of Bethnal Green," a lady by
birth, a sylph for beauty, an angel for constancy and sweetness. She
was loved to distraction by Wilford, and it turned out that he was
the son of lord Woodville, and Bess the daughter of lord Woodville's
brother; so they were cousins. Queen Elizabeth sanctioned their
nuptials, and took them under her own especial conduct.--S. Knowles,
_The Beggar of Bethnal Green_ (1834).

BESS O' BEDLAM, a female lunatic vagrant, the male lunatic vagrant
being called a _Tom o' Bedlam_.

BESSUS, governor of Bactria, who seized Dari'us (after the battle
of Arbe'la) and put him to death. Arrian says, Alexander caused the
nostrils of the regicide to be slit, and the tips of his ears to be
cut off. The offender being then sent to Ecbat'ana, in chains, was put
to death.

Lo! Bessus, he that armde with murderer's knyfe
And traytrous hart agaynst his royal king,
With bluddy hands bereft his master's life.
What booted him his false usurped raygne.
When like a wretche led in an iron chayne,
He was presented by his chiefest friende
Unto the foes of him whom he had slayne?

T. Sackville, _A Mirrour for Magistraytes_
("The Complaynt," 1587).

_Bes'sus_ a cowardly bragging captain, a sort of Bobadil or Vincent de
la Rosa. Captain Bessus, having received a challenge, wrote word back
that he could not accept the honor for thirteen weeks, as he had
already 212 duels on hand, but he was much grieved that he could not
appoint an earlier day.--Beaumont and Fletcher, _King and No King_
(1619).

Rochester I despise for want of wit.
So often does he aim, so seldom hit ...
Mean in each action, lewd in every limb,
Manners themselves are mischievous in him ...
For what a Bessus has he always lived!

Dryden, _Essay upon Satire_.

BETH MARCH, the third and gentlest sister in Louisa M. Alcott's novel
"_Little Women_" (1868).

BETSEY, the wife in Will Carleton's farm ballad, _Betsey and I are
Out_. In dictating to a lawyer the terms of separation, the farmer
reminds himself of the many excellent points of the offending spouse,
and how "she and I was happy before we quarrelled so."

And when she dies, I wish that she would be laid by me,
And, lyin' together in silence, perhaps we will agree;
And, if ever we meet in heaven I wouldn't think it queer
If we loved each other better because we quarrelled here.

(1873.)

BETSEY BOBBET, the sentimental spinster who wears out the patie