EAUTIIQUAKIS. 2$ 



$ur observation, we nray form an idea of that which 

 prevails throughout the whole magnificent fabric ; 

 and although our knowledge of the heavenly bodies br 

 very limited and imperfect, we know enough to con- 

 vince us that nothing less than infinite power, acting 

 in eoutXTt with infinite wisdom, could have formed, 

 .such ponderous orbs, assigned their places and marked 

 ,mt th'/lr revolution? in u manner so conducive to the 

 harmony oi the universal plan. 



As I cannot conclude more appropriately than by 

 recommending to your attention these sublime consi- 

 derations 1 beg leave to subscribe myself, 

 Dear Sir, your'.s, 8cc. 



LETTER 



" V'Jolc buried lusvus-support the dancer's heel." 



TOVTVO. 

 LEAK SIR, 



AMONG the numerous phenomena of nature, which 

 on every side excite our curiosity arid stun us with 

 admiration, we cannot bat take particular notice of 

 earthquakes, and the tides. The former are irregular 

 and uncertain, and their causes but imperfectly 

 known : the latter are regular and their causes, al- 

 though long unknown, are now fully ascertained. 



From whatever cause earthquakes may proceed, 

 history ufibris numerous instances of their destructive 

 ciiects. Pliny, in his first book, p. 84, relates that an 

 earthquake which happened in the reign of Tiberius, 

 destroyed twelve cities in Asia. In the reign of 

 Trajan, the town of Antioch, and a considerable part 

 of the a ijacant country, were swallowed up by au 

 earthquake. In the reign of Justinian., about A. D. 

 528, that city was again destroyed in a similar 

 manner, on which melancholy occasion more than 

 forty thousand of the inhabitants perished ; and sixty 

 years after it sufiered the same calamity from a third 

 earthquake, with the loss of s;xty thousand people. 

 In th9 time of Sa-ladin, who wa.s coutemporarv with 



