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391 



BIG 



exception cannot be taken advantage of, if the first marriage 

 has been declared void only collaterally and not directly ; 

 or if admitting it to be conclusive, it can be shown to have 

 been obtained fraudulently or collusively. See, as to this 

 part of the subject, MA.RRIACE and DIVORCE : and as a 

 matter of curiosity, the trial of the Duchess of Kingston 

 before the peers in parliament, in 1776, for bigamy. (Ba- 

 con's Abridgment by Dodd, titles Bigamy and Marriage.) 

 BIGENERI'NA (ZooJogy). D'Orbigny's name for a 

 genus of those minute cephalopods which he has so well 

 illustrated. There are two subgenera ; the first consisting 

 of the Bigenerintc properly so called, with a central opening, 

 and the other of the Gemmulince (D'Orbigny) with a mar- 

 ginal opening. 



BIGGLESWADE, a market-town in the hundred of the 

 same name, in the county of Bedford, forty-one miles N.N.W. 

 from London, and nine miles E.S.E. from Bedford. It is 

 situated on the great road to York, near the river Ivel, over 

 which there is here a stone bridge. The river has been 

 rendered navigable to the town, by which means the town 

 and neighbourhood are supplied with coals, timber, and 

 oats. Leland described Biggleswade as having ' a good 

 market and 2 faires.' It has still a good market, particularly 

 in corn, which is one of the largest in England, held on 

 Wednesdays; and its fairs are now five, namely, February 

 14, Saturday in Easter week, Whit-Monday, August 2, and 

 November 8. It does not appear under what charter the 

 market is held, but it is probable that it was granted to some 

 of the bishops of Lincoln, to which see the manor was annexed 

 by Henry I. in 1 132. The manor was surrendered by Bishop 

 Ilolbeach to Edward VI. in 1527. It is now held by lease 

 under the crown, the king being lord of the manor. 



The Jo\vn is within the jurisdiction of the county magis- 

 trates, who hold a petty session for the hundreds of Biggle- 

 swade, Clifton, and Wixamtree. The continual passage of 

 travellers through Biggleswade, the expenditure of the 

 strangers who resort to its market and fairs, and the ready 

 sale which the town thus obtains for its own productions, 

 have combined to extend the population and prosperity of 

 the place The parish, which includes the hamlets of 

 Stratton and Holme, contained, in 1831, 606 houses, with a 

 population of 3226 persons, of whom 1662 were females. 

 In the year 1785 the town sustained great damage by a lire, 

 which raged for some hours with great fury. Not less than 

 150 houses were consumed, besides corn-chambers, malt- 

 houses, &c., all in the centre of the town around the market- 

 place. The damage was estimated at 24,0001. The town 

 .'s, however, indebted to this calamity for its present im- 

 proved appearance, as the houses have been mostly rebuilt 

 with brick in the modern style. The parish church, which 

 is a handsome Gothic structure, was built in 1230. It was 

 formerly collegiate, and several antient wooden stalls were 

 remaining till 1832, when the church was thoroughly re- 

 paired and re-arranged, partly by the assistance of the In- 

 corporated Society for Repairing Churches. The living is a 

 discharged vicarage, in tlio diocese of Lincoln, worth 300/. 

 per annum. The living is a peculiar, belonging to the pre- 

 bendary of Biggleswade, in Lincoln cathedral. Speed men- 

 that there was here a college dedicated to the Holy 

 Tiinity, valued at 11. at the Dissolution; but as he says it 

 was founded in the church of St. Andrew here, Tanner 

 thinks that what Speed calls a college was only a chantry be- 

 longing to the guild of the Holy Trinity. There are several 

 go id inns ; and a small manufactory for white thread lace 

 and edging, which affords employment to females. A llour- 

 uiill. worked by steam, has also been lately erected. 



Sir John Cotton bequeathed, for charitable uses, the sum 

 of 1800/., which was received in the year 1752. It was to 

 be laid out in the purchase of freehold lands and heredita- 

 ments, and this parish was to enjoy the benefit of three- 

 ninths of the rents. One of these parts was to augment the 

 living, and the other two to be paid to a master, to be chosen 

 by the lord of the manor of Stratton, for teaching twelve 

 poor children of the parish the English tongue, writing and 

 arithmetic, and instructing them in the principles of the 

 Christian religion according to the Church of England. 

 When the Charity Commissioners made their report in 1 82 1 , 

 the property was let for 162/. per annum, though sup- 

 ' to be really worth 30C/. The two-ninths applicable 

 to the purpose last specified amounted to 36/. a-year, which 

 ' l>propriated as directed by the benefactor. The children 

 are all boys, nominated by the lord of the manor of Stratton. 

 They are received into the school as soon as they arc able to 



learn to write, and remain four or five years, unless the 

 parents remove them. The parents provide books. The 

 number of pupils is duly kept up, and there are numerous 

 applications for admission. The disadvantageous lease 

 expired in 1827, and the commissioners recommended 

 that in consideration of the great increase which the mas- 

 ter's salary would receive under a new lease, the trustees 

 should make a corresponding increase in the number of 

 children admitted to the benefit of the charity. The master 

 had usually from fifteen to twenty pay scholars, and also 

 instructed the boys belonging to the charity of Edward 

 Peake, who, in 1755, bequeathed a tenement, and a rent- 

 charge of 131. a-year for the instruction of eight poor boys. 

 Four charitable bequests for the use of the poor of this parish 

 produce altogether 27/. 17*. 3d. per annum. 



At Stratton, a short distance south-east of Biggleswade, 

 as a ploughman was ploughing the land rather deep in 

 1770, he discovered a yellow earthen pot, containing 300 

 gold coins (rose nobles) of Henry VI. They were a little 

 larger than a half-crown piece, but, being very thin, were 

 not equal by twenty grains to the weight of a guinea. 



(Lysons's Magna Britannia; Beauties of England and 

 Wales ; Fifth Keport of the Commissioners for inquiring 

 concerning Charities. ) 



BIGNONIA'CE^E, are monopetalous dicotyledonous 

 plants, with irregular flowers, a pod-like fruit, winged seeds 

 without albumen, and usually a climbing habit. They are 

 mostly shrubs, inhabiting the hotter parts of Asia, Africa, 

 and America, and unknown in Europe except in a culti- 

 vated state ; some of them are trees of considerable size. 

 They generally are remarkable for the large size and rich 

 or delicate colouring of their trumpet-shaped flowers. No 

 sensible properties of much importance have been recog- 

 nised among them : one of them produces the Chico dye, 

 a sort of reddish feculent substance with which some of the 

 South American Indians paint their bodies. Several are 

 valuable for their timber, which possesses extreme hard- 

 ness. The most interesting genera are Bignonia, many 

 species of which are common in our gardens, Tecoma, 

 Catalpa, and Eccremocarpus, the three last of which will 

 be mentioned in their proper places. 



[Bignoniacea; Bignonia lactiflora.] 



_, a corolla slit open ; 2, aciip-shajjcd disk, out of which tlio ovary often 

 Crows, together with the style and stigma; 3, u young ovary; 4, u rij.e ).od; 

 5, i\ seed ; 6, nn embryo extracted from 1h infpgunients (if the seed. 



BIGORRE, a district of (he south uf France, nnu of (lie 

 component parts of liie former province uf Gu^'i-yii'j or 



