ON NEW ENGLAND EARTHQUAKES. 7 



November, the city of Tabriz, in Persia, was destroyed by an earthquake, and seventy- 

 seven thousand people perished.^ 



The Rev. Matthias Plant, the minister at Newbury, kept a record of the shocks felt 

 from 1727 to 1741, and from this church record wrote an account to England, which was 

 published,^ and the essential part is here reprinted. The dates are all in old style : 



October 29, 1727, being the Lord's-D.ay, about forty minutes past ten the same eveninn;, there came a irreat 

 rumbhng noise ; but before the noise was heard, or shock perceived, our bricks upon the hearth rose u]3 aljout 

 three quarters of a foot ; and seemed to fall down and loll the other way, which was in half a minute at- 

 tended with the noise or burst. The tops of our chimneys, stone fences were thrown down ; and in some 

 places (in the lower grounds, about three miles from my house) the earth opened and threw out some hun- 

 dred loads of earth of a different color from that near the surface, something darker than your white marl in 

 England. ... It continued roaring, bursting and shocking our houses all that night. Though the first was 

 much the loudest and most terrible, yet eight more that came that night were loud, and roared like a cannon 

 at a distance. It continueil roaring and bursting twelve times in a day and night, until Thursday in the said 

 week, and then was not so frequent; but upon Friday in the evening, and about midnight, and about break 

 of day upon Saturday, three very loud roarings ; we had the roaring noise upon Saturday, Sunday, Monday, 

 about ten in the morning, although much abated in the noise. 



Novemher 7 being Tuesday, about eleven it roared very loud, and gave our houses a great shock ; and con- 

 tinued shocking from three times to six every day and night, until the twelfth of November, when it was 

 heard twice in one hour in the afternoon, from S"" 30' to 4'' 30'. 



November 13. Two hours before daybreak the roaring was loud, and shook the houses. Ujjon Wednesday 

 following, 2'' 30' in the afternoon, there was a roaring, but not so loud. The noise and shocks continued five, 

 six, to ten tunes a week, until the seventeenth of December following ; and then about half an hour past ten 

 in the evening, it roared very loud and shook our houses very much ; another shock the next morning about 

 four o'clock, much abated. 



January 3, 1727-28. About nine at night, an easy shock. 



January 6. There were five shocks attended with the roaring, from about nine at night to four on Sunday 

 morning; and some people told me, that lived in the low grounds, that for the space of about half an hour it 

 continually kept roaring every h.alf minute or minute. 



Wednesday, January 24. About half an hour after nine at night it roared exceedingly loud, and was fol- 

 lowed in half a minute with roaring much abated in the noise. 



January 28, G*" 30' A.M., another easy shock, and another about ten the same morning, easy. On the same 

 night, about l** A.M., a loud roaring and shock. 



January 29. I heard it twice, though easy, that day. 



January 30. About two in the afternoon, there was a very great roaring, equal to any but the first for terror ; 

 it shook our houses so as that many people were afraid of their falling down ; pewter, etc., was shook off our 

 dressers ; . . . . the lead windows in the church rattled to such a degree, as that I thought they would all be 

 broke. And there was another shock the same day, about an hour and half after, though much abated. 



February 21, About half an hour past twelve, A.M., a considerable loud roaring with a shock. 



February 29. Such another. 



March 17. About three in the morning an easy shock. 



March 19. At l*" 40' P.M., a small noise ; at nine the same night a small noise with a shock. 



April 28, 1728. At S*" P.M., a small noise but perceivable. 



May 12. About 9'' 40' a long and loud roaring, and shook the houses. 



May 17. About S*" P.M., a long and loud roaring shook our houses. 



3Iay 22. Several small ro.irings in the morning ; but about ten o'clock the same morning, long and loud, 

 and shook our houses. 



Jioie G and 8. About three o'clock in each morning, a long and loud roaring. 



1 At Salem, Nov. 4, a meeting was held in the house of the A fast was appointed on the 21st of December on the same 



first parish on account of tlie " terrible earthquake." Many account. Ibiil, p. 386. 



attended. ^Ir. Fisk preached from I Peter, IV, 17, 18. ^ Philosophical Transactions, no. 4fi2, vol. xi.ii, p. 33. 

 Felt's Anniils of Salem, p. 385. 



