BEL 
a fquare trench on the ground, leaving a turf in the mid¬ 
dle : on that they make a tire of wood, on which they 
d re fa a large caudle of eggs, butter, oatmeal, and milk ; 
and bring, belides the ingredients of the caudle, plenty of 
beer and w hi Iky j for each of the company muft contri¬ 
bute fomething'. The rites begin with fpilling fome pf 
the caudle on the ground, by way of libation : on that, 
every one takes a cake of oatmeal, upon which are railed 
nine fquare knobs, each dedicated to fome particular be¬ 
ing, the luppofed preferver of their flocks and herds, or 
to fome particular animal, the real deftroyerof them: each 
perlon then turns his face to the fire, breaks off "a knob, 
and, flinging it over his (boulder, fays, “ This I give to 
thee, preferve thou my horfes ; this to thee, preferve thou 
my flieep and fo on. After that they u(e the fame ce¬ 
remony to the noxious animal : “ This I give to th.ee, O 
fox : fpare thou my lambs ; this to thee, O hooded crow ! 
this to thee, O eagle !” When this ceremony is over, 
they dine on the caudle; and, after the fealt is finiflied, 
what is left is hid by two, perfons deputed for that pur- 
pofe ; but on the next Sunday they re-alfemble and finifh 
the reliques of the firft entertainment. 
BKI/TIN'GHAM, near the influx of Weft-Alun into 
the Tyne, this was once a market-town, but now a mean 
village, in the county of Northumberland, ten miles from 
Hexham, and 294 from London. 
BELTUR'BET, a town of Ireland, in the county of 
Cavan; it is a borough, and fends two members to the 
Irilh parliament: eight miles north-north-well: of Cavan. 
BELTZ, a town of Croatia : twelve miles fouth-fouth- 
well of Varafdin. 
BliLVEDE'RE,y. in Italian arciteflure, denotes either 
a pavilion on the top of a building, or an artificial eminence 
in a garden; the word literally (ignifying a fine prof peel. 
Belvedere, fi. in botany. See Scoparia. 
Belvedere, a town of European Turkey, in the Mo- 
rea, and capital of a country to which it gives name : twen¬ 
ty miles fouth of Chiarenza. 
. Belvedere, a town of Italy, in the kingdom of Naples, 
and country of Otranto : five miles eafi of Tarento. 
Belvedere, a town of Italy, in the kingdom of Naples, 
and province of Calabria Citra : fifteen miles S. E. Scalea. 
Belvedere, a town of Italy, in the duchy of Parma : 
fevenienteen miles fouth of Parma. 
BEL'VEZ, a town of France, and principal place of a 
diftrifl, in the department of the Dordogne: four leagues 
fouth-weft of Sarlat, and nine and a half fouth-fduth-eaft 
of Perigueux. Lat. 44. 26. N. Ion. iS. 40. E. Ferro. 
BPILU'GA. See Delphis. 
BELUL'CUM, fi. [from Qe'K©^ a dart, and to 
draw out.] A furgeon’s inftrument for extracting thorns ■ 
or darts. 
BE'LUNUM, anciently a town of Rhaetia, above Fel- 
tria, in the territory of the Veneti.; now Bdluno, capital' 
of the Bellunefe in the territory of Venice. 
BF'LUS, a fmall river of Galilee, at the difiance of two 
ftadia from Ptolemais, running from the foot of Mount 
Carmel out of the lake Cendevia. Near this place, ac¬ 
cording to Jofephus, was a round hollow or valley, where 
was a kind of land fit for making glafs ; which, though 
exported in great quantities, was found to be inexhauflible. - 
Strabo fays, the whole of thecoaft from Tyre to Ptolemais 
has a fand fit for making glafs; but that the fand of Belus 
and its neighbourhood is a better fort; and here, according 
to Pliny, the making of glafs was firft difeovered. 
Belus, the mod ancient king of Babylon, and the firft 
perlon to whom an idol was fet up and worlhipped. 
BELUT'TA,/. in botany. SeeCEi.osiA and Crinum. 
BEL'WETHFR, fi. [from bell and atether. A iheep 
which leads the flock with a bell on his neck: 
The fox will ferve my fheep to gather, 
And drive to follow after their bclwethcr. Spenfer. 
—To offer to get your living by the copulation of cattle ; • 
to be bawd to a bclwethcr. Shakefipearc. —The flock of fheep 
B E M 8 79 
and belwether thinking to break into another’s pafture, and 
being to pafs over another bridge, juftled till both fell into 
the ditch. Howell. 
BELZ, or Belez, a town of Poland, and capital of a 
palatinate to which it gives name, in Red Ruffia: the town 
is large, but not rich or commercial, and is fituated in the 
middle of a fine plain. -This palatinate was joined to Hun¬ 
gary m the year 1773, by an agreement between the em¬ 
peror of Germany, emprefs of Rullia, and'the king of 
Pruflia : 148 miles eaft of Cracow, 152 fouth-fouth-eaft of 
Warfaw, and 268 fouth-fouth-eaft of Konigfberg. Lat. 30- 
30. N. Ion. 42. 44. E. Ferro. 
BEL'ZICA, a town of Poland, in the palatinate of Lub¬ 
lin : fourteen miles fouth-weft of Lublin. 
BE.LZIG', a town of Germany, in the circle of Upper 
Saxony and electorate of Saxony, fituated on the Welle : 
thirty miles eaft of Magdeburg, and twenty-one north of 
Wittenberg. 
BE'MA, / in antiquity, a ftep or pace. The bema 
made a kind.of itinerary meafure among the Greeks, the 
length of which was equivalent to one cubit and two thirds, 
or to ten palms. Whence alfo the term to mea¬ 
fure a road. 
Bema, in the ecclefiaftical writers, denotes the altar or 
fanfluary. in the ancient churches. In which fenfe bema 
niade the third or innermoft part of the church, anfwer- 
ing to the chancel among 11s. 
Bema was alfo ufed for the bifttop’s chair, feat, or throne, 
placed in the fanfluary. It was called bema from the fteps 
by which it was to be afeended. 
Bema was alfo uied for the reader’s defk. This in the 
Greek church was denominated Qr.^a. yvoi-uv^ in. the Latin 
church ambo. 
Bema is more particularly ufed for the Manichees altar, 
which was in a different place from that of the Catholics-. 
Bema was alfo a denomination given by this fed to the 
anniveriary of the day when Manes was killed, which with 
tliem was a folemn feaff and day of rejoicing. One of the 
chief ceremonies of the feaff confided in letting out and 
adorning their bema or altar with great magnificence. 
To BEMAD', v. a. [from be and mad .2 To make mad; 
to turn the brain : 
Of what unnatural and’ bemadding for row 
The king hath caule to plain. Shahefpearr. 
BEM'BE, a province of the kingdom of Angola in A- 
frica. It is divided into Higher and Lower : and extends 
on ope fide along the fea, and on the other divides Angola 
from the foreign ftates on the fouth. The country is large, 
populous, and abounding with cattle; with the fat of which 
they anoint their heads and bodies, and clothe themfelves 
with their hides. The province is watered by the river 
Lat a no , or San Francfco, which abounds with crocodiles, 
fea-horfes, and mohftrous ferpents. 
BEM'BO (Peter), a nobleVenetian, fecretary to Leo X. 
and afterwards cardinal, was an eminent writer of the i6rh 
century. He was a good poet, both in Italian and Latin, 
He publifhed, betides his poems, A Hiftorv Of Venice; 
Letters ; and a book in praife of the Duke and Duchels of 
Urbino. He died in 1547, in the 72d year of his age. 
BEM-CU'RINI,yi in botany. See J usi icja. ■ 
BE'MELS, a town of the Netherlands, in the duchy 
of Luxemburg, fituated on the eaft fide of the Mofelle : 
two miles north-eaft of Graven Macheren. 
BE'MINST ( ER. See Beaminster. 
To BEMi'RE, u. a. [from be and mire .2 To drag or en¬ 
cumber in the mire ; to foil by palling through dirty places. 
BKM'NASIR, a town of Per-fia, in the province of Ker¬ 
man : 140 miles fouth-eaft of Sirgian. - 
T« BEiViO'AN, r. a. [from to moan .2 To lament; to 
bewail; to exprefs furrow for : 
He falls, he fills the houfe with.heavy groans, 
Implores their pity, and liis pain bemoans. Dry den. 
BEMOAN'F.R, f. A lamenter; the perfonthat laments. 
To 
