BED 



and finidicd his (Indies at New College, Oxford, of which he 

 \v33 admitted feOoiv in 1408. After feveral eccleliallical 

 prtrferments he became dean of the arches about the year 

 1429, and vi-as employed by a fynod held in St. Paul's 

 church, London, ii copjun^iion with two other peifor.s, to 

 draw up a form of law, by which the profecution of the 

 Wickhffites, or Lollards, was to be ooiiducled. Wliilft he 

 was tutor to king Henry VI. he wrote a book, preferved in 

 manufcript in the Cottonian library, in which he (Irenuoufly 

 aflerted, in oppafition to the Sahqce law, the ri^ht of the 

 kings of En:;land to the crown of F.-ance ; and then gaining 

 the fpecial favour and patronage of that prince, he was made 

 fecretary of (Ute, keeper of the great feal, and bifiiop of 

 Bath and Wells, to which he was confecrated in 1443. He 

 is reprefcnted as having been well (killed in polite learning and 

 hillory, and very converfant in tlie holy fcriptnres ; as a 

 good preacher, and as a generous patron of ingenious and 

 leanied men, fo that he was called the Maecenas of his age. His 

 works of munificence and charity were numerous. He finilhed 

 Lincoln college in Oxford ; procured an endowment for 

 New College, in 1440 ; laid out a confiderable fum of money 

 in repairing houfes belonging to his Ire ; and erected the 

 weft fide of the cloill-rs at Wells, and alio a conduit in the 

 market place of that city. He died at Wells, in 1465. A large 

 collection of his letters is preferved in the hbrar^' at Lambeth ; 

 and a volume of fermons and fomc other treatifes are afcribed 

 to him. Biog. Brit. 



BECMARE, in Entomology, a genus of infects eftablifh- 

 ed by Geoflfroy. See Rhisomacer. 



BECOUYA, in Geography. See Bekia. 

 BECSANGIL, a name fometimes given to a province 

 of Afia, which is a part of Anatolia, b.iunded on the north 

 by the Black fea, on the well by the fea of Marmora and 

 the Archipelago, on the fouth by Natoha proper, and on 

 the eaft by the province of BoUi. The capital is Burfa. 



BECTIVE, in the county of Meath, Ireland, where 

 are confiderable ruins of an abbey which belonss^ed to the 

 Cifterc'ans. It was founded by Murchard O'Melachhn, 

 king of Meath, in 1146; and being richly endowed, the 

 abbot had a place among the peers in the alTemblies of par- 

 liament, and wore a mitre. The cloifters with a tower are 

 almoll entire. It was pleafantly fituated on the banks of the 

 Boyne, over which river there was a bridge ; and at preftnt 

 a little village, caW^ABrcllve-bndge-end, has two fairs annually. 

 It is 3 miles from Trim, and about 24 from Dubhn. Mo- 

 nallic Hibern. Ware's Antiquities. 



BECTASSE, a feft among the Turks denominated 

 from their founder Beftafh, preacher to fultan Ainurath. 



All the Janizaries belongirig to the Porte ;;re of the reli- 

 gion of Beftade, and are faid to have derived their origin 

 from the founder of this fciit. Their habit is white ; on 

 their heads they wear white caps of feveral pieces, with tur- 

 bans of wool twifled rope-fafhion. They obferve conftantly 

 the hour ot prayer, which they perform in their own aflem- 

 blies, and they make frequent declarations of the unity of 

 God. 



BED, a place prepared to ftretch and compofe the body 

 on, for reft and fleep ; made chiefly of feathers inclofcd in a 

 ticken cafe. Of beds there are feveral forts : as a feather- 

 bed, a down-bed, a ftanding-bed, a fettee-bcd, a tent-bed, 

 a truckle-bed, &c. 



In the firft and ruder ages of mankind, it was the uni- 

 verfal pradlice to fleep upon the fliins of beaits. This was 

 the cullom among the Greeks and Romans, and alfo among 

 the Celtic nations, and ancient Britons. This cuilom pre- 

 vailed till modern times among the common people in 

 fome parts of Germany. Thefe feins, fome of which 



BED 



are worn in the day, were fpread at night on the floors of 

 their apartments. In procefj of time, thefe fliins were 

 changed for loofe ruflies and heath, and afterwards for 

 ftraw. PJiny (1. viii. c. 48. 1. xvi. c. 36.) lays, that the 

 beds of the Ro:i:an gentry were gcneialiy filled with fea- 

 thers, and thofe of the inns with the foft down of reeds. 

 Straw was ufed, even in the royal chambers of England, fo 

 late as the clofe of the 13LJ1 century. Beds, filled with 

 chaff, heath, or ftraw, are ufed by the common pei;;L in 

 many parts cf Great Britain ar.d Ireland, and alfo in France 

 and Italy at this day. Beds were for a long time laid upon 

 the ground ; till at length the cuftom of railing the beds on 



ncr of difpoling them, vary among different ranks, and in 

 different nations. By the Englilh ftatutes, no beds are to 

 be fold, except filled with one fort of ftuifing only ; e. gr. 

 feather beds with only dry pulled feathers ; and down beds 

 with clean down alone. No fcaldcd feathers are to be mixed 

 with the former ; nor fen down with the latter, on pain of 

 forfeiture; the mixtuie of fuch things being conceived as 

 contagious for man's body to lie on. Stat. 1 1 Hen. VII. c. 19. 

 Alfo bed quilts, mattraffes, and cufhions ftuffed with 

 horfe-hair, ftn-down, goats' hair, and neats' hair, which are 

 drcfftd in lime ; and which the heat of man's body will caufe 

 to exhale, and yield a noxious fmcll, whereby many of the 

 king's fubjefts have been deilroycd, are prohibited by the 

 fame ftatute. 



The ancient Romans had various kinds of beds for re- 

 pofe ; as their lecluj cubL-ularis, or chamber-Led, whereon they 

 flept ; their table-bed, or IcP.ui difcubitorlus, whereon they 

 eat (for they always ate lying, or in a recumbent pofture), 

 there being ufually three perfons to one bed, whereof the 

 middle place was accounted the moft honourable, as well as 

 the middle bed. See Triclinium. Thefe beds were un- 

 known before the fecond Punic war : the Romans, till then, 

 fat down to. eat on plain wooden benches, in imitation of the 

 heroes of Homer ; or as Varro expreffes it, after the manner 

 of the Lacedaemonians and Cretans. An innovation in this 

 praftice is afcribed to Scipio Africanus, who brought from 

 Carthage fome of thofe little beds, called " Punicani," or 

 " Archaici," which were of wood, very low, ftuffed only 

 with hay or ftraw, and covered with the rtvins of ftjeep or 

 goats, " haedinis ptllibus ftrati." Thefe beds in rcfpeit of 

 delicacy differed little from the wooden benches ; but when 

 the cuilom of bathing prevailed, the praftice of refting 

 themfelves more commodiouily by lying along than by fit- 

 ting down, was adopted. As for the ladies, it did not feetn 

 at firft confitlent with their modefty to adopt the mode of 

 lying ; accordingly they kept to the old cuftom all the time 

 of the commonwealth ; but, from the firft Csefars, they ate 

 on their beds. As to the youth, who did not yet put on 

 the toga "virUh, they were long kept to the ancient difcipline. 

 When they were admitted to table, they only fat on the 

 edge of the beds of their neareft relations. Never, fays Sue- 

 tonius, did the young Cxfars, Caius and Lucius, eat at the 

 table of Auguftus ; but they were fet " in imo loco," or, 

 as Tacitus expreffes it, " ad lecli fulcra." From the greateft 

 fimplicity, the Romans, by degrees, carried their dining beds 

 to the moft furprifing magnificence. Pliny affnres us, it was 

 no new thing to fee them covered over with plates of filver, 

 adorned with the fofteft mats, and the richeft counterpanes. 

 Hift. Nat. lib. xxxiii. cap. 11. Lampridius, fpeaking of 

 Heliogabalus, fays, that he had beds of !■ lid iilver ; and 

 Pompey, in his third triumph, introduced beds of gold. 

 They had alfo their UHus lucubratorlus, on which tb?y ftudied; 



and 



