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The Antiquarians of Cornwall undertake toprove from the authority of old charters andparchments, that a tract of land once extend-ed from St. Michael’s Mount to the south ofPenzance ; a considerable town, they tell us,standing half way between the Land’s-endand the Islands of Scilly 1 , has, with thecircumjacent country, been overwhelmedby the waves. The Causeway of St. Patrickis pointed out to us, in another part of thecoast, as the only memorial, which naturehas left, of a tract of land, which connectedEngland with her sister kingdom, till theconnexion was broken off by the Sea .Conflicting tides are said to have rent Eng-land from France b , Denmark from Swe-den . It is owing to the encroachments ofthe Atlantic, if Strabo and Plinv are to bebelieved, that Spain c is separated fromAlgiers ; Sicily from Apulia and Tunis ;Corsica from Piedmont and Sardinia; Italy

* Borlase.

b Wallis. Buffon, Smellie’s Translation, vol. i. p.489 and 496.

c Pliny, 1. iii. c. 8. Sicilia quondam Brutio agrocohasrens, mox interfuso mari avulsa.