BEAUVAISBEDFORD LEVEL. 



277 



the castle. This outer vallum consists of low but 

 massy embattled walls, flanked by ten circular 

 towers." The principal entrance of the castle 

 faces the sea ; within the fortified envelope, equi- 

 distant from the walls, is the body of the castle, the 

 height of which far exceeds the envelope, and at a 

 distance appears to rise majestically from it, as from 

 a base. It is nearly quadrangular, with a grand 

 round tower at each angle, and another in the cen- 

 tre of each face. The interior consists of an area, 

 190 feet square, with obtuse corners. The centre 

 of the north-west side contains a great hall, seventy 

 feet long and twenty-three broad, with a propor- 

 tionate height ; it has five large pointed windows, 

 which form a handsome front to the inner quad- 

 rangle. On the eastern side of the area there are 

 remains of a chapel, the sides of which are orna- 

 mented with receding pointed arches. The ele- 

 gantly-groined roof is supported by ribs springing 

 from pilasters, between each of which is a long 

 narrow window. There was a communication be- 

 tween the several parts of the inner court by means 

 of a narrow surrounding gallery, a portion of which 

 is still entire. The ruins of the castle are covered 

 with gillyflowers, but which, as is stated, grow no 

 where else in Anglesey. The castle was erected 

 on lands belonging to several proprietors, whom 

 Edward I., removed to distant places, remunerat- 

 ing them by estates, probably sequestrated. The 

 castle is the property of the crown. Within the 

 walls a tennis-court, fives-court, and bowling-green 

 have been formed for the amusement of the inha- 

 bitants of Beaumaris. 



BEAUVAIS; an arrondissement of the depart- 

 ment of the Oise, in France, comprehending twelve 

 cantons and 244 communes, and containing 130,263 

 inhabitants. 



Beauvais, the chief city, is finely situated on the 

 river Therain. The houses are chiefly of wood, 

 and the trade of the place consists principally in 

 the manufacture of tapestry, serges, and woollen 

 cloth. Population 12,800. 



The site of Beauvais was occupied, in very re- 

 mote times, by a city, which is mentioned in the 

 " Commentaries of Caesar " by the name of Caesaro- 

 magnus, and which it afterwards dropped for that 

 of Bellovacum, derived from a Belgian people, the 

 Bellovaci, by whom ^it was inhabited. It was 

 ravaged by the Normans in the year 850, and at 

 other periods ; and few cities have experienced 

 more calamities and frequent fires than Beauvais. 

 The town still exults in the glory of having sus- 

 tained two very formidable sieges without being 

 taken. The first of these was in the year 1443, 

 when the English were repulsed by the devoted 

 heroism of Jean Signiere; the second was in 1472, 

 when Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, un- 

 successfully besieged it with 80,000 men. On this 

 OCCttion, the females of Beauvais, headed by Jane 

 Hachette, joined the garrison and fought with un- 

 common intrepidity. This heroine herself, on one 

 ociMsion, seized the flag which the enemy were 

 about to plant on the walls, and threw from the 

 rampart the soldier by whom it was carried. The 

 assailants were obliged to withdraw. Until the 

 revolution, this event was annually commemorated, 

 on the 10th of July, by a procession, in which the 

 women marched first. The cathedral church of 

 Beauvais is the principal architectural ornament 

 of the town. The building was commenced in the 

 year 1391. It is particularly noted for its choir, 

 which is regarded as a master-piece of Gotlr.c ar- 



chitecture, being as much admired for its height 

 and breadth as for the lightness of the work and 

 the fine arrangement of the vault and its outworks. 

 It has ten pillars on each side of its length, with 

 chapels all around. The pavement of the sanctuary, 

 which is very large, is all of marble. This magni- 

 ficent building seems never to have been finished. 



BECCLES ; a market-town in the county of 

 Suffolk, 109 miles N. E. from London. It is si- 

 tuated on, and bounded on the north and west by 

 the river Waveney, which is navigable from here 

 to Yarmouth. It is a large and well built town, 

 consisting of several streets diverging from a 

 centre, in which is an extensive area used as a mar- 

 ket-place. The houses are in general handsome, 

 and there is a good supply of water for the use of 

 the inhabitants. The environs are agreeable, and 

 near the town is a good race-course with commo- 

 dious stands, on which races are held annually. 

 Saturday is the market-day. The principal trade 

 is in corn and malt. Population in 1841, 4086. 



BEDDGEL ART OR BETHGELERT ; a parish 

 in Wales, including a village of the same name, the 

 latter distant from Caernarvon twelve miles S. E. 

 The village, which consists of a number of cottages, 

 stands at the junction of the rivers Colwyn and 

 Glaslyn, in one of the retired and romantic valleys 

 in Wales, inclosed on every side by lofty and preci- 

 pitous mountains. Some of the inhabitants act as 

 guides to the top of Snowdon, and obtain a consi- 

 derable emolument from this source during the 

 summer months. There is a good inn, which 

 is almost entirely supported by tourists. The 

 name of the place signifies " the grave of Gelert." 

 There is a tradition that a dog named Gelert, 

 belonging to Llewellyn, the last prince of Wales, 

 preserved the infant child of his master from 

 the attack of a wolf. On the return of the 

 father, he met the dog covered with blood, and 

 seeing the clothes which covered his child's bed 

 sprinkled with the same, he instantly conceived the 

 idea that the dog had killed his child, and slew him 

 on the spot. Discovering his mistake, he caused 

 the dog to be buried in the centre of the valley, 

 where a stone is yet shown as marking the spot. 

 Within a mile of the village is the celebrated pass 

 of Aberglaslvn. Population in 1841, 1397. 



BEDFORD LEVEL (a.) ; a large tract of low 

 land in England, consisting of about 400,000 acres. 

 Peterborough Fen, which is that part of the Level 

 running into Northamptonshire, and extending be- 

 tween Peterborough and Crowland, contains be- 

 tween 6000 and 7000 acres. One-seventh part of 

 the Level is situated in Huntingdonshire. Nearly 

 the whole of the Isle of Ely, which forms the 

 northern division of Cambridgeshire, consists of 

 this marshy ground. The south-east part of Lin- 

 colnshire, usually termed Holland, extending to 

 the river Witham on the north, is a fenny district 

 included in the Bedford Level : 63,000 acres are 

 situated in Norfolk and 30,000 in Suffolk. 



There is abundant evidence to prove that this 

 part of the country was formerly dry land, at a 

 much lower level than the present surface. From 

 the convulsions of nature, and subsequently owing 

 to embankments improperly made, which prevented 

 the waters from the uplands flowing into channels 

 through which they might discharge themselves 

 into the sea, the tract was at length reduced to the 

 state of a morass, where the waters, stagnating and 

 becoming putrid, produced miasma destructive to 

 the health of the inhabitants; while this extensive 



