The bailiff of Bedford is coming.

The Ouse, or Bedford river, is in Cambridgeshire called the bailiff of Bedford; because, when swoln [swollen] with rain in the winter-time, by overflowing, it carries off the cattle, &c. on the Isle of Ely and adjacent low grounds; so that this saying was a warning to drive off the cattle, &c. lest they should be distrained by the bailiff of bedford; i.e. the river Ouse. By draining the fens, this bailiff’s power has been superseded.