Francis Russell, 4th Earl of Bedford PC (1587 – 9 May 1641) was an English nobleman and politician. He built the square of Covent Garden, with the piazza and church of St. Paul's, employing Inigo Jones as his architect. He is also known for his pioneering project to drain The Fens of Cambridgeshire. Early life He was the only son of William Russell, 1st Baron Russell of Thornhaugh and his wife Elizabeth Long, to which barony he succeeded in August 1613. For a short time previously he had been Member of Parliament for the borough of Lyme Regis. In 1623 he was made Lord Lieutenant of Devon and on 3 May 1627 became Earl of Bedford on the death of his cousin Edward Russell, 3rd Earl of Bedford. In 1621 Russell was one of the thirty-three peers who petitioned James I on the prejudice caused to the English peerage by the lavish grant of Irish and Scottish titles of nobility. In 1628, during the debates on the Petition of Right, he supported the demands of the House of Commons, and was a member of the committee which reported against the king's right to imprison. In May he was sent down to Devon, ostensibly to assist in refitting the fleet returned from Rochelle, but according to report, on account of his opposition in the House of Lords. Bedford was one of the three peers implicated in the circulation of Sir Robert Dudley's Proposition for His Majesty s Service (the others being William Seymour, Earl of Hertford and John Holles, 1st Earl of Clare), was arrested on 5 November 1629, and was brought before the Star-chamber. The prosecution, however, was dropped when the real nature of the paper was discovered, and Bedford was quickly released. Politician of the parliamentary crisis The Short Parliament meeting in April 1640 found the earl as one of King Charles I leading opponents. He was greatly trusted by John Pym and Oliver St John, and is mentioned by Clarendon as among the "great contrivers and designers" in the House of Lords. In July 1640 he was among the peers who wrote to the Scottish leaders refusing to invite a Scottish army into England, but promising to stand by the Scots in all legal and honourable ways. His signature was afterwards forged by Thomas, Viscount Savile, in order to encourage the Scots to invade England. In the following