BED-Moulding, in Architecture, a term used for those members of a corniche which are placed below the coronet; and now usually consist of an ogee, a lift, a large boulting, and another lift under the coronet.

BED of Justice, in the old customs of France, a throne upon which the king sat when he went to the parliament. The king never held a bed of justice unless for affairs that concerned the state, and then all the officers of parliament were clothed in scarlet robes.

BED of the Carriage of a Great Gun, a thick plank, that lies under the piece; being, as it were, the body of the carriage.

in Masonry, a course or range of stones; and the joint of the bed is the mortar between two stones, placed over each other.

in Gardening, square or oblong pieces of ground in a garden, raised a little above the level of the adjoining ground, and wherein they sow seeds or plant roots.

Hot-BED. See Hot-Bed.

Lords of the BED-Chamber, in the British court, are 12 noblemen who attend in their turns, each a month; during which time they lie in the king's bed-chamber, and wait on him when he dines in private. Their salary is 1000l. per annum.

BEDE, commonly called Venerable Bede, one of our most ancient historians, was born in the year 672, in the neighbourhood of Weremouth, in the bishopric of Durham. He was educated by the abbot Benedict in the monastery of St Peter, near the mouth of the river Wyre. At the age of 19 he was ordained deacon, and priest in the year 702. About this time he was invited to Rome by Pope Sergius; but there is no sufficient reason to believe that he accepted the invitation. In the year 731 he published his Ecclesiastical History; a work of so much merit, notwithstanding the legendary tales it contains, that it were alone sufficient to immortalize the author. He died in the year 735 of a lingering consumption, probably occasioned by a sedentary life, and a long uninterrupted application to study and literary compositions, of which he left an incredible number. He was buried in the church of his convent at Jarrow; but his bones were afterwards removed to Durham, and there deposited in the same coffin with those of St Cuthbert. Bede was undoubtedly a singular phenomenon in an ignorant and illiterate age. His learning, for the times, was extensive, his application incredible, his piety exemplary, and his modesty excessive. He was universally admired, consulted, and esteemed, during his life: and his writings are deservedly considered as the foundation of our ecclesiastical history. His language is neither elegant nor pure, but perspicuous and easy.—All his works are in Latin. The first general collection of them appeared at Paris in 1544, in three volumes in folio. They were printed again at the same place in 1554, in eight volumes. They were also published in the same size and number of volumes at Basle in 1563, reprinted at Cologne in 1612, and at the same place in 1688. Besides this general collection, there are several of his compositions, which have been printed separately, or amongst the collections of the writings of ancient authors; and there are several manuscripts ascribed to him, which are preserved in the different libraries in Oxford and Cambridge.