82 



A HISTORY OF 



bottom of the water. One of the most con- 

 siderable inundations we have in history, is 

 that which happened in the reign of Henry I. 

 which overflowed the estates of the Earl 

 Godwin, and forms now that bank called the 

 Goodwin Sands. In the year 1546, a similar 

 irruption of the sea destroyed a hundred thou- 

 sand persons in the territory of Dort; and yet 

 a greater number round Dullart. In Friez- 

 land, and Zealand, there were more than 

 three hundred villages overwhelmed ; and 

 their remains continue still visible at the bot- 

 tom of the water in a clear day. The Baltic 

 Sea has, by slow degrees, covered a large 

 part of Pomerania ; and, among others, de- 

 stroyed and overwhelmed the famous port of 

 Vineta. In the same manner, the Norwegian 

 Sea has formed several little islands from the 

 main land, and still daily advances upon the 

 continent. The German Sea has advanced 

 upon the shores of Holland, nearCatt; so 

 that the ruins of an ancient citadel of the 

 Romans, which was formerly built upon this 

 coast, are now actually under water. To 

 these accidents several more might be added ; 

 our own historians, and those of other coun- 

 tries, abound with them; almost every flat 

 shore of any extent being able to show some- 

 thing that it has lost, or something that it has 

 gained from the sea. 



There are some shores on which the sea 

 has made temporary depredations ; where it 

 has overflowed, and after remaining perhaps 

 some ages, it has again retired of its own 

 accord, or been driven back by the industry 

 of man." There are many lands in Norway, 

 Scotland, and the Maldivia islands, that are 

 at one time covered with water, and at ano- 

 ther free. The country round the Isle of 

 Ely, in the times of Bedc, about a thousand 

 years ago, was one of the most delightful 

 spots in the whole kingdom. It was not only 

 richly cultivated, and produced all the neces- 

 saries of life, but grapes also that afforded 

 excellent wine. The accounts of that time 

 are copious in the description of its verdure 

 and fertility ; its rich pastures, covered with 

 flowers and herbage; its beautiful shades, 

 and wholesome air. But the sea breaking in 

 upon the land, overwhelmed the whole coun- 



1 Buffon, vol. ii. p. 425. 



try, took possession of the soil, and totally 

 destroyed one of the most fertile valleys in 

 the world. Its air, from being dry and health- 

 ful, from that time became most unwhole- 

 some, and clogged with vapours; and the 

 small part of the country that, by being 

 higher than the rest, escaped the deluge, 

 was soon rendered uninhabitable, from its 

 noxious vapours. Thus this country con- 

 tinued under water for some centuries; till, 

 at last, the sea, by the same caprice which 

 had prompted its invasions, began to aban- 

 don the earth in like manner. It has con- 

 tinued for some ages to relinquish its former 

 conquests; and although the inhabitants can 

 neither boast the longevity, nor the luxuries 

 of their former preoccupants, yet they find 

 ample means of subsistence ; and if they hap- 

 pen to survive the first years of their resi- 

 dence there, they are often known to arrive 

 at a good old age. 



But although history be silent as vo many 

 other inundations of the like kind, where the 

 sea has overflowed the country, and after- 

 wards retired, yet we have numberless testi- 

 monies of another nature, that prove it be- 

 yond the possibility of a doubt : I mean those 

 numerous trees that are found buried at 

 considerable depths in places where either 

 rivers or the sea has accidentally overflown. 1 ' 

 At the mouth of the river Ness, near Bruges, 

 in Flanders, at the depth of fifty feet, are 

 found great quantities of trees lying as close 

 to each other as they do in a wood : the 

 trunks, the branches, and the leaves, are in 

 such perfect preservation, that the particular 

 kind of each tree may instantly be known. 

 About five hundred years ago, this very 

 ground was known to have been covered by 

 the sea; nor is there any history or tradition 

 of its having been dry ground, which we can 

 have no doubt must have been the case. 

 Thus we see a country flourishing in verdure, 

 producing large forests, and trees of various 

 kinds, overwhelmed by the sea. We see this 

 element depositing its sediment to a height 

 of fifty feet; and its waters must, therefore, 

 have risen much higher. We see the same, 

 after it hathus overwhelmed and sunk the 

 land so deep beneath its slime, capriciously 



b Buffon, vol. ii. p. 403. 



