8S+ BEN 
Their woolly fleeces, as the rites requir’d, 
He laid beneath him, and to reft retir’d. Dryden. 
Under, as overborne or overwhelmed by fome preffure : 
Our country finks beneath the yoke ; 
It weeps, it bleeds, and each new day a gafti 
Is added to her wounds. Shakefpcare. 
Lower in rank, excellence, or dignity.—We have reafon 
to be perfuaded, that there are far more fpecies of crea¬ 
tures above 11s, than there are beneath. Locke. —Unworthy 
of; unbefeeming; not equal to.—He will do nothing that 
is beneath his high ftation, nor omit doing any thing which 
becomes it. Atterbury. 
Beneath, adv. In a lower place; under.—I deftroyed 
the Amorite before them; I deftroyed his fruits from 
above, and his roots from beneath. Amos. —Below, as op- 
pofed to heaven : 
Trembling I view the dread abyfs beneath, 
Hell’s horrid manfions, and the realms of death. Yalden. 
BENEDI'CITE,/. An appellation given to the Song of 
the Three Children in the fiery furnace, on account of its be¬ 
ginning witlr the word benedicite. This fong in Chriftian 
-worfhip is very ancient, fince it was lung in all churches 
as early as St. Chryfoftom’s time. 
BE'NEDICT, adj. \_benediElus, Lat.] Having mild and 
falubrious qualities : an old phyfical term. —It is not a fmall 
thing won in phylic, if you can make rhubarb, and other 
medicines that are benediB, as ftrong purgers as thofe that 
are not without fome malignity. Bacon. 
Benedict XIV. Pope, (Profper Lambertini of Bo¬ 
logna,) celebrated for his learning and moderation, which 
gained him the efteem of all fenfible Proteftants. He was 
the patron of learned men and celebrated artifts ; and an 
elaborate writer, on theological fnbjeCts. His works make 
12 vols. is folio. He died in 1748- 
Benedict (St.) the founder of the order of the Be¬ 
nedictine monks, was born in Italy, about the year 480. 
He was fent to Rome when lie was very young, and there 
received the firft part of his education. At fourteen years 
of age he was removed to Sublaco, about forty miles dif- 
tant. Here he lived a mod afcetic life, and (hut himfelf 
up in a cavern, where nobody knew any tiling of him ex¬ 
cept St. Romanus, who, we are told, ufed to defeend to 
him by a rope, and to fupply him with provifions ; but, 
being afterwards difeovered by the monks of a neighbour¬ 
ing monaftery, they chofe him for their abbot. Their 
manners, however, not agreeing with thofe of Benedict, 
he returned to his folitude; whither many perfons follow¬ 
ed him, and put themfelves under his direction, fo that 
in a (hort time he built twelve monafteries. In 528, or the 
following year, he retired to mount Cafiino, where idola¬ 
try was dill prevalent in the temple of Apollo. He in- 
. ftruCled the people in the adjacent country, and, having 
converted them, lie broke the image of Apollo, and bnilt 
two chapels on the mountain. Here he founded a monaf- 
■ tery, and inftituted the order of. Iiis name, which in time 
became fo famous, and extended all over Europe. It was 
here that lie compofed his Rcgula Monachorvm , which Gre¬ 
gory the Great fpeaks of as the mod: fenfible and bed- 
written piece of the kind ever publiftied. The time of 
his death i's uncertain, but is placed between 540 and 550. 
He was looked upon as the Eliflia of his time; and is re¬ 
ported to have wrought a great number of miracles, which 
are recorded in the fiecond hook of the dialogues of St. 
Gregory the Great. 
Benedict, abbot of Peterborough, was educated at 
Oxford, became a monk in the monaftery of Chrift’s- 
church in Canterbury, and was chofcn prior by the mem¬ 
bers of that fociety. Though lie had been a great admi¬ 
rer of aYchbiftipp Becket, and wrote a life of that prelate, 
he was fo much efteemed by Henry 11 . that by the influ¬ 
ence of that prince he was eleCled abbot of Peterborough, 
in 1177. He. affifted at tire coronation of Richard 1 . and 
was advanced to be keeper of the great feal, A. D. 1191. 
B "E N 
But he ; did not long enjoy tills high dignity, as lie died on 
Michaelmas day, 1193. Befides his Life of Archbifhop 
Becket, lie compofed a Hiftory of Henry II. and Rich. I. 
Which hath been juftly efteemedas the bed accounts of the 
tranfaClions of thofe times. A beautiful edition of this 
work was publiftied at Oxford, by Mr. Hearne, in 1735. 
BENEDICT! NS, in church hiftory, an order of monks, 
who profefs to follow the rules of St. Benedict. The Be- 
nediCiins, being thofe only that are properly called monks , 
wear a loofe black gown, with large wide fleeves, and a 
capuche, or cowl, on their heads, ending in a point behind. 
In the canon law, they are ftyled black friars , from the 
colour of their habit. The rules of St. Benedict, as ob- 
ferved by the Englifti monks before the diffolution of the 
monafteries, were as follows: They were obliged to per¬ 
form their devotions feven times in twenty-four hours, the 
whole circle of which had a refpeCt to tire pafiion and death 
of Clirift : they were obliged always to go two and two 
together: every day in Lent they were obliged to faft till 
fix in the evening, and abated of their ufual time of deep¬ 
ing and eating; but they were not allowed to praclife any 
voluntary aullerity without leave of their fuperior : they 
never converfed in their refectory at meals, but were obli¬ 
ged to attend to the reading of the Scriptures: they all 
flept in the fame dormitory, but not two in a bed ; they 
lay in their clothes: for fmall faults they were fhut out 
from meals; for greater, they were debarred religious com¬ 
merce, and excluded from the chapel ; and, as to incorri¬ 
gible offenders, they were excluded from the monafteries. 
Every monk had two coats, two cowls, a table-book, a 
knife, a needle, and a handkerchief; and the furniture of 
their bed was a mat, a blanket, a rug, and a pillow. The 
time when this order came into England is well known; 
for to it the Englifti owe their converfion from idolatry. 
In the year 59 (>, pope Gregory fent hither Auguftin, prior 
of the monaftery of St. Andrew at Rome, with feveral 
other BenediClin monks. St. Auguftin became archbiihop 
of Canterbury; and the BenediClins founded feveral mo¬ 
nafteries in England, as alfo the metropolitan church of 
Canterbury, and all the cathedrals that were afterwards 
ere&ed. 
Pope John XXII. who died in 1334, after an exaCt en¬ 
quiry, found that, fince the firft rile of the order, there 
had been of it 24 popes, near 200 cardinals, 700oarchbi- 
fltops, 15,000 bifhops, 15,000 abbots of renown,' above 
4000 faints, and upwards of 37,000 monafteries. There 
have been likewife of this order twenty emperors and ten 
empreffes, forty-feven kings and above fifty queens, twen¬ 
ty fons of emperors, and forty-eight Tons of kings; about 
100 princeffes, daughters of kings and emperors; befides 
dukes, marquiffes, earls, ccunteffes, &c. innumerable. 
The order has produced, a vaft number of eminent writers 
and learned men. Their Rabanus fet.up the fchool of 
Germany. Their Alcuinus founded the univerfity of Pa¬ 
ris. Their Dionyfius Exiguus perfected the eccleliaftical 
computation. Their Guido invented the fcale of mufic; 
and their Sylvefter, the organ. They boat! to have pro¬ 
duced Anfelmus, lldephonfus, Venerable Bede, &c. 
There are nuns likewife who follow the rule of St. Be¬ 
nedict ; among whom, thofe who call themfelves mitigated 
eat flelh three times a-week, on Sundays, Tuefdays, and 
Thurfdays : the others obferve the rule of St. Benedict 
in its rigour, and eat no flefh unlefs they are lick. 
BENEDIC'TION,/ [bencdi&io, Lat.] Blefiing ; a de* 
cretory pronunciation of happinefs: 
From him will raife 
A mighty nation; and upon him fhow’r 
His benediElion fo, that, in his feed, 
All nations fhall be bleft. Milton . 
The advantage conferred by blefling.—Profperity is the 
blefiing .of the Old Teftament; adverfity is the blefling of 
the New ; which carrieth the greater benediftion, and the 
clearer revelation of God’s favour. Bacon. — Acknowledg¬ 
ments for bleffings received; thanks.—Such ingenious and 
indufirious 
