A LONDON EARTHQUAKE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 6930, 2 February 1884, Page 2 (Supplement)

A LONDON EARTHQUAKE.

Or late earthquakes in different parts of th. world have lollowed one another with si quiet succession, that the questioois no very unreasonably suggested, What if Lon don were to be shaken by an earthquake Many, perhaps most, per«ons would repl; that, If such an occurrence is possible, it i at least not within the bonnds of probability But, although earthquakes are rare in Lon don, they have unquestionably occurrei there in times past, and will probably occu again in the future. True it is that there i: no record. Of the more than 150 Knglisl earthquakes which are said to have taken placi between the tenth and eighteenth centurie: inclusive, we, may pass over many till wi come to the one which, at 6 in the ovenini of 3rd April, 15S0, threw London and ai England into consternation. The great bell o Westminster and the bells of other churche: were so shaken as to ring. The Tempi Church was injured, and stones fell at St Paul's and elsewhere, causing several casual Dies ; among them, it is alleged, the death: of two persons, of whom one was kille< immediately, while the other died a lingerin< death. Again, after passing over 170 years we come to the year 1750, to which we wißl more particularly to direct attention, not oi account of the earthquake, or rather earth quakes, which occurred in this year beinj exceptionally violent, but because, in relatioi thereto, the " Philosophical Transactions o the Royal Society" for 1750 give numerou accounts of personal experience. Thes accounts may be regarded as in some sor prophetic of what will probably happei again hereafter. At the same time the; afford interesting glimpses of London in thi middle of the last century. There were, ai we have said; two shocks of earthquake ii London in the year ju3t mentioned, the firs occurring on the b'th February, and th< second, and more severe, exactly four week later, on the Sth of March. The two shocks however, wore no doubt closely related, ant may bo almost leoked upon- as one event With regard to the first of these shocks Mr. Henry Baker, F.R.S., writes to thi president of the Royal Society that he wa: walking along Chancery Lane towards Hoi born, at twenty minutes to one, wheD, thougl he himself felt nothing, he saw people comi sat to their doors in great surprise, complain ing that their houses had been shaken, anc imputing this to the fall of some great mas: of timber or other heavy body. Iu Holbon Mr. Baker found people in a state of con sternation. Going to Gray's Inn, he founc many persons assembled in the-square, talk ing of the shock they had felt; 1 and amoni them a lamplighter, who related how he hac nearly fallen off his ladder as he was pourinj )il into a lamp. At first he thought tha lome one most have shaken his ladder. Ir Cray's Inn library the impression was that c leavy chest of books had tumbled dowi jverhead. Women in the streets were talk ing of the occurrence, and were complaining -hat the motion had made them feel sick A.t the Tower a gentleman Was thrown ow )f his chair towards the table, as though b) in explosion of gunpowder. Mr. Garvir ivnight, M.8., says that his house it Lincoln's Inu fields was shaken violently ;hat in one room a grate was moved ; thai ;ho shock was stronger in proportion to the leight from the grouad, the sorvants in the iitohen feeling ir, but little. Dr. «T. Martyr jells the president that, as he was sitting ir lis »tudy on the first floor, he thought thai lomething heavy had fallen iu ttie roorr iberve, and that all the houses at Chelsea .vere shaken, especially those nearest the river. This remark—that the houses nearesl ;he river were most shaken—is in accordance lot only with what has been said above wit!: ogard to previous earthquakes in London, jut also with the known, though as yet inexplained. relation of earthquakes to bodies >f water. Dr. Stukely relates that a shepierd belonging to Mr. Secretary Fox, al iCensington, heard, though the sky waf :lear, an extraordinary noise in the air, and law the ground move with a wave-like notion, similar to that of a river ; that he law also the tall trees of the avenue nod ;heir headß ; that his flock of sheep ran awaj is if pursued by dogs ; and that the tenants if the great rookery took the alarm, and iter "an universal clangour," flew off as hough hawks were pursuing them. Dr. Jtukely was also informed that " a great >arcel of chickens" in Gray's Inn lane rati o their roost affrighted, and that "the like vas observed of pigeons." We now come to he more severe shock on the Sth of March. ,Vith regard to this, the president himself, tlartin t'olkes, the antiquary, says that he vas in bed at half-past five, when he felt hree or four successive shocks of earthquake, vhich he considered to have occupied three ir four seconds. There was a crackling oi vindow panes and a rattling in the chimney, is if caused by wind ; but he heard no loud loise like that which had been heard in February. The president found his daughter unning in fright from her room, she having icon awakened by the shock. His two menervants, ako. had been wakened by a motion vhich seemed to them like that of a child in ts cradle. Mr. Martin Clare was walking n his garden at Kensington Gravel Pits vhen he felt an exceedingly great shock, .ttended by an explosion like the blowing up if a mino. There was a trembling, very >risk at first, aud a noise like thunder, which rradually died away. Mr. James Burrow, f.R.S , says that Robert Shaw, "a very cnsible Scotchman," at work in the Temple iardens, was by the great tree, contiguous o the little door under Harcourt's buildina?, vhen he heard a great noise, louder by ar than that of which he had experience vhen great cannon were fired at Woolwich. Vt the same'instant ho saw the whole buildins nove upwards, then, after int lining forward o that he thought it would fall upon him, nove backward and settle again, while all he windows rattled and clattered as on the iring of a caunon, the loud sound he had icard meanwhile rolling away, "seemingly rom the waterside up towards Temple Bar." klr; Burrow also relates that, according to nformation he had received, fish in one place lad been seen to leap up out of the water in ill directions. Dr. James Parsons observed in unusual light shine in at the window, vhich on closer observation seemed of a red :o!our. He bad heard that all Newgate Market was in the greatest confusion, no one ,hinking himself safe. Many persons comjlained of sickness and of headache. Dr. Parsons himself had the same experience ,hree or four hours after the shock. He tell: is, moreover, than that at "Maribone," as ;he name was then spelt, the earthquake was iniversally felt, and that a maidservant said ihe was thrown down first on one side and ,hen on the other. Mr. Henry Baker alsc elates that milkwomen felt it very strong I .} vhilo milking cows near Maribono (Maryleione being then a suburban locality), and hat a waterman was frightened as though >y a violent blow striking the bottom of his >oat, which was anchored near Kingston. Cho water was much agitated, barges and >ther vessels being moved at by a tempest. !t was on Sth March, 1750, that Charles iVesloy wrote in his journal : —"This mornng, a quarter after five, we hael anothei hock oc an earthquake, far more violenl han that of Sth ot" February. I was jubl epeating my text (a somewhat remarkable lour, by the way, five in the morning, for e eligious service, at least according to oni lustoms), when it shook the foundry sc riolently that we all expected it to fall or iur heads. I immediately called out, Therefore we will lint fear, though the eartl >e moved and the hills bj carried into the nidst of the sea ; for tho Lord of Hosts ii vith us ; the God of Jacob is our refuge. . . . The earth moved westward ; thei eastward ; then westward again, through al jondon and Westminster. It w-as a strong md jarring motion, attended with a rumbliuj loise like that of thunder. Many house: vere much shaken, aud some chimney: hrown down, but without any further hurt.' )n the 4lh of April following London wa: .gain in consternation on account of thi :artbquake between twelve and one at night irophecy of a soldier, whioh seems to have beei videly believed, that a great part of Londoi md Westminster would be destroyed by ai Crowds are said to have left town, but, o ourse, many remained behind. Open spaces, ii Tower Hill, Moorrielda, and especially lyde Park, were filled on the night menioned with excited multitudes ; and at midtight Whitefield preached in Hyde Park to iffrighted people, who were every moment ixpecting the earth to give way under them.