awrf especially in Scotland. 91 



somebody knocking at the outside of the house.' She then 

 rang the bell for the servant, who was ordered to oi)en the 

 front doer, but saw nobody. Here there were two distinct 

 shocks, between Avhich the noise continued, something like 

 a rumbling wind, and came from the west. 



" During the same forenoon, while at Preslonpans, the same 

 question was put to me by Mrs Hislop (sister to Mrs Cadell 

 of Cockenzie), who was at the time confined to bed. While 

 alune in her bedroom, at nearly a quarter after ten on the 

 preceding night, she felt as if something was raising up the 

 bed from the floor, and the sensation was so perfect, that she 

 involuntarily seized hold of the curtains near her, when a 

 second, and then a third repetition, caused her to grasp them 

 more tightly, and exclaim — ' Have mercy on us !' These 

 heavings were accompanied by a sound from the south, which 

 caused one of the windows to rattle during the whole time. 

 A thimble, which happened to be lying on the stand of a mir- 

 ror on the dressing-table, kept rattling, as also an empty 

 jug within the basin of the wash-hand stand. Strange to 

 say, none of the other inmates of the house perceived any 

 thing of this, although Mr Hislop himself was at the time, 

 but not in the same room, only a few yards' distant. The 

 family then retired to bed, but, in about half an hour after, a 

 deep rumbling noise was heard from the west, both by Mrs 

 Hislop, and by Mr Patrick Turnbull, her nephew, who was 

 awoke by it, and listened for some time, thinking that it was 

 some one sent from the distillery, of which he has the charge, 

 to awake him. 



" Lady Harriet Suttie has since told me, that she and Sir 

 George were at Newbyth on that evening, and that the tre- 

 mors and heavings were felt there to a degree, that attracted 

 the attention of every one." 



At Trinity, near Leith, Lieutenant Forrest, R. N., felt the 

 shock very distinctly in a house 300 yards from the sea beach. 

 He described his sensations in a memorandum which he wrote 

 down next morning. The following is a copy of it. " Last 

 night, about a quarter past ten o'clock, I had been about ten 

 minutes in bed, when I felt the bed tremble severely under 

 me ; so much so, that I asked my wife (who had been confined 



