Becket, Thomas a
bek'et, Thomas a (1117-1170), Archbishop of Canterbury. He was educated at Oxford, London, and Paris. In the service of King Henry II , he rose from poverty to be lord high chancellor and the king's favorite adviser in war as well as in peace. Henry had him appointed Archbishop of Canterbury, expecting in all controversies with the church to have Becket on his side. Becket was no sooner confirmed as archbishop, however, than he abandoned his frivolity and riotous living, and became the most decorous of prelates, zealous for the dignity of the church. He was soon engaged in a quarrel with the king, relative to certain privileges of the clergy, and the wicked doings of some of the nobility whom Becket proceeded to excommunicate. The trouble between Henry and his archbishop rose to such a pitch that the exasperated monarch is said to have exclaimed, "Have I not about me one man of spirit enough to rid me of a single insolent prelate?" Three of his followers took the hint and repaired to Canterbury, where they slew Becket at the foot of the altar. The pope took up the matter. King Henry was required to do penance at the saint's tomb. The populace regarded Becket as a hero, a friend of the common people, and a martyr. Pilgrimages to Canterbury to the shrine of so holy a person were quite the fashion and are described in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. See Canterbury
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Beckwith
SIR GEORGE, an Engish military officer, born in 1753. scene of action was largely in America in the United States , and the West Indies. He fought with the English in the American Revolution in 1776-1782, and was intrusted with important diplomatic commissions in 1782-1791, as there was then no British Minister to the United States. In 1804, he was made governor of St. Vincent , and four years later governor of Barbadoes. As England was then at war with France, he organized an expedition and conquered Martinique, for which he obtained the thanks of the House of Commons. Later (1810) he conquered Guadeloupe, the last possession of the French in that part of the world. He died in London, March 20, 1823.
JAMES CARROLL, an American genre painter, born in Hannibal, Mo., Sept. 23, 1852; was a pupil of of domestic furniture to sleep upon.
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Becky Sharp
or Rebecca Sharp, the principal female character in Thackeray's Vanity Fair . She is represented as a friendless girl, "with the dismal precocity of poverty," determined to rise in the world. She is described as "small and slight of person, pale, sandy-haired, and with green eyes, habitually cast down, but very large, odd, and attractive when they looked up." With wit, tact, and resolution to make her way, without scruple or conscience or moral principle, there is in all literature no other such striking picture of the managing woman as Becky Sharp. She is everywhere the recognized type of the shrewd and skillful adventuress. See Vanity Fair ; Thackeray
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Bed-board
A board on which to ram the nowal part when the bed is formed by the method of rolling-over (see ROLLING-OVER). It may be of iron, wood, or plaster, with dimensions corresponding to outer edges of the flask used. Besides presenting a surface which accurately matches the upper side of the pattern, to prevent any possibility of the pattern being rammed out of shape, it must be made strong enough to lift the body of sand contained, when bed-board, nowal, and bottom-board are secured together for rolling-over; as any deflection will irretrievably destroy what would otherwise have been a correct impress of the pattern. See FOLLOW-BOARD; TURNOVER-BOARD; BOTTOM-BOARD.
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Bedbug
Important: Safety Warning
This page recommends pest-control substances such as arsenic compounds, strychnine, or cyanide — in some cases applied to food crops. These substances are lethal to humans and animals, and their use is now banned or strictly controlled.
In addition, this page directs the use of hazardous substances — such as benzine, gasoline, lye, or strong acids — for household tasks. These materials are highly flammable, corrosive, or poisonous, and the practices described have caused fires, burns, and poisonings.
This information has been left in for historical purposes but should not be acted upon.
a nocturnal insect infesting houses the world over. The bedbug is reddish brown, with a flat, ovate body about one-sixth of an inch long. It lives in cracks in furniture, floors, and wood-work. Determined housekeepers say that the bedbug can be exterminated in any home by a repeated feathering of all possible lurking places with corrosive sublimate dissolved in alcohol. The bedbug is wingless. The nest of the barn-swallow is infested by a related species. There is a popular impression, probably unfounded, that chimney swallows bring bedbugs.
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Bedding-block
A block of hard wood, with a smooth under surface and rounded edges, for bedding-down patterns with the hammer. This block should be of such dimensions and shape as will be least likely to damage the pattern when struck with the hammer. See BEDDING-IN.
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Bedford Cord
a fabric of either cotton, wool, or worsted, characterized by rounded cords running warpwise of the web. The corded effect is similar to that of corduroy, but is produced by heavy threads instead of a pile. The fabric is neither napped nor sheared. It is used for women's suits, and the worsted Bedford cord is in use for horsemen's trousers.
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Bedford Level
an eastern district of England, comprising about 450,000 acres of what is called the Cam- "Fen" country, in the counties of bridge (including the whole of the Isle , Huntingdon of Ely), Suffolk, Norfolk , Northampton, and Lincoln. It was a mere waste of fen and marsh, until the time of Charles I., when, whe in 1634, a charter was granted to Fra Francis, Earl of Bedford, who undertook to drain the level, on condition of being allowed 95,000 acres of the reclaimed land. It now forms one of the most fertile and grainproductive districts in the kingdom.
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Bedfordshire
a county of England, in the midland group. It has an area of 466 square miles, the greater part of which is meadow and pasture land. The chief industries are stock raising, dairying, and agricultural pursuits. The industries include the manufacture of agricultural implements, lace, and straw goods. The chief towns are Bedford, the capital, Dunstable, and Luton. Pop. about 200,000.
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Bedloe's Island
an island in New York harbor; ceded to the United States Government in 1800; the site of Fort Wood, erected in 1841 and mounted with 77 guns; now the location of Bartholdi's colossal statue of "Liberty Enlightening the World."
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Beebe
(CHARLES American ornithologist and writer, born ) WILLIAM, an in Brooklyn, N. Y., in 1877. He graduated from Columbia University in 1898 and in the following year took post-graduate courses in that institution. In 1902 he was appointed curator of ornithology at the New York Zoological Park and was director also of the British Guiana Zoological Station. He carried on many researches in British Guiana and contributed many articles to scientific and popular magazines. Among his published writings are "Two Bird Lovers in Mexico" (1905); "Our Search for a Wilderness" (1910); "Tropical Wild Life" (1917); "Monograph of the Peasants" (1918); etc. He was a frequent contributor to magazines.
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