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Show 192 BURIAL OF 'l'IIE REMAINS CnAP. IV. earth brought up by insects, and some accumulation of dust, much fine earth will have been washed over the ruins from the upper I arts of the fielu, since it has been und r cultivation ; and from over the ruins to the lower parts of the slope ; the present · thic1·ness of the mould being the resultant of thesn several agencies. I may here append a modern instance of the sinking of a pavement, communicated to me in 1871 by Mr. Ramsay, Director of the Geological Survey of England. A. passa()'e without a roof, 7 feet in length by 3 feet 2 inches in width, led from his house iuto the garden, and was paved with slabs of Portland stone. Several of these slabs were 1 G inc1JCs square, others larger, and some a little s1naller. This pavement had subsided about 3 inches along the middle of the passage, an<l two inches on each side, as could be seen by the lines of cement by which the slabs had been originally joined to the walls. The pavement had thus become slightly concave along the rniddle; but there was no subsidence at the end close to the house. Mr. Ramsay CnAr. IV. OF ANCIENT BUILDINGS. 193 could not account for this sinking, until he observed that castings of black mould were frequently ejected along the lines of junction between the s1abs; and these castings were regularly swept away. The several lines of junction, including those with the lateral walls, were altogether 3 9 feet 2 inches in lcngtli. The pavement did not present the appearance of ever having been renewed, and the house was believed to have been built about eighty-seven years ao-o. ConsidOJ ·ing all these circumstances, M~. Ramsay does not doubt that the earth brought up by the worms since the pavement was first laid down, or rather since the decay of the mortar allowed the worms to burrow through it, and therefore within a much shorter time than the eighty- even years, has sufficed to cause the sinking of the pavement to the above amount except close to tl1e house, where the ground' Leneath would have been kept nearly dry. B eaulieu Abbey, 1-Iampsltire.-This abbey was de troyed by Henry VIII., and there now remains only a portion of the southern aisle-wall. It is believed that the king had most of the stones carried away for building 0 |