Page:Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography Volume 1.pdf/541

BEN confidence and esteem of the natives, that they elected him their king. Not long after he revisited Europe for the purpose of securing for the nation under his government powerful alliances and commercial relations; but on his arrival in France, finding himself exposed to the enmity of the French government, he entered the imperial service, and in 1778 assisted at the battle of Habelschwerdt. In 1785 he returned to his government at Madagascar, but the native government of the island sent troops against him, and in an engagement which ensued he fell mortally wounded. Beniowski wrote in French an account of his eventful life. It was published at Paris in 1791, and has since been translated into English.—G. M.  BENIT,, a French physician, born at Mirecourt in 1796, entered life as a military man, but afterwards quitted the profession of arms for that of medicine. During his studies, however, the unfortunate issue of a duel in which he was engaged, arising out of a quarrel at a restaurant, caused him, although acquitted, to disappear suddenly from Paris in 1823, when he passed into Spain, and joined the insurgents, in whose ranks he was soon afterwards killed. He wrote a small work, called "Idées d'un jeune officier sur l'état militaire," Paris, 1820, and also published in the Annales de la Médecine Physiologique, an analysis of the system of philosophical anatomy of M. Geoffroy Saint Hilaire.—W. S. D.  BENIVIENI,, a Florentine theologian, surnamed, on account of his subtlety, (the little Scott), was professor of dialectics at Pisa, and afterwards canon of Florence. He published "Trattato in defensione e probazione della doctrina e profezie predicate da frate Jeronimo Savonarola nella citta di Firenze," 1496. Died in 1507.—J. S., G.  BENIVIENI,, born of a noble family at Florence in 1453. He was one of the first who raised poetry from the low condition into which it had fallen in the fifteenth century, abandoning the path trodden by Lodovico Pulci in the Morgante Maggiore, and by his brother Lucio in the Griffo Galvaneo, and boldly asserting that the standards of poetry and language to be followed by the Italians, were Dante and Petrarch. A lover of Platonic philosophy, his compositions abound in moral doctrines; and his canzone, "Dell' Amore Celeste e Divino," contains the loftiest thoughts a contemplative mind could be inspired with. His commentary, entitled "Commento di Hieronimo Benivieni Florentino," a folio edition, now considered very rare, was published in Florence in 1500. He was highly esteemed for his uprightness, and was the bosom friend of the celebrated Pico de la Mirandola. He died in 1542.—A. C. M.  BENJAMIN, the twelfth and youngest son of the patriarch Jacob, born near Bethlehem, about the year 2297. Rachel, his mother, who died in giving him birth, called him Ben-oni (The son of my sorrow) but Jacob called him Benjamin (The son of the right hand).  BENKENDORF,, a Russian general, born at Esthonia in 1784; died in 1844. He was a favourite at the court of St. Petersburg, and, having entered the army, assisted in the campaigns of Germany and France. He rendered important services to Nicolas during the military insurrection which broke out on the accession of that emperor, to whom he had previously been appointed aid-de-camp. As a member of the commission appointed to investigate the origin and progress of the conspiracy, he manifested so much ability, that he was raised to the rank of chief of police. The title of count was also bestowed on him, and made hereditary in his family. He died of grief, consequent on a diminution of court favour.—G. M.  BENKENDORF,, brother of the preceding, a Russian general and diplomatist, born in 1784. At the head of a body of Cossacks, he was one of the first to traverse Germany in pursuit of the French army. He afterwards distinguished himself in the campaign of Persia, in which he held the rank of general of division. He died at Prawadi of nervous fever, when about to attempt the capture of that town.—G. M.  BENKOWITZ,, a German writer, whose reputation in his own day was considerable. He was born in 1764. His works are numerous, and though they want vigour, they are written with liveliness and humour. He died by his own hand at Glogau in 1807, and his popularity did not long survive. <section end="541H" /> <section begin="541I" />BENLI, a miniature painter, born at Verona, who studied with Rubens, and was brought from Venice to Paris by a patronizing French ambassador.—W. T. <section end="541I" /> <section begin="541J" />BENN,, archdeacon of St. Andrews in the fourteenth century. His name sometimes appears as, or. It was he who crowned King David II. in 1329, and was soon after made lord great chamberlain of Scotland. He died in Flanders in 1332, having fled thither on the invasion of Edward Baliol.—J. B. <section end="541J" /> <section begin="541K" />BENNATI,, an Italian physician, born at Mantua in 1798, studied medicine and surgery at Padua and Pavia, and afterwards travelled to Vienna, London, Edinburgh, and Paris, at the last of which places he was killed on the 9th March, 1834, by a fall from his horse. His earliest work is a Latin dissertation "On diarrhœa," published at Padua in 1826. His other writings, which are all in French, relate to the mechanism, physiology, and pathology of the human voice and its organs. They were published in Paris in 1832 and 1833, and were regarded worthy of one of the prizes founded by M. de Montyon, to be disposed of annually by the Academy of Sciences of Paris.—W. S. D. <section end="541K" /> <section begin="541L" />BENNET,, an English novelist, who died at Brighton in 1805. Her works were very popular, and many of them were translated into French and German. It is said that 2000 copies of "Vicissitudes Abroad, or the Ghost of my Father," were disposed of on the day of its publication. <section end="541L" /> <section begin="541M" />BENNET,, an eminent physician of the seventeenth century, and author of a treatise on consumption, entitled "Theatri Tabidorum Vestibulum," and another, "On the nature and method of preparing all sorts of Food," was born in the year 1617. Having entered Lincoln college, Oxford, when fifteen years old, he took the degree of M.A., and elsewhere, at a subsequent period, that of M.D. He was a fellow of the London College of Physicians, where he practised with great success. He died in April, 1655.—T. J. <section end="541M" /> <section begin="541Zcontin" />BENNETT,, one of the most distinguished English zoologists of the present century, was born at Hackney, near London, on the 6th January, 1797. He was educated as a surgeon, and practised that profession for several years in the vicinity of Portman Square. Although naturally delicate in health, he devoted himself with the greatest ardour to the study of zoology, and his activity in this, his favourite pursuit, is manifested by his numerous writings, by far the greater part of which were published during the last ten or twelve years of his life. These writings consist, for the most part, of descriptive details, and from this circumstance are but little known to the general public; but Mr. Bennett has a further claim to remembrance, on account of the assistance rendered by him in the organisation of one of the most efficient means now existing, of begetting a popular interest in his favourite science. In 1822, he was very active in the formation of an entomological society, to which he acted as secretary until it ceased to have an independent existence, and, merging into the Linnæan Society, became the nucleus of a zoological club, to which he continued his services as secretary. This club, as is well known, constituted the foundation of the Zoological Society of London, first established in 1826, whose beautiful gardens and extensive menagerie still, after the lapse of more than thirty years, continue to attract many thousand visitors annually, and to furnish them with a better opportunity of observing the appearance and manners of many rare and curious animals, than is afforded probably by any other menagerie in existence. Of the Zoological Society Mr. Bennett was elected vice-secretary, in which capacity the scientific business of the society was confided to his care; and his contemporaries bear high testimony to the zeal and energy which he exhibited in this position, as also in the still more arduous post of secretary, to which he was elected about 1831, and the duties of which he continued to fulfil until his early and much-regretted death on the 21st August, 1836. Mr. Bennett's numerous scientific papers, published principally in the Proceedings and Transactions of the Zoological Society, bear witness to his activity, and to his extensive and varied acquaintance with different departments of zoology; but according to the testimony of one of his intimate friends, well able to judge of such matters (Professor Thomas Bell), they cannot be regarded as doing full justice to his scientific attainments, and his extensive acquaintance with zoological literature, which the kindness of his personal character rendered constantly available to his friends. Mr. Bennett's only separate works, are the descriptions of "The Tower Menagerie," published in 1829, and of the "Gardens and Menagerie of the Zoological Society," which appeared in 1830 and 1831, both written in an elegant and <section end="541Zcontin" />