OF SELBORNE 235 



morning being at 64, and at noon at 70, the barometer at 29 

 six tenths one-half, and the wind north, I observed a blue mist, 

 smelling strongly of sulphur, hanging along our sloping woods, 

 and seeming to indicate that thunder was at hand. I was called 

 in about two in the afternoon, and so missed seeing the gathering 

 of the clouds in the north ; which they who were abroad assured 

 me had something uncommon in it's appearance. At about a 

 quarter after two the storm began in the parish of Hartley, mov- 

 ing slowly from north to south ; and from thence it came over 

 Norton-farm, and so to Grange-farm, both in this parish. It 

 began with vast drops of rain, which were soon succeeded by 

 round hail, and then by convex pieces of ice, which measured 

 three inches in girth. Had it been as extensive as it was 

 violent, and of any continuance (for it was very short), it must 

 have ravaged all the neighbourhood. In the parish of Hartley it 

 did some damage to one farm ; but Norton, which lay in the 

 center of the storm, was greatly injured ; as was Grange, which 

 lay next to it. It did but just reach to the middle of the village, 

 where the hail broke my north windows, and all my garden- 

 lights and hand-glasses, and many of my neighbours' windows. 

 The extent of the storm was about two miles in length and one 

 in breadth. We were just sitting down to dinner ; but were 

 soon diverted from our repast by the clattering of tiles and the 

 jingling of glass. There fell at the same time prodigious torrents 

 of rain on the farms above-mentioned, which occasioned a flood 

 as violent as it was sudden ; doing great damage to the meadows 

 and fallows, by deluging the one and washing away the soil of 

 the other. The hollow lane towards Alton was so torn and 

 disordered as not to be passable till mended, rocks being re- 

 moved that weighed 200 weight. Those that saw the effect 

 which the great hail had on ponds and pools say that the dashing 

 of the water made an extraordinary appearance, the froth and 

 spray standing up in the air three feet above the surface. The 

 rushing and roaring of the hail, as it approached, was truly 

 tremendous. 



Though the clouds at South Lambeth, near London, were at 

 that juncture thin and light, and no storm was in sight, nor 

 within hearing, yet the air was strongly electric ; for the bells 

 of an electric machine at that place rang repeatedly, and fierce 

 sparks were discharged. 



When I first took the present work in hand I proposed to have 

 added an Annus Historico-naturalis, or the Natural History of the 



