S38 L I V 
contrary; bnt that they fliould actually have grown m 
the Tea, between high and low water marks, is utterly fo, 
As the changes of the circumftances of this forelt mull 
have been effected principally, though perhaps not wholly, 
by tile river Merfey and the fea, it fee ms neceffary to di- 
reft fome attention to thofe two objefts, and the probable 
alterations made by time. It does not feem unpldlofo- 
phicai to fuppofe that rivers are not all equally ancient, 
and that we are not obliged to refer them to any given 
point of time, as the Hood, or the creation ; for, as new 
1 ’prings may iffue from the mountains, fo may they, in a 
feries of ages, become the fources of very confiderabie ri¬ 
vers ; but, if this cannot be the fate of every fpt'ing, yet 
it is- very probable that it is fo of many. In their earlier 
days, as their channels are fmall, fo muft be their open¬ 
ings into the fea, giving little opportunity for thofe greater 
devaftations which that powerful element is able to caufe 
after it lias overcome fome temporary obftruflion. The 
imagination can eafily look back into times of remote an¬ 
tiquity, and trace the Merfey, or any other river, from a 
brook, in its feveral ages and gradations, till it has attain¬ 
ed its prefent maturity and greatnefs. But the life of man 
is too fliort to obferve flow and gradual changes; and 
therefore we muft naturally and properly refer the firftex- 
iftence of large rivers to the earlieft ages of the world ; but 
it does not hence follow that great changes may not have 
been made at their junction with the ocean at a much 
later period, and that fuch changes, when begun, may not 
have advanced with great rapidity. 
Whoever will furvey that part of the chart of the Irifh 
Sea now called the Liverpool Channel, which compre¬ 
hends the openings or months of the Dee and Merfey, and 
the adjoining (bores, will not find it very difficult to fup- 
pofe, from the violence of the north-weft fea upon this an¬ 
gular and pent-up fituation, that what now forms the 
banks of Burbo and Hoyle may have been land attached 
to the peninfula of Chefhire, and the eaftern banks at¬ 
tached in like manner to Crofby and Formby, with the 
river Merfey quietly running through them, in a narrow 
inconfiderable ftrearn, until fuch time as the fea, having 
once gained an accidental advantage, muft have laid the 
foundation for that large expanfe of water before and 
above the town of Liverpool, which, though bearing the 
name of a river, is in reality a portion of the fea. The 
like, it is probable, happened to the Dee; for, if we go 
a very few miles only up either of thefe apparently-great 
rivers, we (hall not find ftreams that (ball fatisfaftorily of 
themfeives account for fuch bodies of water; and this is 
in fome fort confirmed by the fuccefsful labours of the 
River-Dee Company, who are daily re-gaining the ground 
that the ocean has formerly overwhelmed. The like may 
probably happen at the mouths of all rivers, but in dif¬ 
ferent degrees both as to extent and time. 
We are always reduced to perplexities when we at¬ 
tempt, by force of argument, to prove things that are felf- 
evidenf; and, were it required only to (how that the w'ood 
in queftion has in part buffered from .the inundation, or 
rather incroachment, of the fea, it would be fufficient to 
direft the curious to view it; but that the banks were 
formerly land, attached to Chefhire and Lancafhire, is an 
opinion that requires fome fupport, which the fituation 
and prefent circumftances of this ancient afiemblage of 
large trees confiderably afford. This opinion feems far¬ 
ther confirmed by the fame appearance of old trees, now 
to be feen, in Chefhire, cppcfite to the banks of Hoyle, 
which was moft probably only a continuation of the fame 
forelt; with the Merfey hardly making a vifible divifion 
of it, perhaps fordable, or not too large for a bridge, and 
whole union with the fea muft liave been confiderably be¬ 
yond what it now is. If this opinion fliould be thought 
to want (till farther confirmation, we need but direft our 
attention to the fate of the property and eftates of earl 
Godwin ; which, in the courfe of a few centuries only, 
have been as wonderfully converted from dry land into 
L I V 
thofe immenfe fands and banks, the dread of mariners, fo 
well-known by the name of the Goodwin Sands. 
It would be difficult to afeertain at what period the fea 
deftroyed fo confiderabie a portion of this wood ; but, for 
fuch parts as were referved for other modes of deftruftion, 
fome fatisfattory conje&ures may he formed,as they were 
probably exifting in a flourifhing ftate about the time of 
the Roman conquefts in Britain. Before war and blood¬ 
ied acquired a rank amongft the arts and fciences, and 
geometry and chemiitry had taught civilized nations how 
to effeCt a fpeedier extermination of the human race, each 
barbarous nation had a mode of attack and defence pecu¬ 
liar to itfelf. In the rude ages of Britain, its inhabitants 
not only found great fecurity from their numerous and 
aim oft impenetrable woods, but could greatly annoy their 
invaders from their ambufcaaes at favourable junctures • 
which was found fo detrimental to the progrefs of con- 
queft, that the Romans determined on, and accomplifhed, 
the deftruCtion of moft of the forefts in the ifland, and 
particularly fuch as were in mo fly or boggy fituations, 
fometimes by the axe, but generally by fire, and thus fe- 
cured a quiet poffeffon of Britain for fome centuries. 
Suetonius Paulinus, at the time he fubdued the ifle of 
Anglefey, ordered all the forefts to be cut down ; and, 
though hiftorians do not inform us of the extent of the 
execution of this order, yet it is moft probable that it 
fliould comprehend not only the immediate objeCt of con- 
queft, but alfo its neighbourhood ; in which Chefhire and 
the lov^er parts of Lancafhire muft certainly be included. 
This conjecture receives confiderabie confirmation from 
the great age of the wood, which is now as black as ebony, 
which it very much refembles, though evidently oak ; as 
well as from the moft unequivocal marks of their deftruc- 
tion being wilful, not only from the apparent labours of 
the axe, but from the great quantity left to perifh where 
it has been cut down, without applying it to any dome-flic 
or ufeful purpofe; from which confiderations it is molt 
likely that fuch part of this great foreft as efcaped the ra¬ 
vages of the ocean fell a victim to the fury of the Roman 
conqueft. Thofe devaftations. were, doubtlefs, feverely 
felt and deprecated by the then inhabitants of this ifland'; 
but thefe feemingly-great evils laid the foundation for 
that general clearance of the country fo neceffary for the 
unreftrained progrefs of agriculture, which has been the 
hie fling of future ages. Zoologic Mag. vol. iii. Britijh Di¬ 
rectory, vol. iii. Monthly Mag. vol. xiv. and xxix. Enfield's Hijt, 
cj Liverpool. Aikin's Defer, of the Country 40 Miles round Man- 
chejler. 
LIV'ERPOOL, a town on the fouth fide of the bay of 
Fundy, in Queen’s county, Nova Scotia, fettled from New 
England. Between this town and Annapolis lies a confi¬ 
derabie lake, called Roffgnol. It is thirty-two miles 
north-eaft of Shelburne, and fifty-eight north-weft o'. Ha¬ 
lifax ; and was formerly called Port Roffgnol. 
_ LIV'ERSEDGE, a townffiip of Yorkfhire, in the weft 
riding : five miles north-eaft of Huddersfield. 
LIVE'SA, a town of France, in the department of the 
Eaft Pyrenees: twenty-one miles fouth-weil of Prades, 
and four north-eaft of Puycerda. 
LIV'ERY, f. [from livrer , Fr.] The aft of giving or 
t aking pofleffion : 
You do wrongfully feize Hereford’s right. 
Call in his letters patents that he hath 
By his atiorneys-general to fue 
His livery, and deny his offered homage. Ska/tefpeare. 
Releafe from wardfhip.—Had the two houfes firft fined out 
their livery, and once effectually redeemed themfeives from 
the wardfhip of the tumults, I fhould then fiufipeft my 
own judgment. King Charles.— The writ by which poffef- 
fion is obtained.—The ftate of being kept at a certain rate. 
—What livery is, we by common ufe in England know 
well enough, namely, that it is an allowance of horfe- 
jpeat; as they commonly ufe the word (tabling, as to keep 
3 - liorfes 
