time our Fleet which was set out on purpose persuing theirs we took one Shallop and made them desperately blow up their great Ship such as were saved remaining our Prisoners and others fled home to give an Account of their overthrow To conclude God in his Displeasure remembred Mercy for though such Numbers perisht at Port-Royal where they were thronged together in an Isthmus of Land yet I cannot hear of fifty Persons both Whites and Blacks that were lost beside throughout all the Island Other Letters add these particulars That this terrible Earthquake came from the North and attacked Port-Royal on the Harbour side on which was the Wharf the whole length of the place where stood the Kings House a Bastion of 207. Guns Carlile Battery of 119. Guns and the Houses of the greatest Merchants All those Sunk down in a moment from three to five fathom of Water Some were sunk in their Houses others buried in the Rubbish some who were got into clear Water and could Swim were carried away with drifts of Timber and tops of Houses driven by a steering carreer and there perished Nothing else was seen but the Dead and Dying nothing heard but Shrieks and Cries the Living were covered with Wounds Bruises and Blood The Thunder Roared over their Heads the Earth Trembled under their Feet the Rocks and Mountains were rent in sunder and Fire-bals fell by day and night from Heaven so that the most hardened Atheists might have considered that there was a God who Governed the World In short says my Author it is impossible for Tongue to speak or Pen to write the Sorrows and Terrors of that day of which I my self who escaped to a Miracle was an Eye-witness Because some may be desirous to know the Names of those that perished in this terrible Calamity I thought fit to give an Account of them who were of most note though doubtless great numbers were lost of which no publick notice has been given Attorney General Musgrove Provost Marshal Reeves Captain Ruden who with his Wife and Family with several others in it sunk first into the Earth Captain Agar Dr. Boy Capt. Waile Capt. Warder and his Family Mr. Nushall and his Family Mr. Crosts Family Mr. Alcoks Family Capt Wilison and his Son Dr. Trapham a Phisician by hanging by hands upon the Rack of a Chimney and one of his Children hanging about his Neck were both miraculously saved in a Boat but his Wife with the rest of his Children and Family were all lost so was Mrs. Robinson Mrs. Gifford Mrs. Enllers Mr. Fyrme Mr. Brown Mr. Stephens Mr. Reeves and his wife Mr. Pryer Mr. Lambspert Mr. Atwell Mrs. Radburn and her Family Mr. Ryvers and his Family Mrs. Eeylin and her Child Mrs. Elizabeth Beckford Sir Jame Cosâ—ybyes Daughter Mrs. Dowingtons Child Capt. Cunnings Capt. Tokely Capt. Martin Capt. Woody Mr. Nash Mr. Meares Mr. George Philips Mr. Norbery's Wife Mr. Jonanathan Wood Mrs. Corbet Collonel Read Collonel Reeves's Lady Mr. Magirah Mr. Joys Child Mr. Diggins Cap. Watson Mr. Stockton and Family Mr. Ralph Knights Widdow and Neice Mrs. Sweeting Mrs. Susanna Cdrson Mr. Keene Mr. Hellinwood and Family Mr. John Lake and Wife Mr. John Perks Wife and Child Mr. Hayward and Family Mr. Dean Mr. William Turner Mr. Watts and Mr. Beckfords two Daughters LXV In the same year 1692. Sept. 8. an Earthquake was felt in London and in several parts of Essex Kent Sussex Hampshire c. as Sheerness Sandwick Deal Maidstone Porismouth c. the People leaving their houses in many places least they should fall on their heads but it lasted only a minute It shook Leeds Castle in Yorkshire so violently that all in the Castle even the Lady her self went out of it and expected its falling A Person being in the Field hard by the ground shook so under him that he could not stand and being forced to lye down on the Ground was so tossed up and down that he received several bruises At Maidstone in Kent the people generally got out of their houses fearing they would fall It happened at London about four minutes past two and was felt in most part of the Durch and Spanish Netherlands as also in Germany France c. The account from Holland runs thus On Sept. 8. between two or three a Clock in the Afternoon all Holland was sensible of a trembling of the Earth which lasted about three minutes The shog or joiting which it caused three times one after another was not violent for it did no damage but it was plainly perceptible and very much alarm'd the People At Middleburg in Zealand it continued for some time and caused the Earth to move so much that the people was forced to hold by what was next in the Street and it was feared that the Steeple of the great Church by its motions would have fallen it causing the Bells both there and at the Hague to jahgle and the Ships at Sea were sensible of it The Gazaet relates that our Gracious Sovereign King Willium being encamped at Grammen in Flanders at the same time there happened an Earthquake which lasted near a minute and was very sensible to the whole Camp The King was then at Dinner in an old decayed House which shaking very much and every one apprehending it was ready to fall His Majesty was prevailed with to rise from Table to go out of the House but the surprize was soon over An ingenious Gentleman has made observation that this Earthquake affected places most on the Seacosts and near great Rivers which seems to favour the opinion of another learned Person That Water and not Wind is the cause of Earthquakes which the Ancient Philosophers did also assert And therefore saith he the excessive Rains which fell that Summer in far greater quantity than what the Earth could possibly receive being shut up in the hollow Caverns and Bowels of the Earth and striving to get out again may have caused these Universal shivering Fits in our European parts and there is this Argument to corroborate this Conjecture for that very great Earthquakes indeed are many times attended with violent Inundations the Rivers being swell'd with the Water which the Earth has let out Another odd accident that followed this Earthquake was the effect it had upon the Spa Waters in Germany which are so famour and so wholesom and are now become much more improved since that happened Spa is a Burrough in the Countrey of Liege where there are several Mineral Fountains to which a great number of people resort at all seasons of the Year Among all the Springs belonging to that noted Burrough that in the middle out of which the Bottles are fill'd that are sent over all Europe every year is changed after a very extraordinary manner The source of it is as big again as it was and the Water which before was seldom clear is become extreamly Limpid and is of that strength that the Bottles if they be stopt immediately after they
the City of Agra eleven Churches nine Chappels besides many private Houses and in the City of Praga hardly an house was left standing Not long after so horrible an Earthquake happened in another of the Islands of Azores called St. Michael aforementioned that not far from thence the Sea opened and thrust forth an Island above a League and half in length at a place where there was above a hundred and fifty Fathom Water XL. In 1618. The Town of Pleurs in Switzerland was overwhelmed by an Earthquake of which we have the following account in the late Travels of a Reverend Divine in that Countrey This place consisted in about two thousand two hundred Inhabitants and magnificently built for besides the great Palace of the Francken that cost some Millions there were many other Palaces erected by several Rich Factors both of Milan and other Parts of Italy who liked the Scituation and Air as well as the freedom of the Government of this place so they used to come hither during the Heats and here they gave themselves all the Indulgences that a vast wealth could furnish By one of the Palaces that was a little distant from the Town which was not overwhelmed one may judg of the rest It was an Out-house of the Family of the Francken and yet it may compare with many Palaces in Italy and certainly House and Gardens could not cost so little as one hundred thousand Crowns The Voluptuousness of this Place became very crying and Madam de Salis told me saith my Author that she often heard her Mother relate some Passages of a Protestant Ministers Sermons who Preached in a little Church which those of the Religion had there and warned them frequently of the terrible Judgments of God that were hanging over their heads and that he believed would suddenly break in upon them On the 25 of August 1618. an Inhabitant came and persuaded them to be gone for he saw the Mountains cleaving but he was laughed at for his pains He had a Daughter whom he prevailed with to leave all and go with him but when she was gone out of the Town with him she called to mind that she had not lockt the Door of a Room in which she had some things of value and so she went back to do that and was buried with the rest for at the hour of Supper the Hill fell down and buried the Town and all the Inhabitants so that none escaped The fall of the Mountains did so fill the Channels of the River that the first news those of the Chavennes had of it was by the failing of the River for three or four hours there came not a drop of Water but the River wrought for it self a new course and returned to them I could hear no perticular Character of the Man who escaped so I must leave the secret reason of so singular a preservation to the great discovery at the last day of those steps of Divine Providence that are now so unaccountable Some of the Family of the Francken got some Miners to work under-ground to find out the Wealth that was butied in their Palace for besides their Plate and Futniture there was a great Cash and many Jewels in the House the Miners pretended they could find nothing But they went to their Countrey of Tirol and built fine Houses and a great Wealth appeared of which no other visible account could be given but this that they had found some of that Treasure XLI In 1622. Was a great Earthquake in Italy The shape of an Elephant was seen in the Air and three Suns Armies fighting Monstrous births Waters turned into bloud unusual and impetuous Tempests which overthrew several Towers At this time began the third Civil War in France the Prince of Conde is taken and shot to Death with a Pistol The Earls of Northumberland and Westmorland rebel The Popish Clergy are expelled Antwerp by the People The Emperor Prohibiteth the Protestant Religion at Atken The Spaniards Invade Ireland but are beaten thence The Turks lose Alba Regalis and threescore thousand men The Persians Invade Babylon and kill twenty thousand men The King of France is slain Nine hundred thousand Moors are expelled Spain The Hollanders beat the Spaniards in the South Sea The Tartars Invade Podolia they burn four Cities and four hundred Villages and carry from thence a vast booty The Jesuits and Papists are expelled the Netherlands In 1627. An Earthquake happened in England and a great fiery Beam was seen in the Air in France Six Suns in Cornwall at once and five Moons in Normandy In 1627. July 31. happened an Earthquake in Apulia in Italy whereby in the City of Severine alone ten thousand Souls were taken out of the World and in the horror of such infinite ruins and sepulchre of so many Mortals a great Bell thrown out of the Steeple by the Earthquake fell so fitly over a Child that it inclosed him and doing him no harm made a Bulwark for him against any other danger Strange and wonderful were the Prodigies that were seen in Germany both in the Heavens Earth and Waters before the beginning of that Bloody War in those Countreys and which plainly presaged the ensuing miseries and desolations which happened there and began about 1631. In which year not long before the troubles of Naples there happened a terrible Earthquake in and about that City and the Mountain of Soma after many terrible bellowings vomited out burning streams of Fire which tumbled into the Adriatick Sea and cast out an huge deal of Ashes The like happened the year following with great damage and loss to the Neighbouring places both in Houses People and Cattel And in Apulia seventeen thousand Persons were destroyed by the same XLII In the year 1638. Six Suns were seen at once in Cornwall and several Apparitions of men in the Heavens preparing to fight with each other Also Navys of Ships were visible in the Sky The Scots at this time make an Insurrection the King goes in Person to appease them they renounce the Bishops and Prelacy and set up Presbytery in Scotland In this year 1638. happened a Terrible Earthquake in the Island of St. Michael one of the Azores or Tercera's belonging to the Spaniards in the Atlantick Ocean Westward Upon June 26. this Island began unversally to quake and tremble which continued eight days so that the People leaving the Cities Towns and Castles were forced to live in the open Fields After which this Prodigy succeeded Six miles distant from the Hill or Pick of Camerine at a place called Ferriera where Fishermen with their Boats use to fish in Summer they at this time caught such a multitude that no Boat returned with less than Ten Thousand Fish At this very place in July this very year Fire broke forth with such unexpressible violence notwithstanding the depth of the Ocean which had been fathomed one hundred and twenty foot deep that the very Sea it self was not sufficient to extinguish
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
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
Peni-insula on the East of Sicily with a large prospect to the Sea safe Harbours and considerable Trade was much damaged on the 9th instant and about 600 People kill'd by the downfal of the Houses The next day the shake was renewed which caused most of the Gentry to fly to the Castle for security but there being terrible Lightning a Magazine of Powder took Fire and about 1100 Persons who sought for safety were slain there in the destruction of the Castle which was blown up in the Air and the following day the rest of the Town and the remaining Inhabitants by another dreadful shake were utterly destroyed and buried in rubbish so that of 6000 People none were left alive Lentini the ancient Lecotium a Town of about 3000 Families was burnt to the ground on the 11th and nothing to be seen but several great heaps of Earth in the beautiful Lake upon which it stood the Water whereof is now become brackish and of a bituminous tast which was before very clear And great quantity of Fish are found dead on the shoar Calatgirmie a Town well built of Free-stone by the shake on the 11th had a fifth part of the buildings and two Monasteries demolished but of 7000 People 5000 made their escape Mineo was striken both the 9th and 11th of the former the Heavens were sealene without the least Cloud but on the latter there was a terrible storm of Lightning and Thounder for six hours together At both times several houses and a large Church were overthrown and it was judged about 4000 People perished The shake of the 11th did likewise greatly shatter the Cathedral Church of Monreal one of the most famous structures in the World The Dome above the high Altar falling â—â—â—…ied in pieces four curious Brass Pillars and many Images of Saints of rare workmanship Part of the Archbishops Palace was burnt with Lightning and some few of the Inhabitants were killed by the fall of Houses Parermo where the Viceroy of Sicily keeps his Court received some damage in its Cathedral and another Church was ruined which obliged the Viceroy his Family and the Archbishop to go aboard the Galleys in the Harbor where they expected death every moment from the violent motion of the Waves some part of the great Mole being shattered yet not above 100 People were killed in this famous City who lived in a Suburb built of Wood. The Town of Pasceni of about 200 Inhabitants was so entirely ruined that not one house or person was saved The spacious Valley adjoining which was formerly full of excellent Vines being turned into a new Lake whose Water is brackish and like Brimstone In Patuzolo a place of about 1000 people all were swallowed up Furla another Town of about the same number of Souls had the like fate and the Rocks adjacent which formerly were white as Marble are now black and as if burne with Fire and Gunpowder and the Fountains of fair Water are become muddy and tast of Brimstone Sciorti a bigger Town than the three last was totally demolished and the Inhabitants which were reckoned about 2000 so utterly destroy'd that none were left to tell the news No more than there were at Militello where of 6000 People no one is left to give tydings how or when its calamity happened The Countrey People who dwell in the Mountains about it affirm that for three days before they could not discern the Town by reason of a thick Fog which surrounded it but that on the 11th in the morning it was no more to be seen A great part of the Mountain on the North side is torn asunder and the one half overwhelmed the Town leaving a deep Gulph betwixt that and the other part of the Mountain Luechela had better fortune for of 2000 near half escaped having happily had warning by some former shakes and by the Earths swallowing up an old Castle which stood on a rising ground two miles from thence in a minutes time no sign of its station remaining but instead thereof a vast quantity of Waters issued out which in a little time made a large Lake Upon sight whereof half the Inhabitants of this Town fled from thence and the rest with all the buildings were utterly destroy'd Palonia another small Town received much damage by the fall of a Church one of the beautifullest in Sicily which was shattered to pieces on the 11th and the Dome falling crushed to Death 300 Persons and the Priest that was saying Mass most of the remaining Inhabitants got into the Fields and many other Houses did not fall so that the loss was not so great as in other places Buchino another large Village also escaped without much slaughter of People though most of the Houses fell at Seodia a Village about the same bigness 150 people were kill'd by the fall of the Church and the buildings much shaken Likewise a Lake about a mile thence which was two miles about and very deep was on the 11th wholly swallowed up by the opening of the Earth in the middle of it and the Channel left dry Land which still continues Chirramonte another Village was utterly overthrown and 3 or 400 hundred of the Inhabitants buried in the ruins Monterusso was shaken but 200 people flying to the Castle for security were with that buried in the ground and a Pool of faltish Water arose in the place Vizzini a fine Town built on the side of a Hill of the hardest stones like marble which seemed to ensure it from such accidents yet felt some shakes on the 9th which affrighted the Chief Inhabitants so that they lived in Tents in the Fields but hearing no more the next day they returned home on the 11th in the morning and in a few hours the Town and themselves consisting of about 3500 Souls were swallowed up in the Earth Modica a large Village was the only place that was utterly ruined by the shake of the 9th and that so very suddenly that of about 1400 People not one was left alive A River about two miles from thence was overwhelmed by the fall of a Mountain but afterwards found a new passage underneath it as hath likewise happened to divers other Rivers in Sicily the Earth being thrown over them like a Bridge or Vault Bisenti another Village lost 200 Persons and some few houses were snaken down A little Town called Francofome built most of Timber though not much damaged by the Earthquakes yet a dreadful storm of Thunder and Lightning for three days together burnt down the spire of the Church Steeple which was of Wood covered with Lead The Nunnery of the Carmelites was almost ruined so suddenly that five Nuns were smothered in Bed But not above 12 or 14 Houses more burnt The Town of Carlontoni was shaken on the 9th and some Houses and People were destroyed which so alarmed the Bishop and Magistrates that they persuaded the Inhabitants to go into the Fields About four a Clock next day most of them
The Dreadful Earthquake in Jamaica Iune 7. 1692 The General HISTORY OF Earthquakes BEING An Account of the most Remarkable and Tremendous Earthquakes that have happened in divers parts of the World from the Creation to this time As they are recorded by Sacred and Common Authors And perticularly those lately in Naples Smyrna Jamaica and Sicily With a description of the famous burning Mount Aetna in that Island And a Relation of the several dreadful Conflagrations and Fiery Irruptions thereof for many Ages Likewise the Natural and Material Causes of Earthquakes with the usual Signs and Prognosticks of their approach And the Consequents and Effects that have followed several of them By R. B. LONDON Printed for Nath. Crouch at the Bell in the Poultrey near Cheapside 1694. TO THE READER THE several dreadful Earthquakes that have happened in divers parts of the World within a few years past and among others that in the Island of Jamaica and another in England wherein the People of this Nation is particularly concerned seem to call aloud for Repentance and Reformation of the horrid Enormities that are boldly committed amongst us for the Almighty executes his Judgments upon Mankind that the People of the Earth might learn Righteousness Therefore the collecting and publishing the terrible Relations of Earthquakes needs no Apology and may I hope be influential upon the minds of men who appear affected with the dismal accounts that have been lately given of these terrible Visitations of God I have been the more incouraged to proceed in Printing these small Manuals by the acceptance that others of this nature have already met with which I find has occasioned many especially young people to lay aside those vain and idle Songs and Romances wherewith they were formerly Conversant and to divert their vacant hours with reading the real Transactions Revolutions and Accidents that are recorded by Authors of the greatest Veracity to have happened in divers Ages and Countreys And this being of that kind I have no cause to doubt but it may meet with as civil Treatment as as those that have already been made publick by R. B. The General HISTORY OF Earthquakes I. AMong the several Plagues and Judgments wherewith the Almighty visiteth and punisheth the Enormities and Sins of Mankind that of Earthquakes may be accounted the most Dreadful and Tremendous which in an instant swalloweth up thousands of people of all Qualities and Ages together with the most superb and stately Edifices that Pride and Ambition can raise in a moment even in the twinkling of an Eye to convince men of the Greatness and Power of the Supream Creator and how vain it is to value themselves upon any mundane enjoyments Of which we have lately had very astonishing Instances in several parts of the World II. But before I proceed to give a Relation of them it may be necessary to discover the Natural Causes of this dreadful Concussion of the Earth which the God of Heaven makes use of to signifie his Displeasure for the provoking Crimes of Nation and People Of which a Learned Divine gives the following account III. An Earthquake is a shaking of the Earth occasioned by Wind and Exhalations inclosed within the Caves and Bowels of the Earth which can find no passage or at least none long enough to discharge themselves and therefore breaking forth with great force and violence it sometimes shaketh the Earth another while rendeth and openeth the same sometimes casting up Earth a great height into the Air otherwhile causing the ground to sink down a great depth swallowing Cities Towns Palaces Castles yea prodigious high Mountains leaving in the place nothing but deep holes or long and unfathomable Lakes of Water IV. Authors Write differently of the several kinds of Earthquakes but they usually comprehend them under four The first kind is when the Earth is shaken laterally or to one side the whole force of the inclosed Wind and Vapours driving to one place and there is no contrary motion to hinder it This Wind if it be not great causeth the Earth to tremble like a man in an Ague Fit and doth no more harm but if it be strong and violent it looseth the Foundations of all Buildings though never so firm overthrows whole Cities and sometimes throws down great Hills so that they overwhelm all the Valleys under them The second kind is when the Earth is lifted up with great violence so that the Buildings are like to fall and instantly sink down again and this is caused by the force of the Winds which strive to get upward like Gunpowder and finding some deliverance from confinement the Earth falls down to its former place The third sort is the opening rending or gaping of the Earth which sinking down swallows up Cities Towns yea Rocks Rivers and Flouds and so that they never appear again Nay the Sea in some places hath been drunk up so that People have gone over on foot till the returning Tyde hath covered the place with Water again The last kind is when great Mountains arise out of the Earth or else when some part of the Land sinketh down and instead thereof arise Rivers Lakes or Fires breaking out with Smoak and Ashes Sometimes the bottom of the Sea is lifted up whereby many Islands are made that were never seen before Of which History gives large accounts V. If it be asked how such mighty Winds come to be under the Earth the Philosophers answer that the great Caves and Dens of the Earth being always full of Air when the heat of the Sun resolves the moisture of the Earth many Exhalations are generated both within and without the same and the places being full before can receive no more unless some part be let our so that in those Countries where the Earth hath but few Pores or where they are stopt with moisture it must necessarily happen that these Exhalations striving to get out must needs rend the Earth or lift it up either to get free passage or to make room enough to abide within VI. It has been observed That there are usually several Signs and Presages of this terrible Calamity As first the raging of the Sea when there are no Tempestuous Winds to move it yea in the greatest Calm which is occasioned by the Winds labouring to get passage that way but being repelled soon after shakes the Earth Again the Water in the bottom of deep Wells is troubled and infected with a Sulphurous smell from the pestilent Exhalations long inclosed within the Earth which now begin to spread abroad And hereupon in divers places an Earthquake has caused abundance of Smoak Flame and Ashes to issue forth by reason that the vast quantity of Brimstone under ground is by the violent motion set on Fire and bursteth out so that it is a wonder if after an Earthquake some grievous Pestilence does not follow the whole Mass of the Poysonous Minerals within the Bowels of the Earth being by this furious shock blown
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
means whereby he designed to make them void XXIV In 367. in the Reign of Valens and Valentinian Emperors of Rome there happen'd such horrible Earthquakes throughout the Western Empire as neither True Historians have related the like nor Fables themselves represented to us A little after the day dawned there was a great Tempest of Thunder and Lightning which was followed by such a dreadful trembling of the Earth that the Sea also was shaken therewith and deserted the shore and its ancient bounds for a great space and the depths of its Channels were discovered multitudes of Fish were seen to stick in the Mud and many plowed Fields became Navigable the inequality of the Seas bottom appeared here Hills and there Vallies which had never before seen the Sun since at the original of all things they were first overwhelmed with the Flouds Many Ships were left on the dry ground and swarme of People flew thither to catch Fish when suddenly the Sea as disdaining to be imprisoned returned to its former station with such impetuosity that it over-ran its former bounds and with the fury thereof overthrew a multitude of Towns and Houses with many thousands of People and great numbers of Ships were overwhelmed some of which with the violence thereof were blown upon the tops of Houses Soon after a great Rebellion happened and the Northern Nations came in like a Floud and over-ran the Roman Empire which was thought to be presaged by this lamentable accident XXV In 430. A great Earthquake raged in divers places and overturned many Cities the Wall of Constantinople though but new built it threw to the ground with 57 Turrets Also Stones of great bulk lately placed there fell down many Town were ruined Yea some Authors affirm that it was so terrible as to affect almost the whole World the Earth gaped and swallowed up many Villages Fountains were dried up and Waters brake forth in places formerly dry Great Trees were torn up by the Roots Heaps of Earth were so shaken together that they were raised into Mountains The Sea threw up dead Fishes many Islands were sunk and overwhelmed Ships sailing on the Sea were suddenly left on dry ground In short many places of Bythinia the Hellespont and both the Phrygin's were grievously distrest thereby This disaster continued six months without intermission and the People of Constantinople not daring to stay in the City for fear of the fall of their Houses continued together with their good Emperor and their Patriarch in the Fields instant in Prayers to the Almighty for the removal of so dreadful a Judgment After the danger was over the Emperor repaired the Walls of Constantinople which were much endamaged thereby This was judged a Sign of the Death of Theodosius which soon after followed and of several changes which happened at the same time in divers parts of the World XXVI In 454. A great Earthquake at Rome another at Vienna Wolves and other Beasts wander all the year through the City and devour men An Earthquake in Russia and at Constantinople with two wonderful Blazing Stars About this time the Brittains beat the Saxons and drive them into the Isle of Thanet The Jews Rebel in Egypt and Kill two hundred thousand Men and forced those that survived to eat the dead They slay two hundred and forty thousand in Cyprus and at last are slain themselves A great Famine in Constantinople The Goths wast Thrace Thessaly and Epirus Gratian killeth thirty five thousand Germans Maxinius slayeth Gratian treacherously and possesseth Brittain France Spain and Africk The Temple of Apollo Daphneus is burnt The Heathen Temples are shut up by the Christian Emperors and their Idols destroyed In 458. A great Earthquake happened at Antioch which the Citizens had sad cause to remember Before it began some of the Inhabitants were seized with an extraordinary madness such as seemed to exceed the fury of Wild Beasts and to be the presage of that Calamity which followed soon after For about the Fourth hour of the night in September almost all the buildings of the new City were overturned which was well peopled and none of it forsaken or empty being curiously built by the Magnificence of divers Emperors who strove to exceed each other in the adornment of it The first and second Fabricks in the Palace were also cast down the rest standing together with a Bath which having formerly been neglected now when by the Earthquake the rest were choaked up stood the Citizens in very good stead XXVII In the first Century was a terrible Earthquake in Arabia and another in Palestina and a third at Constantinople for six weeks together It rained Bloud in Piedmont and at York the Fountains ran Bloud a Dragon and many Serpents were seen in the River Tyber After this so terrible a Famine raged in Brittain that the People assembled in great numbers to cast themselves into the Sea A Plague so great in Rome that 800 men fell dead in an hour in the time of Procession Brunchild a Daughter of France being found guilty of the death of ten Kings She is tyed by the Hair of the Head and the Arms to Wild Horses and torn to pieces The Jews and Samaritanes Persecute the Christians and burn their Churches in Caesaria XXVIII In the sixth seventh and eighth Centuries an Earthquake at Antioch Another in Palestina another in England and Normandy a fiery Dragon was seen in the Skies and divers other dreadful Prodigies About the same time there was a violent Earthquake at Constantinople which lasted many days and every hour the City suffered extraordinary shocks Many houses were thrown down but the People betook themselves to Prayer Fasting and Repentance and the Almighty had compassion on them Many Cities in the East were ruined by it and the City of Alexandria was sore shaken therewith which was the more astonishing because it seldom happens in those parts Some years after Constantinople was again shaken so violently that not only the Walls and Churches but all Greece trembled therewith The Saracens about this Age Besieged Constantinople for seven years and at last thirty thousand of them were slain The King of Scots is slain by the Picts A Pestilence in Constantinople for three years which devoured so many that the living were not sufficient to bury the Dead Alphonsus King of Portugal killeth seventy thousand Moors and taketh Lisbon from them The Danes Invade England but all of them almost perished The Brittains Invade Scotland Constantine their King was killed The Saracens take Armoricum and many Captives Lothair Wars with his Brethren and an hundred thousand men are slain In 801. while Charles the Great was in Italy there was an Earthquake with great noises which shook all France and Germany but especially Italy it overthrew several Towers and even Mountains and the Church of St. Paul at Rome was destroyed by it whereupon Pope Leo III. appointed solemn Feasts and Processions These Prodigies were followed with furious Tempests and Contagious
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
and the Children in and then closed again so that he nor they were ever seen after This History is writ and religiously kept by them in their Annals at Hamel to this day is read in their Books and painted in their Windows and their Churches they date their Bills Bonds and other Instruments in Law From the year of the going out of the Children Besides there is a great Pillar of Stone at the Foot of that Hill whereon the Story is Ingraven It is also observed in the memory thereof that in the Streets the Children passed out of no Piper is admitted to live ever since and if a Bride live in that Street till she is come out of it no Dancing is to be suffered Howel's Epistles page 272. XXXIII In 1300. When the Turkish Empire began to be considerable there was such an Earthquake at Rome as never was before and forty eight Earthquakes happened in one year whereby all Lombardy was shaken A great Earthquake in London which was especially felt on the Banks of the River Thames which shook and threw down many buildings and was the more terrible because the Western parts are less accustomed to Earthquakes and there was little ebbing or flowing of the Sea observable as at other times for about three months after Another Earthquake did much mischief about Bath and Bristol and two more happened in England not long after Also two in France and one in Savoy An Earthquake at Rome in the time of Pope Boniface the eight who fainted away for fear and afterward published a Jubilee In 1348. a terrible Earthquake happened at Constantinople which indured six weeks and reached in the extent of it as far as Hungary and Italy Twenty six Cities were overthrown by it Mountains were torn up by the Roots and several Men Women and Beasts by that strong Exhalation were turned into Statues of Salt In Persia five hundred Houses were thrown by an Earthquake in the City of Lair In England for six hours together the Sun appeared as Bloud In Germany was a very great Earthquake Grashoppers cover Switzerland like Snow At Oxford the Image of a Head spake thus Caput decidetur Caput Elevabitur Pedes elevabuntur super Caput The Head shall be cut off The Head shall be lift up The Feet shall be elevated above the Head Which was thought to presage the Deposing and Death of King Richard II. At this time fifty thousand Christians were slain by the Turks in the Plains of Casovia Scotland is wasted by the English The Emperor Sigismond executed thirty two of the Nobles in Hungary The Pope is imprisoned by the French King A great Battle between King Henry the V. and the French wherein they lost twenty thousand men ten thousand being killed upon the place and as many made Prisoners The French burn Rye and Hastings in Sussex and Plunder the Isle of Wight In Gaunt five thousand Houses were burnt and seventeen Towns drowned in Flanders A very great Earthquake in France and Grashoppers destroy almost every green thing there The World was shook with terrible Earthquakes Cities Castles Villages and a multitude of People were swallowed up in the Caverns of the Earth Many at Liege destroyed by Thunder while they were paying their Veneration to the Saints for safety Mountains were cleft and Rivers were dried up XXVIV In 1456. There arose upon the Sea of Ancona in Italy together with a thick Gloomy Cloud that extended above two Miles a Tempest of Wind Water Fire Lightning and Thunder which peircing to the most deep Abysses of the Sea forced up the Waves with a most dreadful fury and carried all before it upon the Land which caused so horrible an Earthquake some time after that the Kingdom of Naples was almost ruined and all Italy carried the dismal marks of it A Million of Houses and Castles were buried in their own ruins and above thirty thousand People crushed to pieces and a huge Mountain overturned into the Lake de la Garde Soon after was a dreadful Earthquake in Millain another in Hungary In Poland there was seen saith my Author an Image of Christ crucified with a Sword to pass along the Air from West to South for two hours In Germany Hailstones fell as big as Goose Eggs. At this time the Hungarians defeat the Turks and take thirty thousand Captives from them The Spanish Inquisition is first instituted in Castile against the Moors and Jews The Jews are expelled Spain The Turks expel the Christians from Adrianople King Henry VI. is taken Prisoner at North-hampton Great Inundations in England The Sun is darkned without an Ecclipse XXXV In 1509. Sept. 14. There happened a terrible Earthquake at Constantinople and in the Countrey thereabout Bajazet II. being Emperor by the violence whereof a great part of that Imperial City with many stately Buildings both Publick and Private were overthrown and thirteen thousand People overwhelmed and slain The terror thereof was so great that the People generally forsook their Houses and lay abroad in the Fields Yea Bajazet himself though very Aged and sore troubled with the Gout for fear thereof went from Constantinople to Adrianople but finding himself in no more safety there than before he left the City and lay abroad in the Fields in his Tent. This Earthquake endured by the space of eighteen days or as the Turks relate for a month with little intermission which was then accounted ominous as portending the miserable Calamities which afterward happened in the Ottoman Family After this Earthquake ensued a great Plague wherewith Constantinople was grievously Visited and almost depopulated After the Earthquake ceased the Emperor imployed eighty thousand Men to repair it who in four months time re-edified the ruins thereof with much Beauty and Magnificence It is strange to Relate saith my Author that in this year 1510 there fell twelve hundred stones from Heaven some weighing Sixty pound others more An Earthquake in Apulia whereby above Sixteen thousand Persons were overwhelmed after which ensued a War betwixt the French and the Duke of Savoy which devoured above a Million of Men. In Holland four hundred and four Parishes are drowned with all their People and Cattel The Turks take Buda in Hungary King Henry VIII writes against the Pope Cardinal Woolsey dies The English Clergy are fined and pay the King an hundred thousand pound for divers Misdemeanors In 1531. In the City of Lisbon in Portugal about fourteen hundred Houses were overthrown by an Earthquake and Six hundred more so sorely shaken that they were ready to fall and many of their Churches were cast to the ground XXXVI In 1538. Mr. George Sandys gives the following Relation of a most remarkable Earthquake and Burning which happened near the City Puteoli with the new formed Mountain For the famous Lake Lucrinus hard by extended formerly to the deadly Sulphurous Lake Avernus supposed the entrance into Hell by ignorant Antiquity where they offered Infernal Sacrifices to Pluto their God of Hell and
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
with the best things they could carry away deserted the Town and the Morning after the whole Town was overturned in a momens and of 4000. People not above 800. were killed by reason of their happy removal Ragusa a renowned City for Scituation Buildings and all other Humane Delights had a great share in this common Calamity On Jan. 8. it had several shakes with a terrible storm of Thunder and Lightning but on the 11th the Town House a stately Building with two Churches and divers Houses were destroyed One of the best Streets in the Town inhabited by Rich Merchants and Tradesmen sunk into the Earth in a moment leaving a mighty Chasma or Gaping in the place One of the Churches sunk also but the other fell down the modestest Calculations reckon eight thousand People slain most of them of principal Quality Within this Gap the tops of some Houses are visible from whence proceeds a Noxious Sulphury smell In Scodia only the Bishops Palace newly built was overturned and 24. Persons were buried in the Rubbish the Bishop himself being absent the rest of the Town escaping Specasurno another considerable Town was shaken the 9th whereby the Convent of the Capuchint was destroyed All the next day so horrible a storm of Thunder and Lightning happened as is not to be exprest or imagined whereby the Town-House a very fine structure and some other Buildings were ruined which frighted a few of the Inhabitants into the Flields but the next morning in one Minute the whole Town was laid in vast heaps of Rubbish and the Fresh-water Lake a Mile off was made almost dry Land the remaining Water being Black and Brackish the Fish wherewith it abounded lying all dead on the Shoar The Inhabitants that perisht were accounted at least 3500. and about 300 saved themselves by going away the day before The Town of Scichilo suffered 20. shakes successively on the 8th each greater than the other and on the 11th in less than two Minutes was wholly brought to desolation and vanisht out of sight a stinking Pool of Water succeeding wherein the Cathedral of St. Stephen and part of St. Salvator Steeple appears above Water It was judged to contain about six or seven Thousand People of which it is thought not one made their escape An old strong Castle at the East-side of the Town likewise fell and thirty People perisht therein At Cafamero a Village of 200. Houses the People were so affrighted at the shake three days before successively that on the 11th most of them fled to the Church to beg the asistance of St. Katherine of Sienna in a Chappel held venerable among them but there they met with death altogether the Roof of Lead falling and crushing 200 of them in the Church and about 20. more were killed in the Village In Cafamero only the Timber Houses suffered and about an hundred Inhabitants were destroyed the rest flying into the Fields In the little Town of Giamontano about 400. Persons perished in that Quarter of the Town next the River the other part escaped In the Tower of Livodia all the Timber Houses and three hundred of the Inhabitants were destroyed the Cathedral was burnt down by Lightning and likewise the famous Pine-Trees on an Hill near ajoyning The large Town of Jaâ—â— was so shaken that by the fall of Houses and two Churches in the time of Mass above 2000. People perished The Village of La Motta famous for the Summer Houses of the Citizens of Palermo was wholly overthrown a pond of water now filling up the the place and about 200 People were thought to be lost Lastly Mâ—ssina a great and famous City for Buildings Trade and Riches was so sensibly shaken on the 9th that above half the Inhabitants abandoned it and retired into the Fields The rest imployed themselves in Prayers and Vows and the Churches were filled with multitudes of all Ages Fourty Eight hours Prayers were Ordered and many Relicks were carried in Procession through the Streets On the 11th Twenty Six Palaces and many Timber Houses were overturned and the whole City so fearfully shaken that every one expected present Death and the Archbishop and the other Priests having given the People Absolution they all endeavoured to avoid the present peril by flying into the Fields where yet they suffered much by the horrible Thunder Lightning and Rain which continued three days together so that they were obliged to set up Tents for security So that few were killed but most of the Churches much damaged Neither was there security from this terrible Visitation of God even upon the VVater several small Ships and vessels being cast away all along the Coast by the fury of the VVaves the Tydes being three foot higher in most parts than was ever known before The damage and loss in this terrible sudden and surprizing Desolation in Money Goods Houses and Lands is unaccountable The least that has been computed amounts to the value of six Millions of Ducates and an 100 years will scarce repair the damage But the greatest loss was of People of whom there perisht by this dreadful Judgment at least an Hundred and Twenty Thousand Souls besides a multitude maimed and wounded by the fall of buildings which died afterward and may be reckoned Twenty Thousand more In short amore Astonishing a more Universal and more Swift Destruction was never known And Sicily that was one of the most Beautiful Rich and Fruitful Islands in the World is now an heap of Rubbish and a continued Desolation LXVII I have before menrioned some of the Natural Causes of Earthquakes and the Philosophers of Italy are apt to assign the Causes of this astonishing Calamity to proceed from the unseasonable Summer preceeding and that the many great Rains and Heats which often succeeded each other in Sicily the last year might occasion great store of vapours to enter into the Bowels of the Earth which afterward dilating themselves for want of room forced their way into the Air with the destruction of all that opposed them But these are only the guesses of short-sighted Men for the hand of Heaven seemed visible in this terrible Devastation And as I have before related some of the Presages that usually preceed such sweeping Judgments so the Prognosticks which ushered in this horrible desolation and of which there were a Multitude of Witnesses may be judged intimations and Effects of the Divine Vengeance these following being very remarkable That in June the Summer before Mount Aetna's Roarings and Noise was extraordinary dreadful which is always reckened the forerunner of some Irruption either of the Mount it self or some part thereabout And May 15. preceeeding two hours before Sunset the Sky being Clear the Heavens suddenly appeared all in Flames without either Lightning or Thunder which continued about a quarter of an hour And at the same time two Rainbows were seen in the Air directly above the City pointing as usually toward the Earth and a third with the points upward toward