<>34 B K- T 
To BETROTH', f. a. [from tret'.' \ Letrcwor, Dutch.) 
To contract to any one, in order to ma'rriage ; to‘affiance : 
ufed either of men or women. To have, ns affianced by 
promile ot' marriage. — And what'man is there that hath 
betrothed'A. wife, and hath not taken her? let him go and 
return into his houfe. Dcul. —To nominate to a bilhopric, 
in order to confecration.—If any perfon be confecrated a 
bifltop to that church, whereunto he was not before be¬ 
trothed, he (hall not receive the habit of confecration, as 
not being canonically promoted. Aylijfe. 
To BETRUST', v. a. [from trujl.~\ To entruft; to put 
into the power of another, in confidence of fidelity.—What¬ 
ever you would belrvjl to your memory, let it be difpofed 
in a proper method. Watts. 
BETSCH'KOW, a town of Bohemia, in the circle of 
Czaflau : nine miles north-weft of Czaflau. 
BET'TA, a town of Aliatic Turkey : feventy miles 
fouth-fouth-weft Erzerum. 
BET'TENDORF, a town of the Netherlands, in the 
duchy of Luxemburg, fituated on the Sour : four miles 
above Echternach. 
BET'TER, adj. The comparative of good ; \_bet , good, 
letera, better, Sax.] Having good qualities in a greater 
degree than fomething elfe.—He has a horfe better than 
the Neapolitan’s ; a better bad habit of frowning than the 
count palatine. Shahe/peare. 
The Better. The fuperiority ; the advantage : with 
the particle o/before him, or that, over which the advan¬ 
tage is gained.—The voyage of Drake and Hawkins was 
unfortunate; yet, in fuch fort, as doth not break our pre- 
feription, to have had the better of the Spaniards, Bacon.— 
Improvement; as, for the better, fo as to improve it.—If I 
have altered him any where for the better, I mud at the 
fame time acknowledge, that I could hav.e done nothing 
without him. Dryden. 
Better, adv. [comparative of well.'] Well, in a great¬ 
er degree.—Then it was better with me than now. Hofea. —■ 
He that would know the idea of infinity, cannot do better, 
than by confidering to what infinity is attributed. Locke. 
To Better, v. a. To improve ; to meliorate. — The caufe 
of his taking upon him our nature, was to better the qua¬ 
lity, and to advance the condition thereof. Hooker. —To 
furpafs ; to exceed-—The works of nature do always aim 
at that which cannot be bettered. Hooker .—To advance ; 
to fupport.—The king thought his honour would fuffer, 
during a treaty, to better a party. Bacon. 
Better, f. Superior; one to whom precedence is to 
be given.—The courtefy of nations allows you my better, 
in that you are the firft-born. Shakefpeare. 
“ Better never begun than never ended.” A thing 
begun and not accomplifhed, expofes a man not only to 
needlefs expence, but to ridicule. 
“ Better hold at the brim, than hold at the bottom.^ 
It is better to be [paring while we have fomething, than 
to fpend all prodigally and want afterwards. The Latins 
fay, Sera ejl in fundo pafvnonia. 
“ Better wife than wealthy ;” or, “ Better wit than 
wealth.” Though very few can believe fo : every man’s 
endeavour is after wealth, but few in companion feek af¬ 
ter wifdom. There is another proverb, the reverie of 
this: “ Better be happy than wife ;” ufed by thofe who 
place happinefs in wealth. 
“The better day, the better deed.” Bon jour, bon 
ceuvre, Fr. What the delign of this proverb is, feems not 
very eafy to conceive ; no more than how a good day can 
juftify an evil aflion. 
“ Better one word in tirn.e, than afterwards two.” 
To know how to place our words right, is one of the grand 
purpofes of education, which we cannot too much ltudy 
the attainment of. 
“ Better one eye than quite blind.” Princeps lufeus 
inter cacos , Lat. Among the blind the one-eyed is a prince. 
Of a thing lo precious as fight, the very leall (hare is infi¬ 
nitely preferable to none at all. 
BET'TERTON (Thomas), a famous Englifh adb-or, 
BET 
born in Tothill-ftreet, Weftminfter, in 1634; and, after 
having left fcliool, is (aid to have been put apprentice to 
a bookfeiler. The particulars, however, relating to the 
early part of his life, are very uncertain. It is generally 
thought that he made his firft: appearance on the (lage in 
1656, at the opera-houle in Charter-houfe yard, under the 
direction of Sir William Davenant. He continued to per¬ 
form here till the reftoration, when king Charles granted 
patents to two companies : the one was called the king’s 
company, and the other the duke of York’s. The for¬ 
mer affed at the theatre-royal in Drury-lane, and the lat¬ 
ter at the theatre in Lincoln’s-inn-fields. Betterton went 
oyer to Paris, at the command of Charles II. to take a 
view of the French feenery, and at his return made fuch 
improvements as added greatly to the luftre of the Engliftr 
theatre ; for upon this occafion, it is generally fuppofed, 
that moving fcenes were firft introduced, in lieu of tape- 
dry ; and women were now, for the firft time, introduced 
upon the Englifh ftage ; all female charafters heretofore 
having been performed by boys, or by young men of the 
mod effeminate appearance. Under thefe improvements 
both companies added with the higheft applaufe, and the 
tafte for dramatic entertainments was never ftronger than 
at this time. The two companies were however at length 
united ; though the time of this union is not precifely 
known, Gildon placing it in 1682, and Cibber in 1684. 
It was in this united company that Mr. Betterton firft 
(hone with the greateft luftre ; for, having furvived the 
famous adtors upon whofe model he had formed himfelf, 
he was now at liberty to difplay his genius in its full ex¬ 
tent. His merit as an aftor may perhaps exceed deferip- 
tion ; but, if an idea can be obtained of it, it muft be from 
the following paffage in Cibber’s Apology : “ Betterton 
was an aftor, as Shakefpeare was an author, both with¬ 
out competitors, formed for the mutual afliftance and il- 
luftration of each other’s genius! How Shakefpeare wrote, 
all men who have a tafte for nature may read and know « 
but with what higher rapture would he ftill be read, could 
they conceive how Betterton played him! Then might 
they know the one was born alone to fpeak, what the 
other only knew to write! Pity it is that the momentary 
beauties, flowing from an harmonious elocution, cannot, 
like thofe of poetry, be their own record!—that the ani¬ 
mated graces of the player can live no longer than the in- 
ftant breath and motion that prefent them, or at beft can 
but faintly glimmer through the memory or imperfedt at- 
teftation of a few furviving fpedlators! He that feels not 
himfelf the paflion and part he acts, will talk to a deep¬ 
ing audience. But this was never the fault of Betterton, 
A farther excellence in him was, that he could vary his 
fpirit to the different charafters he adled. Thofe wild 
impatient darts, that fierce and flafning fire which he threw/ 
into Hotfpur, never came from the unruffled temper of 
his Brutus. When the Betterton Brutus was provoked isj 
his difpute with Caflius, his fpirits flew out of his eyes ; 
his fteady looks alone fupplied that terror which lie dif- 
dained an intemperance in his voice fliould rife to. Thus, 
with a fettled dignity of contempt, like an unheeding rock, 
he repelled upon himfelf the foam of Caflius; not but in 
fome part of this feene, wbfere he reproaches Caflius, his 
temper is not under this ftippreflion, but opens into that 
warmth which becomes a man of virtue ; yet this is that 
hafty fpark of anger, which Brutus himfelf endeavours to 
excufe. But with w hatever ftrength of nature we fee the 
poet fhew at once the philofopher and the hero, yet the 
image of the actor’s excellence will be ftill imperfedt, un- 
lefs language could put colours in our words with which 
to paint the voice. The mod that a Vandyck can arrive 
at is, to make his portraits of great perfons feem to think j 
a Shakefpeare goes farther yet, and tells you what his pic¬ 
tures thought; a Betterton fteps beyond them both, and 
calls them from the grave to breathe, and be themfelves 
again in feature, fpeech, and motion, at once united; and 
gratifies at once the eye, the' ear, and the underftanding. 
From thele various excellencies, Betterton had fo full a 
poffefliop 
