SEVENTY. It divides the county into two parts; and in a wet season is liable to sudden and great inundations.

The river Ivel rises in Hertfordshire, and passing Baldock and Biggleswade, falls into the Ouse a little above Tempsford.

Bedfordshire is in the diocese of Lincoln, in the Norfolk circuit. It sends four members to parliament; viz. two for the shire, and two for Bedford; pays seven parts of the land-tax, and provides 400 men to the militia. It is one of the seven counties that lie together without a city among them. These are Huntingdon, Bedford, Bucks, Berks, Hertford, Essex, and Surry.

BEDFORD,

THE most considerable town in this county, both with respect to size and population, is of great antiquity. It is supposed by some writers to have been the Lactidorum of Antoninus; but this, as Camden observes, is unlikely; as it does not stand on the Roman road; neither have any Roman coins ever been found there.

Under the Saxon dominion, it was called Bedan-ford, or rather, according to Dr. Salmon, Bedician forda; words signifying the Fortress on the Ford; and derived from the fortifications established on the banks of the river Ouse, which flows through the town, and divides it into two parts. Even then, in all probability, it was a town of considerable importance; for OFFA, the powerful king of the Mercians, chose it for his burial-place: his bones were interred in a small chapel, which being seated on the river's brink, was afterwards undermined, and swept away by the floods during an inundation.

In the year 572, a pitched battle was fought here, between the Saxon, Cuthwolf, and the Britons. The latter were defeated, and obliged to deliver up several of their towns to the haughty conqueror.

The Danes, in the reign of Edward the Elder, having plundered and destroyed the town, that prince repaired and united it to Mikesgate, a little village on the opposite bank. Since that time both places have been called, by the general name, Bedford. The following year 911, the Danes were severely beaten in this vicinity.

Subsequent

Subsequent to the Norman invasion, a strong castle was erected on the north-east side of the town, by Pagan de Beauchamp, the third baron of Bedford. This fabric was encompassed by a vast entrenchment of earth, as well as a lofty and thick wall. "While it stood," says Camden, "there was no storm of civil war which did not burst upon it."

When Stephen, in direct violation of his oath, usurped the British throne, he besieged and reduced this castle. Of the fate that awaited its defenders, we are ignorant, as the accounts vary. Camden observes, that the King took the fortress with great slaughter; yet other historians assert, that he granted the garrison honorable terms.

During the contest between the barons and the cruel, despotic, and treacherous King John, it was delivered up to the former by its lord, William de Beauchamp; but was afterwards wrested from their hands by the forces under the command of Falcasius, or Fulco de Brent, to whom it was given by the King, as a reward for his services.

In the reign of Henry the Third, De Brent* rebelled against his Sovereign. He had been guilty of numerous depraved and villainous acts in the surrounding country; and, at length, being fearful of punishment, had pulled down the religious houses of the neighbourhood, and applied the materials to strengthen and fortify his castle. Highly indignant at these repeated atrocities, the Monarch laid siege to the fortress, and, after a contest of sixty days, during which Falcasius disputed the ground by inches, made himself masB 3

ter

This boisterous man, it has been observed, had, "something terrible in him beyond the rest of his age. He was both bully for the King and against him." Yet, notwithstanding his crimes, by which his life had been repeatedly forfeited, was, by an exertion of false clemency, permitted to end it in safety. One instance of his daring character is too remarkable to be passed over in silence. The King's itinerant justices, having opened a court at Dunstable, fined him in a large sum for the ravages which he and his freebooters had, at different times, committed. This conduct incensed him; and he dispatched his brother with a company of armed men to seize upon his judges. Two of them escaped; but the third was taken, and confined in the castle, where he was treated with great indignity and rigor.

ter of the "Nursery of Sedition." On the surrender of the castle, De Brent was sent to London, and there imprisoned; but his brother, and twenty-four other knights, were executed on the spot.

An account of this siege, in the words of a cotemporary writer," and eye-witness, † may prove interesting. Even in that age, the engines used for the destruction of man, were scarcely less ingenious and efficacious than those employed in our own.

"On the east side was one petraria, and two mangonella, which daily battered the tower; and on the west side, two mangonella ruined the old tower; and one mangonella on the south, and one on the north, made two breaches in the wall opposed to them. Besides these, there were two wooden machines raised above the height of the tower and castle for the cross-bowmen, and slingers lay in ambush. There was also a machine, called a cat, under which miners had free passage to sap the walls of the tower and castle. The castle was taken by four assaults. In the first was taken the barbican; in the second, the outer bail: in the third, the wall near the old tower was overthrown by the miners, through the breach of which they, with great danger, made themselves masters of the inner bail. On the fourth assault the miners set fire to the tower; and when the smoke burst out, and great cracks appeared in the tower, the besieged surrendered. to demolish the tower and outer bail. mantled, and the ditches filled up all de Beauchamp to live in. The stones were given to the canons of Newnham and Chaldwell, and the church of St. Paul at Bedford." This William de Beauchamp, it appears from Leland, was a descendant of the original builder.

The sheriff was ordered The inner, after it was dis

round, was left for William

The site of the castle forms a parallelogram, divided by a lane; the keep is now a bowling-green. No remains of the fabric can be seen, but the whole circuit may be traced, and the banks on two sides are very bold. In digging for stone, part of the foundations was discovered, as well as several pieces of coin, and a spear of an uncommon size.

In

+ Cronicle of Dunstaple.

In the reign of Edward the First, the liberties of Bedford were seized by that Monarch, the bailiffs having neglected to discharge the crown rents. Henry the Seventh treated the inhabitants more favorably. Madox, in his Firma Burgi, informs us, that the town being much decayed, many of the houses gone to ruin, the trade of it brought low, and the usual issues discontinued, they besought the King to show them his grace; accordingly, he granted that the yearly ferm which they paid to the crown should be

lessened.

The government of the town is vested in a mayor, who is elected annually on Michaelmas-day, recorder, deputy recorder, an indefinite number of aldermen, two bailiffs, and thirteen common council-men. The bailiffs for the time being, are lords of the manor, and have the right of fishery to the extent of the bounds, which contain a space upwards of nine miles in circumference. The last renewal of their charter was in the reign of James the Second, in whose time the mayor and aldermen were removed from their respective offices by royal mandate, for not electing two burgesses to serve in parliament. The members were, in consequence, chosen by his Majesty's ministers. This borough sent members as early as the twenty-third of Edward the First: it was then governed by a mayor. Henry the Third granted it to the burgesses in feefarm for 401. a year. The right of election is, nominally, in the burgesses, freemen, and inhabitant householders not receiving alms. The number of voters is about 1400. This is the only market

town in the county north of the Ouse. The assizes were always held here, except in the year 1684, when the interest of the Earl of Aylesbury transferred them to Ampthill,

Bedford is seated in the midst of a very rich tract of land, called the Vale of Bedford, the soil of which being exceedingly fruitful, and well cultivated, produces abundant crops of fine wheat, barley, and turnips. The land on the north side is a strong clay; that on the south, though, in general, lighter, is yet a good staple. The natural fertility of the vale is much increased by the overflowing of the river Ouse, across the stream of which there is a strong stone bridge, believed to have been built with the materials of the ruined

B 4

ruined castle. On the center of the bridge stood the town goal, which was taken down about thirty-four years since. It served as well for the confinement of felons, as for a barrier dividing the north and south sides, so that no person could pass without permission of the keeper. The river was made navigable to Lynn in Norfolk by act of parliament.

Bedford, in the time of Camden, was more celebrated for its pleasant situation, than for either its extent or beauty; but it has since been considerably improved both in size and population. Within the last ten years, many buildings, public as well as private, have been erected: indeed, few towns have so rapidly increased in so short a period. The inhabitants may be estimated at about 5000; one half of whom are dissenters. The principal street is nearly a mile in length. The town-hall is a handsome modern structure.

A new town goal has lately been erected, and a county goal (expected to be finished in May) is now building. Towards the completion of this structure the late Mr. Whitbread left a legacy of 50001. Twenty alms houses are likewise building by the trustees of the Harpur charity; and two new roads have been made at the north end of the town; one leading to Kettering, the other to Kimbolton.

In Bedford are five distinct parishes, and an equal number of churches; four meeting-houses of different denominations; a Methodist meeting-house, and a chapel for Moravians: the latter sect perform service every Sunday and Thursday, on which days the solemnity of worship is increased by a good band of vocal music. Their chapel is called the Single-House.

The churches of St. John and St. Mary stand on the south side of the river; those of St. Peter, St. Cuthbert, and St. Paul, on the north. The latter is the principal ornament of the town; it is adorned with an octagonal stone spire. Before the conquest it was collegiate, the prebends having their houses round the church: afterwards it was changed into a priory of canons regular, and removed to Newenham (about a mile lower) by Roisia, the wife of Pagan de Beauchamp, and her son Simon.