BECSKEREK' NA'GY, or GREAT BECSKEREK, a t. of Hungary, in the co. of Torontal, situated on the left bank of the Bega, about 45 m. s.w. of Temesvar, with which place it is connected by canal. B. N. is an important market t., and has a pop. (1869) of 19,666.
BED (with some variations in spelling, the word is common to all Germanic lan guages), an article of household furniture on which to sleep. Beds have been and are of various forms, almost every country having its own kind of bed. In ancient times in Palestine, the B. seems to have been a simple kind of couch for reclining on the day, and sleeping on at night, and readily removable from place to place, as is referred to in different parts of Scripture. About the heat of the day, Ishbosheth lay on his B. at noon (2 Sam. iv. 5). In receiving visitors, the king bowed himself upon the bed (1 Kings i. 47). Jesus saith. " Take up thy IT., and go unto thine house" (Matt. ix. 6). Yet in these early times, beds or couches must, in some instances, have been highly ornamented: thus, " I have decked my B. with coverings of tapestry, with carved works. with fine linen of Egypt" (Prow. vii. 16). The ancient Greeks had an elegant kind of beds in the form of open couches; they rested on a frame-work with posts; their mat tresses were stuffed with wool or feathers; and they had coverings of a costly nature. The Romans had latterly beds of great richness and magnificence. They were of two kinds—the lectus tricliniaris, or couch for reclining upon at meals; and the lectus cubieu &iris, or B. placed in bed-chambers for sleeping in during the night. In eastern coun tries, at the present day, beds are for the mostpart simple couches or mattresses, which can be easily rolled up and carried away. In India. these couches are called charpoys. ' It will be understood that, in hot climates, few bedclothes are used—in general, there being only a single sheet employed; care is taken, however, to use mosquito-curtains, • without which rest would be impracticable. See Mosquero.
Throughout the continent of Europe, beds are of the open couch form, suitable in width for one person. They consist of a frame or bedstead, less or more ornamental, bearing one or two hair or wool mattresses: they are often provided with curtains, which depend from the ceiling of the room. In French hotels, such beds, neatly done up, are seen in sitting-rooms. In Germany, there is a common practice of placing large flat bags of down above the other coverings of beds, for the sake of warmth; and some times a bed of down altogether supplies the place of blankets. Throughout America,
the beds are usually of the French, or open couch, form. The simplest kind of B. yet invented—except, indeed, the oriental rug spread on the floor—is one frequently to be seen in America. The bedstead consists of a folding trestle, constructed with canvas on the principle of a camp-stool, with a movable head-board at one end to retain the pillow. With a hair-mattress, a pillow, and the necessary coverings laid on it, this makes one of the most comfortable beds imaginable. Its great advantage consists in its being easily folded up and put away in small space. In some of the hotels in the United States, when the arrival of guests exceeds the ordinary accommodation, a number of trestle-beds can be improvised in a few minutes in one of tLe haP.s.
To prevent the falling of dust on the face, the Romans, in same instances, used cano pies (aulfsa) over their beds; in no country but England, however, has the canopied bed stead been thoroughly perfected and naturalized. The English four-posted B., or B. proper, is a gigantic piece of furniture, to which all persons aspire; and when tastefully fitted up, it offers that degree of comfort and seclusion which is characteristic of the domestic habits of the people. Like most English beds, it is made of sufficient size to accommodate two persons—the husband and wife—and is hence known as the family-bed. 'Flie dimensions of a good family B. are as follows: lying part, 6 ft. 6 in. in length, by 5 ft. 2 in. in breadth; height from the floor, 2 ft. 9 in.; height of the posts from the floor to the top of the cornice, 9 feet. The roof or canopy is supported by the four posts, which are of mahogany, finely turned and carved. On rods along the cornice, hang curtains, which can be drawn around the sides and foot. The top stands towards the wall, so that the B. can be approached on the two sides. The curtains are composed of silk or worsted damask; in old times, they were of tapestry. With a spriug-mattress below, and a wool-mattress above, the B. is complete, all but the blankets, sheets, bol ster, and pillows. Ticks with feathers, laid on a hair-mattress, are also common. Fully equipped, a B., as just described, costs from no to £80. The great B. at Ware, in llertfordshire, is one of the curiosities of England, and is referred to in the Twelfth Eight of Shakespeare: "Although this sheet were big enough for the bed of Ware in England." The famous B., which is still seen in one of the inns at Ware, measures 12 ft. square, and is said to be of holding a dozen persons.