above referred to, but that, on the contrary, his conduct, so far as it respects the loan to satisfy the claims of the Dutch, was productive of public benefit.'
Benfield finally returned to England in 1793, and in the same year married Miss Swinburne, of Hamsterley, Durham, upon whom he settled a jointure of 3,000l. a year, besides 500l. a year for pin-money. Each of their children was to have 10,000l., and an estate in Hertfordshire, valued at 4,000l. a year, was settled upon his eldest son. He presented his bride on their wedding day with a ring valued at 3,000l. About the same time he established a mercantile firm in London, called Boyd, Benfield, & Co., and engaging in speculations which turned out badly, his fortune collapsed as rapidly as it had been acquired. He died in Paris in indigent circumstances in 1810. During his stay in England in 1780, Benfield was returned to Parliament as member for Cricklade. He brought an action for bribery against his opponent, S. Petrie, which was tried at Salisbury 12 March 1782, when Petrie was defended by (Richard) Burke and William Pitt. Petrie was acquitted, and published an account of the trial with a letter giving his history of the case in 1782. It was said in the case that Benfield returned nine members to parliament. His daughter was married in 1824 to G. C. Grantley F. Berkeley [q. v.]
[Mill's History of British India, vols. iv. and T.; Case of Mr. Paul Benfield, with opinions of Loughborongh, Dunning, and Hargrave (1780); Opinion of W. Grant on Mr. Benfield's claims (1781); Letter to E. I. Company from P. Benfield (1781); Letter to creditors of Boyd, Benfield & Co. from Walter Boyd (1800); Mr. Burke's speech on the debt of the Nabob of Arcot.]
BENGER, ELIZABETH OGILVY (1778–1827), author, was born at Wells, Somerset, in 1778. Her father was in trade in that city, but left it in 1782 for Chatham
to get employment in the navy, and was made purser to Admiral Lord Keith's ship. During residence in Chatham and in Rochester Elizabeth showed much appetite for
reading, which, in default of a library, she tried to gratify by poring over the open pages of books in booksellers' shop-windows; and her father, proud of her desire for knowledge, put her to a boys' school in 1790, her twelfth year, that she might learn Latin.
The next year, 1791, she produced a poem, 'The Female Geniad;' her uncle. Sir David Ogilvy, introduced her to Lady de Crespigny, under whose patronage the poem was printed.
In 1796, Mr. Benger, having proceeded to the East Indies with his ship, died there. His widow and daughter, then reduced to very slender means, left Chatham to be near relatives, and settled at Devizes in 1797. Elizabeth was restless there, however, and her mother in 1800 acceded to her wish to settle in London. Here Miss Benger, taking lodgings 'up two pair of stairs in East Street' (Red Lion Square?), at once made a vigorous effort to get the friendship of the Lambs. Soon afterwards Lamb found his sister 'closeted' with 'one Miss Benjay or Benje,' who would not stir till she had made them promise to visit her next night (Lamb to Coleridge, letter xl). Her admiration for Mrs. Inchbald led her to dress herself as a servant, and take tea up to the lady at her lodgings (Memories of Seventy Years, p. 142). Ultimately she became acquainted with Mrs. Inchbald, with Campbell, with Smirke, the painter, and the literary circle comprising Mrs. Barbauld, Jerdan, Miss Landon, the Porter sisters, Elizabeth Hamilton, Dr. Aikin, Dr. Gregory, &c. In 1806, just after Tobin's death, when his 'Honeymoon' was about to be put upon the stage, she made the acquaintance of his family, and, learning his painful struggles, she abandoned some dramatic attempts of her own. She tried desultory poems, which appeared anonymously in the 'Monthly Magazine.' In 1809 was published her poem 'On the Slave Trade,' 4to. It is a long work of some 860 lines, beautifully illustrated by engravings from pictures by her friend Smirke. Bowyer published the volume in luxurious style, price 5l. 5s, edited by Montgomery, whose own poem heads the book. She next produced a novel, 'Marian,' and some remarks on Mme. de Stael's 'Germany;' later Mme. de Stael described Miss Benger as 'the most interesting woman she had seen during her visit to England' (Miss Aikin's Memoir, p. xi). In 1813 Miss Benger produced her second and last novel, 'The Heart and The Fancy,' 2 vols., which was highly praised by the 'Gentleman's Magazine (vol. lxxxiv. part i. p. 160), and was translated into French in 1816 (Didot's Nouvelle Biog. Gén.). She had made herself mistress of German, and translated a volume of Klopstock's letters, which was published in 1814 with a short introduction. Her later works were historical. They appeared in the following order: 'Memoirs of Elizabeth Hamilton,' 2 vols., 1818 (of which there was a 2nd edition in 1819); 'Memoirs of John Tobin,' 1820; 'Memoirs of Anne Boleyn,' 2 vols., 1821 (which Didot says were translated into French in 1816, an obvious error); 'Memoirs of Mary Queen of Scots,' 1823 ; and 'Memoirs of Elizabeth of Bohemia,' 2 vols., 1825.
Miss Benger is described as interesting and
