htSTOR-ICAL CHS.ONICLE. 



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feVqSK: 



Short chronicl] 



OF EVENTS. 



> .. the lath of December kft, the 

 ijT.ftal'itants of Banbury were alarm- 

 ed 6j- the fudden fall c,f the prin- 

 ciple aifle of the church, for the 

 taking down and rebuilding of 

 which, an acft had paffed in the 

 laft feflion of parliament. Provi- 

 dentially fcveral perfons had juft 

 left the church; and hud it not 

 fallen, it was intended that the 

 workmen {hould begin to take it 

 down on the morrow, in which 

 cafe many lives would probably 

 iiave been lofl. The crack was 

 heard near two miles from the 

 ipot. On the following day the 

 tower alio fell. 



The late ftorms and hurricanes, 

 attended with thunder and light- 

 ning, were more violent than has 

 been known for many years. The 

 ravages they committed on land, 

 particularly in England, were very 

 uncommon ; of which the follow- 

 ing are a fpecimen. In Manchci- 

 ter, a large manufactory and houle 

 were entirely levelled with the 

 ground. In Liverpool, feveral new 

 built houfcs in the town and it 

 vicinity were blown down ; man/ 

 buildings unroofed, and clumnies 

 demolilhed; the top of a mill, with 

 its machinery, was violently- car 

 ried off, and thrown into the ad- 

 joining land. Cante;bury, Dec 

 V«L. I- 



24th. The lightning was uncom- 

 monly vivid, equal to what it ufu- 

 ally IS in the hot months of fum- 

 mer, and fet firf? to a feed mill in 

 the neighbourhood. In the city 

 of Coventry, the battlements at 

 the welt end of St. Michael's 

 church received conQderable da- 

 mage, l^ewis, Dec. 27th. The 

 hurricane, thunder, and lightning 

 was exceedingly alarming at Hor- 

 cham. The lightning ftripped one 

 fide of the church fpire of all its 

 ihingling, and melted the lead at 

 the top ; it bad alfo taken fire, but 

 the rain extinguifhed it. At Hack- 

 wood park, belonging to the Duke 

 of Bolton, near a hundred very 

 large trees were blown down ; the 

 leads of themanfion in lome places 

 rolled up like a fcroll ; the tornado 

 (for fuch it might be called) had 

 its direction S, W. by W. and its' 

 ajiparent width fcarce exceeded 

 100 yards. 



The civilization of modern man- 

 ners has been frequently contrafted 

 wi:h thole of ancient Greece and 

 Rome ; and the difference has been 

 in no circumftance more confpicu- 

 ous, than in the inhuman delight 

 which tiie ancients fhewed for the 

 fights of wild beafti, and the more 

 ci-uel contentions of gladiators, 

 we have always expreired a juft 



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