318 HISTORY OF 



little purpose to attempt explaining exactly how 

 these wonders are effected : we have as yet but 

 little Insight into the manner in which these me- 

 teors are found to operate upon each other ; and 

 therefore, we must be contented with a detail 

 rather of their effects than their causes. 



In our own gentle climate, where nature wears 

 the mildest and kindest aspect, every meteor 

 seems to befriend us. With us, rains fall in re- 

 freshing showers, to enliven our fields, and to 

 paint the landscape with a more vivid beauty. 

 Snows cover the earth, to preserve its tender 

 vegetables from the inclemency of the departing 

 winter. The dews descend with such an imper- 

 ceptible fall as no way injures the constitution. 

 Even thunder itself is seldom injurious ; and it is 

 often wished by the husbandman, to clear the air, 

 and to kill numberless insects that are noxious 

 to vegetation. Hail is the most injurious meteor 

 that is known in our climate ; but it seldom 

 visits us with violence, and then its fury is but 

 transient. 



One of the most dreadful storms we hear of, * 

 was that at Hertfordshire, in the year 1697. It 

 began by thunder and lightning, which continued 

 for some hours, when suddenly a black cloud 

 came forward, against the wind, and marked its 

 passage with devastation. The hailstones which 

 it poured down being measured, were found to 

 be many of them fourteen inches round, and, 

 consequently, as large as a bowling-green ball. 



Phil. Trans, vol. ii. p. 147. 



