BEN 



1696, lie publiflied " Theatrum tabidorum, feu pbthifcos, 

 atfophiae, et heftics, xenodochium," Svo. London: a work 

 of learning and ingenuity, but abllrufe and theoretical. He 

 made a number of curious experiments to difcovcr the qua- 

 lities of the blood in phthilical patients. He had feen dif- 

 eafcs of the breall, he fays, relieved by difcharges from the 

 legs ; and on th.e other hand, plithifical complaints occali- 

 oned by fuppreffing haemorrhage from the nollrils. He ob- 

 ferves, that conlumption not unfreqiiently occurs in Eng- 

 land, unattended with afftftionsof tlie lungs. The work has 

 been tranflated into moft of the modern languages, and 

 pafTed thr;ing'ii numerous editions, tliough now almoft for- 

 gotten. He alfo republillied, with obfervations, Ivloufct's 

 treatife, called " Health's Improvemtnt." He died tabid, 

 in Ap:'il 1655, ^"'i probably had been induced to employ 

 fo much of his time and labour in acquiring a kiiowledgt of 

 the difeafe from isis own fulftrings. Hallcr. Bil>. Med. Pradl. 

 Benset, Henry, earl of Arlington, an eminent Itatef- 

 man, and favourite miuiller of king Charles H. was born of 

 a good family in the county of MiJdlefcx, in 161S, edu- 

 cated at Chrift-church college, in tlie univerfity of O;;ford, 

 where he diftiiiguilhed himfelf by his appliu-ation, and by his 

 turn for Englilh poetry ; and upon the king'* coming to 

 Oxford, at the breaking out of the civil war, entered him- 

 felf into his fervice, both as a volunteer in the royal army, and 

 as privste fecretary to lord Digby, fccretary of Hate. Upon 

 the failure of the royal caule, he went over to the continent, 

 and became fecretary to the duke of York, and pofiefled the 

 full conlidence and efteem of the royal family. In 165S, he 

 received the honour of knighthood from Cliarles H. and was 

 fent by him in the quality of his rainiflcr to the court of Ma- 

 drid. Soon alter the king's reftoration, fir Henry Bennet was 

 recalled from Madrid, and in 1662, promoted to the office 

 of fecretary of ftate. In 1664, he was created baron of Ar- 

 lington, and at that time was confidered as the king's chief 

 minifter and favoured lervant. He is fuppofcd to have been 

 at the head of the party who procured the fall of the chan- 

 cellor Clarendon. The conduifl of foreign affairs was chiefly 

 CHtrufted to him, and he had a great fliare in the firft 

 Dutch war. About this time \\k introduced Mr. (after- 

 wards fir) Wm. Temple, into public employment. He formed ' 

 one of the principal charafters in the miniftry of that period, 

 diilinguilhed by the appellation of the enla/. From the 

 coUeftion of letters, publifhed by John Dalrymple, it ap- 

 pears, that lord Arlington was one of the commiffioners, 

 who, in 1670, concluded and figntd at Dover, with Monf. 

 Colbert, the French ambaffador, a fecret league between 

 Charles II. of England, and Lewis XIV. of France ; by 

 which Charles agreed to declare himfelf a Roman catholic, 

 and to engage in a war for the deftruilion ot the United 

 Provinces. By one article of this treaty it was ftipulated, 

 that his mcft Chriftian majefty was to furnilh the king of 

 England, before he declared himfelf a catholic, with the 

 fum of 2OO,00ol. Iterling. In conuderation probably of 

 this fervice, however reproachful to thofe who conduced it, 

 and degrading to the king their mafter, and as a recompence 

 for other miniiterial duties, lord Arlington was raifed, in 

 1672, to the dignity of earl of Arlington, and vifcount Thet- 

 ford, and decorated with the order of the gaiter. In 1 674, 

 his conduct, and that of his colleagues in office, fell under 

 the fufpicion of the commons ; and an impeachment was 

 moved againft him, which he efcaped by a fmall majority. 

 In that year he exchanged the office of fecretary of ftate for 

 the lefs refponfiblc, and merely honorary one, of lord cham- 

 berlain : and foon after he was deputed, with two other com- 

 miflioners, on bufinefs of importance to the prince of Orange; 

 but not Succeeding in the condutt of it, his inteieft at court 



BEN 



declined. Tliis was partly owing to his alTjacd zeal againft 

 popery, though he had been always regarded as a fecret 

 friend to the popifli party, and wa=i in reality a convert to 

 that religion. He retained, however, in outward appear- 

 ance, the favour of the king ; and after the acctfiion of 

 James II. who had no afFection for Iwm, he retained the of- 

 fice of chamberlain. He died in July, iCi'j, having pre- 

 vloufly, on his death-bed, as it is faid, reconciled himftlf to 

 the church of Rome. By his wife, who v.as daug'itcr of 

 Lewis de Nadau, lord of Beverwaert in Holland, he^left one 

 daughter, married to the earl of Eufton, afterwards duke- 

 of Grafton, natural fon of Charles 11. 



" The character of lord Arlingt.m fcems to have been 

 that of a thorough coiirtier ; accommodating, eafy, artful, 

 with the habits of pu.()-c bufinefs, rather than cxtenfive abi- 

 lities, and the moderation of timidity rather than the le- 

 ilraint of principle. He jsad liule kiiowkdge of the Eng- 

 lifii ccnftitution, and Icfs regard to it ; but iie wanted firui- 

 ncis and refolution to take the lead in arhilrarj- meafures. 

 His public letters, wlun fecretar)-, were publiflied in I7ai, 

 2 vols. 8vo." Biog. Brit. Gen. Biog. 



Bennet, Thomas, an eminent divine of the church of 

 England, was born in the city of Salifbury in 1673, a:.d 

 fent for completing liis education to St. John's college, Cam- 

 bridge, in the beginning of the year 16S8. Before he had 

 attained the age -of 21 years, he took the degrees of bache- 

 lor and mailer of arti ; and he was cholen fellow of his col- 

 lege. In 1^95, he wrote a copy of Hebrew verfes on the 

 death of qiieeu Mary, printed in the Canibiidge collecHon 

 of verles on that occafion. In 1699, he entered into the 

 controvcrfy between tlie church and the difTenters, and pub- 

 hllied " An Anfwer to the dlilentero' pleas for feparation, or 

 an abridgement of the London cafes." In the year 1 700, 

 he was prefented to the reclory of St. James's at Cokheftcr, 

 where he became a very popular preaclier. During his re- 

 fidence in this place, be publiflied "A Confutation of Po- 

 pery," feveral trafts of controverfy with the diflenters on the 

 fubjed of •' Schifm," and alfo " A Confutation of Quaker- 

 ifm." He alfo publilhed " A Paraphrafe, with Annotations 

 upon the book of Common Prayer," with two letters relat- 

 ing to the fame fubjeft ; and " The Rights of the Clergy of 

 the Chriftian Church." About the year 171 1, he took the 

 degree of dodor in divinity. As his popularity declined at 

 Colchefter, and his falary, which partly depended on volun- 

 taiy fuofcriptions, was reduced from 300I. to 6cl. a year, he 

 determined to remove to London, and accordingly accepted 

 the office of deputy chaplain to Cbelfea hofpital ; and this 

 appointment was fucceeded by the two lefturefhips of St. 

 Olave's, Southwark, and St. Lawrence Jury. Before his re- 

 moval to London in 171 6, he publiflied, in 1714, an Svo. 

 treatife, intitkd " Directions for Rudying ;" and in the fol- 

 lowing year, his " Eflay on the thirty-nine articles of Reli- 

 gion, &c. and the cafe of fubfcription to the articles con- 

 fidered in point of law, hiftory, and confcience, with a pre- 

 fatory epiille to Anthony Collins, Efq.'' fuppofed to be 

 the author of " Prieftcraft in Perfedllon," publiflied in Lon- 

 don in 1709. In 1716, he publiflied a pamphlet, entitled 

 " The Nonjurors' feparation from tlie church of Erv^Iand 

 examined, and found to be fchifmatical on thtir own princi- 

 ples," and a fermon on " The Cafe of the Refc-uied Epif- 

 copal Churches in Great Poland, and Pohflt Pruilla." Souii 

 after, he was prefented by the dean and chapter of St. Paul's 

 to the vicarage of St. Giles, Cripplegate, which aflbrded him 

 a hbcral income, amounting, after leveral deductions, to 400I. 

 a year. For this preferment he was indebted to tlie private 

 interference and recommendation of bifiiop Iloadly. ..(Vfter 

 hi« fettlement in this parifli, in 1717, his tranquillity was 

 C c 2 inter- 



