304 
I the arrangement of such communi- 
cations, it may be necessary to regard the 
time of the observed commencement of 
the storm at different places, in pro- 
gressive order; and, thence, in some 
measure, to determine its progress, pre- 
mising, however, that such data will ne- 
cessarily be deficient, when so many and 
various causes were operating, such as 
diferent electrive attractions and currents 
of air, and that even the observed course 
of the storm, at particular places, cannot 
be securely relied on for the general ten- 
dency, since the attraction of hills, and 
the different extent of vales, over which 
it passed, must have been strong oppo- 
nents to any regular progréss. 
Tt appears, then, that this. storm origi- 
nated on the north-western confines of 
Dorsetshire, and entered the county of 
Somerset, about Milborne-port, where it 
divided itself into two branches, north- 
ward and westward. The northern 
branch was observed to approach Tem- 
ple-Combe,* about five in the afternoon, 
and continued two hours and ahalf. My 
correspondent there informs me that the 
hail-stones in some of the neighbouring 
villages measured from 1 to 13% inches 
in circumference, many of which weighed 
eight ounces each, The corn and ap- 
ples were very much beaten down and 
destroyed, to the amount of many hun- 
dreds of pounds loss to the proprietors. 
On the western side of Horsington pa- 
rish, about Thrope, Cheriton, &c. the 
storm was violent for about twenty mi- 
nutes; windows broken; all the apples 
beaten down; bark of the trees much 
battered, and their top branches beaten 
off. Hence it passed slowly on to Maper- 
ton, Holton, Bratton, and other villages 
west of Wincanton. ; 
From Suddon-house (a mile west of 
Wincanton) Mr. Melhuish gives me the 
following particulars of the storm there, 
and in that neighbourhood :—I observed, 
says this geutleman, the storm about six 
o'clock, p.m. coming from the S.W. 
The evening setin unusually dark for the 
season of the year; a servant of mine, 
who was unloading hay near the house, 
was struck violently on the arm by a 
hail-stone, which surprized us all, as at. 
~ that time we had not conjectured what 
was near us. About a minute after, I 
discovered two or three hail-stones, about 
the size of pigeon’s eggs. In afew mi- 
nutes after, one of Jarger dimensions fell 
* Refer to the map of Somersetshire. 
Account of the late Thunder-sto*m in Somersetshire. [Nov. 1, 
by my side with such velocity, that, 
striking on the ground, it dashed to 
pieces, and the different fragments re- 
bounded as high as my head. In about 
seven or eight minutes more, the hail de- 
scended in one dreadful storin, fraught 
with destruction. In the N.W. side of 
the house, sixty panes of glass were 
broken: apples sufficient to make forty 
hogsheads of cyder destroyed: seven 
acres of oats, and the unmown grass, 
beaten down as flat as if a heavy roller 
had repeatedly passed over it one way. 
The impressions of the hail on the ground 
were as though the head of an iron bar 
had been forced upon it. 
Hook-farm, a mile from hence, suse 
tained much injury in corn and apples; 
as did Hatherly-farm, about the same 
distance: so also the parishes of Cheri- 
ton, Holton, Maperton, Clapton, Brat- 
ton, Shepton, Montacute, We. felt the 
direful effects of the fury of the storm. 
The thunder was tremendously awful; 
not “ peal on peal resounding,” but one 
incessant roll for three hours, without 
one moments intermission; the element 
all on fire; flash answering flash from - 
different parts of the hemisphere. Tt 
seemed as if the magazine of heaven had 
been opened, and all its artillery let 
loose upon us.—Vegetation, disrobed of 
its beauty, bending beneath the pressure 
of its affliction, appeared mourning one 
general loss. It must be some consider- 
able time before the trees can recover, 
as the hail descended with such velocity 
as entirely to strip or loosen their bark ; 
not one has escaped. Providently no 
lives were lost in this neighbourhood, of 
man or beast. 
At Castle Cary, a few miles further, it 
began about the same time, and came 
from the same quarter; its continuance 
one hour and a half; lightning and thun- 
der incessant. The hail-stones, my cor- 
respondent remarks, were of the size and 
form of split vutmegs: bat one was mea= 
sured, after it had been carried two miles, 
whose circumference was eleven inches. 
No material damage done in this parish ; 
but the villages of Cadbury, Yarlington, 
&c. felt much of the force of the storm, 
At Bruton some of the hail-stones 
measured more than seven inches round ; 
the lightning and thunder almost inces- 
sant.—At the village of Stratton, a few 
miles northward, the lightning fell on the 
dwelling-bouse of a Mr. Keate, and 
shattered it very much.—At Batcombe, 
in the same neighbourhood, the corn and 
apples 
