134 NATURAL HISTORY. [cH. VIII 



with such a force as to make the place smart, and 

 leave a mark behind them. In a short time after 

 their coming they had so entirely eaten up and de- 

 stroyed all the leaves of the trees for some miles 

 round, that the whole country, though in the middle 

 of summer, was left as bare as in the depth of win- 

 ter ; and the noise they made, in gnawing the leaves, 

 made a sound much resembling the sawing of tim- 

 ber. They also came into the gardens, and de- 

 stroyed the buds, blossoms, and leaves of all the 

 fruit-trees, so that they were left perfectly naked ; 

 nay, many that were more delicate than the rest, 

 lost their sap as well as leaves, and quite withered 

 away, so that they never recovered again. Their 

 multitudes spread so exceedingly, that they infested 

 houses, and became extremely offensive and trouble- 

 some. Their numerous young, hatched from the 

 eggs which they had lodged under ground, near the 

 surface of the earth, did still more harm in that close 

 retirement than all the flying swarms of their 

 parents had done abroad ; for this destructive brood, 

 lying under ground, ate up the roots of corn and 

 grass, and thus consumed the support both of man 

 and beast. This plague was happily -Decked sev- 

 eral ways. High winds and wet mizzling weather 

 destroyed many millions of them in a ^ay ; and 

 when this constitution of the air prevailed, they 

 were so enfeebled that they would let go their 

 hold, and drop to the ground from the branches; 

 and so little a fall as this was quite sufficient to dis- 

 able, and sometimes perfectly to kill them : nay, it 

 was observable that even when they were most vig- 

 orous, a slight blow would for some time stun them, 

 if not deprive them of life. During these unfavour- 

 able seasons of the weather, the swine and poultry 

 of the country would watch under the trees for their 

 falling, and feed and fatten on them ; and even the 

 poorer sort of the country people, when the country 

 laboured under a scarcity of provisions, had a way 



