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 rather more than five years, he was made chief justice of the common pleas on 15 April 1824, and admitted to the privy council on 25 May in the same year. His health throughout his career was a source of great suffering, and he was constantly incapacitated by severe attacks of gout. In June 1829 he gave up his post on the bench, and, a pension having been granted to him, was called to the House of Lords by the title of Baron Wynford of Wynford Eagle in the county of Dorset, on 5 June 1829. He was appointed one of the deputy speakers of the house, where he was a vehement supporter of the tory party, and strenuously opposed the Reform Bill at every stage.

As a lawyer he had no great reputation, but as an advocate his qualities were both varied and extensive. His style of speaking was forcible and pointed, but not always fluent, though his arguments were at all times remarkable for their clearness. His quickness and unwearying activity made him a most watchful adversary, though as a leader he was not always safe. As a parliamentary speaker he was much less successful than as an advocate, and as a judge he was unfortunately far from being free of bias of temper, and sometimes even of political prejudice. The opinion which he was supposed to have uttered on the subject of the game laws in the case of Ilott v. Wilkes (3 B. & A. 304) called forth a bitter article by Sydney Smith in the 'Edinburgh Review' (vol. xxxv.), entitled 'Spring Guns and Man Traps'. Best's judgment, however, seems to have been grossly misreported in the account of the case to which Sydney Smith referred. A number of his judgements will be found in vols. ii. to v. of 'Bingham's Reports.' On 11 June 1834 the degree of D.C.L. was conferred upon him by the university of Oxford. When attending the House of Lords he used to be carried there in an arm-chair, in which he was permitted to sit when addressing the house. In his later years his increasing infirmities compelled him gradually to withdraw from public life. He died at his country seat of Leasons in Kent, on 3 March 1845, aged 78. Early in life, on 6 May 1794, he married Mary Anne, second daughter of Jerome Knapp, clerk to the Haberdashers' Company, by whom he had ten children. The title is now borne by his grandson, William Draper Mortimer Best, who succeeded his father, the second baron, on 28 Feb. 1869.

 BESTON, JOHN (d. 1428), theological writer, prior of the Carmelite convent at Bishop's Lynn, was doctor in theology both of Cambridge and Paris, and was highly esteemed as a theologian and a philosopher, and also as a preacher. In 1423 he was deputed to attend the council of Sienna. He died at Bishop's Lynn in 1428. His name is in Latin variously written Bestonus, Bastonus, and Besodunus. The works ascribed to him are the following: 1 'Lecturæ Sacræ Scripturæ' (one book). 2. 'Sermones in Evangelia' (one book). 3. 'Sermones in Epistolas Apostolorum' (one book). 4. 'Compendium Theologiæ Moralis' (one book). 5. 'De Virtutibus et Vitiis oppositis' (one book). 6 'Quæstiones Ordinariæ' (one book). 7. 'Super Universalia Roberti Holcothi' (one book). 8. 'Rudimenta Logices' (one books). 9. 'Epistolæ as diversos' (two books). 10. 'Sacræ Conciones (one book). 11. 'De Trinitate.' 12 'Determinationes' (one book). It is stated in Rose's 'Biographical Dictionary' that several of these are preserved in manuscript in the University Library at Cambridge, but no mention of them occurs in the published catalogue.

 BETAGH, THOMAS (1739–1811) Jesuit, was descended from a branch of an old Roman catholic family in Meath, Ireland, which, through the Cromwellian confiscations, lost considerable estates. Some members of this family followed the fortunes of the Stuarts on the continent, and held important rank in the Irish brigades in the service of France. Betagh was born in 1739 at Kells, in Meath, where his father carried on the business of tanning. At an early age admission was obtained for him to the seminary of the Society of Jesus at Pont-à-Mousson in France. He there evinced high talents, was appointed professor of languages, and acquired reputation by his erudition and humility. After the suppression of the jesuits in France he returned to Ireland, and in conjunction with other members of that society carried on a school at Dublin, where he became a curate. He was subsequently appointed parish priest in Dublin and vicar-general of that diocese. Betagh's talents as a preacher are stated to have been of a high order. By