The history and antiquities of Boston, and the villages of Skirbeck, Fishtoft, Freiston, Butterwick, Benington, Leverton, Leake, and Wrangle; comprising the hundred of Skirbeck, in the county of Lincoln. Including also a history of the East, West, and Wildmore fens, and copious notices of the Holland or Haut-Huntre fen ... sketches of the geology, natural history, botany, and agriculture of the district; a very extensive collection of archaisms and provincial words, local dialect, phrases, proverbs, omens, superstitions, etc. By Pishey Thompson. Illustrated with one hundred engravings.

GEOLOGY OF THE DISTRICT. 665
limestone, with the lines of stratification thrown up at a high angle, whilst the peat
surrounding it is as horizontal as water, and which may be seen in the road between
Tattershall and Ashby de la Launde." 1
There is a long and very interesting description of a submarine forest, below
Sutton and Huttoft, on the Lincolnshire coast, in No. 481 of the " Philosophical
Transactions." This locality was visited, in 1796, by Dr. De SERREA and Sir
JOSEPH BANKS. It appears, that the land there formerly extended much farther
into the sea than it does at present, and that the remains of this forest are
visible, and in part left bare, at low water, along the whole of the coast from
Skegness to Grimsby, particularly atAddlethorpe and Mablethorpe. The varieties
of timber which are yet distinguishable are birch, fir, and oak. The soil to
which the trees are fixed, and in which they grew, is a soft greasy clay, but for
many inches above that the soil is composed of decayed leaves and other
vegetable matter. The water on the outside of the banks which the forest has
formed, deepens very suddenly.
The whole appearance of the vegetable soil, which is found here, so perfectly
agrees with that found in other parts of the level, as to justify the idea of their
being formed by similar circumstances. Dr. DE SERREA agrees with DUGDALE
in attributing the overwhelming of the forest to an earthquake, and says, " It
would be impossible for any of these trees or shrubs to vegetate so near the sea,
and below the common level of its waters; the waves would cover such tracts of
land, and hinder vegetation." Undoubtedly they would, if not kept out. But
what is there, in this account, in the least incompatible with the theory which
we have endeavoured to establish? Supposing the land here to have had the
same formation as that of the remainder of the district, it would evidently be
gained from the sea, by the same means that the Romans employed to gain a
part; and, although the soil itself might be below high-water mark, still vegetation would take place upon it, if it were protected from the inroads of the
ocean. The trees growing there would be overwhelmed by the same catastrophe
that overwhelmed the rest, let that have been caused by what it may, whether
by neglect of the banks, or by the destruction of them by an enemy. It evidently appears, by these trees off the coast now being bare, that the sea, from
some cause or other, has not accumulated any super-stratum of silt or clay upon
them, and, therefore, when the banks were repaired, the whole of this land was
given up to the ocean; as, in consequence of its being left bare and low, it could
only have been recovered by extraordinary labour and expense.
Speaking of submarine forests, Sir CHARLES LYELL says,"I have already hinted that the explanation of some of these may be sought in the
encroachment of the sea in estuaries, and the varying levels of the tides at different periods,
on the same parts of our coasts."
Mr. ELSTOBB had, previously, entertained the same idea.
The following account of digging a well at Sutton, by Mr. JosimA SEARBY,
shows, that the sea did accumulate soil to the thickness of sixteen feet upon the
land now inclosed, which additional height would be a sufficient inducement to
those who had the management of the repairs of the banks to attempt the
regaining of that portion of the land from the sea which was so covered, and to
abandon the rest.
1 We beg to disclaim any undue tenacity of of the geology ofthe district. We cannot accept of
opinion upon this subject, being quite ready to occult or hidden causes, when we think the uniabandon our theory whenever we are convinced that versally and constantly operating general ones are
it is not adequate to account for all the phenomena adequate to produce the result.
4Q