847 
BED 
following was totally defeated. In 310 the emperor Con- 
ftantine divided Britain into five Roman provinces, when 
this county was included in the third divifion, called Fla- 
via CtzJ'arienfs ; in which (late it continued 426 years, when 
the Romans quitted Britain. At the eftablilhment of the 
kingdom of Mercia (one of the divifions of the Saxon 
heptarchy) it was conlidered as part of that kingdom ; and 
fo continued from 582 to 827, when with the other petty 
kingdoms of the iiland it became fubjeft to the Weft Sax¬ 
ons under Egbert, and the whole was named England. In 
889, Alfred held the fovereignty, when England was di¬ 
vided into counties, hundreds, and tythings, and Bedford- 
fhire firft received its prelent name. It is in tire Norfolk 
circuit, the province of Canterbury, and bifliopric of Lin¬ 
coln. ' Its form is oval, being about thirty-five miles long, 
twenty-two broad, and nearly feventy-three in circumfe¬ 
rence; containing an area of about 323 fquare miles, or 
260,000 fquare acres. It contains 1 16 parilhes, fifty-eight 
vicarages, and ten market-towns, viz. Bedford, Ampthill, 
Bigglefwade, Dunftable, Leighton-Buzzard, Luton, Pot¬ 
ton, 0 Shefford, Tuddington, and Woburn, and fifty-five 
villages. The inhabitants by computation are 67,350. It 
is divided into nine hundreds, and fends two members to 
parliament. Its principal river, the Otrfe, is navigable to 
Bedford ; and divides tire county into two parts, of which 
that to the fouth is the mod confiderable. In its courfe, 
which is very meandering, it receives feveral (mall dreams: 
the principal one is the Ivel, which takes its rife in the 
Southern part of the county. The air is healthy, and the 
foil produRive. The chief manufadlures are thread, hats, 
lace, and ft raw-ware. In this county there are many re¬ 
mains of Roman, Saxon, and Norman, antiquities; but 
few Roman ftations, viz. Sandy near Potton, and the Ma- 
giovinum of Antoninus, by others fuppofed to be the an¬ 
cient Salenae, containing thirty acres, where many urns, 
coins, &c. have been dug up. Another at Madining- 
bowre, or Maiden-bower, one-mile from Dunftable, con¬ 
taining about nine acres, which Camden fuppofes to have 
been a Roman ftation, from the coins of the emperorsha¬ 
ving been frequently dug up there, and calls it Magintum. 
Leighton-Buzzard is fuppofed to have been a Roman 
camp, and another is at Arlefey near Shefford, and a Ro¬ 
man amphitheatre may be traced near Bradford Magna. 
The Roman road, Icknield-ftreet, erodes this country, en¬ 
tering at Leighton-Buzzard, from whence it paftes Dun- 
ftablc, where it inclines northward over Wardon-hills to 
Baldock in HertfordIhire. The Watling-ftreet enters this 
county near Luton from St. Alban’s, paftes a little north 
of Dunftable, where it erodes the Icknield-ftreet, and 
from thence to Stoney-Stratford in Buckinghamdiire. A 
Roman road alfo enters near Potton, paftes on to Sandy, 
and from thence to Bedford, where it erodes the Oufe, and 
proceeds to Newport-Pagnell in Buckinghamdiire. The 
following antiquities in this county are worthy of notice : 
Bedford Bridge and Priory; Chickfand Abbey, near Sbet- 
ford ; Dunftable Priory, near Luton ; Eatou-Park Houfe, 
or Eaton-Bray ; Five Knolls, near Dunftable ; Newnham 
Priory, near Bedford ; Northill Church, three miles from 
Bigglefwade; Summeris Tower, near Luton; Wardon 
Abbey, near Shefford; Woburn Abbey ; and Woodhill 
Caftle, or Oldhili Cable, near Harewood. 
Bedfordfhire is one of the feven counties which, they 
fov, lie together, and have not one city among them; 
namely, Huntingdon, Bedford, Bucks, Berks, Hertford, 
Effex, and Suffolk. This county is remarkable for feve¬ 
ral curious a-nd fcarce plants; efpecially the woad, which, 
if it be good, is commonly worth 1 Si. per ton. The an¬ 
cient Britons, by painting themfelves with this plant, ufed 
to (trike terror into their enemies ; who, though not afraid 
of meeting men cafed in complete armour, could not at 
firft ftand the (hock of tliefe naked barbarians ; as was the 
cafe in the firft invafion of this land by Cat-far. 
To BEDIGHT', v. a. [from dighl. ] Toudorn; todrefs; 
50 Let off 1 an aid word, now only ufed in humorous writings; 
BED 
A maiden fine bedight lie hapt to love; 
The maiden fine bedight his love retains, 
And for the village lie forfakes the plains. Gay. - 
To BEDIM', v. a. [from dim.'] To make dim; to ob- 
feme; to cloud; to darken. 
To BPIDI'ZEN, v. a. [from dizen.] To drefs out: a 
low word. 
BED'LAM,/! [corrupted from Bethlehem , the name of 
a religious houfe in London, converted afterwards into an 
hofpital for the mad and lunatic.] A niadhoufe ; a place 
appointed for the cure of lunacy. A madman ; a lunatic, 
and inhabitant of Bedlam : 
Let’s follow the old earl, and get the bedlam 
To lead him where he would : his roguifti madnefs 
Allows itfelf to any thing. Shak.fpeare. 
Bedlam, adj. Belonging to a madhoufe ; fit fora mad- 
houfe. 
BED'LAMITE,yi An inhabitant of Bedlam ; a mad¬ 
man : 
If wild ambition in thy bofom reign, 
Alas! thou boaft’ft thy fober fenle in vain; 
In tliefe poor bedlamites thyfe 1 f furvey, 
Thyfelf lefs innocently mad than they. Fitzgerald . 
BED'LOE (William), affumed the title of Captain, but 
was an infamous adventurer of low birth, who travelled 
over a great part of Europe under different names and dif- 
guifes, and paffed among ignorant perfons for a man of 
rank and fortune. Encouraged by the fuccefs of Oates,, 
lie turned evidence in the affair of the popifti plot, gave 
an account of Godfrey’s murder, and added many circum-. 
fiances to the narrative of the former. Tliefe villains had 
the boldnefs to accufe the queen of entering into a confpi- 
racy againft the king’s life. A reward of 500I. was voted 
to Bedloe by the commons. He is faid to liave afferted 
the reality of the plot on his death-bed : but it abounds 
with abfurdity, contradiction, and perjury; and (till re¬ 
mains one of the greateft problems in the Britifh annals. 
He died at Briftol Auguft 20, 1680. He was faid to be 
author of a play called The Excommunicated Prince ; or, 
the Falfe Relief, 1679. 
BED'M AKER, f. [from bed z .nd make.'j A perfon in 
the univerlities, whofe office it is to make the beds, and 
clean the chambers. 
BED'MATE, f. [from bed and mate.] A bedfellow; 
one that partakes of the fame bed. 
BED'MOULDING,yi [from bed and mould.]„ A term 
ufed by workmen, to fignify thofe members in tile cor¬ 
nice, which are placed below the coronet. 
BED'NAL, or Bethnal Green, one of the hamlets- 
of the parifti of Stepney, now covered with houfes, and 
joined to London. In it is the noble hofpital of' the Tri- 
nity-houfe, for decayed mafters of fnips, or pilots. 
BEDNO'RE, or Bid'danore, a country of Hindoftan, 
lying north-w’eft of the Myfore country, which takes its 
name from the capital, Bednore. 
Bednore, a city of Hindoftan, and capital of a dif- 
tridt north-weft of the Myfore country, to which it is uni¬ 
ted. It was taken by the Englifti in the year 1783, but 
reftored foon after. It is 140 miles north-weft of Serin- 
gapatam, 224 fouth of Vifiapour, and 330 fouth-fouth- 
eaft of Bombay. Lat. 13.47. N. Ion. 74. 48,E.Greenwich. 
BE'DOED LAKE, a lake of North America. Lat. 
60. 20. N. Ion. 109 . o. W. Greenwich. 
BEDOU'INS, or Bedouis, a modern name of the wild 
Arabs, whether in Afia or Africa! When fpeaking of the 
Arabs, we iliould diftinguifh whether they are cultiva¬ 
tors or paftors ; for this difference in their mode of life oc~ 
cafions fo great a one in their manners and genius, that' 
they become alrnoft foreign nations with refpedt to each 
other. In the former cafe, leading a fedentary life, attach¬ 
ed to the fame foil, and fubjedt to regular governments,, 
the focial ftate in which they live very nearly tefembles 
