886 BEN 
BENEFI'CIAL, adj. [from beneficium, Lnt.] Advanta¬ 
geous; conferring benefits; profitable; ufeful: with to 
before tlie perfon benefited.—The war, which would have 
been mob beneficial to 11s, and "debruclive to the enemy, 
was neglected. Swift. —Helpful; medicinal.—In the firft 
accefs of fuch a difeafe, any deobflruent, without much 
acrimony, is beneficial. Arbuthnot. 
Beneficial, f An old word for a benefice : 
For that the groundwork is, and end of all, 
IIow to obtain a beneficial. Spenfer. 
BENEFI'CIALLY, adv. Advantageoufly; profitably; 
helpfully. 
BENEFI'CTALNESS,_/. Ufefulnefs; profit; helpful- 
nefs. 
BKNEFICIA'RII,/! in Roman antiquity, denote fol- 
diers who attended the chief officers of the army, being 
exempted front other duty. Beneficiarii were-alio foldiers 
difeharged from the military fervice or duty, and provi¬ 
ded with beneficia to fublift on. Thefe were probably the 
fame with the former, and both might be compriied in the 
fame definition. They were old experienced foldiers, who, 
having ferved out their legal time, or received a difeharge 
as a particular mark of honour, were invited again to the 
fervice, where they were held in great efleem, exempted 
from all military drudgery, and appointed to guard the 
ftandard, &c. Thefe, when thus recalled to fervice, were 
alfo denominated evocati ; before their recal, emeriti. 
Beneficiarii was alfo ufed for thofe railed to a high¬ 
er rank by favour of the tribunes or other magiflrates. 
The word benrfieiarius frequently occurs in the Roman in- 
feriptions found in Britain, where confulis is always join¬ 
ed with it; but befides bcneficiarius coiifulis, we find In Gru- 
tar benrfieiarius tribuni , preetorii, legati, prcefiedli, proconfiulis. 
BENEFI'CI ARY, adj. [from benefi.ee. Holding fome- 
thing in fubordination to another; having a dependent and 
fecondary poffefTion, without fovereign power.—The duke 
of Parma was tempted by no lefs promife, than to be made 
a feudatory, or beneficiary , king of England, under the 
feigniory in chief of the pope. Bacon. 
Beneficiary, f. Fie that is in pofTeffion of a benefice. 
—A benefice is either faid to be a benefice with the cure 
of fouls, or otherwife. In the firfl cafe, if it be annexed 
to another benefice, the beneficiary is obliged to ferve the 
parilh church in his own proper perfon. Aylijfe. 
BEN'EFIELD (Sebaflian), an eminent divine, born in 
1559 at Preftonbury in Glouceflerfhire, and educated at 
Corpus Chrifti college, Oxford. In rf>o8 he took the de¬ 
gree cf doflor in divinity, and five years after was chofen 
Margaret profeffor in that univerfity. He had been pre- 
fented feveral years before to the redlory of Meyfey- 
Hampton in Glouceflerfhire. He publiflied Commenta¬ 
ries upon the firfl, fecond, and third, chapters of Amos; 
a confiderable number of fermons; and fome Latin trea¬ 
ties. He died in 1630. 
BE'NKFlT,y [beneficium, Lat.] Akindnefs; a favour 
conferred ; an a< 5 t of love.—Blefs the Lord, O my foul, 
and forget not all his benefits. Pfialms. 
Offer’d life 
Negleft not, and the benefit embrace 
By faith, not void of works. , Milton. .. 
Advantage; profit; ufe.—The creature abateth his 
flrength for the benefit of fuch as put their trufl in thee. 
Wifidom. —In law, benefit of clergy is an ancient liberty of 
the church. When a pried, or one within orders, is ar¬ 
raigned of felony before a fecular judge, he may pray his 
clergy; that is, pray to be delivered to his ordinary, to 
purge himfelf of the offence objected to him: and this 
might be done in cafe of murder. The ancient law, in 
this point of clergy , is -much altered; for clerks are no 
more delivered to their ordinaries to be purged, but now 
every man, though not within orders, is put to read at the 
bar, being found guilty, and convidled of fuch felony as 
this benefit is granted for; and fo burnt in the hand, and 
BEN 
fet free for the fir ft time, if the ordinary’s commiffioner, 
or deputy, handing by, do fay, Legit ut clericus \ or, other- 
wife, Afflbreth death .for his tranfgreffion. See Clergy. 
To Benefit, v.a. lo do good to; to advantage.—He 
was fo far from benefiting trade, that he did it a great in¬ 
jury, and brought Rome in danger of a famine. Arbuthnot. 
To Benefit, v.n. To gain advantage; to make im¬ 
provement.—To tell you therefore what 1 have benefited 
herein, among old renowned authors, I fiiall (pare. Milton. 
BENEM'PT, adj. Named ; marked out. Obfiolete ; 
Much greater gifts for guerdon thou fhalt gain, 
Than kid or coffet, which I thee benempt. Spenfer. 
BENERMOID', a mountain of Scotland, in the conn, 
ty of Sutherland, fix teen miles fouth of Tongue. 
BENESCHAU', a town ot Silefia, in the principality 
of Op pan, eight miles ead of Troppau. 
BENESCHOW', or Pen'sen, a town of Bohemia, in 
the circle of Kaurzim, where they manufacture the bed 
paper in Bohemia. It is eighteen miles fouth-wed of 
Kaurzim, and twenty fouth-fouth-ead of Prague. 
To BENET', v.a. [from tic/.] Toenfnare; to furround 
as with toils; 
Being thus benetted round with villains, 
Ere I could mark the prologue, to my bane 
They had begun the play. Shakefpeare. 
BENET', a town of France, in the department of Ven¬ 
dee, and chief place of a canton, in the dibriCt of Fonte- 
nay le Comte: three leagues and a half fouth-ead of Fon- 
tenay. 
BE'NEVEN, a mountain of Scotland, in the county of 
InveVnefs, twenty-one miles ead of Fort William. 
BENEVEN'TE, a town of France, in the department 
of the Creufe, and chief place of a canton, in the didrift 
of Bourganeuf, ten miles wed-fouth-wed of Gueret, and 
ten north-north-wed of Bourganeuf. 
BENEVEN'TO, a duchy of Italy, in the kingdom of 
Naples, given to the pope by the emperor Henry III. in 
exchange for fome feudal rights in the city of Bamberg, 
which belonged to the church. A fmall diftriCt, with the 
city of Benevento, was all that formed the duchy, which 
lately produced about 6000 crowns a-year to the pope. 
Benevento, a city of Italy, in the kingdom of Na¬ 
ples, and capital of the Principato Ultra ; the fee of an 
archbidiop, ereCted in the year 969. In a plain near the 
town Charles of Anjou, king of Naples, defeated and kill¬ 
ed Manfred his competitor, in the year 1266. In the year 
545, this city was taken and laid wade by Totila; and, in 
the year 1703, it fullered greatly by an earthquake. It con¬ 
tains nine churches, twelve convents for monks, and two. 
for nuns. The arch of Trajan, called Porta Aurea, forms 
one of the entrances to the city. This arch is in tolerable 
prefervation, and the architecture and fculpture are both 
fingtilarly beautiful. This elegant monument was erected 
in the year of Chrid 114, about the commencement of the 
Parthian war. The order is Compofite; the materials, 
white marble; the height, dxty palms; length, thirty-fe- 
ven and a half; and depth, twenty-four. It confids of a 
fingle arch, the fpan of which is twenty palms, the height 
thirty-five. The intercolumniations and frize are covered 
with bado-relievos, reprefenting the battles and triumphs 
of the Dacian war. Except the old metropolis of the 
-world, no city in Italy can boad of fo many remains of 
ancient fculpture as are to be found in Benevento. It is 
thirty miles north-ead of Naples, and twenty-three ead of 
Capua. Lat. 41. 7. N. Ion. 32. 22. E. Ferro. 
BENEVEN'TUM, a town of the Samnites, formerly 
called Maleventum from the unwholefomenefs of the air, and 
tinder that appellation it is mentioned by Livy ; but, after 
a Roman colony was led thither in the 485th year of the 
city, it came to have the name of Beneventum as a more 
aufpicious title. It is mentioned by fiorace as ancient ci¬ 
ty faid to have been built by Diomedes before the Trojan 
war. Now Benevento. 
BE'NEVIS, 
