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BENSON

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BERANGER

states, were present There are valuable deposits of brown hematite ore in the town and also considerable manufacturing, including knit goods, woolen goods and machinery. Population 8,698.

Benson, Arch'bishop Edward White, an English prelate and primate of all England (1882—96), was born in 1829 and died in Flintshire, Wales. After graduating at Trinity College, Cambridge, he taught for a while at Rugby, was head master of Wellington College, chancellor of Lincoln Cathedral, and in 1877 was consecrated Bishop of Truro. In 1882, on the recommendation of Mr. Gladstone, the Crown appointed him as successor to Dr. Tait in the Archbishopric of Canterbury, He held this high office in the church until his death October 10, 1896. Dr, Benson wrote several religious works and sermons, including The Seven Gifts, Christ and His Times and The Cathedral: its Necessary Place in the Life and Work of the Church.

Benson, Maj.=Gen. Frederick William, son of the late Hon. J. R, Benson, senator of Canada, was born at St. Catharine's, Ont., August 2, 1849, and educated at Upper Canada College and at the Royal Military College at Sandhurst. He served as a volunteer during the Fenian raids of 1866, joined the 2ist Hussars in 1869, has since seen much service in India,' Egypt and South Africa, and has been director of transports and remounts since 1903.

Ben'ton, Thomas Hart, an American statesman and writer, was born in North Carolina, March 14, 1782. He subsequently moved to Tennessee, where he practiced law and served in the state legislature. After the War of 1812, in which he took part, he removed, to St. Louis and there edited the Missouri Inquirer. In 1820 he was elected to the United States senate, where he served for thirty years, taking a strong stand on the questions which were then agitating the country. Because of his earnest support of President Jackson in his war on the United States Bank, he earned the name of Old Bullion. He opposed the compromise measures of 1850, and Calhoun's measures intended to provide for the extension of slavery. His stand on the latter measure lost him his seat in the senate. In 1852 he was elected to the house of representatives; but two years later he was defeated as a candidate for re-election, and devoted the remainder of his life to literary work. He published Thirty Years' View or A History of the Working of the American Government from 1820 to 1857. He also abridged the Debates of Congress from 1789 to 1856. He died at Washington, April 10, 1858.

(picture) THOMAS HART BENTON

Benton Harbor, Mich., a city in Berrien County, on the St. Joseph River and on the Pere Marquette, the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago &amp; St. Louis and other railroads. It lies back one and one half miles from Lake Michigan, but is connected with it and its fine harbor by a ship canal, and from the harbor steamboat lines ply to Chicago, Milwaukee and other ports on the lake. It has a considerable trade in the product of the important mineral springs adjoining the city; while it also ships largely of flour, furniture, machinery, besides fruit, beet-sugar, pickles, cider and vinegar Population (1910), 9,185.

Be'owulf, a long and notable Anglo-Saxon poem of the 8th or 9th century, now among the treasures of the British Museum, in London. The poem or epic, it is thought by scholars, existed prior to the colonization of Britain by the Anglo-Saxons, and was probably brought to Britain by the early Teutonic invaders. Its hero is represented as a thane and, later, as a king of the Swedes, while the field of action is in Swedish and Danish territory.

Beranger (ba'rän'zha), Pierre Jean de,' a great song writer of France, was born in Paris, August 19, 1780. He was brought up by his grandfather, a tutor, and later by his aunt, an innkeeper, who filled him with republican ideas. After a few years of work as a printer, he retired to a Paris garret, where he gave himself to literature and study But poverty soon again forced him into the world. He received aid from Lucien Bonaparte, and three years later was made a clerk in the Imperial University. In 1815 he published his first collection of songs, which made him the poetic champion of the masses who opposed the Bourbons. He wrote always for the working classes, for whom he had a deep sympathy, and he was so popular among them that his verses were repeated from mouth to mouth before they were printed, so that it has been said that he is the only poet since printing was invented who did not need its service. In 1821 two volumes of poems which he published were so strongly republican in sentiment that he was brought to trial, fined 500 francs and sentenced to three months in prison; and in 1825 another set of songs caused him to be again imprisoned. While in prison he was visited by the great literary men of the day, including Victor Hugo, Dumas and Sainte-Beuve. In 1848 he was elected by more than 200,000 voters to