Benai'ah (3 syl.), in Absalom and Achitophel, is meant for general George Edward Sackville. As Benaiah, captain of David's guard, adhered to Solomon against Adonijah, so general Sackville adhered to the duke of York against the prince of Orange (1590-1652).
Nor can Benaiah's worth forgotten lie,
Of steady soul when public storms were high.
Dryden and Tate, part ii.
Benas'kar or Bennaskar, a wealthy merchant and magician of Delhi.—James Ridley, Tales of the Genii ("History of Mahoud," tale vii., 1751).
Benbow (Admiral). In an engagement with the French near St. Martha on the Spanish coast in 1701, admiral Benbow had his legs and thighs shivered into splinters by chain-shot, but supported in a wooden frame he remained on the quarter-deck till morning, when Du Casse sheered off.
Similar acts of heroism are recorded of Almeyda, the Portuguese governor of India, of Cynaegiros brother of the poet AEschylos, of Jaafer the standard-bearer of "the prophet" in the battle of Muta, and of some others.
Benbow, an idle, generous, free-and-easy sot, who spent a good inheritance in dissipation, and ended life in the workhouse.
Benbow, a boon companion, long approved
By jovial sets, and (as he thought) beloved,