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LIFE OF COLONEL MACERONI.

and appeared to be greatly affected by the nature, or deepfoundation of the soil on which the buildings were standing.One very extraordinary feature attached to the effects uponIsernia . This town is more than a mile in length, butsomething like Brentford, and other English towns on thehigh-roads, its breadth was little more than that of the tworows of houses, one on each side of the road. Now, thewhole of the houses, along the eastern side of the road fell,all the others were left standing. The ground was rent inall directions, leaving here and there vast gulfs and hollows.From out the rents in the earth, brilliant flames and copiouselectrical discharges issued; and upon the summit ofMount Frosolone, a light like a refulgent meteor, wasvisible for some time. On the morning of the fatal day,the inhabitants had all felt a sensation of extraordinarylassitude, and a smell like sulphur, most disgusting andannoying to respiration. At four o’clock in the afternoon,the atmosphere became cloudy, and the clouds flew aboutin all directions with the rapidity of a hurricane, althoughnot a breath of air was perceptible on earth. But at sunseta furious north wind arose, which soon ceased, as thoughquelled by the loud deep explosive bellowings below ground,precursors and accompaniments to the earthquake. Thefirst shock was slight, so much so, that but few personswere warned by its occurrence. Others immediatelyfollowed, and for twenty seconds succeeded each other withhorrific violence.

Many remarkable instances of preservation and tenacityof life occurred on this occasion, similar to the few wellauthenticated ones, which I shall give of the Calabrianearthquake in the next few pages. In a village calledGuardia Regia near Bojano (east) a beautiful young lady,nineteen years of age named Marianna di Franceschi, wasburied alive ten days and eight hours. At first, very faint