8 4 6 BED 
bels conceiving a great veneration for him, and declaring 
he (hould be the laft Englifliman they .would drive out of 
Ireland. His was the only houfe in the county of Cavan 
that was unviolated, and it was filled with people who fled 
to him for (belter. The rebels, however, required him to 
difmifs the people that were with him; which he refilled 
to do, declaring he would (hare the fame fate with the red, 
Upon this they feized him, his two Cons, and family, and 
carried them prifoners to the caftle of Cloughboughter, 
furrounded by a deep water, where they put them all, ex¬ 
cept the bifliop, in irons. After being confined for about 
three weeks, the bifhop and his family were exchanged 
for Come of the principal rebels : but the bifliop died (bon 
after, in February 1642. The Irifh did him great honour 
at his burial; for the chief of the rebels gathered their 
forces, and accompanied his body to the. grave. 
This excellent prelate, to whom the Irilh are indebted 
for the tranflation of the Bible into their language, would 
never be tranflated from one fee to another, thinking that 
his church was his wife, and his diocefe his children, from 
Whom he (hould never be divorced. . He lived with his 
chergy, as if they had been his brethren. When he went 
his viiitations, he would not accept of the invitations that 
were made to him by the great men of the country, but 
would eat with his brethren, in huh poor inns, and of 
Inch coarfe fare, as the places afforded. He went about 
always on foot when he was at Dublin, except upon pub¬ 
lic occafions, that obliged him to ride in proceflion. He 
never kept a coach in his life, his ftrength always ena¬ 
bling him to ride on horfeback. Many poor Irilh fami¬ 
lies were maintained out of bis kitchen; and in the Chrift- 
mas time he had the poor always eating with him at his 
own table, and he brought himfelf to endure both the 
fight of their rags and their rudenefs. He by his will or¬ 
dered that his body (hould be buried in a church-yard 
with this infcription: “ Depolitum Gulielmi quondam 
Lpifcopi Kilmorenfis.” He did not like the burying in a 
church; for, as he obferved, there was much both of fu- 
perftition and pride in it, Co he believed it was a great an¬ 
noyance to the living, where there yvas fo much of the 
{team of dead bodies rifing about them. He was likewife 
much offended at the rudenefs which the crowding the 
dead bodies in a finall parcel of ground occafioned ; for 
the bodies already laid there, and not yet quite rotten, were 
often raifed and mangled; fo that lie made a canon in his 
fynod againft burying in churches, and recommended that 
burying-places (hould be removed out of towns. In this 
he was imitated by the cardinal de Lomenie, archbifhop 
of Sens, who publifhed, fome years ago, a very eloquent 
mandement on the fubjeCt. 
BE'DER, a town of Hindoftan, and country of Dow- 
latabad, in the Deccan ; large, well-built, and ftrongly for¬ 
tified; celebrated for the number and magnificence of its 
pagodas. It is feventy miles wed of Warangola, and fix- 
ty north-well of Hydrabad. Lat. 17.48. N. Ion. 78. 2. 
E. Greenwich 
REDERE'PE,/ [ biderepe , Sax.] A fervice which cer¬ 
tain tenants were anciently bound to perform, viz. to reap 
their landlord’s corn at harveft ; as fome yet are tied to 
give them one, two, or three, days work, when command¬ 
ed. This enftomary fervice of inferior tenants was called 
prceearia bederepium, &c. 
BEDET'TER. See Bedder. 
To BEDEW', v.a. [from dew.'] To moiften gently, as 
with the fall of the dew : 
What (lender youth, bedew'd with liquid odours, 
Courts thee on rofes, in (ome-pleafant cave ? Milton. 
BED'FELLOW, f. [from bed and/e/Zcai.] One that lies 
in the fame bed.—Mifery acquaints a man with ftrange bed¬ 
fellows. Shakefpeare. 
BED'FORD, \_bcdanford. Sax. that is, beds and public 
jansby a ford.] The county-town of Bedfordfiiire, to which 
it givv- name, (ituated on the Oufe. It contains five 
.churches, ^bree on the north, and two on the fouth, fide of 
BED 
the river: it is a place of confiderable trade, which is much 
aflifted by the river, navigable to Lynn, and is the only 
market-town of the county on the north fide of the Oufe ; 
the (oil about it is fertile, particularly in excellent wheat. 
The corporation confilts of a mayor, recorder, two bai¬ 
liffs, twelve aldermen, See. The aflizes were always held 
here, except in the year 1684, when they were removed 
to Ampthill, by'the interefl of the earl of Aylelbury, its 
recorder. This place was famous for a victory, gained in 
the year 57 1, by Cuthwulf, the Saxon king, over the Bri¬ 
tons ; and for the interment of the great king Off'a, who 
chole to have his bones laid in a (mall chapel, near the ri¬ 
ver Oufe, which, happening to overflow, carried them 
quite away. The Danes once deftroyed this town ; but 
Edward the Elder repaired it, and united the town on the 
fouth fide of the river, called Mikcfgate, to Bedford, on 
the north fide of it; fince which they have both gone by 
this name. After the conquelt, Pagan de Beauchamp, the 
third baron of Bedford, built a caftle here, encompmled 
with a mighty rampart of earth, and a high wall, the w hole 
fo (hong that king Stephen, who befieged and took it in 
his war with the emprefs Maud, was glad to grant the 
garrifon honourable terms. In the barons’ wars, it was 
again befieged, and, for want of relief, taken by king John’s 
forces, under Fulco de Brent, to whom the king gave it 
for a reward ; but, for bis (ubfequent behaviour, lie took 
it from him, and caufed it to be demoliftied, though it was 
not quite level till the reign of Henry HI. The place 
firft gave title of duke to the victorious prince John Plan- 
tagenet, regent of France, during the minority of his ne¬ 
phew, Henry VI. as it did in the reign of Edward IV. firft: 
to John Nevil, marquis of Montacute, and then to the 
king’s third fon, George Piantagenet; but he, dying an in¬ 
fant, the title lay vacant till Henry VII. created his uncle, 
Jafper Tudor, duke of Bedford, who alfo died without 
iffue ; and thus far it is very remarkable, that the title was 
enjoyed by the firft poffelfor only of each family. But 
king Edward VI. making John lord Ruflel earl of Bed¬ 
ford, the dignity has ever fince been in that illnftrious 
houfe, with an advancement of it to the title of duke, by 
king William III. As the corporation is very ancient, it 
has fent reprefentatives to parliament from the earlieft 
times to the prefent. It has two markets weekly, viz. one 
on Monday, chiefly for cattle, held in the fouth part of the 
town ; the other on Saturday, for corn and provifions, held 
in the north part of the town. Its fairs are, the firft Tuef- 
day in Lent, April 21, July 5, Auguft 21, October u, 
and December 19. Bedford is twenty-two miles fouth- 
eaft of Northampton, fifty-two nortli-eaft of Oxford, fix- 
teen weft of Cambridge, and fifty north of London. 
Bedford, a towm of North America, in the (late of 
Maflachufets, on the river Concord, (even miles north of 
Concord. 
Bedford (John duke of), a renowned Englifh general. 
He was regent of France for Henry VI. during his mino¬ 
rity; conquered the French by fea and at land, and en¬ 
tered Paris at the head of his victorious army, where he 
caufed Henry- to be crowned king of France in 1431. He 
died in 1435. 
Bedford (Houfe of), fee Russell. 
Bedford Level, a large traCt of land, in the county 
of Cambridge, formerly full of fens and marfties, and in 
rainy feafons for the rnoft part under water, but drained at 
the expence of 400,000!. by the noble family of Ruflel, 
earls and dukes of Bedford, and others, by which 100,000 
acres of good land have been recovered and brought into 
ufe. 
BED'FORDSHIRE, a fmall inland county of England, 
bounded on the north by the counties of Huntingdon and 
Northampton, on the eaft by Cambridgefhire, on the fouth 
by Hertfordlhire, and on the weft by Buckinghamfhire. 
When the Romans landed in Britain, fifty-five years before 
Chrift, it was included in the diftriCt inhabited by the Ca- 
tieuchlani, whofe chief or governor Caflibelinus headed 
the forces of the whole ifland againft Caefar, and the year 
following 
