?3@ ' L I N C O L 
■was then divided into two provinces, north and fouth; 
and., as the Trent was the line of reparation, the county of 
Lincoln co'nftituted a confiderable part of South Mercia. 
Crida was the.fir’ll Mercian fovereign, and began his reign 
in 586. At this time Mr. Turner (Hiftory of the Anglo- 
Saxons) fuppofed that the whole ifhtnd was governed by 
eight Anglo-Saxon monarch's; whence it fno.uld rather be 
denominated an ©diarchy than an-heptarchy. The Danes in 
the year 870 laid wafte great part of Lin coin Ih ire, and burn¬ 
ed the monafteries of Bardney, Croyland, andMedenham- 
fted, putting all the monks to the fword. After the de¬ 
feat of the Danes by Alfred, the fovereignty of Mercia 
fell into his power, and was foon afterwards annexed to 
Weflex, but fome places were Hill held, by the Danes ; 
among thefe were the towns of Stamford and Lincoln, 
even lb late as 94.1, when Edmund the Elder expelled 
-them. 
The maritime counties of England being more directly 
expofed to attack from invading- armies and piratical plun¬ 
derers, and in the early part of our civil eftablilhments 
being more populous than the midland country, were 
therefore frequently expofed to the conflicts of warfare; 
and hence it is-found that thefe diftridts abounded with 
military works, and caftles, or caltellated manfions. Be¬ 
sides the permanent Rations of the Romans in Lincoln¬ 
shire, they threw up caftramefations indifferent places; 
to guard the valleys, protedt the great roads, and defend 
the mouths of the rivers. In the continued wars between 
the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, thefe were again occupied by 
the contending parties; and, after the Norman conquefl, 
fome of the moft commanding were adopted by the con¬ 
queror’s captains and barons, and then became heads of 
extenfive lordfhips. To defcribe or difcriminate them, 
is, and ever will be, impoflibie ; for documents are want¬ 
ing, and the innovations of the latter occupiers generally 
obfcui'ed or annihilated all traces of their predeceflors. 
Lincolnfhire at-prefent confilts of three great divifions; 
Holland, Kefteven, and Lindfey ; which are fubdivided 
into 32 hundreds, wapentakes, and fokes ; containing, in the 
whole,one city, 31 market-towns, and 657 villages. Twelve 
members are returned to parliament; two for the fliire, 
two for the city, and two from each of the boroughs of 
Bofton, Grantham, Great Grimfby, and Stamford. Spald¬ 
ing and Waynfleet were reprefented in the eleventh year 
of Edward III. This county, from its extent and opu¬ 
lence, is not under the influence of any individual; and 
in contefted elections the freedom of the people is not fo 
liable to corruption as in fmaller counties and property- 
boroughs. 
This county has long been famous for a breed of fine 
horfes; but the adjoining county of York has now the 
credit for rearing many that are actually bred in this 
county. In fome diflricts great numbers of mares are 
kept for the foie purpofe of breeding. In Holland aivi- 
fion almolt every farmer keeps fome; and the number of 
colts reared is very great. The neat cattle of this county 
are defcribed by Mr, Stone as being, for thegreateft part, 
of a large fort, having great heads and (hort horns ; flout 
In the bone, and deep in the belly ; with fhort necks and 
fiefiiy quarters, narrow hips and chines, high in their 
rumps, and bare on the (boulders. The cows, he remarks, 
when fat, weigh from eight to nine hundred, and the oxen 
from ten to twelve hundred. The moft profitable flock 
of the county appears to be (beep. Numbers are bred and 
fattened in this part of the kingdom. Large quantities 
of wool are thence obtained, to fupply the demands of the 
neighbouring diftriets. It is a curious faff, that, while 
fs much has been faid in commendation of the Leicefter- 
fhire breed, tho Lincolnfhire, which is the fame, (hould 
have been pafi’ed over in filence. Mr. Stone fays, thefe 
flieep are mot even varieties. The Lincolnfhire, a large- 
horned animal, adapted for the rich grazing and marsh 
■ land of the county, generally weighs well when fat, and 
hears a heavy fleece of coarfe but lo.g-flaplfd wool. Mr. 
Yotlng mentions a (beep fold at Smithfleld, which clip- 
N SHI R*E. 
ped, the firft year, 231b. of wool, and in the fecond year 
22ilb. 3 
Few manufactures are eftablifhed in this county; but 
here are two objeffs of confiderable merchandife, rabbits* 
fur, and goofe-feathers. The rabbit-warrens were for¬ 
merly much more extenfive than at prefent, and were pre- 
ferved on a principle of improvement; fome being broken 
up for tillage, and others, which had been under tilth, be¬ 
ing again laid down for this purpofe. The foil of old 
warrens, by the rabbits continually ftirring and ventilat¬ 
ing the earth in burrowing, has been found incomparably 
better than lands of a like nature left in their original 
date. The fecundity of rabbits was a circumftance of no 
fmall confequence, when the (kins of large well-chofen 
rabbits would produce as. 6d. or 3s. each ; at that time 
they were ufed in making muffs, tippets, See. the down was 
alfo employed in hats. The trade is now on the decline, 
not only from the diminution in the value of the (kins, 
but alfo from the means of conducting it becoming daily 
more circumfcribed ; it being now thought good hufbandry 
to deftroy the warrens, and apply the land to other ufes. 
The number of warrens in this county has been greatly 
reduced, yet many thoufand acres are (till devoted to this 
kind of flock. Many of what are called the Jins, are in a 
Rate of wafte, and ferve for little other purpofe than breed¬ 
ing and rearing geefe, which are confidered the fenman’s 
treafure._ They are a higlily-valuable flock, and live 
where, in the prefent Rate of tliofe lands, nothing elfe 
will; they are very prolific, and the young quickly be¬ 
come faleable, or fpeedily contribute to increafe the flock. 
The feathers are very valuable; and, however trifling it 
may appear, the fale of quills alone amounts, on a large 
flock, to a confiderable fum. Mr. Young Rates, that 
“ the feathers of a dead goofe are worth flxpence, three 
giving a pound; but plucking alive does not yield more 
than threepence a-head per annum. Some wing them only 
once every quarter, taking ten feathers from each goofe, 
which fell at five (hillings a thoufand. Plucked geefe pay, 
in feathers, one (hilling a-head in Wildmore Fen.” The 
common mode of plucking live geefe is confidered a bar¬ 
barous cuftoin; but it has, perhaps, prevailed ever fincc 
featherbeds came into general ufe. The mere plucking 
is faid to hurt the bird but little, as the owners are care¬ 
ful not to pull before the feathers are ripe, that is, juft 
ready to fall ; if forced from the (kin fooner, they are of 
inferior value. See the article Anas, vol. i. p. 518. 
The general improvements that have been effected im 
this county within the laft twenty years, and that are now 
gradually making, have co-operated to alter the general 
appearance, the agriculture, climate, &c. fo materially, 
that the furface has afl'umed a new afpedft; the value of 
land is greatly increafed, the means of focial and com¬ 
mercial communication have been facilitated, and the 
comforts of domeftic life greatly promoted. Yet there is 
(till fcope for material improvements; for the roads, in 
many parts of the county, are in a very bad (tate; and 
the traveller has not advantages adequate to the tolls le¬ 
vied on him. In the vicinity of Bolton, Spalding, and 
Louth, the commilTioners have commenced a plan for' 
forming firm and fubltantial roads: this is moftly done 
by laying (hingles, brought from the Norfolk coaft, in the 
centre of the road, and mixing them with the flit of the 
place. The wolds extend from SpiKby, in a north-weflerly 
direction, for about forty miles, to Barton, near the Hum¬ 
ber. They are, on an average, nearly eight miles in 
breadth, of fand and fandy loam, upon flinty loam, with 
a Tubflratum of chalk. Beneath this line lies an extenfive 
trafl of land at the foot of the wolds, called the rnarjh, 
which is fecured from the encroachments of the fea by 
embankments, and is agriculturally divided into north 
and fouth rnarfties by a difference in the foil. 
The Jens of this county form one of its moft promi¬ 
nent features. They confift of lands which, at fome dif- 
tant period, have been inundated by the fea, and by hu¬ 
man art have been .recovered from it. In the fummer 
they 
