Part 66 (1/2)

BEM, JOSEPH, a Polish general, born in Galicia; served in the French army against Russia in 1812; took part in the insurrection of 1830; joined the Hungarians in 1848; gained several successes against Austria and Russia, but was defeated at Temesvar; turned Mussulman, and was made pasha; died at Aleppo, where he had gone to suppress an Arab insurrection; he was a good soldier and a brave man (1791-1850).

BEMBA, a lake in Africa, the highest feeder of the Congo, of an oval shape, 150 m. long and over 70 m. broad, 3000 ft. above the sea-level.

BEMBO, PIETRO, cardinal, an erudite man of letters and patron of literature and the arts, born at Venice; secretary to Pope Leo X.; historiographer of Venice, and librarian of St. Mark's; made cardinal by Paul III., and bishop of Bergamo; a fastidious stylist and a stickler for purity in language (1470-1547).

BEN LAWERS, a mountain in Perths.h.i.+re, 3984 ft. high, on the W. of Loch Tay.

BEN LEDI, a mountain in Perths.h.i.+re, 2873 ft. high, 4 m. NW. of Callander.

BEN LOMOND, a mountain in Stirlings.h.i.+re, 3192 ft. high, on the E. of Loch Lomond.

BEN NEVIS, the highest mountain in Great Britain, in SW.

Inverness-s.h.i.+re, 4406 ft. high, and a sheer precipice on the NE. 1500 ft.

high, and with an observatory on the summit supported by the Scottish Meteorological Society.

BEN RHYDDING, a village in the West Riding of Yorks.h.i.+re, 15 m. NW.

of Leeds, with a thoroughly equipped hydropathic establishment, much resorted to.

BENARES (219), the most sacred city of the Hindus, and an important town in the NW. Provinces; is on the Ganges, 420 m. by rail NW. of Calcutta. It presents an amazing array of 1700 temples and mosques with towers and domes and minarets innumerable. The bank of the river is laid with continuous flights of steps whence the pilgrims bathe; but the city itself is narrow, crocked, crowded, and dirty. Many thousand pilgrims visit it annually. It is a seat of Hindu learning; there is also a government college. The river is spanned here by a magnificent railway bridge. There is a large trade in country produce, English goods, jewellery, and gems; while its bra.s.s-work, ”Benares ware,” is famous.

BENBOW, JOHN, admiral, born at Shrewsbury; distinguished himself in an action with a Barbary pirate; rose rapidly to the highest post in the navy; distinguished himself well in an engagement with a French fleet in the W. Indies; he lost a leg, and at this crisis some of his captains proved refractory, so that the enemy escaped, were tried by court-martial, and two of them shot; the wound he received and his vexation caused his death. He was a British tar to the backbone, and of a cla.s.s extinct now (1653-1702).

BENCOOLEN, a town and a Dutch residency in SW. of Sumatra; exports pepper and camphor.

BENDER, a town in Bessarabia, remarkable for the siege which Charles XII. of Sweden sustained there after his defeat at Pultowa.

BENEDEK, LUDWIG VON, an Austrian general, born in Hungary; distinguished himself in the campaigns of 1848-1849; was defeated by the Prussians at Sadowa; superseded and tried, but got off; retired to Gratz, where he died (1804-1871).

BENEDETTI, COUNT VINCENT, French diplomatist, born at Bastia, in Corsica; is remembered for his draft of a treaty between France and Prussia, published in 1870, and for his repudiation of all responsibility for the Franco-German war; _b_. 1817.

BENEDICT, the name of fourteen popes: B. I., from 574 to 575; B. II., from 684 to 685; B. III., from 855 to 858; B. IV., from 900 to 907; B. V., FROM 964 TO 965; B. VI., from 972 to 974; B. VII., from 975 to 984; B. VIII., from 1012 to 1024; extended the territory of the Church by conquest, and effected certain clerical reforms; B. IX., from 1033 to 1048, a licentious man, and deposed; B. X., from 1058 to 1059; B. XI., from 1303 to 1304; B. XII., from 1334 to 1342; B. XIII., from 1724 to 1730; B. XIV., from 1740 to 1758. Of all the popes of this name it would seem there is only one worthy of special mention.

BENEDICT XIV., a native of Bologna, a man of marked scholars.h.i.+p and ability; a patron of science and literature, who did much to purify the morals and elevate the character of the clergy, and reform abuses in the Church.