The Wealds of Kent, Surrey, and Sussex, form a large tract of land, in general level, though in some places its surface is varied with gentle eminences. It extends from Ashworth in Kent, to Petworth in Sussex ; be ing bounded, for the most part, by the South Downs on the south, and by the chalk hills of Kent and Surrey on the north. In length it is about sixty or seventy miles, and its breadth is from ten to fifteen. It con tains nearly 1000 square miles. The soil of the Weald, for the most part, is a pale clay, interspersed occasion ally with tracts of heath, especially in the Sussex divi sion of it. The greater part of it is in a tolerably good state of cultivation; and from the tops of the adjacent hills it affords one of the finest views imaginable. Its original appellation seems to have been the Wild Fo rest, or Chace; and the Saxon Chronicle informs us, that the Britons called it Andrede, the Marvellous, or Coide Andrede, the Mighty Wood. It was, at that pe riod, a rude uncultivated waste, overgrown with wood, for which it is still famous. In order that it might be reclaimed, the Saxons united parcels of it to the farms in the neighbourhood; and it was applied to the pur pose of feeding the hogs of the tenants, being deemed unfit either for arable or pasture. The vallies with which it abounds were first brought into a state of cul tivation, and took their respective appellations from the persons who brought them into this state ; as Haldean, (or valley,) Tenterdean, Maldean. In process of time, and in the Kentish part of the Weald, in consequence of the custom of gavelkind, these deans are become, by division and subdivision, very small, in comparison of what they originally were. In the winter season, and in wet weather, the roads in many parts of the Weald are scarcely passable. On the principal roads, which arc from fifty to sixty miles broad, there are generally paved causeways, about three feet wide, for the accom modation of the foot passengers.
The other level tracts of England that deserve, on account of their extent, to be particularly noticed, are the fens, Romney marsh, and the marshes of Somerset shire, together with some of the principal heaths that lie on level ground. The fens, as they are emphatical ly termed, lie in the counties of Northampton, Lincoln, Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridge, Huntingdonshire, and in the isle of Ely. These fens are frequently mentioned by our ancient civil and ecclesiastical historians. Du ring the period of the power and splendour of the Ca tholic religion, they were maintained in tolerably good order, under the direction and patronage of the clergy and monks, who had many rich religious houses, scat tered through them, such as Peterborough, Ely, Croy land, Ramsey, Thorney, &c. After the dissolution of these religious houses, at the Reformation, the estates belonging to them coming into private hands, the dikes and drains which the clergy had caused originally to be erected, and which they had kept in repair, fell into decay, and, in consequence, the country was over flowed, and reduced gradually into a wretched condi tion. The legislature at length found it absolutely ne cessary to interpose; and a statute was passed, 43d Elizabeth, chap. ii. for the purpose of draining them. Great objections, however, were made to this plan by some, on account of its supposed impracticability, or on account of the enormous expense which it would require; and by others, on the ground, that, even in the state in which they were, they would pay better than if they were to be drained and embanked, at the expellee which would necessarily be required. In con sequence of these objections, this plan was not carried into execution at that time. In the reign of James I. two laws were passed in favour of draining these fens ; but these also were not carried into effect. At last, in the 13th year of the reign of Charles I. a charter was granted to a corporation, with Francis, Earl of Bedford, at their head, for draining the great level. The civil wars for a time prevented the commencement of the work; and when, in 1653, it was begun, it was again opposed, on the allegation that the fens produced as much in reeds and sedge, as they could be made to do by expensive draining. In answer to this, an account was taken that year, from which it was proved, that the wheat, barley, oats, hemp, flax, &c. which grew on
28,000 acres, yielded 113,6001. After the Restora tion, the corporation was legally and permanently set tled, by the 15th Charles II. chap. 17 ; and on the basis of this statute, this important undertaking has rested ever since. By the Bedford Level, as it is called, up ward of 300,000 acres of land have been drained ; and since the completion of that work, other large tracts in this fenny country have also been reclaimed.
Romney Marsh, in the county of Kent, is an exten sive tract of level rich land, lying on the south coast. What is strictly included under this appellation, com prehends about 23,925 acres ; but when it is described, as it generally is, in connection with the Welland Marsh, which adjoins it on the south-west, and with Denge Marsh, which unites with the latter on the south-east, it includes about 43,326 acres. The level tract of land, however, in this part of England, is still more extensive; for Guildford Marsh, which lies to the west of Welland Marsh, comprises 3265 acres: most of this latter tract is in the county of Sussex. The soil of those spacious levels is uncommonly rich, being al most entirely a deposit from the sea : it consists of a soft and unctuous clay, mixed with a greater or less proportion of sea sand. In the summer season, when the surface is clothed with luxuriant verdure, and co vered with numerous flocks of