of it. it. But even there it was very sensible. One of the girls was awakened by it; and attributing the motion to that fancied feeling which sickness sometimes induces, she became very miserable, supposing that she had been suddenly taken dangerously ill. It was odd enongh that, although the other girl did not awake, her companion heard her distinctly exclaim in her sleep, in a tone of great distress, that she had thrown down all the tea things. brods

During the extreme violence of the shock, the rocking was such, that I felt firmly persuaded it was quite impossible the house could stand it much longer. But I am since perfectly satisfied, from the trifling effects it produced on the kitchen utensils, not one of which seemed to have been deranged, that a well compacted building would withstand a great deal more. By comparing in my mind the length of the conversation that passed during the continuance of the phenomena, I am inclined to think that I at first estimated the time of the duration of the violent part of the concussion at rather more than the truth. But I have no hesitation in saying that, from the commencement of the rumbling noise, till the doors of the room ceased to vibrate, considerably more than a minute must have elapsed; and the more violent part of the shock certainly lasted not much less than ten or fifteen seconds. The night was clear, and the moon bright. The barometer, which was about 29. 20, did not appear to be affected; Fahrenheit's thermometer stood at 54 degrees. Although the whole summer had been very wet and stormy, the preceding day, and particularly the evening, had been remarkably fine and still; and towards sunset the sky was serene, with light clouds stretching, in horizontal lines across it; and if I rightly understand Mr. Howard's nomenclature of clouds, it might have been perhaps defined by the meteorological term of Cirrus. The shock was followed by the same stillness which had preceded it. The following morning was calm, but gloomy; and a thick rain came on, which continued to fall incessantly for about sixty hours; and, indeed, until within these few days, we have hardly had anything like fair weather.

In the houses of all the neighbouring families, the

sensations were felt in a greater or less degree; and in almost all of them the furniture rattled, the bells were set a ringing, and the rooms and bells shook. Terror and alarm were every where universal. One gentleman, who was asleep in his bed at the moment, having been suddenly awakened by it, imagined he had been seized in the night with palsy, and was afraid to try to move hand or foot for some time after the shock, lest he should be convinced of the melancholy truth, by his inability to do so. In most of the cottages, also, throughout the neighbourhood, it was distinctly sensible, and their inhabitants were awakened, and in many places dreadfully alarmed. Although I am inclined to think, from what I have heard, that low built houses were not in general affected so much as loftier ones, yet I have been informed of one instance, in which the family in the more spacious house of a gentleman were perfectly unconscious of it, whilst the cottage of his gardiner, standing within a few yards of the mansion, was most violently affected. I have also heard of some cottages where the plates, &c. were absolutely shaken down from the wooden shelves. One farmer felt the shock very intensely in his cottage, whilst his son, who was returning home on horseback, paces of the house at the moment, and within a few in the least aware of it. This might probably arise from the motion of the horse, which, though he felt the agitation of the earthquake himself, would not communicate any unusual feeling to his rider. As a proof of this, one gentleman who happened to be riding was surprised by his horse suddenly starting in great alarm, and found much difficulty in getting him to move forwards. This was afterwards accounted for by his discovery that it occurred at the very time of the shock. The coachman, passengers, and guard, of the mail coach, which was on the turnpike road to Fornes at the time, were not in the least conscious of anything extraordi nary. I had a very distinct account from a man who chanced to be travelling on foot in the mountains near Loch-an-Dorb, ten miles to the south of this house. He said he was first alarmed by a sudden and tremendous noise of a rushing wind, which came sweeping up the hills, like a roar of water. This was instantly fol

lowed by the rumbling sound, or rhombo, as the Itali ans emphatically call it, and the ground was then sensibly heaved up and down under his feet. The morning after the earthquake, I was particularly careful in examing the surface of the ground in various places; but I could not discover the least vestige of a crack; not even in such spots in the garden, or shrubbery, where the surface, having been carefully raked, must at once have betrayed the most trifling appearance of separation in the soil.

I have some where read, (surely Ovid speaks of it,) that there was a time, when men enjoyed all things in common; that the earth brought forth her increase without any labour, and that the whole face of nature was lifted up, with one consent, in praise to the supreme disposer of all things :-But that by degrees, corruption began to shew itself in a variety of forms, and overturn by it its rude attack the happy state of mankind; and vice with all its train of concomitant evils concurred to infect the hearts of mortals, and render their lives miserable in proportion to their former felicity.

Amongst the greatest evils then present, was Pride, the daughter of ignorance and Folly; and Envy the son of Matice and Deformity: as they were "both nearly equal in point of family, a treaty of marriage was proposed by the parents of the parties, and it was formally agreed to unite them, though it very ill accorded with either of their dispositions; as the one was high, conceited and lofty in her own estimation, and