32 



THE GREAT LEVEL OF THE FENS. 



J'AliT 1. 



When the King was informed of this great calamity 

 which had befallen the inhabitants of the Fens, prin- 

 cipally through the decay of the old works of drainage 

 and embankment, he is said to have made the right 

 royal declaration, that " for the honour of his kingdom, 

 he would not any longer suffer these countries to be 

 abandoned to the will of the waters, nor to let them 

 lie waste and unprofitable ; and that if no one else 

 would undertake their drainage, he himself would be- 

 come their undertaker." A commission was in the first 

 place appointed to ascertain the extent of the evil, and 

 from the schedule which was shortly afterwards pre- 

 pared and sent in of the drowned lands lying more par- 

 ticularly along the river Ouse, it appeared that there 

 were not less than 307,242 acres lying outside the Fen 

 dykes which required drainage and protection. A 

 bill was brought into Parliament for the purpose of 

 enabling rates to be levied and measures to be taken 

 for the drainage of this land, but the Bill was summarily 

 rejected. Two years later, the "little bill" for draining 

 6000 acres in Waldersea county was passed the first- 

 district act for Fen drainage sanctioned by Parliament. 

 The King then called Chief-Justice Popham to his aid, 

 and sent him down to the Fens to undertake a portion 

 of the work ; and he induced a company of Londoners 

 to undertake another portion, the adventurers receiving 

 two-thirds of the reclaimed lands as a recompense. 

 "Popham's Eau," and "The Londoners' Lode," still 

 mark the scene of these operations. The works, how- 

 ever, did not prove very successful, not having been 

 carried out with sufficient practical knowledge on the 



loath to part from what he so deerly 

 loued, he throwes it downe, runs to 

 bedde, wakens his wife, and from her 

 sides snatches the sleeping infants. 

 Here comes a husband with his wile 

 on his backe, and under either arme 

 an infant. The sonne carries the 

 father, the brother the sister, the 



daughter the mother, whilest the un- 

 merciful conqueror break* s downe the 

 walles of the houses, taking pi Hie 

 neither of aged nor sere, findes some 

 at play, some a slccpe in chayres, many 

 in their beds, that never dreamed of 

 misfortune till it waked them." 



