Page:Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography Volume 1.pdf/530

BEM  his officers, and his clemency towards the prisoners and the inhabitants of stormed towns raised the fame of his gallantry. His habits were pure, simple, temperate, and industrious; his death was a great blow to the Turks, since his genius might have turned the fortunes of the Asiatic campaigns during the Russian war.—F. P., L.  BEMBO,, cardinal, one of the most celebrated writers of his age, born in 1470, was the son of a Venetian senator. His education was commenced at Florence, where his father resided some time as ambassador, was continued at Venice and Messina, and completed at Padua. An adept in all fashionable accomplishments, as well as a youth of versatile talent, he was early introduced to the life of a courtier, which, even after he had taken orders in the church, he seems to have enjoyed with peculiar relish. His first publication was a literary essay, entitled "Gli Asolani," in which, consulting the humour of his times, the young author discussed the whole question of love, discriminating in the nicest manner, and in the choicest language, every phase of the passion, and particularly commending that phase without passion, for his good opinion of which Plato has suffered so much at the hands of the wits. In 1498 he accompanied his father to Ferrara, and was introduced to the reigning duke, Alfonso d'Este. At the court of that prince, who married in 1502 the famous Lucretia Borgia, he was always a welcome visitor. In 1506 he went to Urbino, where, patronized by the duke Guidobaldo of Montefeltro, and his wife, Elizabeth Gonzaga, he lived six years, applying himself chiefly to poetical studies, in which he had at least so much success as to be reputed an excellent imitator of the diction of Petrarch. After the death of his patron, which was closely followed by that of the duchess, he left Urbino, but not until he had paid an affectionate tribute to the memory of both, in his "De Guido Ubaldo Fenetrio deque Elisabetha Gonzaga Urbini Ducibus." His next residence was at Rome, whither he accompanied, in 1512, his friend Julian de Medici, brother of Leo X. That pontiff, shortly after his election, appointed Bembo his private secretary, with a salary of £600 a year. His friends during his stay at Rome were the noble and the famous of Italy, such as Raphael, and the poets Tebaldeo and Accolti. His manners also were those of Italian celebrities of that period, and somewhat gay for a churchman. After the death of Leo he retired to Padua, where he produced a work on the Italian language, entitled "Prose," and laboured by command of the Council of Ten on a continuation of Sabellico's History of Venice, which was published after his death with the title, "Historiæ Venetae Libri XII." Paul III. raised him to the rank of cardinal in 1539, and gave him in succession the bishoprics of Gubbio and Bergamo. His later years were dignified by an exhibition of the virtues and munificence of a prince of the church. He died in 1547. His works collected into 4 vols., folio, at Venice, in 1729, consist of poems, letters, polemical and critical essays, and the publications above enumerated. His merits as a writer are chiefly those of a purist in style. He composed Latin in servile imitation of Cicero, verse in the manner of Petrarch, and prose in the style of Boccaccio, all three with admirable ingenuity and taste; but his claims as a thinker, and, so far as invention is concerned, as a literary artist, cannot be rated very high.—J. S., G.  BEME, the assassin of Coligny (see that name), was born of a Bohemian family, probably at Wirtemberg. The pseudonym under which he is notorious, was given him on account of his Bohemian origin, his real name being. He was brought up by the Duke of Guise. Shortly after the massacre of St. Bartholomew's day, he was taken prisoner by the protestants at Saintonge, and, attempting to escape from confinement, was executed on the spot.—J. S., G.  BEMMEL, J., son of W. van Bemmel, a battle painter, born in 1669; died in 1723.—W. T.  BEMMEL, W., a Dutch landscape painter, born at Utrecht in 1630, and died in 1703. He studied under Sachtsleven, went to Rome, and travelled to Nuremberg, where he tarried some time. His great haunt seems to have been that much-tormented place, Tivoli, which he went to invent from, not to reportray. His colour was thought too lively, fresh, and green for that hard-baked age of landscape. His trees are stiff, Dutch, and formal, but his skies are clear and warm, and his distances finely graduated. He etched several plates, and seems to have been an industrious man, as far as his light went.—W. T.  BEN,, born in Poland in 1763. Being a Jew, he devoted himself to the study of Hebrew, in which he became distinguished. when only twenty-one years of age, he published a commentary on the "Emunot Vedeul," and not long afterwards a Hebrew grammar and subsequently a lexicon of the same language; both these are highly esteemed. He also wrote several other works. Excessive application to study shortened the life of this eminent scholar, and he died at Vienna in 1811.—J. F. W.  BENABEN,, a French publicist, born at Toulouse in 1774; died in 1831. He at first held several administrative posts under the government. He was afterwards professor of rhetoric and philosophy at the colleges of Orleans, Carcassone, and Pontivy. He subsequently became a journalist in Paris. Author of "Letters of Phalaris, Tyrant of Agrigentum," Paris, 1803.—J. G.  BENAERT,, born 1593, died 1663; imitated the somewhat coarse dash of Snuyders.—W. T. <section end="530H" /> <section begin="530I" />BENAGLIO,, a painter of Verona, in the fourteenth century, of a hard, dry, and stiff manner.—W. T. <section end="530I" /> <section begin="530J" />BENAIAH, son of Jehoiada, one of the officers of David king of Israel, lived in the first half of the eleventh century before the christian era. He was remarkable for his deeds of valour, some of which are recorded in the first book of Chronicles, chap, xi., 22 and 23. <section end="530J" /> <section begin="530K" />BENALCAZAR or BELARCAZAR,, an enterprising Spanish adventurer, born about the end of the fifteenth century, at Benalcaz in Estramadura; died at Popayan in 1550. His father was a woodcutter, and he himself was at first engaged in that humble employment. When yet a youth he quitted the paternal roof, and setting out without any definite object in view, arrived at Seville, where he was permitted to take part in the expedition then about to proceed to the New World under Pedrarias, the newly-appointed governor of Darien. Arriving at the isthmus of Panama, he soon excited the admiration and astonishment of his companions, not only by his daring and adventurous spirit, but by his generous and disinterested behaviour. At this period he had scarcely attained his twentieth year, yet he attracted the notice of the followers of Pizarro, and took a most active and energetic part with them in their first conquests. After an extraordinary career of victory, during which he underwent incredible toil, and displayed astonishing courage and ability, he took possession of the kingdom of Quito in the name of Spain. The cruelties, however, which for some years afterwards desolated that unhappy country, were not directly attributable to Benalcazar, but rather to his lieutenant, Ampudia. Quitting Quito, Benalcazar penetrated into previously unknown regions stretching towards the north, where, according to report, there existed a rich country, governed by a chief named Popayan. Surmounting every intervening obstacle, he soon reached that country, and at the head of a determined band of Spaniards, in a few weeks brought it under subjection. Abandoning the country of Popayan he returned to Peru, and again commenced a career of discovery. After traversing vast forests, undergoing inconceivable toil, and suffering unparalleled privations, he arrived at a beautiful and fertile country, subsequently known under the name of New Granada, where he found, to the astonishment of himself and his companions, three Spanish discoverers, who had arrived there a considerable time before them. Nor were they less surprised to find among the inhabitants of these regions a far higher degree of civilization than they had observed either in Mexico or Peru. After making many important explorations Benalcazar returned to Popayan, when, by a decree dated 1538, he was appointed governor of that province. His first care was to divide the country which he had conquered into fourteen sections, and to appoint over each, one of his companions as lieutenant. He administered the affairs of his little state with rare ability and moderation; but he was doomed to experience the fate of most men who have risen to eminence and power by the force of their talents. La Gasca, on his arrival, submitted the conduct of Benalcazar to a severe scrutiny, and compelled him to resign his office. Finding the fruit of so many years of anxious toil thus cruelly wrested from him, Benalcazar died of a broken heart, just as he was preparing to return to Europe to seek redress.—G. M. <section end="530K" /> <section begin="530Zcontin" />BENAMATI,, born at Gubbio, of a noble family, at the beginning of the seventeenth century. He studied at Parma, where his father held a high dignity at the court. At the age of thirteen, he composed two pastorals, which gained for him the protection of Duke Ranuccio Farnese, who a few years afterwards made him his poet laureate. The dukes Francis and <section end="530Zcontin" />