History of Early Engl.  Lit., Stopford Brooke (2 vols., 1892), etc.

BEECHER, HENRY WARD (1813-1887).—­Orator and divine, s. of Lyman B. and bro. of Harriet Beecher Stowe, was one of the most popular of American preachers and platform orators, a prominent advocate of temperance and of the abolition of slavery.  His writings, which had a wide popularity, include Summer in the Soul and Life Thoughts.

BEHN, APHRA (JOHNSTON) (1640-1689).—­Novelist and dramatist, dau. of a barber named Johnston, but went with a relative whom she called father to Surinam, of which he had been appointed Governor.  He, however, d. on the passage thither, and her childhood and youth were passed there.  She became acquainted with the celebrated slave Oronoko, afterwards the hero of one of her novels.  Returning to England in 1658 she m. Behn, a Dutch merchant, but was a widow at the age of 26.  She then became attached to the Court, and was employed as a political spy at Antwerp.  Leaving that city she cultivated the friendship of various playwrights, and produced many plays and novels, also poems and pamphlets.  The former are extremely gross, and are now happily little known.  She was the first English professional authoress.  Among her plays are The Forced Marriage, Abdelazer, The Rover, The Debauchee, etc., and her novels include Oronoko and The Nun.  The former of these was the first book to bring home to the country a sense of the horrors of slavery, for which let her have credit.

BELL, HENRY GLASSFORD (1805-1874).—­Poet and historian, was a member of the Scottish Bar, and became Sheriff of Lanarkshire.  He wrote a Life of Mary Queen of Scots (1830), strongly in her defence, and two vols. of poetry, Summer and Winter Hours (1831), and My Old Portfolio, the latter also containing pieces in prose.

BELLENDEN, or BALLANTYNE, JOHN (fl. 1533-1587?).—­Poet, b. towards the close of the 15th century, and ed. at St. Andrews and Paris.  At the request of James V. he translated the Historia Gentis Scotorum of Boece.  This translation, Chroniklis of Scotland is a very free one, with a good deal of matter not in the original, so that it may be almost considered as a new work.  It was pub. in 1536, and is the earliest existing specimen of Scottish literary prose.  He also translated the first five books of Livy.  He enjoyed the Royal favour, and was Archdeacon of Moray.  He latterly, however, became involved in controversy which led to his going to Rome, where he d., according to one account, about 1550.  Another authority, however, states that he was living in 1587.