BED 



em account of his having fubfcribed a petition addrefTed to 

 him for the redreis of certain grievances, Bedell proceeded 

 without interruption in his epifcopa! duties and reforms. In 

 the exercife of his epifcopal functions, he adhered ftritUy to 

 the rubric ; but in cafes that depended on his own determi- 

 nation, he appeared to be jealous of all approaches to fuper- 

 ftition. He was extremely affiduous in preachinor, catechif- 

 inor, and emplovinj all means for diflTcminating religious 

 knowledge; and thoug'i he never perfcciited the papills, he 

 was the moil formidable opponent they had in Irpland. He 

 converted fevcral of their clergy by argument ; and laboured 

 to bring over the natives by difperiing among them the fcrip- 

 tures, with popular tracts in their own language, and by 

 caufing the common-prayer in Irl!h to be read t-very Sunday 

 in his own cathedral. Bilhop Bedell fecms to have confidered 

 the theological differences that fubfifted among Proteftants 

 in his time as of little moment ; and it was his vvifh to pro- 

 mote the well-intended projeA of Mr. Drury for efFefting a 

 reconciliation between the (Z^alvinifts and Lutherans. 



The character of bifhop Bedell was held in fuch high efti- 

 mation among the Irilh.that when the rebellion broke out in 

 1641, the mod barbarous of them were known to declare, 

 that he would be the laft Engliflunan whom they would ex- 

 pel the country-. His houfe in the county of Cavan was an 

 unmoleiled aiylnm for many Proteftants who were driven 

 from their own habitations; and he treated them with hofpi- 

 tality and kindnefs, exhorting them at the fame time by 

 prayers and religious difcourfes, to prepare for the diftrtfs 

 that threatened them. His declared refolution not to difmifs 

 thefe refugees from his houfe, and to ftiare the fate that 

 awaited them, occafioned his being removed, with his two 

 fons and fon-in-law, to a ruinous caflle in the midll of a lake, 

 where they fuffered much from the feverity of the weather. 

 The bifhop and his fons were inceffant in preaching and 

 praying with their diftrelTed companions ; and their piety in- 

 spired the bigotted and rude Irilh who guarded them with 

 fuch refpeft, that they never difturbed their devotions. At 

 length thev were removed from this place to the houfe of 

 an Iriih miniller, and a convert to proteflantifm, where tlic 

 bifhop was feized with a fever, which terminated his life, 

 February 7, 1641-2, in the 7 ill year of his age. At the 

 fokmnity of his interment, the Irifh attended with great de- 

 cency, and fired a volley over his grave ; exclaiming in La- 

 tin, " Requiefcat in pace ultimas Anglorum ! ^lay the 

 the lad of the Englifh reft in peace !" And a popifli priefl 

 who attended on the occafion, is faid to have paid him a 

 tribute of refpect and veneration, in the following wifh ; 

 " O fit anima mca cum Bcdello ! May my foul be with that 

 of Bedell!" 



The charafler of Bedell, delineated by Mr. Clogv, who 

 refided in his family, and recorded in bifliop Burnet's 

 life of this prelate, appears to have been in a very eminent 

 degree exemplary and amiable; fo that in the moft appro- 

 priate fenfe of the term.s, he was a primitive and apoftolical 

 bifhop. His venerable and fimple afpe(i\ and habit ; lus in- 

 defatigable zeal in difcharging his duty through all the viciffi- 

 tudes of his life ; his profound and \mafre<'led learning, dif- 

 playcd however in various ways, and tr.T ifefled on a particu- 

 lar occafion at the table of the earl of StratTord. which pro- 

 duced the witticifm of the orimate archbiihop Ufher, after 

 the bifhop had continued l"ng filent. accoidi-ig to his ufual 

 manner, " Broach him, and vou will fi d good liquor in 

 him;" his charity and hofpita' ty, exhibited in the fupply 

 afforded bv him to many p>or Iiifh fami'ies, fome of whom 

 he entertain'd at C'r tmas at his oa-:> table, and •■ the fea- 

 fonable relief which ht ptrfecuted proteftants obtaiaedin his 

 houfe ; his detachment from worldly intereft, of which an 



BED 



inftance, feltcleJ from many more, has been given in the 

 feparation of the fees of Kilmore and Ardagh ; his integrity 

 and honour, and his pious refignation under all the evils of 

 life, in the obfcurity of his humbler ftation, and amid the 

 perfecutions which he fulfered after the attainment of a 

 higher rank ; — all thefe qualities, which have been amply 

 ilhiftrated in the memoirs of iiis life, exalted his charafter to 

 the higheft degree of profcffional excellence. His bequefts 

 at his death correfponded to the uniform tenor of his life ; 

 for out of his very limited fortune he allottedfome legacy to 

 every place to which he had any relation. He thus obtained 

 the efteem of the moft bitter enemies of his faith and country, 

 while he hved, and he has alfo fecurcd the veneration of 

 pofterity, and left a model for the imitation of all his fuc- 

 cefTors. He ftudied and wrote much on the controvcrfy be- 

 tween the papifts and proteftants, and he had compofed a 

 large treatife in anfwer to the two qneftions, addrefFcd by the 

 former to the latter with a kind of triumph ; " Where was 

 your religion before Luther? and. What became of your an- 

 cellors who died in popery ?" But this treatife, which the 

 bifhop intended to have printed, together with many other 

 MSS., were loft in the confiifion of the times. His Hebrew 

 M.S. Bible was prefcrved, and is now repolited in Emauuel 

 college, Cambridge, to which the author bequeathed it. 



As bifhop Bedell objefted to burial in churches, partly 

 becaufe it indicated fuperftition and pride, and partly becaufc 

 the putrid effluvia of dead bodies annoyed the living, he 

 gave orders tor burying his wife in the leaft frequented part 

 of the church-yard of Kilmore, and direfted by his will that 

 he fnould be placed near her. By his wife, who was of the 

 ancient and honourable family of L'Eftrange, he had one 

 daughter and three fons, of whom two funived him ; one pro- 

 vided for by a fmall benefice of 80I. a year, befides the en- 

 tailed ertate of tlie family in EfTex, and the other by a fmall 

 eflate of 60I. a year, the only purchafe made by the father. 

 Biog. Brit. 



BEDENGIAN, in Botany, a name given by Avicenna 

 and Scrapicn to the pomn amor'is, or love-apples, a fort of 

 fruit ufed in food by the Italians, and fome other nations, 

 and feeming to be tlie third kind of thejlrychn'js, or frjlanum, 

 menlioned by Theophraftus. That author firft defcribes 

 two kinds of this plant, the one of which occafioned fleepy 

 diforders, and the other threw people who eat ot it into mad- 

 nefs. After thefe, which he properly accounts poilonous 

 kinds, he mentions a third, which was cultivated in gar- 

 dens, for the fake of the fruit, which, he fays, is large and 

 efculent. This is certainly the fame with bedengian, or poma 

 atr.or'is. 



BEDER, in Ancient Geography. See Bedr.. 

 Beder, in Geography, a fortified city of Hindooftan, in the 

 territory of the Nizam, about 80 road miles N. W. of Hvdra- 

 bad; was formerly the capital of a confiderable kingdom, 

 and is now celtbrated for the number and magnificence of 

 its pagodas. N. lat. 18'. E. long. 78°. 



BEDFORD, Arthur, in Biography, was the fon of 

 R'chard Bedford, and was born at Tiddenham in Glouctfter- 

 fhire 1 66?. Having received the rudiments of learning from 

 his father, he was, in 1684, at the age of fixteeii, admitted 

 a commoner of Brazen Nofe college, Oxford, where he ac- 

 quired fome reputation as an orientalill. In 1688 he received 

 holy orders from tlie bifhop of Gloucefter. About this time 

 he removed to Briftol, where the mayor and corporation pre- 

 fented him to the vijarage of Temple church. At Briftol 

 he ftaid a few years, devoting a great portion of his time to 

 tlie feconding Mr. Collier's attack upon the ftage ; he was 

 involved indeed, in a very bnlk controveriy with fcveral of 

 the grcateft wits and ableft writers of the age, but acquitted 



himklf 



