B E S 



on a iVparatcfrtot-ftalk, and fmall, tubiilous, of a pale yellow 

 wlour. A iiativd of Martliiico, Jamaica, &c. 3. B. crlJLitJ. 

 " Pediiiiclc:i firr.ple, folitaiy ; calyxes fenate-cielled." A 

 {hnibby plant, dintrtnt in its habit from \.\m foiegoin;^, clinib- 

 mcr up trees, and adhering to them by roots ifuiiig Irom the 

 joints ; tlie twigs ronnd, hirfute, and long ; the leaves ovate, 

 aeiite, ferrate, hirfute, wrinkled, veined, pelioled, oppolite, 

 two inches long ; peduncles one-flovvertd, axillary, bent 

 down, alnioft as long as tlie leaves ; calyx bright fcarlet ; co- 

 rolla yellow; llamens proceeding from a common men.branc, 

 fattened to the tube ot the corolla, and cleft longitudmally at 

 its gibbous part. Before the difpcrfion ot the pollen, the fila- 

 ments are upright ; afterwards interwoven as in Martyni.i. .A 

 yellow confpicuous gland embraces the germ. A native 

 of Martinico, in moill mountainous woods. 4. B. l/ivalvis. 

 " Calvxes bivalve, torn." Stem herbaceous, long, creeping, 

 hsiry, round ; leaves oppofite, petiolcd, veined, hairy, nerved, 

 a hand's breadth long ; peduncles lateral, oppofite, (liorter 

 than the Itaves, two from each axil, one-flowered ; berry oval, 

 with a hard two-celled nucleus ; refembling the third fpccies 

 in ihe leaves and calyx, but very different in the fruit, and in 

 wanting the five leaved perianth. Ob(erved at Surinam by 

 Dahlberg. 5. B. bijlora. Cyrtandra biflora, Forft. gen. 3. 

 n. I. " Peduncles two-flowered; involucre caducous, in- 

 flated ; leaves ovate, quite entire." A native uf the ifland 

 of Otaheitc. 6. B. cyiiiofa. " Peduncles cymed ; pedicels 

 with little bratles ; leaves ovate, crenate." A native of the 

 ifland of Tanna. 



Propagation and Culture. Tliefe plants grow naturally in 

 the warm parts of America. The Iceds (hould be fown on a 

 hot-bed early in the fpring, and the plants, when half an inch 

 high, tranfplanted each into a Imall pot filled w"ith liglit frcfti 

 earth, and plunged into a hot-bed of tanner's bark, watered 

 and Ihadcd till tliey have taken root; afterwards according to 

 the warmth of the Icafon, and of the bed in which they are 

 placed. When the plants have filled thefe fmall pots with 

 their roots, they iTiould be fliaken out, and their roots trimmed 

 and put into large pots filled with light fieOi earth, and 

 pJunged again into the hot -bed, where they (hould have much 

 air in warm weather, and be fre-quentiy watered. Thus 

 mansged, the plants will thrive in fummer, but in winter they 

 mull be removed into the ftove, and often, but fparingly, 

 watered. In tlie fecond year thefe plants will flower ; they 

 fomctimes perfeiA their feeds in this country ; but as they 

 will not live in the open air, thty muff be conllar»tl-y prfferved 

 in the (love. Martyn. 



BESONS RocKr, in Geography, are two fmall rocks off 

 the weilern point of Cornwall, bearing W.S.A'v'. from cape 

 Cornwall, and N.N.E. from the Long ihips. tJhips may fail 

 within them without danger. 



BliSORCH, in Commerce, a coin of tin, or of fome alloyed 

 iretal, current at Ormus, at the rate of about Jj parts of a 

 farthing ilerling. 



BESOS, or Betulus, in Gcographv, a river of Spain in 

 Catalonia, which runs into the fea not tar from Barcelona 



BESSAPA R A, in j-lucient Geography, a town of Thrace, 

 fituate I 2 miles from Philippopolis. 



BESS All A, a town of Alia in AtTyria, fcated near the 

 Tigris. Ptolemy. 



BESSARABIA, Budziac, or Boopjak, in Geography, 

 is a fmall country of Turkey in Europe, lituate between' tlie 

 north branch of the Danube and the river Dneiller, and 

 bounded on the well by Moldavia, on the fouth by the Da- 

 nube, on the call by the Black fea, and on the north by Ruf- 

 fja. It was anciently the country of the Getre and Peuciiii ; 

 but it is now inhabited by the independent Tartars, of whom 

 ferae have fixed habitatioos in their villages, and others lead a 



B E S 



kind of wandering life, fuhlilling on the flcHi of their oxtn 

 and horfes, and on the milk of mares, and the cheefe which 

 is made of it. In their religion, manners, and cullcms, they 

 refemble the Grim Tartars. When an army is fent to attack 

 them, they retire into inaeceffible mountains, on the coall of 

 the Black fea, whence it is inipoffible to expel them, on ac- 

 count of the moialles and defiles. The chief towns are Ben- 

 der, Akerinan, Kilia, and Ifmail. This country, and alfo 

 Walachia, on which it borders towards the fouth-e.iil, contain 

 fome lakes of -confidciable extent, as thole round Ifmail, and 

 that to the eall of SurzR, which commuiricates with the Da- 

 nube, and forms a part of that river. 



BESSARION, Cardinal, in Biography, was born at 

 Trebifond in 1 395, and educated atConftantinople, under fome 

 of the mod learned Greeks of that period. In the courfe of 

 his education, he adopted the principles of ike Platonic philo- 

 fophy, and was more confirmed in them by the lectures of 

 George Gemilhis Pletlio, on whom he attended in the Morea. 

 Thefe principles he combined with his iytlem of Chriilian 

 theology. Having taken the religious habit of St. Balil, he 

 was foon advanced to the bithopric of Nicjea, and employed 

 by the Greek church to attend on their behalf at the council 

 held under pope Eugeniiis IV. finl at Ferrara, and afterwards 

 at Tlorence, in 1439 ; with a view of efletling an union be- 

 tween die Latin and Gr<ek churches. But he incurred the 

 dilpleafure of the Greeks by inclining to the party of the La- 

 tins, and propofing an union of the two nations, to the prcju- 

 d-ice of the former, who were required unequivocally to declare 

 that the Rom^.n pontiff was the fupreme head oi the univcrlal 

 church. BefTarion became unpopular in his own country, 

 nor could he venture to revifit Conflantinojtle ; but remain- 

 ing at Rome, and fublcribingthe articles of tSie Latin church, 

 he was recomptnfed, in 14-^91 by a cardinal's hat, and he was 

 alfo created titular patriarch of Conftantinople. Having 

 perfefted himfelf in an acquaintance with tlie Latin language, 

 he was from this time employed by the popes in feveral con- 

 cerns of moment. Nicholas V. after naiiiing him to the 

 hifliopric, lirlf of Sabina, and afterward? of Frafcati, fent 

 him as legate to Bologna, where he refided from the year 

 1450 to 1455, and contributed to revive and incrcafe the 

 reputation of the uni'-erl^ty. Upon the tieath of Nicholas, 

 the cardinals had an intention ot advancing him to the papal 

 fee ; but when they waited upon him with this view, they 

 were prevented from feeing him by one of his attendants, who 

 would not allow him to be dillurbed in his fludies; upon 

 which BefTarion, when he was infonned of the faii, faid to 

 him, " Perot, thy incivility has coll thee a hat, awd me the 

 tiara." Beffarion was employed by tltc popes Calixtus III. 

 »nd Pius II. in iieg«ciating the wiihed-for iciigue againft the 

 Turks, and deputed for this pui-pofe to Alphonlo, king of 

 Naples, and the emperor Frederic-. Duiing the pontitieiite 

 of Paul II. he hved at Rome, and diflinguifhed hiinlelf in the 

 promotion of literature, by opening an academy in his palace 

 tor the Uudy of pliilofophy, and for gaining a critical know- 

 kdge ot the Greek and I^atin languages : nor was he lefs 

 liberal and aftive in encouraging every other branch of fcicnce, 

 by countenancing with his prefence and patronage thofe ai- 

 femblies that were fieqiicnted by the Greeks and Italians for 

 the purpole of mental improvement. His library, which con- 

 tained many Greek MSS., is faid to have coil him 30,000 

 crowns ; and this he pi efentcd, in 1468, to the republ.c of 

 Venice, where it became the chief foundation of the library 

 of St. Mark. Having received from pope Sixtus IV. the 

 appointment of legate to France for the purpole of reconcil- 

 ing king Lewis XI. and the duke of Burgundy, he paid his 

 firll vifit to the duke, and thus offended Lewis to fueh a de- 

 gree, that he treated hi.n with rudenefs, and difinifled hiai 



3 without 



