The Sun.
London, England, 1862-06-11 00:00:00

THE GREAT BEDFORD LEVEL.

Every sovereign seems to have been anxious about
the Fens, and to have encouraged attempts to make
sst cwen t secure.
Ihpoeaurtflt rat:
and
partiality
odmrt
aopiwrne
aahrgedenss ifsvoeerp eatnrhadeteewa vhoou !te
them
tmo o urna
ao nu kt
inte-
rests, was a century after the Martimas gale I have
spoken of. The works, costly and extensive, were
swept away within a year of their being finished;
and many then advised that the whole thing should
be given up as hopeless. In the reign of Henry
VII., Bishop Moreton made a new cut, which is now
a part of the river Nene : but the banks crumbled
down. So did other banks in the time of Elizabeth,
and of James I. In the next reign, the enterprise
was begun which introduced a new period in the
history of the Fens. The Earl of Bedford, in the
reign of Charles 1., was grieved to see Thorney
Abbey on its hillock, surrounded by shallow waters
over the space of 18,000 acres. He induced some
speculators to join him in an effort to reclaim the
whole region. His particular aim was to retrieve
his own lordship, of Thorney; but his part-
ners must have their inducements also, Ths
demand was that they should have among
them 95,000 acres of reclaimed land, in re-
turn for their expense and risk. They spent
£lOO,OOO in three years, and accomplished a great
number of works which crumbled down almost as
soon as they were finished. During the civil \vats
of the period, it was a common practice for either
party to cut the dykes when they could hurt their
enemies thereby ; and during the Commonwealth
the whole tract lay as desolate as ever. At length,
the son of that Earl of Bedford took up the project
again, on the same terms that had been granted to
his father. He and his partners succeeded so far
as to obtain their 95,000 acres ; but they had spent
more meantime than the land was worth. The most
conspicuous sign of progress was, that an organisa-
tion was now formed for the preservation of the
works. By a charter of Charles IL's granting, a
corporation of conservators of the Bedford Level
was appointed, and endowed with due powers—the
king appropriating for himself 12,000 acres of the
95,000. For more than a century and a half there
were small successes, and occasional great disasters,
owing chiefly to the mistake of making a great
number of small channel islands, where there was
not slope enough for little streams to flow away,
instead of a few large channels where the force of
gathered waters would compensate for a scanty in-
cline. At last, within the memory of the existing
generation, the true principles of effectual drainage
were proposed and acted upon ; and the retrieval
of the Fen country has been a matter of pride to the
whole kingdom for 30 years.— Once a Week.

A BOURBON JAIL.

; uponin
sli
another,c'k enyin
sickening
It was a room large enough to contain about 30
persons, but it was made to serve for the accommo-
dation of 70; and it was black and smoky, like a
forge. The floor was of flags, with here and there
one one missing. A large bench ran around t.htel:a
in
This was for prisoners to sleep on ;
one place a heap of rotton straw_
miserable old mattress;
another,
the centre
heap of rags. A dirty lamkpe
hungone in each corner of
of the ceiling, and four sinks, 'exhaling a revolting
the room, uncovered, ,
for the refuse of ever -
in anott. a
odour, served as receptacies . .
this
y
gee rough a wicket in it, the prisoners
e opening into i den was
gat . . .
oflarge
d in and out one by one, bending their
passe
bodies, and putting in, first the unchained foot
thing.
dark oak. The
and next the other—a mode of proceeding which
occupied so much time that it took nearly an hour
for all of us to enter or pass out. Opposite this
entrance was the door to a 1 t c ose , uncovered, and
kept without care or decency, yet in which 10
prisoners actually lived. All round our walls
were driven numberless nails, from which hung
everything belon • ging to the criminal—plates, po-
ringers, saucepans, clothes—affording refuge to
millions of bugs, which came down by night to
suck our blood. In one corner of the room was
a bed, far different from the rest, with a little
eupboard beside it, within which were a few wine
glasses and a large bottle of wine. Above the head
of the bed hung some pictures of saints, before which
a lamp was at night kept burning. This spot
belonged to the ehamber-keeper—a prisoner
notorious for his crimes, who was set in power and
authority over his comrades. During the night
the atmosphere of this room was so utterly abomi-
nable and stifling, that the new inmates instinc-
tively leaped out of bed and approached the win-
dows; but even this relief could not always be in-
dulged in where the prisoners were chained
and
couples. What rendered it still more difficult E!,(1..,
dangerous to breathe the poisonous eir,.7.aginoef
cloud of dust produced by the constant stphien 1
lungs,
hemp—a dust which, penetrating into the
caused incessant irritation and often, severee
the yard,
inflam-
mation. I went out to walk a Unlaces.,
whom
I knew
and met among the criminalscsreeugh I was
to be chamber-keepers, and n
oney which had been
enabled to obtain part of the:l4
11 the Year Round."
taken from me.—Dickens's
-Rpr. Arthur Ken-
ACCIDENT INK
M.P., met with a serious acci-
nerd, son of Mr. Kennard,
nnßoardjten-row on Saturday last. Mr.
dent while riding in
ounted on a favourite hunter, which
Kennard was ni .
d and fell, fracturing his leg in a very serious
stumble
the bones p rotruding. As soon as a stretcher
manner,
could be obtained, Mr. Kennard was conveyed to his father's
residence in Prchester-terrace, where wa speedily
attended Mo. Fergusson and by r Mr. benders,Call who eet
the leg with complete success,- and Mr. Kennard is pro-
gressing as favourably as can be desired. Mrs. Kennard's
ball, which was fixed for the 13th inst., is necessarily post-
poned.
A WOMAN CUTTING HER OWN TONGUE OUT:"
horrible case of sell-nnitilattion occurred in Raleigh-street'
Nottingham, on Sunday morning, a married woman, nameed.
Mrs. Abel, having cut her own tongue out. It appeaaroa,
that the woman has had a quarrel with her hus:isbanod,cloo::
on the morning in question she rose abrter
tongue as
went downstairs, and cut off as muchehoVingy
1 haggled.
she could reach, leaving the remainder it
eking
the wound he
A surgeon was sent for, but afterer7.
During the daylshe
gave very little hope of her reinobveing
unsuccessful in her
wrote on a piece of paper that,
she had taken a knife to
search for her husband'osjor
has iiTe children
accomplish her object. c' r