Benaiʹah (3 syl.)

in the satire of Absalom and Achitophel, by Dryden and Tate, is meant for George Edward Sackville, called General Sackville, a gentleman of family, and a zealous partisan of the Duke of York. Benaiah was captain in David’s army, and was made by Solomon generalissimo. (1 Kings ii. 35.)

“Nor can Benaiah’s worth forgotten lie,

Of steady soul when public storms were high;

Whose conduct, while the Moors flerce onsets made,

Secured at once our honour and our trade.”

Part ii. 819–20.

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.