70 



been very terrible at sea, and that we shall hear of many wrecks 

 there. Blessed be Ciod who preserved us." 



Then in another letter he says : — " I think I omitted to tell 

 you the full of my deliverance in the late storm, for, the house 

 being searched the day following, the tcorkmen found thai the beam 

 which supported the roof over my head was shaken out to that degree, 

 that it had hut half-an-inch hold, so that it was a wonder it could 

 hold together ; for which signal and pai'ticular preservation God's 

 holy name be ever praised." 



Two days after, Ken \mtes again to Bishop Lloyd, this time in 

 reference to Kidder's melancholy end. He says. " The storm on 

 Friday night Avhich was the most violent, I mentioned in my last, 

 but I then did not knoAV what happened at Wells, which was 

 much shattered, and that part of the palace where Bishop Kidder 

 and his wife lay, was blown down in the night and they were both 

 killed and buried in the ruins, and dug out towards morning. It 

 happened on the very day of the Cloth fair, when all the country 

 M^ere spectators of the deplorable calamity, and soon spread 

 the sad story." 



One of De Foe's correspondents gives more particulars. He 

 says, " The dismal accident of our late Bishop and Lady was most 

 remarkable ; Avho were killed by the fall of two chimney-stacks, 

 which fell on the roof and drove it in upon my Lord's l)ed, forced 

 it quite tlirough the next floor down into the hall and buried 

 them both in the rubbish, and 'tis supposed my Lord was getting 

 up, for he was found some distance from my Lady, who was found 

 in her bed ; but my Lord had his morning gown on, so that 'tis 

 supposed he was coming from the bed just as it fell." 



The second calamitous event connected mth this memorable 

 storm was the destruction of the first Eddystone lighthouse. 

 This lighthouse had been built four years previously by a gen- 

 tleman of Essex, of the name of Winstanley, wealthy and an 

 ingenious mechanic, but too little of an engineer to design and 

 construct an edifice strong enough to resist the fury of the elements 



