924 B E S 
military foclety was inrtituted there. It corrtains eight 
pari flies, and the number of inhabitants is computed at 
twenty thou (and. It is twenty-fix ports fouth-fonth-weft 
of Strafburg, eleven ea(t of Dijon, and forty-eight eaft- 
fouth-eart of Paris. Lat. 47. 14.. N. Ion. 23. 40. E. Ferro. 
BE'SANT, or BE'zANT,y. a gold coin of an uncertain 
value, (truck at Byza.ntium in the time of the Chriflian 
emperors: hence the gold offered by the king at the altar 
is called befant, or bifant. 
BESA'RABA, a town of European Turkey, in the 
province of Bulgaria, forty-eight miles north of Ternova. 
BES'BOROUGK, an illand in Norton Sound, on the 
weft coaft of North America. Lat. 64. 10. N. Ion. 161. 
15. W. Greenwich. 
To BESCREE'N, v. a. [from fcrecn .] To cover with a 
fcreen ; to rtielter ; to conceal : 
What man art thou, that thus befcreen'd in night, 
So rtuinbleft on my counfel ? „ Shahrfpeare. 
To BESEE'CH, v a. pret. I befought, I have be/ought, 
[from fecan, Sax. verfoekcn, Dut.J To entreat ; to fuppli- 
cate ; to implore : fometimes before a perfon.—I befecck 
you, fir, pardon me ; it is only a letter from my brother. 
Shakcfpeare. —To beg ; to aik : before a thing.—Before I 
come to them, I bcfeech your patience, whilft I fpeak fome- 
thing to ourfelves here prefent. Spratt. 
To BESEE'M, v. n. \beziemen, Dut.] To become; to 
be fit ; to be decent for.—What form of fpeech, or beha¬ 
viour, bcjecmetk 11s in our prayers to Almighty God. Hooker. 
BESEE'N, particip. [from befie, Skinner .] Adapted; 
adjurted ; becoming : 
Forth came that ancient lord and aged queen, 
Armed in antique robes down to the ground, 
And fad habiliments right well bejeen. Spenfer. 
BE'gERG HEN'LU, a town of Afiatic Turkey, in the 
province of Caramania, twenty-four miles north Akferai. 
To BESET', v. a. pret. I befet ; I have befet , \_bcfttan , 
Sax.] Tobefiege; to hem in; to inclofe; as with a liege: 
I know thou look’d: on me as on a wretch 
Befet with ills, and cover’d with misfortunes. Addifon. 
To waylay ; to furround.—True fortitude I take to be the 
quiet pofTeffion of a man’s felf, and an undifturbed doing 
his duty, whatever evil befets, or danger lies in his way. 
Locke. —To embarrafs; to perplex ; to entangle without 
any means of efcape.—We be in this world befet with fun- 
dry nneafinefles, dirtradted with different defires. Locke. 
To fall upon; to harafs. Not vfed. 
, But they him fpying, both with greedy force 
At once upon him ran, and him befet 
With ftrokes of mortal Reel. Spenfer. 
To BESHREW', v. a. [The original of this word is 
fomewhat obfcure : as it evidently implies to wifi ill., fame 
derive it from hefchrycn, Ger. ’to enchant. Topfel, in his 
Book of Animals, deduces it from the firew moufc, an ani¬ 
mal, fays he, lo poifonous, that its bite is a fevere curie. 
A firew likewife fignifies a fcolding woman ; but its origin 
is not known.] To wifli a curie to. To happen ill to: 
Bfirew thee, coulin, which did’ft lead me forth 
Of that fweet way I was in to defpair. Sliakefpeare. 
BESI'DE, or Besides, prep, [from be and fide .] At 
the fide of another; near : 
Fair is the kingcup that in meadow blows ; 
Fair is the daify that befide her grows. 
Over and above.—In brutes, befides the exercife of fenfitive 
perception and imagination, there are lodged inftinbts an¬ 
tecedent to their imaginative faculty. Hale. —Not accord¬ 
ing to, though not contrary ; as we lay, fome things are 
befide nature, fome are contrary to nature.—Providence 
often difpofes of things by a method befide , and above, the 
difeoveries of man’s reafon. South. —Out of; in a (late of 
deviating from.—Thefe may ferve as landmarks to Ihew 
■what lies in the .direct way of truth, or is quite befides it. 
B E S 
Loeke. —Before a reciprocal pronoun, out of; as, befit 
himfelf ; out of the order of rational beings; out of his 
wits.—Feftus faid with a loud voice, Paul, thou art befit 
thy felf, much learning doth.make thee mad. Ads. 
Beside, or Besides, adv. iVJore than that ; over and 
above.—That man that doth.not know thofe things, which 
are of necefiity for him to know, is but an ignorant mail, 
whatever he may know befides. Tillofon. —Not in this 
number ; out of this clafs ; not included here_The men 
faid unto Lot, Halt thou here any befides? Genefis. 
All that we feel of it, begins and ends 
In the fmall circle of our foes or friends ; 
To all befide as much an empty (hade. 
An Eugene living, as a Ctefar dead. Pope, 
To BESIE'GE, v. a. [from fege .] To beleaguer ; to 
lay liege to ; to befet with armed forces ; to endeavour to 
win a town or foitrefs, by furrounding it with an army, 
and forcing the defendants either by violence or famine, 
to give admiffipn.—And he (hall befege thee in all thy 
gates, until thy high and fenced walls come down. Deul. 
BESIE'GER,_/. [from befege. Oneemployed ina liege, 
—There is hardly a town taken, in the common forms, 
where the befiegers have not the word of the bargain. 
BESIS'TANS, or Bersteins, f. (lands, or (hops, of 
the merchants at Conftantinople, Adrianople, and other 
tow ns in the grand fignior’s dominions Each iort of mer¬ 
chants have their particular befirtan, which nmft alfo b© 
underrtood of the workmen, all thole of the fame trade 
working in the fame place. Thefe beliftans are commonly 
large galleries vaulted over, whofe gates are (hut everv 
night. 
BES'LER (Bal'd), apothecary of Nuremberg, born in 
1561, prefented to the public, 1. Hortus Eyftettenfis, 1613, 
folio, with plates ; the reimpreflion of 1640 is lefs elegant: 
that of 1750 Hill worfe. It contains 366 fpecimens. 2. 
leones Florum et Herbarum, 1616, 4to. and the continua¬ 
tion 1622, folio. The Gazophylacium Rerum Naturalium, 
Nuremb. 1642, folio, is by Michael Rupert Bcller, foil of 
Bal'd, died doctor of pliyfic, in 1661. This book was re¬ 
printed in 1716, but lefs elleemed of this edition than the 
former. Lockner gave the defeription of the cabinet of 
Bal'd and of M. R. Beller, 1716, which is in great requeft. 
BESLB/RI A, f. [lo named in honour of Bafil Bcfer, 
above-mentioned.] In botany, a genus of the clafs didy- 
namia, order angiofpermia, natural order perfonatae. The 
generic characters are—Calyx : perianthium one-leafed, 
five-parted, acuminate, eredi, loofe, with reflected tops. 
Corolla : monopetalous, ringent ; tube the length of the 
calyx, roundilh, gibbous on one (ide at the bale, and at 
the top; border five-cleft; divifions roundilh; the lower- 
mod larged; the two upper lets divided. Stamina: fila¬ 
ments four, within the tube of t'he corolla, of which two 
are a little rtiorter; anther® oblong, twin, banging down 
on each fide. Piftillum : germ globular, fitting on a glan¬ 
dular body which embraces it and is permanent, cordate 
where the corolla is gibbous ; ftyle fubulate, eredt; rtigma 
bifid, obtufe. Pericarpium: berry fubglobular, one-cell- 
ed; partition, two oppofite femiovate laminas, not coher¬ 
ing. Seeds: numerous, round, very fipall, neftling, fixed 
to the inner furface of the berry.— EJJential Character. Ca¬ 
lyx five-parted ■ berry fubglobular, many feeded. 
Species. 1. Befleria melittifolia : peduncles branching, 
leaves ovate. This has a fmooth woody ftalk which is 
jointed ; at each joint are placed two ovate leaves oppofite; 
the flowers come out from the wings of the leaves, upon 
fhort branching foot-ftalks, each iuliaining fix or eight 
flowers, which Hand each upon a feparate fmaller foot- 
ftalk. It is a native of South America. 
2. Befleria lutea: peduncles fimple crowded, leaves 
lanceolate. This fort rifes with a ligneous Hem fix or fe- 
venfeet high, dividing toward the top into many irregular 
branches, with fpear-lhaped ferrate leaves, which have 
many tranfverfe veins ; the flowers come out at the wings 
of the leaves, in large clufters, eaeh having a feparate 
foot® 
