The ruins of
Nineveh, which are so entirety sunk as that it is doubtful where
the city stood; the ruins of Babylon, or the great Persepolis, and
many capital cities, which time and the change of monarchies have
overthrown, these, I say, are not at all wonderful, because being
the capitals of great and flourishing kingdoms, where those
kingdoms were overthrown, the capital cities necessarily fell with
them; but for a private town, a seaport, and a town of commerce, to
decay, as it were, of itself (for we never read of Dunwich being
plundered or ruined by any disaster, at least, not of late years);
this, I must confess, seems owing to nothing but to the fate of
things, by which we see that towns, kings, countries, families, and
persons, have all their elevation, their medium, their declination,
and even their destruction in the womb of time, and the course of
nature. It is true, this town is manifestly decayed by the
invasion of the waters, and as other towns seem sufferers by the
sea, or the tide withdrawing from their ports, such as Orford, just
now named, Winchelsea in Kent, and the like, so this town is, as it
were, eaten up by the sea, as above; and the still encroaching
ocean seems to threaten it with a fatal immersion in a few years
more.
Yet Dunwich, however ruined, retains some share of trade, as
particularly for the shipping of butter, cheese, and corn, which is
so great a business in this county, that it employs a great many
people and ships also; and this port lies right against the
particular part of the county for butter, as Framlingham, Halstead,
etc.
Pages:
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91