BENEDICT 
 
 
  Benedict [BELLEFONTA1NE], the wealth- 
iest farmer of Grand Pr6, in Acadia, father 
of Evangeline (" the pride of the village "). 
He was a stalwart man of seventy, hale 
as an oak, but his hair was white as snow. 
Colonel Winslow in 1713 informed the vil- 
lagers of Grand Pr4 that the French had 
formally ceded their village to the English, 
that George II. now confiscated all their 
lands, houses, and cattle, and that the peo- 
ple, amounting to nearly 2000, were to be 
"exiled into other lands without delay." 
The people assembled on the sea-shore; old 
Benedict Bellefontaine sat to rest himself, 
and fell dead in a fit. The old priest buried 
him in the sand, and the exiles left their 
village homes forever.-Longfellow, Evan- 
geline (1849). 
 
  Ben'engel'i (Cid Hamet), the hypothet- 
ical Moorish chronicler from whom Cer- 
vantes pretends he derived the account of 
the adventures of don Quixote. 
  The Spanish commentators . . . have discov- 
ered that cid Hamet Benengeli is after all no more 
than an Arabic version of the name of Cervantes 
himself. Hamet is a Moorish prefix, and Benen- 
geli signifies "son of a stag," in Spanish Cervan- 
teno.-Lockhart. 
 
  Benengeli (Cid Hamet), Thomas Babing- 
ton lord Macaulay. His signature in his 
Fragment of an Ancient .omance (1826). 
(See Cm, etc.) 
 
  Benev'olus, in Cowper's Task, is John 
Courtney Throckmorton, of Weston Un- 
derwood. 
 
  Benjamin Penguillan. The Pioneers, 
by J. F. Cooper. A servant in the family 
of Judge Temple. His sobriquet is "Ben 
Pump." (1823.) 
 
  Benjie (Little), or Benjamin Colthred, a 
spy employed by Cristal Nixon, the agent 
 
 
of Redgauntlet.-Sir W. Scott, Bedgauntlet 
(time, George III.). 
 
  Ben'net (Brother), a monk at St. Mary's 
convent.-Sir W. Scott, The Monastery 
(time, Elizabeth). 
 
  Ben'net (Mrs.), a demure, intriguing 
woman in Amelia, a novel by Fielding 
(1751). 
 
  Ben'oiton (Madame), a woman who has 
been the ruin of the family by neglect. In 
the "famille Benoiton" the constant ques- 
tion was " OW est Madame ?" and the inva- 
riable answer "Elle est sortie." At the 
dinouement the question was asked again, 
and the answer was varied thus, "Madam 
has been at home, but is gone out again." 
-La Famille Benoiton. 
 
  Ben'shee, the domestic spirit or demon 
of certain Irish families. The benshee 
takes an interest in the prosperity of the 
family to which it is attached, and inti- 
mates to it approaching disaster or death 
by wailings or shrieks. The Scotch Bo- 
dach Glay or "grey spectre" is a similar 
spirit. Same as Banshee (which see). 
       How oft has the Benshee cried I 
       How oft has death untied 
       Bright links that glory wove, 
       Sweet bonds entwined by lpve! 
               T. Moore, Irish Melodies, II. 
 
  Benvo'lio, nephew to Montague, anm 
Romeo's friend. A testy, litigious fellow 
who would quarrel about goat's wool 'ýi 
pigeon's milk. Mercutio says to him, 
"Thou hast quarrelled with a man for 
coughing in the street, because he hath 
wakened thy dog that hath lain asleep in 
the sun" (act iii. sc. 1).-Shakespeare, Bo- 
meo and Juliet (1598). 
 
  Beowulf, the name of an Anglo-Saxon 
epic poem of the sixth century. It re- 
 
 
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BEOWULF