BED i: 



, who, wen he alire, would make the boldest of ui 

 tremble. I rather wih more stalely monument were 

 raised to hi* honour." ' 



Like moat of the immediate descendant* of John of 

 Gaunt, the Duke of Bedford was a natron of literature. II > 

 purchased and transported to London the Koyal l.ilirnry of 

 Paris, which Charles V. hail increased to ' nine hundred 

 volume*:' and his brother Gloucester presented GOO books 

 to the University of Oxford, 1x0 of which cost 1000. 

 (H.illam' Middlt Agt, iii.. p. 588.) Gloucester indeed waa 

 the Knglish Mwrenas of his time, a circumstance which. 

 no doubt, influenced Shakspeare in painting him an tho 

 Good Duke Humphrey,' and in blackening the character 

 of his rival Beaufort. 



(Monstrclct s Chronicle*, and Rapin's Hittnry, which is 

 particularly full and accurate with regard to the transac- 

 tions in the reigns of the Lancastci ian princes, may be eon- 

 suited with advantage for the public life of the Duke of 

 Bedford. Dugdale'* Baronage also points to several events 

 in his career.) 



BEDFORD LEVEL. This district comprehends nearly 

 the whole of a large tract of flat land, extending into the 

 six counties of Northampton, Huntingdon, Cambridge, 

 Lincoln, Norfolk, and Suffolk. It is bounded on tlie north- 

 east by the German Ocean, and on all other sides by high 

 lands.'which encompass it in the form of a horse-shoe. Its 

 length from Toynton in Lincolnshire, to Milton in Cam- 

 bridgeshire, is sixty miles, and iu breadth from Peter- 

 borough in Northamptonshire, to Brandon in Suffolk, is 

 nearly forty miles. The tract thus described, includes that 

 part of the south-cast division of Lincolnshire called Hol- 

 land, which consist-, of tlat, low, marshy land, and is sup- 

 posed to have been reclaimed from the sea by embankments 

 made during the Roman occupation of Britain. 



The Bedford Level extends to the north only as far as 

 Tydd-St.-Giles ; its length thence to Milton, on the south, is 

 about thirty-three miles. The boundary line is irregular j 

 iU course on the south, from Brandon to Peterborough, 

 may be traced by Mildenhull to a short distance north of 

 Newmarket, then hy Milton in Cambridgeshire, to Earith, 

 on the borders of Huntingdonshire, Ramsey. Wondwallon, 

 and Yaxley, in the latter county. Returning from Peter- 

 borough to Brandon, on the north, the boundary line mutt 

 by Peakirk. six miles north of Peterborough, Crowland, 

 Whaplode Drove Chapelry, Parson Drove, Guj him. Sailer's 

 Lode on the Ouse, alxmt ten miles south of Lynn, and 

 thence by Methwold to Brandon. 



The Level is divided into three parts, which are distin- 

 guished as the North, the Middle, and the South Levels. 

 The North Level lies between the rivers Welland and 

 Nene; the Middle Level between the Nenc and the Old 

 Bedford Rivers; and tho South Level extends from the 

 Old Bedford River to Stoke, Feltwell, and Mildenhall. 

 The area of these marshes has been variously stated. 

 Among the authors who originally wrote on the subject. 

 Sir Jonas Moore calls it 800.0UO acres, Colonel Dodsnn and 

 others estimate it at 40U.OUO; an actual survey made in 

 1605, and given in to Government upon oath, states it to be 

 307. -142 acres ; but according to the Lysons, subsequent sur- 

 veys have shown it to be 400,000 acres. 



Peterborough Fen, which is the part of the Level that 

 runs into Northamptonshire, extends Between Peterborough 

 and Crowland, and contains between 8000 and 9000 acres. 

 One-seventh part of the Ix?vel is in Huntingdonshire. The 

 whole of the isle of Ely, which forms the north division of 

 Cambridgeshire, and a few parishes in the same county, 

 which lie south-east of the isle, are included in the Level. 

 Norfolk contains 63,000, and Suffolk 30,000 acres of the 

 Level ; tho remainder is in the south-east division of Lin- 

 colnshire. 



This tract of land has, in tho course of some centuries, 

 undergone remarkable changes. There is abundant evi- 

 ilence to prove that it was once a forest, and that it then 

 became a stagnant morass. It is now, through human 

 industry, converted into rich pastures and fertile corn-fields. 

 From fact* which will be stated further on, it docs not admit 

 of doubt that this country was once dry land, at a level much 

 below the present surface ; and there is reason for supposing 

 that, at the time of the invasion of Britain by the Romans, it 

 consisted of one of those great forest* to which the Britons 

 ll 'I for shelter against their invaders. It was the policy of 

 the Romans to cut down and destroy these strong holds of 

 the native*, who were compelled by their conquerors to clear 



BED 



the wood*, and embank the fen*. (Tacit. Agrir. 31.) Tho 

 Kmperur Scverui, in the beginning of the third century of 

 our trra, caused read* to be made through these marshes. 

 One of these roads, 95 miles iu length, extended from Pe- 

 terborough to Denver in Norfolk ; it was 60 feet wide, und 

 composed of gravel three feel deep. This causeway is now 

 r..vcred w nh soil from three to five feet in thickness. Henry 

 of Huntingdon, who wrote in the middle of the twelfth 

 century, descriUos this funny country a* being ' very 

 pleasant and agreeable to the eve, watered by many rivers 

 which run through, diversified with many large and small 

 lakes, and adorned with many woods and ilamW William 

 of Malmcsbury, who lived about the same period, dcscrilurd 

 the Lordship of Thorncy us abounding in I' .ml- 



ful vines, and productive orchards, and having now 

 land in any part. He also expressed great admiration of 

 the works of urt found in the samo place. '\Vhat shall I 

 say,' In; writes, 'i<f the beautiful building* which it is so 

 wonderful to see the ground amidst those fens to boar?' 



Up to the thirteenth century, the waters usually (lowed 

 iu their natural channels, and tho surrounding country s 

 either under tillage or in pasturage. 



According to Dugdale, historians who were contemporary 

 with the event, have recorded, that in 1236, on the morrow 

 after Martinmas day, and for the space of eight days alter, 

 the wind raged so violently, that the sea rose much higher 

 than usual, broke in at \Yisbeach, and other places ol tin- 

 district, so that many people and cattle, together with 

 numerous small craft, were destroyed, and the surviving 

 inhabitants reduced to great distress. After an intcr\:il of 

 seventeen years, a similar accident occurred, and on this 

 oriM-inii an order was issued by the king, requiring the 

 inhabitants to repair the banks. This work appears to 

 have been inefficiently performed, for within a few \ears 

 the sea-hanks were again destroyed. Subsequent embank- 

 ments wero improperly made, either through ignorance, or 

 for the benefit of one part to the injury of all tho rest. An 

 instance of this kind occurred in the reign of Edward 1., 

 when Walter de Langtnn, bishop of Lichfield, diverted the 

 course of the Nene, and obstructed the navigation, in order 

 that he might drain his own manor of Culdham. Mam 

 years afterwards the bishop's representatives were oomj 

 to destroy tho dams which he had constructed to thu injury 

 of others. From this, and other causes, tho waters fiom 

 the uplands were prevented from discharging themselves 

 into the sea, and this extent uf laud was at length u 

 to tho stale of a morass. For a long period the gi 

 part of the district was composed of an unhealthy stagna- 

 tion of putrid and muddy waters, which iu Mime ) 

 stood from ten to twenty feet deep. In those lew parts 

 where the earth was not covered with water, it was spongy 

 Mid boggy. Tho inhabitants of the Fens, and the tow. us 

 in their neighbourhood, could only have communication 

 by means ol boats, and this with some difficulty at all 

 times, in consequence of the sedge and slime with which 

 the ground was covered. In the winter, when there was 

 ice, vet not sufliciently hard to admit uf tratlic on its sur- 

 face, the inhabitants were completely isolated, and ' could 

 hardly get help of food fur soul or body.' 



K.Milcnce has everywhere been found below the actual 

 surface not only of the presence of former vegetation, hut to 

 show that these places had previously been inhabited, and 

 that they were suddenly overwhelmed hy some violent cans,-. 

 In digging near Thorney, Lynn, and many other pi 

 trees of large sire were found buried in the moss, and lying 

 near their roots, which still remained as they grew, in lirm 

 earth beneath the moss. In the year 176-1, while digging a 

 little north of Boston (not in the Level, but in a continuation 

 of the fenny district), roots of trees were found in the firm 

 earth, eighteen feet below the then pasturage surf.ier. 

 About a mile west of Magdalen Bridge, over the Onsc, in 

 Marshland, Norfolk, furze bushes and nut trees were round 

 pressed Hat down seventeen feet below the surface, with 

 nuts still sound lying by them. In the process of i 

 vatinga pool at the edge of Conington Down, Huntingdon- 

 shire, in the beginning of the seventeenth century, the 

 skeleton of a large sea fish was found at a great depth be- 

 low the surface. When in pursuance of tin- first project for 

 draining those fens, the channel of the Wisbeach river wa 

 deepened in 1635 eight feet below the then bottom, a hard 

 Mony bottom w as discovered, on which were several boats 

 covered with sill. While digging a drain at Whittlesea 

 Moor, a perfect soil was found at the depth of eight feet, 



