the county town of Bedfordshire in England, seated on both sides of the river Ouse, over which there is a stone bridge; in W. Long. 0° 20'. N. Lat. 52° 6'. It is an ancient town, and pleasantly situated, but not very large nor well built; though the buildings are much improved of late, and the river made navigable. It sends two members to parliament, and gives title of duke to the noble family of Ruffel. At this place the Britons were overthrown in a great battle in 572, by Cuthwulf the Saxon king; and here was a strong castle, built in the time of the Normans by Pagan de Beauchamp, the third Baron of Bedford. It was reduced by King Stephen after a long siege; and afterwards taken by King John, after a siege of 60 days, from Fulco de Brent, who rebelled against his sovereign, notwithstanding he had taken this castle before from the barons, and had it bestowed upon him by the king. The town is a very ancient corporation, and has long sent members to parliament. It is governed at present by a mayor, recorder, two bailiffs, twelve aldermen, two chamberlains, a town clerk, and three sejeants. The neighbouring country is very fruitful in wheat, great quantities of which are carried from hence to Hitchen and Hertford markets, sold, ground, and conveyed to London. The town has five churches, a free school, and several hospitals, and enjoys a good trade in corn by the way of Lynn. When the river is swelled by rains, especially in winter, it is usual in Cambridgeshire to say, the bailiff of Bedford is coming; meaning, that it is going to lay their fens under water.

BEDFORDSHIRE is a small inland county. When the Romans landed in Britain, 55 years before Christ, it was included in the district inhabited by the Catieuchlani, whose chief or governor Cassibelinus headed the forces of the whole island against Caesar, and the year following was totally defeated. In 310 the emperor Constantine divided Britain into five Roman provinces, when this county was included in the third division, called Flavia Caesariensis; in which state it continued 426 years, when the Romans quitted Britain. At the establishment of the kingdom of Mercia (one of the divisions of the Saxon heptarchy) it was considered as part of that kingdom; and so continued from 582 to 827, when with the other petty kingdoms of the island it became subject to the West Saxons under Egbert, and the whole was named England. In 889, Alfred held the sovereignty, when England was divided into counties, hundreds, and tythings, and Bedfordshire first received its present name. It is in the Norfolk circuit, the province of Canterbury, and bishopric of Lincoln. Its form is oval, being about 33 miles long, 16 broad, and nearly 73 in circumference; containing an area of about 323 square miles, or 260,000 square acres. It supplies 400 men to the national militia. It contains 124 parishes, 58 vicarages, and 10 market-towns, viz. Bedford, Ampthill, Biggleswade, Dunstable, Leighton, Beaudesert, Luton, Potton, Shefford, Tuddington, and Woburn, and 55 villages. The inhabitants by computation are 67,350, and it has 7,299 houses that pay taxes. It is divided into nine hundreds, sends two members to parliament, and pays seven parts of 5/3 of the land-tax. Its principal river, the Ouse, is navigable to Bedford; and divides the county into two parts, of which that to the south is the most considerable. In its course, which is very meandering, it receives several small streams; the principal one is the Ivel, which takes its rise in the southern part of the county. The air is healthy, and the soil in general a deep clay. The north side of the Ouse is fruitful and woody, but the south side is less fertile; yet producing great quantity of wheat and barley, excellent in their kind, and woad for dyers. The soil yields plenty of fullers-earth for our woollen manufacture. The chief manufactures of the county are thread, lace, and straw ware. In this county there are many remains of Roman, Saxon, and Norman antiquities; but few Roman stations, viz. Sandy near Potton, and the Magiovinum of Antoninus, by others supposed to be the ancient Salene, containing 30 acres, where many urns, coins, &c. have been dug up. Another at Madining-bower, or Maiden-bower, one mile from Dunstable, containing about nine acres, which Camden supposes to have been a Roman station, from the coins of the emperors having been frequently dug up there, and calls it Magintum. Leighton Beaudesert is supposed to have been a Roman camp, and another is at Arlesey near Shefford, and a Roman amphitheatre may be traced near Bradford Magna. The Roman road, Icknield-street, crosses this county, entering at Leighton Beaudesert, from whence it passes Dunstable, where it inclines northward over Wardon-hills to Baldock in Hertfordshire. The Watling-street enters this county near Luton from St Albans, passes a little north of Dunstable, where it crosses the Icknield-street, and from thence to Stoney Stratford in Buckinghamshire. A Roman road also enters near Potton, passes on to Sandy, and from thence to Bedford, where it crosses the Ouse, and proceeds to Newport Pagnell in Buckinghamshire. The following antiquities in this county are worthy of notice: Bedford Bridge and Priory; Chickland Abbey near Shefford; Dunstable Priory near Luton; Eaton Park House, or Eaton Bray; Five Knolls near Dunstable; Newnham Priory near Bedford; Northill Church, three miles from Biggleswade; Summeris Tower near Luton; Wardon Abbey near Shefford; Woburn Abbey; Woodhill Castle, or Oddhill Castle, near Harewood.