BEDELL, William, bishop of Kilmore and Ardagh, in Ireland, was born at Black Notle.y, in Essex, in 1570. He was educated at Cambridge, took orders, and, after leaving the university, settled for some years as clergyman in Bury St Edmunds. He was then appointed chaplain to Sir H. Wotton, English ambassador at Venice. In that town Bedell remained for eight years, acquiring great reputation as a scholar and theologian. He translated the Book of Common Prayer into Italian, and was on terms of closest friendship with Sarpi (Fra Paolo), the famous historian of the Council of Trent. In 1615, some time after his re turn to England, he was appointed to the rectory of Hornings- heath, in Suffolk, which he held for twelve years. He was then called to the provostship of Trinity College, Dublin, and relinquished that office after two years for the united bishoprics of Kilmore and Ardagh. As bishop he won the respect and love of his people by the uprightness and purity of his conduct. He set himself diligently to reform the abuses of his diocese, and personally undertook the duties generally discharged by the bishop s lay chancellor. In 1641, when the Protestants were being massacred in the Irish rebellion, Bedell s house was not only left un touched, but became the place of refuge for many fugitives. In the end, however, the rebels insisted upon the dismissal of all who had taken shelter in his house, and on the bishop s refusal he was seized and imprisoned with some others in the ruined castle of Loughboughter. Here he was detained for several weeks, and when released, rapidly sank from the effects of exposure on his weakened constitution. He died on the 7th February 1642. His life was written by Burnet.
BEDFORD, the county town of Bedfordshire, a municipal and parliamentary borough and market-town, situated in a, fertile vale on both sides of the River Ouse, which is here crossed by a handsome stone bridge of five arches. It is 50 miles N.W. of London, and has excellent railway accommodation as well as a navigable river. It is a station on the main line of the Midland Railway. The town consists chiefly of one long wide street, intersected by smaller ones at right angles. It is well built, and numerous villas and small streets have been erected on the west side since the opening of the Midland main line in 1868. It has five parish churches, four of which con tain architectural features.of interest. St Paul s has lately undergone considerable restoration, and the tower and spire have been rebuilt. St Peter s has been enlarged, but the ancient tower remains, in which are to be seen examples of Saxon work. St Mary s has a fine Norman tower, but the remainder of the church has at different times been restored. St John s has also been restored, but the original tower remains. St Cuthbert s is a recent erection in the Norman style. A district church, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, was opened in 1841. There are also Inde pendent, Methodist, Baptist, Roman Catholic, and other chapels. Bedford, in proportion to its size, has more public endowments than any other place in the kingdom, for which it is chiefly indebted to Sir W. Harper, Lord Mayor of London in 1561, who founded here a free school, and conveyed for its support, and for portioning poor maidens, a piece of ground in London, the surplus, if any, to be given to the poor. This ground has gradually risen in value so as now to produce nearly 14,000 annually. It supports grammar, modern, preparatory, and other schools. Formerly much of this large endowment was appropriated to eleemosynary purposes, which did not tend to the elevation of the character of the people ; but since the enactment of a scheme of the Endowed Schools Com mission in 1874, the whole amount is expended upon the schools, except a small proportion for the endowment of forty-five alms-houses. The grammar school has eight exhibitions of 70 per annum each, at Oxford, Cambridge, or Dublin. Among the public buildings are the schools, the shire-hall, the jail, the infirmary, the county library and assembly rooms, and the new corn exchange. The com mercial prosperity of this town is greatly aided by the works of the Messrs Howard and others, for the manufac ture of agricultural implements, &c. There are also manufactures of straw and lace in the neighbourhood. Bedford is governed by a mayor, six aldermen, and eighteen councillors ; and it sends two members to parliament. It is exceptionally well provided with sanitary appliances, having a new complete system of sewerage and water-works ; and the sewage is conveyed to a farm about a mile from the town and utilized at once for growing crops of grass, roots, and corn. Population in 1871, 16,850.
BEDFORD LEVEL, the name given to a flat district on the eastern coast of England, comprising the greater part (amounting to 450,000 acres) of the marshy district called the Fens, the whole Isle of Ely in Cambridgeshire, and a portion of the north of that county, 30,000 acres of Suffolk, 63,000 acres of Norfolk, 57,000 of Huntingdon, about 8000 of Northamptonshire, and the south-eastern portion of Lincolnshire. The extent of the whole tract is 60 miles in length, from Milton in Cambridge to Toynton in Lincoln ; its breadth is about 40 miles, from Peterborough in Northampton to Brandon in Suffolk. The boundary on three sides is irregular, giving it something of a horse-shoe shape, with the opening terminated by the sea on the north.
This district obtained its present name from the agreement of Francis earl of Bedford, the principal landholder, and thirteen other adventurers, with Charles 1. in 1634, to drain the level, on condi tion of receiving 95,000 acres of the reclaimed land. The district has within historic times undergone remarkable changes. In the time of the Komans it was a dense forest, which, as a stronghold of the Britons, those invaders destroyed. It then became a swamp, through which the lazy waters of the Ouse, the Welland, the Nene, and Wisbeach, crept to the sea. In the 13th century the sea here, as in other parts of N.W. Europe, burst its boundaries, and the inundated land became a pestilential swamp. The first attempt to drain this morass seems to have been made in the year 1436, and embankments and ditches were formed at a great expense. These, however, were swept away during the ensuing winter by the Hood ing of the Kiver Ouse. Another partial attempt at drainage was made by Bishop Moreton in the reign of Henry VII., but this also proved a failure. An Act was passed in the 44th year of Queen Elizabeth for effecting its reclamation ; but the first effectual at tempt at reclaiming it was not made until 1634, as already men tioned, and many embankments and canals were constructed at various intervals at an expense above one million sterling. Three years after the agreement of the earl of Bedford and his partners with the king, after an outlay of 100,000 on the part of the com pany, the contract was annulled, on the fraudulent plea that the works were insufficient ; and an offer was made by King Charles to undertake its completion on condition of receiving 57,000 acres in addition to the amount originally agreed on. This unjust attempt was frustrated by the breaking out of the civil war ; and no further attempt at drainage was made till 1649, when the Parliament rein stated the earl of Bedford s successor in his father s rights. After an additional outlay of 300,000, the adventurers received 95,000 acres of reclaimed land, according to the contract, which, however, fell far short of repaying the expense of the undertaking. In 1664 a royal charter was obtained to incorporate the company, which still exists, and carries on the concern under a governor, 6 bailiffs, 20 conservators, and a commonalty, each of whom must possess 100 acres of land in the level, and has a voice in the election of officers. The conservators must each possess not less than 280 acres, the governor and bailiffs each 400 acres. The original ad venturers had allotments of land according to their interest of the original 95,000 acres ; but Charles II., on granting the charter, took care to secure to the crown a lot of 12,000 acres out of the 95,000, which, how ever, is held under the directors, whereas the allotments are not held in common, though subject to the laws of the corporation. The level was divided in 1697 into three parts, called the North, Middle, and South Levels the second being separated from the others by the Nene and Old Bedford rivers.
Since then extensive works have at different times been carried on to complete the drainage of this district ; but the most effectual are under the Acts of 1827 and 1829, for "Improving the outfall of the Nene," "The Navigation of the Wisbeach," and "The Em banking of the Salt Marshes between the canal called Kinderley Cut and the sea." Vessels of 200 to 300 tons burden can now
