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LESSON XXXIII.

The Fen Country.

THE "Fen Country" includes large portions of the six counties of Lincoln, Northampton, Huntingdon, Cambridge, Norfolk, and Suffolk. It is bounded on the north-east by the German Ocean, and on all other sides by high lands, which surround it in the form of a horse-shoe. You can trace its general outline on the map by noting the position of the three chief rivers that drain it-the Welland, the Trent, and the Ouse.

There can be little doubt but that the whole of this district formed at one time one of those great forests which covered the country, and that it was once at a much lower level than the present surface. It is described by writers of the twelfth century as "very pleasant and agreeable to the eye, watered by many rivers which run through it, diversified with many large and small lakes, and adorned with many woods and islands." Traces of its former condition are to be found in abundance. Large trees have been dug up, with the earth in which they originally grew still clinging to their roots. Remains of houses and of household utensils have also been found; all showing that the district must, at some period or other, have been overrun by the sea.

Up to the thirteenth century, the waters of the rivers flowed in their usual channels, and the district was either under tillage or in pasturage. We are told that in the year 1236 a violent storm raged from the east, and continued for eight days. The sea rose to a much greater height than usual, and broke in at Wisbeach and other places along the coast, so that many people and cattle were destroyed, and the inhabitants who were left alive, suffered great distress. About seventeen years later, a

similar accident occurred. Attempts were made to repair the banks, but these attempts failed; and year by year the sea covered a larger portion of the district, carrying mud and sand up the beds of the rivers, which were thus raised above the level of the surrounding country, and overflowed their banks after every heavy rainfall.

Even at the close of last century we are told that “the river Witham, which flows by Lincoln, had been grievously neglected, and allowed to become silted up, its bottom being in many places considerably above the level of the land on either side. Hence bursting of the banks frequently occurred during floods, causing extensive inundations of the lower levels." * The same writer mentions that, about the middle of last century, there were some parishes in which there were not two houses communicable with each other except by boat, this being also the only means by which the people could go to church.

Various attempts had been made to drain these fens. The first great attempt was made in the reign of Charles I. by Francis, Duke of Bedford, and in compliment to him the land reclaimed was called the "Bedford Level." In recent years the drainage of the district has been carried out in a more complete form, and at very great expense. But the labour has been rewarded. "By labours such as these," says Mr. Smiles, referring to the works carried out by the famous engineer, Sir John Rennie, “an immense value has been given to otherwise worthless swamps and wastes. The skill of the engineer has enabled the Fen farmers to labour with ever-increasing profit, and to enjoy the fruits of their industry in comparative health and comfort. No wonder that they love the land that has been won by toil so protracted and so brave. Unpicturesque

* "Lives of the Engineers," by Samuel Smiles.

though the Fens may be to eyes accustomed to the undulating and hill country of the west of England, they nevertheless possess a humble beauty of their own, especially to eyes familiar to them from childhood. The long lines of pollards, with an occasional windmill, stretching along the horizon, the wide extended flats of dark, peaty soil, intersected by dykes and drains, with here and there a green tract covered with sleek cattle, have an air of vastness which is sometimes very striking."

The "Fen Country" is devoid of minerals, and accordingly there are no great manufacturing towns in it. Compared with the towns in many other parts of England, the towns here are small and stationary, very few of them having a population exceeding 20,000. Agriculture is the staple industry, giving employment, in one way or another, to the great bulk of the people. But, though small, the towns are, many of them, of high antiquity, and are closely connected with our history. The most famous is Cambridge, with its ancient university, which has had, along with Oxford, a very important influence on the national life of England. Cambridge was a seat of learning from the very earliest times. The first charter granted to the university was in the reign of Henry III., and from that day to this Cambridge has divided with Oxford the honour of educating the most celebrated Englishmen.

LESSON XXXIV.

Warwickshire.

IN the centre of England lies the county of Warwickshire, very famous in the history of England. If you examine the map, you will observe that some of the streams in this county flow into the Trent, some into the Severn, and one finds its way to the Thames.

In the northern part of the county, on the South Staffordshire and Warwickshire coal field, is the town of Birmingham, with a population approaching 400,000 souls. Birmingham is a very ancient town, but it is only in comparatively recent years that it has become one of the largest manufacturing towns in England. At the beginning of the eighteenth century, a bookseller named Michael Johnson, the father of the great Samuel Johnson, who compiled the English Dictionary, came over from Lichfield, and opened a stall during a few hours on market days. Now it is the great centre of the hardware manufacture. It produces almost every kind of work in metals, from a button to a steam engine, plated goods, brass-work, muskets, cannon-almost everything you can think of that is made from brass, iron, or steel. It is the centre of a number of towns and villages, in which iron is smelted, cast, and made into sheet and bar iron, nails, locks, keys, japanned ware, trappings for horse harness, steel pens, and many other things too numerous to men

tion.

Warwick, the capital of the county, is a very ancient town. The Earls of Warwick were for several centuries among the most powerful noblemen in England. During the Wars of the Roses, the Earl of Warwick was known as the King-maker, such was the influence which he exerted during that troubled time. Warwick Castle is on the south side of the town, and is equally remarkable for its strength, size, and magnificence. This castle is one of the finest specimens of the ancient residences of our feudal nobles in the kingdom. Its site is a solid rock on the banks of the Avon.

Another famous castle in this county is that of Kenilworth. This castle was one of the strongholds of that Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, who, in the reign

of Henry III., admitted the commons into the English Parliament, thus laying the foundation of that representative system which has done so much for freedom and equal laws. Queen Elizabeth paid a visit to her favourite, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, at Kenilworth Castle, where she was received with a magnificence unknown in England up to that time. One of Sir Walter Scott's novels is called "Kenilworth," from the name of this castle. Its scene is laid in the reign of Queen Elizabeth.

But the crowning glory of Warwickshire is that it gave birth to William Shakespeare, the greatest poet which England or any other country has produced. He was born in the town of Stratford, which is built upon the Avon, a tributary of the Severn. The house in which he is said to have been born is still shown. This house and the adjoining buildings which formerly formed part of it, were purchased some years ago for the nation at a cost of £4000. After making sufficient money in London to meet his modest wants, Shakespeare returned to Stratford, where he died in 1616. The house in which he resided after his return to his native town was pulled down in 1759 by a clergyman who had bought the place a few years before. The same person also cut down the famous mulberry tree planted by Shakespeare. The parish church of Stratford contains the monument and bust of the poet.

LESSON XXXV.

The Vale of the Severn.

NEXT to the Thames, the Severn is the most important river in England. Rising in Wales, it flows, by a circuitous course, through the counties of Shropshire, Worcester, and Gloucester, and falls into the Bristol Channel. The greater part of its course is a valley, bounded on

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