certainly well meant for the Improvement of the Country; but the best Provifions may be made ufe of for the worst of Purposes.-In pursuance of this Power the Lords did inclose and divide their Commons, and the feveral Commoners had their respective Shares affigned to their commonable Houses ;-but it was afterwards found, that by this Provifion, and the Use that was made of it, the Country instead of being improved, would be much diftreffed; for the Commoners fold their respective Shares annexed to their commonable Houses, diffipated the Money, by which there was an Increase of Poor, who were to be maintained at a great Expence ;-the Corporation applied to Parliament for a Repeal of that Claufe; the Parliament confirmed the Inclofures and Divifions already made, on particular Conditions, and repealed that Claufe fo as to prevent any Thing of that fort being attempted for the Future; and this was the Alteration made by the First of King James the Second; this was the laft Amendment that was made in the Conftitution of the Bedford Level Corporation, during the Life-Time of William Duke of Bedford, who in the Year 1700 died full of Age and Honour, having been advanced to the highest Rank by King William which the Crown can bestow on the most deferving Subjects; la V. F. 379. a mented by all good Men, but by none more than those whofe Interefts he with fo much Spirit and Benevolence had advanced, patronized, and protected during a Course of Fiftyone Years in the Bedford Level. In the private Walks of Life it is often remarked, that the Son thinks and acts exactly as his Father did before him.-Where Families fupported by their Abilities and Confequence have their Hiftories read in a Nation's Eye, and remember'd, there this Similitude of Character is seen at different and very diftant Periods; and after Generations are paft and gone, thofe who have long flept with their Fathers, arife as it were and present themselves again on the great Stage of the World. And could the great Francis Earl of Bedford, like the pious Æneas, have been bleffed with reviewing his Pofterity, had he seen, Ruffelia de Gente Nepotes, Illuftres animas, noftrumque in nomen ituras; * with what Pleasure would he have beheld the great Perfonages that were to defcend from him; and how amply would that defire of being remembered to the latest Times been gratified by a Prospect of living again, as it were, Eneid, Lib. 6. L. 777, 778. in the Middle of the 18th Century, in the Character of his moft noble and illustrious defcendant John Duke of Bedford! when he had beheld him filling the firft great Offices of the State to the general Satisfaction of all good Men, and given the Sanction of his entire Approbation, to the feveral Parts he had acted in the Service of the Nation,-He would with a benevolent Pleasure have viewed his kind Care and Attention to that which was the Work of his own Hands, and acknowledge the Protection and Countenance he extended to the Bedford Level Corporation, as a pious and gratefull Tribute to his own Memory. The Corporation having undergone no Alterations in its Conftitution for more than half a Century; the Duke of Bedford who perfectly comprehends its several Interests, and is no lefs zealous in promoting than he is able in understanding them, thought it highly neceffary that fuch Amendments fhould be made in it, as Alteration of Circumstances, Extent of Commerce, and the Confequences of public Credit being form'd into a Syftem might require. The Great Level had been divided fo early as the Year 1697 into three Diftricts, and Names affign'd to each District.-This Divifion was certainly well meant by those who made it. But as in great States it often happens, that Names give Birth to Parties, fo in this leffer they had in fome fort the fame Effect, when when that which had always been called the Bedford Level, a Name which comprehended the whole Country, was canton'd into the three Districts of the North Level, the Middle Level and the South Level, then firft arose Ideas of separate Interests, and the Proprietors of the Lands in each District, began to confider the Intereft of his own District as diftinct from and independent of the other;-ftrange Mistake, and founded only in Names! for the three Levels are all the Children of one common Parent draining, and as fuch have one common Intereft; their real Divifions may destroy them all, and like a natural Family their Strength arifes from their Union.-Whatever Foundation this Reflection may have in Truth and Fact, yet after this Divifion, the Cafe was as it is represented; and it was carried fo far, that during a Minority in the Bedford Family the North Level was in a great Measure totally alienated from the other two. And in the Year 1753, on ftating the Account, the Middle and South Level were indebted to the Duke of Bedford and the Earl of Lincoln, as principal Proprietors of the North Level, on account of that Level, to the Amount of more than 18000l. a Sum which they could not poffibly pay, though the Debt arose on a moft folemn Contract, and was attended with all the Circumftances of Equity and Juftice, that accompanies the faireft Tranfactions. The Duke of of Bedford faw the fatal Confequences this great Debt, which was still encreasing, might bring down on the other two Levels; he faw it with that concern which arofe from his general Affection for the whole Country, he underftood the Disease, and foon provided the Remedy. In the 27th Year of King George the Second, under his Countenance and Protection, the Bedford Level Corporation applied to Parliament, the Sum of, 14750l. was due to the Duke of Bedford, and 3150l. to the Earl of Lincoln; the Duke of Bedford moft generously remitted the whole of his Debt, and the Security was cancell'd; the Earl of Lincoln as generously concurred with him in this Measure, and by the North Level Act, this Tranfaction received the Sanction of Parliament. In that Act the feveral Accounts between the Levels themselves, and between the Levels and the Creditors of the Corporation are fettled, and fuch Provifions made, as will entirely prevent any thing of the fame Kind from ever happening again. For which Purpose, the North Level is feparated from the other two in fuch Particulars, as might hereafter be to their Dif advantage, but connected with them in those Inftances, where fuch a Connection can only operate for the good of the whole Country. Such is the Object of that Act of Parliament which is called the North Level Act, fo far as it relates to the Bedford Level Corporation. There |