BEN 



returned to th« eaft, and was ordained prreft by the Maro- 

 nite patriarch of Anlioc'h, and from thence he was fent to 

 Roms, in order to tranfaft fame affairs relating to the church 

 at Antioc'o. PriviouHy to his propofcd return, he was in- 

 vited to riorence by tiie grand duUe Cofmo III. where he 

 was employed in arranging the types which Ferdinand de 

 Mcdicis liad caufed to be to'jnded for printing books in the 

 oriental languages. Under liis infpcftiou feveral eaftt-rn ma- 

 nufcripts were printed. Ccfmo, in order to retain Benoit in 

 bis fervlce, appointed him Hebrew profefT^r at the univerlity 

 of Pifa, where he acquired great reputation for his charac- 

 ter and learning among the literati of Italy. At t!ie age of 

 44, he entered into the fociety of Jefuits, and was employed 

 by Clement XI. as one of the corredlors of the editions of 

 the Greek, fathers ; and on the foiicitation of cardinal Qni- 

 rini, whom he had aflllled in his ftudies, he published, at an 

 advanced age, an edition of " Ephrem Synis ;" the two firft 

 volumes of which, begnn in 17^0, were, after twelve years' 

 labour, given to the public; but in 17.^2, whilft he was 

 profecuting the third, and after he had advanced throu<jh 

 one half of it, he was carried off by a fcvere illnefs in his 

 80th year. This volume was completed by AiTi-manni, in 

 1743. Benoit alfo tranflated part of the Greek Menology, 

 and wrote fome diflertations relating to the works of Ephrem 

 .Syrus. Moreri. Gen. Biog. 



BENON, in Geography, a town of France, in the depatt- 

 ment of the Lower Charente, and chief place of a canton, 

 in the diftricl of Rochcfort ; jJ- leagues N. N. E. from 

 llochcfort. 



BENOU, a town of Arabia, i 10 miles fouth-eaft from 

 Ei-Catif. 



BEXOWN, the capital of Lulamar, an interior king- 

 dom of Africa, placed by Rennell in N. lat. 15° 6'. \V. 



long. 6° 58'. Sec LuDAM.AR. 



BENRAD, a town of Germany, in the circle of Well- 

 phalia, and duchy of Berg ; 7 miles S.S.E. of DufTeldorp. 



BENSEN. SeeBESEssow. 



BENSBERG, a town of Germany, in the circle of Weft- 

 phalia, and duchy of Berg ; 7 miles call of Mulheim. 



BENSERADE, Isaac de, in Biography, a celebrated 

 French poet, was born at Lions, near Roan, in Normandy, 

 in 161 2. The vivacity of his genius, and the pleafantry of 

 his converfation, were well calculated to fecure his reception 

 at court, and to promote \\H advancement under the patron- 

 age of cardinals de Richelieu avid Mjzan'n, who provided 

 for him in a liberal manner by gifts and penlions. Tlie poe- 

 try in which he excelled was that of the gallant and fatirical 

 kind, compofed for the court-ballets, before operas came 

 into vogue ; and in thefe he ingenioufly adapted to the per- 

 fonages of antiquity the known charafters and adventures 

 of tbofe who reprefented their parts in fiction. His fuccefs 

 in this way induced him to make an attempt for turning all 

 Ovid's Metamorphofesinto rondeaus; but this work, though 

 favoured by the king, and fet off bv all the ornaments of 

 engraving, was ridiculed from its firft appearance. As he 

 aimed at point and conceit, the prevalence of a better tafte 

 in the age of Lewis XIV. funk him into negleft. In 1674, 

 he was chofen a member of the French academy. Towards 

 the clofe of his hfe, he abandoned the court, and' retired to 

 Gentilly, where he embellifhed his houfe and gardens with a 

 variety of ornaments that indicated hispoeticil genius. He 

 was much afflitted with the ftone, the excruciating pain of 

 which he is faid to have endured with fortitude and refigna- 

 tion. His later years were confecrated to works of piety 

 and devotion ; and he tranflated almoll ail the Pfalms. He 

 died in 1691 ; and after his death his works were printed in 

 two volumes. Geo. Did. Nouv> Did. Hift. 



BEN 



BENSHAU3EN, in Geography, a town of Germany, 

 in the circle of Franconia, and county of Henneburg ; 7 

 miles fuuth-eaft of Smalkalden. 



BENSHEIM, a town of Germany, in the circle of 

 the L'pper Rhine, and archbilhopric of M^yence ; 20 miles 

 north of Heidelberg. 



BENSON, (iEoRGE, in Bto<;raphy, a diffenting divide of 

 confiderable reputation for biblical learning, was born at Great 

 Salkeld in Cumberland, on the lit of September 1699. When 

 he had finilhtd tiis preparatory lludies, he completed his educa- 

 tion for the miuilby at the univerfity of Glafgow. At 

 Abingdon in Berkflure, where he firit fettled as pallor in the 

 year 1723, he continued for about feven years; and bdides a 

 fedulous attention to the duties of hisofiicc, he emplovcd his 

 time in a critical ftudy of the facred writirgs. His firft 

 work, publifhed during his refidence in this town, wa.> "A 

 Defence of the Reafonablencfs of Prayer," accompanied 

 with a tranflation of a difcourfe of Maximus Tyrius, on the 

 fame fubject, together wuh rem.^rks upon it. A new edi- 

 tion of this, and ot his piece on prcdeitination, was pubhlTied 

 in 1737, under the title of " Two Letters to a Friend, &c." 

 In 1729, he left Abingdon, and removed to the charge of 

 a congregation in Southwark, with which he continued for 

 eleven years. In 1731, he pubhlhc ! " A Paraplirafe and 

 Notes on St. Paul's Epiftle to Philemon," in imitation of 

 the manner of Mr. Locke ; and to tliis he added " An Ap- 

 pendix, (liewing that St. Paul cculd neither be an enthufiaft 

 nor an impoftor, and coafcquentlv the Chnftian religion muit 

 be, as he has reprefented it, heavenly and divine." This 

 argument was afterwards illullrated and improved in the moft 

 mallcrly manner by lord Lyttelton. This work, being fa- 

 vourably received by the public, was fucceeded by Para- 

 phrafes and Notes, after the fame manner, on the two epiftles 

 to the TheiTalonians, the firft and fe-condepiiUes of Timothy, 

 and the epiille to Titus ; together with diflertations on feve- 

 ral important fubjecls, particularly on infpiration. In 1735, 

 he publifhed, in three thin volumes, 4to. " The Hiftory of 

 the firft planting of theChriftian religion, taken from the A£ts 

 of the Apollles, and their Epiftles, &c." A fecond edition 

 of this work, commonly bound up in one large volume, 

 was publifhed in 1756. In 1740, Mr. Benfon was chofen 

 paftorof the congregation of protellant difTcnters, in Crouched 

 Friars, London, in the room of Dr. Harris ; and in this 

 connexion, with the learned and candid Dr. Lardner as his 

 affiftant for fome years, he continued till his death, which 

 happened on the 6th of April, 1762. In 1743, he pub- 

 liihed his treatife " On the Reafonablenefs of t.'ie Chnftian 

 Religion, as dehvered in the Scriptures;" and in coiifidera- 

 tion of his great abilities and learning, the univerfity of 

 Aberdeen conferred upon him the degree of doctor in dig- 

 nity. Dr. Benfon, having finifhed thofe epiftles of St. Paul, 

 on which he intended to write Paraphrafes and Notes, pro- 

 ceeded to explain, after tlie fame manner, the feven catho- 

 lic epiftles, viz. that of St. James, the two epiftles of St. 

 Peter, that of St. Jude, and the three epiftles ot St. John. 

 A volume of mifcellaaeous fermons, in 1747, was the laft of 

 his public works. His pofthumous writings, edited by Dr. 

 Amory, appeared two years after his death, containing a 

 life of Chrill, and other theological eflayf . The labours of Dr. 

 Benfon in facred literature met with a very favourable recep- 

 tion in foreign countries, as well as in Great Britain and 

 Ireland, from the truly inquifitive and learned, and intro- 

 duced him to a friendly acquaintance and correfpondcnce 

 with many perfons, eminent for their literature and rank in 

 the eftabliihcd church, as well as among the difl'tnter.-. Of 

 tliefc we m.av enumerate fir Peter King, lord chancellor of 

 England ; lord Barringtoa ; archbiftiop Herring ; bifhops 



Houdly, 



