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ally deviated. This and the state of the Witham navigation, which was fast silting up, the dissolution of the religious houses, and the breaking up of the merchant guilds, very nearly completed the destruction of the trade of the town: so much so, that in the early part of Elizabeth’s reign it was deemed necessary to take measures to prevent its “utter ruin.” They tried to improve the outfall of the river; and the Queen granted a charter of Admiralty on the whole of the Norman Deeps. A curious clause in this charter grants the power to the corporation of “punishing all persons dishonestly and maliciously rating upon every light occasion, which in English are commonly called scolds.” Leland writing about this time says:—
“Botolph’s toune stondeth harde on the river of Lindis. The greate and chifiest parte of the toune is on the este side of the ryver, where is a faire market place and a crosse with a square toure. Al the buildings of this side of the toune is fayre, and marchannts duelle yn it, and a Staple of wulle is used there. There is a bridg of wood to cum over Lindis ynto this side of the toune, and a pile of stone set yn the middle of the ryver. The streame of yt is sumtymes as swifte as it were an arrow. Mr Paynel, a gentilman of Boston, told me that sins that Boston of old tyme, at the great famose fair there kept, was brent, that scant sins it ever cam to the old Glory and Riches that it had; yet sins hath it beene manyfold richer then it is now. The Staple and the Stilliard houses yet ther remayne; but the Stiliard is little or nothing at all occupied.”
The corporation petitioned Parliament at this time to be “put among the decayed towns.” Whether this was from a consciousness of their own shortcomings and an excess of modesty, alas! unusual now in corporate bodies, or a legitimate mode of escaping an assessment, I know not. The town certainly was on the decline; and after two hundred years of comparative inactivity, measures have been taken by the leading men of the borough within the last ten or twelve years to secure some return of the business absorbed by powerful rivals. As a first step, docks—seven acres in extent—have been built, and are now in full swing. Vessels from Norway with colliery props and timber, coasting-steamers from London, and trading-steamers from the German ports, bring back an air of life and bustle. The new fleet of steam-trawlers are constantly in from the North Sea fishing-grounds, and the result is that a trade is being rapidly pushed forward with the Midland towns. The position of Boston is most favourable for quick communication with Sheffield, Nottingham, and other towns, which are large consumers of German goods, fish, and Continental produce generally. On these enterprises, and the results so far, the good folk of Boston have every reason to congratulate themselves, and to presume that there will be a generous return for the money so wisely and so pluckily laid out.
By the part Boston played in the Civil War, admirers of “that soul, Charles I.,” as Dr Stukeley calls him, will doubtless be shocked and grieved. On the outbreak of the war, Charles attempted to put a garrison into the town. Little sympathy was shown him, and he could not have expected much, seeing that he had put their two members of Parliament on their trial at Grantham, for having sided with his opponents. On the whole, Lincolnshire was for the Parliamentarians. A newspaper of the day says: “The Cavaliers were quite cashiered