Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 04.djvu/237

Bennet earned with William the reputation of being arrogant, patronising, artificial, false, and tedious (, Hist. iii. 330). His credit declined more rapidly; his solemn face and formal gait laid him open to the jokes of the court, which could now be indulged in safety; it became a common jest for some courtier to put a black patch upon his nose and strut about with a white staff in his hand (, p. 369) to amuse the king. Nothing was left to him but to foster his grudge against Danby, who, like Clifford, had excited his jealousy by gaining the place he was ambitious of filling. He encouraged Danby's enemies in the House of Commons, and the quarrel caused such inconvenience that Charles, unwilling to dismiss one who, after Ormond, was his oldest servant, asked Temple to mediate. Danby expressed his willingness for reconciliation, but Arlington sulkily retired to his country seat at Euston, in Suffolk, where he had indulged his one ‘expensive vice’ of building to the limit of his fortune (, 9 and 10 Sept. 1678;, p. 389). He remained lord chamberlain, though without influence, until his death on 28 July 1685. He was buried at Euston. His only child Isabella, ‘a sweete child if ever there was any’ (, 1 Aug. 1672), was married on 1 Aug. 1672 to Henry, earl of Euston and duke of Grafton, the son of Charles II and Lady Castlemaine.

[In addition to the authorities quoted in the text, the article in the last edition of the Biographia Britannica, and Arlington's Letters, published by Thomas Babington in 1701, may be consulted.]

 BENNET, JOHN (fl. 1600), was one of the best composers of madrigals of the Elizabethan period. Little is known of his biography. In 1599 he printed his first work, 'Madrigalls to Foure Voyces,' which, though termed by the composer 'the indeavours of a yong wit,' already displays the hand of a finished master. This work (which was reprinted in 1845) was dedicated to Ralph Assheton, receiver of the duchy of Lancaster. In 1601 Bennet contributed to Morley's 'Triumphs of Oriana' the beautiful madrigal, 'All creatures now are merry-minded.' In 1614 he published several compositions in Thomas Ravenscroft's 'Briefe Discourse, in the preface to which work he is mentioned as 'Maister John Bennet, a gentleman admirable for all kindes of Composures, either in Art or Ayre, Simple or Mixt, of what Nature soever.' It is probable that he died young, as no later published works of his exist, though in Thomas Myrtell's 'Tristitiæ Remedium' (Add. MSS. 29372-77), compiled in 1616, there is an anthem by him. Other manuscript anthems and madrigals of Bennet's are in the British Museum, Fitzwilliam and Peterhouse (Cambridge), and Christ Church (Oxford) collections.

 BENNET, JOHN (d, 1627), ecclesiastic and civilian, of Christ Church, London, and Uxbridge, Middlesex, eldest son of Thomas Bennet, of Clapcot, Wallingford, Berkshire, by Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Tesdale of Deanly in the same county, founder of Pembroke College, Oxford, was educated at Christ Church, Oxford, and appointed junior proctor of the university 21 April 1585. He took the degrees of bachelor and doctor of laws by accumulation 6 July 1589, and was appointed prebendary of Langtoft in the church of York, 6 March 1590-1. About this time he became vicar-general in spirituals to the Archbishop of York, for whom, if we may judge from the inscription on a small monument which he placed in York Cathedral upon the death of the archbishop (John Piers) in 1594, he felt sincere respect. The monument is still to be seen, though not in its original place, having been removed in 1723 to make way for another tomb. In April 1599 he was made a member of the council of the North, being then chancellor of the diocese, and in the same year was included in a commission to enforce the Act of Uniformity, and other statutes relating to religious questions, within the province of York. In 1597 he had been returned to parliament as member for Ripon. In the next parliament (1601) he represented the city of York, and in 1603 was again returned for Ripon. He does not appear to have played any very active part in the House of Commons, but Townshend briefly reports two speeches by him, both made on the same day (20 Nov. 1601), one being in support of a bill proposing to confer upon justices of the peace throughout the country summary powers to inflict punishment upon persons wilfully absenting themselves from church on Sunday, and the other in favour of a bill against monopolies, a measure intended to preserve freedom of trade, then seriously imperilled by the practice of granting monopolies by royal letters patent. Townshend relates that in the course of this latter speech Bennet made Sir Walter Raleigh blush by an adroit reference to monopolies of cards. In Stow's 'Annals' we read that he made an 'eloquent oration' to King James during his passage through York, 15 April 1602. The following year (23 July) the king knighted him at