248 My Last Day in the Fen. 



wandering alone by the wild sea-beach, or plashing through the reed 

 beds in some lonely morass where probably no human foot had 

 ever trodden before. 



But to return to our more immediate subject. In 1635, as we find 

 by Hayward's Survey, the fen lands in the counties of Norfolk, Cam- 

 bridge, Huntingdon, and Lincoln extended over above 300,000 acres, 

 of which the Great Bedford Level formed the principal part. The 

 general character of the fen is a rich peaty soil, in many places 

 marshy, covered with bushes and coarse grass, intersected with 

 dykes, whose banks are fringed with reeds and aquatic plants. 

 There are several lakes or meres in the fens, the principal of which 

 in my day was Whittlesea Mere, the most extensive southern lake 

 in England, lying about three miles from Stilton, on the Great 

 North Road. And in bygone days before the railway era, when 

 this road was the pride of coachmen, the traveller on the mail during 

 the summer was struck with the beauty of the lowland landscape 

 which burst upon his view beyond Stilton, the quiet waters of the 

 mere glistening in the rays of the morning sun just rising over the 

 fens. This mere was about nine miles in circumference, covering 

 about 1600 acres, lying in a hollow, surrounded by the high lands 

 of Whittlesea, Yaxley, and Stilton. The water was shallow and 

 pretty uniform throughout, rarely exceeding five feet in depth. 

 It was surrounded by fens j and though many acres were yearly 

 drained, still thousands of acres retained their original character. 

 Of course the reclaimed lands, a rich alluvial soil, carried capital 

 crops. Nowhere have I seen such coleseed as in the fen , and I 

 have heard of new land growing ten quarters of wheat to the acre. 

 On such farms the holders must do well j and a very substantial 

 class were the fen farmers of my day, and I only trust they still 

 continue so. The mere, as well as the fen dykes, abounded in fish, 

 principally of die coarser kinds, perch, pike, eels, &c.; and I 

 recollect we used to take a fish here that went by the name of the 

 eel-pout, but whether it was the burbolt or not, I am not able to 

 say. I have had many an excellent day's sport with floating 

 trimmers on the mere, but I never caught any out-of-the-way sized 



