BENEDICTION BENEZET. 



497 



licence of their churches, and the mildness of their 

 rules. To the traternity of Moelk, which still exists, 

 but accommodated to the spirit of the times (the 

 government having ordered its revenues to be applied 

 to the public service), the rest of the Benedictine 

 convents in Austria are joined. Many of the nun- 

 neries of this order are reserved for the nobility, 

 because the places in them are equal to the most 

 lucrative benefices. The Benedictines in Sicily, 

 who are, for the greater part, the younger sons of 

 distinguished families, live under very lax rules. In 

 Modena, they have settled again, and received a 

 convent, with revenues for their support. 



BENEDICTION signifies the act of conferring a blessing. 

 In the Romish church Benedictio beatica, or Viati- 

 cum, is the blessing of the penitent sick. Bene- 

 dictio sacerdotalis is the nuptial benediction pro- 

 nounced by the priest on the occasion of a wedding. 

 To give the benediction, is an expression used with 

 regard to the pope, the cardinals, bishops, or papal 

 nuncios, when they bestow a blessing, either in the 

 church, or in the street, with the sign of the cross, 

 on the^eople, or some private person. The pope gives 

 a solemn benediction three times every year j viz. on 

 Maundy-Thursday, on Easter, and on Ascension-day. 



BENEFIT OF CLERGY was a privilege of clergymen, 

 which originated in a superstitious regard for the 

 church, whereby the clergy of popish countries 

 were either partially or wholly exempted from the 

 jurisdiction of the lay tribunals. It extended, in 

 England, only to the case of felony ; and, though it 

 was intended to apply only to clerical felons or clerks, 

 yet, as every one who could read was, by the laws of 

 England, considered to be a clerk, when the rudi- 

 ments of learning came to be diffused, almost every 

 man in the community became entitled to this privi- 

 lege. Peers were entitled to it, whether they could 

 read or not ; and by the statutes of 3 and 4 William 

 and Mary, c. 9, and 4 and 5 William and Mary, c. 

 24, it was extended to women. In the earlier ages 

 of the English Roman Catholic church, the clerk, on 

 being convicted of felony, and claiming the benefit of 

 clergy, was handed over to the ecclesiastical tribunal 

 for a new trial or purgation, the pretty uniform result 

 of which was la's acquittal. This pretended trial or 

 purgation gave rise to a great deal of abuse and per- 

 jury, so that, at length, the secular judges, instead of 

 handing over the culprit to the ecclesiastics for pur- 

 gation, ordered him to be detained in prison, until 

 he should be pardoned by the king. By the statute 

 of 18 Elizabeth, c. 7, persons convicted of felony, 

 and entitled to the benefit of clergy, were to be dis- 

 charged from prison, being first branded in the 

 thumb, if laymen, it being left to the discretion of the 

 judge to detain them in prison not exceeding one 

 year ; and, by the statute of 5 Anne, c. 6, it was en- 

 acted, that it should no longer be requisite that a 

 person should be able to read, in order to be entitled 

 to the benefit of clergy, so that, from the passing of 

 this act, a felon was no more liable to be hanged on 

 account of defect of learning. The English statutes 

 formerly made specific provisions, that, in particular 

 cases, the culprit should not be entitled to benefit of 

 clergy, but the statute of 7 and 8 George IV., c. 28, 

 provides, that " benefit of clergy, with /respect to 

 persons convicted of felony, shall be abolished." 

 This privilege has been formally abolished in some of 

 the United States, and allowed only in one or two 

 cases in others, while, in others again, it does not 

 appear to have been known at all. By the act of 

 congress of April 30, 1790, it is enacted, "that 

 benefit of clergy shall not be used or allowed, upon 

 conviction of any crime, for which, by any statute ot 

 the United States, the punishment is, or shall l>e, de- 

 clared to be death." 



BENEVENTO ; a dukedom in the Neapolitan pro- 

 vince Principato Oltra (eighty-six square miles, with 

 20,348 inhabitants), which, including a city and 

 eight villages, belongs to the papal see. In 1806, 

 Napoleon made a present of it to his minister Talley- 

 rand, who received thence the title of prince of 

 Benevento. In 1815, it was restored to the pope 

 Cattle, grain, wine, oranges, and dead game are ex 



Eorted. The public revenue amounts to 6000 dol- 

 irs. In 1820, the inhabitants revolted. In the 

 most remote times, the state of Benevento belonged 

 to the country of the Samnites. The Lombards, in 

 571, made it a dukedom, which, long after the ex- 

 tinction of the Lombard kingdom, remained inde- 

 pendent. At a later period, it fell into the hands of 

 the Saracens and Normans. The city, however, was 

 not conquered by the latter, because Henry III. had 

 given it to the pope, Leo IX. The city of B. (Ion. 

 14 38' E., lat. 40 6' N.), on a hill between the 

 rivers Sabato and Calore, has 13,900 inhabitants, 

 eight churches, and nineteen convents. Since 969, it 

 has been the see of an archbishop. It has several 

 manufactories. Few cities in Italy deserve so much 

 attention, on account of the antiquities which they 

 contain, as B. Almost every wall consists of frag- 

 ments of altars, sepulchres, columns, and entabla- 

 tures. Among other things, the well-preserved, 

 magnificent triumphal arch of Trajan, built in 11 4, 

 deserves particular mention. It is now called porta 

 aurea (the golden gate), and is a gate of the city. 

 The cathedral is a gloomy building, in the old Gothic 

 style. 



BENEZET, Anthony ; a distinguished philanthropist, 

 born at St Quentin, in France, January 1713. His 

 parents were opulent, and of noble descent. On the 

 revocation of the edict of Nantes, the family associ- 

 ated themselves with the Huguenots ; and, on this 

 account, his father's estate was confiscated, in 1715, 

 who thereupon sought temporary refuge in Holland, 

 and afterwards in England, where Anthony received 

 his education. Of Anthony's juvenile habits and 

 dispositions, but an imperfect account is preserved : 

 it is only known that he became a member of the 

 society of Friends, about the 14th year of his age. 

 In 1731, four years subsequent, he arrived, along 

 with his parents, in Philadelphia. His first employ- 

 ment was that of an instructor of youth at German- 

 town a calling which led him to prepare and pub- 

 lish several elementary books for the use of schools. 

 The leading traits of his character enthusiastic 

 benevolence and profound piety were developed at 

 this period. About the year 1750, he was particu- 

 larly struck with the iniquity of the slave trade, and 

 the cruelty which was exercised by too many of those 

 who purchased and employed the negroes. His voice 

 and his pen were now employed in behalf of this 

 oppressed portion of his fellow beings. Finding the 

 blacks in Philadelphia numerous, and miserably igno- 

 rant, he established an evening school for them, and 

 taught them himself, gratuitously. In this office he 

 was signally successful, and accomplished the addi- 

 tional good of removing prejudices against the intel- 

 lect of the Negro by exhibiting the proficiency of his 

 pupils. 



His first attempts to rouse the public feeling, 011 

 the subject of Negro slavery, consisted in short essays 

 in almanacs and newspapers, which he was indefati- 

 gable in circulating. He soon published a variety of 

 more elaoorate and extensive tracts, among which 

 are the following: An Account of that Part of 

 Africa inhabited t>y the Negroes, 1762; a Caution 

 and Warning to Great Britain and her Colonies, on 

 the calamitous State of the enslaved Negroes, 17G7 : 

 an Historical Account of Guinea, its Situation, Pro- 

 duce, and the general Disposition of its Inhabitants ' 



