in Northamptonshire, by Anna Maria, only daughter of Charles, fifth Viscount Cullen.
Though they were of opposite politics, the friendship of Parr and Bishop Bennet lasted from school to college, and from college until the latter's death. The bishop's critical knowledge of the classics and his liberality towards the Irish peasantry are highly praised in Parr's 'Remarks on the Statement of Dr. Charles Combe' (1795), pp. 25-6. To the ill-fated Gilbert Wakefield the bishop showed his regard 'with uniform benevolence.' He was elected F.S.A. in 1790, but does not seem to have contributed to the 'Archæologia.'His favourite pursuit was to trace the Roman roads in his native country, and he is said to have walked over nearly the whole of them from the north of England to the south. The brothers Lysons, in their advertisement to the 'Magna Britannia,' acknowledge their indebtedness to the bishop for his communications on the Roman roads and stations in each county. This work came to an end with the county of Devon, and the fate of the bishop's observations on the other shires is not known. His paper 'On the Roman Architecture and Castrametation is printed in Polwhele's Cornwall, supp. to vol. iii. 82- 87, and to Nichols's 'Leicestershire' he contributed some remarks on its Roman roads (i. pp.cxlix-cl), and his views on the Jewry wall of Leicester (i. 7). The translation of the work known as Richard of Cirencester's description of Britain, which was published in 1809, contained the bishop's opinions on the same subject. The register of Emmanuel College which he compiled is described in the 'Fourth Report of the Hist. MSS. Commission,' pp. 417-20. Bishop Bennet's probity and amiability were the subject of frequent praise.
[Johnstone's Parr, vols. i. passim, and viii. 574-648; Field's Parr, i. 20-43, ii. 288-93; Lord Teignmouth's Sir W. Jones, i. 114; Wakefield's Memoirs, i. 106, 200; Mant's Church of Ireland, ii. 718-20; Cotton's Fasti Eccl. Hibernicæ, i. 191. 276-8; Gent. Mag. 1791, p. 1061, 1820, pt. ii. 104, 184; Nichols's Lit. Illustrations, iv. 703-12, vi. 164-6. 444-54, vii. pp. xxxv, 64-5; Corresp. of Rt. Hon. John Beresford, ii. 44.]
BENNET or BENNETT, WILLIAM (1767?–1833?), musician, was born about 1767 at Comteinteignhead, Devonshire, where his father possessed an estate. Bennet's first musical instructors were Bond and Jackson of Exeter, but he subsequently came to London, where he studied under John Christian Bach and Schroeter. He was an excellent pianist, and was noted for his extempore performances on the organ. He is said to have been the first to introduce grand pianofortes into Plymouth, where he was appointed organist of St. Andrew's in 1793. In 1797 he married a Miss Debell, of Guildford. Of his later life no information is forthcoming. In 1812 he was living in Barrack Street, Plymouth, where he still held the post of organist at St. Andrew's, a position he continued to occupy in 1824 (Dictionary of Musicians, 1824), and according to the 'Georgian Era' (1833) in 1833; but as the account of him in the latter work is practically a reprint of that in the former, the statement is not to be fully relied on. Bennet published several unimportant songs, glees, and pianoforte pieces, which are now entirely forgotten.
[Georgian Era, iv. p. 647; Dictionary of Musicians, 1824; The Picture of Plymouth, 1812.]
BENNETT, AGNES MARIA (d. 1808), novelist, was a married lady with many children, who survived her; but there is no evidence of her birth, her parentage, or her condition. In 1785 she was permitted to dedicate her first novel, 'Anna, or the Memoirs of a Welch Heiress,' 4 vols., to the princess royal. The whole impression of the work, though published anonymously, was sold on the day of publication (Aikin's Athenæum, iii. 391). The novel was twice translated into French (Didot), first by Dubois Fontenelle, 1784 (which date must be an error, unless the translation was from the manuscript in advance of the English press), and secondly in 1800. Mrs. Bennett's second novel, again published anonymously, was 'Juvenile Indiscretions, 1788; it was attributed at first to Miss Burney (Didot), and translated into French the same year. In 1789 appeared 'Agnes de Courci, a Domestic Tale,' reviewed in the 'Monthly Review' (i. 215), and also popular enough to be translated. A fourth novel by Mrs. Bennett, entitled 'Ellen, Countess of Castle Howel,' 4 vols., issued from the Minerva Press, 12 March 1794, with the
author's name, and with an 'Apology' prefixed, which indicated much distress of mind and circumstances. It obtained notice in the 'Monthly Review,' xiv. 74. In 1797 appeared, in 7 vols., price 31s. 6d., 'The Beggar Girl,' supposed to be taken from existing characters at Tooting (Gent. Mag. lxxix. 108), and
dedicated to the Duchess of York, near whom Mrs. Bennett was then residing (her own 'Dedication,' vol. i.) In 1806 Mrs. Bennett's popularity was immense; and producing a new novel that year in 6 vols., which she called 'Vicissitudes abroad, or the Ghost of my Father,' 2,000 copies of it were sold on the first day, though the price was 36s.
