THE BOOK OF DUCK DECOYS. | ||
| One-third of the county consisted of marsh and fen, and this vast portion was subject to frequent floods during winter, and from what 1 have said it may well be conjectured that to the close of the last century Lincolnshire Decoying must have been a very profitable trade. Whilst treating of the Fens of this county I cannot omit the following admirable account of the same, most kindly supplied me by Mr. Thomas Southwell, F.Z.S., of Norwich, whose name frequently appears in these pages. He says :- "It is not to be imagined that a great improvement like the drainage of the Fens, which involved such an entire change in the face of the country, and, consequently, in the habits of the people, could be carried out without serious opposition. The first act for the drainage of the Bedford Level was passed in 1578 ; but, owing to vexatious litigation, and even more active opposition still, the work was not accomplished till 1653. Dugdale tells us that the 'almost barbarous sort of lazy and beggarly people,' who lived by fishing and fowling of course, dreaded the loss of their occupation, which was sure to follow the subsidence of the waters, and opposed the improvement by all means in their power, one of which was the making of 'libellous songs to disparage the work.' He gives one of these songs, which is curious, but too long to quote entire. It is headed the ' Powtes' Complaint,' and in it the fishes call upon the waters to assemble, under the lead of 'good old Captain Flood,' 'who was never known to fail us,' and beg Eolus, Neptune, and the Moon also to lend their aid : | ||
| "'For we shall rue it, if It be true, that Fens be undertaken, And where we feed in Fen and Reed, they'll feed both Beef and Bacon.' "'Away with boats and rudder, farewell both boots and skatches; |
||
| "Sir Cornelius Vermuyden, the celebrated Dutch engineer, who had settled in this country, and had already done good work, suffered so severely from popular prejudice, that not only was his scheme for draining the Bedford Level rejected, in consequence of his being an 'alien,' but also at Dagenham, where, having in 1621 repaired the banks which hitherto had been too weak to protect the level against the violence of the tide, the people refused to ,Pay the tax levied for his remuneration, whereupon the King assigned him certain lands by way of recompense, which, let us hope, he got. But even worse fortune befell the worthy Knight in 1642, at Hatfield Chase. | ||
Index List of Illustrations