BEDFORD LEVEL BEDLAM 449 bant. In addition to the defection of the Bur- gundian forces, Bedford was crippled by the vexatious course of his brother and of par- liament, and by intestine agitation in England. Nevertheless, his victories would probably have culminated in the conquest of France if it had not been for the raising of the siege of Orleans by the interposition of Joan of Arc. Bedford, with reenforcements from the garrison towns of Normandy, followed Charles VII. to Paris. Before the walls of the capital he succeeded in repulsing the maid of Orleans, and in capturing her while she was attempting to make a sally from CompiSgne (May 24, 1430) ; and he was subsequently the principal agent in bringing her to the stake. After the death of his wife, Nov. 14, 1432, he widened still more the breach between him and the duke of Burgundy by marrying Jacquette, daughter of the earl of St. Pol, one of Burgundy's vassals. Cardinal Beau- fort exerted himself in vain to reconcile the two princes. At length a treaty of peace was agreed upon, hut this was regarded as hostile to English interests, and Bedford's death was hastened by mortification a fortnight before its official ratification. He was a patron of let- ters, and acquired for London the royal library of Paris. The dukedom of Bedford was revived in 1694, and conferred upon William Rus- sell, 5th earl of Bedford, the progenitor of the present ducal family. BEDFORD LEVEL, a district of England, con- sisting of an extensive tract of level country bounded N. E. by the German ocean, and on all other sides by highlands which encompass it like a horseshoe. It embraces the isle of Ely, in Cambridge, and portions of Hunting- don, Northampton, Lincoln, Norfolk, and Suf- folk; length about 60 m., breadth 40 m. ; area probably about 400,000 acres. There is good reason to suppose that at the time of the Roman invasion the surface of the district was much lower than now, and covered by one of those vast forests into which the natives used to retreat, and which it was the general policy of the conquerors to destroy. The subjugated people werja employed in felling the trees and erecting great embankments to keep out the sea. At the beginning of the 3d century the emperor Severus built roads through the marshes, one of which, from Peterborough to Denver, was 60 ft. wide and made of gravel 3 ft. deep ; it is now covered by from 3 to 5 ft. of soil. For many years the district was fertile and well cultivated; but in 1236, during a vio- lent storm, the sea burst through the embank- ment at Wisbeach and other places, doing im- mense damage to life and property, and redu- cing the surviving inhabitants to great distress. A second accident -of the same kind occurred in 1253, and a third a few years later. The evil was sometimes aggravated by improper measures taken for its cure, so that in the course of time the greater part of the district became a vast morass, some portions of which were covered with pools of stagnant, putrid water from 10 to 20 ft. deep. Efforts to drain it were set on foot in the reigns of Henry VII., Elizabeth, and James I., but all failed. In the time of Charles I. the earl of Bedford, after whom the district was named, made a partially successful attempt, which was renewed in 1 649 ' by his son, who brought the work to a close 1 and received 95,000 acres of the reclaimed land 1 as a compensation. A regular system for pre- j serving and improving the drained lands was i now inaugurated. A corporation for their management, consisting of a governor, 6 bai- liffs, 20 conservators, and a commonalty, was chartered and is still kept up. Of late years important improvements have been made in the old system of drainage, which in some re- spects proved defective. The reclaimed lands produce fine crops of grain, flax, and cole seed, but the harvests have occasionally suffered by fresh inundations, one of which in 1841 in- volved a loss of over 150,000. BEDFORDSHIRE (often abbreviated Beds), a county in the south midland division of England, bounded by the counties of North- ampton, Huntingdon, Cambridge, Hertford, and Buckingham ; area, about 500 sq. m. ; pop. in 1871, 146,256. The chief rivers are the Ouse and its tributary the Ivel. The only range of high lands is the lowest portion of the Chiltern hills, the country being generally level. The woods are of modern growth. The chief wealth of the county is agricultural. Near the valley of the Ouse the soil is well adapted for market gardening. Ferruginous peat is found on the shores of the river Ivel. The an- cient Ikeneld and Watling Street roads passed through the county, and there are many Roman, Saxon, and Norman antiquities. The Roman forces of Julius Cresar were opposed by the chief of the district, which was called Catyeu- chlana, and under Constantino Bedfordshire was included in the Roman province of Flavia Cassariensis. Under the Saxon heptarchy it was part of Mercia, and under Alfred it re- ceived its present name and divisions. Among the renowned country seats are Woburn Abbey, belonging to the Russell family ; Luton Hoo, to the Earl of Bute ; Ampthill park, to the Hol- land family ; and Cardington house, once the residence of the philanthropist Howard. BEDLAM, the popular designation of Beth- lehem hospital, a lunatic asylum in London, derived from a priory founded in 1246 by Simon Fitz Mary, sheriff of London. After the suppression of the religious houses, Henry VIII. granted it in 1547 to the corporation of London; but it retained the name of Fitz Mary's hospital till 1675, when the building was removed from Bishopsgate without (where now is Bethlem court) to Moorfields, near London wall, in the city of London. The new hospital was laid out by the architect Robert Hooke, and cost nearly 17,000. This second hospital was taken down in 1814, the founda- tion stone of the third and present establish- ment in St. George's Fields having been laid
