prohibits stow-boat nets, used for sprat-catching, as a grievance which they say hinders them in their occupation and livelihood.

The fishermen of the Roding in the time of King James I. had trouble in another place with another authority. The vessels had become larger, and the men of Barking complained against Captain William Smith, of the South Blockhouse, for divers wrongs and extortions of fees in taking money of the petitioners, under pretences of requiring their bonds and the like, whereupon it was ordered that the fishermen should bring certificates and bonds ready made to Sir Thomas Fanshawe, Knight, dwelling at Jenkins, near Barking, in Essex, and before him sign and seal the bond, which was to be delivered by the fishermen to Captain Smith, and thereupon they might proceed to their vocation of fishing without any other bond being required, and without any other trouble or molestation. This measure no doubt checked the practice for a time, but when the vessels passing Gravesend were placed under the superintendence of the Captains of the Forts, acting in conjunction with the Officers of the Customs, during the Civil War and the Commonwealth, many circumstances occurred giving facilities for resuming the practice, and eventually it again became subject of complaint.

There can be no excuse for extortion, and Captain Smith instead of oppressing these sturdy mariners, who carried on their business with great hazard, should have aided and protected them to the full extent of his power. But the times were adverse, and England in the time of the Stuarts could hardly call the Thames her own, and the authorities were terrified later on by the audacity of the Dutch. Even Captain Smith was unfortunate; his stipend was £26 1s. 8d. per annum, and was seldom paid. At Midsummer Day, 1631, there was five years' and a half year's pay due to him, amounting to £143 9s. 2d. If public servants are starved and have no means, it is extremely wrong, but perhaps not unlikely, that they may squeeze those who by misfortune fall in their hands. In the days of Cromwell the fame of England was noised abroad, and when the Protector heard that the Pope had spoken of him in a mean way, he said— "I will make an Englishman as much respected as an ancient Roman all over Europe. If the Pope insults us I will send a frigate to Civita Vecchia and he shall hear the sound of my

cannon at Rome."

But in the reign of Charles the Second, the

credit of this country had fallen low, and the garrulous Pepys chronicles his movements thus:

Home, where all our hearts do now ake, for the news is true that the Dutch have broke the chains and burned our ships, and particularly "The Royal Charles"; other particulars I know not, but it is said to be so. And the truth is I do fear so much that the whole Kingdom is undone that I do this night resolve to stu ly with my father and wife what to do with the little that I have in money by me, for I give all the rest that I have in the King's hands for Tangier for lost. So God help us! and God knows what disorders we may fall into, and whether

any violence on this office, or perhaps some severity on our persons, as being reckoned by the silly people, or perhaps may be by policy of State be thought fit to be condemned by the King and Duke of York, and so put to trouble; though, God knows I have in my own person done my full duty, I am sure.

The next day he continues:

No sooner up but hear the sad news confirmed of the "Royal Charles" being taken by them, and now in fitting by them, (which Pett should have carried up higher by our several orders, and deserves therefore to be hanged for not doing it,) and burning several others; and that another fleet is coming up into the Hope. Upon which news the King and Duke of York have been below since four o'clock in the morning, to command the sinking of ships at Barking

Creeke [the entrance to the Roding] and other places, to stop their coming up higher; which put me into such a fear, that I presently resolved of my father's and wife's going into the country; and at two hours' warning they did go by the coach this day, with about £1,300 in gold in their night bag. Pray God give them good passage, and good care to hide it when they come home! but my heart is full of fear.

The secretary of the Navy was much alarmed and upset; he had no confidence in the ships or their commanders, and London and the country around were in great peril. The ships to be sunk at Barking Creek were probably intended to block the Thames more than the entrance to the Roding, although had they ascended the latter stream, they would only have followed in the steps of the Danes many centuries before.

A few years prior to this, Pepys had been to Waltham Forest to see the King's trees a-hewing, Mr. Deane, of Woolwich, showed him the whole mystery of off square, wherein the King was abused in the purchase of timber, which Pepys thought he could afterwards correct. He then went to Ilford, and while dinner was getting ready, he practised measuring of the tables, and other things till he understood measure of timber and board very well. All the timber from the Forest was taken by whim to Barking, where there was a slide into the Creek, and thus transported by the Roding and Thames to Woolwich and Deptford dockyard in rafts.

The importance of our river increased as the population on its banks multiplied. And in the year 1736, in the reign of George II., application was made to Parliament by one Joseph Goodman praying that certain powers might be conferred on him, to improve the navigation of the Roding between Barking and Ilford, with the right to charge and levy tolls on craft that went up the river.

It was entitled: An act for making navigable the River Rodon from a little below a Mill called Barking Mill, in the County of Essex, to Ilford Bridge, in the said County. The preamble relates:

Whereas the River Rodon, running from Great Ilford in the County of Essex to Barking in the same County, was till lately wholly unpassable for any boats, lighters, or other vessels fit to carry any goods or merchandizes from Ilford to Barking aforesaid: And whereas by an Indenture bearing date on or about the 22nd day of May, 1736, and made or mentioned to be made between several of the Landowners on each side of the river Rodon, and the owners or lessees of the Mill thereupon aforesaid, of the one part, and Joseph Goodman, of the Precent of Saint Catherine, near the Tower, in the County of Middlesex, Esquire, of the other part, reciting amongst other things, that the clearing and effecting

D

a passage for flat bottomed boats, barges, and other small boats and vessels upon the said river from Barking to Great Ilford would be very beneficial to Great Ilford and to the part of the County of Essex as was near adjacent, and would be very convenient for the carriage of corn, coals, and other goods and merchandize, also for the carriage of chalk and manure for improving the land, &c., &c, &c.

And so this Act winds its sinuous way along, like an ordinary Act of Parliament with a vast amount of legal verbiage, but in reality gives Mr. Goodman and his successors power to acquire land to improve the channel of the Roding, to make a navigable

highway from Barking to Ilford, and to reimburse their expenditure by a levy of tolls on those who carry freight over this section of the river. Doubtless this enterprise has been a boon to Ilford and the villages around, and must have been of really more advantage before the advent of the Eastern Counties, now the Great Eastern, Railway. Since the passing of the Act and the improvement of the navigation, building material and manure have been taken along this highway, much to the benefit of builders and farmers. The Thames Conservancy Board, though their powers extend as far as the tide flows, have been content

to leave this portion of the river to Goodman and his successors, acting on the recognised principle that those who receive the revenues should have the responsibilities also.

Morant, in his History of Essex (vol. i., pp. 1, 2), 1768, says:

Near the road leading from Ilford to Barking, on the north west side of the brook which runs across it, are the remains of an ancient Entrenchment; one side of which is parallel with the lane that goes to a farm called Uphall, a second in parallel with the Rodon, and lies near it, the third side looks towards the Thames; the side which runs parallel with the road itself has been almost destroyed by cultivation, though evident traces of it are still discernible. We do not hear that any other fortifications or remains of Antiquity have been discovered here.

This is one of the notable sites on the banks of the river and could tell an interesting tale, if the high mound, called Lavender Mount, could speak and utter what has happened there. Uphall Farm has lately fallen into the hands of the land butcher, and will soon be covered with bricks and mortar. The particular spot which abuts on the river Roding has been purchased by Messrs. Howard and Sons, who will probably erect a chemical factory there. It is expected they will spare the historical mount, if possible.

The fishing fleet, which sailed from the Roding at the commencement of this expiring century, was important and valuable. Near a hundred sail of vessels, smacks, and cutters, which fished on the Doggerbank, in the North Sea, and on the shores of Iceland in the season, had their haven in Barking Creek. The masters of these crafts knew little of technical navigation, but nevertheless could travel the ocean near the Arctic circle without a sextant or any means of proving their location, except such as the planets, and the nature of the bottom afford them. The Barking trawler usually carried five men and three boys, and Bertram in his Harvest of the Sea puts the cost at £12 per week. says that the Hull trawlers cost less, because the crew from the captain downwards shared in the catch, which the Barking men declined to do. This helps to account for the decay of the Barking fishery.

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Even fifty years ago Barking was a busy fishing town, one quarter of which was redolent of dried fish, of tar, of rope, twine, and nets, while sou'westers, oilskins, boots, guernseys, and other articles of nautical apparel, made a brisk business in ship chandlers' stores. There were two seasons when every fisherman