BEHN, APHARA, an authoress of some celebrity, born of a good family in the city of Canterbury in the reign of Charles I. Her father, whose name was Johnson, having received the appointment of lieutenant-general of Surinam, proceeded to the West Indies, taking with him his whole family. Mr. Johnson died on the voyage; but his family reached Surinam, and resided there for some years. Here Aphara learned the history, and acquired a personal knowledge, of the American prince Oronoco and his beloved Imoinda, whose adventures she has related in her novel of that name, and which Southerne afterwards made use of in one of his tragedies.
On her return to London she became the wife of Mr. Behn, a merchant of Dutch extraction residing in that city. The wit and abilities of Mrs. Behn having brought her into high estimation at court, Charles II. employed her to transact some affairs of importance abroad during the Dutch war. For this purpose she went to Antwerp, where by her intrigues and gallantries she so far penetrated into the secrets of state as to accomplish the objects of her mission; and in the latter end of 1666, by means of the influence she had gained over one Vander Albert, she wormed out of him the design formed by De Ruyter, in conjunction with the family of the De Wits, of sailing up the Thames and burning the English ships in their harbours. This she communicated to the English court; but although the event proved her intelligence to have been well founded, it was at the time disregarded;—which circumstance, together with the disinclination shown to reward her for her services, determined the lady to drop all further thoughts of political affairs; and during the remainder of her stay at Antwerp she gave herself up entirely to the gaiety and gallantries of the place. In her voyage home to England she narrowly escaped death, the vessel in which she sailed having foundered, but fortunately within reach of aid.
From this period she devoted her life entirely to pleasure and the muses. Her works are numerous, and all of them are of a lively and amatory character. In her dramatic pieces the plots are full of action and ingenuity, and the dialogue sparkles with wit; but, in common with the licentious taste of the time, they are interlarded with the most indecent scenes and expressions. This singular woman died on the 16th of April 1689, and was interred in the cloisters of Westminster Abbey.
BEHRING'S ISLAND, the most westerly of the Aleutian group, in the North Pacific. Lat. 55. 22. N. Long. 166. E. It is rocky, desolate, and uninhabited, and is only remarkable as being the place where the navigator Behring was wrecked, and died in 1741.
BEHRING'S STRAIT, the narrow sea between the N.E. part of Asia and the N.W. part of North America, connecting the North Pacific with the Arctic Ocean. At the narrowest part, East Cape in Asia approaches within about 36 miles of Cape Prince of Wales on the American shore. The former is in N. Lat. 66. 6. W. Long. 169. 38.; and the latter in N. Lat. 65. 46. W. Long. 168. 15. North and south of these points, the coasts on either side rapidly diverge. They are steep and rocky, and considerably indented. The Asiatic coast, extending from Cape Serdtzy to Cape Tchoukotzky, a distance of about 400 miles, presents several large and commodious bays. The strait is in general from 23 to 30 fathoms in depth, and contains a few small islands. Haze and fogs greatly prevail, and the temperature is low.
This strait derives its name from Vitus Behring, a German in the Russian service, who sailed from Kamtschatka and discovered it in the year 1728. It was subsequently explored and described with great accuracy by Captain Cook, in 1788. An account of this strait, in connection with the discovery of the North-west Passage by Captain McClure, will be found under the head POLAR SEAS.