a town of Bedfordshire, in the hundred of Flitt, thirty-one miles from London, and situated on the river Lea. There is a good market-house and a church, with a singular steeple formed of flints and freestone. Near it is the fine seat of the Marquis of Bute. It has some trade in thread-lace and straw-plait. The inhabitants amounted in 1801 to 3095; in 1811 to 3716, in 1821 to 4529, and in 1831 to 5693.