BED BEDFORD. 



467 



lied In 1811 being a member of most of the learn- 

 ed societies of the north of Europe. There are a 

 number of text-books, in the different sciences above 

 mentioned, by him. Among his other works is a 

 History of Inventions, Leipsic, 1780-1805, 5 vols. 



BED, in gunnery ; the frame of timber or planks 

 in which cannon, mortars, &c. are placed, to give 

 them a steady and even position, necessary for 

 aiming. 



BED OF JUSTICE. See Lit de Justice. 



BEDA, or BEDE, an eminent ecclesiastic of the 8th 

 century, usually called the venerable JBede, was born 

 in the year 672 or 673, in the neighbourhood of 

 Wearmouth, in the bishopric of Durham. From the 

 age of seven to that of nineteen, he pursued his 

 studies in the monastery of St Peter, at Wearmouth. 

 Being then ordained deacon, he was employed in the 

 task of educating the youth who resorted to the mo- 

 nastery for instruction, and pursued his own studies 

 witli unremitting ardour. In his thirtieth year, he 

 was ordained priest; and his fame for zeal and eru- 

 dition reaching the ears of pope Sergius, he was in- 

 vited to Rome, but, in consequence of the death of 

 that pontiff, never went there. It is not even certain 

 that lie ever left Northumberland, which, of course, 

 reduces the incidents of his life to his literary pursuits 

 and domestic occupations, as he accepted no benefice, 

 and never seems to have interfered in civil transac- 

 tions. His church history was published in 731. 

 His last literary labour was a translation of the Gos- 

 pel of St John into Saxon, which he completed, with 

 difficulty, on the very day and hour of his death. 



The writings of Bede were numerous and import- 

 ant, considering the time in which they were written, 

 and the subjects of which they treat, which extended 

 to ecclesiastical affairs, religion, and education only. 

 His English Ecclesiastical History is the greatest and 

 most popular of his works, and has acquired additional 

 celebrity by the translation of king Alfred. The 

 collections which he made for it were the labour of 

 many years. Besides his own personal investigations, 

 he kept up a correspondence with the monasteries 

 throughout the heptarchy, to obtain archives and 

 records for his purpose ; and thus nearly all the 

 knowledge possessed of the early state of Christianity 

 in his country is due to B. There have been several 

 editions of the original Latin, which is easy, although 

 not elegant. The latest and best is that of Dr 

 Smith, Cambridge, 1722. There is a translation into 

 English by Thomas Stapylton, D. D., Antwerp, 1505, 

 besides the Saxon version of Alfred. B. was also 

 the author of many other works, a catalogue of which 

 he subjoined to his history. Several of these were 

 printed early ; but the first general collection of his 

 works was that of Paris, 1554, 3 vols., fol. Some of 

 his treatises have been published by Mr Wharton, 

 from MSS. in the library at Lambeth palace, London, 

 4to, 1693. While the number and variety of the 

 writings of B. show the extent of his erudition, his 

 probity, moderation, and modesty insured him general 

 respect ; and his disinterestedness is proved by the 

 feet, that he was never any thing but an unbeneficed 

 priest. A letter of advice, which he wrote, late in 

 life, to Egbert, archbishop of York, proves, at once, 

 the purity of his morals, the liberality of his senti- 

 ments, and the excellence of his discernment ; his 

 wish being to curtail the number of monasteries, and 

 to increase the efficacy and respectability of the 

 secular clergy. Notwithstanding the veneration 

 with which he was regarded, not a single miracle is 

 recorded of him ; and, as monks were the great 

 miracle mongers, and his views of monastic reform 

 such as we have mentioned, this is not surprising. 

 The manner of the death of this virtuous ecclesiastic 

 was striking and characteristic. He was dictating a 



translation of the Gospel of St John to an amanuensis. 

 The young man who wrote for him said, " There is 

 now, master, but one sentence wanting;" upon 

 which he bade him write quickly ; and when the 

 scribe said, " It is now done," the dying sage eja- 

 culated, " It is now done," and a few minutes after- 

 wards expired, in the act of prayer, on the floor of his 

 cell, in the sixty-third year of his age, in the month 

 of May, A. D. 735. 



BEDDOES, Thomas ; a physician and author ; born 

 1760, at Shiffnal in Shropshire ; died 1808. He was 

 educated by his grandfather. He made great pro- 

 gress at school, in classical studies, and distinguished 

 himself at Oxford by his knowledge of ancient and 

 modern languages and literature. The great disco- 

 veries in physics, chemistry, and physiology, irresis- 

 tibly attracted him. He continued his studies with 

 success in London and Edinburgh. In his twenty- 

 sixth year, he took his doctor's degree, afterwards 

 visited Paris, and formed an acquaintance with 

 Lavoisier. On his return, he was appointed professor 

 of chemistry at Oxford. There he published some 

 excellent chemical treatises, and Observations on the 

 Calculus, Sea-Scurvy, Consumption, Catarrh, and 

 Fever. But, dazzled by the splendid promises of the 

 French revolution, he offended some of his former 

 admirers, and excited such a clamour against him by 

 the publication of his political opinions, that he de- 

 termined to resign his professorship, and retired to 

 the house of his friend Mr Reynolds, in Shropshire. 

 There he composed his observations on the nature of 

 demonstrative evidence, in which lie endeavours to 

 prove, that mathematical reasoning proceeds on the 

 evidence of the senses, and that geometry is founded 

 on experiment. He also published the History of 

 Isaac Jenkins, which was intended to impress useful 

 moral lessons on the labouring classes in an attrac- 

 tive manner. Above 40,000 copies of this popular 

 work were sold in a short time. After he had mar- 

 ried, in 1794, he formed the plan of a pneumatic 

 institution, for curing diseases, particularly consump- 

 tion, by means of factitious airs or gases. He suc- 

 ceeded, with the assistance of the celebrated Wedge- 

 wood, in opening this institution, in . 1798. He 

 engaged, as superintendent of the whole, a young 

 man, Humphrey Davy, the foundation of whose 

 future fame was laid here. The chief purpose of the 

 institution, however, was never realized, and B.'s 

 zeal gradually relaxed, so that he relinquished it one 

 year before his death, after having published a num- 

 ber of valuable works upon the application of facti- 

 tious airs. In the last years of his life, he acquired 

 the reputation of the best medical writer in Great 

 Britain, particularly by his Hygeia, in three vols., a 

 popular work, which contains passages of extraordi- 

 nary eloquence. His political pamphlets, from 1795- 

 97, are forgotten. 



BEDFORD, John, duke of; one of the younger sons 

 of Henry IV., king of England ; famous as a states- 

 man and a warrior. Shakspeare, who calls him 

 prince John of Lancaster, introduces him, in his plays 

 of Henry IV., as distinguishing himself by his youth- 

 ful courage in the battle of Shrewsbury, in 1403, and 

 forming a kind of moral contrast to his more dissi- 

 pated brother, the prince of Wales. During the 

 reign of Henry V., he participated in the fame ac- 

 quired by the, conquest of France ; but his talents 

 were fully displayed when, after the death of that 

 king, he became regent of France, having been ap- 

 pointed to this post by Henry, in his will. At Ver- 

 neuil, in 1424, he displayed his military talents ; and 

 the difficulties, which, from various causes, he expe- 

 rienced in endeavouring to maintain possession of the 

 conquered provinces in France, afforded frequent 

 occasion for the manifestation of his ability The 



