CHAP. I. THE EMBANKMENT OF TIIK THAMES. If, 



well ns the rich lands along- the soiitli })OTni(lary of 

 x, were frequently laid under water. The drowned 

 state of these lands led to the employment, in 1621, of 

 the distinguished Dutch engineer Cornelius Yermuyden, 

 who succeeded in repairing the breaches and recovering 

 a large extent of inundated country ; although we shall 

 afterwards find the waters from time to time breaking 

 through the banks, and temporarily re-establishing their 

 ascendency. 



In many other parts of England, similar works of 

 reclamation were carried out according to the law and 

 custom of Romney Marsh. There was an extensive 

 tract of marsh in Somerset to which the same practice 

 was successfully applied the well-known district of 

 Sedgemoor ; so called because of the rushes, reeds, and 

 sedge with which it was overgrown in summer, whilst 

 in winter it was covered with water and could only be 

 traversed in boats. In ancient times, an abbot of Glas- 

 tonbury made a causeway across the level, which is still 

 named after him Graylock's Fosse. But it was not 

 until the reign of James I. that that rich tract of 

 about thirteen thousand acres of land, now covered with 

 orchards and cornfields, was reclaimed by drainage and 

 embankment ; and it was the dykes or " rhines " cut in 

 the moor which afterwards threw Monmouth's untrained 

 troops into confusion during their night-attack on the 

 royal army, and in a great measure caused their dis- 

 comfiture. 



For many centuries the English people were thus 

 engaged in slowly subduing the stubborn soil, reclaiming 

 the waste places, and making the land pleasant and 

 healthy to live in. While the population remained 

 comparatively scanty, the urgency to labour was not 

 excessive, and the progress made, although steady, was 

 but slow. Englishmen were, for the most part, satisfiec^ 

 in those olden times to live like respectable country 

 folks ; not burdened with many younger sons ; enjoying 



