250 Mr. W. H. Bailey on 



After long Tillage, it cloth then abound 



With Grass so plentiful, so sweet, so sound, 



Scarce any tract but this can Pastures shew 



So large, so rich, And, if you wisely Sow 



The fine Dutch Clover, with such Beauty spreads, 



As if it meant t' affront our English Meads. 



Ye busie Gentlemen, that plant the Hop, 



And dream vast gains from that deceitful Crop, 



Or by manuring what you ought to Let 



Thrive backwards, and too dearly purchase Wit, 



Leave off these Lotteries, and here take your Lot ; 



The Profit's certain, and with ease, 'tis got. 



Courageous Merchants, who, confronting fates, 

 Trust Seas and Pyrates with your whole Estates, 

 Part in this Bank, methinks were far more sure ; 

 And j-e, whom hopes of sudden Wealth allure, 

 Or wants into Virginia, force to fly, 

 Ev'n spare your pains ; here's Florida hard by. 



If therefore Gain, or Honour, or Delight, 

 Or care of Publick Good, will Men invite 

 Into this fortunate Isle, now let them enter 

 With confidence ; since here they all concenter ; 

 But if all these be choakt, and drown'd with flegm. 

 Let them enjoy their Sloth, sit still, and dream. 



The success of the Bedford Level undertaking, and in 

 later times the utilisation of other moss lands for agricul- 

 ture in the fen country, caused many experiments to be 

 made in this district. 



Scroope Egerton, the first Duke of Bridgewater, and 

 Francis, the third Duke, commenced operations in the 

 neighbourhood of Worsley, and were to some extent suc- 

 cessful. 



At the commencement of this century, William Roscoe 

 the poet, philosopher, and banker, the grandfather of Sir 

 Henry Roscoe, M.P., and, to use the words of Baines, " the 

 elegant historian of Leo X.," was a very busy man. His 

 genius was many-sided, for in the midst of active commercial 

 pursuits he found time to lecture on the fine arts as well as 

 on the national importance of introducing new food seeds, 

 and on improved methods of agriculture. He composed 



