For actions, such as I liave described, unlimited time is, 

 I need not. say, required; but, that given, from the planed 

 down surface of land emerging from the sea, wc get the earth in its 

 present form, with its infinite variety of mountain and valley, 

 hill and dale. 



Of course there are volcanic, and other forces, that aid 

 in the construction of the earth's surface, but they lack the 

 universality and ceaseless operation of rain, and there is no 

 time to speak of them now. 



It is to the eroding action of rain, that we owe, in the 

 main, the present features of "the great dragon land." 



ONE more phase, in tiie life history of the area we are 

 considering, I have still to I'ecord, 



After the chalk sea had disappeared, and the Tertiary 

 age, — which may be called the latter days of geology, — had set 

 in, the land underwent, for a great length of time, varying 

 periods of elevation, subsidence, and rest ; during which the 

 North Sea appeared, and the principal physical features of our 

 islands were developed : but, in the later Pleistocene epoch, — a 

 period approaching our own days in a geological sense, — a 

 great change took place. T'.e eilaeial conditions, which now 



prevail in the arctic regions, gradually invaded our land. The 

 whole country sank to a considerable depth below its present 

 level, and a great porlion of Lincolnshire \\-as covered with 

 floating ice, which scored the rocks, and poured on its surface 

 volumes of mud and clay, mixed with stones and boulders, 

 which now pave the streets and market places of Gainsborough 

 ;ind Lincoln. And when, at last, all this had passed away, 



and the land had risen again to the surface, a period of sub- 

 sidence once more set in. The North Sea, — which had come into 

 existence prior to the invasion of the ice, but had, durin<^ this 

 period, been filled up with its debris, — again resumed its SAvay. 

 Our land, in course of tinie, became separated from the 



