( 9^7 ) 
a Srone pit in the Park at Norfolk ; belongs 
ing to Sir Nicolas V Eflrange, in whofe Ciiflody they 
no'.v arc, which were conjediircd to have been buried 
in Earth after a Battle- From whence we may judge 
it a vulgar Miflake- when in the Ruins of old CaBles 
and Walls, wc admire theTenacity of the Mortar, and 
arc apt to praife our Ancefiiors, .for an Art which we 
fuppofe now loft; when doubtlefs the otrength of the 
Cement isowing to the Length of Time : and in future 
Ages our Modern Buildings may obtain the fame Judg- 
ment. 
From all which IniJances, I only defire to infer the 
antient Bate of thefe ClifTs, where thisSceleton was, and 
Shells are daily found, intimately mixt in the Subfiance 
of the Stone, to have^been formerly of a fofter Con- 
fiflence, capable of admitting them into its Bowels, and 
to have immur’d them as part of it felf; and that Earth 
which is now manageable by the Plough, may pofTibly 
in time afTume the fame Denfity, at lead: very little 
below!' the Surface ; for in this very Cliff the upper 
Strata are yet Clay, growing harder as deeper. VVhac 
Creature this has been, for w^ant of a Natural Hiflory 
of Sceletons, W’dl worthy the Endeavours of this So- 
ciety, we cannot pofitively determine; but generally 
find the like to be amphibious or marine Animals. 
Why fuch rather than many others, fliould chance to 
be thus entomb’d, may be thought, becaufe they Were 
able much longer than Terreflrial Animals to live in 
that World of Waters, even till they began to abate 
and fall away into their deflin’d Receptacles; fo that 
while the Bodies of the reflToon perifhing, were cor- 
rupted, and their Bones feparated and difpers’d much 
earlier; thisSceleton, with others of its like, fell entire 
into the Fiflures of this Bed of Clay, which has fince 
turn’d into Stone, and made this noble Monument and 
■ pregnanE 
