BED, a convenience to stretch and compose the body upon for ease, rest, or sleep, consisting generally of feathers, down, or other soft material, enclosed in a ticken case. In the first ages it was universally the practice for mankind to sleep upon skins of beasts. This was originally the custom of the Greeks and Romans, as also of the ancient Britons previous to the Roman invasion; and the skins thus employed were spread on the floor of their apartments. But they were afterwards changed for loose rushes and heath; and in process of time the Romans suggested to the central Britons the use, and the introduction of agriculture supplied them with the means, of the greater conveniency of straw beds. The beds of the Roman gentry at this period were generally filled with feathers, and those of the inns with the soft down of reeds. But for many ages the beds of the Italians had been constantly composed of straw; it still formed those of the officers and soldiers present at the conquest of Lancashire; and from both, it is probable, our countrymen learnt the use of it. It appears, however, to have been used only by gentlemen, as the common Welsh had their beds thinly stuffed with rushes as late as the end of the twelfth century; and with the gentlemen it continued for many ages afterwards. Straw was used in the royal chambers of England as late as the close of the thirteenth century. Most of the peasants in different parts of the country sleep on chaff beds at present; in the Highlands heath is also very generally employed as bedding; and in France and Italy straw beds remain in general use to this day.

Dining Bed, lectus tricliniaris or discubitorius, that on [7:4:512]which the ancients reclined at meals. The dining or dis-cubitory beds were four or five feet in height. Three of these beds were ordinarily ranged by a square table, (whence both the table and the apartment where it stood were called triclinium), in such a manner that one of the sides of the table remained open and accessible to the waiters. Each bed was fitted to receive three or four, rarely five persons. These beds were unknown before the second Punic war; for the Romans till then had sat down to eat on plain wooden benches, in imitation of the heroes of Homer, or, according to Varro, after the manner of the Lacedaemonians and Cretans. But Scipio Africanus first introduced a new mode, having brought from Carthage some of the little beds called punicani or archaici, which were constructed of a wood common enough, very low, stuffed only with straw or hay, and covered with goats’ or sheeps’ skins, haedinis pellibus strati. In point of luxury, there was really no great difference between these new beds and the ancient benches; but the custom of frequent bathing, which already began to be general, by softening and relaxing the body, put men on trying to rest themselves more commodiously than by sitting down in an upright posture. As to the ladies, it did not seem consistent with modesty for them to adopt the recumbent posture, and, accordingly, they kept to the old custom during the continuance of the commonwealth, and only began to use triclinia in the times of the first Caesars. The youth, again, who had not yet put on the toga virilis, were long kept to the ancient discipline, and, when admitted to table, only sat on the edge of the beds of their nearest relations. Never, says Suetonius, did the young Caesars, Caius and Lucius, eat at the table of Augustus; they were set in ∙ imo loco, or, as Tacitus expresses it, ad lecti fulcra. But, from the greatest simplicity, the Romans by degrees carried their dining beds to the most surprising magnificence. Pliny assures us it was no uncommon thing to see them covered over with plates of silver, and adorned with the softest mats and richest counterpanes. Lampridius, speaking of Heliogabalus, says, he had beds of solid silver, solido argento habuit lectos et tricliniares, et cubiculares. We may add, that Pompey, in his third triumph, brought in beds of gold. The Romans had also beds on which they studied, and beds on which the dead were carried to the funeral pile.

Bed of Justice, in France, under the old regime, 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, forming, as it were, the body of the carriage.

Bed, in Masonry, a course or range of stones. The joint of the bed is the mortar between two stones placed the one over the other.

Bed, in Gardening, a square or oblong piece of ground in a garden raised a little above the level of the adjoining ground, and either sown or planted.

Lords of the Bed- Chamber, in the British court, are twelve noblemen who attend in turn, a month each, during which time they sleep in the king’s bed-chamber, and wait on him when he dines in private. Their salary is considerable; and the situation, though apparently a menial one, is eagerly Sought after, even by the high nobility, from the access which it gives to the person of the sovereign.