Star.
London, England, 1827-12-29 00:00:00

MEXICO.

Capt. Lyon, gives the following description of his
lodgings:
Hogarth's.° Enraged Musician' never suffered more
than I have done, in consequence of the utter imposti- I
batty of enjoying one quiet hour to attend to me busi-
ness. I may be pardoned for giving some description
of my trouble, in order to shew that, with every dis-
position to accommodate myself to circumstances, it
was quite impossible to sit easy under such a constant
din. The back door of my room, which supplied the.
place M a window, opened into a yard in which 18
hens and numerous ch;ckens were wont to ramble.—
A horse tied to a tree neighed at intervals to its two
responsive fellow servants in a small open stable.—
Four dogs, of various voices and most provoking tempers,
growled and barked constantly at each other, or at five
starveling cats and their kittens, from day light until
sun-set, and from dark again until morning. The pro-
jecting eaves of the house formed a kind of covered way,
to protect Dona Francisca from the sun—sheltering also
one of my greatest torments. On a pole, suspended by a
rope at each end, swung a parrot, which talked inces-
santly, and very much in the same key as its mistress.—
Patches of Spanish songs,terms of in ult and opprolrium,
expressions of endearment, curses and orisons to the
Virgin, succeeded each other in a rapidity of utterance
altogether peculiar to the mistress and the bird. It was
alsa ray fate to hear two young Indian women and a
little talkative girl grind maize, slap tortillas, sing,
gossip, and laugh abundantly, within two yards of my
door; and at meal times, the smell and sound of fish
and other viands frying in oil was added to the har-
mony. Francisca, of whose tones words can give
no adequate idea, had adopted a sickly, yellow, and
fretful little child, ai h a perpetual scream, and con-
stant restlesso&s. The gvallings cf this poor infant,
which were faithfully i riitated by the parrot,
eli-
cited alternately co:zings, scoldings, and whippings
from its madrina; and the general result was, that the!
wretched baby, on being turned a; a punishment into '
the yard, would creep in and sob in one corner of my
little r rom. I say nothing of the pigs and a kid or two
(which, unhappily for me, had excellent lungs), or of
n Antonio's consant squabbles abort politics with a
sickly fellow lodger of min.., Alio when not otherwise!
occupied, dropped in to tell nee of all his ailments. But
when 1 aid to this list of miseries, the insufferably pow-
erful fangs of the fl:as, bugs, mosquitos, sandflies, and,
garrapatos, which feasted upon me in those moments!
when I most required rest, my situation may be easily
imagined."

ENCROACHMENTS OF THE SEA.

FROM TIIE LIVEKPJOL COURIER.

That changes of a very extraordinary nature isas4
taken place, in the lapse of time, on the neighbouring
casts of Cheshire, as wellas upon our own chore, to the
northward of this town, is very evident to any one who
has observed the relics of what has formerly existed.
We would state, by way of illustrating this proposition,
one simple tact—that trunks and roots of trees are to
be found un ier the sand below high water marls, bear-
ing evident plods, from their amazing size and ex-
tended ramifications, of their having had a living exis
tence at one time on the spot where the routs are now
seen, (however remote, it is not our present business to
inquire,) exhibiting the presence of forests of no incon-
siderable magnitude. These remains are found upon
I the sea shore in the neighbourhood of Crosby, and ex-
' tended along the sea-board as far as the Dee, in Che-
shire. Thii is a subject of curious speculation. which
has not unficcinently engaged our attention. To those
who It eve had any experience in the cultivation of trees
on the bleak and stetil vicinity at the entrance of the
Mersey, it will appear a puzzliug question to solve, how
forests could ever have existed where now there is a
difficulty in rearing even a nursery ? To that ques-
tion we have never yet obtained a satisfactory solu-
tion, nor had the least light thrown upon a circum-
stauct at present almost altogether Mt sight of, but

which is, in reference to •Ose future, of no inconsi-
erairle importanCe. There is no way of accounting'
for this singular change which the revolution of ages!
must have wrought on the present Margin of the sea,
but by supposing the absence of the water in long •• gone.
by times,' and this itself will not help us out of the difa
ficulti, except by supposing that the I:snood:tries of the
deep were very distant, probably milels.froas the highest
point to which it now flows: this we infer from the M.'
ficuity of rearing trees of a moderate size at a distance'
of a cower or half a mile from the borders of the sea,
in this neighbourhood. We are well aware that the ob-
servations which We have made will not apply to many
pasts of the sea coast of this kingdoth, and we make
them exclusivelrin reference to our own vicinity, lying
as it does so much exposed to the N.W. gales, which
predominate throughout the year. If, then, we have,.
in any degree, established the 'fact, that very important,
changes have taken place on the sea shore, at the eu-.
trance of the Mersey, simply from observations, without
calling in the aid of tradition, which would favour the
supposition that formerly the shores of Lancashire and
Cheshire were united where now the spa rolls its cur-
rent nsagpificently round the rock point, or that they
were diai 'ed by a very narrow stream. Giving to tra-
ditions no more valve than they now otitled to,
we have the living testimony of nusibmir of indivi•.
duals to prove the rapid advance of the sea on the
entire line of coast from Leasowe-cattle to the mouth
of the Dee. Large tracts of grazing land on the mar-
gin of the sea have, by ins. 'bible degrees been oc-
cupied by successive encroachments of ,he water, and
where once the gaieties of the race and rural limas en-
livened the greensward, the water now oft tolls in ter-
rific grandeur, and the lifeless corpse of the mariner,
and the slisjointed fragments of his shattered b 4 t k, some-
times lie scattered on the sandy beach, and present View-
selves to the eye of the spectator in solemn contrast.
There is no fiction in this:-it is the simple langnage of
fact. A great prtion of the land which lies betwixt
the boundaries we have mentioned is considerably
below the level of the tide at high-water, and is °sly
preserved, in many places, from the irruption of the
ocean by a very insecure boundary of sand, casually
thrown up by the operation of the wind and the waves.
It would, however, be well if that were the case all
along the bleak coast: but how stands the fact? More
than a mile of that part of the shore betwixt Leasowe-
castle. and running westward of Leasowe light-house,
this natural or artificial boundary is now entirely de-
stroyed, and that gap is exposed to the gradual en-
croachment of the water, without the slightest check to
its further advances.

Oa Saturday last our attention was drawn to this
subject by a friend, who stated, that on till Wednesday
before, he understood that the sea had broken over in
this spot, and had done considerable damage to the
pasture and other grounds on that part of the commas.
With a view to learn the particulars of the case, we
visited the place on Monday, sod with some difficulty '
found our way over the marsh. which now lies partially
covered with salt water, and the fdllowing is the result •
of our inquiry :—On Wednesday, the 19th, the wind
blew lions the south-west, a violent gale, which raised
the tide from four to five feet above its expected height,
which was rather under twenty feet. The water on that
day broke oyes the Leasowe with resistless fury, inun-
dating the common for several hundred yards inland,
and in one part more than halfamilt from its ordinary
boundary; filling the ditches, pools, and covering the
fields and enclosures of the poor cottagers, sweeping
away many of their fences, saturaif g their gardens,
pasture, and tillage land with salt water, thereby ren-
dering them comparatively barren for years to come,
even if they should be preserved free from another similar
visitation. The Leasowe lighthouse was encompassed
with water, flowing up to the kitchen reps and beating
the ground with such violence, as to leave large hol-
lows within a few yards of the building. Many young
men could inform us from their own knowledge, of
the advance of the sea for several hundred yards, and
described their having frequently seen the roots and
trunks of large oaks, more than two hundred yards
below the point of high water mark, lying amongst
the " black braes" (a kind of peat), There is one fact,
however, of such an extraordinary nature, in reference
to the advance of the watery deity over the territories
of his rival element, that we are persuaded few if any
of the inhabitants of the town, now living, are ac-
quainted with. We htd the relation from a venerable
and intelligent cot.aAer, whim we found in a clean but
humble cottage on the margin of the marsh, sitting .
beside a group of his youthful descendants, a scene not
retidered the less interesting by the presence of the
" three months" widowed mother, who, with watery
eye, stood pensive in the centre of her orphan brood,
apologizing kr not having the apartment in better or-
der. Oi being asked what he knew in relation to the
encroachment of the sea, since his early days? he re-
ined. " These lags (pointing to the fl for) on which
my chair stands, were taken from the bottom of a well
which in forme days supplied us with water, but it
now lies racked up and buried two or three hundred
yards below the reach of the tide. " Many a time,"said
the old veteran, his eyes kindling
.into increased anii-
:nation, " have I enjoyed the favourite sport of
prison bars, when we used to assemble in our youthful
days, more than a quarter of a mile from the present
flow.of the tide. A lighthouse," continued the old man,
" then stood far out on the beach, to the northward of
the present one, nearly half a m le, if not altogether all
out. That lighthouse was long rendered useless by the ,
encroachment of the water; it was pulled down, sad
the present one was built in the year 1763, and I assisted
in building it. At that time there was a high ridge of
sand hills and mill grass, to keep off the tide, at a con-
siderable distance from the present lighthouse. The
hills and glass are now all gone, and there is nothing
now left to stop the water, which is making rapid ap-
proaches inland ; and, unless something be clone, I
know not what will become of us. Last week we suf-
fered terribly."
To this recital we listened With intense interest, never •
having heard of the existence of the lighthouse to which
the old man referred with such graphic vivacity. Pro-
bably perceiving something sceptical in our language
or manner, " It's true, you may depend upon it, Sir, 1
assure you," rejoined the venerable old cottager, nearly
approaching his ninetieth year. Well, and 'hat is your
opinion of the encroachments which the tide is makiag
on your shore? " Why, I thick," continued be, " tbilk
. the day is not very distant when the water will break
over this Leasowe, and drown all the land.- and dm
make its way to Liverpool through Wallasey Pool.'