BET 



vated, In 1 759, in Kew garden, by Mr. Miller. 4. B. Zi.r- 

 futa, hairy bctony. B. Alpina. Miller. Di£l. n. 3. B. 

 Monierii. Obf. 146. B. Alpina incana purpurea. Barr. 

 ic. 340. B. fo). hirfut. flor. pnrpur. ampliflimij. Ment/. 

 pug. zanon. t. 30. p. 46. " Spikes leafy at the bafe, hel- 

 met of t!ie corolla entire." Rcfcmbling the foregoing, but 

 more llout and hairy, with a fliorter, thicker fpike ; a native 

 of the Alps, ApeniiirtL"!, and Pyrenees, and cultivated in 

 Kew garden by Mr. Miller, in 17^9. 5. B. bcrizch-a. 

 " Spike with woolly calyxes, teeth (i'.iform ; leaves lanceo- 

 late, naked." A native of the Levant. 6. B. Jlrida, 

 Danilh betony. Ait. Hort. Kew. 2. 291. B. Danica. 

 Mi'ler. Dic>. n. 2. " Spike oblong ; helmet of tlic corolla 

 entire, n-.iddle divifion of the louver lip notch-waved ; calyxes 

 hairy." A native of Denmark, cultivated by Mr. Miller in 

 Kew garden, in 1759. 7. B. inran,!, hoary betony. Mill. 

 Did. n. 5. Ait. Hort. Kew. 2. 299. " Spike interrupted ; 

 helmet of the corolla bilii', middle divilion of the lower lip 

 notched ; tube tomtntofe bent in." A native of Italy ; cul- 

 tivated in Kew garden by Mr. Miller in 1759. AH the 

 fpecies of this genus are herbaceous, fibrous-rooted, hardy, 

 perennial plants. The Hems are hmple, or but little branched. 

 The floivers are in whorW, forming a terminating fpike. 



Propagutlon aiu! Culture. All the forts may be propagated 

 by feeds, or parting the roots : they require a fliady iituation 

 and a moid iliff foil. The bell time for tranfplanting and 

 feparating the roots is in autumn, but the feeds {hould be 

 fown in the fpring upon a fliady bordtr; and they will need 

 no other care befides keeping them from weed', and thinning 

 them when they are too clofe. Martyn's Miller. Wood- 

 ville Med. Bot. vol. ii. p. 79. ' 



Betosica Aqua.'ica. See Scroph ulari A. 



Betonica P.iuli. See Vhronica, 



BETONIM, in A/icitiil Geo^ru/i/jy, a city of Gad, towards 

 the north of this tribe, bordering on Manafich. Jofli. xiii. 

 26. 



BETO POULO, in Geography, a fmall ifland in the 

 Grecian Archipelago. N. lat. 37-' 2'. E.long. 1^° 33'. 



BETOWKY, a town of Poland, in Samogitia, 16 miles 

 weft of Rofienne. 



BETSCHKOW, a town of Bohemia, in the circle of 

 Czaflau, miles N.W. of Czaflau. 



BETSE, or Betsetek, a town of Hungary, in the 

 county of Beth, feated on the Theis, near its influx into the 

 Danube. 



BETROTHMENT, in Laiv, a mutual promife of com- 

 paft between two parties for a future marriage. The word 

 imports as much as giving one's troth ; that is, true faith, 

 or promife. Betrothment amounts to the fame with what is 

 called by civilians and canoni(lsy/io«/(;/>a, or f/^oi^/r ; fome- 

 times Acfpnnfat'ion ; and by the French fitingailles. Betroth- 

 ment is cither folemn, made in the face of the church, or pri- 

 vate, made before witnefTes out of the chuich. To betroth by 

 giving tzrrhj-, or earneil, is called, by MiHJlc Age Writers, fub- 

 barrare. In RufTia, the betrothing is performed with eceleh- 

 aftical rit.-s, generally ei.'ht days previous to the marriage, 

 and is indilfoluble. During this interval, the bride is only 

 vifited by the bridegroom, and the girls of her acquaintance, 

 who amufe her with fmgiiig. On the lall evening, the young 

 women bring the bride into the hot bath, where thev plait and 

 tie up her hair. Tinging at the fame time ballads defcriptive of 

 her future happinefs. Among the ancient Jews, the be- 

 trothing was performed, either by a writing, or by a piece of 

 Klver given to the bride, or by cohabitation and confumma- 

 tion. This latter engagement, according to the Rabbins, 

 was allowed by the law (Dent. xxiv. i.), but it has been 

 wifely forbidden by the ancients, on account of the abufes 

 <hat might happen, and for preventing clandeftine marriages. 



BET 



After the marriage was contrafled, the young people had 

 the liberty of feeing each other, which was not allowed them 

 before. If during this time the bride fliould trefpafs againft 

 that fidelity (he owed to her bridegroom, flie was treated as 

 an adultrefs. (Seld. Uxor. Hcb. 1. ii. c. i.) The nuns of 

 the Annunciada hold an annual feall, in honour of the 

 defponfation, or betrothment of the Virgin Maiy to Jo- 

 fcph. 



BETTA, in Geography, a town of Afiatic Turkey, 70 

 miles S.S.W. of Erzerum. 



BETTEMBOURG, the chief place of the cantor, in 

 'the diftiic^ of Luxembuiv, and department of Fo'ets ; con- 

 taining 812 perfons : the number in the canton amounts to 

 10,139. The territory com.prehends 290 kiliometres, and 

 1 2 communes. 



BETTERTON, Thomas, in Biography, a famous aftor, 

 the Englifli Rofciusofhis time, wastlie fou of an under cook 

 in the houfliold of king Charles I., born in 1(^135, and after 

 a tolerably liberal education, apprenticed to a bookfeller. 

 This bookfc-Uer, being the publiiher of lir Willi:. -.n d'Avenant, 

 introduced Betterton into an acquaintance with Inin, and by 

 this means he was brought upon the llage, under his patron- 

 age, about the year 1656 or 1657. After the rellora- 

 lion, he engaged in the company called the Duke's company, 

 formed in virtue of a patent gnmted to fir William d'Ave- 

 nant, which adled at the theatre in Lincoln's-inn fields. Bet- 

 terton, whofe talents had attradled notice, was fent to Paris, 

 by command of Charles T., that he might acquaint himfeit" 

 with the French llage, and contribute on his return to the 

 improvem.ent of the Englifh theatre. A new theatre was ac- 

 cordingly built for d'Avenant's company, in Doifet gardens, 

 and the exhibitions conduced in it were attended with great 

 foccefs. In 1670, Betterton married a Mr.-. Saunderfon, 

 who excelled as an aClrefs on the fame ftage, and who con- 

 tributed, in concurrence with his own exertions, to procure 

 for them not only a comfortable fubfillence, but fucti a lur- 

 plus as might have ferved to maintain them in their advanced 

 age. After the coalition of the two companies above men- 

 tioned, which took place about the year 1685 or 16S6, the 

 merit of Betterton fiione with unrivalled luftre ; and he ac- 

 quired the honour of being at the head of his profeffion. 

 From the account which Gibber has given of his dramatic 

 talents, it appears that no aftor entered with a more difcri- 

 minating judgment into his part, or pofltfrcd a greater com- 

 mand over his audience. The leading ftyle of his afting was 

 the grave, dignified, and forcible. His voice, perfon, and 

 afpett, concurred in giving more fpirit to terror than to the 

 fofter paffions ; and Cibber add?, in bearing ample teflimony 

 to his merit ; " I never heard a line in tragedy come from 

 Betterton, wherein my judgment, my ears, and my imagina- 

 tion were not fully fatisfied." His powers, however, feem 

 to have been rcllritled to a particular walk in tragedy ; and 

 Othello, Hamlet, Brutus, and Hotfpur, are enumerated 

 among his ftriking parts, "and in thefe the range is from 

 calm dignity to fiery impetuofity." 



With refpeft to his private charafler, we are told that it 

 was, like his theatrical, manly, decent, and elevated. Having 

 acquired a moderate property, he embarked it, by the advice 

 of A friend, in a commercial projeft, in wiiieh it was loft ; 

 and yet that friend's daughter, when Ihe became an orphan, 

 was maintained by him as if ftie had been his own. In con- 

 fequence of fome difputes which occurred, he was compelled, 

 by ftage-tyranny, to quit the con-.pany, with which he had 

 been long engaged ; and a new play-houfe was opened bv his 

 efforts in Lincoln's-inn fields, in 1695. The growing infir- 

 mities of advanced age made it necclTary for him to withdraw 

 from the ftage, and to acquiefce, which he did with felf-pof- 

 fcffion and lerenity of mind, in the narrow cireurnftances of 



2 his 



