BET 



his declining life. In 1 709, a benefit was allowed liim 5 and 



on tliis occafioi two eminent aftrefFcs, Mrs. Bracegirdle and 



Mrs. Barry, who had quitted the ftage, afiifled him by their 



appearance before the public, and Mr. Rowe contributed an 



excellent epilogue. In April 1 7 10, he performed again at 



his own benefit ; but the means to which lie had recourfe for 



repelling the gout fronihis feet for this purpofe, proved fatal 



to him on the 28th of that month. He was buried in Weft- 



minller abbey ; and fir Richard Steele devoted a paper of 



the Tatler (N'' 167.) to record the event, and to honour his 



memory. His veneration for Shak-rfpearc refemblcd thst of 



his great fucceffbi-, Mr. Garrick ; and, like him, he derived iiis 



principal renovn from an exhibition of the characters of that 



famous dramatic writer. The few pieces which Bettcrton 



wrote for the ftage, owe their chief excellence to his accurate 



and expreiTive knowledge of theatrical effeft. His widow, 



vith whom he had lived in uninterrupted harmony, did not 



furvive him more than fix months ; nor,indeed,did (he live Ion t 



enough to enjoy the benefit of that penfion which was fettled 



upon her by queen Anne juft before her death. We fhall 



clofe this article with the relation of an anecdote recorded by 



Motraye in his Travels. When Betterton was one day at 



dinner with the archbifhop of Canterbury, his grace expreffed 



to him his allouilliment, that the reprefentation of fables 



on the ftage fhould make a greater imprcflion upon the mind 



than that of truth in the fermons of tlie clergy ; to which 



the aftor, having obtained leave to reply, faid " May it 



pleafe your grace. It is becanfe the clergy, in reading their 



fermons, pronounce them as if they were reading fables : and 



we, in afting our pavts, and ufing in tltem a proper gefture, 



reprefcnt them like matters of faft." l3iog. Brit. 



BETTINGEN, in Geography, a town ol Germany, in the 

 circle of Weftphalia, aud county of Blankcuhtim, 3 miles 

 north of Geroldftein. 



BETTINI, Domes ICO, in Biography, a painter, was 

 horn at Florence in 16.54, and ftudicd at Rome the works of 

 Mario da Fiori, whofe paintings he indulhioufly copied, and 

 whofe ftyle and manner he acquired He painted fruit, 

 flowers, infefts, animals, and Hill life ; his objefts were well 

 difpofed, and fl:ilfully grouped, and had a ftrong charafter 

 of truth and nature. This artill died in 170J. Pilking- 

 ton. 



BETTON, in Geography, a town of France, in the 

 department of the lUe and Villaine, and chief place of a 

 canton in the diftrift cf Rennes ; 1 \ league north of 

 Rennes. 



BETTS, John, in Biography, born at Winchefter, where 

 he received the riidiments of his education, was elefted one 

 of thcfcholais of Chrift Ciiurch Oxford, in 1642. Being of 

 the king's party, he v.-as ejeded the houfe, in that feafon of 

 confufion and trouble, but permitted, after a time, to return, 

 and was made doctor in medicine, in 1654. Conning to 

 London, he was in much requeft, particularly by t^ofe of 

 the Romifli church, of which lie was a member. He was 

 alfo elefted one of the fcllo.vs of the college of phyficians ; 

 and on the rtftoration of king Charles II. was made one of 

 his phyfic^aiis. Bctts publiihed, in 1669, " De ortu ct 

 natura fanguiniti," which was ce.ifured by Ur. Thompfon in 

 his True Way of preferving the blood in its integrity. He 

 alfo publidied an account of the diffei^tion of Thomas Parr, 

 wh ) lived to the great age of 152 years and 9 months. 

 This account was afterwards infcrted in the works of Dr. 

 Harvey, who is fuppofed to have drawn it up. Wood's 

 Athen. Ox. 



DETTYAR, in Geography, a town iC Hindoftan, and 

 the c.ipital rf a province, in the country (f Bahar, So miles 

 N.N.W, of Patna, and 124 N.E. ol ijuaaics. 



BET 



BETULA, Alder, and Birch, in Botany. Lin. pen. 

 11.1052. Reich. 1 147. Schreb. 1419. Tournef. 350. Juff. 

 .J.09. Gxrtn. t. 90. Clafs and Order, monoecia tetrandria. 

 Nat. Ord. amcntacee. Gen, Char. * MaUJlawen in a cylindric 

 ament. Cat. ament imbricate on every fide, loofe, cylindric, 

 confifting of three-flowered fcalcs, in each of which are two 

 very minute fcales, placed at the fides j three equal flofcules 

 fixed to the dilk of each fcale of the calyx. Perianth in each 

 one-lesfed, fmall, entire, three or four-parted ; divifions ovate, 

 obtufe. Co.'-. none. 5/jm. filaments to each four (or three, 

 or two), verv fmall; anthers twin. • Female Jlozierj in an 

 ament of the fame plant. Cal. ament cylindric or roundith, 

 imbricate ; with two-flowered fcales. Cor. none. P'ljl. germ 

 proper, ovate, comprcffcd, very fmall, two-feeded ; ftyles two, 

 fetaceous ; ftigmas fimple. Per. none ; ament under each 

 fide cherifhing the feeds of two florets. Seeds, folitary, ovate. 

 Obf. Betuln^. has the fruits in cylindric aments ; fcalcs 

 three-forked ; feeds with a double lateral wing, jllnus T. 

 has them in a roundidi ftrobile ; fcales roundiih ; feeds an- 

 gular, without wings. 



Efl". Char. Male. Cal. one-leafed, three-cleft, three- 

 flowered. Cor, four-parted. Fem. Cal. one-leafed, fub- 

 trlfid, two flowered. Seed, with a winged membrane on each 

 fide. 



Species, i. B. alba, common biich-tree. Lin. Spec. 1393. 

 Hudf. Angl. 416. Wither. 1065. Ger. 1295. Emac. 1478. 

 Park. 1408. Raiihift. 1410. Hunt. Evelyn. 2 18. Varieties it3. 

 B.peudula, wecping-bircli. y. B. albad.ilecarlica. Lin. Suppl. 

 416. " Leaves ovate, acuminate, ferrate." The common 

 birch-tree is known at firll fight by the filvery colour of its 

 bark, epidermis, or thin outer covcrinij of the bark ; the 

 fmallnefi of the leaves in comparifon with other timber-trees; 

 and the lightnefs and airiucfs of its whole appearance. The 

 branches are alternate, very flexible, covered with a reddiih 

 brownorruffet, and fmooth bark, generally dotted with white; 

 the leaves alternate, bright green, fmooth, (hining beneath; 

 with veins crofling like the mefhes of a net ; the petioles 

 about half an inch long, grooved above, and having at the 

 bafe ovate green glands ; the male aments or catkins, which 

 have their fcales tipped with brown, appear in autumn at the 

 ends of the twigs, abide in winter, and unfold ti:eir flowers, 

 when the female catkins appear in fprlng at the ends of the 

 (hotter branches, on pedicels near a quarter of an inch long ; 

 the bloffoni is tgg-fhaped, concave, and green ; the cerms, 

 two or more, are compreffed ; ami the ftyles and Itigmas arc 

 reddilh. A native of Europe, from Lapland to the fjbalpine 

 parts of Italy; andof Afia, chiefly in mount.ainous fituatici.s ; 

 found with r.s in woods and inoiil hedge;, and flowering in 

 April and May. 



Evelyn obferves, that although the timber of birch is 

 the worll of any, it Iras its various ufes ; as for the farmer's 

 ox-yokes, for hoops, fmall fcrtws, jianicrs, brooir.=, wands, 

 bavin-bands and wythes for faggcU-s and formeriy for ar- 

 row?, bolts, and (hafts. It ferved alfo for ilvlie?, bowls, 

 1 .lies, and other donieftic utcnfils. In New England, he 

 favs, our Northern Americans made canoes, boxes, buckets, 

 ba'lleets, kettles, dilhes, &c. of thi.^ wood, which they curioufly 

 joined v.-ith thrLada made of ceJ;ir-roots ; and out of an cx- 

 crfcence from the bole, boiled, beaten, and dried in an oven, 

 they made excellent fpunk or touchwood, and balls tor play- 

 ing. They alfo conilruiled of it pinnaces, which they ribbed 

 with white cedar, and covered with large flakes of birch- 

 bark, fewed with threads of fpruce roots, and pitched ; to 

 which life it was anciently applied even in Britain. It ferved 

 alfo fir fuel ; birch-treea having been dug in many cf the 

 nieffcs of the well riding 01 Yorklliire, which bum and flame 

 '-.-:e fir and candl;-wjod ; and Phnv fays (N. H. 1. xvi. 



c. 18.) 



