to the apostolic chamber, and sent him, in 1712, as nuncio to Paris, where, during the last years of the reign of Louis XIV, he acted an important part in the affair of the bull Unigenitus. The duke of Orleans, regent after the death of Louis, was not favorably disposed towards him; the pope, therefore, transferred him to Ferrara, and, in 1719, bestowed on him the hat of a cardinal, and employed him at first in Rome, near his own person, then as legate a latere in Romagna, &c. B. died in Rome, 1732. Poetry had occupied the leisure hours of the learned cardinal. Some sonnets composed by him are to be found in Gobbi's collection, vol. 3, and in other collections of his time. Under the name of Selvaggio Porpora, he translated the Thebais of Statius into Italian. He delivered several addresses before societies for the promotion of the fine arts. His discourse in defence of the utility and moral influence of painting, sculpture and architecture, delivered in the academy of design, at Rome, 1707, was reprinted by the academy of the Arcadians, in the 2d vol. of the Prose degli Arcadi.

BENTIVOGLIO, Guy or Guido, celebrated as a cardinal and a historian, was born at Ferrara, in 1579. He studied at Padua with great reputation, and afterwards, fix

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ing his residence at Rome, acquired general esteem by his prudence and integrity. He was nuncio in Flanders from 1607 to 1616, and afterwards in France till 1621. His character stood so high, that, on the death of Urban VIII, in 1644, he was generally thought to be the most likely person to succeed him; but, on entering the conclave, in the hottest and most unhealthy season of the year, he was seized with a fever, of which he died, aged 65 years. He had lived in a magnificent style, and was much embarrassed at the time of his death-a circumstance attributed to his canvass for the papacy. Cardinal B. was an able politician, and his historical memoirs are such as we should expect from such a man. The most valuable of these are his History of the Civil Wars in Flanders, written in Italian, and first published at Cologne, 1630, a translation of which, by Henry earl of Monmouth, appeared in 1654 (London, folio); an Account of Flanders, during his legation, also translated by the earl of Monmouth (folio, 1652); his own Memoirs; and a collection of letters, which are reckoned among the best specimens of epistolary writing in the Italian language (an edition of which was published at Cambridge, in 1727). All these, except the Memoirs, have been published together at Paris, 1645-1648, folio, and at Venice, 1668, 4to.

BENTLEY, Richard, a celebrated English divine and classical scholar, distinguished as a polemical writer, in the latter part of the 17th century, was born in 1662. His father is said to have been a blacksmith. To his mother, who was a woman of strong natural abilities, he was indebted for the first rudiments of his education. At the age of 14, he entered St. John's college, Cambridge. In 1682, he left the university, and became usher of a school at Spalding; and this situation he relinquished, in the following year, for that of tutor to the son of doctor Stillingfleet, dean of St. Paul's. He accompanied his pupil to Oxford, where he availed himself of the literary treasures of the Bodleian library, in the prosecution of his studies. In 1684, he took the degree of A. M. at Cambridge, and, in 1689, obtained the same honor at the sister university. His first published work was a Latin epistle to doctor John Mill, in an edition of the Chronicle of John Malela, which appeared in 1691. It contained observations on the writings of that Greek historian, and displayed so much profound learning and critical acumen, as excited

the sanguine anticipations of classical scholars from the future labors of the author. Doctor Stillingfleet, having been raised to the bishopric of Worcester, made B. his chaplain, and, in 1692, collated him to a prebend in his cathedral. The recommendation of his patron and of bishop Lloyd procured him the honor of being chosen the first preacher of the lecture instituted by the celebrated Robert Boyle for the defence of Christianity. The discourses against atheism, which he delivered on this occasion, were published in 1694: they have since been often reprinted, and translated into several foreign languages. In 1693, he was appointed keeper of the royal library at St. James's -a circumstance which incidentally led to his famous controversy with the hon. Charles Boyle, afterwards earl of Orrery, relative to the genuineness of the Greek Epistles of Phalaris, an edition of which was published by the latter, then a student at Christ-church, Oxford. In this dispute, Bentley was completely victorious, though opposed by the greatest wits and critics of the age, including Pope, Swift, Garth, Atterbury, Aldrich, Dodwell, and Conyers Middleton, who advocated the opinion of Boyle with a degree of warmth and illiberality which appears very extraordinary. But the motives of B.'s assailants were various. Swift, in his Battle of the Books, took up the cudgels against him in defence of his friend sir William Temple; doctor Garth attacked him probably from mere wantonness, in the well-known couplet in his Dispensary

So diamonds owe a lustre to their foil,

And to a Bentley 'tis we owe a Boyle. Some were actuated by personal considerations, among whom was Conyers Middleton, whose persevering hostility to B., during a long series of years, seems to have originated from the latter having applied to the former, when a young student in the university, the contemptuous epithet of fiddling Conyers, because he played on the violin. It does not appear who was the author of a punning caricature, which was produced on this occasion, representing B. about to be thrust into the brazen bull of Phalaris, and exclaiming, "I had rather be roasted than Boyled." In 1699, B., who had three years before been created D. D., published his Dissertation on the Epistles of Phalaris, in which he satisfactorily proved that they were not the compositions of the tyrant of Agrigentum, who lived more than five centuries before the Christian era, bu

were written by some sophist, under the borrowed name of Phalaris, in the declining age of Greek literature. Soon after this publication, doctor B. was presented by the crown to the mastership of Trinity college, Cambridge, worth nearly £1000 a year. He now resigned the prebend of Worcester, and, in 1701, was collated to the archdeaconry of Ely. His conduct as head of the college gave rise to accusations against him from the vice-master and some of the fellows, who, among various offences, charged him with embezzling the college money. The contest was much protracted, and occasioned a lawsuit, which was decided in the doctor's favor, about twenty years after. In 1711, he published an edition of Horace, at Cambridge, in 4to., which was reprinted at Amsterdam; and, in 1713, appeared his remarks on Collins's Discourse on Free-thinking, under the form of a Letter to F. H. [Francis Hare] D. D., by Phileleutherus Lipsiensis. He was appointed regius professor of divinity in 1716, and, in the same year, issued proposals for a new edition of the Greek Testament-an undertaking for which he was admirably qualified, but which he was prevented from executing, in consequence of the animadversions of his determined adversary, Middleton. In 1717, George I, visiting the university, nominated by mandate, as is usual on such occasions, several persons for the doctor's degree in divinity. It was the duty of B., as professor, to perform the ceremony called creation; previous to which he made a demand of four guineas from each candidate beyond the usual fees, absolutely refusing to create any doctor without payment. Some submitted; but others, among whom was Middleton, withstood the demand, and commenced a prosecution against the professor before the vice-chancellor, who, deciding in favor of the complainants, first suspended B., and subsequently degraded him from his honors, rights and offices in the university. These proceedings were, after considerable litigation, annulled by the court of king's bench; and the doctor, in 1728, was restored to all his former honors and emoluments. In 1726, he published an edition of Terence and Phædrus; and his notes on the comedies of the former involved him in a dispute with bishop Hare, on the metres of Terence, which provoked the sarcastic observation of sir Isaac Newton, that "two dignified clergymen, instead of minding their duty, had fallen out about a play-book." The last work of doctor B. was an edition of Mil6

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ton's Paradise Lost, with conjectural emendations, which appeared in 1732. This added nothing to his reputation, and may, in one word, be characterized a failure. He died at the master's lodge at Trinity, July 14, 1742, and was interred in the college chapel. As a scholar and a critic, B. was very distinguished. The best informed of his opponents respected his talents, while they were loading him with classical abuse, which he did not fail to return with interest. Now that the prejudices, excited apparently by his personal conduct, have subsided, his preeminence in that species of literature which he cultivated, is universally acknowledged. The celebrated German philologist J. A. Wolf wrote an excellent biography of B. in the Analecta, (vol. 1, Berlin.)

BENZEL-STERNAU, Charles Christian, count, born at Mentz, 1750, was, in 1812, president of the ministry for the department of the interior in the former grandduchy of Frankfort, and now lives in the neighborhood of Hanau. He is one of the most humorous writers of our time, and, in the character of his writings, resembles J. Paul Richter. His fame was established by the Golden Calf (a biography, 1802-1804, 4 vols. in the first edition). B. has written much, and all his productions display wit, richness of imagery, and nice observation of character.

BENZENBERG, John Frederic, born, May 5, 1777, at Schöller, a village between Elberfeld and Düsseldorf, studied theology in Marburg, and, in Göttingen, mathematics and natural philosophy. He rendered much service to the latter science, by his observations on the fall of bodies, and the motion of the earth, which he began by experiments in the steeple of the church of St. Michael, in Hamburg, and continued in the shaft of a mine, in the county of Mark, having a depth of 266 feet. He was appointed, in 1805, professor of astronomy and natural philosophy, by the then elector of Bavaria, in Düsseldorf. At a later period, he has written much in favor of the Prussian government; but the influence of his political pieces has not been so great as that of his scientific observations abovementioned. B. lives now retired, near Crefeld, in the neighborhood of the Rhine.

BENZOIC ACID is obtained by the application of a moderate heat to the balsam of Peru: it rises in vapor, and condenses in slender prisms, which are white and brilliant. It has a peculiar aromatic odor. When heated on burning fuel, it inflames

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and burns with a clear yellow light. It unites with alkalies and earths, forming salts called benzoates, which are unimportant, except the benzoate of iron, which, from its insolubility, affords a convenient means of separating iron from its solutions, so as to ascertain its quantity, and also of obtaining it free from manganese, which forms with the acid a soluble salt. (See Benzoin.)

BENZOIN is a solid, fragile, vegetable substance, of a reddish-brown color. In commerce, two varieties are distinguished, viz. the common and the amygdaloidal; the latter containing whitish tears, of an almond shape, diffused through its substance. It is imported from Sumatra, Siam and Java, and is found, also, in South America. Benzoin is obtained from the tree called styrax benzoin, and perhaps from some others. On making incisions into the bark, it flows out in the form of a balsamic juice, having a pungent taste, and an agreeable odor. The pure balsam consists of two principal substances, viz. a resin, and a peculiar acid termed benzoic (q. v.), which is procured from the mass by sublimation. It is soluble in water. This acid is found, also, as a constituent principle in storax and the balsams of Tolu and Peru: it exists in the urine of cows, camels, and even of young children. It is sometimes found in a crystalline form on the pods of the vanilla. Benzoin is not soluble in water, but is readily dissolved in alcohol, by the aid of a gentle heat. The tincture thus made is used in pharmacy. A small quantity of this tincture, dropped into water, forms a white, milky fluid, which is used in France as a cosmetic, under the name of lait virginal. The gum is a principal ingredient of the common court plaster. The acid, as well as the gum, is employed in medicine: they are stimulating, and act more particularly upon the pulmonary system; whence they are used in asthma and chronic catarrh.

BÉRANGER, Pierre, Jean de; a lyric poet, of that class which, in modern literature, is almost peculiar to the French, called chansonnier; born Aug. 19, 1780; educated by his grandfather, a poor tailor; was destined for the printing business, when his talents for poetry excited attention. Lucien Bonaparte became the patron of the amiable poet, who gave zest to his social songs by allusions to the politics of the day. The imperial censors spared him; the royal suppressed his songs, which, for this reason, were read and sung with the greater eagerness. In

1822, he was condemned to imprisonment for 13 months, and deprived of a small office in the royal university. This process increased his reputation. The last edition of the Chansons de P. J. de Béranger, (1 vol., Paris, 1829, 24mo.,) contains the happiest specimens of wit, humor, gayety, satire, and flashes of sublime poetry, which place him by the side of the most distinguished chansonniers of France-Blot, Collé and Panard. B. ascends with singular ease from the lower sphere of poetry to a high and noble enthusiasm, and the rapidity of the transition produces a striking effect. We would refer the reader to his beautiful verses entitled Mon Ame. He was never a flatterer of Napoleon when money or titles were to be gained by flattery, and has never reviled him since reviling has been a means of rising. He is a truly national poet, and Benjamin Constant has said of him, Béranger fait des odes sublimes, quand il ne croit faire que de simples chansons (Béranger makes sublime odes, when he thinks he is making simple songs). Dec. 11, 1828, B. was sentenced, by the court of correctional police, to pay 10,000 francs (about 1800 dollars), and to undergo nine months' imprisonment, for having attacked the dignity of the church, and of the king in his poems the Guardian Angel, Coronation of Charles the Simple, and Gerontocracy. His songs are at once a storehouse of gayety and satire, and a record of the history of his time; and happy is that nation which can boast of so excellent and national a poet. He often sings of wine, and we recollect no other great modern, poet who has written a series of songs on this subject, except Göthe, in his Buch des Schenken, one of the 12 books of the Westöstlicher Divan. The difference between them is striking. Gőthe mixes philosophical reflections and praises of the liquor with a boldness which borders on temerity, while B. is gay almost to extravagance. We doubt whether B.'s poems in translation would ever give a fair idea of the original, because their beauty consists, in a great measure, in the delicacy and pungency of the expression, which could hardly be transferred to another language.

BERBERS; the name of a people spread over nearly the whole of Northern Africa. From their name the appellation of Bar-bary is derived. (See Barbary States.) They are considered the most ancient inhabitants of that country. Their dif ferent tribes are scattered over the whole