BED 



148 



BED 



but only the muter, and he did not weir the habit of his 

 order. However, it continued to the Dissolution, when. 

 being seiied by Hi-nn VIII., it was granted, in 1547. with 

 all it* revenues, to the mayor, commonalty, and citizens of 

 London, from which time only it became an hospital for the 

 cure of lunatics. 



In the infant state of thin charily no other provision was 

 made for the unfortunate patients, beside* confinement and 

 medtral relief; it was left for the judicious benevolence of 

 succeeding times to improve the good work, and to supply 

 the subsistence and care which has restored so many dis- 

 tracted objects to their families and to society. There is no 

 account of donations received for this institution before the 

 year 1632. About 1644 it was under consideration to 

 enlarge the old hospital, but the situation had become 

 close and confined. The New Hospital of Bethlehem, as 

 it wa* then termed, was begun to lie built in April, 1675, 

 upon a plot of ground near London Wall, on the south side 

 of the lower quarter of what wag then called Little Moor- 

 fields ; the design of the building was taken from the palace 

 of the Tuilcries, and was once admired. It is said U> have 

 been finished in the month of July, 1676. It has since, 

 however, given way to a fitter building for its purpose, 

 upon a distant, but more commodious spot, erected in 1814 ; 

 and the Hospital of St. Mary Bethlem is now placed 

 upon the other side of the Thames, in the parish of Lam- 

 beth. (See Shakspeare, Reed's edit. 1 803, vol. xiii. p. 378 ; 

 Tanner's Notitia Monastica, ut supr. ; Dugdale's Monas- 

 ticon Anizlicanum, new edit. vol. vi. P. ii. p. 621 ; and 

 f! .wen's Hiit. Aooounl of the Origin, Progress, $c., of 

 Belhlem Hospital, 4lo. Land. 1783. [For the treatment of 

 lunatics, see LUNATIC ASYLUM.] 



BEDLAM BEGGARS was the nnticnt name for such 

 patients of the Hospital of Bcthlcin, after it became a lunatic 

 asylum, as, being partially cured, were allowed to go at large. 

 Kdgar, in ' King Lear,' act ii. scene iii., when assuming the 

 character of Poor Tom, says 



The country gives me proof ai.il precedent 

 Of torffam btvyirs, who, with roaring voices, ' 

 Strike in their numb'U und mortified li.irc arms 

 Pini, wooden pricks, unils, sprigs of rosemary,' \c. 



Aubrey, in his ' Remains of Guntilismc,' an unpublished 

 work, preserved among the Lansdown MSS. in the British 

 Museum, part iii. fol. 231 b., tells us, ' Before the civil 

 wars, I remember Totn-a-Bedlams went about a-begging. 

 They had been such as had been in Bedlam, and come to 

 BOIUC degree of soberness, ami when they were licensed to go 

 out they had on their left arm an armilla of tin printed, of 

 about three inches breadth, which was sodervd on.' 



B E DLIS (also wntten BETLI S, BI DL1 S, and BITLIS), 

 in the Armenian language named Paugesh, one of the most 

 antient cities of Kurdistan, is situated, according to Jau- 

 bert (Voyage en Armenia et en Perse, p. 475), in lat. 

 38 34' 30", and long. 40 10' E. of Paris (I. e. 42 30' E. of 

 Greenwich), on the southern side of the Nimrod mountains, 

 and at a distance of about twenty miles, in a south-easterly 

 direction, from the lake of Van. It extends across the 

 greater part of a fine valley, remarkable in the history of 

 the East for a signal defeat which the Osman sultan, 

 Suleiman the Magnificent, here sustained from the Persians 

 in Ij33. (See Malcolm's Hilt, of Persia, vol. L pp. 507, 

 i Tavernier (Persian Travels, book iii. ch. iii.) says 

 that the town is built like a sugar-loaf, ' the ascent being so 

 strep on every side that there is no getting to the top but 

 by wheeling and winding about the mountain.' 



The castle belonging to the town is situated on the top of 

 a high mountain on the western side of the valley. The 

 country around Bodlis is highly eultivatcd, and fertile in 

 grain, cotton, hemp, rice, olives, &c. The neighbourhood 

 abound* in game ; the surrounding hills are infc-tcd l>y 

 ii.'iis, wolves, and bears. The inhabitants of Bedlis, in- 

 cluding those of the neighbouring villages, are supposed by 

 Kinneir ((;>', graphical Memoir of the Persian Kmpirf. pp. 

 330, 331) to amount to 20,000, partly Kurds and Turks, 

 parti) Armenian and Syrian Christians. The Armenians 

 h.ive four churches and four monasteries, and enjoy more 

 liberty here than in other Mohammedan states. 



The part of Kurdistan in which Bedlis is situated now 

 firms part of the Asiatic dominions of the Osmans. When 

 Tavernier visited this province in IC64, Bedlis was in the 

 possession of a powerful independent bey, who acknowledged 

 ! "iilicr the supremacy of the grand seignior of Constanti- 

 HL| k-, Dor that of the shah of Persia ; and Tavernier ob- 



serves that it wa* the interest of throe two sovereigns to 

 stand well with him, lest ho should intercept the passage 

 li.iin Aleppo to Taurir., which leads ihrmiuli the Mille\ nf 

 Bedlis ; the straits of the mountains being to narrow that 

 ten men might defend them ngainsl a thousand. The nxid 

 of the earavans that travel from Em-rum tn B.igdad still 

 passes through Bedlis. Colonel Montcith thinks it probable 

 that Xonophon may have ascended the puss nl Bnlhs 

 (Journal of the Royal Geographical St*".rti/. vol. in. p. 51), 

 and accounts for his not mentioning the Like of Van. liy 

 the circumstance that the road from Bedlis to TiebiMnd, 

 which he must have followed, lies on the bum hern side of 

 the Nimrod Mountains, whi'-h encompass the lake. Ac- 

 cording to Ouscley's Kim llankal (p. 165), there arc three 

 days' journey from Bedlis to Khullat, and as much to Mu- 

 farekein. 



BKDMINSTER. [Sec BRISTOL.] 



BEDNORE, a district situated on the summit of the 

 range of mountains called the Western Ghauts, in the 

 north-west quarter of the dominions of the rajah of M 

 and overlooking to the west the province* of Canan 

 Malabar. The Western Ghauts are from 2ni'(t to 3Uii lot 

 higher than the chain of hills called the Eastern Ghaut-. 



B GHAUTS.] The range, on the summit of whirl. 

 nore is situated, is elevated from 4000 to 5000 feet above 

 the level of the sea, and presents towards the went a very 

 rapid slope, which intercepts and breaks the clouds brought 

 there by the we-tern monsoon. The climate is in conse- 

 quence exceedingly moist, and it is calculated that nine 

 months out of the year are rainy, and to such a degree as 

 to oblige the inhabitants to p'rovide thcmsehes before- 

 hand, at least for six months of the time, with a stock of pro- 

 viM'Mis. By means of this excessive moisture vegetation is 

 rendered extremely luxuriant : the timber trees throughout 

 the district attain to great dimensions, and in some pat: 

 underwood and jungle arc quite impenetrable. In conse- 

 quence of the difference of elevation, the seasons are usually 

 one month more backward than in Canara. 



The productions of the district of Bcdnore, which it raises 

 in sufficient abundance for exportation, are betel-nut, carda- 

 moms, pepper, sandal-wood, and a small breed of cattle. 

 The most important of these articles in point of quantity is 

 betel- nut. In return, Bcdnore imports rice, salt, oil, and 

 cotton goods from the low country. The roads, in conse- 

 quence of the prevalence of rain, are wretched, and almost 

 all the exports and imports are conveyed by men. without 

 the aid of any kind of carriage or beasts of burthen. A 

 great part of the external trade of the district is carried on 

 through the port of Mangalore. 



Bednore district, together with Cuddapah, some Mah- 

 ratta provinces, the country of the Nairs, and other small 

 states on the Malabar coast, were conquered by Hyder Ally 

 in 1763, shortly after his usurpation of the musnud of My- 

 sore ; but on the fall of Tippoo the creator part of the-' 

 quests were again severed from Mysore. Bednore is st;ll 

 attached to the rajah's dominions, but that prince is under 

 the protection of the East India Company, with whose go- 

 vernment he has concluded a subsidiary treaty. 



(Rennell s Memoir nf a Map of Hindustan ; Buchanan's 

 Journey thrmi^h Mi/sure: Rrports of Committee of House 

 of Commons on the Affairs of India, 1832.) 



BEDNORE, the capital of the district just described, is 

 situated in 13 50' N. lat.. and 75 6' E. long. This town 

 was originally called Biderbully, signifying Bamboo Village ; 

 but when the seat of government was removed hither from 

 Ikcry, the name was altered to Bideruru, or Bamboo Piarc. 

 Previously to this event the place consisted of a temple dedi- 

 cated to cftlciatta (one of the titles of Siva) and a few sur- 

 rounding houses, governed by a Brahmin chief. On be- 

 coming the seat of thn rajah's government, the chief part of 

 the revenue of the country was expended there, and Biiic- 

 ruru became a town of magnitude. Its situation is favour- 

 able for trade, the pass leading from Mangalore through 

 Bednore being one of the best roads in the Western Ghauts. 

 When attacked and taken by Hyder Ally in 1 7B3, it is said 

 to have contained 20,000 good houses, besides meaner 

 dwellings. The ground on which it stands bein;; very un- 

 even, the town was never closely built, and it occupied an 

 area, the circumference of which was eight miles. The 

 place was defended by a circle of woods, hills, and fortified 

 defiles. Towards the centre stood the rajah's palace, built 

 on a high hill, nnd surrounded by a citadel. Hyder added 

 some new works, but as the palace was commanded by some 



