UNCLE IN ENGLAND. 33 



called cat's thorn, and fastened the muslin in 

 front of a table, covered with a white cloth and 

 decorated with festoons of field flowers. This 

 table, on which stood five large bouquets, I found 

 in my room, on returning from my walk. 

 The whole arrangement did credit to their taste. 

 The words were, ' May success crown every 

 action,' 



. I asked my uncle yesterday, whether 

 a considerable change has not been produced in 

 the level of the ocean, by the vast quantity of 

 materials, which he had told us were carried into 

 it by the rivers, and washed away from the coast 

 by the waves. 



He replied, that it was a very natural ques- 

 tion, and shewed that we reflected on what we 

 had learned. " But," said he, " though the 

 quantity of materials which has for ages been 

 accumulating in the sea must be vast, yet when 

 compared with the capacity of the whole ocean, 

 its disparity is so obvious, that it probably can 

 have had no visible effect in elevating the general 

 level of the water. I say the general level, be- 

 cause it is possible, that in the mouths of large 

 rivers, and in narrow seas, it may have had some 

 effect in raising the level of the flood tide ; for 

 the actual volume of water rolled in from the 

 sea continues the same as it was formerly, but 

 the space over which it has to diffuse itself being 



