... on the grassy bank
Some ruminating lie; while others stand
Half in the flood, and, often bending, sip
The circling surface.

Wolmer-pond, so called, I suppose, for eminence sake, is a vast
lake for this part of the world, containing, in its whole
circumference, 2,646 yards, or very near a mile and a half. The
length of the north-west and opposite side is about 704 yards, and
the breadth of the south-west end about 456 yards. This
measurement, which I caused to be made with good exactness,
gives an area of about sixty-six acres, exclusive of a large irregular
arm at the north-east corner, which we did not take into the
reckoning.

On the face of this expanse of waters, and perfectly secure from
fowlers, lie all day long, in the winter season, vast flocks of ducks,
teals, and widgeons, of various denominations; where they preen
and solace, and rest themselves, till towards sunset, when they
issue forth in little parties (for in their natural state they are all
birds of the night) to feed in the brooks and meadows; returning
again with the dawn of the morning. Had this lake an arm or two
more, and were it planted round with thick covert (for now it is
perfectly naked), it might make a valuable decoy.

Yet neither its extent, nor the clearness of its water, nor the resort
of various and curious fowls, nor its picturesque groups of cattle,
can render this meer so remarkable as the great quantity of coins
that were found in its bed about forty years ago. But, as such
discoveries more properly belong to the antiquities of this place, I