Retrospect of Domestic Literature—Antiguities. 
joining the town: the siege of which, in 
1224, forms one of the most curious de- 
tails in English history. The few ves- 
tiges which now remain, are to be scen 
at the back of the Swan inn. Petore 
the conquest, here was a_ collegiate 
church dedicated to St. Paul, which was 
afterwards removed to a new site in the 
parish of Goldington, about a mile dis- 
tant: the other religious buildings in 
Bedford and its suburbs were, Caldwell 
priory, founded iv the reign of Johny the 
Grey Friars, or Franciscans, in 1311; 
St. Leonard’s Hospital, early in the 
fourteenth century; and the Hospital of 
St. John the Baptist, in 1280. ‘The 
bridge over the Ouse, which connecis 
the north and south parts of the town, is 
of great antiquity: close adjoining, was, 
in ancient times, a free chapel with an 
hospital dedicated to St. Thomas the 
martyr. ‘The town is an ancient corpo- 
ration, the-earliest charter of which is 
dated in 1166: and is governed by a 
mayor, recorder, alderman, two cham- 
berlains, and thirteen common council 
men. iItgives title to the Duke of Bed- 
ford: and as early as 1295, sent two 
members to parhament. -It has five 
parish churches, the principal of which 
is St. Paul’s; two meeting houses; several 
hospitals; a house of mdustry; and an 
infirmery; with a good trade in corn by 
the way of Lynn. The soil of the neigh- 
bourhood is particularly produetive_of 
good wheat and barley, the first of which 
goes chiefly by Jand carriage to the mar- 
kets of Hitchen and Hertford, where it is 
bought, ground into meal, and carried to 
London. Its river, sometimes; after rain, 
makes such an inundation of the Isle of 
Ely, that itis common for the people there 
to say ‘ the bailiff of Bedford is coming.’. 
The markets are on Saturday for corn, 
and on Tuesday for cattle.” 
With every praise to Mr. Carlisle for 
industry and accuracy, as far as his de- 
tails are carried, we cannot but declare 
our preference tor the work of Mr. Cap- 
per, which we think not only better 
adapted for the traveller, but more easy 
fur immediate reference» Its not only 
more compact in its form, but is accom- 
panied by maps, and comprises what, 
according to Mr. Carlisle’s plan, will, at , 
a future day, extend Ais work at least to 
another volume. Prefixed to both pub- 
Jications, we find a sélection of the titles 
of such works, «as best illustrate Briush 
topography, to which the readers are re- 
ferred as to more extensive sources of in- 
-telligence.: . 
589 
The maps, in Mr. Capper’s work, 
which certainly form a new. feature ina 
Topographical Dictionary, are newly 
drawn; and bear an exact reference to 
the population of the different places 
they describe: the first general reforma- 
tion of the kind which has been made itt 
an English atlas; places having Leen 
hitherto inserted and retained at random, 
without regard either to their size, im- 
provement, or decay. 
After the elaborate work of Mr, Ly- 
sons on the Environ; of London, a vast 
portion of original information on the 
Ifstory of the different Churches can 
hardly beexpected. In Mr. Woopspurn’s 
“ Keclesiastical Topography;” however, 
a considerable quantity of new matter 
will be fouifd. The first volume, which 
is all that has at present appeared, con- 
tains fifty views of churches, in Middle- 
sex, Essex, Hertfordshire, kent, and Sur- 
ry; with appropriate descriptions. As 
specimens we shall quote the accounts of 
Edgeware and Hadley. 
“ Eporwart.—Lhe church or chapel of 
Edgeware, about six miles from London, is 
situated by the road-side near the nviddle 
of the town; and is dedicated to St. Marga- 
ret. It consists of a nave and chancel, re-* 
built with brick about 1764; adjoiningis the 
old square tower*. It has no monument 
of particular note. Over the gallery are 
the arms of William Lee Antonie, esq. at 
whose charge it was built. Browne Wil- 
lis, in the additions to his Mitred Abbiest, 
has preserved fromthe Augmentation Re- 
cords a certificate of the goods, plate, &c. 
of Fidgeware church at the time of the 
dissolution of religious houses; but as it 
contains nothing more than was usually 
found in parish churches, it is here 
omitted, 
*“¢ The patrgnage of the church or cha- 
pel has been always annexed to the ma- 
nor of Edzeware Boys; to the owner of 
which, the rectorial tithes are impro- 
priatedt, 
* This manor called Edgeware Boys, 
or Eggeswarejl, formerly belonging to the 
priory of St. John of Jerusalem, till by 
some grant or exchanve it came to the 
Gean and chapter of Windsor, who in 
1483 granted it to the king by the name 
* Compare Lysons’s Environs of London, 
Il. 246. 
+ Vol. TI. p. 18. 
t Lvsons, 11.246. — 
|| MS. Cotton. in Brit. Mus.Nreo, F, VI. 
Chartulary of the Priory of St. John of Jeru- 
salem, 
of 
