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Geology of Blackdown Hills and Dartmoors

ceeded the usual flush of nature; also as I stood at the mouth of the cavern, I saw a tall, slender old man, coming out of the gloomy recesses, whose visage was a light carmine, the colour probably the effect of some peculiar essence arising from the bowels of the earth. The men behaved well, rationally replied to my interrogatories, and assisted me in procuring fossils, which consisted of several clumps and groups of univalves and bivalves, small white nodules of different sizes, round as marbles; trigonia aliformis, figformed alcyonite, poppi-formed alcyo. nite, and lemon-shaped alcyonite; this last so exactly resembled the lemon, that some fine specimens I possess, would, at a short distance, be mistaken for them. The sand-stone containing the fossils was so damp, that with little exertion I could break it asunder with my hands to sort out the shells, and applying them to my mouth, by the taste appeared to retain their original sea-salt quality. This vast mass and beds of marine substances were thrown up from the sea in the progress of the deluge, and is a totally distinct sea-deposit from that at Halsdown, at only a comparative short distance, the fossil species and variety are manifestly different; the spacious and lofty Woodbury Common lies between them, in which are no marine fossils, and clearly evinces was never the bottom of the sea, as I have ́examined more than ten times over, the greatest depths that have been penetrated in this common, and could never discover a relict of them. The Blackdown sand-stone deposit is very abrupt, and appears of greater length than breadth, and was lifted up from the ocean from a north-eastern direction.

On the Dartmoor mountainous country to the west of Blackdown, I passed several days amidst the rocks and the tors, which display a grand representation of the wreck of the Antediluvian world, exhibiting numberless rocks of all sizes scattered for many miles round, and the natural effects of causes produced by the Noachim deluge. This wild spot, composed of huge primitive granite rocks, the mighty diluvian storms powerfully assailed, shattered, and dispersed in every direction as the flood prevailed; and the returning waters passing over them, the sediments and

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deposits of earth brought on a regular
surface, but not of a sufficient thick-
ness to cover all the fragments and
detached pieces of rocks, so that the
uppermost that remained are left in
view at this present day; and some
bulky pieces have been replaced by the
ancient inhabitants into tors, ill-
shaped, rude temples, pagan idols, and
one of the most conspicuous is Bow-
man's Nose Tor. Deluc seemed quite
puzzled respecting these rocks, and
declared he could assign no other
cause than that they were catastro-
phes of the strata," whereas it is plain
they were never stratified. Deluc
passed rapidly by them, with little
time for investigation; though he was
assisted by the clergy, having a letter
of recommendation from the Bishop
of Exeter to all the rectors, vicars,
and curates of his diocese, who re-
ceived him courteously, and escorted
him from place to place, and he ex-
pressed much delight that they all ac-
quiesced in his opinions; he taught
them geology in half an hour, and
left them all philosophers. With re-
ference to the above, it will be seen
that I do not coincide with the modern
philosophy, that the land which now
appears was ever the bottom of the
sea;
for I reckon that, were the present
watery ocean to recede and the bot-
tom be left exposed, the shell animals
would soon expire, and all be found
on or near the surface, and not hun-
dreds of feet below; and posterity
would not receive from the parts de-
serted by the sea any complete and
perfect bivalves; for all bivalves sepa-
rate their valves immediately, or a
very short time after the fish dies;
whereas being thrown up alive in-
closed in their shells, and deposited in
their native sea-sand, they are con-
fined in their natural state, and the
congealed substance hardening, the
shells are fixed and endure for ages.
Mineral conchologists well know there
are plenty of perfect bivalves, petrified
with the fish in them, of which I
possess many. The fossil gryphite,
that singular animal of the old world,
would soon have lost its operculum,
had it not been thrown up and in-
stantly deposited in earthy matter;
whereas they are now met with in
plenty, with the operculum and fish
inclosed, perfect and in high preserva-
tion. Besides, the cructaceous tribe
would have been entirely annihilated;

1831.]

Geological Effects of the Deluge.

for even among the marine fossils we now collect, they are comparatively few to the testaceous, which are of a harder substance.

The operations of the mosaical deluge and its effects produced, were adequate to cause the formation and present appearance of all the strata and organic remains on every part of the globe, for the whole world remains as permanent now, and unaltered, as it was at that period, except the shifting of a few acres of land by earthquakes, or volcanic motions and eruptions. If the rivers run a hogshead of water into the ocean in one place, the clouds give another for it; or if the tempestuous surges remove a small portion of ground in one part, it equally accumulates in another part. The waters at the deluge, in coming on and retreating over deep valleys, would be repeatedly filled with earthy matter, shells, stones, &c.; these layers formed several distinct strata, one over the other, and in process of time internal essences and other causes would have produced different appearances between the higher strata and the lower; also the returning waters of the flood would have occasioned deposits of a various character from that which occurred at the first overflowing of the sea. The flux and reflux also of overwhelming tides would have brought large portions of marine substances, and produce various strata. As the waters increased the land gradually disappeared; at length so narrowed, that herds and flocks of beasts, savage and tame, affrighted and pursued by the rolling element, fled, as a last retreat, into the inmost recesses of solitary caverns, unconscious of their approaching and fatal destiny, with only a transient respite from the dashing waves which choaked them, leaving their bones in heaps, entombed in rocky sepulchres; which unrecorded ancient monuments of quadruped memory, remained silent and untouched from age to age, till recently explored and disturbed, they have afforded matter for curious investigation. With the mud and sand, pieces of rocks of various sizes were thrown up in masses from the sea, with the fossil shells attached to them. I have often met with, and now have by me, flat pieces of rocks with a number of fossil shells of the same family arranged on them, and to which a much higher anti

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quity is assigned by some than they are entitled to. The foundations of the earth were shaken, and in this universal earthquake, stupendous masses of earth must have fallen on and squashed forests of vast extent, and the torrents of water pouring in at the same time caused an additional humidity to the vegetable quality; and perhaps also attended by internal essences, would ultimately be converted to coal, and be covered by successive deposits of earth. The Bradley coal mine in Staffordshire, presents, I believe, upwards of twenty varieties of strata above the coal, which were certainly contemporary, and not the effect of eternal ages. The innumerable animals of all descriptions being dead, (those in the Ark excepted,) floating and tossing about with a profusion of marine creatures and substances, portions fell into cavities and fissures of the most elevated rocks and loftiest mountains; also on the plains, valleys, and deepest abysses, which are now perpetually discovered, and become objects of extravagant speculations to many who assume to ascribe preposterous and ancient periods from the strata and organic remains, which is not in the least to be depended on; for of the nature and principles of petrifaction we know little; on this subject philosophy is in the dark. Some fossils come before us that we suppose have been four thousand years in arriving to a silex quality; whilst we observe substances that have been petrified to an adamantine stone in less than twelve months. Alonso Barba records instances of waters that have produced petrifactions in a few days. I have examined fossils of the lizard species, that were perfect and not shrivelled by petrifaction; these must have been instantaneously excluded from the atmospherical air, fixed, and induration followed. I have in my possession a fossil tortoise; the outside shell has passed into an agate flint, and the internal part beautiful translucent chalcedony of a rose colour; this was found in a chalk and limestone stratum at Beer (Devon).

It is nothing surprising that we have found such quantities of organic remains, and are daily finding more, when it is considered that the occurrence of a few days destroyed such incalculable multitudes of living creatures, and enveloped them, together

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Organic Remains.—Author of "Choheleth."

with the debris and relics of near two thousand years, in a solution of water and earth; and the waters of the flood being fifteen cubits above the highest mountains, the whole surface of the globe must more or less be impregnated with marine qualities. The organic remains, shells, and those present constitute one relative character, and before they were disturbed at the deluge composed one body; but the commotion at the flood threw up distinct beds of them, which are now distinguished by the name of organic remains; but I consider that the larger and more splendid portion continued in their original state, as I have never observed any fossil shells that appeared to me equal in beauty, elegance, and workmanship, to many of the present ones; especially the Venus Gnidia, and Buccinum Costatum, which last Mr. Perry, in his Conchology, says, "may be regarded as one of the most laboured of nature's works, as it presents to the eye circumstances of high finishing which an artist can by no means easily imitate, or convey to the mind by any laboured description."

The variety of fossil shells increasing, ingenious men have now arranged them under a special classification. The rarity of some of our present shells may be attributed to the small number left behind at the deluge, for had only half a dozen remained, they would consequently propagate and continue augmenting; and indeed we find it exemplified at this moment; for many shells that were formerly of extreme rarity, are now more plentiful, and there are often discovered what are denominated new shells, because not known before, but though concealed so long, are as ancient as the oyster and cockle; and it is not impossible, though perhaps improbable, that some shells now supposed to be extinct may yet remain concealed at the bottom of some remote and deep sea.

It is quite appalling to those who place unshaken and implicit confidence in the authenticity, inspiration, and authority of the Old and New Testament, to notice the dangerous speculations now promulgated, which boldly insinuate that the globe we now inhabit is to endure to all eternity.

Whilst I regret the support these sentiments receive from some popular

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critics, it is some relief to find them called in question by the following paragraph in a late publication, viz.:

"Mr. Lyell seems to thirst for an antiquity of this earth, even greater than that which is indicated by geological phenomena themselves. When he maintains, after Hutton, that we see in geology, as in astronomy, no mark either of the commencement or of the termination of the present order, he appears to forget that the geological series, long and mysterious as it is, has still a beginning. Were masses produced from previous continents and seas, stocked with their respective inhabitants? If so, what is become of the remnants of these continents, and why do we not see them? And where are the remains of the shell-fish and plants, which, according to analogy, thus asserted, lived at that distant period?" *

Yours, &c.

MR. URBAN,

S. WOOLMER.

Jan. 12.

AN allusion in your number for December, p. 482, to the author of "Choheleth," as a Turkey merchant, mentioned in Wesley's journal as the same person who was at Lisbon during the great earthquake, induces me to mention that my copy of "An Account of the late dreadful earthquake and fire, which destroyed the city of Lisbon, the metropolis of Portugal, in a letter from a merchant resident there, to his friend in England; London, 1755," dated at Marvilla, Nov. 20, 1755, has attached to in MS. the name of Davy; which seems to have been inserted, as appears by a reference annexed, in consequence of the account in Gregory's Encyclopædia, art. Earthquake, extracted in part "from a volume of letters by the Rev. Mr. Davy;" whether through Mr. Davy or his publisher any farther information in regard to the identity of the writer of the poem or the narrative, may be obtained, may be doubtful. This hint may possibly at least afford a clue to such inquiry; it also affords an opportunity of remarking, that, in the remark cited from Wesley, there is a remarkable proof of that loose, and therefore dangerous, incaution in description and relation which is but too common amongst writers of the same class; for he mentions that the life of the party was saved by being blocked up in the house by the fall of

* British Critic, Jan. 1831, page 202.

1831.]

Dr. Johnson and Bruce.--Naval Tactics.

part of it, whilst "all who had run out were dashed to pieces by the falling houses." Now this was not the fact. No such remarkable interposition happened. He expressly mentions two servants wounded, one of whom most injured is again mentioned repeatedly in the course of the interesting narrative: he even " helped her out of the rubbish, and the other servant went for assistance: and she ultimately, as well as the man, escaped, and was not dashed to pieces; nor was the preservation of the narrator effected by his confinement in, but by his escape at last from the ruins of the house.” Historical truth should never be sacrificed for the sake of pathos: to "point a moral, or adorn a tale." G. L.

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Major HEAD's mistake about Dr. Johnson and Bruce (December, p. 482) may be satisfactorily explained thus: -In 1789, the Voyage to Abyssinia, translated from Lobo, was republished with other tracts of Dr. Johnson, by Elliot and Kay of the Strand, in an octavo volume of 500 pages. The editor, Mr. George Gleig of Stirling, who inscribes the work to Arthur Murphy, has prefixed a General Preface, wherein is the following sentence: "The public, indeed, has reason to expect soon, a full account of that country from the pen of the celebrated traveller, Mr. Bruce, &c." Then follows Dr. Johnson's preface to the translation; and as no other dates appear to the volume except the year "1789," as above; and “Stirling, Dec. 1, 1788,” at the foot of Mr. Gleig's dedicatory inscription to Arthur Murphy, it is possible the Major might have taken this as a posthumous work of Dr. Johnson, and was altogether ignorant of its having been published so long ago as 1735. Yours, &c. I. H. H.

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Since that I have stumbled on a passage in Polybius which distinctly goes to prove neither one or the other are entitled to the claim of invention; and I cannot do better than give it to you in the words of Mr. Hamilton. Speaking of the battle of Drepanum between the Carthagenians and the Romans, amongst other reasons which he gives for the loss of the battle, by the latter, he states as follows:

“They were quite deprived of the advantage, the greatest that is known in naval bat. tles, of sailing through the squadron of the enemy, and of attacking in stern the ships that were already engaged with others."

Thus then it appears that what we claim as a discovery, was well known to the ancients more than two thousand years ago; for the account given, and the expressions used, are so exceedingly fitting to the case in point, that there can be no doubt as to his meaning.

Should the above quotation not appear conclusive, I have little doubt of being able to furnish you with corroborative evidence written 260 years before Polybius; for I am much mistaken if several similar passages are not to be found in Thucydides. Yours, &c.

MR. URBAN,

C.

Jan. 11.

NO one who is at all versed in researches of a genealogical nature, will have failed to observe and deplore the difficulty of ascertaining the dates of the births, marriages, and deaths of the wives and younger children of our ancient English families. This remark is not confined to those who lay claim simply to the appellation of gentry, but comprehends the very highest personages of the realm; many of whom have appeared on the stage of life, and made their exit, without leaving any record to attest the period of either event. The only immediate evidence of such dates, prior to the institution of parish registers, are wills, inquisitions, and monuments; and if these exist not, the genealogist is compelled to undertake a weary and often fruitless search through the accumulated series of MS. collections; a task of such labour, that there are few who have zeal or perseverance sufficient to set about it.

These reflections, familiar to me from my own ill-success in similar inquiries, have been now called forth by the perusal of the Wardrobe

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The Children of King Edward IV.

and Privy Purse Accounts of King Edward the Fourth and Elizabeth of York, recently edited by N. H. Nicolas, Esq. In the introductory remarks to that publication, are some useful biographical memoranda relative to the children of Edward the Fourth; but singular to remark, the exact dates of the births of most of them, either rest on conjecture, or are altogether unknown. But as many of your readers, perhaps, will agree with me, that any illustration, however slight, which has escaped the researches of one so well versed in genealogy as the Editor of the above publication, is worthy of preservation, I beg leave to subjoin the copy of some entries touching the births of King Edward's children, which may partly serve to supply the deficiency complained of. The volume I transcribe from is No. 6113 of the Additional MSS. in the British Museum, and once perhaps belonged to the College of Arms, as might be conjectured from a note at the end, addressed to some nobleman not named, in the following terms

"I praye yo L. thinck that no gould

o' fee could move me to have sent these bookes out of my custodie, but yor Love ouly, requiring that yor L. will peruse and send them presently agayne to my office : this 9 December, 1588.-Will'm Detheck, Garter principall Kinge of Armes."

At the commencement is Sir Robert Cotton's autograph, with the following note, "This book I bought of Chalanor," meaning Jacob Chaloner, a collector of the reign of James the First, who on the death of Philip Holland, Portcullis Pursuivant, petitioned for his situation, (see Noble's Hist. Coll. of Arms, p. 392, n). Among some memoranda in Sir R. Cotton's own hand-writing I have seen, it appears that this Jacob Chaloner was in pos

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session of Sir Gilbert Dethick's MSS. some of which, with the one I am now describing, were purchased of him, and a few returned, on account of some scruples arising as to their being office books. At the period of the fire in 1731, this volume seems to have been lost from the Cotton library, and subsequently passed into the hands of the elder Anstis. From Anstis it went to Mr. Gough, and at the sale of the library of Mr. G. in 1810, it was restored to the Cotton collection.

This volume contains a mass of very valuable information concerning the ceremonials used at the coronations, christenings, and creations of princes and nobles, from the reign of Henry the Fifth to that of Elizabeth, inclusive; independent of various other documents more immediately relative to the officers of the College of Arms. The principal portion of it seems to have been written by Sir Gilbert Dethick, Richmond Herald, and subsequently Garter King of Arms, in the reigns of Henry VIII., Edward VI., and Elizabeth, with additions by William Colburn, Rougedragon and York Herald, and others. Having stated thus briefly the nature of this MS. I proceed to copy the memoranda which occasioned these remarks, inserted on folio 48, b.

"Kinge Edward the iiijth, childerne.

"Ao D'ni M1 iiije and lxiiij,1 xj febr'. ao 1465. There was Borne At Westmester The lady Elizabeth Dolffenesse of Fraunce, And Christened in the Abbay churche By the Archebusshoppe of yorke.

Ao D'ni M1 iiije and 2 Was Borne My lady Mary.

Ao D'ni M iiije & 3 Was Borne My lady Cycill' Princes of Scottes.

Ao D'ni M1 iiije lxx a° x E.iiijti in No

uembre.

The Seconde Day of Novembre was

The date has here been filled up by a second hand, and confirms that stated on her monument, adopted by Mr. Nicolas, p. xxxi. Sandford is certainly in error. The title of Dolphiness," as well as that beneath of "Princess of Scottes," may serve to prove that these memoranda were made by a contemporary.

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2 Left blank. Mr. Nicolas supplies the date, which was August 1466. She died May 23, 1482, aged fifteen years and nine months. It was, most probably, the body of this Princess, which in 1810, was discovered, together with that of her brother George, in making an excavation at the east end of St. George's Chapel, Windsor; although Mr. Lysons, partly from the errors in Sandford, and partly from the appearance of the body, seems to doubt it. See his Berkshire, p. 471.

3 Left blank. The time of her birth is not yet ascertained, although it must have taken place between August 1466, and the early part of 1470. Sandford (whom Mr. Nicolas follows) states she died and was buried at Quarera, i. e. Quarre Abbey, near Newport, in the Isle of Wight; and if the muniments of that religious house are still in existence, perhaps some light might be thrown on this subject.

4 Sandford says on the 4th of November, and Mr. Nicolas on the 14th.

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