WEATHER. 323 



that those which arise in the south have hardly 

 been known to reach this village ; for before they 

 get over us, they take a direction to the east or to 

 the west, or sometimes divide into two, and go in 

 part to one of those quarters, and in part to the 

 other; as was truly the case in summer 1783, 

 when, though the country round was continually 

 harassed with tempests, and often from the south, 

 yet we escaped them all; as appears by my journal 

 of that summer. The only way that I can at all 

 account for this fact for such it is is, that on 

 that quarter, between us and the sea, there are 

 continual mountains, hill behind hill, such as Nore- 

 hill, the Barnet, Butser-hill, and Ports-down, which 

 somehow divert the storms, and give them a dif- 

 ferent direction. High promontories and elevated 

 grounds, have always been observed to attract 

 clouds, and disarm them of their mischievous con- 

 tents, which are discharged into the trees and 

 summits, as soon as they come in contact with 

 those turbulent meteors ; while the humble vales 

 escape, because they are so far beneath them. 



But when I say I do not remember a thunder- 

 storm from the south, I do riot mean that we 

 never have suffered from thunder-storms at all; 

 for on June 5th, 1784, the thermometer in the 

 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 tw r o 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 its appearance. 

 At about a quarter after two, the storm began in 

 the parish of Harteley, moving slowly from north 



