ON* THE ALLUVIUM OF THE BEDFORD LEVEL. 
83 
tinerringly establislied by the stratum of marine shells, beneath 
the peat, discovered upon making the Eaubrink-Cut ; (see 
stratum 6, section No. 3.) 
Sir W. Dugdale speaking of the early state of the " Level/' 
says, " That this vast level was at first a firm dry land, and not 
annoyed with any extraordinary inundations from the sea, or 
stagnation of the fresh waters, I shall now endeavour to mani- 
fest, which may, perhaps, seem strange to many; but when 
it is well considered that timber trees will not grow and thrive 
where water for the most part stands ; or in moor which by 
lapse of time is increased in such moist places, both the one 
and the other may with much probability be granted (see p. 
171). 
I quite agree with Sir William in regard to the state of the level 
during the growth of those forests, whose remains are still buried 
at various depths ; still I consider that the learned antiquary did 
not revert to a sufficiently early period, when propounding his 
views upon the subject ; for whilst he refers to a period not ne- 
cessarily very remote from the time of the Roman invasion, / 
look back for the earliest state of the level, to the epoch of its 
emergence from the ocean, and of its having become a fresh- 
water lake. Before it could possibly be a " firm dry land'' its 
barrier must have been destroyed and the basin drained ; for 
that it was ^^at first'' a lake, and continued so up to that period, 
none I think will question, who examines, with the eye either of 
a geologist or an engineer, its whole extent, and the high grounds 
that environ it. 
Dr. Stukely promulgated a similar opinion to that of Dugdale, 
and resorted to the aid of the terrific earthquake in accounting- 
for the destruction of these subterranean forests, but had such an 
agent been the means by which they were laid prostrate, abundant 
evidence of such action would have been left, in the disturbance 
of the strata upon which they grew ; but such disturbance cer- 
tainly does not exist. — The Rev. N. De la Pyme, who in 1701 
