FRANCIS RUSSELL, 5th duke of Bedford (1765-1802), eldest son of Francis Russell, marquess of Tavistock (d. 1767), by his wife, Elizabeth (d. 1768), daughter of William Keppel, 2nd earl of Albemarle, was baptized on the 23rd of July 1765. In January 1771 he succeeded his grandfather as duke of Bedford, and was educated at Westminster school and Trinity College, Cambridge, afterwards spending nearly two years in foreign travel. Regarding Charles James Fox as his political leader, he joined the Whigs in the House of Lords, and became a member of the circle of the prince of Wales, afterwards George IV. Having overcome some nervousness and educational defects, he began to speak in the House, and soon became one of the leading debaters in that assembly. He opposed most of the measures brought forward by the ministry of William Pitt, and objected to the grant of a pension to Edmund Burke, an action which drew down upon him a scathing attack from Burke's pen. Bedford was greatly interested in agriculture. He established a model farm at Woburn, and made experiments with regard to the breeding of sheep. He was a member of the original board of agriculture, and was the first president of the Smithfield club. He died at Woburn on the 2nd of March 1802, and was buried in the family burying-place at Chenies. The duke was never married, and was succeeded in the title by his brother, John.

See Lord Holland, Memoirs of the Whig Party (London, 1854); J. H. Wiffen, Historical Memoirs of the House of Russell (Londor, 1833); E. Burke, Letter to a Noble Lord (Edinburgh, 1837; and Earl Stanhope, Life of Pitt (London, 1861-1862).

Bedford on his brother's death a year later; and having lost his | of the time, and was influenced by his duchess, who was very first wife in 1735, married in April 1737 Lady Gertrude Leveson- ambitious, and by followers who were singularly unscrupulous. Gower (d. 1794), daughter of John, Earl Gower. In the House of See Correspondence of John, 4th Duke of Bedford, edited by Lord Lords he joined the party hostile to Sir Robert Walpole, took a John Russell (London, 1842-1846); J. H. Wiffen, Historical Memoirs fairly prominent part in public business, and earned the dislike of the House of Russell (London, 1833); W. E. H. Lecky, History of of George II. When Carteret, now Earl Granville, resigned office Reign of George II. (London, 1847), and Memoirs of the Reign of George England, vol. iii. (London, 1892); Horace Walpole, Memoirs of the in November 1744, Bedford became first lord of the admiralty III., edited by G. F. R. Barker (London, 1894.) in the administration of Henry Pelham, and was made a privy councillor. He was very successful at the admiralty, but was not equally fortunate after he became secretary of state for the southern department in February 1748. Pelham accused him of idleness; he was constantly at variance with the duke of Newcastle, and resigned office in June 1751. Instigated by his friends he was active in opposition to the government, and after Newcastle's resignation in November 1756, became lord-lieutenant of Ireland in the ministry of William Pitt and the duke of Devonshire, retaining this office after Newcastle, in alliance with Pitt, returned to power in June 1757. In Ireland he favoured a relaxation of the penal laws against Roman Catholics, but did not keep his promises to observe neutrality between the rival parties, and to abstain from securing pensions for his friends. His own courtly manners and generosity, and his wife's good qualities, however, seem to have gained for him some popularity, although Horace Walpole says he disgusted everybody. In March 1761 he resigned this office. Having allied himself with the earl of Bute and the party anxious to bring the Seven Years' War to a close, Bedford was noticed as the strongest opponent of Pitt, and became lord privy seal under Bute after Pitt resigned in October 1761. The cabinet of Bute was divided over the policy to be pursued with regard to the war, but pacific counsels prevailed, and in September 1762 Bedford went to France to treat for peace. He was considerably annoyed because some of the peace negotiations were conducted through other channels, but he signed the peace of Paris in February 1763. Resigning his office as lord privy seal soon afterwards, various causes of estrangement arose between Bute and Bedford, and the subsequent relations of the two men were somewhat virulent. The duke refused to take office under George Grenville on Bute's resignation in April 1763, and sought to induce Pitt to return to power. A report, however, that Pitt would only take office on condition that Bedford was excluded, incensed him and, smarting under this rebuff, he joined the cabinet of Grenville as lord president of the council in September 1763. His haughty manner, his somewhat insulting language, and his attitude with regard to the regency bill in 1765 offended George III., who sought in vain to supplant him, and after this failure was obliged to make humiliating concessions to the ministry. In July 1765, however, he was able to dispense with the services of Bedford and his colleagues, and the duke became the leader of a political party, distinguished for rapacity, and known as the "Bedford party," or the "Bloomsbury gang." During his term of office he had opposed a bill to place high import duties on Italian silks. He was consequently assaulted and his London residence attacked by a mob. He took some part in subsequent political intrigues, and although he did not return to office, his friends, with his consent, joined the ministry of the duke of Grafton in December 1767. This proceeding led "Junius to write his "letter to the duke of Bedford," one of especial violence. Bedford was hostile to John Wilkes, and narrowly escaped from a mob favourable to the agitator at Honiton in July 1769. His health had been declining for some years, and in 1770 he became partially paralysed. He died at Woburn on the 15th of January 1771, and was buried in the family burying-place at Chenics. His three sons all predeceased him, and he was succeeded in the title by his grandson, Francis. The duke held many public offices: lord-lieutenant of Bedfordshire and Devonshire, and chancellor of Dublin University among others, and was a knight of the garter. Bedford was a proud and conceited man, but possessed both ability and common-sense. The important part which he took in public life, however, was due rather to his wealth and position than to his personal taste or ambition. He was neither above nor below the standard of political morality

JOHN RUSSELL, 6th duke of Bedford (1766-1839), was succeeded as seventh duke by his eldest son, Francis (1788-1861), who had an only son, William (1809-1872), who became duke on his father's death in 1861. When the eighth duke died in 1872, he was succeeded by his cousin, Francis Charles Hastings (18191891), who was member of parliament for Bedfordshire from 1847 until he succeeded to the title. The ninth duke was the eldest son of Major-General Lord George William Russell (17901846), who was a son of the sixth duke. He married Elizabeth, daughter of George John, 5th Earl de la Warr, and both his sons, George William Francis Sackville (1852-1893), and Herbrand Arthur (b. 1858), succeeded in turn to the title.

BEDFORD, a municipal and parliamentary borough, and the county town of Bedfordshire, England, 50 m. north-north-west of London by the Midland railway; served also by a branch of the London & North-Western. Pop. (1901) 35,144. It lies in the fertile valley of the Ouse, on both banks, but mainly on the north, on which stands the mound which marks the site of the ancient castle. The church of St Paul is Decorated and Perpendicular, but its central tower and spire are modern; it contains the tomb of Sir William Harper or Harpur (c. 1496-1573), lord mayor of London, a notable benefactor of his native town of Bedford. St Peter's church has in its central tower masonry probably of pre-Conquest date; that of St Mary's is in part Norman, and that of St John's Decorated; but the bodies of these churches are largely restored. There are some remains of a Franciscan friary of the 14th century. The Congregational chapel called Bunyan's or the " Old Meeting " stands on the site of the building in which John Bunyan preached from 1656 onward. His chair is preserved here, and a tablet records his life in the town, where he underwent a long but in part nominal imprisonment. He was born at Elstow, 1 m. from Bedford, where, while playing on the green, he believed himself to have received the divine summons to renounce sin. In the panels of a fine pair of bronze doors in the chapel are scenes illustrative of Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. Bedford is noted for its grammar school, founded by Edward VI. in 1552, and endowed by Sir William Harper. The existing buildings date from 1891, and have been increased since

that date, and the school is one of the important public schools of (1910) 2235. Bedford is served by the Bedford branch of the England. Harper's endowment includes land in London, and Pennsylvania railway. It lies in a beautiful valley. In the is now of great value, and the Harper Trust supports in addition borough are some interesting old houses, erected in the latter modern and elementary schools for boys and girls, a girls' high part of the 18th century, an art gallery and a soldiers' monument. school, and almshouses. The grammar school annually awards There are deposits of hematite and limestone near the borough, both entrance exhibitions and two exhibitions to a university or and less than 2 m. south of it are the widely-known Bedford other higher educational institution. The old grammar school Mineral Springs- a magnesia spring, a limestone spring, a sulphur buildings are used as a town hall; and among other modern spring, and a "sweet-water” spring - which attract many buildings may be mentioned the shire hall and county hospital. visitors during the summer season. There are also chalybeate There are statues of John Bunyan (1874) and John Howard and other less important springs about the same distance east of (1894), the philanthropist (1726-1790), who founded the Con- the borough, and a white sulphur spring 10'm. south-west of it. gregational chapel which bears his name, and resided at Card- Bedford has a large wholesale grocery trade, manufactures flour, ington in the vicinity. There are two parks. Bedford has a dressed lumber, kegs and handles, and is situated in a fine fruitlarge trade as a market town for agricultural produce, and growing district, especially known for its apples and plums. extensive engineering works and manufactures of agricultural The borough owns and operates the water works. A temporary implements. The parliamentary borough returns one member. settlement was made on or near the site of the present borough The municipal borough is under a mayor, 6 aldermen and about 1750 by an Indian trader named Ray, and for a few years 18 councillors. Arca, 2223 acres.

the place was known as Raystown; the present name was Bedford (Bedcanforda, Bedanforda, Bedeford) is first men- adopted not later than 1759. In July 1758 Fort Bedford, for tioned in 571, when Cuthwulf defeated the Britons here. It many years an important military post on the frontier, was subsequently became a Danish borough, which in 914 was cap-constructed, and here, later in the year, General John Forbes tured by Edward the Elder. In.Domesday, as the county town, brought together his troops preparatory to advancing against it was entered apart from the rest of the shire, and was assessed Fort Duquesne. The town of Bedford was laid out in 1769, and at half a hundred for the host and for ship service. The pre-in 1771 it was made the county-seat of Bedford county, which scriptive borough received its first charter from Henry II., who was organized in that year. The borough was incorporated in gave the town to the burgesses to hold at a fee-farm rent of £401795, and received a new charter in 1817. Washington came here in lieu of all service. The privileges included a gild-merchant, in 1794 to review the army sent to quell the Whisky Insurrection, all tolls, and liberties and laws in common with the citizens of and the Espy house, which he then occupied, is still standing. Oxford. This charter was confirmed by successive sovereigns BEDFORDSHIRE (abbreviated Beds), a south midland county down to Charles II. During the 15th century, owing to the rise of England, bounded N. E. by Huntingdonshire, E. by Cambridgeof other market towns, Bedford became less prosperous, and the shire, S.E. by Hertfordshire, W. by Buckinghamshire and N.W. fee-farm rent was finally reduced to £20 by charter of Henry VII. by Northamptonshire. It is the fourth smallest English county, Henry VIII. granted a November fair to St Leonard's hospital, having an area of 466-4 sq. m. It lies principally in the middle which was still held in the 19th century at St Leonard's farm, part of the basin of the river Ouse, which, entering in the norththe site of the hospital. Mary granted two fairs, one in Lent west, traverses the rich and beautiful Vale of Bedford with a and one on the Feast of the Conception, and also a weekly market. serpentine course past the county town of Bedford to the northA 17th century pamphlet on river navigation in Bedfordshire eastern corner near St Neots. North of it the land is undulating, mentions the trade which Bedford carried on in coal, brought by but low; to the south, a well-wooded spur of the Chiltern Hills the Ouse from Lynn and Yarmouth. The town was also one of separates the Vale of Bedford from the flat open tributary valley the earliest centres of the lace trade, to the success of which of the Ivel. A small part of the main line of the Chilterns is French refugees in the 17th and 18th centuries largely contributed. included in the south of the county, the hills rising sharply from

Bedford was represented in the parliament of 1295, and after the lowland to bare heights exceeding 600 ft. above Dunstable. that date two members were returned

regularly, until by the In this neighbourhood the county includes the headwaters of the Redistribution of Seats Act in 1885 Bedford lost one of its Lea, and thus a small portion of it falls within the Thames basin. members. The unlimited power of creating freemen, an inherent In the north a few streams are tributary to the Nene. right of the borough, led to great abuse, noticeably in 1769

Geology.---The general trend of the outcrops of the various forma. when 500 freemen' were created to support the political interest tions is from south-west to north-east;

the dip is south-easterly. of Sir Robert Barnard, afterwards recorder of the borough. In the northern portion of the county, the Middle Colites are the Bedford castle, of which mention is first heard during Stephen's most important,

and of these, the Oxford Clay predominates over reign (1136), was destroyed by order of Henry III. in 1224. _ The hill a development of clay, the Ampthill clay, represents the Corallian mound marking its site is famous as a bowling-green.

limestones of neighbouring counties. The Cornbrash is represented BEDFORD, a city and the county-seat of Lawrence county, I by no more than about 2 ft. of limestone; but the Kellaways Rock Indiana, U.S.A., in the south-central part of the state, about is well exposed near Bedford; the sandy parts of this rock are 60 m. north-west of Louisville, Kentucky. Pop. (1890) 3351; | Great Ouse, from the point where it enters the county on the west, (1910) 8716. It is served by the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern, has carved through the Middle Oolites and exposed the Great Oolite the Chicago, Indianapolis & Louisville, the Southern Indiana, as far as Bedford; their alternating limestones and clays may be and (for freight from the Wallner quarries about 5 m. distant) seen in the quarries not far from the town. From Woburn through the Bedford & Wallner railways. It is the shipping point of the Ampthill to Potton a more elevated tract is formed by the Lower Bedford Indiana (oolitic) limestone, which is found in the vicinity Buzzard they are dug on a large scale for various purposes. Beds of and is one of the most valuable and best known building stones fuller's earth occur in this formation at Woburn. At Potton, phosin the United States--of this stone were built the capitols of phatized nodules may be obtained, and here a hard bed, the CarIndiana, Georgia, Mississippi and Kentucky; the state historical stone." lies at the top of the formation. Above the Lower Greensand library at Madison, Wisconsin; the art building at St Louis, former and north-west of the Chalk hills.

The Chalk rises up above Missouri; and many other important public buildings. The the Gault and forms the high ground of Dunshill Moors and the city has large cement works, foundries and machine shops Chiltern Hills. At the base of the Chalk is the Chalk Marl, above (stone-working machinery being manufactured), and the repair usually stands out as a well-marked feature. The Lower Chalk. shops of the Southern Indiana railway. Bedford was settled in which comes next in the upward succession, is capped in a similar 1826 and received a city charter in 1889. BEDFORD, a borough and the county-seat of Bedford county, upper Chalk-with-Flints

occurs ncar the south-eastern boundary. Pennsylvania, U.S.A., on the Raystown branch of the Juniata Patches of glacial boulder clay and gravel lie upon the older rocks river, about 35 m. south by west of Altoona. Pop. (1890) 2242; ceros, mammoth, &c., with palacolithic impleraents, have been found Called " guinea-pigs."

in the valley gravels of the river Ouse and its tributaries.

including six rural dcancries, which remained practically un- Bedlington (Betlingtun) and the hamlets belonging to it were altered until 1880, when they were increased to eleven with a new bought by Cutheard, bishop of Durham, between 900 and 915, schedule of parishes.

and although locally situated in the county of Northumberland Antiquities. The monastic remains in Bedfordshire include became part of the county palatine of Durham over which the fine fragment of the church of the Augustinian priory at Bishop Walcher was granted royal rights by William the Dunstable, serving as the parish church; the church (also Conqueror. When these rights were taken from Cuthbert imperfect) of Elstow near Bedford, which belonged to a Tunstall, bishop of Durham, in 1536, Bedlington among his Benedictine nunnery founded by Judith, niece of William the other property lost its special privileges, but was confirmed to Conqueror; and portions of the Gilbertine Chicksands Priory him in 1541 with the other property of his predecessors. Toand of a Cistercian foundation at Old Warden. In the parish gether with the other lands of the see of Durham, Bedlington churches, many of which are of great interest, the predominant was made over to the ecclesiastical commissioners in 1866. styles are Decorated and Perpendicular. Work of pre-Conquest Bedlingtonshire was made part of Northumberland for civil date, however, is found in the massive tower of Clapham church, purposes by acts of parliament in 1832 and 1844. near Bedford on the north, and in a door of Stevington church. BEDLOE, WILLIAM (1650-1680), English informer, was Fine Norman and Early English work is seen at Dunstable and born at Chepstow on the 20th of April 1650. He appears to have Elstow, and the later style is illustrated by the large cruciform been well educated; he was certainly clever, and after coming churches at Leighton Buzzard and at Felmersham on the Ouse to London in 1670 he became acquainted with some Jesuits above Bedford. Among the Perpendicular additions to the and was occasionally employed by them. Calling himself now church last named may be noted a very beautiful oaken rood- Captain Williams, now Lord Gerard or Lord Newport or Lord screen. To illustrate Decorated and Perpendicular the churches Cornwallis, he travelled from one part of Europe to another; of Clifton and of Marston Moretaine, with its massive detached he underwent imprisonments for crime, and became an expert campanile, may be mentioned; and Cople church is. a good in all kinds of duplicity. Then in 1678, following the lead of specimen of fine Perpendicular work. The church of Cockayne Titus Oates, he gave an account of a supposed popish plot to Hatley, near Potton, is fitted with rich Flemish carved wood, the English government, and his version of the details of the mostly from the abbey of Alne near Charleroi, and dating from murder of Sir E. B. Godfrey was rewarded with £500. Em1689, but brought here by a former rector early in the 19th boldened by his success he denounced various Roman Catholics, century. In medieval domestic architecture the county is not married an Irish lady, and having become very popular lived rich. The mansion of Woburn Abbey dates from the middle of in luxurious fashion. Afterwards his fortunes waned, and he the 18th century.

died at Bristol on the 20th of August 1680. His dying deposiAUTHORITIES.- Victoria County History (London, 1904, &c.); tions, which were taken by Sir Francis North, chief justice of Fishe, Collections, Historical, Genealogical and Topographical, for the common pleas, revealed nothing of importance. Bedloe Select Illustrations of Bedfordshire (London, 1827) Bedfordshire Plot (1679), but all his statements are extremely untrustworthy. Bedfordshire (London, 1812-1816, and also 1812-1836): 1. D. Parry, wrote a Narrative and impartial discorery of the horrid Popisk Domesday Book (Bedford, 1881); Visitation of Bedford, 156, 1582, and 1634, in Harleian Society's Publications, vol. xiv. (London, 1884):

See J. Pollock, The Popish Plot (1903). Genealogica Bedfordiensis, 1538, 1800 (London, 1890); and Illustrated

BEDMAR, ALPHONSO DELLA CUEVA, MARQUIS OF (1577Bedfordshire (Nottingham, 1895). See also Bedfordshire Notes and Queries, ed. F. A. Blades, and Transactions of the Bedfordshire Natural 1655), Spanish diplomatist, became ambassador to the republic History and Field Club.

of Venice in 1667. This was a very important position owing BEDLAM, or BETHLEHEM HOSPITAL, the first English which passed through the hands of the representative of Spain.

to the amount of information concerning European affairs lunatic asylum, originally founded by Simon FitzMary, sheriff When Bedmar took up this appointment, Venice had just conof London, in 1247, as a priory for the sisters and brethren of cluded an alliance with France, Switzerland and the Netherlands, the order of the Star of Bethlehem. It had as one of its special to counterbalance the power of Spain, and the ambassador was objects the housing and entertainment of the bujshop and canons instructed to destroy this league. Assisted by the duke of Ossuna, of St Mary of Bethlehem, the mother-church,

on their visits to viceroy of Naples, he formed a plan to bring the city into the power England. Its first site was in Bishopsgate Street. It is not of Spain, and the scheme was to be carried out on Ascension Day ærtain when lunatics were first received in Bedlam, but it is 1618. The plot was, however, discovered; and Bedmar, promentioned as a hospital in 1330 and some were there in 1403. tected by his position from arrest, left Venice and went to Flanders In 1547 it was handed over by Henry VIII. with all its revenues as president of the council. In 1622 he was made a cardinal, to the city of London as a hospital for lunatics. With the and soon afterwards became bishop of Oviedo, a position which exception of one such asylum in Granada, Spain, the Bethlehem he retained until his death, which occurred at Oviedo on the Hospital was the first in Europe. It became famous and after-2nd of August 1655. The authorship of an anonymous work, wards infamous for the brutal ill-treatment meted out to the Squilinio della libertà Veneta, published at Mirandola in 1612, insane (see INSANITY: Hospital Trealment). In 1675 it was has been attributed to him. removed to new buildings in Moorfields and finally to its present

Some controversy has arisen over the Spanish plot of 1618, site in St George's Fields, Lambeth. The word “ Bedlam” has and some historians have suggested that it only existed in the long been used generically for all lunatic asylums. BEDLINGTON, an urban district of Northumberland, England, Bedmar to leave Venice. From what is known, however, of

minds of the Venetian senators, and was a ruse for forcing within the parliamentary borough of Morpeth, 5 m. S.E. of that the policy of Spain at this time, it is by no means unlikely that town on a branch of the North Eastern railway. Pop. (1901) such a scheme was planned. 18,766. It lies on high ground above the river Blyth, 2j m.

See C. V. de Saint-Réal, Euvres, tome iv. (Paris, 1745); P.J. above its mouth. The church of St Cuthbert shows good Grosley, Discussion historique et critique sur la conjuration de Venise transitional Norman details. Its dedication recalls the trans- (Paris, 1756): P. A. N. B. Daru, Histoire de la république de Venise portation of the body of the saintly bishop of Lindisfarne from Paris, 1853); A. Baschet, Histoire de la chancellerie secrète à Venise its shrine at Durham

by the monks of that foundation to Lindis- (Paris, 1870). farne, when in fear of attack from William the Conqueror. BED-MOULD, in architecture, the congeries of mouldings They rested here with the coffin. The modern growth of the which is under the projecting part of almost every cornice, of town is attributable to the valuable collieries of the neighbour-which, indeed, it is a part. hood, and to manufactures of nails and chains. It is one of the BEDOUINS (Ahl Bedu,“ dwellers in the open land," or most populous mining centres in the county. On the south | All el beit,“ people of the tent," as they call themselves), the bank of the river is the township and urban district of Cowpen name given to the most important, as it is the best known, (pop. 17,879), with collieries and glass works; coal is shipped division of the Arab race. The Bedouins are the descendants of from this point by river.

the Arabs of North Arabia whose traditions claim Ishmael as

they readily eke it out with imagination. Hence their own assertions regarding the antiquity, numbers, strength, &c., of their clans are of little worth; even their genealogies, in which they pretend to be eminently versed, are not to be much depended on; the more so that their own family names hardly ever exceed the limits of a patronymic, whilst the constantly renewed subdivisions of a tribe, and the temporary increase of one branch and decrease of another, tend to efface the original name of the clan. Few tribes now preserve their ancient, or at least their historical titles; and the mass of the Bedouin multitude resembles in this respect a troubled sea, of which the substance is indeed always the same, but the surface is continually shifting and changing. As, however, no social basis or ties are acknowledged among them except those of blood and race, certain broad divisions are tolerably accurately kept up, the wider and more important of which may here be noted. First, the Aneza clan, who extend from Syria southward to the limits of Jebel Shammar. It is numerous, and, for a Bedouin tribe, well armed. Twothirds of the Arab horse trade, besides a large traffic in sheep, camels, wool, and similar articles, are in their hands. Their principal subdivisions are the Sebaá on the north, the Walid Ali on the west, and the Ruála on the south; these are generally on bad terms with each other. If united, they could muster, it is supposed, about 30,000 lances. They claim descent from Rabi'a. Second, the Shammar Bedouins, whose pasturages lie conterminous to those of the Aneza on the east. Their numbers are about the same. Thirdly, in the northern desert, the Huwetat and Sherarat, comparatively small and savage tribes. There is also the Solibi clan, which, however, is disowned by the Arabs, and seems to be of gipsy origin. Next follow, in the western desert, the Beni-Harb, a powerful tribe, supposed to muster about 20,000 fighting men. They are often troublesome to the Meccan pilgrims. In the eastern desert are the Muter, the BeniKhalid, and the Ajmans, all numerous clans, often at war with each other. To the south, in Nejd itself or on its frontiers, are the Hodeil, Ateba, and others. These all belong to the "Mustareb," or northern Arabs.

their ancestor (see ARABS). The deserts of North Arabia seem to have been their earliest home, but even in ancient times they had migrated to the lowlands of Egypt and Syria. The Arab conquest of northern Africa in the 7th century A.D. caused a wide dispersion, so that to-day the Arab element is strongly represented in the Nile Valley, Saharan, and Nubian peoples. Among the Hamitic-Negroid races the Bedouins have largely lost their nomadic character; but in the deserts of the Nile lands they remain much what their ancestors were. Thus the name has suffered much ethnic confusion, and is often incorrectly reserved to describe such pastoral peoples as the Bisharin, the Hadendoa and the Ababda. This article treats solely of the Arabian Bedouin, as affording the purest type of the people. They are shepherds and herdsmen, reduced to an open-air, roving life, partly by the nature of their occupations, partly by the special characteristics of the countries in which they dwell. For, while land, unsuited to all purposes except pasture, forms an unusually large proportion of the surface in the Arabian territory, the prolonged droughts of summer render considerable portions of it unfit even for that, and thus continually oblige the herdsmen to migrate from one spot to another in search of sufficient herbage and water for their beasts. The same causes also involve the Bedouins in frequent quarrels with each other regarding the use of some particular well or pasture-ground, besides reducing them not unfrequently to extreme want, and thus making them plunderers of others in self-support. Professionally, the Bedouins are shepherds and herdsmen; their raids on each other or their robbery of travellers and caravans are but occasional exceptions to the common routine. Their intertribal wars (they very rarely venture on a conflict with the better-armed and betterorganized sedentary population) are rarely bloody; cattlelifting being the usual object. Private feuds exist, but are usually limited to two or three individuals at most, one of whom has perhaps been ridiculed in satirical verse, to which they are very sensitive, or had a relation killed in some previous fray. But bloodshed is expensive, as it must be paid for cither by more bloodshed or by blood-money-the diya, which varies, according to the importance of the person killed, from ten to fifty The Bedouins of southern or pure Arab" origin are comcamels, or even more. Previous to Mahomet's time it was paratively few in number, and are, with few exceptions, even optional for the injured tribe either to accept this compensation poorer and more savage than their northern brethren. Alor to insist on blood for blood; but the Prophet, though by his Morrah, on the confines of Oman, Al-Yam and Kahtan, near own account despairing of ever reducing the nomad portion of Yemen, and Beni-Yas, between Harik and the Persian Gulf, his countrymen to law and order, succeeded in establishing among are the best known. The total number of the Bedouin or them the rule, that a fair diya if offered must be accepted. pastoral population throughout Arabia, including men, women, Instances are, however, not wanting in Arab history of fiercer and children, appears not to exceed a million and a half, or about and more general Bedouin conflicts, in which the destruction, one fifth of the total population. The only tribal authority is or at least the complete subjugation, of one tribe has been the "elder," or "sheik," a title not necessarily implying adaimed at by another, and when great slaughter has taken place. vanced age, but given to any one who, on account of birth, Such were the wars of Pekr and Thagleb in the 6th century, courage, wealth, liberality or some other quality, has been of Kelb and Howazin in the 8th, of Harb and Atcha in the 18th. chosen to the leadership. Descent has something to do with The Bedouins regard the plundering of caravans or travellers rank, but not much, as every individual of the tribe considers as in lieu of the custom dues exacted elsewhere. The land is himself equal to the others; nor are the distinctions of relative theirs, they argue, and trespassers on it must pay the forfeit. riches and poverty greatly taken into account. To the "sheik Hence whoever can show anything equivalent to a permission all disputes are referred; he is consulted, though not necessarily of entrance into their territory has, in the regular course of obeyed, on every question which regards the general affairs of things, nothing to fear. This permission is obtained by securing the tribe, whether in peace or war; there is no other magisthe protection of the nearest Bedouin sheik, who, for a politely-trate, and no law except what he and the other chief men may worded request and a small sum of money, will readily grant the pass, in the shape of one or two or more men of his tribe, who accompany the wayfarers as far as the next encampment on their road, where they hand their charge over to fresh guides, equally bound to afford the desired safeguard. In the interior of Arabia the passport is given in writing by one of the town governors, and is respected by the Bedouins of the district; for, however impudent and unamenable to law these nomads may be on the frontiers of the impotent Ottoman government in Syria or the Hejaz, they are submissive enough in other and Arab-governed regions. But the traveller who ventures on the dosert strip without such precautions will be robbed and perhaps killed.

Ignorant of writing and unacquainted with books, the Bedouins trust to their memory for everything; where memory fails.

consider proper. But in fact, for most personal and private affairs, every man does pretty much what is right in his own eyes.

All the Bedouins, with the exception of certain tribes in Syria, are nominally Mahommedans, but most pay but slight attention to the ceremonial precepts of the Koran; the five daily prayers and the annual fast of Ramadan are not much in favour among them; and however near a tribe may be to Mecca, few of them visit it as pilgrims. The militant Wahhabi have, however, from time to time enforced some degree of Islamitic observance among the Bedouins of Nejd and the adjoining districts: elsewhere Mahommedanism is practically confined to the profession of the Divine Unity; among the remoter and wilder tribes sunworship, tree-worship, and no worship at all, are not uncommon. Some clans even omit the rite of circumcision altogether; others,