BED 



lying in multitudes, and of an extraordinary C\te, being five 

 yards in compafs, and lixteen yards long ; and fome fmaller 

 of a great length, with a great quantity of acoiiis and fmall 

 nuts near them." Other authors relate fimilarfafts: and Mr. 

 Klftob, in his " Hiitorical Account of the Bedford Level," 

 Hates that in the year 1764 many roots of trees. Handing as 

 the trees had grown, were found near Bolton in Lincoln- 

 ftiirc at the depth of eighteen feet below the thin paihiragc 

 furface, Tacitus, in his life of Agricola, relates, that " the 

 Britons complained of their hands and bod:e.i biing worn 

 out and confumed by tlie Romans, in cLuriiig the zi'ooJs -JlW^ 

 fmbanLing the fens." This fentence feems particularly ap- 

 plicable to the forementioncd circunillances, and alludes to 

 the period when fome great operations of this nature were 

 exailed from the crfluved Britons. The emperor Severus 

 IS laid to have been the hrll who interfered the fens with 

 caufeways : one of which is dclcribed by DugJaie as ex- 

 tending about 24 miles from Denver in Norfolk to Peter- 

 borough. It was conipofed of gravel three feet m depth and 

 fixty feet wide, and about fis-e feet beneath the furtaee. In 

 1635 fome workmen dilcovered, at eight feet b-.low tl'.e 

 bottom of ^Vilbech river, a fccond llony bottom, with leven 

 boats lying in it covered with iilt ; and at Whittlefea, on 

 digging eight feet beneath the fiuface, a perfeA loil \»a.s 

 found with fwathsof giafs on it ; as they lay when lirfl mowed. 

 Near Boflon, at the depth of fixteen leet, were difeovered a 

 fmith's forge, with nianv ot his tool*, fome horfc iTincs, and 

 other iron articles. Various other things have been found 

 at different times, and in diderent places, all tending to prove 

 the extraordinaiy effecls that nature has produced here in 

 one of her revolutions. The caufe and time ot this event are 

 not recorded. Henry of Huntingdon, who wrote in the 

 time of king Stephen, defcrlbes this part of the country as 

 then " very plealaiit and agreeable to the eye, watered by 

 manv riverr. which run through it, diverfilied with many large 

 and fmall lakes, and adorned with many woods and illands." 

 William of Malmlbury, living in the firft year of Hem y II. 

 dcfcribes this dillrict in glowing colours, as " a very para- 

 dife ; for that in plcafue and delight it refembled heaven 

 itfelf ; the very marches abounding in trees, whole length 

 without knots do emulate tlie liars. There is not any ivajle 

 place in it ; for in fome parts thereof there arc apple trees ; 

 in others vines, which either fpread upon the grounds, or i-un 

 along the poles." From thefetellimonies it appears that the 

 great inundation of the fens mull have occnred after the time 

 of the Litter hillorian. The iirll attempt at draining them 

 was in the reign of Edward I. ; fince which time numerous 

 fchemcs have been propoied, and tried to render this large 

 tracl of country fublervient to agriculture. 



BtOFORDSHiRE, One of the inland counties of England, 

 bounded on the north by Huntingdonfliire and Northamp- 

 tonlhire, on the well by Bnckinghamfhne, on the louth by 

 Henfordlhire, and on the eaft by part of the latter, and 

 Cambridgcfliire. Its limits arc very nrcguiar and artificial, 

 having only two fhort fpaces of the Oufe as natur^d boundaries 

 on the call and weft. 



This part of the kingdom, with the diiliifts now called 

 Hertfordihire and Buckinchamlhire, were inhabited at the 

 time of the Roman invafion, by a tribe of Britons called 

 Cattieuchlani, whofe chict or govenior fciffivellaunus, was 

 chofen by unanimous content to lead them againrt the arro- 

 gant, invading Ca-far. In the year 310 the emperor Con- 

 ftantine divided this illand into five Roman provinces, when 

 Bedtcrd'hire was included in the third divifioii, called Flavia 

 Cifarienfis. At the etlabhlhrncnt of the Mercian kingdom 

 ■t was made part of that government, and continued lo till 

 the year 827, when, with the other divifions of the ifland, it 



BED 



became fubiecl to the weft Saxons under Egbert. Alfred 

 having fubdivided his kingdom into fhires, hundreds, and 

 tythings, and marked the limits and name of each divifion, 

 this was called Bedefordfcire, fmce contrafted to its prefent 

 name. Its length is computed at 35 miles, and breadth at 

 20. It contains an area of about 260,000 acres, which arc 

 divided into nine hundreds, containing ten market towns, 124 

 parilhes, 58 vicarages, 550 villages, about i2,coo houfes, aiid 

 nearly 64,000 inhabitants. 



The face of the country, though not charafterifed by high 

 hills and deep vallies, is confiderably diverfified with fome 

 inei]ualities ot furface, and on the louthern fide is a range of 

 chalk hills. Beneath thefe is an extenfive tract of cold, flenl 

 land. The wellcrn lide of the county is mollly fandy and 

 flat, yet from the improvements adopted and recommended 

 by the duke of Bedford, lord Odory, &c. the greatell part 

 is appropriated to fome fpecies of agriculture. On the nortli 

 and north-ealt the foil is a deep loam, famous from the flcill 

 employed in its cultivation, tor producing large crops of corn, 

 particularly barley. A large proportion of the land in this 

 county had long continued in open or common fields, but w ith- 

 in the lall five or fix years great quantities have been ineloltd, 

 and farther inclofures are intended. The chief emplovment fur 

 the lower clailes of pcrions in this county ariies from agricul- 

 ture, making of lace, and the manufacturing of llraw hats. 

 In riie two latter, numbers of women and children are con- 

 Itanlly occupied, and from them derive a hare fubfillence. 

 There is no Inch thing as Ijne lace made in the coxmtv, and 

 \.\\e fuller's earth pits are all in BuckinLrhamihire. Bedford- 

 fliire is watered by the rivers Oule and Ivel, and fome fmaller 

 ilreams. The former enters the county on the weftcrii lide, 

 and after a devious courie tlirough manv fine meadows, pafTes 

 through the town of Bedlord, where it becomes navigable. 

 Flowing callward it leaves the county at St. Neot's, on the 

 confines of Huntingdonfiiirc. (See OusE ). l"hc river Ivel 

 riles in Hertfordihire, and pafTiiig Baldock and Bigglcfwade, 

 falls into the Oufe a little above Tempsford. 



Bedfordlhire is in the Ni)rfolk circuit, in the province of 

 Canterbury, and bifhopric of Lincoln. It is crolled bv two 

 Roman roads, the Watlingftreet and the Ichnild-way, and 

 contains fome encampments attributed to tliat people : one 

 at Sandv near Potton, called Saleiur, arxi another near 

 Dunllable, called Maiden-bower, fuppofed to be the magio- 

 vinum of Antoninus. The duke of Bedford has a magnificent 

 feat at Woobarn Abbey in this county. Luton Hoo, the 

 marquis of Bute's ; Ampthill Park, lord OfTorv's ; and 

 Wrell-houfe, lady Lucas's, are veiy fine feats in the county. 

 Beauties of England and Wales, vol. i. 



BEUIRUM, or Bedeiros, in Ancient Geography, a 

 town of Africa, in the interior of Libya. Ptolemy. 



BEDKA, in Gco^^raphy. a town of European Turkey, in 

 the Sangiakfliip of Belgrade, leated on the Kolubra. 



BEDNORE, or BiDDANORE, a fine province of Hin- 

 doollan, lying north-welt of the Myfore countn', and deriv- 

 ing its name from Bednore, the capital. Hydcr Ally took 

 polTeiTion of this province about the year 1763 ; and it was 

 afterwards comprehended within the dominions of his fon 

 Tippoo Sultan, who llyled himfelf regent of Mvfori', and 

 who retained it till the time of his death in 1 799, when, 

 after the capture of Seringapatam by the Britifh troops, his 

 dominions were diltvibuted among the conquerors. Part of 

 Biddanore was afligned to the Mahrattas ; the fons and rela- 

 tions of Tippoo were removed into the Carnatic ; and a de- 

 feendant of the ancient rajahs of Myfore, about five yearr. 

 old, was placed upon the tlirone, under certain conditions. 



Bfdnork, a city ot Hindooilan, and capital of the fore- 

 mentioned province. N. lat. 13" 47'. E. long. 75"^ 7'. 



8 BliDNORr, 



I 



