rt land as a waif, and he was brought
up as a shepherd. Hearing that his mother had married Mor'dure (2
_syl_.), the adulterer, he forced his way into the marriage hall and
struck at Mordure; but Mordure slipped aside, and escaped the blow.
Bevis was now sent out of the country, and being sold to an Armenian,
was presented to the king. Jos'ian, the king's daughter, fell in love
with him; they were duly married, and Bevis was knighted. Having slain
the boar which made holes in the earth as big as that into which
Curtius leapt, he was appointed general of the Armenian forces,
subdued Brandamond of Damascus, and made Damascus tributary to
Armenia. Being sent, on a future occasion, as ambassador to Damascus,
he was thrust into a prison, where were two huge serpents; these
he slew, and then effected his escape. His next encounter was with
Ascupart the giant, whom he made his slave. Lastly, he slew the great
dragon of Colein, and then returned to England, where he was restored
to his lands and titles. The French call him _Beuves de Hantone_.--M.
Drayton, _Polyolbion_, ii. (1612).

_The Sword of Bevis of Southampton_ was Morglay, and his _steed_
Ar'undel. Both were given him by his wife Josian, daughter of the king
of Armenia.

BEZA'LIEL, in the satire of _Absalom and Achitophel_, is meant for the
marquis of Worcester, afterwards duke of Beaufort. As Bezaliel,
the famous artificer, "was filled with the Spirit of God to devise
excellent works in every kind of workmanship," so on the marquis of
Worcester--

... so largely Nature heaped her store,
There scarce remained for arts to give him more.

Dryden and Tate, part ii.

BEZO'NIAN, a beggar, a rustic. (Italian, _bisognoso_, "necessitous.")

The ordinary tillers of the earth, such as we call _husbandmen_;
in France, _pesants_; in Spane, _besonyans_; and generally
_cloutshoe_.--Markham, _English Husbandman_, 4.

BIAN'CA, the younger daughter of Baptista of Pad'ua, as gentle and
meek as her sister Katherine was violent and irritable. As it was not
likely any one would marry Katherine "the shrew," the father resolved
that Bianca should not marry before her sister. Petruchio married "the
shrew," and then Lucentio married Bianca.--Shakespeare, _Taming of the
Shrew_ (1594).

_Bianca_, daughter of a noble family in "The Young Italian," one of
the _Tales of a Traveller_, by Washington Irving. She is beloved
passionately by the young Italian and betrothed to him. In his