B E K 



B E K 



faftory gives employment to many of its inhabitants, and BEKES, a town of Upper Hungary, on the ri-.-er Koros, 

 others are occupied la making filk-gaufe and cotton. Some which gives name to the Gtpenfchaft. 

 conliderable man'jFadurers rchde in the to-.rn, and though it BEKI, Beg, or Beye, a river of Hu: 



is faid to have conlilled of only a few nhabitants at the com- 

 mencement of the lall century, yet the population now 

 amounts to about I^*oo. The parifh, extendnig about five 

 miles in length, by four in breadth, coniifts pri;:cipally of 

 arable land ; but fome farms, with others at Dunlop, are 

 appropriated to the dairy iyllem, and have long been fa- 

 mous for a particular checfe callrd \.\\e Dunhp cheefe. With- 

 in the bounda: y of the parilh is a fmall loch, containing abun 



gary, which run* 

 into the Temes, near Tcmefwar. 



BEIvIA, Bkcouva, or BoQUio, a fmall Biitifh ifland 

 of the Wefl Indies, about 12 leagues in compafs, and con- 

 taining 3,700 acres--, being the leall of the Grenadilles, called 

 by the French, " Little Martinico ;" 35 miles N. E. of 

 Grenada, and G^ leagues from Barbadoes. It has a fafe 

 harbour, called " Admiralty-bay," but no frefli water ; and 

 is principally vifited by the inhabitants of Grenada and St. 



dance of fifh, and near it is plenty of peat mof--. Coal is Vincent's for the puipofe of catching turtle. The foil pro 

 found in many places ; freeftone is abundant, and the lime- duces wild cotton, and plenty of water-melons. This illand 



is dep'M.di-rit on the govenunent of St. Vincent. 



BEKIER, a namegivenby marineistoAboukir, wliichfee. 



BE KING, a V.wn of France, in the department of the 

 Mofelie, and chief place of a canton, in the diltrici of Sar- 

 Louis, 0:1 the SaiTe, 5 miles N.N.W. of Sar- Louis. 



BEKKER, or Becker, Balthasar, in Biography, 

 a famous Dutch divine of the 17th century, was born in 

 1634, at Warthuifen, a village in the province of Gronin- 

 gen, and purfued his ftudics firft in the univerfity of Gro- 

 ningen, and afterwards at Frantker, where he became rector 



(lone quarries are almoil inexhauftible. In the latter fub 

 ftance are frequently found various pttrifaCtions of fhelis, and 

 other marine exuvia ; alfo many other fdiceoi;s p.lrifaAions 

 of woods, moflcs, &c. The population of the parifli and 

 town in I7()2, was 2872. Sinclair's Statiftical Account of 

 Scotland, 



BEITHAR, Ben', in lilography, a learned Arabian bota- 

 nift, calEd yifchad, tlie botaniil, from his (Icill in the fciciice 

 of plants, was born in Spain ; and after viiiting Africa, tra- 

 velled into the Levant, Afia, and even as far as the Indies 



to improve his knowledge. After his return, he was patro- of the Latin fchool. In 1665, he took his degree of doctor 

 niied by Saladin at Cairo, and died in 1248. He wrote of divinity at Franeker, and in the following year he was 

 " A General Hillon,- of Simples, or of Plants, arranged in chofen one of the miuillers of that city. In 1670, he pub- 

 alphabetical order ;" in which he gives the Greek, Arabic, lillied a catechifm, intended for perfons of mature age, m 

 and vernacular names, with the defcriptions of each, and which he maintained fome opinions concerning the right of 

 particularly, in a more detailed manner, thofe not defcribcd Chrillian congregations to chufe their own minilters, and 

 by Diofcorides and Pliny. Beithar's work is extant in tiie concerning the antiquity and ufefulnefs of blfhops, archbi- 

 Parifian, Efcurial, and other libraries. Herbelot. Pulteney's ihops, &c. and in which he Lntroduced fome fuggellions that 

 Hid. and Biog. Sketches, &c. vol.i. p. 19. implied his doubt of the eternity of hell torments, as incon- 



BEITSTADT, in Geography, a lake in the northern fillent with the divine goodncfs, which gave offence to feve- 

 part of Norway. ral divines, and which incurred a profccution before the cc- 



BEIUCO, in Botany. See Hippocratea. elefinftical aflemblies. This catechifm, however, was ap- 



BEjWARA, called alio Hrjhairpcur, in Geography, a proved and commended by feveral learned proleffors ; and it 

 town of Hindoftan, in the country of Lah-ore, about 3 appears that the autlior had not, at the time of its publica- 

 journies or 36 cofies from Sirhind, i6coires N.E. of Jallind- tion, adopted thofe ientiments which involved him In future 

 har, and about 25 geographical miles north of Rahoon, and difficulties. In 1679, he was elecled minifler at Amfter- 

 about 30 fuch miles from Kurepour. dam; and in 16S3, he publiflied his " Inquiry concerning 



BEIZA, or Beziath, a Hebrew word, fignifying an Comets," in which he concurred with Mr. Bayle in main- 

 fgg, in Jewiih Antiquity, a certain meafure in ufe among the taining that they are not preiages of any evil. By this work, 

 Jews ; tliey fay that the bciza contains the fixth part of a as well as his " Expoiition upon Daniel," he gained great 

 log. reputation ; but having attached himfclf irom an early period 



The beiza is alfo a fort of gold coin common among tiie of his life to the Cartelian phiiofophy, lie adopted Dcicaries's 

 Perilans ; it weighs forty drachmas, and from this word, definition of fpirit, and he was hence led to deny all ihofe 

 not from the city of Byzantium, the bezant was formed, operations of the devil and other infernal agents upon man- 

 A bezaut is worth two dinars, and every dinar twenty or kind, which are related in the fcriptures. His argument, as 

 five and twenty drachmas. it is briefly itated by Dr. Maclaine, the trandator of Mo- 



BEK, David, in Biography. See Bf.cic. ihcim's hillory, is as follows: " The effence of mind is 



BEKAA, in Geography, a valley of Syria, anciently cal- thought, and the eflcnce of matter is exttufion. Now, 

 kd Cocle-Syria, or the hollow Syria, feparatcs the chain fince tliere is n^ fort of conformity or connexion between a 

 of mounlaiiis denominated by the ancients Anti-Libanus, thought and exteniioii, mind cannot act upon matter, unkls 

 from the Libanus of the Druzes and Maronites, and by thefe two iubllancts be united as foul and body are in man ; 

 being the depofitory of the water of the mountains that and therefore no leparate fpirits, either good or evil, can 

 enclofe it, is rendered one of the moll fertile dillrifts of all ail upon mankind. Such acting is miraculous ; and mi;-acles 

 Syria ; but the heat of the fun, the rays of which are con- can be performed by God alone. It follows of tonftquencc, 

 centrated by the mountams, is in fummer not inferior to that that tlic fcripture accounts of the a<5lions and operations of 

 of Egypt. The air, however, which 1^ peipetually refrelhed gu-jd and evil fpirits mull be undcrftood in an allegorical 

 by the north wind and by the agitation of the waters, is not lenfe." To this argument it is replied, that by proving too 

 unhealthy. Before the earthquake of 1759, this whole much, it proves nothing at all : for if the want ol a connexion 

 country was covered with villages and plantations of the or conformity between thought and extcnfioii rciidcis iriiiid 

 Motoualis ; but the d;'.huction occafioneJ bv this terrible incapable of ailing upon matter, it is hard to fee how their 

 ealainiiy, and the fubfcquent wars with the Turks, have union Ihould remove this incapixity, fince tiic want of con- 

 occafioned a general deiolation. In. this vale is fituated the foimity and connexion remains notwithftandlng this union. 

 famous Balbec. Befides, according to this reafoniiig, the fupremc being can- 



BEKAVA, or Bekawa, a fmall town of Poland, in the not ail upon material beings : and it is in vain that bekker 

 palatinate of Lublin. maintains the aSraiative by having recourfe to a miracle ; 



lor. 



