BEN'ENGEL'I (_Cid Hamet_), the hypothetical Moorish chronicler from whom Cervantês pretends he derived the account of the adventures of don Quixote. The Spanish commentators ... have discovered that _cid Hamet Benengeli_ is after all no more than an Arabic version of the name of Cervantês himself. _Hamet_ is a Moorish prefix, and _Benengeli_ signifies "son of a stag," in Spanish _Cervanteno._--Lockhart. _Benengeli_ (_Cid Hamet_), Thomas Babington lord Macaulay. His signature in his _Fragment of an Ancient Romance_ (1826). (See Cid, etc.) BENEV'OLUS, in Cowper's _Task_, is John Courtney Throckmorton, of Weston Underwood. 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, _Redgauntlet_ (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 question was "_Où est Madame?_" and the invariable answer "_Elle est sortie_" At the _dénouement_ 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 intimates to it approaching disaster or death by wailings or shrieks. The Scotch Bodach Glay or "grey spectre" is a similar spirit. Same as _Banshee_ (which see). How oft has the Benshee cried! How oft has death untied Bright links that glory wove, Sweet bonds entwined by love! T. Moore, _Irish Melodies_, ii. BENVO'LIO, nephew to Montague, and Romeo's friend. A testy, litigious fellow, who would quarrel about goat's wool or 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, _Romeo and Juliet_ (1598). BEOWULF, the name of an Anglo-Saxon epic poem of the sixth century. It received its name from Beowulf, who delivered Hrothgar king of Denmark from the monster Grrendel. This Grendel was half monster and half man, and night after night stole into the king's palace called Heorot, and slew sometimes as many as thirty of the sleepers at a time. Beowulf put himself at the head of a mixed band of warriors, went against the monster and slew it. This epic is very Ossianic in style, is full of beauties, and is most interesting.--_Kemble's Translation._ (A.D. Wackerbarth published in 1849 a metrical translation of this Anglo-Saxon poem, of considerable merit.)