to the Manes or Ghosts of their deceased Friends who were there said to have returned answers to what they have demanded of them This place is now only a little watry plash choaked up by the horrible and astonishing eruption of a new Mountain whereof as often as I think I am apt to give credit to whatsoever is wonderful For who is there in this place but knows or who elsewhere will believe that a Mountain should arise partly out of a Lake and partly out of the Sea in one day and anight to such an height as to contend in altitude with the highest Mountains adjoyning yet so it was For Sept. 29. 1538. the Courtrey hereabout having for several days before been tormented with perpetual Earthquakes that no one House was left intire but all Men expected an immediate ruin After the Sea had retired two hundred Paces from the Shoar leaving abundance of Fish and Springs of fresh water rising in the bottom this Mountain visibly ascended about the second hour of the Night with an hideous roaring noise horribly vomiting Stones and such store of Cinders as overwhelmed all the buildings thereabout and the healthful Baths of Tripergula celebrated for so many Ages consuming the Vines to Ashes and killing Birds and Beasts The fearful Inhabitants of Puteoli flying away in the dark with their Wives and Children naked defiled crying out and detesting their Calamities Manifold mischiefs had they suffered by the Turks and Barbarians yet none like that which Nature inflicted This Mountain is to be seen at this day the top whereof is above a Mile from the Foundation the stones upon it are so light and pory that they will not sink when thrown into Water when it was newly raised it had a vast number of Vents or Issues some of them smoaking and likewise flaming others disgorging little Rivers of hot water keeping a dreadful rumbling and many miserably perished who ventured to go down into the hallowness above But that hollow on the top is now an Orchard and the Mountain throughout is bereft of its Terrors no more smoak fire or flames issuing therefrom XXXVII In 1571. Feb. 17. A prodigious Earthquake happened in the Eastern Parts of Herefordshire near a little Town called Kinaston About Six in the Evening the Earth began to open and an Hill called Marcley Hill with a Rock under it made at first a mighty bellowing noise which was heard afar off and then lifted up it self a great heighth and began to travel bearing along with it the Trees that grew upon it the Sheepfolds and Flocks of Sheep abiding thereon at the same time In the place from whence it first moved it left a gaping distance forty Foot wide and eighty Ells long the whole Field was about twenty Acres Passing along it overthrew a Chappel standing in the way removed an Ewâ—-Tree growing in the Church yard from the West to East With the like violence it thrust before it Highways Houses and Trees it made Tilled ground Pasture and again turned Pasture into Village Having thus walked from Sunday in the Evening till Monday Noon it then stood still and moved no more mounting to an Hill twelve fathoms high The like prodigy happened about the same time at Blackmore in that County where a Field of three Acres with the Trees and Fences moved from their place and passed over another Field travelling in the Highway that goeth to Herne and there stayed A great Earthquake fell out at Constantinople about this time a while before a terrible Fire in that City which burnt the Gaol and consumed seven hundred Prisoners An Earthquake and Bowls of Fire in Carinthia The Sun seemed to cleave in sunder Corn rained from Heaven An Earthquake and Inundation in Holland At this time was the Swearing Sickness in England Nine thousand French were slain at Dreux in Normandy among whom the King of Navar. The Turkish Pyrates carry Six Thousand Captives out of the Isle of Gaul near to Malta A great Plague in England Very great Thunder and an Earthquake in Spain XXXVIII In 1580. April 6. being Easter Wednesday about six a Clock in the Afternoon happened a great Earthquake in England which shook all the Houses Castles and Churches every where as it went and put them in danger of utter ruin yet through the Divine Clemency it overthrew few or none save certain Stones Chimneys Walls and Pinacles of high Buildings both in London and divers other places and a Boy and a Girl being at Sermon among a great number of People at Christ-Church in Newgate-Street the Boy was killed outright with the fall of a Stone from the Roof of the Church and the Girl so fore bruised by another that she dyed soon after At York it made the Bells in the Churches jangle This Earthquake had such influence upon the mind of the People That a Prayer was Published by Queen Elizabeth to be used of all Housholders with their whole Family every Evening before thy went to Bed that it would please God to turn his wrath from us threatned in the last terrible Earthquake In 1581. Josephus Acosta relates That in Peru in America there happened an Earthquake which removed the City of Augnangum two Leagues from the place where it stood without demolishing it in regard the Scituation of the whole Countrey was changed The same Author gives an account of another Earthquake in the same Countrey that reached three hundred Leagues along the Sea-shore and seventy Leagues in Land and levelled the Mountains all along as it went threw down Citys turned the Rivers out oâ— their Channels and made an Universal â—avock and confusion All this he saith was done within the space of seven or eight Minutes Some time before this above forty thousand People perished in an Earthquake about Puel and Naples XXXIX In 1590. The Election of Pope Urban VII was signalized by an Earthquake which made Austria Bohemia and Moravia to tremble and was followed by an extraordinary Dearth Gregory XIV quickly succeeded and died in ten months There was such a Famine and Plague in Italy that year that above threescore thousand Persons died In 1591. In St. Michaels Island in the West Indies there happened an Earthquake which continued about sixteen days to the extream terror of the French who inhabite there especially when by the force thereof they perceived the Earth to remove from place to place and Villa Franca their principal Town overthrown the Ships that then road at Anchor in the Bay trembled and quaked insomuch that the People thought the Day of Judgment was come In 1593. Another terrible Earthquake happened in Persia which overturned three thousand Houses in the City of Lair crushing to Death above three thousand Persons in their ruins yea the Castle though built upon a solid Rock groaned under the like affrighting downfall In 1614. there was a great Earthquake in Vercer one of the largest of the Islands called Azores belonging to the King of Portugal overturning in
insensible of what they did This dreadful convulsion of the Earth was immediately followed on Monday March 11. about Ten at Night by Three Terrible Eruptions much about the same time and a little distance one from the other These said Eruptions were observed to be on the side of Monte Gibello about two Miles beyond the Mountain called Montpileri from whence with a terrible noise it threw up its flames with much fury and violence about a hundred yards in height its noise not roaring only inwards from the belly of the Mountain as before but violently cracking like peals of Ordinance or Thunder from the side of it throwing out vast stones some of them 300 pound weight which being as it were shot through the Air fell several miles distant from the place whilst the whole Air was filled with Smoak burning Cinders and Ashes which fell like a fiery rain upon the Countrey In the mean time issued from the side of this Prodigious Mountain a vast Torrent of Melted and Burning Matter which like an Innundation Drowned as in a Flood of Fire the Countrey on this side of it This Burning River ran down upon the Mountain Mentpileri which opposing its direct course it divided it self into two streams which encompassed the said Mountain one of them taking its way by La Guardia the Convent of St. Ann and Malpasso the other by the Towns of Montpileri and Falicchi which in few hours were wholly destroyed and lost not so much as any sign of them remaining with several lesser Villages and Farmes and with them the famous Image of the bessed Lady of the Annunciata which though highly Reverenced throughout the whole Island esteemed the wonder of Sicily and the whole World and to which the People with much Devotion resorted in Pilgrimage from the remotest parts was also swallowed up and consumed by this dreadful Torrent This Fiery and Burning Deluge immediately spread it self to above six Mile in breath seeming to be somewhat of the colour of melted and burning Glass but as it cools becomes hard and Rocky and every where in its passage leaves Hills and Pyramids of that matter behind it At the same time Monte Gibello from its top raged with dreadful Flames which with its noise and Concussions of the Earth which still continued added not a little to the Terror of the People who ran with Cries and Lamentations about the City and Country expecting nothing but to be swallowed up or consumed by Fire having no other apprehensions but of Death and a General Conflagration The two Torrents of Fire came forward destroying all things in their way and by Wednesday March 13th had on the West side branched it self into several Streams and over-ran Campo Rotundo St. Pietro and Mostorbianco with La Potielli and Sr. Antonino and on the East-part rain'd the lower part of Mascalucia and Le Placchi taking its way towards this City On Thursday the 14th the Wind came Eastwards on which fell abundance of Rain which abated not the Progress of the Fire which on the East-side had from Mascalucia made its way to St. Giovanni di Galermo the lower part whereof it destroyed and passing on seemed to threaten this City on one side as did that on the West-side the other As the Fire approached the Religious every where appeared with much Devotion carrying in Procession their Reliques especally those of St. Agatha the famous Martyr of Catania in which they reposed no small confidence followed by great multitudes of People some of them mortifying themselves with Whips and other signs of Penance with great Complaints and Cryes expressing their dreadful expectation of the Events of those Prodigious fiery Inundations Whilst the People were thus busied in their Devotions and astonisht by their Fears News was brought to the Magistrates of the City that a considerable number of Thiefs and Robbers had taken the opportunity of this general destraction to make a Prey of the already distressed People and that they had murdered several of them for their Goods and that it was to be fear'd that the City of Catania it self might run some danger from the great numbers of them which were about the Country and from thence took their opportunities to get into the Town Whereupon Consultation being had for the prevention of farther mischief from them the Commander of the Castle was ordered with a considerable number of Horse and a Party of Spaniards to secure the Countrey and City against these Robbers who immediately sent out several Parties with his Provost-Marshal with Order to seize upon all suspected Persons and such as were not able to give a good account of themselves And for such as were taken in the Fact Robbing to Execute them by Martial-Law without any farther Tryal and accordingly caused three pair of Gallowes to be set up for their speedy Execution one before the Gate Di Aci a second in the Market-place and a third before the Gate Della Decima setting strong Guards upon the Gates of the City and causing all suspected Houses to be searched an Account to be given in of all Lodgers and such Persons to be secured as could any ways fall under a Suspition The poor People out of the Countrey being by this Prodigious Calamity stript out of all their Estates and reduced to great extremity fled most of them for refuge and relief to this City with great Lamentations moving the Charity of the Magistrates who were readily inclined to give them the best assistance they were able and the Citizens moved by their Complaints and Sufferings freely open'd their Doors filling their Houses with as many of those distressed People as they could possibly receive the Bishop and all Persons of Quality and Estate contributing largely for their support till better Order could be taken for the disposing of them The City of Messina also and several other Cities informed of this extraordinary Calamity sent hither large Supplies of Provisions offering their best assistance to this place in case of extremity All the Elements seemed at this time to make War upon us and to conspire together for the punishment of the Inhabitants The Air was continually darkned with Clouds and Smoak agitated by great and violent Winds and oftentimes showred down great Rains insomuch as the Sun from the beginning of these Eruptions very seldom appeared to us and when it did with extraordinary paleness for a little time only and as it were abhorring so dreadful a Spectacle soon hid its face again under a thick Cloud The Sea ran much higher than it was wont to do and by its extraordinary Roaring and in some places overflowing its Banks added not a little to our Consternation The Land every where infested with Thieves insomuch that till by the extraordinary care taken by the Magistrates and Officers severe execution was done upon such as were apprehended in the Fact no person was able to stir abroad without danger of his Life whilst the Fire by this prodigious overflowing of
God on their Seats fell upon their Faces and Worshipped God saying We give thee thanks O Lord God Almighty which art and wast and art to come because thou hast taken to thee thy great Power and hast Reigned ver 18. And the Nations were angry and thy Wrath is come and the time of the Dead that they should be Judged and that thou shouldest give reward to thy Servants the Prophets and to the Saints and them that fear thy name small and great and shouldest destroy them which destroy the Earth And the Temple of God was opened in Heaven and there was seen in his Temple the Ark of his Testament and there were Lightnings and Voices and Thundrings and an Earthquake and great Hail Likewise in Chapter 16. And the seventh Angel poured his Vial into the Air and there was a great Earthquake and there came a great Voice out of the Temple of Heaven from the Throne saying It is done And there were Voices and Thunders and Lightnings and there was a great Earthquake such as was not since men were upon the Earth so mighty an Earthquake and so great And the great City was divided into three parts and the Cities of the Nation fell and great Babylon came in remembrance before God to give unto her the Cup of the Wine of the fierceness of his Wrath And every Island fled away and the Mountains were not found And there fell upon Men a great Hail out of Heaven every Stone about the weight of a Talent and men Blasphemed God because of the Plague of the Hail for the plague thereof was exceeding great These and such other Scriptures may denote the future Calamities that will befal the Inhabitants of the Earth about the end of the World and do also demonstrate the great power and alsufficiency of Almighty God who as Job saith Chapter 9. Is wise in Heart and mighty in Strength who removeth the Mountains and overturneth them in his anger Who shaketh the Earth out of her place and the Pillars thereof tremble XVIII Having given an account of the Supernatural and Metaphorical Earthquakes recorded in Holy Writ I shall now relate those that are mentioned by other Historians of the former and latter Ages and likewise of some of the Consequents which have succeeded them as to Wars Pestilence Famines and other dreadful Calamities and were judged to be the effects of them wherein I shall be obliged to repeat some of those already published in a Book called surprizing Miracles of Nature c. XIX Before the birth of Saviour Plato mentions a wonderful Earthquake whereby in a Day and a Night a vast Island without the Streights of Gibralter called Atlantis and bigger than Asia and Africa together was wholly overwhelmed and afterward covered by a great Inundation of Waters insomuch that on the Atlantick Ocean for a great while after no Ship could Sail by reason that the same huge Sea by resolution of the Earth of that mighty Island was all turned into Mud. He also Writes that by another terrible Earthquake the Continent of Africa was rent asunder from Europe and Asia as it is at this day being now only connected by a little Neck of Land at the Red Sea The famous Isle of Sicily was likewise formerly a part of Italy and by an Earthquake divided from it And our Island of Great Brittain is supposed to be broken off from the Continent of France by that means Herodotus saith that Egypt in ancient time was a Gulph of the Sca and by an Earthquake made a dry Land The River Indus in Asia which receives fifteen others Rivers into it altered its Channel and the neighbouring Countrey was turned into a Wilderness by a lamentable Earthquake Before the Peloponesian or Civil Wars among the Grecians one of their Islands called Delphos famous for the Oracle and Temple of Apollo scituated therein was wholly ruined by an Earthquake which was thought to portend those remarkable alterations which soon after happened in Greece A little before the Wars between the Lacedemonians and the Ilotae who were their Slaves and Bondmen in the Countrey of Laconia there happened in the City of Sparta a most terrible and fearful Earthquake for the Earth in many places of the Countrey opened and fell in as into a bottomless Pit The Mountain Taygetum shook so terribly that parts of Rocks fell down from it and Sparta with two other Cities with the violence of it were thrown to the ground five hundred Houses only exceptcepted And great flouds of Water following it the Countrey was almost utterly destroyed thereby Tyre and Sydon suffered exceedingly by Earthquakes and an infinite number of People were buried under the ruins And Strabo mentions a City scituate about Sidon that was wholly swallowed up thereby Pliny writes of twelve Cities ruined in one Night and St. Augustine is cited for what is more strange That in a samous Earthquake a hundred Cities in Lybia were destroyed In the Veliternean Fields the Earth rent asunder in such huge and frightful breaches that Trees and whole Houses were swallowed up in them and it Rained Bloud for two whole days together about which time Hannibal received that notable overthrow by Scipio which was the destruction of the famous City and Republick of Carthage and the Conquest of that Country to the Romans Tit. Livius Hist Josephus records that about twenty nine years before the birth of Christ there happened a tremendous Earthquake in the Country of Judea whereby divers Beasts were slain and many People overwhelmed in the ruins of their Houses and perished to the number as some write of about thirty thousand XX. I now proceed in a Chronological Order to relate all the Earthquakes that have happened since our Saviours Birth as I find them mentioned by several Authors of which that which happened at his Crucifixion is said to be the greatest that ever was which shook not only one part of the Earth as in other cases but the whole Would trembled at once if some famous Authors are to be credited In the tenth year of Christ was a great Earthquake in Cyprus that overthrew many Cities and in his sevententh year thirteen Cities in Italy were destroyed and the River Tyber overflowed Rome The effects whereof were thought to be That Sejanus the Favourite to Tyberius was executed for his Ambition his Son strangled his Daughter first Deflowred by the Hangman then put to death Drusius is Poisoned Tyberius turn'd Tyrant In 59. was a terrible Ecclipse of the Sun so that the Stars were seen Nero's Supper was burned with Lightning and a great Earthquake happened at Rome At this time the Brittains slay seventy thousand Romans and Suetonius destroys eighty thousand Brittains as he comes from Anglesey Rome is fired by Nero who rejoices in that Villany he commits Incest with his own Mother afterwards Murders and Rips her up to view the place where he lay before he was born Cartismunda Queen of the Brittains rejecteth her Husband the
a mile in breadth which I saw and that which did augment my admiration was to see in the Sea this matter like ragged Rocks burning in four fathom Water two fathom higher than the Sea it self some parts liquid and moving and throwing off not without great violence the stones about it which like a crust of a vast bigness and red hot fell into the Sea every moment in some place or other causing a great and horrible noise smoak and hissing in the Sea and thus more and more coming after it making a firm foundation in the Sea it self I stayed there from nine a Clock on Saturday morning to seven next morning and this Mountain of Fire and Stones with Cinders had advanced into the Sea twenty yards at least in several places in the middle of this Fire which burn'd in the Sea it hath formed a passage like to a River with its Banks on each side very steep and craggy and in this Channel moves the greatest quantity of this Fire which is the most liquid with stones of the same composition and Cinders all red hot swimming upon the Fire of a great magnitude From this River of Fire under the great Masse of the Stones which are generally three fathom high all over the Country where it burns and in other places much more there are secret Conduits or Rivulets of this liquid matter which Communicate Fire and Heat into all parts more or less and melts the Stones and Cinders by fits in those places where it toucheth them over and over again where it meets with Rocks or Houses of the same matter as many are they melt and go away with the Fire where they find other compositions they turn them to lime or ashes as I am informed The composition of this Fire Stones and Cinders are Sulphur Nitre Quick-silver Sal-Armoniac Lead Iron Brass and all other Mettals It moves not regularly nor constantly down hill in some places it hath made the Valleys Hills and the Hills that were not high are now Valleys When it was night I went upon two Towers in divers places and could plainly see at ten miles distance as we judged the Fire to begin to run from the Mountain in a direct line the flame to ascend as high and as big as one of the highest and greatest Steeples in Your Majesties Kingdoms and to throw up great Stones into the Air I could discern the River of Fire to descend the Mountain of a terrible fiery or red colour and stones of a paler Red to swim thereon and to be some as big as an ordinary Table We could see this fire to move in several other places and all the Country covered with Fire ascending with great Flames in many places smoaking like to a violent furnace of Iron melted making a noise with the great pieces that fell especially those which fell into the Sea A Cavalier of Malta who lives there and attended me told me that the river was as liquid where it issues out of the Mountain as water and came out like a Torrent with great violence and is five or six fathom deep and as broad and that no stones do sink therein I assure Your Majesty no Pen can express how terrible it is nor can all the Art and Industry of the World quench or divert that which is burning in the Country In forty days time it hath destroyed the habitation of twenty seven thousand persons made two Hills of one a thousand paces high apiece and one is four Miles in compass Of twenty thousand persons which inhabited Catania three thousand did remain all their Goods are carried away the Cannons of Brass are removed out of the Castle some great Bells taken down the City-Gates Walled up next the Fire and preparation made all to abandon the City That night which I lay there it rained Ashes all over the City and ten Miles at Sea it troubled my Eyes This Fire in its progress met with a Lake of Four Miles in compass and it was not only satisfied to fill it up though it was four fathom deep but hath made of it a Mountain I send also to Your Sacred Majesty the following Account in Print which the Bishop gave me as it is collected out of divers Relations from Catania LIV. Mount Aetna or Monte Gibello a Mountain so Renowned throughout the World for its height and greatness but more for those Prodigious Flames Smoak and Ashes which it hath cast out from the top of it whilst the other parts are continually even in the midst of Summer covered with Snow has been for many Ages observed once or sometimes oftner in the space of about fifteen years to throw up more than ordinary Flames with much Smoak and Stones and great quantities of Ashes which though terrible to the Neighbouring Towns and Villages was yet wont in little time to abate of its fury and prove but seldom more injurious to the Country near it than by communicating largely its ashes which though for the present it did somewhat incommode them they had afterwards a considerable compensation in the product of their Lands which by this means was rendred more fruitful But on Friday the 18th of March 1669. the Sun was observed before its set-setting to appear of a pale and dead colour which being contrary to what it ever before appeared to us struck no small terror into the Inhabitants all Objects appearing also of the same colour with a paleness received from that of the Sun The same night happened in this City as well as the whole Countrey hereabouts a terrible and unusual Earthquake whose strong and unequal motions joyned with horrible Roarings from Monte Gibello exceedingly frighted the the Inhabitants but was so extraordinary violent in the Countrey adjacent that the People were forced to abandon their Houses and to fly into the Fields to avoid the danger threatned them from the falling of their Houses The Village of Nicolosi was of all others the most dreafully handled by this furious Earthquake the Houses and other Buildings being shaken all in pieces and buried in their own Ruins the poor People who had preserved their Lives by a timely flight with such little of their goods as their hasty fears would permit them to carry out with them continued a Night or two in the Fields beholding with grief and astonishment the ruin of their habitations but observing that by these violent concussions the Earth began to open in several places and to threaten them with inevitable ruin they fled though with much trouble and amazement to this City These shakings of the Earth being so frequent and violent that the the People went reeling and staggering with much difficulty supporting one another from falling insomuch as what with their want of sleep the pains they were forced to take in travelling and the great terrors imprinted on them by what they had seen and suffered they appeared at their arrival in this City as so many destracted People wholly
truth which the far greatest part of the Inhabitants of Orthez are able to certify And to which the Parliament of Bearn have also given their Testimony by a Decree which forbids men to go hear these Psalms or to say they have heard it on the forfeiture of 500 Crowns and the Consuls of Orthez published these Ordinances in their City The same thing hath happened in Cevennes As this Countrey is full of Mountains where there are Eccho's which multiply and return the voice and as Night Assemblies have continually been made there where they sing Psalms with aloud voice therefore the relations of singings may seem the more doubtful But the Affair of Orthez which is a Countrey close and without Mountains being well proved I see no reason saith Monsieur Juvieu to question that of Cevennes and shall therefore without scruple produce the Certificates which come from that Country The first runs thus I Certifie that one of my Sisters wrote to me on Feb. 8. last from a place called Collet in Cevennes where she then was in these words My dear Brother you would be informed touching the singing of Psalms which men have told you they hear in this Country there is nothing more true Monsieur the late Baron of Cedorve heard it two or three hours in the Night with his whole Family I my self and almost all the World in this Country have heard this Voice but we have not been able to discern whether they were Psalms or no It seems to us that it is a complaint and even now at the hour I write to you I hear and am sensible of it La Roquette Minister of Manoblet in Cevennes Given at Lausanna March 30. 1686. The second Ceatificate I attest that Monsieur of the Dark Valley a Gentleman of Cevennes living near Sir John de Gardonengue writ to me Sept. 17. 1685. this which follows We see strange things in all the places of the Cevennes we hear singing of Psalms in the Night as if it were in the Church Wednesday last I was lying alone in my Chamber and about midnight I heard upon the Roof a voice very shrill which awoke me and afterwards five or six other voices that assisted it and they sung five or six verses of the fifth Psalm O Lord unto my words give ear My Meditation weigh My King my God my crying hear For unto thee I pray Thou wilt destroy them that are proud To utter Tales and Lies God will abhor the Bloody one And such as fraud devise But to thy House I will draw near In thine abundant Grace And Worship in thy holy fear Toward thy holy place Lord lead me in thy Righteousness Because of all my Foes And thy strait paths least I transgress Before my face disclose For in their mouth no truth appears Their Heart with mischief throngs Their Throats are open Sepulchres They flatter with their Tongues Destroy them Lord destroy them all Let them be overthrown And into just destruction fall By Counsels of their own And let them be cast out and queld For their excessive sin For they have wickedly rebell'd Against the Lord therein But let O Lord all those rejoyce That put their Trust in thee Let them with shouts lift up their voice And ever joyful be Let them likewise that love thy name Which is their confidence Be ever joyful in the same Since thou art their defence For to the Righteous man no doubt Thou wilt thy blessing yield And ever compass him about With favour as a shield All those of the House heard it many times The said Monsieur of the Dark Valley confirmed me in this belief by a second Letter Jan. 27. 1686. that this singing doth continue constantly The said Monsieur adds Now the beating of a Drum is heard as if Souldiers were marching and this is heard at mid-day in many places Signed Barjune Minister of St. Marselle in Cevennes now fled to Lausanna in Switzerland The third Certificate Toward the end of September last being with Monsieur d'Esperies a Gentleman of merit who is of Vigan in Cevennes and we flying to the Castle of a Gentleman of our friends named M. de Montualian we heard in the Air a considerable number of Drums Five or six days after being with the same Gentleman at Ablataz in Cevennes whither my Family was Fled for refuge we heard in the Air a Holy Harmony Singing the Holy ' Praises of God This I certifie to be true forasmuch as I heard it Signed Saligne de Marnis in Cevennes The fourth Certificate is the Extracts of two Letters written to Lansunna to Mademoiselle Louise des Vignoles by her Cousin M. Jane des Vignoles Dated Jan. 3. 1686. How happy are you my dear Cousin that you can Pray and Sing the Praises of God in Publick when in the mean time so many good Souls have their Souls stopped and dare not discover what passes in their mind But as to the Business of Singing the Praises of God it is necessary that I speake to you of the Miracle which makes so much noise in this Countrey which is that since the entire loss of our Churches and our Pastors there has been heard in the Air Voices and Sounds of Instruments very melodious and that which is most extraordinary is that many Persons distinguish the Tunes of the Psalms and I can assure you of the truth thereof since I my self have distinguished more than thirty It has been told me that my Brother M. de Mont Vaillant distinguishes them all perfectly well Can you imagine that we hear these Voices Night and Day and that we can so much as doubt that they are Troops of Angels which God sends to us for our consolation to assure us that he hath not utterly forsaken us and that our deliverance is at hand God grant that we may make profit by these things I had forgotten to tell you that the noise of a Drum is here heard so clearly that no Body can doubt thereof no more then about the Singing of Psalms for there are so many Persons of good understandings convinced thereof that we ought to give up our selves to the power of Truth I do avow that the thing passes all imagination but be assured that all care imaginable has been taken to prevent delusion To conclude saith my Author how ought we distressed Protestants to give thanks to God that he approves our Worship by a sign so considerable Let not our Enemies tell us that all this is nothing but delusion for all Illusions come from the Father of Lies and who hath the Praises of God in in horror and detestation In short behold this Event as a happy Presageope God will not suffer our Voices nor our Songs to die The Angels have taken them up and will shortly restore them that we our selves made sound them forth in the Air The time of our deliverance is at hand and the Spirit of Life will return when the Spirit of Repentance and Piety is
are sorely shaken and rent and so sunk they are not tenable the whole place that is yet above Water sinking daily by those Earthquakes we have ever since had sometimes 4 5 6. times more or less in 24. hours I my self while I am now writing expecting when the Earth will tremble under me though in other parts of the Countrey through Gods mercys we do not hear of any further damage since the first The reputed number of the Dead for perhaps there will never be an exact Account is reckoned about 1500 persons besides Negro's who are thought to be 6. or 700 more a multitude of whose Black Corps floated many days from one side of the Harbour to the other which caused such an intollerable stench that the dead were like to destroy the Living till at last some were sunk and others dispersed by the Sea-breeze Imediately upon the Cessation of the Earthquake your heart would abhor to hear of the Robberyes and Violences committed in an instant upon the place by the vilest and basest of the People No man could call any thing his own for they that were strongest and most wicked seized what and whose they pleased without regard to the Owners Gold and Silver Jewels Plate or Goods was all their own if they could lay hands on them Nothing but breaking open Houses rushing into Shops and taking from the owners what they pleased even before their faces Yea Robbing them of Money and goods in the open Street as they were carrying them to other places for security whilst others in Canoes Wherries Ship-boats c. were plundring Chests Boxes Scriptores c. of what they could find in them upon the Water Even the very Slaves thinking it their time of Liberty committed many barbarous Insolencies and Robberyes till they were supprest by the Death of some and punishment of others And indeed our first fears were concerning our Blacks those irreconciliable and yet intestine Enemies of ours who are no otherwise our Subjects than as the whip makes them who seeing our strongest Houses demolisht our Army broken and hearing of the destruction of our greatest dependency the Town of Port-Royal might in hopes of Liberty be stirred up to rise in Rebellion against us which is a War always the more terrible by how much there is no quarter given in it but they kill and slay all the Whites Men Women and Children that they can Conquer But God be praised those fears are now blown over Many days did these Depredations last especially upon the Water where the dead were Rob'd of what they had about them some stript others searched their Pockets pick'd their Fingers cut off for their Rings their Gold Buttons taken out of their shirts and then they were turn'd adrift again From thence was taken all manner of stores that would swim every one taking that for his own which he could lay his hands on as Pork Beef Mackril Saltfish Coaca Candle Soap Wine Beer Brandy and a vast deal of other things not to be thought of or reckoned up So that the richest became poorest and the meanest of the people were inriched by the losses of others to estimate which seems as difficult as to reckon the number of the People lost and destroyed Port-Royal in its flourishing condition was a famous Empory and Mart Town for the West Indle's and the Archinto being setled there a very large share of the riches of Mexico and Peru were brought thither and vast sums of Coin and Bullion yearly transported for England to the great inriching of the Jamaican Merchants and Factors so that it was hard to compare what was lost but many think at least the value of four hundred Thousand Pound at Port-Royall only Yet in the midst of this woful Calamity some People were miracolously preserved from Death being swallowed down into the Bowels of the Earth alive yet spued up again and saved by the violent Eruption of Water through those Gaps Others as themselves affirm if they were then capable of knowing what was done to them were swallowed up in one place and by the rushing of the Waters to and fro by reason of the Agitartion of the Earth at that time were cast up again by another Chasm at places far distant But the general means of Preservation was by Peoples flying as fast as they could toward the back Sea side or speedily getting aboard the Ships in the Harbour which were croudded with Men Women and Children Among others a Man of War the Swallow then in Harbour was so damaged by the fall of the Houses that she became utterly unserviceable and Twelve Shallops were sunk by the same means Likewise Ligania the first and principal Town for Planting and imitating if not exceeding the stately Buildings of Port-Royal is now brought to most terrible Desolation and its fine New Built and yet Unfinished Church buried in the same ruin with the Houses Above which place the Costly Blue Mountains lift up their heads but are now so rent and torn that they are fearful to behold and stand like lasting marks of Divine Wrath which hath also happened in other parts of the Countrey which is very Hilly in the middle so that by the fall of a Mountain into the Channel of the River which supplies both this Town and Port-Royal with Water the River became dry for sixteen hours together to the terror of the Inhabitants fearing the Desertion as well as Desolation of the place till it afterwards Run again as formerly and they were informed of the cause of the Stoppage of the Water for so long a time This among other reasons was the Cause why the People that were saved at Port-Poyal were almost perished for Thirst in their deep Extremity their own Water-casks being either ruined or swam away into the Sea and no Boats to fetch any in that Dismal Consternation or otherwise imployed to save Peoples Lives or to get Plunder Or if any did go there was no Water to be had so that it was hard to be gotten and very dear many paying great rates only to quench their Thirst And yet for all these Woful Disasters great Numbers of People are not all Reformed of their Wickedness which brought them upon us but there is the same Whoring and Drinking the same Cursing and Swearing if not worse than formerly So that we have cause to fear the Judgment of Sodom may be our next punishment In the midst of our Distress it pleased God to give us a Signal Victory over our Enemies the French who happened at that time to make the Sharpest Attack upon us since the War having Landed as we hear Two Hundred men on the North side of the Island which is but weakly furnisht with men where they intrenched themselves but were shamefully beaten out by a Vigorous Attack in the Night by a Party of about Thirty Men who Slew Seven or Eight outright and the rest flying to their Boats Thirty of them were drowned While in the mean
Diseases which affected the Cattel throughout Italy so that most of their Beasts died A great Famine and Pestilence in France The King of England is slain by the East Angles The Danes enter the Thames with two hundred and fifty Ships they take Canterbury and London and expel the King XXIX In the Ninth Tenth and Eleventh Centuries an Earthquake happened in Scotland another in France a very great one in Asia and several terrible ones with mighty Whirlwinds in Germany Also a great Earthquake in England where five Suns appear at one and afterward four Moons at once Horrible groans and noises in the ground at Rome Syracuse in Sicily was extreamly shaken with an Earthquake A wonderful Hail at Oxford in England with many other terrible appearances as Fire rising out of the River Rhyne and many places in Germany the Sun appears for certain days as if it bled In the Reign of King William the Conqueror 1086. happened an Earthquake with a dreadful noise In 1100 in the Reign of King Henry I. the Earth moved with so great violence in England that many buildings where shaken down and Malmesbury the Historian writes That the House wherein he sate was lifted up with a double remove and at the third time setled again in its proper place In divers places a hideous noise was heard and the Earth through several rifts cast forth Fire for many days together which neither by Water nor any other means could be supprest In Lumbardy in Italy about the same time was an Earthquake which lasted above six weeks and removed a Town from the place where it stood a great distance Matthew Paris mentions another Earth quake and a great Darkness in England about twenty years after And another in the Reign of King Henry II. in the Eastern parts of England which threw down many Persons who were standing or walking and made the Clocks to strike and Bells to ring in the Steeples In 1179. on Christmas day at Oxenhall near Darlington in the County of Durham the Earth was lifted up aloft like a Tower and so continued all that day as it were immoveable till Evening and then fell with so horrible a noise that it affrighted the Inhabitants thereabout and the Earth swallowing it up made in the same place three Pits of a wonderful depth which were afterward called Hell-Kettles It is reported that Bishop Tonstal put a Goose into one of these Pits having first given her a mark and the same Goose was found in the River Tees which if true these Kettles have passages under Ground XXX In 1180. an Earthquake ruined a great part of the City of Naples Great Stones were Rained from Heaven and a Hill of an immense magnitude is removed out of his place The City of Catania in Sicily is destroyed with nineteen thousand People by an Earthquake A multitude of Snakes were seen at Rome a fiery Dart ran up and down in the Heavens Women appeared in the Heavens of admirable shapes to the great amazement of the Spectators About this time the Hungarians Invade the Empire of Germany but are reconciled The Bishop of Saltsburg calls an hundred thousand Hungarians into Bavaria which are all slain there and the Emperors Eyes pluckt out A great Famine in Germany and France The Prussians Invade Poland and fifteen thousand of them are slain and twenty thousand made Prisoners The Saxons Rebel against the Emperor twenty six thousand of them are Drowned in a Pitfall by the Stratagem of two Bishops in Holland as they came against the Earl of Flanders Gonsalmus King of Spain Poisons King Sancho with an Apple The Danes Land in Scotland and wast divers places the Scots put them to flight They Land in Kent and spoil the Isle of Thanet The King of Denmark is slain by one of his Servants The Danes being defeated at Oxford fly to the Church and are there burnt Otho Emperor of Germany is Poisoned with a pair of Gloves Pedro King of Spain taketh Oscu and killeth thirty thousand Moors The English Invade Normandy Harold Earl of Caithnes in Scotland cuts out the Bishops Tongue for which the King puts out his Eyes hangs him and causeth his Male Children to be Gelt The K. of Ioenium is swallowed up by an Earthquake and in England many Buildings are thrown down by the same means amongst which the Cathedral Church of Lincoln was rent in pieces XXXI In 1222. There were such Earthquakes in Italy and Lombardy that the Cities and Towns were forsaken and the People kept abroad in the Fields in Tents many Houses and Churches were thrown down much people thereby crushed to Death The Earth trembled twice a day in Lombardy for fourteen days together besides two Cities in Cyprus and the City of Brescia were this year destroyed by Earthquakes In 1176. About the time that Adrian the Fourth was made Pope was a dreadful Earthquake at Millain and all the Country round about A noise like Trumpets in the Air was heard in Italy where was likewise a great Earthquake another in England and a third in Germany The Consequents were thought to be the slaying of two hundred thousand Moors by the Spaniards about that time The Pope giveth the Kingdom of England to Philip King of France Excommunicating King John The French strive to take possession of it but the Flemish with the English take three hundred sail of Ships from them and burn an hundred more The King of Arragon is slain The King of Bulgaria plucks out the Emperors Eyes The Infidels take Jerusalem and slay many Prisoners The Turks win all the lower Asia from the Greeks The Pope is slain by a Fall The Emperor Kills fourteen thousand Bohemians The King of England brings the Welsh under intire subjection XXXII Remarkable is what is related by divers Authors which happened in a Town called Hamel in the Dutchy of Brunswick in Germany in 1248. June 26. This Town being very grievously troubled with Rats and Mice there came to them a Pied Coat Piper who agreed with the Burgers that for so much Money he would quite clear them from those Vermine nor would he demand it till a year and a day after The agreement being made he began to play on his Pipes going from one Street to another and all the Rats and Mice followed him whom he led to a great Lake hard by where they all went in and were drowned so that the Town was Infected no more At the end of the year the Pied Piper returned for his reward The Burgers put him off with slightings and neglect offering him some small matter which he refusing and staying some few days in Town On Sunday Morning at High Mass when most People were at Church he fell to Play on his Pipes and began another Tune whereupon there followed him one hundred and thirty Boys out of the Town to a great Hill called Koppen scituate on the Road hard by when they approached the Mountain it rent in twain and opening let him
the Mountain threatned to take possession of all On Friday the 15th the stream of fiery Matter which destroyed the lower part of St. Giovanni di Galermo divided it self into two parts one of its branches taking its way toward Mosterbianco the other threatning the City of Catania but this last was observed to move with more slowness than before having in 24 hours time scarcely gained 20 paces On the 18th being Monday the Torrents being still seen to draw nearer and nearer to this City the Senate with Monsegnior Cambuchi the Bishop of this place followed by all the Clergy Secular and Regular and an infinite number of People went in a solemn Procession out of this City to Monte de St. Sofia carrying out with greatest Devotion their choicest Relicks and upon an Altar erected in view of the Mountain exposed them where they celebrated Mass and used the Exorcismes accustomed upon such extraordinary occasions all which time the Mountain ceased not as before with excessive roaring to throw up its Smoak and Flames with extraordinary violence and and abundance of great stones which were carried through the Air some of them falling within their view though at ten miles distance from the Eruption the Ashes which proceeded from thence were scattered in great abundance as well on this City as on the Country adjacent every where in the Fields with Cinders and the heat of the said Ashes destroying the Grass which obliged the People to drive away their Cattel to a farther distance which would otherwise have perished for want of food These streams of ruin daily crept nearer and nearer to this City but by uneven and irregular motions according as it was more or less supplyed from its fountain but on We dnesday the twentieth we perceived that that branch of it which seemed most to threaten this City from St. Giovanni di Galermo was wholly extinguisht and the other which bent its course toward Mosterbianco ran but slowly and gave us some hopes that its fury was also near spent but the other Torrent which had before overflown Mosterbianco continued its motion with as much violence as ever being in breath above a Musquet shot over but in probability could not easily overflow to the Westward which was defended by its Rocky scituation another branch which ran by Santo Pietro was observed to be much larger than the rest and its stream more quick and active but meeting with some opposition in its way it made some stop only sending out a Rivulet toward the Eastwards about three or four yards wide of its most subtle or active matter which directed its course towards a small Village about a Furlong distant from its main stream another Branch threatned Campo Rotundo but bent its course Westwards towards the Farm of Valcorrente where its Fiery body was scattered into several deep and rocky places without any considerable damage About this time we had hopes that the violence of this Eruption had been over the Mountain not throwing out its flames with that violence as before and its noise and roaring in a great measure ceased Those who at nearest distance took a view of the Mountain informed that the top of it was fallen in and the Mountain supposed to want near a Mile of its former heighth that the largest of the Mouths from whence these fiery streams were vented was about half a mile in compass but the view of this dreadful Inundation carried so much terror in it as they were not able to express from all these Mouths were vomited Rivers of a thick and fiery substance of stone and metals melted whose depth was various according to the several places it filled in its passage in some places four in others eight twelve or fifteen yards and upwards its breadth in some places six miles in others much more its flame like that of Brimstone and its motion like that of Quicksilver advancing ordinarily very slowly unless where it was provoked by the addition of a fresh Torrent or some considerable descent Wheresoever it passed it left large heaps of its congealed matter with which it covered and burnt the Earth melting the Walls of Cistles and Houses throwing down and consuming all before it nothing being yet found able to resist its force nor any thing able to quench its burning water being observed rather to add to its fury wheresoever it has passed it has left its dreadful marks behind it levelling some hills and raising others so much changing the scituation that not the least trace of any Place or Town remains nothing being to be seen but confused heaps of ragged stone which yielding a noisome fume strikes terror and astonishment into all that behold it On Friday the 22. the Mountain again roared with much loudness and threw up from its Mouth a vast quantity of matter which formed two large hills higher and larger than that of Menpileri with a large bank of the same matter to the Eastward sending down a violent stream of its liquid matter towards Malpasso much enlarging the former Current and passing thence to Campo Rotundo and Santo Pietro compleated the ruines of those Towns driving furiously towards Mosterbianco the other stream by Santo Giovanni de Galermo being wholly diverted and extinguisht From this time till the 25th the Mountain continued silent but then it burst out again with more force than ever before its noise much louder like Peales of Ordnance and so forcible and lasting as for twenty four hours it caused a shaking and trembling in our Buildings the Air so filled with Smoak and Ashes as darkned the Face of the Sky The Birds and Fowl about this time either through want of Food or illness of Air which was corrupted with the noisome smells arising from these Burnings were observed to lye dead in all places On the 28th the Grand Current was advanced near the City as far as the old Capuchins which struck so great a Terror into the People that most of them left the City only some Officers remaining with such persons as were under their command who have secured and sent away the Magazine and all the Artillery from the Castle LV. A Latter Relation from Catania of April 27. gives this further Account The dreadful Inundation from Monte Gibello having destroyed many Castles and Towns with an infinite loss and utter ruin to the Inhabitants arrived lately with a renewed Force at Mostor-bianco which it has wholly ruin'd from thence passing on to Albanelli in four days space destroyed all the Gardens and Vineyards with sixty three thousand Vines On Wednesday April 16. With an Impetuous Fiery Torrent it came towards Sardanello where all the remainder of the Inhabitants of this City were Spectators of it which resembled a River of melted and burning Brass about ten Ells wide running with swiftness to the Arch of Marcus Marcellus a famous Piece of Antiquity and passing under it ruin'd about six Ells of it which was the breadth of the Current in that place from
So doth my Soul desire alway With thee Lord to remain c. There were others that confirmed the same and assured us moreover that they had heard the whole Psalm sung Less grief it is to be exil'd From mine own House than thine Oh! how I wish t' approach the place Where all thy Glories shine This makes my sorrow to increase And Tears become my Food To hear my Foes reproach my Faith And say Where 's now thy God Past joys renew my grief to think How to thine House we came In Troops to Feast and Praises sing In Consort to thy name c. I consess I only heard a charming Musick which represented a great number of Voices that agreed exceeding well but I could not distinguish the words There was one that raised his Voice above the rest and made himself observed when the rest had done After I had a long while heard this Melody with ravishment I perceived that these Voices drew off and abated by little and little till they were insensibly lost in the Air. The same Evening returning to my own House and discoursing at the Gate with many of my Neighbours of the marvellous things we had heard on a sudden the same Voices again saluted our Ears and filled us with new delight for a quarter of an hour and then withdrew as before The Tuesday following in the Evening being with one of my Relations at the Door of my own House we both heard a great number of Voices in the Air which resouâ—â—… 〈…〉 and made themselves heard with the greatest clearness Upon which I ran hastily to a Popish Physitian who lodged in my House and was that year one of the Magistrates of Orthez to invite him to hear this Divine Melody who following me pretended to hear nothing though the night being calm and serene the singing sounded clearly A while after the Voices reinforced themselves whereupon I pressed him to tell me whether he heard them It is true said he aloud I hear very lovely singing I think I hear the voice of such and such a one naming several Persons in Orthez that sung very well I replied Monsieur if men hold their peace the very Stones will speak But he as if troubled at the confession he had made complains Alas I observe here a crafty Wile of the Devil he causes these Voices to be heard in the Air to keep the World in Error and hinder this poor People from Converting and Imbracing the Catholick Faith I asked him whether he had ever heard the Devil sung the Praises of God he smiled and retired hastily to his lodgings Nevertheless we bless God for his great goodness towards us in admonishing us of our duty by these heavenly voices who melodiously sung those Holy Hymns that we were wont to sound forth in our Church which was then laid wast and destroy'd I protest before God that these things are so as I have reported them and I am very glad to make known these truths for the edification of all those that fear the Lord In Testimony whereof I subscribe my self at Amsterdam Sept. 4. 1686. V. Deformalagnes I shall next insert the Memorial of Monsieur de Brassalay a Gentleman of Honour and acknowledged such by all that know him Some days before the Interdiction of the Churches of Bearn there were many Persons that heard the singing of Psalms in the City of Orthez The first that heard it was Lichagaray Brunier a Lawyer revolted some years since the most malignant of the Persecutors and who continually stir'd up troubles to those of the reformed Religion He rose from his Bed to tell the Curate that there was an Assembly of People who sung Psalms without the City He also went to a Serjeant named Gowlan to conduct him to the place where he thought to surprize them but this Popish Serjeant having laid his Ear to the Window said there was nothing to be done for he plainly perceived the singing was in the Air. Afterward it was often heard for above a month by divers Persons both by night and day Among others M. Canneille an Elder of the Church of Orthez protested to me that sitting reading on the Rivers Bank about a mile from the City he heard a great singing of Psalms on that side the Church stands which is in the midst of the City and not at all doubting but it was an ordinary Assembly met together to Evening Prayers which was then very numerous because of the hazardous conjuncture and consisted at the least of two or three thousand Souls he hastned thither and heard a great singing of Psalms all along till he was entered into the City but finding the Doors shut the Neighbours told him that it was not yet the hour of Prayer It is to no purpose to alledge that they sung in some Cavern or Cave for there is nothing but Houses Vineyards Meadow and Fields thereabout and the strict prohibition against the Protestants singing of Psalms under very severe penalties makes it highly improbable Moreover this Elder told me that he never heard more lofty singing in the Church This Monsieur Brassalay declared as a most certain truth in the presence of many honest men After the Church of Orthez was razed to the Ground this singing ceased till about October following and then was again heard by most of that City and by many that came out of the Countrey to Market and staid till night on purpose It ordinarily happened about the same hour between eight and nine at night some heard the words others the Tune of the Psalm and there is scarce a House in Orthez of which some of the Family hath not heard it Monsieur Brunier aforementioned went one night with two or three others to the usually place without the City and they all three heard the singing for a long time over their heads the Tune of the 138 Psalm whereof they could hear distinctly these words Toward thy Holy Temple I Will look and worship thee And praised with my thankful voice Thy Holy name shall be Even for thy loving kindness sake And for thy Truth withal For thou thy Name hast by thy Word Advanced over all Dr. Faur a Physitian and Magistrate of the City another Papist heard it divers times but their malice made them say they were Sorcerers and Devils A young Damsel of Moncade heard this singing being in her Bed She arose and caused above 50 persons to go out who having heard it fell on their Knees and wept through the joy they conceived to hear such incomparable melody in the Air which continued above half an hour The place of this singing was raised above the City even as a very high Mountain and the People heard this singing over their heads as if it had been in the Clouds I have heard an honest man make this Relation who poured out tears when he spake of it The same thing I heard from other places To conclude it is impossible to doubt of a
re-entred into our Souls LX. In 1687. Octob. 20. The London Gazett gives a sad Relation of another Earthquake in the Kingdom of Peru in America whereby the City of Lima was totally overthrown and not one House left standing burying many of the Inhabitants units ruins At the same time Callao Fanette Pisco Chancay Los Florillos c. Most of them Sea-port Towns were destroyed by an Inundation of the Sea which carried several Ships above nine Miles into the Countrey and great numbers of People and Cattel were drowned there being found when the water fell at one place near the Sea-side above five thousand People dead and every dry more were found so that no account could be given of their number LXI In 1688. A dreadful Earthquake happened at Naples in Italy which was attended with the rage and roarings of Mount Vesuvius of which the London Gazett gives likewise the followinwing Account in a Letter from that City Dated June 8 On Saturday June 5. about the twenty second hour happened here a terrible Earthquake though it lasted not long which frightning the Inhabitants out of their Houses with the terror of an inevitable destruction they betook themselves to the Plazza's and open publick places of the City The old College of the Jesuits was ruin'd by it also the great Chappel of their New Colledge together with three other Chappels adjoining Three of the Fathers were killed there besides manness hers whose numbers are not yet known The Front of another great Church of the Jesuits opened in many cracks and the great Tower or Steeple seemed ready to fall In the Theatins Convent of the Holy Apostles a whole Dormitory fell down besides other considerable damage they received And the magnificent Arch erected before the Church of St. Paul belonging to the said Fathers fell together with those great and ancient Columns that formerly made part of the Temple Castor and Pollux there there remaining only four of them standing and those in a tottering condition Out of these ruins there have been already dug 19. Persons that were dead and there was reason to fear that the mischief might have been much greater it being so near to a publick Market where there were great throngs of People The Walls of the great Church of St. Dominick opened in many places and great part of the Refectory fell down as also part of adjoyning Palace where many were killed several other Churches of Augustins c. were ruined and in short there is scarce a Palace or House that has not received some considerable damage This occasioned very devout Processions of Persons of all Ranks The next day was another great Shock which threw down many of the Houses that were before the most weakned and Yesterday there was another perceived but without much damage but this day we have felt nothing of it However the Processions continue in great numbers and the Persons of Quality are all retired from hence In the Neighbourhood of Vdico a City sixteen Miles distant from hence a mountain opened and a Courier from Benevento a City belonging to the Pope brings an Account that it was all ruined and that of Six thousand Inhabitants there were but few left alive The Arch-bishops Palace there was thrown down and the Arch-bishop himself drawn out of the ruins being hurt in his Head and Arm. And there are Accounts of the like damages in several other places In a Letter from Rome June 12. 1688. There was this further Account We have had nothing considerable to entertain us here this Week but the sad Relations of the terrible Earthquakes at Naples and several places about it It happened at Naples on Sunday last about 21. hours and a half which at the same instant was perceived by a great many here On Sunday too it returned Several Churches Palaces and Houses are ruin'd among the rest the famous Church of the Jesuits reckoned the finest in Italy is all tumbled down except the Walls and the High Altar The particular number of those killed and buried in the ruins is not known The last Letters say many of the Inhabitants sie abroad under Tents in Couches c. and continually Prayers Processions publick Penances c. are performed and every one runs about crying Miserecordia Mercy Mercy Mercy Three Ships were Sunk in the Harbour and the Water in the Wells rose many handfuls Benevento is almost totally ruined and of ten thousand Inhabitants they say there remains scarce six hundred alive Cardinal Vrsini their Arch-bishop was taken out of the Ruins alive but hurt Several other Places and Seats are quite ruined and most of the Inhabitants swallowed up This City and the Countrey hereabout just felt the Shock but received no harm The damage is said to be above fifty Millions LXII In the same year and Month 1688. The London Gazett gave an Account of a dreadful Earthquake and Fire at Smyrna In a Letter from an English Gentleman at Constantinople Dated July 8. 1688. As followeth On June thirty between 11. and 12. at Noon there happened at Smyrna a violent Earthquake which in a Minute threw down many and shattered all the Houses in that City It reached all the adjacent Parts and Motelone and Scio where it did some small harm and at the same time that day it was felt here though the force of it being spent by the distance it was not generally taken notice of About four hours after the Earthquake a Fire broke out in the Frank-Street from an House called the Genovese-House which by the strength of the Wind and in that Consternation having no opposition soon consumed the Frank-Street and all the Town except the Skirts and the Houses on the side of the Hill which stand scattering and not contiguous The most moderate computation of People destroyed is 5000. Some make it double the number of which 400. Jews and one of the most famous Chaccham Rabbies of the East Aaron Aben Haim who as he was much reverenced by them in his life so particular lamentations are made here for his Death The Metropolite of Smyrna with some Papa's went to the Church to Prayers and were killed by its falling on them The Patriarch also of Alexandria had the same Fate And many poor People were buried in the ruins before they could get help Of the French Nation only the Consul was killed Of the Dutch one Merchant And of the English three and several others were bruised and hurt but not dangerously The Consul and half of the Nation it being Saturday were abroad but perceiving the Earthquake came immediately to the City and all went aboard their Ships in Port. In the interim betwixt the shock of the Earthquake and the breaking out of the Fire great quantities of Goods were saved So that the English as to their loss in Merchandise have escaped much better than the Dutch who had no Ships in Port. All the lower Ware-houses in Viserchan are saved but those above Stairs either by Windows
the last Sermon he preached in the Church he plainly represented to them the danger of their impenitence and wickedness with so much zeal and earnestness that many now confessed It was more like a Prophecy than a Sermon He says he had many times before an impulse upon his Spirit to Preach those things which he never premeditated at home and could not he thought do otherwise The morning of this dreadful day was very fair and clear affording no suspicion of the least evil but in the space of three minutes about half an hour after eleven in the morning Port-Royal the fairest Town of all the English Plantations the best Emporium and Mart of that part of the World exceeding in its riches plentiful of all good things was shaken and shattered to pieces and sunk into and covered for the greatest part by the Sea Few of the Houses that stood were left whole So that by their falling the opening of the Earth and the Inundation of the Waters it is reckoned there were lost fifteen hundred Persons The Sunday after the Minister Preached to them in a Tent not daring to venture among the shattered Houses the People were overjoyed to see him among them and wept bitterly when he Preached to them It was a sad sight to see all that Harbour one of the fairest and goodliest in America covered with the dead bodies of People of all conditions floating up and down without burial for the great and famous Burial-place called the Pallisadoes was destroyed by the Earthquake and the Sea washed the Carcasses of those that were buried out of their Graves their Tombs being dashed to pieces by the Earthquake of which there were hundreds in that place Multitudes of Rich men were utterly ruined whilst many that were poor by watching opportunities and searching the wrack'd and sunk Houses even almost while the Earthquake lasted and terror and amazement was upon all the considerable People have gotten great riches From St. Anns there was news that above a thousand Acres of Wood-land were turned into the Sea and carried with it whole Plantations but no place suffered like Port-Royal where whole streets were swallowed up by the opening of the Earth and the Houses and Inhabitants went down together Some of them were driven up again by the Sea which arose in those breaches and wonderfully escaped Some were swallowed up to the neck and then the Earth shut upon them and squeezed them to death and in that manner several were left buried with their heads above ground only some Heads the Dogs had eaten Others were covered with dust and Earth by the remaining People to avoid the stench Great bellowing and noises were heard sometime after in the Mountains which made them apprehensive of an Eruption of Fire but thanks be to God no ill Event hath yet succeeded By a second Letter from another worthy Divine and a Minister of the parish of Vere in that Island some Leagues from Port-Royal we have this further Relation of that tremendous Judgment Dated June 30. 1692. On Tuesday June 7. about 11. in the morning it pleased the Just God to visit us with a terrible Earthquake which continued with much violence and terror for about a quarter of an hour as most say but in my opinion not above 6. or 7. minutes in which time it overthrew all the Brick and Stone Buildings in the Countrey whereof several in my own Parish which now are either levelled with the ground or standing Monuments of the wrath of God so shattered and torn that they are irreparable while these were tumbling the Earth opened in my Parish in multitudes of places and though their dire Chasms spewed out Water to a considerable height above ground in such quantities in some places that it made our Gullies run on a sudden though before exceeding dry insomuch that some were afraid of being overwhelmed at once by the River and Sea joyning together to swallow up the Countrey these gaping mouths being no less than 12 20. or more foot deep under the Earth and above two miles up in the Countrey especially nigh the River in the purest mould which had not Clay nor other consolidating Matter beneath to oppose the force of the Fountains of the Deep breaking up for where that was we do not find any cracks of the Earth at all And yet it pleased God that we in this Parish have escaped the danger much better than our Neighbour Parishes for happening to content our selves with mean and low-built Houses generally of Timber and Boarded or with Cratches set deep in the ground and plaistred such Houses are generally standing So that we have means to assist one another whilst in other parts hundreds of Souls are cast out of their dwellings and have not a place to hide their Heads in except in Booths and Tents which they have since built to shade themselves from the Sun Our noted Town of St. John de la Vega Or The Spanish Town is utterly down to the ground and its Church devoured in the same Ruins Our Magazine and only Store-House of Port-Royal is three parts swallowed up in the Sea Ships and Shallops now riding at Anchor where great numbers of fine Fabricks stood not long since Many eminent Merchants worth thousands have scarce any thing left but the blue Linnen on their backs several are dead either overwhelmed with their Houses or drowned in the Sea which flowed in suddenly upon them For while they fled from the Sea the Earth devoured them in her gaping Jaws or they were killed with the falling Houses and while they fled from the gaping Chasms of the Earth or the tottering buildings the Sea met and swept them away A whole Street called the Wharf where most of the noted Merchants lived and where much of the Planters goods were landed for convenience of Sale and Shipping particularly Sugar and Cotten sunk at once from one end to the other with a general crack at the very begining of the Ear thquake together with two Forts Guns c. thereon and all that were upon or nigh it perished in an instant without warning and soon after while the People were in the greatest horror and consternation imaginable not knowing whither to fly for safety two or three more Streets in their whole length rottered and fell and were immediately funk ground and all together deep into the Sea as far as the Jews Street All the Upper part of the Town with the Church and all above the Pallisadoes is under Water even the very Pallisadoes it self where their burying place was is now no longer Earth but Sea and the dead Corps floated from thence to all parts of the Harbour The Houses that yet remain are many of them so rent and torn and others so deeply sunk into the Water even up to their Balconies that they are unserviceable The Wall at the Pallisadoes is utterly ruin'd with the Port thereto belonging and though Morgans Line and Walkers Fort yet stand they
are hil'd break all in pieces which never happened till since this late Earthquake The rest of the Springs are also become much clearer and better This will be a subject for those to exercise their Pens who make it their business to dive into the secrets of Nature This Earthquake went not beyond 52 Degrees and 40 Minutes of Northern Latitude How far it reached South and East is not yet certainly known It has been traced beyond Paris to the 48 degree of North Latitude and beyond the Rhyne on the East to Franckfort so that 260 Miles square were shaken by it The time of its happening here and beyond the Seat seem to vary some minutes but that may easily be accounted for by the difference of Meridians So that the inflamed Damp saith Mr. Ray which caused this Earthquake was lodged sleep in the Earth the Caverns that contained it passing under the bottom of the Sea The same year 1692. Oct. 15. about three a Clock in the Morning they felt an Earthquake at Bale and Schaffouse in Switzerland which was very violent as to the motion but did no harm at all LXVI I have already given an Account of divers Earthquakes and Irruptions of the dreadful Burning Mount Aetna in Sicily for many years past but that which lately happened in this unfortunate Island is of so astonishing a Nature that it may be more easily imagined than exprest and which can hardly be parallel'd in any former Age Both for the suddenness of it and the mighry defolations it did produce This tremendous Eauthquake a greater than which we read not of either in Ancient or modern History Was upon Jan. 7. 1692 At which time about ten at night Mount Aetna began to roar in a most horrible manner which usually presages some dismal Calamity to ensue It s loud bellowings continued for two days and then began to cease and fall lower and about an hour after the People of Catania which was nearest to the Mountain felt a trembling under them for near three Minutes during which no noise was heard from Mount Aetna so that it only affrighted the Inhabitants but within a Minute after the Roaring of the Mountain was redoubled with infinite terror and the top thereof appeared all in Flames and the West Wind carried away a great quantity of burnt Ashes This trembling of the 9th was felt in the Cities of Mineo Palaonia Ragosa Licodia and most of the South parts of Sicily at the same instant with that of Catania But the most tremendous shake of all happened on Jan. 11. which affected the whole Island in a more or less degree even from Messina North to Cape Coio the farthest Southern point of Sicily and though it continued but Six Minutes yet made horrible Ravage throughout the whole Countrey Under which dimal Calamity the Ancient City of Catania pleasantly Seated and full of Inhabitants of Quality with an University and about 24000. People in a Minute was sunk out of sight with a noise as loud as if thousands of Cannons had been discharged at once and some Moments after to the East where the City stood a little Mountain advanced it self several times a considerable height above the surface of the adjacent ground but soon after became likewise iuvisible The dismal bellowing of Mount Aetna was louder both before and after and appeared more than ever in Flames Yet a few Minutes after Catania was swallowed up there was neither Flames visible nor for five or six hours any Roarings to be heard After which it began to rage and throw out more Black and Smoaky Flashes than at any time before These particulars were observed by some Fishermen who happened at that time to be in their Boats in the Bay to the South and within three Miles of the City who expected every moment to have been swallowed up by the wonderful Agitation of the Waves But upon the sinking of the imaginary Mountain aforementioned the Sea became instantly Calm It is computed that not above 2000. of the Inhabitants of this City escaped and those of the Gentry who by the shake of the 9th instant and the hideous roaring of Mount Aetna the 11th in the morning which is the usual presage of some dismal Tragedy were frighted away all the rest of the People perishing in this lamentable ruin In the place where Catania stood some heaps of rubbish and a great Lake of Water appear at a distance Some Letters add That just as the Earthquake in Catania began to be perceived the Sea retired about two Miles from the Shoar which put the People into such a terrible fright that every one betook himself to what he thought might best secure him from this dreadful Scourge of Heaven Away they flew to the Cathedral where one of the Cannous carryed about the Reliques of St Agatha the Patroness of that City but neither the Reliques nor the Prayers of the Patroness could prevent the impending stroke for the whole City was destroyed in a moment after and all the People therein Under the same dismal Calamity fell the Ancient City of Syracuse so famous in History that it was formerly reckoned one of the greatest in the World having for many Centuries been the Metropolis of a Renowned Republick and still retained some marks of its prestine Grandeur seated in a Rich and pleasant Soil with a strong Castle and about 16000. Inhabitants By the Earthquake of the 9th many principal Houses and most part of the Castle were torn in divers places and the next night it was again shaken with so terrible a storm of Wind that the great Bell in one of the Churches made a noise by the violent Motion of the Steeple Many were killed by the Tempest and the rest fled out of the City for safety in the Night and so escaped the horrible devastation of the 11th wherein two thirds of the buildings were thrown down and above 7000. People buried in the Rubbish a great number were digged out of the Ruins but so bruised that there was little hope of their Recovery The Chief Magistrates and People of Condition fled for security into the great Church but there met with Death by the fall of the Stone-Roof and Steeple at once Neither did Noto though built upon a very high Bock almost inaccessible on all sides but one narrow way and a City which formerly contended with Syracuse for dignity partake of a less dismal fate It has one of the largest and best Harbours in Sicily and is the Key of the Countrey on that side and though the hardness of the Rock whereon it stood seem'd to secure it yet the trembling of the 9th did very much affect it and on the 11th laid it in heaps in a minute all the Inhabitants except some few who fled from thence on the 9th were buried under the ruins of their own Houses being reckoned about 7000. a part of a Church and very little more remaining standing in the whole Town Augusta a City in a
are Meadows through which you shall see the smoak of that Bâ—rrough arise But all this is nothing in comparison of what Martin Martinius relates in his Chymical Atlas He reports that there is a Mountain in China which is full of great Concavities in several places which are as it were bored through and serve as Roads from one Province to another That there are within this Mountain Lakes Rivers Fish Meadows and Animals of several sorts and that it would require half a years time to survey and describe all these Caverns LXXI To close all with some Moral and Divine Reflections Who doth not start at the thought of such tremblings of the Earth as we have already given large accounts of In what condition can a man be safe saith Seneca speaking of Earthquakes when the World it self is shaken and the only thing that passes for fixt and immoveable in the Universe trembles and deceives us Whither shall we fly for security if wheresoever we are the danger be still under our feet Upon the cracking of an House every man takes himself to flight and leaves all to save his life but what retreat is there where that which should support fails us when the soundations not only of Cities but even of the World it self opens and wavers what help or what comfort where fear it self can never carry us off An Enemy may be kept at a distance with a Wall a Castle may put a stop to an Army a Port may protect us from the fury of a Tempest Fire it self doth not follow him that runs away from it a Vault may defend us against Thunder and we may quit the place in a Pestilence there is some Remedy in all these evils Or however no man ever knew a whole Nation destroy'd by Lightning A Plague may unpeople a Town but it will not carry it away there is no Evil of such an extent so inevitable so greedy so publickly Calamitous as an Earthquake For it does not only devour Houses and single Towns but ruins whole Countreys and Nations either overturning or swallowing them up without so much as leaving any Footstep or Mark of what they were Some People have a greater horror for this Death than any other To be taken away alive out of the number of the living As if all Mortals by what means soever were not to come to the same end death and it is not to be regarded whether I am crushed to death by one Stone or by a whole Mountain Whether I perish by the fall of an House or fall under the burthen of the whole Earth whether I be swallowed up alone or with a thousand more for Company We should therefore arm our selves against that blow which can neither be avoided nor foreseen It is not the abandoning those places that we find infested with Earthquakes which will secure us for there is no Place can be warrant against them What if the Earth be not moved It is moveable for the whole body of it lies under the same Law and exposed to danger only some at one time and some at another As it is in great Cities where all the Houses are subject to ruintho ' they do not all fall together So in the body of the Earth now this part fails and then that Tyre was formerly subject to Earthquakes In Asia 12 Cities were swallowed up in one night Achaia and Maccdonia have had their turns and now Compagnia The Fate goes round and strikes at last where it hath a great while passed by It falls out oftner 't is true in some places than in others but no place is totally free and exempt And it is not only men but Cities Coasts nay the shores and the very Sea it self that suffers under the dominion of Fate And yet we are so vain as to promise our selves some kind of assurance in the goods of Fortune never considering that the very ground we stand upon is unstable and it is not the frailty of this or that Place but the quality of every spot of it for not one inch of it is so compacted as not to admit many causes of its Resolution And though the Earth remain entire the parts of it may yet be broken Thus the three Heathen Philosophers strove to sortifie themselves against these calamities which they judged inevitable not considering them as punishments of their sins and enormities inflicted upon them by Divine Justice Hear now what Christians who are instructed in a better School say of them How astonishing saith a worthy Person of our Nation are the fearful Effects which Earthquakes have had produced in all Ages as we may find them in Histories and Philosophical Discourses where you may read of Rocks torn in pieces Mountains not cast down only but removed Hills raised not out of Valleys only but out of Seas Fires breaking out of Waters Stones and Cinders belched up Rivers Changed Seas Dislodged Earth opening Towns Swallowed up and many other such hideous Events Of which kind our own Memories can furnish us with many at home although these colder Climates are more rarely infested with such frightful Accidents And of all the Animadversions that Divine Justice gives men there is none more horrid or less Evitable than this of Earthquakes For what assurance can we hope for here below if the Earth quake under our feet where can we think to escape danger if the most solid thing of all the World do shake If that which sustains all other things above us threaten us with sinking under our feet What Sanctuary shall we find to defend us from an Evil that doth incompass us round And whither can we withdraw if the Gulphs which open themselves shut up our passages on all sides With what horror are Men struck when they hear the Earth groan When her trembling succeeds her complaints when Houses are loosned from their Foundations when the Roofs fall upon their heads Heads and their Pavement sinks under their Feet VVhat hope is there to be had in so general a disorder when fear cannot be fenced by flight In other Cases there is some outlet whereby to escape an Evil. An Enemy is beaten from the Bulwark he had possess'd himself of Earth-works are opposed to the Thundring Cannon VVinds which raise Tempest deliver us from them and after having a long time tossed us to and fro they cast us on the Shore Houses serve us for Sanctuaries against the injuries of the Air and VVeather If a Man will resign his goods to the Fiâ—â— he may save his Person Thunder hurts not those who hide themselves in Caverns VVhen the Pestilence infects whole Cities we may shun the Contagion by going into the Countrey And if it dispeople Towns it doth not throw down Houses But an Earthquake incloses what it overthrows and wages VVar not with some few Houses only but whole Provinces and sometimes leaves nothing behind it to inform postery of its Outrages More Insolent than Fire which sparâ—â—… Rocks More Greeâ—y