BURTON: THE STORY OF THE LINCOLN GAP. 279 
the sky; ‘kite upon kite’ could be seen on the wing; starlings 
whirled about in clouds and broke down the reeds as they settled 
upon them; and, where now the great engineering works of 
Lincoln are carried on, flocks of wild swans were seen, and the 
booming of the bittern was heard. 
The fens were a sure and easy means of livelihood to those who 
dwelt in them. They netted the fish and trapped the eels, they 
stalked and shot the wildfowl, and brought them all on market 
days to the towns around. Many of them lived on the water in 
house-boats nearly all the year through; while those on the out- 
skirts kept large flocks of geese and sheep on the rich grass lands ; 
and all loved their wild free life. No wonder, then, that in 1768 
numbers of them, fearing the loss of their old privileges, assembled 
to prevent the inclosure of Holland Fen. Unfortunately they com- 
mitted great excesses, for they were a wild and lawless set. Men 
were shot; horses and sheep barbarously killed and mutilated; houses 
and haystacks burned ; and much mischief was done: and, though all 
this must be deplored, there is many a Lincolnshire man left who 
can feel with the old fen men yet. To many amongst us the fen 
district is still a happy hunting- ground, and a land full of beauty as 
well. Many there are who see in it no mere level waste, but a land 
of glorious landscapes and happy feeding cattle; of rich sunsets and 
flights of birds: a land of rare water-plants and reeds; of deep, 
clear pools where the big pike lie; and of ‘tangled water-courses 
shot over with purple and green and yellow.’ 
We have only now to enquire whether the sea took any part 
in all we have been considering, or whether it was the result of 
river action alone. 
The low land to the east of the wolds has, no doubt, since 
glacial times, been frequently covered by the sea: the Romans, in 
fact, raised the sea bank to keep it out. The Witham also, until 
stopped by the locks at Boston, was tidal; and the sea would often 
run over the land long after the fens were reclaimed, and partially 
drained ; as J. Ingelow records in her well-known poem, ‘The High 
Tide on the Coast of Lincolnshire, 1571’—and, even as late as 
1779, Mr. Padley, in his work before referred to, speaks of ‘many 
vessels on the Lincolnshire coast being driven two miles in the 
marshes during a heavy gale.’ 
To the west also, where the Trent valley lies, it is quite probable 
that the sea occasionally covered the land in past times before the 
tiver was banked; but this would be only for a time, and during 
exceptionally high ‘tides ; and, when we think how low the land is 
on that side, and that the egre, or tidal wave, which runs up the 
Sept. 1895. _ 
