262 LECTURE XXI. 



have been a town on the spot. The stench of 

 the dead bodies still rose from the ruins. I con- 

 versed with several persons who had been 

 buried for three, four, and even five days. I 

 questioned them as to their feelings when in 

 this situation, and they all said that the thirst 

 was most intolerable; but that their mental 

 agony was increased by the idea that they had 

 been abandoned by their friends." 



Four monks, who had taken refuge in a 

 vaulted room, the arch of which supported an 

 immense pile of ruins, made their cries heard 

 for the space of three days. Their voices died 

 away gradually, and when afterwards their four 

 corpses were disinterred, they were found clasped 

 in each other's arms. 



One of the most tremendous earthquakes 

 which has taken place in more modern times 

 was that at Lisbon in the year 1755. A sound 

 of thunder was heard underground, and im- 

 mediately afterwards a violent shock threw 

 down the greater part of that city. In the 

 course of about six minutes sixty thousand 

 persons perished, so awful was the calamity. 

 The sea first retired, and laid the bar of Lisbon 

 dry. It then rolled in, rising fifty feet or more 



