BELVIDE'RA, daughter of Priu'li a senator of Venice. She was saved from the sea by Jaffier, eloped with him, and married him. Her father then discarded her, and her husband joined the conspiracy of Pierre to murder the senators. He tells Belvidera of the plot, and Belvidera, in order to save her father, persuades Jaffier to reveal the plot to Priuli, if he will promise a general free pardon. Priuli gives the required promise, but notwithstanding, all the conspirators, except Jaffier, are condemned to death by torture. Jaffier stabs Pierre to save him from the dishonor of the wheel, and then kills himself. Belvidera goes mad and dies.--Otway, _Venice Preserved_ (1682). BEN [LEGEND], sir Sampson Legend's younger son, a sailor and a "sea-wit," in whose composition there enters no part of the conventional generosity and open frankness of a British tar. His slang phrase is "D'ye see," and his pet oath "Mess!"--W. Congreve, _Love for Love_ (1695). I cannot agree with the following sketch:-- What is _Ben_--the pleasant sailor which Bannister gives us--but a piece of satire ... a dreamy combination of all the accidents of a sailor's character, his contempt of money, his credulity to women, with that necessary estrangement from home?... We never think the worse of Ben for it, or feel it as a stain upon his character.--C. Lamb. C. Dibdin says: "If the description of Thom. Doggett's performance of this character be correct, the part has certainly never been performed since to any degree of perfection." BEN BOLT, old schoolmate with whom Thomas Dunn English exchanges reminiscences in the ballad, _Ben Bolt_, beginning: Don't you remember sweet Alice, Ben Bolt? Sweet Alice, whose hair was so brown; Who wept with delight when you gave her a smile, And trembled with fear at your frown. (1845.) BEN-HUR, a young Jew, who, for accidentally injuring a Roman soldier, is condemned to the galleys for life. Escaping, after three years of servitude, through the favor of Arrius, a Roman Tribune, he seeks his mother and sister to find both lepers. They are healed by Christ, whose devoted followers they become.--Lew Wallace, _Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ_ (1880). BEN ISRAEL (_Nathan_) or NATHAN BEN SAMUEL, the physician and friend of Isaac the Jew.--Sir W. Scott, _Ivanhoe_ (time, Richard I.). BEN JOC'HANAN, in the satire of _Absalom and Achitophel_, by Dryden and Tate, is meant for the Rev. Samuel Johnson, who suffered much persecution for his defence of the right of private judgment. Let Hebron, nay, let hell produce a man So made for mischief as Ben Jochanan. A Jew of humble parentage was he, By trade a Levite, though of low degree. Part ii. 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).