FALL OF A CLIFF. 273 



in the evening, which was very dark and tempes- 

 tuous, observed that the brick floors of their kitchens 

 began to heave and part, and that the walls seemed 

 to open, and the roofs to crack ; but they all agree 

 that no tremor of the ground, indicating an earth- 

 quake, was ever felt, only that the wind continued 

 to make a most tremendous roaring in the woods 

 and hangers. The miserable inhabitants, not daring 

 to go to bed, remained in the utmost solicitude and 

 confusion, expecting every moment to be buried 

 under the ruins of their shattered edifices. When 

 daylight came, they were at leisure to contemplate 

 the devastations of the night. They then found 

 that a deep rift, or chasm, had opened under their 

 houses, and torn them, as it were, in two, and that 

 one end of the barn had suffered in a similar man- 

 ner : that a pond near the cottage had undergone 

 a strange reverse, becoming deep at the shallow 

 end, and so vice versa : that many large oaks were 

 removed out of their perpendicular, some thrown 

 down, and some fallen into the heads of neigh- 

 bouring trees ; and that a gate was thrust forward, 

 with its hedge, full six feet, so as to require a new 

 track to be made to it. From the foot of the cliff, 

 the general course of the ground, which is pasture, 

 inclines in a moderate descent for half a mile, and 

 is interspersed with some hillocks, which were rifted 

 in every direction, as well towards the great woody 

 hanger as from it. In the first pasture the deep clefts 

 began, and, running across the lane and under the 

 buildings, made such vast shelves that the road was 

 impassable for some time ; and so over to an arable 

 field on the other side, which was strangely torn 

 and disordered. The second pasture field, being 

 more soft and springy, was protruded forward with- 

 out many fissures in the turf, which was raised in 

 long ridges resembling graves, lying at right angles 



