Page:Highways and Byways in Lincolnshire.djvu/461

 At about this time the plague raged at Boston, 1585, and broke out again in 1603. Boston and Frampton had, as the Registers show, suffered an unusual mortality in 1568-9. The water was not good, and as late as 1783 a boring to a depth of 478 feet was made in a vain search for a better supply. The town was at that time supplied from the west fen through wooden pipes.

Hussey's Tower, Boston.

Hallam, the historian, and Professor John Conington, whose monuments are in the church, were both of Boston families, as was also Jean Ingelow; and the statue near the church preserves the memory of John Ingram, Member of Parliament for the town, and founder of the Illustrated London News. Saunders tells us that Oliver Cromwell lay at Boston the night before he fought the battle of Winceby, near Horncastle, October 10, 1643. He must have been up betimes, for a crow couldn't make the distance less than sixteen miles, and fen roads at that time were a caution.

Boston is a great centre for the fen farmers, and, as at Peterborough, you may see and hear in the market much that is original. It was at Peterborough that the "converted" sailor made his famous petition when asked to do a bit of praying in the open: "O Lord! bless this people! bless their fathers and mothers! and bless the children! O Lord bless this