Bedfellow

One who lies with another in the same bed; a bed-companion. "Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows ." Shaks. Bedford, JOHN, PLANTAGE NET, DUKE OF, Regent of France, 3d son of Henry IV. of England, в. 1390. He was created Constable of England in 1403, and sent to succor Harfleur in 1416. In 1422, Charles VI. of France died, and long years of war followed between the rival claimants for the crown, Charles VII. and Henry VI. B. веcured the alliance of the Dukes of Burgundy and Britt any, and obtained a long series of military succe es. The tide turned at the siege of Orleans, which was raised by Joan of Arc. The Duke of Britt any had previously abandoned the English cause; the Duke of Burgundy did the same in 1435; and B. died at Rouen, Sept., 1435. Bed'ford, JOHN RUSSELL, DUKE OF, K. G., distinguished for his princely patronage of letters, the fine arts, and every branch of social industry; B. 1766. He was versed in literature, fond of science, and a pa ionate lover of agriculture; to the improvement of which he devoted years of his life, and the expenditure of vast sums of Bed'ford, an inland co. of England, having N. and N.W. the counties of Hunting don and North amp ton; S. Hertford; E. Hunting don, and Cambridge; and W. Bucking ham and North amp ton. Area , 295,582 acres, of which about 250,000 are arable, meadow and pasture. Surface, diversified; soil , fertile. Prod . Cereals and beans, and large quantities of vegetables for the London markets. Prin. towns . Bedford, Biggleswade, Leighton, Buzzard, Luton, and Duns table. This county was part of the Saxon kingdom of Murcia. Pop . (1895) 166,000, BEDFORD, a borough and cap. of above co.. on the Ouse, 45 m. N.N.W. of London. Manf . Straw-plaiting.-John Bunyan was imprisoned from 1660 to 1672 in the jail here; and in it he wrote the first portion of the Pil- grim's Progre . Pop. (1898) 28,023. Bedford, in Illinois , a post-village of Pike co., on the Illinois river, about 54 m. S.E. of Quincy. Bedford, in Indiana , a flourishing city, the cap. of Lawrence co., situated on an elevation, 3 m. from the E. fork of the White river, and 75 m. S.S.W. of Indian- apolis. Pop . (1898) 3,930. Bedford, in Iowa , a post-town, cap. of Taylor Co., on the Chic., Burl. & Quincy R.R., 70 m. S.E. of Council Bluffs. Pop . (1898) 2,350. Bed'ford, in Kentucky , a township and village, cap. of Trimble co., about 40 m. from Frankfort, and 6 from the Ohio River. Bedford, in Ma achusetts , a prosperous post-township of Middle sex co., on Concord River, 14 m. N.W. of Boston. Near the village are mineral springs, with good accommodations for visitors. Bedford, in Michigan , a post-township of Calhoun county. -A township of Monroe co. Bedford, in Minnesota , a village of Wright co., on the Mi i ippi River, about 33 m. N.W. of St. Anthony. Bed'ford, in Mi ouri , a post-village of Livings ton co., on Grand River, about 85 m. E. by S. of St. Joseph. Bed'ford, in New Hampshire , a post-township of Hills- borough co., abt. 20 m. S.E. of Concord. Bedizen, ( be - di'zn,) v. a. [ Be and dizen . Of uncertain etymology.] To dre over-much; to adorn gaudily; to deck showily. with which he had be- Bed'lam, n . [Corrupted from Bethlehem .] The name of an hospital for lunatics, in St. George's Fields, London, originally founded in 1545, in the buildings of a reli- gio us house, called Bethlehem, of which it retained the name. The name is often applied in England, in a gen- eral sense, to any mad-house or lunatic asylum; also to a madman, a lunatic, a dweller in Bedlam; and, adjec- tively, to anything belonging to a mad-house; as, "А bedlam beggar." - Shaks . "In these poor bedlamites thyself survey, Thyself le innocently mad than they." - Fitzgerald. Bed'maker, n. A person who makes beds. A term used principally at the English universities of Oxford and Cambridge. "I was deeply in love with my bedmaker , upon which I was rus- ticated forever." Spectator . Bed'-pan, n. A nece ary utensil for the service of a bed-ridden person. Bed'-piece, Bed-plate, n. ( Mach . ) The foundation- plate of an engine, a lathe, . Bed'post, n. A post at the corner of a bed. Bedrag'gle, v. a. [ be and druggle .] To soil in the dirt, as garments, . "Poor Patty Blount, no more be seen Bedraggled in my walks so green." Bed'mar, ALFONSO DE LA CUEVA, MARQUIS OF, Cardinal Bishop of Oviedo, an eminent Spanish diplomatist; в. 1572. He was sent amba ador to the republic of Venice by Philip III., in 1607, and, in 1618, he took part with Don Pedro of Toledo, governor of Milan, and the Duke d'O una, then Viceroy of Naples, in a conspiracy to overthrow the republic of Venice, by firing the arsenal, Bed'right, BED'RITE, n. The privilege of the marriage- pillaging the mint and the treasury of St. Mark, and ma acring the Doge and senators. The plot failed, and many French men and Spaniards were arrested and IMG:content-0575.png:[blocks in formation] executed. B. was allowed to retire. He was created Bedroom, n. A sleeping apartment: a lodging-room. cardinal in 1622, was afterwards Spanish governor of the Bedrop', v . a. To sprinkle, as with drops. Netherlands, made himself detested by the Flemings, Bed'-side, n. The side of the bed. Bedford, in New York , a village of Saranac township, Bucks co., 35 m. N. of Philadelphia. Clinton county, on the Saranac river, 140 m. N. of Al- bany. Bedford, in New York , a village and railroad station of King's co., on the Long Island Railroad; now part of the borough of Brooklyn, New York. Bedford, in Tenne ee, a central co., area about 550 sq. The surface is undulating, and the soil, extensively cultivated, is fertile, and watered by Duck River. Cap . Shelbyville. Bedford, in Virginia , a county bounded N.E. by the James River, S.W. by the Staunton River, and N.W. by the Blue Ridge Mountains. Here are the splendid Peaks of Otter (see Fig . 159), 420 feet above the sea. The county is highly picturesque and productive. Capital, Liberty. Bedford Level, an E. district of England, comprising about 450,000 acres of what is called the "Fen" country, in the counties of Cambridge (including the whole of the Isle of Ely), Suffolk, Norfolk, Hunting don, North- ampton, and Lincoln. It was a mere waste of fen and marsh, until the time of Charles I., when. in 1634, a char- ter was granted to Francis, Earl of Bedford, who under- took to drain the level, on condition of being allowed 95,000 acres of the reclaimed land. He accomplished the undertaking at an enormous expense, and it now forms one of the most fertile and grain-productive dis- tricts in the kingdom. Bedford Station, in New York , a post-office of West chester co. Be'dias, in Teras , a post-office of Grimes co. Bedight, (br-dit',) v. a. [A.S. dihtan , to set in order.] To array or deck with ornaments or finery; to adorn; to decorate. Bed'-moulding, n. ( Arch .) See BED. Bednore, ( bed - nore ' ,) a town of Hindostan, cap. of a dist. of Mysore; Lat. 13° 50′ N., Lon. 75° 6' E.; 150 m. N.W. of Seringa pat am, and 360 W.N.W. of Madras. It is situated on one of the best roads in the W. Ghauts, which leads from Man galore. When Hyder Ali took it, in 1763, it was said to be 8 m. in circumference, and it afforded him considerable plunder. In 1783, it was taken by the English, who, in the following year, were dis- lodged by Tippoo Saib. It has no manufactures, but po e es an increasing trade. Bed of Justice, [Fr., Lit de Justice .] ( Hist . ) Literally, the seat or throne upon which the king of France was Bed's werver, n . One who is false to the marriage- bed; one who swerves from his proper bed. "She's a bed swerver, even as bad as those That vulgars give the boldest titles to." - Shaks. ments. From this original meaning, the expre ion came, in course of time, to denote a solemn proceeding resorted to by the monarch, in order to carry some measure against the will of the parliament. A bed of justice was a solemn se ion of the king in the parlia- IMG:content-0576.png:[blocks in formation] edicts as ordinances. According to the principle of the old French constitution, the authority of the parliament, being derived entirely from the crown, ceased when the "As merry as when our nuptial day was done. And tapers burnt to bedward ."- Shaks. king was present; and consequently all ordinances en- rolled at a bed of justice were acts of the royal will, and of more authenticity and effect than decisions of par- liament. The ceremony of holding a bed of justice was as follows:- The king was seated on the throne, and covered; the princes of the blood-royal, the peers, and all the several chambers were present. The marshals "They call this bed work , mapp'ry, closet war."-Shaks. of France, the chancellor, and the other great officers Bedye', v. a. To dye or stain. Bedwarf, v. a. To stunt; to hinder in growth; to Bed'-work, n. Work done in bed; work performed without manual toil. of state, stood near the throne, around the king. The chancellor, or, in his absence, the keeper of the seals, declared the object of the se ion, and the persons present then deliberated upon it. The chancellor then collected the opinions of the a embly, proceeding in the order of their rank; and afterwards declared the determination of the king in the following words: " Le roi, en son lit de justice , a ordonné et ordonne qu'il sera procédé à l'enregistrement des lettres sur lesquelles on à délibéré." The last bed of justice was a embled by Louis XVI., at Versailles, on the 6th of August, 1788, at the commencement of the French Revolution, and was in- tended to enforce upon the parliament of Paris the adoption of the obnoxious taxes, which had been pre- viously proposed by Calonne, at the A embly of No- tables. Bedouins, BE DO WEENS, n. pl., (běd'on-een.) [Fr. bédou- ins; Ar. bedawi , rural, dwelling in the desert, from bad a , to lead a nomadic life.] Numerous and warlike tribes of Arabs, who dwell in the deserts of Arabia, Egypt, and N. Africa. They are supposed to be the descendants of Ishmael the "wild man," whose "hand was against every man, and every man's hand against him." ( Gen. xvi. 12,) в. с. 1920. The Bedouins live at a distance from cities and villages, in families under sheikhs, or in tribes under emirs. Their dwellings are huts, tents, ruins, and cav- erns. With their herds and their beasts of burden, which carry what little property they po e , they wander in search of fresh water and pasture. They are good horse- men, and generally fond of hunting. The more peaceful tribes exchange horses and fat cattle for arms and cloth with neighboring nations. Other hordes are open rob- bers; and it is dangerous to travel through their coun- try without a guard or a pa port, which the different chiefs sell. Terrible encounters have been the conse- quence of travellers refusing to part with their property the flowers, it becomes covered with the farina or pollen of the anthers; this pollen it wipes off with the brushes of its legs, collects every particle together, and kneads it into two little ma es, which it lodges on the broad 1. The male, or Drone; 2 the neuter, or Worker; 3 the female, or Queen. surface of the tibia of each hind leg, where a series of elastic hairs over-arches a concavity, and acts as a sort of lid or covering, (d, Fig . 331.) Thus employed, the Bee flies from flower to flower, increasing its store of honey, and adding to its stock of kneaded pollen, which is called bee -bread. The abdomen is divided into six annulations or rings, which are capable of being contracted or extended at pleasure; and the insect is internally furnished with a honey-bag, a venom-bag, and a sting. The honey-bag, which is as transparent as crystal, contains the honey which the bee has brushed from the flowers, the greatest part of which is carried to the hive, and poured into the cells of the honeycomb, while the remainder serves for the bee's own nourishment. Wax is a peculiar secretion in little cells beneath the scales of the abdomen. It is from honey that the wax, by some internal proce , is elaborated. The wax oozes out between the abdominal rings, in the form of little lamine; IMG:content-0577.jpg:[merged small][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed] a. Proboscis of the hive-bee. c. The tongue. b. The hinder-leg of the worker-bee. d. The part on which the pollen is carried. (Magnified.) it is then worked with the mouth, and kneaded with saliva that it may acquire the requisite degree of ductility for the construction of the comb, which is finished with a substance called propolas , a glutinous or gummy resinous matter procured from the buds of certain trees. The sting is composed of three parts; namely, the sheath, and two extremely small and penetrating darts, each of which is furnished with several points, or barbs, which, rankling in the wound, render the sting more painful. This instrument, however, would prove but a feeble weapon, if the bee did not poison the wound. The sharp pointed sheath first enters, and this being followed by the barbed darts, the venomous fluid is speedily injected. Sometimes the sheath sticks fast in the flesh, and is left behind; but the death of the bee invariably follows.Having examined the bee singly, we now proceed to an inquiry into its habits as a member of a social community. Viewed in this light, we behold an animal active, vigilant, laborious, and disinterested; subject to regulations, and perfectly submi ive. All its provisions are laid up for the community; and all its arts are employed in building a cell, designed for the benefit of posterity -A beehive contains three kinds of individuals, -a queen, drones, and workers; the queen is a female, and not only the ruler, but in great part the mother of the community; the drones are males, and the workers are abortive females. The sole office of the queen appears to be the laying of eggs, and this occupies her almost ince antly, as a single one only is deposited in each cell, thus causing her to be in continual motion; she is slow and majestic in her movements, and differs from the workers in being larger, having a longer body, shorter wings, and a curved sting. The queen is accompanied by a guard of workers, an office which is taken in turn, but never intermitted; in whatever direction she wishes to travel, these guards clear the way before her, always with the utmost courtesy turning their faces towards her; and when she rests from her labors, approaching her with humility, licking her face, mouth, and eyes, and appearing to fondle her with their antennæ. - The drones are all males; they are smaller than the queen, but larger than the workers; they live on the honey of flowers, but bring none home, and are wholly usele , except as being the fathers of the future progeny; when this office is accomplished, they are destroyed by the workers. A buzzing commences in the hive, the drones and the workers sally forth together, grapple each other in the air, hug and scuffle for a minute, during which operation the stings of the workers are plunged into the sides of the drones, who, overpowered by the poison, almost instantly die. - The workers are the smallest bees in the hive, and by far the most numerous; they have a longer lip for sucking honey than either of the others; their thighs are furnished with a brush for the reception of the pollen of flowers, and their sting is straight. The workers do the entire work of the community; they build the cells, guard the hive and the queen, collect and store the honey, elaborate the wax, feed the young, kill the drones, . The average number of these three kinds of bees in a hive is, one queen, 200 drones, and 30,000 to 40,000 workers, or six to eight quarts by measurement. The eggs are long, slightly curved, and of a pearly white color; when laid, they are covered with a glutinous matter, which instantly dries, attaching them to the bottom of the cell. The queen, under normal conditions, lays all the eggs, and is capable of depositing as many as four you sand in a day. She ordinarily mates but once, flying from the hive, from which the male or drone bees follow. Seminal fluid, sufficient to impregnate the eggs she will lay in from three to five years, is stored in a sac at the time of mating. She is able to control the opening of the sac so that the eggs may or may not be fertilized. If fertilized, they develop workers or queens, according to the quality and kind of food given to the young or larvæ; then the production of queens or workers also depends on the size or shape of the cell in which they are developed. If not fertilized, they produce drones or males. The time it takes to develop also influences the production of queens, workers or drones, the queen being produced in 15%, the workers in 21 and the drone in 24 days from the oviposition to the imago or adult state. The eggs hatch in a few days, and produce little white maggots, which immediately open their mouths to be fed; these the workers attend to with untiring a iduity. In six days each maggot fills up its cell; it is then roofed in by the workers, spins a silken cocoon, and becomes a chrysalis. When the queen-bee has an inclination to deposit her eggs, she goes forth, accompanied by six or eight working bees as a guard, whose stomachs are filled with honey. She is very deliberate in her motions, and seems to proceed with great caution. She first looks into a cell, and if she finds it perfectly empty, she draws up her long body, inserts her tail into the cell, and deposits an egg. In this way she slowly proceeds till she has dropped ten or twelve eggs, when, perhaps feeling exhausted, she is fed by one of the attendant bees, who have surrounded her all the time. This is done by the bee ejecting the honey from its stomach into the mouth of the queen. When this has been done, the bee goes away, and another takes its place. The operation of laying her eggs again goes on, and is succeeded by the same mode of feeding, the attendant bees frequently touching the antennæ of the queen with their own. When the operation of laying the eggs is completed and it generally occupies some time the queen retires to that part of the hive which is most filled with bees. During her progre , the surface of the comb is very little intruded upon, and the space seems purposely to be left unoccupied. Some few of the cells, however, in a brood-comb, are pa ed over by the queen, and afterwards filled either with honey or farina. These serve as deposits of food, from which the neighboring brood may be fed more readily, as such cells are never covered with wax. The queen, for nearly a year, lays no eggs that are destined to produce queens; it therefore follows that, if any evil befall her, the hive is left without a queen. It sometimes happens that she dies, or is taken away by the owner of the hive, to observe the result. For twelve hours, little notice is taken of the lo ; it appears not to be known. and the workers labor as usual. After that period, a hubbub commences; work is abandoned; the whole hive is in an uproar; every bee traverses the hive at random, and with the most evident want of purpose. This state of anarchy sometimes continues for two days; then the bees gather in clusters of a dozen or so, as though engaged in consultation, the result of which seems to be a fixed resolution to supply her lo . A few of the workers repair to the cells in which are deposited the eggs of the workers; three of these cells are quickly broken into one, the edges polished, and the sides smoothed and rounded, a single egg being allowed to remain at the bottom. When this egg hatches, the maggot is fed with a peculiarly nutritive food, called royal bee-bread, which is never given to any maggots, but such as are to produce queens. Work is now resumed over the whole hive, and goes on as briskly as before; on the sixteenth day the egg produces a queen, whose appearance is hailed with every demonstration of delight, and who at once a umes sovereignty over the hive. When, under ordinary circumstances, a young queen emerges from the chrysalis, the old one frequently quits the hive, heading the first swarm for the season, and flying to some neighboring resting-place, is observed by the owner, captured, placed under a new hive, and a new colony is immediately commenced. Before a swarm leaves the hive, sure indications are given of the intended movement; the workers leave their various occupations and collect in groups, especially near the door of the hive, as though in consultation on the iıportant event about to take place. - As the summer advances, many queens are hatched, but the workers do not allow them instant liberty, as severe battles would take place between them and the reigning queen, in which one would be killed; the workers, therefore, make a small hole in the ceiling of the royal cell, through which the captive queen thrusts her tongue, and receives food from the workers. In this state of confinement the young queen utters a low querulous note, which has been compared to singing. When the reigning, or newly created queen, finds one of these captives, she uses every effort to tear open the cell and destroy her rival. To prevent this, the workers often interpose, pulling her away by the legs and wings; to this she submits for a short time, when, uttering a peculiar cry, called her voice of sovereignty, she commands instant attention and obedience, and is at once freed from her a ailants. The cocoons spun by the maggots of the workers and drones completely envelop the chrysalis; but that spun by the maggot of the queen appears imperfect, covering only the upper end of the chrysalis. It has been supposed that they are thus designedly exposed to the attacks of other queens, and their destruction, before emerging, facilitated. When the chrysalis of the queen is about to change to a per fect insect, the bees make the cover of the cell thinner by gnawing away part of the wax; and with so much nicety do they perform this operation, that the cover at last becomes pellucid, owing to its extreme thinne . -The combs of a bee-hive comprise a congeries of hexagonal cells, built by the bees as a receptacle for honey, and for the nurseries of their young; each comb in a hive is composed of two ranges of cells, backed against each other. The base or partition between this double row of cells is so disposed as to form a pyramidical cavity at the bottom of each. There is a continued series of these double combs in every well-filled hive-the spaces between them being just sufficient to allow two bees, one on the surface of each comb, to pa without touching. Each cell is hexagonal, the six sides being perfectly equal. This figure ensures the greatest po ible economy of material and space; the outer edges of the cells are slightly thickened, in order to gain strength; the same part is also covered with a beautiful varnish, which is supposed to give additional strength. The construction of several combs is generally going on at the same time; no sooner is the foundation of one laid, with a few rows of cells attached to it, than a second and a third are founded on each side. parallel to the first, and so on till the hive is filled-the combs which were commenced first being always in the most advanced state, and therefore the first completed. The design of every comb is sketched out, and the first rudiments laid by a single bee. This foundre -bee forms a block out of a rough ma of wax, drawn partly from its own resources, but principally from those of other bees, which furnish wax from small sacs, in which it has been secreted, that are situated between the segments of the body of the bee; taking out the plates of wax with their hind-feet, and carrying it with their fore-feet to their mouths, where it is moistened, masticated, and rendered soft and ductile. The foundre -bee determines the relative position of the combs, and their distance from each other, the foundations which she marks, serving as guides to the ulterior labors of the wax-working bees, and of those who build the cells, giving them the advantage of the margins and angles already formed. The ma of wax prepared by the a istants is applied by the foundre -bee to the roof or bottom of the hive, and thus a slightly double convex ma is formed; when of sufficient size, a cell is sculptured on one side of it by the bees, who relieve one another in the labor. At the back, and on each side of this first cell, two others are sketched out and excavated. By this proceeding the foundations of two cells are laid, the line betwixt them corresponding with the centre of the opposite cells. As the comb extends, the first excavations are rendered deeper and broader; and when a pyramidal base is finished, the bees build up walls from its edges, so as to complete what may be called the prismatic part of the cell. The cells intended for the drones are considerably larger and more substantial than those for the workers, and being formed subsequently, they usually appear nearer the bottom of the combs. Last of all are built IMG:content-0578.png:[graphic] the royal cells for the queens. Of these there are usually three or four, sometimes ten or twelve in a hive, attached completely to the central part, but not unfrequently to the edge of the comb. The form of the royal cells is an oblong spheroid, tapering gradually downwards, and having the exterior full of holes. The mouth of the cell, which is always at the bottom, remains open until the maggot is ready for transformation, and it is then closed like the rest. When the queen has emerged, the cell in which she was reared is destroyed, and its place is supplied by a range of common cells. The site of this range may be always traced by that part of the comb being thicker than the rest, and forming a kind of knot. The common breeding-cells of drones and workers are occasionally made the depositories of honey; but the cells are never sufficiently cleansed to preserve the honey undeteriorated. The finest honey is stored in new cells constructed for the purpose of receiving it, their form precisely resembling that of the common breeding-cells. These honey-cells vary in size, being larger or smaller according to the productivene of the sources from which the bees are collecting, and according to the season. It is remarkable that all animals which have been long under the protection of man seem to lose a part of their natural sagacity. In those countries where the bees are wild, and unprotected by man, they are always sure to build their waxen cells in the hollows of trees; but with us they appear improvident in their choice, and the first green branch which stops their flight, is deemed sufficient for their abode. It does not even appear that the queen chooses the place where they are to alight; for numbers of the swarms, when they conceive a predilection for any particular branch, spontaneously settle on it; others follow their example, and at last the queen herself, finding the majority of the swarm convened together, condescends to place herself among them. The queen being settled, the rest of the swarm soon flock around her, and in about a quarter of an hour the whole body seems to be perfectly at rest. When a hive sends out several swarms in a year, the first is always the best, as well as the most numerous; for, having the greatest part of the summer before them, they have the more time for making wax and honey, and consequently their labors are the most valuable to their proprietor. Though the swarm is principally made up of the younger bees, those of all ages generally compose the number of emigrants; and as a single hive sometimes contains upwards of 40,000 inhabitants, such a vast body may well be supposed to work with great expedition.