sublimity. His other principal writings are _Memoirs of Extraordinary
Painters_ (1780), a satirical work, and _Letters from Italy with Sketches
of Spain and Portugal_ (1835), full of brilliant descriptions of scenes
and manners. B.'s fame, however, rests nearly as much upon his eccentric
extravagances as a builder and collector as upon his literary efforts. In
carrying out these he managed to dissipate his fortune of £100,000 a
year, only £80,000 of his capital remaining at his death. He sat in
parliament for various constituencies, and one of his two _dau._ became
Duchess of Hamilton.


BEDDOES, THOMAS LOVELL (1803-1849).--Dramatic poet and physiologist, _s._
of Dr. Thos. B., an eminent physician, and nephew of Maria Edgeworth.
_Ed._ at the Charterhouse and Oxford, he _pub._ in 1821 _The
Improvisatore_, which he afterwards endeavoured to suppress. His next
venture was _The Bride's Tragedy_ (1822), which had considerable success,
and won for him the friendship of "Barry Cornwall." Thereafter he went to
Göttingen and studied medicine. He then wandered about practising his
profession, and expounding democratic theories which got him into
trouble. He _d._ at Bale in mysterious circumstances. For some time
before his death he had been engaged upon a drama, _Death's Jest Book_,
which was published in 1850 with a memoir by his friend, T.F. Kelsall. B.
had not the true dramatic instinct, but his poetry is full of thought and
richness of diction. Some of his short pieces, _e.g._: "If there were
dreams to sell," and "If thou wilt ease thine heart," are masterpieces of
intense feeling exquisitely expressed.


BEDE or BÆDA (673-735).--Historian and scholar. B., who is sometimes
referred to as "the father of English history," was in his youth placed