BEN 
BE'NEVI'S, or<BENNEVis, a mountain of Scotland, in 
the county of Invernefs, 4300 feet above the level of the 
lea, and (even miles north of Callender. 
BENE'VOLENCE, f. \_benevolcntia, Lat.J Difpofition 
to do good; kindnefs ; charity; good will, The good 
done; the charity given : 
Grafp the whole worlds of rcafon, life, and fenfe, 
In one clofe fyftem\o.f benevolence. Pope. 
\ 
Benevolence is ufed in the chronicles and ftatutes of 
This realm for a voluntary gratuity given by the fubjeCts 
to the king. And Stow faith, that it grew from Edward 
the Fourth’s days: we find it alfo 11 Hen. VII. c. 10, 
yielded to that prince in regard of his great expences in 
wars, and otherwife. 12 Rep. 19. And by add of parlia¬ 
ment, 13 Car. 11 . c. 4, it was given to Charles II. but with 
a provifo that it fiiould not be drawn into future example: 
as thofe benevolences were frequently extorted without a 
real and voluntary content, fo that all fupplies of this na¬ 
ture are now by way of taxes, by grant of parliament; any 
other way of railing money for the crown is illegal. Stat. 
1 Will. & Mary, 2. c. 2. It was abolifired by Richard Ill. 
BENK'VOLENT, adj. [ benevolens , benevolentia , Lat.J 
Kind ; having good will, or kind inclinations.—Thou 
good old man,-benevolent as wife. Pope. 
BENEVOLEN'TI A Regis Habenda, the form of 
purchaling the king’s pardon and favour, in ancient fines 
and fubmifiions, to be reftored to eftate, title, or place. 
Paroc/i. Antiq. 172. 
BENE'VOLENTNESS,^. The fame with Benevo¬ 
lence. 
BE'NEZET (Anthony), an American, who in early life 
was put apprentice to a merchant; but, finding commerce 
opened temptations to fraud, he declined it, and devoted 
himfelf to fchool-keeping, in which employment he con¬ 
tinued during the greatell part of his life. He was author 
of a “ A Caution to Great Britain and her Colonies, on 
the calamitous State of the enflaved Negroes in the Britifh 
Dominions, Svo. 1767;” alfo an “ Account of Guinea; 
with an Enquiry into the Rife and Progrefs of the Slave 
Trade, and its lamentable Effects, Svo. 1772 ;” and fome 
other traits on the fame (object. He pofleffed uncommon 
activity and indtifiry in every thing he undertook. He 
ufed to fay, “ the higheft aCt of charity was to bear with 
the unreafonablenefs of mankind.” He generally wore 
plufh clothes; and gave as a reafon for it,- that after he 
had worn them for two or three years, they made comfort¬ 
able garments for the poor. Few men ever lived a more 
difinterelted life ; and yet upon his death-bed he faid, he 
wilhed to live a little longer, “ that he might bring down 
self.” The laft time he ever walked acrofs his room 
was to take from his defk fix dollars, which he gave to 
a poor widow whom he had long allifted to maintain. His 
funeral was attended by perfons of all religious denomi¬ 
nations, and by many hundred negroes. An officer, who 
had ferved in the American army during the late war, in 
returning from the funeral, pronounced an eulogium up¬ 
on him. It confided only of the following words : “I 
would rather (faid he) be Anthony Benezet in that coffin, 
than George Waftiington with all his fame.” 
BEN'FIEI.D, or Benfel'den, a town of France, and 
principal place of a diftriCt, in the department of the Low¬ 
er Rhine, fituated on the Ill, three leagues north-north- 
eafl of Schletiftat, and four and a half fouthof Strafburgh. 
I.at. 48. 22. N. Ion. 25. 15. E. Ferro. 
BENFI'OL, a mountain of Scotland, in the ifland of 
Coll. 
BENGA'L, a country of India, and the mod eafterly 
part of Hindoftan, lying on each fide of the Ganges, bound¬ 
ed on the north by the country of Bootan, on the eaft by 
Affiam and Meckley, on the fouth by the fea called the 
Bay of Bengal, and on the weft: by Bahar and Orifta, ex¬ 
tending from 86° to 92 0 30' eaft longitude from Green¬ 
wich, and from 21 0 30' to 26° 40' north latitude. Its 
greateft lengthjxom weft to eaft is about 720 miles, ;uid 
BEN 
its breadth from fouth to north, where greateft, is not lefs 
than 300; though in fome places not above 150. Bengal 
is confidered as the ftorehoufe of the Eaft Indies. The 
whole country belongs to the Engliftt Eaft-India compa¬ 
ny, and, together with the country of Bahar, produces a 
neat annual revenue of 1,290,0001. The Englifh Eaft- 
Indla company exercife the iovereignty, make laws, efta- 
bliflt tribunals, and govern the whole with an unlimited 
authority. Calcutta is the capital : the principal rivers 
are the Ganges, Burrampooter, Dummooda, Coofy, San- 
pou or Teefta, befides many fmaller ones. 
As this country lies almoft entirely within the torrid 
zone, and in the middle of a very extenfive continent, it 
is fometimes fubjeCt to fuch extremes of heat, as render 
it fatal to European conftitutions. This unhealthinefs ari- 
fes from the mere circitmftance of heat; for, in all the 
fouthern parts of India, when the wind blows over land, 
it is fo extremely hot and fuffocating as fcarcely to be 
borne. When the air is clear, the fun-beams are much 
more powerful than in our climate, inlomuch that the light 
at noon-day is too powerful for the eyes to bear; and the 
large ftars, as Venus and Jupiter, fhine with a ftirprifing 
luftre. Another caufe of the unhealthinefs of Bengal, is 
owing to the inundations of the Ganges and Burrampoo¬ 
ter, by which fuch quantities of putrefcible matters are 
brought down as infeCt the air with the moft malignant 
vapours when the waters retire. Though the rainyfea- 
fon begins in Bengal only in the month of June, the river 
begins to fvvell in the mountains of Thibet early in April, 
and by the latter end of that month in Bengal alfo. The 
reafon of this is partly the melting of the fnow on the 
mountains, and partly the vuft collection of vapours 
brought by the foutherly or fouth-weft monfoon, which 
are fuddenly (lopped by the high mountains of Thibet. 
Hence it is obvious, that the accumulation and condenfa- 
tion of thefe vapours muft: firft take place in the neigh¬ 
bourhood of the mountains which oppofe them; and thus- 
the rainy feafon commences fooneft in thofe places which 
lie neareft the mountain's. See Monsoon. The rivers 
begin to rife at firft very (lowly ; but, by the latter end of 
July, all the lower parts of Bengal, contiguous to the 
Ganges and Burrampooter, are overflowed, and prefent a 
furface of water more than 100 miles wide. This vaft 
collection of fluid is owing in a great meafure to the rains 
which fall on the low country itfelf; for the lands in the 
neighbourhood are overflowed fome time before the bed 
of the river is filled. It muft be obferved, that the ground 
on the bank of the river, and even to fome miles diftance, 
is higher than that which is more remote; and thus a fe- 
paration is made for a confiderable time betwixt the wa¬ 
ters of the land-flood and thofe of the river. 
As fome of the lands in Bengal would receive damage 
from fuch a copious inundation, they for this reafon are 
guarded by ftrong dykes to refift the waters, and admit 
only a certain quantity. Thefe, collectively taken, are 
(aid to be more than 1000 miles in length, and are kept 
up at an enormous expence; yet they do not alw'ays an- 
fwer the purpofe, on account of the loofenefs of the earth 
of which they are compofed, even though fome are of the 
thicknefs of an ordinary rampart at the bafe. One parti-, 
cular branch of the Ganges, navigable inland, is conduct¬ 
ed for feventy rniies between dykes : and, when full, the 
paflengers look down upon the adjacent country as from 
an eminence. As the tide lofes its power of counteract¬ 
ing fuch an impetuous torrent of frefh water, the height 
of the inundation gradually diminifhes as it approaches the 
fea, and totally vanifhes at the point of confluence ; which 
is owing to the facility with which the waters of the in¬ 
undation fpread over the level of the ocean. But, when 
the force of the wind confpires with that of the tide, the 
waters are retarded in fuch a manner as fometimes to raife 
the inundation two feet above the ordinary level; which 
has been known to occafion the lofs of whole crops of rice. 
In 1763, a melancholy accident happened at Luckipour, 
when a ftrong gale of wind, confpiring at a high fpring 
fide,. 
