THE EASTERN COUNTIES. 229 



dow land in England. Situated opposite to Holland, 

 they have, like that country, been reclaimed by means 

 of dykes. The area of these three counties is about 

 2,500,000 acres ; of which the fens, properly speaking, 

 occupy about a third, and are formed by the rivers Ouse, 

 Nen, Cam, Witham, and Welland. 



The draining, commenced by the Komans, was carried 

 on during the middle ages by the monks who had estab- 

 lished themselves on the islands rising here and there out 

 of the inundated land. The English are slow in making 

 mention of services rendered by the ancient monasteries ; 

 but it is nevertheless certain that in their island, as else- 

 where, the only monuments of any value which remain 

 from the most remote periods are due to the Catholic 

 religion. Agriculture, in particular, owes its first success 

 to the religious orders. At the time of the Keformation, 

 the lands belonging to the monastic orders were bestowed 

 upon powerful families, who have continued what the 

 monks had begun. The residences of many of the nobi- 

 lity still retain the names of the abbeys which they have 

 replaced such as Woburn Abbey, Welbeck Abbey, &c. 

 Before the monks were driven out, they had made pretty 

 considerable progress in the reclamation of land ; and, in 

 addition to their canals and cultivation, the fine cathedrals 

 of Peterborough and Ely remain to mark their passage. 

 These churches still continue to be the leading features 

 of that part of the country. 



At the commencement of the seventeenth century, one 

 of the Earls of Bedford put himself at the head of a com- 

 pany for continuing the works, to which a concession of 

 one hundred thousand acres was granted. From that 

 time the undertaking has gone on without interruption. 

 Windmills . and steam-engines, erected at great expense, 

 are continually pumping off the water ; these, with 



