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there ere any volcanoes or burning mountains, an earthquake mayreasonably be expected more frequently than in other countries

2. If the volcano has been long quiet, a violent earthquake is to befeared, and vice versa. But to this there are many exceptions.

3. Earthquakes are generally pseceded by long droughts; butthey do not always come on as soon as the drought ceases. 4.They are also preceded by electrical appearances in the air; suchas lire aurora borealis, fading stars, &c.: but this does not holduniversally. 5. A short time before the shock, the sea swells upand makes a great noise: fountains are troubled, and send forthmuiidv water; and the beasts seem frighted, as if sensible of anappro.xhing calamity. 6. The air at the time ot the shock is ge-nerally calm and serene; but afterwards commonly becomes ob-scure and cloudv. 7. r I he shock-'comes on with a rumblingnoise, sometimes like that of carriages; sometimes a rushing noiselike w ind, and sometimes explosions like the lining of cannon areheard. Sometimes the ground heaves perpendicularly upwards,and sometimes rolls from side to side. Sometimes the shock be-gins with a perpendicular heave, after which the other kind of mo-tion commences. A single shock is but of very short duration,the longest seurcelv lasting a minute; but they frequently succeedeach other at shoit intervals for a considerable length ot time. 8.During tile shock, chasms are made in the earth; trom whichsome times dames, but oltener great quantities of w ater, are dis-charged. Flame and smoke are also emitted from places of theearth where no chasms can be perceived. Sometimes thesechasms are but small; but, in violent earthquakes, they are oftenso large, that w hole cities sink down into them at once. 9. Thewater of the ocean is affected even more than the dry land. '1 hesea swells up to a prodigious height; much more than we coni ;suppose it raised by the mere elevation of its bottom by the shock.Sonn-times it is divided to a considerable depth ; and great quan-tities of air, llames, and smoke, are d.scharged from it. The hkeirregular agitations happen to the waters ot ponds, lakes, and evenriver.,. 10. '1 he shock is felt at sea as well as on land. Ships arcaffected be a sudden stroke, a, it they had run aground or struckupon a rock. 1 1. The clients of earthquakes arc not eonlincd toone particular district or country, but oiten extend to very distantregion,; though no earthquake has yet been known extensivethough to afi’oet the w hole globe at one time, in those places also"Where the shock is not lelt on dry land, the irregular agitation otthe waters above-mentioned is perceived very remark; blv. Allthese positions are verified by the account ot those earthquakeswhich has been part.cularlv described by witnesses ot the he,tcharacter. A terrible earthquake happened at Calabria , in 1638,which affords an exception to the second general position abovelaid down. In Italy, there had been an eruption ot Mount Vesu-vius five years before; and in Sicily there had been an eruptionof A’.tna only two years before this earthquake. '1 he event, how-ever, plainly shewed, that the cause of the earthquake, whatever ilwas, hud a connection not only with Mount .'Etna , which lies inthe neighbourhood, but also with the volcano of Stromboli, whichis 60 miles distant. “ On the 24th of March (says Kircher) welanched in a small boat from the harbour of Messina in Sicily , andarrived the same day at the promontory of Pelorus. Our destina-tion was for the citv of Euphemia in Calabria ; baton account ofthe weather, we were obliged to continue three days at Pelorus.At length, wearied with the delay, we resolved to;prosecute ourvoyage; and although the sea seemed more than usually agitated,yet we ventured forward. The gulph of Charybdis, which weapproached, seemed whirled round in such a manner as to form avast hollow, verging to a point in the centre. Proceeding onward,and turning my eyes to Mount /Etna , 1 saw it east forth large vo-lumes of smoke, of mountainous size, which entirely covered theisland, and blotted out even the shores from my view. '1 his, to-gether with the dreadful noise, and the sulphureous stench, whichwas strongly perceived, filled me with apprehensions that somemore dreadful calamity was impending. The sea itself seemed towear a very unusual appearance; those who have seen a lake in aviolent shower of rain all covered over with hubbies, w ill havesome idea of its agitations. Wv surprise was still increased bv thecalmness and serenity of the weather; not a breeze, not a cloud,which might be supposed to pul all nature thus into motion. Itherefore warned my companions, that an earthquake was appi cach-ing; and, after some time, making for the shore with all possiblediligence, v,e landed at Tropsu. But we had scarce arrived at

the Jesuits college in that city, when our ears were stunned witha horrid sound, resembling that of an infinite number of chariotsdriven fiercely forward, the wheels rattling and the thongs crack-ing. Boon utter this, a most dreadful earthquake ensued; so thatthe whole trac k upon w hich we stood seemed to vibrate, as if wewere in the scale ot a balance that continued waving, d his mo-tion, however, soon grew more violent; aud being no longer aideto keep my legs, 1 was thrown prostrate upon the ground. Aftersome time, rinding (hat I lemained unhurt amidst the general con-cussion, l resolved to venture for safety ; and running as fast as lcould, reached the shore. I did not searc h long here, till 1 foundthe boat in which 1 had landed, and mv companions also. Leav-ing this seal of desolation, we prosecuted our voyage along thecoast; and the next day came to P.ochetta, where we landed, al-though the earth still continued in violent agitations. But wc werescarce arrived at our inn, when we were once more obliged to re-turn to our boat; and in about half an hour we saw the greatestpart of (lie town, and the inn in which we had set up, dashed tothe ground, and burying all its inhabitants beneath its rums. Pro-ceeding onward in our little vessel, we at length landed at I.opi-ziuni, a castle midway between Tropa'a and Euphemia, the cityto which we were hound. Here, wherever 1 turned my eyes,nollring but scene's of ruin and horror appeared; towns ancl castleslevelled to the ground; Stromboli, though at 60 miles distance,belching forth llames in an unusual manner, and with a noisewhich 1 could distinctly hear. But my attention was quicklyturned from more remote to cont.guous danger. The rumbling.-oiiiid of an approaching earthquake, which by this time we weregrown acquainted with, alarmed us for the consequences. Itevery moment seemed to grow louder, and to approach more near.

1 lie place on wli > h we stood began to shake mu.-l dreadfully; sothat, being unable to stand, my companions and 1 caught hold ofwhatever sin lib grew next us, and supported ourselves in that man-ner. After some lime, the violent paroxysm ceashig, y\e agains ood up, in order to pros c ute our voyage to Euphemia, whichlay within sight. In the mean tune, while we were preparing tor thispurpo e, I turne. my eyes tow; rd the city ; but could see only afrightfully dark < h lid, that seemed to rest upon the place. '1 histhe more surprised us, as the* weather was so very set cue. Wewaited, tlierelorc, ti l the cloud u;o pas-c-d: then turning to lookfor the city, it was totally sunk; and nothing but a c.-smal and pu-trid lake was to be seen where it -lood.” In 1693 an earlhquakehappened in Sicily , which may jn-tly be accounted one of themo'-t terrible, of which we have any account. It shook the wholeisland; and even Naples, and Malta shared in the shock. It wasimpossible for any bony in this country to keep on their legs onthe tottering earth; nav, those that lay on the ground were tossedfrom side to side as on a rilling billow: high walls leaped fromtheir foundations several paces, &<•. The unschict it did is amaz-ing; almost all the buildings in the countries w ere thrown down ;54 cities and towns, besides an incredible numbe r of villages, wereeither destroyed or greatly damaged. Catania , one of the mostfamous, ancient, and flourishing cities in the kingdom, had thegreatest share in the tragedy. Anthony Serrovita, being on hisway thither, at the distance of a few miles, observed a Mack cloudhke night hovering over the city; when there arose from themouth of Mont Gibello great spires of flame, which spread allaround. The sea all of a sudden began to roar and rise in billows;and there was a blow, as if all the aitillery in the world had beenat once discharged. The birds flew about, the cattle ran crying,and the horses stopped short, trembling; so that lie aud his com-panions were forced to alight 1 . They were no sooner off, butthey were lifted from the ground above two palms; when lookingtowards Catania , lie w ith ; mazi-ment saw nothing but a thick cloudof dust in the air. Of that magnificent city, there was not theleast footstep to lie seen. S. Bonajutus assures us, that of 18,000inhabitants, 18,000 perished therein. The great earthquake, how -ever, which happened on the 1st of Nov. 1755, affords the clearestexample of all the phenomena above-mentioned, having been leltviolently in many places both on land and at sea, and extendedits effects to the w aters in many other places where the shock wasnot perceived. At Li-bon in Portugal its effects were most se-vere. In 1750, there had been a sensible trembling of the earthfell in this city: for four years afterwards, there 1 ad been an ex-cessive drought; insomuch that some springs, formerly very plen-tiful of water, were dried, and totally lost. The. predominant9 w intis