PHOLAS DACTYLUS. 485 



CHAPTER LIIL 



PHOLAS DACTYLUS. 



" His bowre is at the bottom of the maine, 

 Within a mighty rock, 'gainst which doe rave 

 The roaring billows in their proud disdaiue : 

 Chafed with the angry working of the wave, 

 Therein is eaten out a hollow cave, 

 That seems as mason's work with engine keen, 

 Had long while labour'd it to engrave : 

 There was his wonue." 



WHOEVER takes the slightest interest in the geological 

 history of this planet, must have been impressed with 

 the conviction, derived from unmistakeable evidence, 

 that important changes are continually in progress 

 between the relative situations of ocean and of the 

 dry land ; that the most ancient continents have been 

 at one time or another submerged beneath the waves ; 

 and that what is now terra firma, by slow, and almost 

 imperceptible submission to its mighty conqueror the 

 sea, is on many parts of our coast yielding ground, 

 inch by inch, before the incessant attacks of so un- 

 relenting an antagonist. The proud and tempest- 

 beaten cliff that beetles o'er the surge, slowly under- 

 mined by unseen and unsuspected agency, at length 

 comes toppling down, encumbering the shore with 



