444 Col. Beaufoy's Account of a Storm. [JuNfi, 



to prevent his being carried further. In passing over the dove- 

 house, the pidgeons were whirled to the ground, and a quantity 

 of paling was torn up, and blown to a great distance. The 

 current of wind now proceeded across the road to Mr. Black- 

 well's brick-kiln, tearing from its hinges, and tumbling into a 

 ditch, a field gate, levelling 65 feet of the garden wall in one 

 direction, and also the upper part of another wall running at 

 right angles, in the opposite. The outhouses at this place were 

 much damaged, but the dwelling-house was not touched. A fir 

 which stood among several trees was torn up, while the others 

 received no injury. After leaving the garden, it assailed a large 

 beech, which measured at the base 18 feet in circumference. 

 My eye happened to be fixed upon this tree at the moment ; the 

 wind commenced by giving its large head a considerable twist, 

 and instantly afterwards tore it up by the roots. After passing 

 over the gravel pits at Harrow Weald, and a part of the village 

 of Bushey, where it nearly unroofed a house, it continued its 

 course without doing any further mischief until it reached Mr. 

 Bellas's farm. At this place its effects were very destructive 

 among the fruit trees and large elms, besides tearing away the 

 tiles and thatch of the house, buildings and ricks ; for here the 

 storm appears to have contracted itself to a width of sixty yards, 

 and its impetuosity to have increased in proportion as its breadth 

 became diminished. After passing in a north by east direction 

 about a mile and a half beyond Mr. Ballas's farm, its fury most 

 probably subsided, as the only further mischief I have been 

 able to trace was the destruction of two small elms in a hedge 

 row, and whose support had been weakened by digging away 

 the earth from their roots. I observed when the cloud or vapour, 

 from which all this storm proceeded, enveloped the upper part 

 of the cone in which Mr. Blackwell burns his tiles and bricks, 

 the cone appeared to be surrounded with a thick mist, and most 

 violently agitated. I also observed that in its passage over the 

 gravel pits it tore up the earth and gravel, not in an uniform 

 manner, but, as it were, by jumps, leaving intervals between the 

 various points of contact, of sometimes 100 yards and upwards; 

 and the dreadful whistling noise continued unabated until the 

 cessation of the storm. This phenomenon was at one time within 

 less than a quarter of a mile of my house ; but the trees in the 

 garden were not much affected by it, though I have reason to 

 believe from the testimony of several persons, on whose veracity 

 I can rely, that the violence of the wind was such as to force 

 them to lay hold of the hedges to prevent their being thrown 

 down. Mr. Blackwell, in particular, mentioned, that in return- 

 ing from church with one of his children, in order to secure 

 himself and boy from being carried away, he was obliged to 

 hold by a large stake. It is further stated, on the most respect- 

 able authority, that cattle were seen lifted, or rather irresistibly 

 driven from one end of tije field to the other. There is reason 



