334 NATURAL HISTORY 
farm; but Norton, which lay in the centre of the 
storm, was greatly injured, as was Grange, which 
lay next to it. It did but just reach to the middle 
of the village, where the hail broke my north win- 
dows, and all my garden-lights and hand-glasses, 
and many of my neighbours’ windows. ‘The ex- 
tent of the storm was about two miles in length and 
one in breadth. We were just sitting down to din- 
ner; but we were soon diverted from our repast 
by the clattering of tiles and the jingling of glass. 
There fell at the same time prodigious torrents of 
rain on the farms above mentioned, which occa- 
sioned a flood as violent as it was sudden, doing 
great damage to the meadows and fallows, by delu- 
ging the one and washing away the soil of the oth- 
er. The hollow lane towards Alton was so torn 
and disordered as not to be passable till mended, 
rocks being removed that weighed two hundred 
weight. Those that saw the effect which the great 
hail had on ponds and pools, say that the dashing 
of the water made an extraordinary appearance, 
the froth and spray standing up in the air three feet 
above the surface. ‘The rushing and roaring of the 
hail, as it approached, was truly tremendous. 
Though the clouds at South Lambeth, near Lon- 
don, were at that juncture thin and light, and no 
storm was in sight nor within hearing, yet the air 
was strongly electric; for the bells of an electric 
machine at that place rang repeatedly, and fierce 
sparks were discharged. 
When I first took the present work in hand, I 
proposed to have added an Annus Historico-natu- 
ralis, or the Natural History of the Twelve Months 
of the Year, which would have comprised many 
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