the capital of the county of the same name, signifying, as is commonly thought, the " ford of harts," stands on the river Lea, 21 miles from London; and is of considerable antiquity. Here the East-Saxon kings often kept their court; and here, in 673, was held a synod. King Alfred built a castle here, by which the Danish vessels were destroyed, that came up from the Thames by its river as far as Ware, where the Danes had erected a fort, from which they Hartford made frequent fallies to plunder and destroy the country. The present castle consists of a gate-house or lodge of brick, and a range of brick buildings, which seem of the time of James or Charles I, and also of a very ancient wall of rubble stone, with angular towers, supposed to have been standing ever since its first foundation. The manor of this town was all along the king's, of whom both the town and castle were formerly held in capite. The barons took the latter from King John, but Henry III. recovered it. Edward III. gave the town a charter for markets on Thursday and Saturday, and in his grant of it to John of Gaunt it is called The Honour of Hartford. It sent members to parliament in the reign of Edward I, but after the 7th of Henry V. on the petition of the bailiff and burgesses to be exempted by reason of their poverty, that privilege was discontinued till the 22d of James I. Henry VI. who kept his Easter here in 1429, ordained by his charter, confirming their market, that no other should be kept on the same days, within seven miles, on pain of having the goods seized by the bailiffs of Hartford. This manor being then part of Queen Margaret's jointure, the courts were held in her name, and she appointed a horse fair to be kept in what part of the town the bailiff and constables thought fit. The standard of weights and measures was fixed here in the reign of Henry VII.; and Mary I. made this a corporation by the name of bailiffs and burgesses, of whom the latter were 16 by her charter. In the 25th and 35th of Elizabeth, Michaelmas-term was kept here, by reason of the plague at both times in London; and that queen, who sometimes resided in its castle, and declared the borough as parcel of her duchy of Lancaster, granted it a new charter, by the style of a bailiff, 11 capital burgesses, and 16 assistants, with a market on Saturday. James I. granted it a new charter, with the style of mayor, burgesses, and commonalty, to have 10 capital burgesses and 16 assistants, the mayor to be chosen out of the former by both of them; and a fair was then appointed here on May 12. Here was once a monastery, founded by a nephew of William the Conqueror; and here were formerly five churches, which are now reduced to two. In St Andrew's there is a feast not only for the mayor and aldermen, but another for the governors of Christ church hospital in London, who have erected a house in this town on account of its healthy air and dry situation, to receive such children as wanted either health or room in that hospital; and they have built a gallery in the church, wherein 200 of their children may be accommodated. The town is governed by a mayor, high-steward, who is generally a nobleman, a recorder, 9 aldermen, a town-clerk, chamberlain, 10 capital burgesses, and 16 assistants, and has 2 serjeants at mace. In 1801, the number of inhabitants was stated at 3360. The chief commodities of its market are wheat, malt, and wool; and it is said to send 5000 quarters of malt to London weekly by the river Lea. Besides the abovementioned, here are two fairs on July 5, and November 8, and two others for cattle, viz. the Saturday fortnight before Easter, and its Midsummer fair is chiefly for horses. Here is a handsome free grammar-school, besides 3 charity schools; but the splendour of the place is much diminished since the north road from London was turned through Ware. The county gaol, however, is still kept in the town, and the gaol-delivery in the castle. It gives the title of Hartford earl to the noble family of Seymour-Conway.