ma.

BE-COME. A. S. Cuman; Dut. Komen; BECOMING, n. Ger. Kommen; Sw. KomBECOMING, adj. A. S. Becuman, ingredi, BECOMINGLY. occurrere, pervenire, superveBECOMINGNESS. nire, to go, or enter in, to meet with, to come or attain to, to come upon suddenly, (Somner,) who might have included convenire. Er hi to somne becomon. Antequam convenirent. Пpiv ʼn σvveλbei avтovs, Matt. i. 18. The Ger. Bequemen (from the Goth. and A. S. Cwiman, to come) and the Eng. Become, like the Gr. avveρxeσea, and the Lat. Convenire, signify

To come together (sc. to the same place, with the same design, at the same time), to convene, to concur; and, consequentially

To be convenient or concurrent; to be fit, decent, appropriate, suitable; and, further, graceful, ornamental.

BED, v.
BED, n.

Be'dding.

A. S. Beddian; Ger. Bedden or Betten, sternere. "Bed, i. e. stratum, is the past part. of this BE/DSTEAD. verb; therefore we speak of a BE'DWARD. garden bed, a bed of gravel, &c. In the A. S. Bedde is sometimes used for a table." (Tooke, ii. 375.) Bedde is used in A. S. for a table in Mark, iv. 21.

As

Bed is much used prefixed to other words. bed-chamber, clothes, fellow, fere, &c. &c.

To bed, is to strew, to spread, to lay out or beat down, smoothly or flatly, to flatten down, to level; and also, to put into bed, to go to bed with.

The kyng, he seyde, of Engelond halt hym to hys bedde,
And lyth myd hys gret wombe at Reyns a chyld bedde.
R. Gloucester, p. 379.
He was in poynt to gelde the gaste, & sone to die.
For euel he ne myght him welde, in bed behoued him lie.
R. Brunne, p. 185.
Hit is reuthe to rede, hou ryght holy men lyveden,
How thei defouleden here fleessh. for soken here owen wil,
Feer fro kuth and fro kyn. uvel clothed geoden,
Baddeliche beddyd.
Piers Plouhman, p. 296.
Thauh hus glotenye be of good ale. he goth to a cold
beddyng

And hus heved unheled. uneisyliche ywrye.-Id. p. 264.

For sholde no bed borde be. bote yf the bothe were
Clene of lyf and love in soule. and in leel wedlock.
Id. p. 181.

To bed he goth, and with him goth his wife;
As any jay she light was and jolif,
So was hire joly whistle wel ywette.
The cradel at hir beddes feet was sette,
To rocken, and to yeve the child to souke.
Chaucer. The Reves Tale, v. 4151.

And in a bedde of wortes stille he lay,
Till it was passed undern of the day,
Waiting his time on Chanteclere to falle.

Id. The Nonnes Preestes Tale, v. 15,227.
And mete and drinke this night wol I bring
Ynough for thee, and clothes for thy bedding.
Id. The Knightes Tale, v. 1617.

And hath his soft pas begonne,
With all the chere that he maie,
Towarde the bedde there as she laie,
Till he came to the beddes side.-Gower. Con. A. b. vi.

The lorde Chauncelor sayd; you of this worshipfull house I am sure be not so ignorant but you know well that the kyng our soueraigne lord hath maried his brothers wife, for she was both wedded and bedded with his brother Prince Arthur.-Hall. Hen. VIII.

Generall Norris hauing by his skilfull view of the towne (which is almost all seated vpon a rocke) found one place thereof mineable, did presently set workemen in hand withall; who after three dayes labour (and the seuenth after we were entred the base towne) had bedded their powder, but indeed not farre enough into the wall.

Hackluyt. Voyages, vol. i. p. 140. The Marques thretened her, that if he wanne her by force, he wolde sette her in a towre, with bredde and water, as long as she lyued, whiche made the quene afrayed, for she sawe well she was but in a weake place, wout men, vitayle, or prouision; than she treated with the Marques, and delyuered hym her dere doughter, and incontynent he dyd wedde her and bedde her.-Froissart. Cronycle, vol. ii. c. 9.

A thousand favours from a maund she drew Of amber, crystal, and of bedded jet, Which one by one she in a river threw,

Upon whose weeping margent she was set.
Shakespeare. A Lover's Complaint.

The Kinges Maiestie gaue to him, to the communalty and cittizens, for to be a worke-house for the poore and idle persons of the Cittie of London, his place of Bride-well, and seuen hundred marke land of the Sauoy rents, with all the beds, bedding, and all other furniture of the hospitall of ye Sauoy, towards the maintenance of sayde worke-house of Bride-well.-Stowe. Edw. VI. an. 1553.

Here thought they to haue done Some wanton charme, vpon this man and maide, Whose vowes are, that no bed-right shall be paid Till Hymen's torch be lighted.

Shakespeare. Tempest, Act iv. sc. 1. The comicall poet said pleasantly in one comedy, speaking of those who had their bedsteds thick with gold and silver: Why do you make your sleep deare and costly unto yourselves, which is the only gift that the gods have given us freely?-Holland. Plutarch, p. 215.

Others on the grass
Coucht, and now fild with pasture gazing sat,

Or bedward ruminating.-Milton. Paradise Lost, b. iv.

From our bed of rest and security we then issue forth, exposing ourselves to the cares and toils, to the dangers, troubles, and temptations of the world: then especially therefore it is reasonable, that we should sacrifice thanks to the gracious preserver of our life, and the faithful restorer of its supports and comforts.-Barrow, vol. i. Ser. 7.

And, that a better ease thou may'st abide,
Bedding and cloaths I will this night provide,
And needful sustenance, that thou mayst be
A conquest better won, and worthy me.
Dryden. Palamon & Arcite.

He, therefore, who would see his flow'rs dispos'd
Sightly and in just order, ere he gives
The beds the trusted treasure of their seeds,
Forecasts the future whole.-Cowper. Task, b. iii.

BE-DA'BBLE. To move or stir the water. dirt, or dust, about with hands or feet; to dip into them, to besprinkle with them.

Her. Neuer so wearie, neuer so in woe, Bedabbled with the dew, and torne with briars, I can no further crawle, nor further goe; My legs can keepe no pace with my desires. Shakespeare. Midsummer Night's Dreame, Act iii. sc. 2.

BE-DAFF. To deafen, deaden, (sc.) the wits; to befool.

Beth not bedaffed for your innocence,
But sharply taketh on you the governaille.
Chaucer. The Clerkes Tale, v. 9067.

But Bartholomew his wits did so bedaft, That all seemd good which might of hir begotten, Although it proude no sooner ripe than rotten. Gascoigne. Dan Bartholomew of Bath. Each one of you (O men) in private acts Can play the Fox, for slie and subtill craft: But when you come, yfore (in all your facts) Then are you blind, dull witted, and bedaft. North. Plutarch, p. 80. BE-DA'GGLE. To bedew, to wet, to besmear with wet dirt.

Whence swelling on both sides in manner of an halfe globe, and opening a wide partition of lands, with the armes of Propontis that stretch round about, it bedasheth on that side Cyzicum and Dindyma, the religious and sacred temples of the great dame and mother (Cybele.) Holland. Ammianus, p. 196.

BE-DAW. See ADAW. To awake. No day them awaketh; they being always awake: on the watch.

There is no daie whiche hem bedaweth,

No more the sonne than the moone,

When there is any thing to doone.-Gower. Con. A. b. v.

To dip, (sc.) in

BE-DAUB. See BEDABBle. mud or dirt, &c.

He changed was, that in Achilles spoyles came home before,

Or when among the ships of Greece the fires so fierce he flung:

But now in dust his beard bedawb'd, his haire with bloud is clung. Phaer. Eneidos, b. ii.

The veriest clown who stumps along the streets,
And doffs his hat to each grave cit he meets,
Some twelve months hence, bedaub'd with livery lace,
Shall thrust his saucy flambeau in your face.

Whitehead. Prol. to the School for Lovers. BE-DEAD, killed, destroyed, bereaved of life. Whereupon he [Epictetus] further adds, that there is a double mortification or petrification of the soul; the one, when it is stupified and besotted in its intellectuals; the her, when it is bedeaded in its morals, as to that pudor that naturally should belong to a man.

Cudworth. Intellectual System, p. 193. BE-DECK. To cover, to array, to dress.

For when dame nature first had framde hir heauenly face, And thoroughly bedecked it, with goodly gleames of grace. Gascoigne. In prayse of Lady Sandes.

Moore. Song 1.

I popp'd upon Smelfungus again at Turin, in his return home; and a sad tale of sorrowful adventures he had to tell. He had been flay'd alive, and bedevil'd, and used worse than St. Bartholomew at every stage he had come at.

Sterne. Sentimental Journey.

To wet, to moisten.

For, neuer gentle knight, as he of late,
So tossed was in fortune's cruell freakes;
And all the while salt teares bedeaw'd the hearers cheaks.
Spenser. Faerie Queene, b. i. c. 12.

Both nations shall, in Britaine's royall crowne,
Their diff'ring names the signs of faction drowne;
The siluer streames which from this spring increase,
Bedew all Christian hearts with drops of peace.
Beaumont. Bosworth Field.
What slender youth bedew'd with liquid odours,
Courts thee on roses in some pleasant cave,
Milton. Hor. Od. 5.
Pyrrha ?

Thrice happy he! who, on the sunless side
Of a romantic mountain, forest crown'd,
Beneath the whole collected shade reclines:
Or in the gelid caverns, woodbine-wrought,
And fresh bedew'd with ever spouting streams,
Sits coolly calm.
Thomson. Summer.

Go, my boy, and if you fall, though distant, exposed, and unwept by those that love you, the most precious tears are those with which heaven bedews the unburied head of a soldier. Goldsmith. Vicar of Wakefield.

BE-DIGHT. Bedecked, (qv.)

Whereas he sitting found, in secret shade,
An vncouth, salvage, and vnciuil wight,
Of griesly hew, and foule illfavour'd sight,
His face with smoake was tand, and eyes were bleard,
His head and beard with sout were ill bedight.
Spenser. Faerie Queene, b. ii. c. 7.

For, all his armour was like saluage weed,
With woody moose bedight, and all his steed
With oaken leaues attrapt, that seemed fit
For saluage wight.
Id. Ib. b. iv. c. 4.
That Christian theefe (quoth he) that was so bold
To combat me in hard and single fight,
Shall wounded fall inglorious on the mold,
His locks with clods of bloud and dust bedight.
Fairfax. Godfrey of Bulloigne, b. vii. s. 54.
I have a bower at Bucklesford-Bury,
Full daintilye bedight,

If thoult wend thither, my little Musgrave,
Thoust lig in mine armes all night.

Nor lightly deem, ye apes of modern race, Ye cits that sore bedizen Nature's face, Of the more manly structures here ye view; They rose for greatness that ye never knew. Langhorne. The Country Justice. Well, now you're bedizen'd, I'll swear as ye pass, I can scarcely help laughing-don't look in the glass. Those tittering boys shall be whipt if they teaze you, So come away, girls.- Whitehead. Venus attiring the Graces. BE'DLAM, n. Bethlehem, Bethlem, Bedlam. BE'DLAM, adj. The Hospital of St. Mary BE'DLAMITE. Bethlem, bestowed in 1545 upon the city of London, who appropriated it to See Pennant's London. the reception of lunatics.

Little Musgrave. Percy, vol. iii.

With sorrow for my guide, as there I stood,
A troope of men the most in armes bedight,
In tumult cluster'd 'bout both sides the flood.
Mirror for Magistrates, p. 270.

With me it fares now, as with him whose outward garment hath bin injur'd and ill-bedighted; for having no other shift, what help but to turn the inside outwards, especially if the lining be of the same, or, as it is sometimes, much better?-Milton. Apology for Smectymnuus.

BE-DIM. To dull, to darken, or make dim.
By whose ayde
(Weake masters though ye be) I haue bedymn'd
The noone-tide sun, call'd forth the mutenous windes,
And twixt the greene sea, and the azur'd vault
Set roaring warre.-Shakespeare. Tempest, Act v. sc. 1.
What dextrous thousands just within the goal
Of wild debauch direct their nightly course!
Perhaps no sickly qualms bedim their days,
No morning admonitions shock the head.
But, ah! what woes remain !

Armstrong. On Preserving Health, b. ii. BE-DIRTY. To dirty, or daub; to cover, smear, or stain with mud or filth; to pollute.

How shall then a sinner be ashamed to see himself before the Lord of all, naked of good works, be-dirtied and defiled with abominable and horrid crimes?

Bp. Taylor. Cont. Of the State of Man, b. i. c. 9. BE-DIZEN. To dress too much, awkwardly, improperly.

1

Sometimes, in thinking of what I have had,
I from a sudden ecstasy grow mad:
Then, like a bedlam, forth thy El'nor runs,
Like one of Bacchus' raging frantic nuns.
Drayton. Elenor to D. Humphrey.
And as he would proceed with his oration,
One of the chiefest of this bedlam nation
Lays hold on him, and asks who he should be.
Id. The Moon-Calf.

But still distracted in loue's lunacy,
And bedlam-like thus raving in my grief,
Now rail upon her hair, then on her eye,
Now call her goddess, then I call her thief.

Id. Idea, 31.

It was a shrewd saying of the old monk, that two kind of prisons would serve for all offenders in the world, an Inquisition and a Bedlam. If any man should deny the being of a God, and the immortality of the soul, such a one should be put into the first of these, the Inquisition, as being a desperate heretic; but if any man should profess to believe these things, and yet allow himself in any known wickedness, such an one should be put into Bedlam.

Tillotson, vol. i. Ser. 1.

(Somner.) Bedd-reise. A man fixed to his bed by continued sickness, Rise from Riesen, cadere, (Wachter.)

And a blynde man for a bordiour, othr a bed reden womman.-Piers Plouhman, p. 115.

For wele or wo she n'ill him not forsake: She n'is not wery him to love and serve, Though that he lie bedrede til that he sterve. Chaucer. The Marchantes Tale, v. 9166. Why diddest thou, not onely heale him that was bedrid thirty-eight years, but also baddest him beare his bedde away vpon the Saboth day.-Tyndall. Workes, p. 237.

When showres of teares from the celestial globe,
Bewail'd the fate of sea-lov'd Britannie,
When sighes as frequent were at various sights,
When Hope lay bed-rid and all pleasures dying.
Browne. Elegy on Prince of Wales.
Man. Wilt thou then serve the Philistines with that gift
Which was expressly giv'n thee to annoy them?
Better at home lie bed-rid, not only idle,
Inglorious, unimploy'd, with age out-worn.

Milton. Samson Agonistes.

Fear not now the fever's fire,

Fear not now the death-bed groan, Pangs that torture, pangs that tire, Bed-rid age with feeble moan.-Mason. Caractacus.

BE-DROPT. To drip or drop; to fall, to hang, to cover with drops.

And as men sene the dew bedroppe
The leues and the flowres eke:
Right so vpon hir white cheke

The wofull salte teres felle.-Gower. Con. A. b. vii.

(Not so thick swarm'd once the soil Bedropt with blood of Gorgon, or the Isle Ophiusa.) Millon. Paradise Lost, b. x. She [Lady Ralegh] has on a dark colour'd hanging-sleeve robe, tuffted on the arms; and under it, a close-bodied gown of white sattin, flower'd with black, with close sleeves down her wrist; has a rich ruby in her ear, bedrop'd with large pearls.-Oldys. Life of Ralegh.

The priest whose flattery bedropt the crown,
How hurt he you, he only stain'd the gown.
Pope. Imilation of Horace, Ep. 7.
BE-DUCKED. To dip, to dive, to sink down.

The varlet saw, when to the flood he came,
How without stop or stay he fiercely lept,
And deepe himselfe beducked in the same,
That in the lake his lofty crest was steept,
Ne of his safety seemed care he kept.

Spenser. Faerie Queene, b. ii. c. 6. BE-DUNG. Applied to that which is cast down, (sc.) after passing through the body of an animal.

And had still gone on to triumph over that trembling army, had not God's inexpected champion, by divine instinct, taken up the monster, and vanquisht him, leaving all but his head to bedung that earth, which had lately shaken at his terrour.-Bp. Hall. Resolutions, Dec. 1.

BE-DWARF. To be of small size, low stature; to stint the growth.

But 'tis not so: we're not retir'd, but damp'd,
And as our bodies, so our minds are cramp'd:
'Tis shrinking, not close weaving, that hath thus
In mind and body both bedwarfed us.

Donne. Anatomy of the World.
BE-DYE. To stain, to colour, to dip or steep.
Faire Goddesse lay that furious fit aside,
Till I of warres and bloudy Mars doe sing,
And Briton fields with Sarazin bloud bedide,
Twixt that great Faery Queene and Paynim King,
That with their horrour heauen and earth did ring.
Spenser. Faerie Queene, b. i. c. 11.
And therewithall shee threw her garments lap aside,
Vnder the which a thousand things I saw with eies,
Both kniues, sharpe swords, poinadoes all bedide
With bloud, and poisons prest which she could well
deuise.
Mirror for Magistrates, p. 66.

And lyke as beis among the floures, whan fresh the sommer falles

In shyne of son applie their work, when growen yong;

Or when their hiues they gin to stop, and hony sweet is sprong,

That al their caues and cellars close with dulcet liquor filles: Some doth vnlade, some other brings the stuffe with ready

willes : Sometime they ioine, and all at once do from their maungers fet The slouthful drones, that would consume, and nought will do to get;

The worke it heates, the hony smelles of floures and time ywet. Phaer. Eneidos, b. i.

Thus to their toils, in early summer, run
The clust'ring bees, and labour in the sun;
Led forth, in colonies, their buzzing race,
Or work the liquid sweets, and thicken to a mass.
The busy nation flies from flow'r to flow'r,
And hoards, in curious cells, the golden store;
A chosen troop before the gate attends,
To take the burdens, and relieve their friends:
Warm at the fragrant work, in bands, they drive
The drone, a lazy robber, from the hive.-Pitt. Ib.

And Mr. Butler, a great bee-master, in his Feminine Monarchie hath observed, that the drones are such by kinde, not by accident, (i. e. not by losing their stings.) Hakewill. Apologie, p. 11.

[He should] take it well and be thankfull, if haply by some sharp words and cutting speeches, any man hath cleansed and purified his heart full of cloudy mists and palpable darknesse, like as men drive bee-hives, and rid away bees with smoake.-Holland. Plutarch, p. 47.

|

is their

vp

BEECH.
BEECHEN.
BE'ECHY.

A. S. Boc, Bece; Dut. Bueche; Ger. Buche; Sw. Bok. There are not a few (says Ihre) who derive the northern word from the Gr. nyos, and Lat. Fagus, f being changed into b, as in a hundred instances: nyos, so called, anо тоν payei, to eat, because the mast-bearing tree supplied men with food in the earliest ages.

This false Chanon (the foule fend him fetch)
Out of his bosom toke a bechen cole,
In which full subtilly was made an hole.

Chaucer. The Chanones Yemannes Tale, v. 16,629.
But oft, when vnderneath the greene wood shade,
Her flocks lay hid from Phoebus scorching raies,
Vnto her knight she songs and sonnets made,
And them engrau'd in barke of beeche and baies.
Fairfax. Godfrey of Bulloigne, b. vii. s. 19.
A beechen mast then, in a hollow base
They put, and hoisted; fixt it in his place
With cables. Chapman. Homer. Odysses, b. ii.
On earth's fair bed beneath some sacred shade,
Amidst his equal friends carelessly laid,
He sings thee, Bacchus, patron of the vine;
The beechen bowl foames with a flood of wine,
Not to the loss of reason, or of strength.-Cowley. Virgil.

Or yeve us of your braun, if ye have any,

·

•

n. Fr. Bauf; from the Lat. BERE, adj. } Bovis, the Gr. Bous, front Boos, Applied to(BоσKEL) to feed. The flesh of kine: formerly to the animal, as the plural, Beeves, still is.

Han by the night accursed thieves Slaine his lambs, or stolne his beeves.

Bacon or beef, or swiche thing as ye find.

Chaucer. The Sompnoures Tale, v. 7332. Befuys and motons were also dere for scantnesse of grasse and pasture.-Fabyan. Edw. III. an. 1353.

Browne. The Shepherd's Pipe, Ecl. 3.

BEER. Ger. and Dut. Bier. In A. S. Bere

is barley. Goldast thinks a pyris; beer being first made of pears. Vossius, from the Lat. Bibere, Biber, and (extrito b) Bier. Somner, from Bar, Heb. Frumentum. Noel (cited by Somner) says Beor is metheglin, or a kind of drink made with honey, whence it hath the name of Bee. Wachter quotes Luc. i. 15, "And he ne drincth win ne beor;" whence he infers that beer was made of any grain, or from honey or pears, &c.; and supposes the Welsh, Berwy, coquere, to be the parent of the word. Single beer and double beer seem applied to beers of different strength.

And cke their braines with double beere are lynde. Gascoigne. Voyage into Hollande.

And then shypmen and other euyl disposid persones as then drewe to ye said Geffrey Gate, robbyd agayne the berehouses, and sette some of theym on fyre.-Fabyan. Edw.IV. an. 1469.

Among those that were without the fort, and which were of the foresaid company of Captaine Ribault, there was a carpenter of three score yeeres olde, one a beere-brewer. Hackluyt. Voyages, vol. iii. p. 354.

They shot off; but the French retired with diligence, and returned to Edinburgh without harme done, except the destruction of some drinking beere, which lay in the sands, chappell and church.-Knox. Hist. of the Reformation, p. 90.

BEETLE, v. BEETLE, n. BEETLEBROWS. BE'ETLEBROWed. BEETLEHEADED.

Flow, Welsted, flow! like thine inspirer, beer;
Though stale, not ripe: though thin, yet never clear;
So sweetly mawkish, and so smoothly dull;
Heady, not strong; o'erflowing, though not full.
Pope. The Dunciad, b. iii.

Beetle, a mallet, Skinner and Junius say is perhaps from the verb to beat. A three man beetle was one so heavy that it required three men to manage it, (Nares.) Beetleheaded, as thick as a beetle; Beetle, the insect, Skinner also supposes to be from the same verb, to beat; because in their evening flight, they beat against us. Beetlebrow is a brow, overhanging like that of a beetle. Hence Mr. Malone thinks Shakespeare coined the verb, to beetle, to hang over.

He was bytellbrowede and baberlupped. whit two blery eyen.-Piers Plouhman, p. 97.

Proude Jerusalem deserued not to haue this preeminence, which, albeit she were in every dede as blynde as a betell, yet thought herselfe to haue a perfect good syght, and for that cause was more vncurable.-Udal. Mark, c. 1..

The kyng made hym joye ynow, & amon hem alle Bed hym telle of som thing, that hym schulde bi falle. R. Gloucester, p. 145. Here now of their schame, what chance bifelle. R. Brunne, p. 123. Ac on a May morwenyng. on Malverne hulles Me by fel for to slepe. for weyrynesse of wandryng. Piers Plouhman, p. 1. And it bifel that whanne Zacarye schould do the office of presthod in the ordir of his cours to fore God. Wiclif. Luke, c. 1.

Gower. Con. A. Prologue.

In the meane season a bitter plague befelle among them for their corupt liuing, consuming in short tyme such a multitude of people, that the quicke were not sufficient to bury the dead.-Stowe. Brytaines & Saxons, an. 447.

I could say much more of the king's majesty, without flattery, did I not fear the imputation of presumption, and withal suspect, that it might befal these papers of mine (though the loss were little) as it did the pictures of Queen Elizabeth, made by unskilful and common painters; which, by her own commandment, were knock'd in pieces and cast into the fire.-Sir Walter Ralegh, Pref. p. 10.

[Plato] lays it down as a principle, that whatever is permitted to befal a just man, whether poverty, sickness, or any of those things which seem to be evils, shall either in life or death conduce to his good.-Spectator, No. 237.

BE-FIT.

So that it semes her will Phy, phy, phy, phy, to sing, Since phy befatteth him so well, In euery kind of thing.

As for myself, I am well, if to be well, can with any propriety, be said of a man, who lives in the utmost suspense and anxiety, under the apprehension of all the accidents which can possibly befal the friend he most affectionately loves Farewell.-Melmoth. Pliny, b. iii. Let. 17.

BE-FIGHT. To combat, to contend, to battle.
As wrastling windes, out of dispersed whirl,
Befight themselues, the west with southern blast.
Surrey. Virgile. Ænæis, b. ii.
To adapt, to suit, to become.

Ill it befits thee, oh it ill befits
Acasto's daughter, his whose open stores,
Though vast, were little to his ampler heart,
The father of a country, thus to pick
The very refuse of these harvest-fields,
Which from his bounteous friendship I enjoy.
Thomson. Autumn.

And now let nine of the selected band,
Whose greener years befit such station best,
With wary circuit pace around the grove:
Mason. Caractacus.
And guard each inlet.

Gascoigne. The Comp. of Phylomene. For which, ere long, to his just trial led all the robes befitting his degree, Ware Scroop, chief justice in that dang'rous stead, Commission had his lawful judge to be.

Drayton. The Barons' Wars, b. iv.

VOL. I.

His bristled back a trench impal'd appears,
And stands erected, like a field of spears.
Froth fills his chaps, he sends a grunting sound,
And part he churns, and part befoams the ground.
Dryden. Ovid. Metam. b. viii.

At last the dropping wings, befoam'd all o'er,
With flaggy heaviness their master bore;
A rock he spy'd, whose humble head was low,
Bare at an ebb, but cover'd at a flow.-Eusden. Ib. b. v.

BE-FOOL. To be, or cause to be, a fool, or foolish; to delude into folly or error; to infatuate. And netheles full many wise Befooled haue hem selfe er this.-Gower. Con. A. b. vii. Debauch'd by those they thought would teach and rule 'em Who now they find did ruin and befool 'em.

W. Browne to Lord General Monk. Canst thou ingross a slavish shame, which men, Far, far below the region of thy state, ? Not more abhor, than study to revenge Thou an Italian? I could burst with rage, To think I have a brother so befool'd.

Ford. Love's Sacrifice, Act iv. sc. 1.

BE-FORE.

BEFOREHAND. BEFORETIME.

Yet the fears of Herod over-ruled all the prejudices of his sect, and raised up before his eyes the semblance of the murdered Baptist armed with the power of miracles, for the very purpose (he perhaps, imagined) of inflicting exemplary vengeance upon him for that atrocious deed, as well as for his adultery, his incest, and all his other crimes.

Porteus, vol. ii. Lect. 14. So far, therefore, from adapting the means, she [the hen] is not beforehand apprised of the effect.

Paley. Natural Theology, c. 4. BE-FORTUNE. To happen, to betide, to bechance, to fall to the lot of.

Egl. Madam, I pitty much your grieuances,
Which, since I know they vertuously are plac'd,
I giue consent to goe along with you,
Wreaking as little what betideth me

As much, I wish all good befortune you.

Shakespeare. Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act iv. sc. 3. BE-FRECKLE. To freak; to spot, or colour with various spots.

As when the evening is with darkness overspread,
Her star befreckled face with clouds invelloped,
You oftentimes behold, the trembling lightning fly.
Drayton. Poly-Olbion, s. 22.

To act as a friend or well

I loved hire firste, and tolde thee my wo As to my conseil, and my brother sworne To forther me, as I have told beforne.

Lady, yee must openly you confesse,
And if against good concience and right,
Any good han ye take more or lesse,
Beforne this houre, of any manner wight,
Yeeld it anon.
Browne. Shepheard's Pipe, Ecl. 1.

BE-FRIEND. wisher to. To benefit, to aid, to serve.

This last request to you I do commend
That pitying my sad plaints, you may befriend
My wretched soule with quicke dispatch in death,
And not with torture, when I yeeld my breath.
Mirror for Magistrates, p. 613.

The mercy of our good God allowes his favourites, not onely to receive but to give; not only to receive for themselves, but to convey blessings to others: what can that man want that is befriended of the faithfull?

Bp. Hall. Cont. The Rapture of Elijah.

Yet mad they rush'd, as whirling wind descends, And deem'd for friendless those the Lord befriends. Parnel. The Gift of Poetry. Habakkuk. Here he [Pliny the elder] stopped to consider whether he should return back; to which the pilot advising him, "Fortune," he said, “befriends the brave; steer to Pomponianus." Melmoth. Pliny, b. vi. Let. 16. To edge with fringe; to cut

And when I flatter, let my dirty leaves
(Like journals, odes, and such forgotten things
As Eusden, Philips, Settle writ of kings)
Clothe spice, line trunks, or, fluttering in a row,
Befringe the rails of Bedlam and Soho.

Pope. Imitation of Horace, Ep. i.

And she was clad full poorely,

All in an olde torne courtpy

As she were all with dogges torne,
And both behind and eke beforne
Clouted was she beggerly.-Chaucer. Rom. of the Rose.

But of the body, whiche shall deye,
Allthough there be diuers weye

To deth, yet, is there but one ende,

To whiche that euery man shall wende,

As well the begger as the lorde,

Of one nature of one accorde.-Gower. Con. A. b. iv.

Wee hauing nothing to do at all, haue medled yet in all matters, and haue spent for our prelats causes more then all Christendome, euen vnto the vtter beggering of our selues, & haue gotten nothing but rebuke and shame & hate among all nations.-Tyndall. Workes, p. 375.

By whose ayed ryches and auctorite the pope wt his prelates ascended from poore beggerly fryers and flaterers vnto siche an imperial maiestye aboue emprours and kinges. Joye. Expos. of Daniel, c. 7.

Amonge these things comes out of his ship the poore captaine Hamilco, in a filthy and beggerlye cloak girt aboute him, at the sight of whome the mourners as they stoode in rankes clustered about him.-Goldynge. Justine, fol. 92.

The Phariseis, beeyng made extreme woode with this courage and boldnes that the beggar was of, fal to extremitie, and to saye the vttermost they could. They vpbrayed him with his olde blindnesse, they cast him in the teeth with his beggerlynesse, as though God hadde punished him therewithall for his sinnes.-Udal. John, c. 9.

And the same sayth Innocent in on of his bookes: he sayth, that sorweful and mishappy is the condition of a poure begger, for if he axe not his mete, he dieth for hunger, and if he axe, he dieth for shame, and algates necessitee constreineth him to axe.-Chaucer. The Tale of Melibeus.

So as their begging now them failed quite;
For none would giue, but all men would them wyte.
Yet would they take no paines to get their liuing,
But seeke some other way to gaine by giuing,
Much like to begging, but much better named;
For many beg, which are thereof ashamed.

Spenser. Mother Hubberds Tale.

And for as much as all good thinges come of God, whether they perteyne to the bodie, or to the soule, and at all times to be deliuered from aduersitie is one of his singular benefites, we may no doubt begge the same at his handes, referring notwithstanding the graunting of it to him, who knoweth what is better for vs than we do our selues. Whitgifte. Defense, p. 492. Trebellius obiecting to Coelius, and charging him with factious behauiour, and dissoluing of discipline: Cœlius againe that Trebellius had spoiled and beggered the legions. Savile. Tacitvs. Historie, p. 34. And to what end is all this, but that seeing himself forsaken of all, he may at length, like the beggar'd prodigal, return again to his father?-Hopkins. Works, p. 14.

With half an eye
Your far-fetched sophistry I spy;
Which ne'er so subtlely disputed,
By two plain words shall be confuted:
I first affirm you beg the question.

R. O. Cambridge. Learning. Persuade a man that he is a beggar and a vagabond, and you shall instantly see him change his manners. Beattie. On Truth, pt. ii. c. 2. A mistake in which I had no share, decides at once upon my libertie and property, sending me from the court to a prison, and adjudging my family to beggary and famine. Burke. Vindication of Nat. Society. The poverty of the lower ranks of people in China far surpasses that of the most beggarly nations in Europe. Smith. Wealth of Nations, b. i. c. 8.

BE-GA'LLED. To gall, to fret, to chafe, to rub sore.

And shake your sturdy trunks, ye prouder pines, Whose swelling graines are like begald alone, With the deep furrowes of the thunder-stone. Bp. Hall. Defiance to Envy. BE-GA/WED. To bedeck with gawdy things, with any fine, showy, gay things.

The senate liked very well of this device, and chose such a number of bond-maids as she desired to have, and trimming them up in fine apparel, begawded with chains of gold and jewels, they sent them forth to the Latins, who were encamped not far from the city.-North. Plutarch, p. 127.

BE-GAY. To make gay; to begawd, (qv.)

The rural swain, whose courser eyes
Ne'r star'd on other beauteous things than what
Begay the simple fields.-Beaumont. Psyche, c. 3. § 75.

BE-GET. A. S. Begettan, Gettan. BEGETTER. To gain, to acquire, to reach, BEGE'TTING, n. to attain, to obtain, to procure, to produce, to generate.

Tho adde the Brutons the maystrye al bygyte.
R. Gloucester, p. 219.

He ssolde be othere's eyr of al that he adde,
Gyf he of hym sulue non other eyr bygyte nadde.
Id. p. 383.

A litelle ther biforn died Margarete,
The heyr of Scotlond born, of Alisander bigete.
R. Brunne, p. 248.

Which delyueride us fro the power of derknessis, and translatide into the kingdom of the sone of his louyng in whom we han aghen biyng and remyssioun of synnes: which is the ymage of God unuysible, the first bigcten of ech creature.-Wiclif. Coloss. c. 1.

A yonge man called Melibeus, mighty and riche, begate upon his wif, that called was Prudence, a daughter which that called was Sophie.-Chaucer. The Tale of Melibeus.

He had a brother netheles,
Whose right name was Eson,

Gower. Con. A. b. v.

And he the worthie knight Jason Begatte. For what is he that canne by very imaginació, comprise how that God the father, beyng without beginning, doeth continually beget God the sonne? into whom the begetter doeth so wholy powre out himself, that yet thereby he is nothyng diminished.-Udal. John, Pref.

This is but an imperfect generation, where that which is begotten doth not receive its whole being originally from that which did beget, but from God and nature; the begetter being but either a channel or an instrument and having been himself before begotten or produced by some other. Cudworth. Intellectual System, p. 587.

For it was not begotten from that as any way moved towards its generation; but it proceeded from God as it were self-begottengly.-Id. Ib. p. 574.

My walks of trees, all planted by my hand,
Like children of my own begetting stand.
Denham. Of Old Age.

Such is not man, who mixing better seed With worse, begets a base degenerate breed: The bad corrupts the good, and leaves behind No trace of all the great begetter's mind. Dryden. The Wife of Bath's Tale. Good laws may beget order and moderation in the government, where the manners and customs have instilled little humanity or justice into the tempers of men. Hume, pt. i. Ess. 3. BE-GILT. To cover or overlay with gold.

Six maids attending on her, attir'd with buckram bridelaces, beguilt: white sleves, and stammele petticotes, drest after the cleanliest countrey guise.

B. Jonson. The King's Entertainment at Welbeck.

Be and gin. A. S. Aginnan, beginnan, ginnan, incipere, inchoare, aggredi, instituere; Ger. Beginnen, BEGINNINGLESS. ginnen; Dut. Be-ghin-nen, ghinnen; Sw. Begynna. The A. S. Beginnan, Junius thinks is evidently composed of be and gangan, gan, or gen; to go. And Ihre observes in confirmation, that the Lat. Initium is formed from inire, initum. Applied to

The first motion towards any act, purpose, or design. To take the first step, to make the first motion, to do the first act, to enter upon, to commence.

BE-GIN, v. BEGIN, n. BEGINNER. BEGINNING.

& al for a wommon, That Elyne was y clepud, this bataile first bi gan. R. Gloucester, p. 10. Heo gederede folk faste, the werre to bi gynne.-Id. p. 96. Toward this lond heo oi gonne for to robby faste.-Id. p. 97. That Eneas bigan hys of spyrng to Lumbardie first bring Thre thousant & sixe & tuenti ger fro tho worlde's bi gynnynge.-Id. p. 10.

For now bigynnes Dauid to wax a werreour,
With Leulyn gan he kith to be the kynge's traytour.
R. Brunne, p. 240.

For God that al by gan in gynnynge of the worlde
Ferde furst as a fust with o fynger. y folde to gederes
Til hym liked and luste. to unclose the fynger
And profrede hit forth as with the paume. to what place
it sholde.-Piers Plouhman, p. 327.

An hyne that had hys hyre ere he begonne.-Id. p. 74. Fro that tyme Jhesus bigan to preche and seie, do ye penaunce for the kyngdom of hevenes schal come nigh. Wiclif. Matt. c. 4. From yt time Jesus began to preach, and to say, repent, for the kyngdom of heauen is at hande.-Bible, 1551. İb.

And thou Lord in the bigynnyng foundidist the erthe, and hevenes ben werkis of thin hondis.-Wiclif. Ebrewis, c. 1.

And thou Lorde in the beginnynge hast layd the foundacion of the earth. And the heuens are the worckes of thy handes.-Bible, 1551. Ib.

Yet may the highe God, and so hope I, Granten me grace to liven vertuously: Than am I gentil, whan that I beginne To liven vertuously, and weiven sinne.

Chaucer. The Wif of Bathes Tale, v. 6755.

And though there be none other skille,
But onely for thei wolde winne,
Thei leaue nought, whan thei beginne
Upon their acte to procede.-Gower. Con. A. Prologue.

The mightie God, which unbegonne
Stont of hymselfe, and hath begonne
All other thinges at his will.-Gower. Con. A. b. viii.

Mindes he our tears? or euer moued his eyen?
Wept he for ruth? or pitied he our loue?
What shall I set before? or where begin?

Surrey. Virgile. Enæis, b. iv. And lette hym not teache vs our lessō in a small ragged hande, wherein a yonge begynner can scant perceive one letter from another, but lette hym teache vs in a fayre great letter of some text hande, that is more easye to learne vpon. Sir T. More. Workes, p. 574.

Most noble virgine, that by fatall lore
Hast learn'd to loue, let no whit thee dismay
The hard begin, that meets thee in the dore
And with sharpe fits thy tender heart oppresseth sore.
Spenser. Faerie Queene, b. iii. c. 3.

But to begin that which never was, whereof there was no example, whereto there was no inclination, wherein there was no possibilitie of that which it should be, is proper onely to such power as thine, the infinite power of an infinite Creator.-Bp. Hall. Cont. The Creation.

What can I see, O God, in thy creation, but miracles of wonders? Thou madest something of nothing, and of that something, all things. Those which wast without a beginning, gavest a beginning to time, and to the world in time. Id. Ib.

The said Tanaquil was the first that made the coat or cassocke woven right out, all through, such as new beginners (namely, young souldiours, barristers, and fresh brides) put on under white plaine gowns, without any guard of purple. Holland. Plinie, b. viii. c. 48.

It will, they presume, be soon enough to begin to-morrow or next day, a month or a year hence when they shall find more commodious opportunity, or shall prove better disposed thereto; in the mean time with Solomon's sluggard, yet, say they, a little sleep, and little slumber, a little folding of the hands. Barrow, vol. iii. Ser. 16.

'Tis in reality, and in point of argument, the very same

supposition [to suppose an infinite succession of changeable and dependent beings produced one from another in endless progression, without any original cause at all] as it would be to suppose one continued being, of beginningless and endless duration, neither self-existent and necessary in itself, nor having its existence founded in any self-existent cause, which is directly absurd and contradictory.

Clarke. Demons. of the Altribuies, prop. 2.

The sense of the word eternity has nothing to do with that distinction, being but one, and importing neither more nor less than beginningless and endless duration. Waterland. Works, vol. ii. p. 327.

Some writers upon art carry this point too far, and suppose that such a body of universal and profound learning is requisite, that the very enumeration of its kinds is enough to frighten a beginner.-Sir J. Reynolds, Dis. 7.