BEN 



His works, confilling of commentaries on the iR, 2d, and 

 3d chapters of Amos, fermons and Icclures in divinity, are 

 now fiuik into oblivion. 



BENEFIT, is ufed for a privilege granted to fome per- 

 fon, as of an immunity, or the like. 



Benefit of CLrgy. Ste Clergv. 



BENENAIM, Benenath, Benenasch, or Benenat, 

 ill /yironomy, the outermoft liar, of the fccond magnitude, 

 in the tail of the Urfa major. 



This i-i fometimcs alfo called alaliolh. 



BENENCASA, Count, a Venetian nobleman, born in 

 1745, not mnre diftingiiifhed by his birth than talents, talle, 

 and knowledge in literature, is conicllcd, by M. Laborde, in 

 his " Eifai fur la Mufique," in 4 vols. ^to. puLliditd at Paris 

 in 17S0, to have furnilTied I'.im with the chief part of his in- 

 formation concerning the poets, compofers, muficians, and 

 authors of' Italy ; and for enriching his refcarches. M. 

 Laborde acknowledges with gratitude his obligations. See 

 vol. iii. of'-' EfTai fur la iSIuf." where there art many articles 

 concerning Italian compofers and fingers with which count 

 Benencafa has funiifhed the editor, that breathe the true 

 fpirit of taile, fenfibility, and knowledge. Tl-.is acknow- 

 ledgement had efcaped us in the fir.'l perufal of M. Laberdc's 

 work ; but we always thought the articles concernins: the 

 Itahan compofers and fingers in this work, of a diiicrent 

 colour from the rcll of the book : more hberal, more eii- 

 thufiallic for genius and talents, and a tafte more difcrinii- 

 iiative and refined, than either that of M. Laborde, or his 

 guide, the Abbe Roufl'er. 



When the account of the commemoration of Handtl was 

 writing, the editor being very defiroiis to know what judi- 

 cious foreigners thought of tliofe exhibitions, particidarly 

 Italians, accuftomed to good mufic in their churches, as well 

 as theatres, he applied to count Benencafa, who was then in 

 London, and had been prefent at the performance or the 

 Meifiah in Wtftminfter-abbey, for informati .n concerning 

 the comparative grandeur and excellence of the band, with 

 any other which he had heard, or of which hiftoiy rr fa- 

 Uition had preferved the ir.emory in bis own country. As 

 they had not time for a f;i!l difcuffion of the fubjeft, when 

 it was firft propofed, v'f.'n 'ooce, fignor Benencafa was fo 

 obliging as to honour him with his opinion in a letter, 

 which, before his departure from England, he entreated his 

 permiffion to publiili, and it will not only ferve as an honour- 

 able record of this ftupendous exhibition, but muft have 

 been the more flattering to the projeftors of tlie plan, as the 

 count is an excellent judge of rautic ; having heard, read, 

 meditated, and written on the fubjeft, with a degree of 

 feeling and intelligence, that is equally honourable to him- 

 felf and the art. For this letter, fee the commemoration of 

 Handel, p. 115. 



BENEPLACITO, Ital. a mufical term, implying at 

 plealure ; equivalent to ad libitum, al fiio placers ; which 

 fee. 



BENERMOID, in Gi-r/j-rc/^/^v, a mountain of Scotland, 

 in the county of Sutherland. 



BENESCHAU, a town of Silefia, in the province of 

 Oppau, 8 miles caft of Troppau. 



BENESSOW, a town of Bohemia, in the circle of Kaur- 

 zim, in which fairs are held. 



Ben ES sow, Benfen, Pciijhi, or Panzen, a town of Bo- 

 hemia, in the circle of Leutmeritz, 6 miles S. S. W. of 

 Kamnitz ; famous for the manufaiSlure of the bell paper 

 that is made in Bohemia. 



BENET, a town of France, in the department of Vendee, 

 and chief place of a canton, in the dillricl of Foutcnay le 

 Cointt, 35 leagues fouth-caft of Fontenay. 



BEN' 



Benet Cape, a bay, lying on the fouth Hdeofthe weflem 

 peninfula of the ifland of St. Domingo, and foiTning with the 

 line to Petit Goave on the north fide, the narrowell part or 

 ifthmus. N. lat. 18° 20'. W. long. 72° 47'. The cape is 

 the well point of the bay, and cape Jacquemcl the eaft 

 point, nearly call and weft from each other. 



BENETTO, a river in the ifland of Ceylon, 2 miles 

 fouth from Baibtrain ifland, having on the fouth fide a 

 fmr.ll fort upon a hill, under which is a good road in 15 fa- 

 thoms. 



BENEVEN, a mountain of Scotland, in the county of 

 Invernefs, 21 miles call of Fort William. See V>i.s Nev'u. 



BENEVENTE, a town of France, in the department 

 of the Crcufe, and chief place of i canton, in the dillrict of 

 Bourgantuf; 10 miles N.N W of Bourganeuf. — Alfo, a 

 town of Spain, in the province of Leon, fcated on the river 

 Efla. N. lat. 42" 4'. W. long. 5' 5'. 



BENEVENTO, a chy of Italy, in the kingdom of Na- 

 ples, in a duchy of the lame name, comprehending, befides 

 the city, a dillrift of fome miles. This capital of the Prin- 

 cipatro Ultra, or principality of Benevento, and fee of an* 

 archbilhop belonging to the pope, is fituated at the point of 

 a hill, between two narrow vaUies, in one of which runs tHe 

 river Sabato, and in the other the Calore, near the confluence 

 of ihefe two ftreams. N lat. 41'' 6'. E. long. 14'^ 57'. 



One of the entrances into the city, is througli the arch 

 of ^I'rajan, now called the " Porta Aurea," which is in tole- 

 rable prefervation, and one of the moit magnificent remains 

 of Roman grandeur out of Rome. The architecture and 

 fi:lpcure are both fuigularly beautiful. This elegant mo- 

 nument was erected in the year of Chrift 114, about the 

 commencement of the Parthian war, and after the fuhmiffion 

 o*^ Decebaius had entitled Trajan to the name of Dacicus. 

 The order is compofite ; the materials, white marble ; the 

 height, 60 palms ; length, 375 ; and depth, 24. It con- 

 fills of a fingle arch, the fpace of which is 20 palms, and 

 the height 35. On each fide of it, two fluted columns, 

 upon a joint pedeilal, fupport an entablement and an attic. 

 The intercolumniations and frize are covered with baflb-re- 

 lievos, reprefer.ting the battles and triumph of the Dacian 

 war. In the attic is the infcription. As the fixth year of 

 Trajan's confulate,"markedon this arch, is alfo to be leen on 

 all the military columns erefted by him along his new road to 

 Brundufium, it is probable, the arch was built to commemot- 

 rate fo beneficial an undertaking. No city in Italy, Rome 

 excepted, can boait of fo many remains of ancient fculpture, 

 as are to be found in Benevento. Scarcely a wall is built 

 of any thing but altars, tombs, columns, and remains of en- 

 tablatures. The moll confiderable are in the upper town, 

 fuppofcd by Swinburne (Travels in the two Sicilies, vol. ii. 

 p. 336.) to be the fite of the old one. 



Tiic cathedral is a clumfy edifice, in a ftyle of Gothic, or 

 rather Lombard, architedlure. This church, dedicated to 

 the Virgin Mary, was built in the fixth century, enlarged in 

 the eleventh, and altered confiderably in the thirteenth, when 

 archbifiiop Roger adorned it with a new front. In the 

 court Hands a fmall Egyptian obtlill-:, of red granite, crowded 

 with hicroglvphics. In the adjoining fquarc, area fountain, 

 and a very indifferent llatue of Benedid XIII., long arch- 

 bifliop of Benevento. 



The writers of the Bencdiftine hiHory fix its origin in the 

 years immediately fucceeding the Trojan war, and claim 

 Diomed, the Etolian chief, as its founder. Others ailign it 

 to the Samnites, who made it one of their chief towns, 

 whithtrthcy frequently reforted for refuge, when worfted by 

 the Romans. In their time, its name was " Maleventnm," 

 of uncertain etomology, but after the conqucft of Samnium, 



changed. 



