Page 111 HISTORY OF DECOYS.

HISTORY OF DECOYS.

The Parson's poetic description of the Fen-man's daily life is not quite so gloomy as his prose ; but it will be seen that a help-meet is here introduced-perhaps the former description applied only to a bachelor:-

	"'He rises early, and he late takes rest, And sails intrepid o'er the wat'ry waste Waits the return of shot-seal* on the lake, And listens to the wild-fowl's distant quack, At dusk steers homeward with a plenteous freight, The crazy vessel groans beneath the weight. A tidy house-wife waits his coming home, Gets dry apparel, and cleans up her room. Prepares a cheerful fire, brings out her hoard, And spreads a homely plenty o'er his board. To vend her fowl the dearest mart she tries, And with the profit household wants supplies. The Capital's ev'n feasted with her store, And London carriers whistle at his door.'

And the cottage, described brightened by the presence of a thrifty house-wife, is thus described:-

	"'His little hut, which by the bank-side stood, Cover'd with coat of sedge, and walls of mud, Where each domestic use one room supplies, His victuals here he dresses, here he lies: A little lattice to let in the day, With half-extinguished light and glimm'ring ray.'

In a note to the line, ' London carriers whistle at his door,' the author indulges in some remarks upon 'the luxury of the Metropolis,' which are curiously characteristic of the times. He says : 'There are a set of people call'd Kedgers, who, when the country can be travelled over [!], call regularly at the Fen-men's houses to buy their fish and fowl at a vast price, and send them up to town, by the butter-boats, or sell them to the higlers that keep London market. But what is that to the extravagance of a Norwich weaver, who sends a special messenger from thence to Caxton,^** which is near one hundred miles, to meet the north country carrier with fresh salmon.' And again : ' It is almost incredible to believe, what great advantage the skilful Fen-man makes of his winter shooting in a drowned year, and in the following summer of his fish.

^"Flight-time." ^* Caxton is a small market-town in Cambridgeshire, and is situated at the point where the road from Norwich viá Newmarket and Cambridge first strikes the great north road, about twelve miles north of Royston."