444 



Every one mufl have feen heaps of brick, when left long undif- 

 turbed, (the objeft for which they were burned being abandoned; 

 gradually cover themfelves with grafs, and change apparently into green 

 mounts. — I faw the fame happen to a cargo of coals, in the garden of my 

 late friend, Hodgson Gage, whofe death prevented their being touched 

 for many years. I do not know more perifhable materials than each 

 of thefe. The reader is to determine whether, according to Dr. Mutton's 

 opinion, they would have found their way to the unfathomable regions 

 of the ocean, or by the fuperinduced covering, were arrefled on the 

 fpot for ever. 



It has been deemed extraordinary, that the Ctes of Babylon, and 

 other great cities of antiquity, cannot now be determined. This arifes 

 from the irreCftible propenfity of nature, to clothe herfelf with foil, 

 and verdure ; for, as foon as the perpendicular buildings coUapfe into 

 ruins, a foil and grafs covers them, and then, 



Priami Paridisque busto 



Insultat annentum. 



It is this vegetable foil (which is, as it were, the advanced guard) 

 that alone fuftains the attacks of the numerous enemies, which, ac- 

 cording to both Dr. Hutton and Mr. Playfair, combine their efforts 

 to carry off our world to the unfathomable regions of the ocean. — 

 All depredations committed upon our furface, are at the expence 

 of this foil ; its abrafions difcolour our rivers in a flood, and are the 

 fource of all our muddy depofitions ; the original earth is rarely en- 

 croached upon, except in a few gullies and ravines of little confe- 

 quence. 



Fortunately this protefting coat is as eafily replaced, as it is taken 

 away, or in Mr. Playfairh words, is augmented from other caufes jufi 

 at much as it is diminijhed. 



Wc 



