are, if not the wild sea beet also, although Linnæus sets it down as annual, and Ray as perennial. Dr. Lettsom, who took much pains to introduce the mangel wurzel, informs us, that on his own land, which was not favourable to its growth, the roots, upon an average, weighed full ten pounds, and if the leaves were calculated at half that weight, the whole product would be fifteen pounds of nutritious aliment upon every square of eighteen inches.

BETONY, betonica, in botany, a genus of the Didynamia Gymnospermia class of plants, whose flower, consisting of a single labiated petal, is of a bright red colour, and disposed in short spikes; the cup contains four ovated seeds. The species of this genus, of which there are seven, besides varieties, are herbaceous, fibrous rooted, bardy, perennial plants, and the stems are simple, or but little branched. The flowers are in whorls, forming a terminating spike. B. officinalis, wood betony, is a native of woods, heaths, and pastures, among bushes, flow ering from the beginning of July to September. Betony, says Linnæus, was formerly much used in medicine, but it is discarded from modern practice. When fresh, it intoxicates. The leaves, when dry, excite sneezing.

Sheep eat it, but goats refuse it. The leaves and flowers have an herbaceous, roughish, and somewhat bitterish taste; with a weak aromatic flavour. An infusion or light decoction of them may be drunk as tea, or a saturated tincture in rectified spirit may be given in laxity and debility of viscera. The roots are bitter, and very nauseous; in a small dose they vomit and purge violently. This plant dyes wool of a very fine dark yellow colour.

BETULA, the birch-tree, in botany, a genus of plants of the Monoecia Tetrandria class. The male flower is amentaceous, formed of a number of monopetalous floscules, each of which is divided into four parts. In the female flower the calyx is lightly divided into three segments: the fruit is a cylindric cone, and the seeds are on each side edged with a membrane. The alder, B. alnus, as well as the B. alba, belongs to this genus; but of all the species, we shall notice only the latter, or common birch-tree, which is known at first sight by the silvery colour of its bark, the smallness of the leaves, and the lightness and airiness of the whole appearance. It is of rather an inferior size among the forest trees. The branches are

alternate, subdivided, very pliant and flexible, covered with a reddish brown or russet smooth bark, generally dotted with white. Leaves are alternate, bright green, smooth, shining beneath, with veins crossing like the meshes of a net; the petioles are half an inch or more in length, smooth, grooved above, and at the base are ovate green glands. The birch is a native of Europe, from Lapland to Italy, and of Asia, chiefly in mountainous situations, flowering with us in April and May. The twigs are erect in young trees, but being slender and pliant, they are apt to become pendent in old ones: hence there is a variety, B. pendula, as beautiful as the weeping willow. Another variety, named from Dalecarlia, where it is found, has leaves almost palmate, with segments toothed.

The B. alba, though the worst of timber, is highly useful for articles of small manufactures, as ox-yokes, bowls, dishes, ladles, and divers other domestic utensils. In America, they make their canoes, boxes, buckets, dishes, &c. from the birch: from an excrescence or fungus they form excellent touch-wood, and being reduced to powder, it is reckoned a specific for the piles. It is used as fuel, and will bear being burnt into excellent charcoal. The inner silken bark, which strips off of itself almost annually, was formerly used for writing, before the invention of paper. In Russia and Poland the coarser bark is used instead of tiles or slates for the covering of houses; and in almost all countries the twigs have been used by peda gogues to keep their pupils in order, and to maintain diligence and discipline in the schools; and also for brooms used in domestic economy. The bark is used in processes of dyeing; and in Scotland for tanning leather and making ropes. In Kamtschatka they form the bark into hats and drinking-cups.

The vernal sap of the birch-tree is made into wine. In the beginning of March, while the sap is rising, holes must be bored in the body of the tree, and fossets made of elder placed in them to convey away the liquid. If the tree be large, it may be tapped in several places at a time, and thus, according to the number of trees, the quantity of liquid is obtained. The sap is to be boiled with sugar, in the proportion of four pounds to a gallon, and treated in the same way as other made wines. One great advantage at taching to the birch is, that it will grow on almost any barren ground: upon ground, says Martyn, that produced no.

able of which are, the versions of St. Jerom, Santes Pagninus, Cardinal Cajetan, and Isiodore Clarius, all from the Hebrew text. Besides these translations by Catholic authors, there are some made by Protestant translators of the Hebrew; the most eminent of their versions are those of Sebastian Munster, Leo Juda, Sebastian Castalio, Theodore Beza, Le Clerc, &c.

BIBLE, Syriac. The Syrians have in their language a version of the Old Testament, which they pretend to be of great antiquity, most part of which they say was made in Solomon's time, and the rest in the time of Abgarus king of Edessa.

BIBLE, Arabic. The Arabic versions of the bible are of two sorts, the one done by Christians, the other by Jews. There are also several Arabic versions of particular books of scripture, as a translation of the Pentateuch from the Syriac, and another of the same from the Septuagint, and two other versions of the Pentateuch, the manuscripts of which are in the Bodleian library.

The Gospel being preached in all nations, the bible, which is the foundation of the Christian religion, was translated into the respective languages of each nation; as the Egyptian or Coptic, the Indian, Persian, Arminian, Ethiopic, Scythian, Sarmatian, Sclavonian, Polish, Bohemian, German, English, &c.

The books of the bible are divided by the Jews into three classes, viz. the law, the prophets, and the hagiographers; a division which they are supposed to borrow from Ezra himself.

Each book is subdivided into sections, or parasches; which some maintain to have been as old as Moses, though others, with more probability, ascribe it to the same Ezra. These were subdivided into verses, pesuchim, marked in the Hebrew bible by two great points, called soph pasuch, at the end of each. For the division of the bible into chapters, as we now have it, is of much later date.

Divers of the ancient bible-books appear to be irrecoverably lost, whether it be that the copies of them perished, or that Ezdras threw them out of his canon. Hence it is, that, in the books still extant, we find divers citations of, and references to, others, which are now no more; as the book of Jasher, the book of the wars of the Lord, annals of the kings of Judah and Israel, part of Solomon's three thousand proverbs, and his thousand and five songs, besides his books on plants, animals, fishes, insects, &c. To which may

be added, a book of Jeremiah, wherein he enjoined the captives who went to Babylon to take the sacred fire and conceal it; also the precepts which that prophet gave the Jews, to preserve themselves from idolatry, and his lamentations on the death of king Josiah

The Jewish canon of scripture then was settled by Ezra; yet not so, but that several variations have been since made in it: Malachi, for instance, could not be put in the bible by him, since that prophet is allowed to have lived after Ezra ; nor could Nehemiah be there, since mention is made in that book of Juddua as high priest, and of Darius Codomannus as king of Persia, who were at least an hundred years later than Ezra. It may be added, that in the first book of Chronicles, the genealogy of the sons of Zerubbabel is carried down for so many generations, as must necessarily bring it to the time of Alexander; and consequently this book could not be in the canon in Ezra's days. It is probable the two books of Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, and Malachi, were adopted into the bible in the time of Simon the Just, the last of the men of the great synagogue.

BIBLES, English-Saxon. If we inquire into the versions of the bible of our own country, we shall find that Adelm, bishop of Shireborn, who lived in 709, made an English-Saxon version of the Psalms; and that Eadfrid, or Ecbert, bishop of Lindisferne, who lived about the year 730, translated several of the books of scripture into the same language. It is said likewise that venerable Bede, who died in 785, translated the whole bible into Saxon. But Cuthbert, Bede's disciple, in the enumeration of his master's works, speaks only of his translation of the Gospels, and says nothing of the rest of the Bible. Some pretend that king Alfred, who lived in 890, translated a great part of the scriptures. We find an old version in the Anglo-Saxon of several books of the bible, made by Elfric, abbot of Malmesbury it was published at Oxford in 1699. There is an old Anglo-Saxon version of the four Gospels, published by Matthew Parker, archbishop of Canterbury, in 1571, the author whereof is unknown. Dr. Mill observes, that this version was made from a Latin copy of the old Vulgate.

BIBLES, Saxon. The whole scripture is said by some to have been translated into the Anglo-Saxon by Bede, about the year 701, though others contend he only translated the Gospels. We have certain books or parts of the bible, by several

other translators; as, 1. The psalms, by Adem, bishop of Shireborn, contemporary with Bede; though by others this version is attributed to king Alfred, who lived 200 years after. Another version of the psalms in Anglo-Saxon was published by Spelman, in 1640. 2. The Evangelists, still extant, done from the ancient Vulgate, before it was revised by St. Jerome, by an author unknown, and published by Matth. Parker, in 1571. An old Saxon version of several books of the bible, made by Elfric, abbot of Malmes. bury, several fragments of which were published by William Lilly, in 1638, the genuine copy by Edm. Thwaites, in 1639, at Oxford.

BIBLES, Indian. A translation of the bible into the North American Indian language, by Elliot, was published in 4to. at Cambridge in 1685.

BIBLES, English. The first English bible we read of was that translated by J. Wickliffe, about the year 1360; but never printed, though there are MS. copies of it in several of the public libraries. J. de Trevisa, who died about the year 1398, is also said to have translated the whole bible; but whether any copies of it are remaining does not appear.

Tindal's. The first printed bible in our language was that translated by Will. Tindal, assisted by Miles Coverdale, printed abroad in 1526; but most of the copies were bought up and burnt by bishop Tunstal and Sir Thomas More. It only contained the New Testament, and was revised and republished by the same person in 1530. The prologues and prefaces added to it reflect on the bishops and clergy; but this edition was also suppressed, and the copies burnt. In 1532, Tindal and bis associates finished the whole bible, except the Apocrypha, and printed it abroad; but while he was after. wards preparing for a second edition, he was taken up and burnt for heresy in Flanders.

Matthews's. On Tindal's death, his work was carried on by Coverdale, and John Rogers, superintendant of an English church in Germany, and the first martyr in the reign of queen Mary, who translated the Apocrypha, and revised Tindal's translation, comparing it with the Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and German, and adding prefaces and notes from Luther's bible. He dedicated the whole to Henry VIII. in 1537, under the borrowed name of Thomas Matthews; whence this has been usually called Matthews's bible. It was printed at Hamburgh, and licence ob

tained for publishing it in England, by the favour of Archbishop Cranmer, and the bishops Latimer and Shaxton.

Cranmer's. The first bible printed by authority in England, and publicly set up in churches, was the same Tindall's version revised, compared with the Hebrew, and in many places amended, by Miles Coverdale, afterwards bishop of Exeter; and examined after him by archbishop Cranmer, who added a preface to it: whence this was called Cranmer's bible. It was printed by Gratton, of the largest volume, and published in 1540; and, by a royal proclamation, every parish was obliged to set one of the copies in their church, under the penalty of forty shillings a month; yet, two years after, the Popish bishops obtained its suppression of the king. It was restored under Edward VI. suppressed again under queen Mary, and restored again in the first year queen Elizabeth, and a new edition of it given in 1562.

of

Geneva. Some English exiles at Geneva, in queen Mary's reign, Coverdale, Goodman, Gilbie, Sampson, Cole, Whittingham, and Knox, made a new translation, printed there in 1560, the New Testament having been printed in 1557, hence called the Geneva bible, containing the variations of readings, marginal annotations, &c. on account of which it was much valued by the Puritan party in that and the following reigns.

Bishop's. Archbishop Parker resolved on a new translation for the public use of the church, and engaged the bishops and other learned men to take each a share or portion. These being afterwards joined together, and printed with short annotations, in 1568, in a large folio, made what was afterwards called the great English bible, and commonly the bishop's bible. The following year it was also published in octavo, in a small, but fine black letter, and here the chapters were divided into verses; but without any breaks for them, in which the method of the Geneva bible was followed, which was the first English bible where any distinction of verses was made. It was afterwards printed in large folio, with corrections, and several prolegomena, in 1572: this is called Matthew Parker's bible. The initial letters of each translator's name were put at the end of his part: e. gr. at the end of the Pentateuch, W. E. for William Exon; that is, William, bishop of Exeter, whose allotment ended there at the end of Samuel, R. M. for Richard Menevensis, or bishop of

:

St. David's, to whom the second allotment fell and the like of the rest. The archbishop foresaw, directed, examined, and finished the whole. This translation was used in the churches for 40 years, though the Geneva Bible was more read in private houses, being printed above 30 times in as many years. King James bore it an inveterate hatred on account of the notes, which, at the Hampton court conference, he charged as partial, untrue, seditious, &c. The Bishop's Bible, too, had its faults. The king frankly owned he had yet seen no good translation of the Bible in English; but he thought that of Geneva the worst of all.

Rhemish. After the translation of the Bible by the bishops, two other private versions had been made of the New Testament: the first by Laurence Thomson, made from Beza's Latin edition, together with the notes of Beza, published in 1582, in 4to., and afterwards in 1589, varying very little from the Geneva Bible; the second by the Papists at Rheims, in 1584, called the Rhemish Bible, or Rhemish translation. These, finding it impossible to keep the people from having the Scriptures in the vulgar tongue, resolved to give a version of their own, as favourable to their cause as might be. It was printed on a large paper, with a fair letter and margin. One complaint against it was, its retaining a multitude of Hebrew and Greek words untranslated, for want, as the editors express it, of proper and adequate terms in the English to render them by, as the words azymes, tunike, rational, holocaust, prepuce, pasche, &c. However, many of the copies were seized by the Queen's searchers, and confiscated; and Thomas Cartwright was solicited by Secretary Walsingham to refute it: but, after a good progress made therein, Archbishop Whitgift prohibited his further proceeding therein, as judging it improper that the doctrine of the Church of England should be committed to the defence of a Puritan, and appointed Dr. Fulke in his place, who refuted the Rhemists with great spirit and learning. Cartwright's refutation was also afterwards published in 1618, under Archbishop Abbot. About 30 years after their New Testament, the Roman Catholics published a translation of the Old at Doway, in 1609 and 1610, from the Vulgate, with annotations; so that the English Roman Catholics have now the whole Bible in their mother tongue; though it is to be observed, they are forbidden to read it without a license from their superiors.

King James's. The last English Bible was that which proceeded from the Hampton-court conference, in 1603, where many exceptions being made to the Bishop's Bible, King James gave orders for a new one; not, as the preface expresses it, for a translation altogether new, nor yet to make of a bad one a good one; but to make a good one better, or of many good ones one best. Fifty-four learned persons were appointed for this office by the king, as appears by his letter to the archbishop, dated in 1604; which being three years before the translation was entered upon, it is probable seven of them were either dead, or hat declined the task, since Fuller's list of the translators makes but 47; who, being ranged under six divisions, entered on their province in 1607. It was published in 1613, with a dedication to James, and a learned preface, and is commonly called King James's Bible. After this, all the other versions dropped and fell into disuse, except the Epistles and Gospels in the Common Prayer Book, which were still continued according to the Bishop's translation till the alteration of the liturgy in 1661, and the Psalms and Hymns, which are to this day continued as in the old version. The judicious Selden, in his Table Talk, speaking of the Bible, says, "The English translation of the Bible is the best translation in the world, and renders the sense of the original best, taking in for the English translation the Bishop's Bible as well as King James's. The translators in King James's time took an excellent way. That part of the Bible was given to him who was most excellent in such a tongue, (as the Apocrypha to Andrew Downs,) and then they met together, and one read the translation, the rest holding in their hands some Bible, either of the learned tongues, or French, Spanish, Italian, &c. If they found any fault, they spoke; if not, he read on." King James's Bible is that now read by authority, in all the churches in Britain.

BIBLES, Welsh. There was a Welsh translation of the Bible made from the original in the time of Queen Elizabeth, in consequence of a bill brought into the House of Commons for this purpose in 1563. It was printed in folio in 1588. Another version, which is the standard translation for that language, was printed in 1620. It is called Parry's Bible. An impression of this was printed in 1690, called Bishop Loyd's Bible. These were in folio. The first 8vo. impression of the Welsh Bible was made in 1630.