HISTORY' OF DECOYS. 113 



laudanum being consumed by the Fen-folks, by whom it was at first used 

 as a prophylactic against malarious fever, or as an antidote to the 

 periodic attacks — in quantities altogether astonishing. Happily, with 

 the disappearance of the disease, the abuse of the remedy has 

 gradually ceased ; and at the present time, although, doubtless, there are 

 many confirmed elderly laudanum-drinkers in Fen-land, it is a practice 

 which is fast dying out, and will, it is to be hoped, cease with the present 

 generation of elders. Ague was familiarly known as the ' Bailiff of 

 Marshland.' 



" A very eccentric character, named William Hall — who loved to style 

 himself ' Antiquarian Hall,' 'Will Will-be-So,' or 'Fen Bill Hall'— 

 died at Lynn in 1825. Hall was born on June ist (old style), 1748, at 

 Willow Booth, then a small island ' of but few perches ' in extent, in the 

 Lincolnshire Fens, near Heckington Ease, in the parish of South Kyme. 

 He has left behind him some doggerel verses, now very scarce, entitled 'A 

 Chain of Incidents relating to the state of the Fens from earliest accounts 

 to the present time. Printed by W. G. Whittingham of Lynn in 18 12 for 

 the author, and sold by him only. Price one shilling.' This ' sketch of 

 local history ' only reached its third number, and the only copy 1 have seen 

 is in the library of the British Museum. It is a curious mixture of odds 

 and ends in prose and doggerel verse, but is interesting from the refer- 

 ences it contains to the state of the Fens in the author's early days, and 

 the occasional glimpses it reveals of the life led by the ' Fen slodgers ' 

 more than one hundred years ago. 



" In his ' prefatory salutation ' he thus addresses his reader (p. 3) : — 



" ' All hail ! esteem'd aquatic friend, 

 Since both our aims are for one end ; 

 To tell those that's not seen much water, 

 In days of yore what was the matter ; 

 Announce to th' public we are penmen, 

 By narrating the lives of Fen-men.' 



" Of the place of his birth he speaks as follows : — 



" ' Kyme God knows, 

 Where no corn grows, 

 Nothing but a little hay. 



And the water comes, 

 And takes it all away. 



