[Benefit of Clergy], exemption of the persons of clergymen from criminal process before a secular judge.
[Be`neke, Friedrich Eduard], a German philosopher and professor in Berlin of the so-called empirical school, that is, the Baconian; an opponent of the methods and systems of Kant and Hegel; confined his studies to psychology and the phenomena of consciousness; was more a British thinker than a German (1798-1854).
[Benenge`li], an imaginary Moorish author, whom Cervantes credits with the story of "Don Quixote."
[Bénetier], the vessel for holding the holy water in Roman Catholic churches.
[Benevento] (20), a town 33 m. NE. of Naples, built out of and amid the ruins of an ancient one; also the province, of which Talleyrand was made prince by Napoleon.
[Benevolence], the name of a forced tax exacted from the people by certain kings of England, and which, under Charles I., became so obnoxious as to occasion the demand of the [Petition of Rights] (q. v.), that no tax should be levied without consent of Parliament; first enforced in 1473, declared illegal in 1689.
[Benfey, Theodor], Orientalist, born near Göttingen, of Jewish birth; a great Sanskrit scholar, and professor of Sanskrit and Comparative Philology at his native place; author of "Lexicon of Greek Roots," "Sanskrit Grammar," &c. (1809-1881).
[Bengal] (76,643), one of the three Indian presidencies, but more particularly a province lying in the plain of the Lower Ganges and the delta of the Ganges-Brahmaputra, with the Himalayas on the N. At the base of the mountains are great forests; along the seaboard dense jungles. The climate is hot and humid, drier at Behar, and passing through every gradation up to the snow-line. The people are engaged in agriculture, raising indigo, jute, opium, rice, tea, cotton, sugar, &c. Coal, iron, and copper mines are worked in Burdwân. The manufactures are of cotton and jute. The population is mixed in blood and speech, but Hindus speaking Bengali predominate. Education is further advanced than elsewhere; there are fine colleges affiliated to Calcutta University, and many other scholastic institutions. The capital, Calcutta, is the capital of India; the next town in size is Patna (165).
[Benga`zi] (7), the capital of Barca, on the Gulf of Sidra, in N. Africa, and has a considerable trade.
[Bengel, Johann Albrecht], a distinguished Biblical scholar and critic, born at Würtemberg; best known by his "Gnomon Novi Testamenti," being an invaluable body of short notes on the New Testament; devoted himself to the critical study of the text of the Greek Testament (1687-1752).