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BET11 AN I A, a post-town of North Carolina , 10 miles N. W.of Salem.

BETHEL, a city of Samaria , on the borders of the tribe ofBenjamin, anciently called Luz. It was 12 miles N. E. of Jeru-salem .

i SET HER, or BITHER, a city of Palestine.

BETHESDA, [called in the Greek, xsXvpAiS;* rrjsSwix*i, andthence in the Vulgate , Piscina Prnbatica, because, according tosome, the sheep were washed in it, which were appointed for sa-crifices,] was the Hebrew name for a pool or public bath, whichhad five porticos, piazzas, or covered walks round it. 'This bath,for its singular usefulness, was called l’ethesda, men r*3, BethCkezda, or the house of monel/. 'Phis pool was remarkable forthe miraculous cure ot the person who first entered it, after a cer-tain season when an angel troubled the water, the person being re-stored to health, whatever malady he laboured under.

BETHLEHEM , [cnVn' 3 , i. e. the house of bread,] a townin Palestine, famous for the birth of our Lord and Saviour JesusChrist . It was once a flourishing town, but it is now oidy a pooi-village. It is situated 6 miles S. E. of Jerusalem , on an eminencein a country full of hills and valleys, and might be rendered veryagreeable. The soil is the best in all these districts: fruits, vines,olives, and sesamum succeed here extremely well; but cultiva-tion is wanting. Lon. 35. 25. E. Lat. 30. 50. N.

BETHLEHEMITES, or BETHLEMITES, in church his-tory, a sort of monks introduced into England, A. D. 1257, ha-bited like the Dominicans, except that, on their breast, they worea star with five rays, in memory of the star or comet which ap-peared over Bethlehem at the nativity of our Saviour. Also, anorder of religious, in Peru , who have convents at Lima ; onet ailed of the incurables, the other of our Lady of mount Carmel.They were instituted by the venerable Peter Joseph of Betaneur,for the service of the poor.

BETMUNE, a town of France , in the department of theStraits of Calais, 20 miles S. E. of St. Omers. Lon. 2. 55. E.Lat. 50. 45. N.

BET LIS, a strong town of Armenia or Turcomania, 150 milesE. of Diarbek.

BETON, a name given by the French engineers to a kind ofmortar, which they use in raising the foundations of masonry tin-ner water. It consists of 12 parts of pozzolans or Dutch tarrass,6 of good sand, 9 of unslaked lime, 13 of stone splinters about .thesize of an egg, and 3 of tile dust, or cinders, or scales of iron outof a forge; this being well worked together, is left to stand forabout 24 hours, or till it becomes so hard as not to be separatedwithout a pick-axe.

BEl'ONTCA, BETONY, a genus of the gvmnospermia or-der, and didynamia class of plants; natural order, Verticillaflr.Calyx awned ; upper lip of the corolla ascending, liattish ; tubecylindric. There are seven species.

B. OfF ioiN alts, is the species chiefly worth notice. It is alow plant growing in woods and shady places in several parts bothof England and Scotland ; the flowers come forth in June andJuly, of a purplish colour, and stand in spikes on the top of thestalks. The leaves and flowers have an herbaceous, roughish,somew hat bitterish taste, accompanied with a very w eak aromaticflavour. The powder of the leaves of betony snuffed up the noseprovokes sneezing: and hence it is sometimes made an ingredi-ent in sternutatory powders. This effect does not seem to beowing, as is generally supposed, to any peculiar stimulating virtuesin the herb, but to the rough hairs w ith which the leaves are co-vered. The roots of this plant differ greatly in their quality fromthe ojther parts : their taste is very bitter and nauseous ; taken in asmall dose, thev vomit and purge violently, and are supposed tohave somew hat in common with the roots of hellebore. Accord-ing to Sunon Pauli anti Bartholinus, this plant affects those whogather any considerable quantity of it with a disorder resem-bling drunkenness, its leaves are sometimes smoked like to-bacco.

Betokica Aquatica. See Scrophui.aria.

Betonica Pauli. See Veronica.

BETHOTI1MENT, a mutual promise or compact betweentwo parties for a future: marriage. 1'he word imports as much asgiving one’s troth ; that is, true faith, or promise. Betrothment^mounts to the same with what is called by civilians and canonists

sponsalia, or espousals; sometimes dispensation, and by theFrench fiancailles.

BETULA, the birch-tree : a genus of the tetandria order, andmouoceia class of plants; natural order, Amentacetc. Cal vx ofthe male is one-leaved, three-cleft, triflorous; corolla, four-parted,l he female calyx is monophyllous, tritid, and biflorous; the seedshave a membranaceous wing on both sides. There are about 15species.

B. Alba, the common birch-tree, is well known.

B. Alnus, the alder tree, grows to a large timber tree.

B, Lenta, the Canada birch, grows to 60 or more feet inheight. The leaves are heart-shaped, oblong, smooth, of a thinconsistence, pointed, and very sharply serrated. They differ incolour; and the varieties of this species go by the names of, 1.Dusky Canada birch ; 2. White paper birch ; 3. Poplar-leavedCanada birch ; 4. Low-growing Canada birch, &c.

BETUVE, BETUE, or BET AW, a territory of DutchGuelderland, situated between the rivers Maese and Lech, andsupposed to be the ancient Batavia.

BEVEL, or BEYIL, in masonry and joinery, a kind ofsquare, one leg of which is frequently crooked, according to thesweep of an arch or vault. It is moveable on a point or centre,and so may be set to any angle. An angle tl»t is not square, is call-ed a bevil angle, whether it he more obtuse, or more acute, thana right angle.

Bevel Angle, any other angle besides those of 90 or 45degrees.

Bf.vel, graduated, is that which has about the centre of oneof its arms a semicircle graven, and divided into 180 degrees,whose diameter stands square with the sides of the same arms; sothat the end of five other arm, being divided at right angles, al-most to the centre, shews by its motion the number of degreescontained in the angle to be measured. It is also called recipi-angle, and pantameter.

Bevel-gef.r, in machinery, work in which the shafts of thewheels that act on one another are inclined in acute angles.

BEVELLING, in ship-building, the art of hewing a timberwith a proper and regular curve, according to a mould which islaid on one side of its surface.

BEVERIDGE, William, a learned English bishop, in thebeginning of the 18th centurv, was born in 1638, and educated inSt. John’s college , Cambridge, where lie distinguished himselfvery early, and particularly by his knowledge of the oriental lan-guages. Upon the deprivation of Dr. Ken, bishop of Bath andWells, for not taking the oaths to the government in 1691, he re-fused the offer of that see, though he was then chaplain to KingWilliam and Queen Mary. In 1704, he was consecrated bishopof St. Asaph ; in which high function he discharged Lis duty insuch a manner, that he approved himself a truly primitive prelate,lie died at Westminster Abbey , in 1707, aged 70. As his wholelife was spent, in acts of piety and charity, so he gave remarkableinstances of both at his death, leaving the bulk of his estate for thenopagation of the gospel, and promoting Christian knowledge, ationic and abroad. His Private Thoughts upon a Christian Lifeis a verv popular, though in many points, a very exceptionablebook, lie wrote several other worlcs on various subjects, particu-larly on the oriental tongues.

BEV EH LEY, an ancient town of Yorkshire , governed by amayor, a recorder, 12 aldermen, &c. and sends two members toparliament. The minster here is a very fair and neat structure,and the roof is an arch of stone. At the upper end of the choir,at (he right of the altar place, stands the freed stool, made of oneentire stone, to which every one that fled had a right of protec-tion. At the upper end of the body of the church, next thechoir, hangs an ancient table, with the picture of king Athel-stane, who founded the church. Between them is this inscrip-tion :

Als free make I thee,

As heart can wish, or egh can see.

Hence the inhabitants pay no toll in any town or port in Eng-land. About a mile E. from the tow n, there is a mineral water,which cures eruptions of the skin, and is beneficial in the king’sevil. Eon. 0. 15. E. Eat. 53. 52. N.

Beverley, an island formed by the Severn, near Wor-cester. 6

Beverley,