EAR 
EAR 
E AS 
have destroyed the whole city, though no 
other cause had concurred, especially as it 
met with no interruption. 
<c But what would appear incredible to 
you, were the fact less public and notorious, 
is, that a gang of hardened villains, who had 
been confined, and got out of prison when 
ti\e wall fell, at tire first shock, were busily 
employed in setting fire to those buildings 
which stood some chance of escaping the 
| general destruction ! 
“ The fire, by some means or other, may 
> be said to have 'destroyed the whole city, at 
least every thing that was grand or valuable 
in it ; and the 'damage on this occasion is not 
; ta be estimated. 
“ The whole number of persons that pe- 
! risked, including those who were burnt, or 
j. afterwards crushed to death whilst digging in 
| the' ruins, is supposed, on the lowest calcula- 
j tion, to amount to more than sixty thousand ; 
j and though the damage m other respects can- 
put be computed, yet you may form some 
idea of it, when I assure you, that this exten- 
i sive and opulent city is now nothing but a 
; vast heap of ruins ; that the rich and poor 
are at present upon a level; some thousands 
of families which but the day before had been 
easy in their circumstances, being now scat- 
tered about in the fields, wanting every con- 
veniency of life, and finding none able to 
relieve them. 
“ A few days after the first consternation 
I was over, I ventured down into the city, by 
] the safest ways I could pick out, to see if 
j there was a possibility of getting any tiling 
I out of my lodgings ; but the ruins were now 
j so augmented by the late fire, that I was so 
j far from being able to distinguish the indivi- 
| dual spot where the house stood, that 1 could 
! fiot even distinguish the street, amidst the 
mountains of stone and rubbish which rose on 
every side. Some days after, I ventured 
down again with several porter;?, who, having 
long plied in these parts of the town, were 
well acquainted with the situation of particu- 
lar houses: by their assistance, 1 at last dis- 
j covered the spot ; but was soon convinced, 
I that to dig for a.’iy thing there, besides the 
j danger of such an attempt, would never an- 
j swer the expence. 
“ On both the times when I attempted to 
: make this fruitless search, especially the first, 
there came such an intolerable stench from 
the dead bodies, that T was ready to faint 
j away ; and though it did not seem so great 
this last time, yet it had nearly been more 
fatal to me, as I contracted a fever by it, but 
of which, God be praised, I soon got the 
better. However, this made me so cautious 
for the future, that I avoided passing near 
certain places, where the stench was so ex- 
j cessive that people began to dread an infec- 
tion. A gentleman told me, that going into 
the town a few days after the earthquake, he 
saw several bodies lying in the streets, some 
horribly mangled, as he supposed, by the 
1 dogs, others half-burnt, some quite roasted ; 
and that in certain places, particularly near 
the doors of churches, they lay in vast heaps, ' 
piled one upon another.” 
The year 1783 was fatally marked by the 
desolation of some of the most fertile, most ! 
beautiful, and most celebrated provinces of ! 
Europe. The two Calabrias, with a part of j 
Sicily, were doomed to be a scene of the J 
most tremendous and the most fatal earth- 
quakes that ever were known, even in those 
volcanic regions. The first shock happened 
about noon, on the 5th of February, and was 
so violent as to involve almost the whole of 
Calabria in ruin. This was but the com? 
mencement of a succession of earthquakes, 
which, beginning from the city of Amantea, 
on the coast of the Tyrrhene sea, proceeded 
along the western coast to Cape Spartivento, 
and up the eastern as far as Cape d’Alice ; 
during the whole of which space not a town 
was left undestroyed. 
During two years repeated shocks conti- 
nued to agitate the affrighted minds of the 
inhabitants of Calabria and Sicily ; but the 
principal mischiefs arose in the months of 
February and March in the first year. For 
several months the earth continued in an 
unceasing tremor, which at certain intervals 
increased to violent shocks, soine of which 
were beyond description dreadful. These 
shocks were sometimes horizontal, whirling 
like a vortex ; and sometimes by pulsations 
or beating from the bottom upwards: and 
were at times so violent, that the heads of 
the largest trees almost touched the ground 
on either side. The rains during a great 
part ot the time were continual and violent, 
oiten accompanied with lightning and furious 
gusts of wind. All that part of Calabria, 
which lay between the 38th and 39th de- 
grees, assumed a new appearance. Houses, 
churches, towns, cities, and villages, were 
buried in one promiscuous ruin, ^fountains 
were detached from their foundations, and 
carried to a considerable distance. Rivers 
disappeared from their beds, and again re- 
turned and overflowed the adjacent country. 
Streams of water suddenly gushed out of the 
ground, and sprang to a considerable height. 
Large pieces of the surface of the plain, se- 
veral acres in extent, were carried five hun- 
dred feet from their former situation down 
into the bed of the river, and left standing at 
nearly the distance of a mile, surrounded by 
large plantations of olives and mulberry- 
trees, and corn growing as well upon them as 
upon the ground from which they were sepa- 
rated. Amidst these scenes of devastation, 
the escape of some of the unhappy sufferers 
is extremely wonderful. Some of the inha- 
bitants of houses which were thrown to a 
considerable distance, were dug out from 
their ruins unhurt. But these instances were 
few ; and those who were so fortunate as to 
preserve their lives in such situations, were 
content to purchase existence at the expence 
of broken limbs and the most dreadful con- 
tusions. 
During this calamitous scene, it is impos- 
sible to conceive the horrors and wretched- 
ness of the unhappy inhabitants. The jaws 
of death were opened to swallow them up ; 
ruin had seized all their possessions ; and 
those dear connections to which they might 
have looked for consolation in their sorrows, 
were for ever buried in the merciless abyss. 
AH was ruin and desolation. Every coun- 
tenance indicated the extremity of affliction 
and despair; and the whole country formed 
a wide scene of undescribable hqrror. 
One ot the most remarkable towns which I 
was destroyed was Casal Nuova, where the ! 
princess Gerace Grimaldi, with more than 
4000 of her subjects, perished in the same in- 
stant. An inhabitant happening to be on the 
583 
summit of a neighbouring hill, at (lie moment 
of the shock, and looking earnestly back to 
the residence of his family, could see no 
other remains of it than a white cloud which 
proceeded from the ruins of the houses. At 
Bagnara, about 3000 persons were killed ; 
and not fewer at Radicina and Palma. At 
Terra Nuova 4400 perished; and rather 
more at Semniari. The inhabitants of Sciila 
escaped from their houses on the celebrated 
rock of that name, and, with their prince, 
descended to a littie harbour at the foot of 
the hill ; but, in the course of the night, a 
stupendous wave, which is said to have been 
driven three miles over land, on its return 
swept away the unfortunate prince, with 
2473 of his subjects. It is computed that 
not less than 40,000 persons perished by this 
earthquake. 
EASEL-pieces, a denomination given by 
painters- to such pieces as are contained in 
frames, in contradistinction from those paint- 
ed on ceilings, &c. 
EASEMENT, in law, a privilege or con- 
venience which one neighbour has of another, 
whether by charter or prescription, without 
profit: such are a way through his lands, a 
sink, or the like. These, in many cases, may 
be claimed. 
EASING, in the sea language, signifies the' 
slackening of a rope, or the like : thus, to 
ease the bow-line or sheet, is to let them go 
slacker; to ease the helm, is to let the ship 
go more large, more before the wind, or 
more larboard. 
EAST INDIA COMPANY, a corporation 
or <f united company of merchants of Eng- 
land trading to the East Indies ;” which name 
is given them in stat. 6 Anne, c. 17, s. 13. 
more explicitly, according to their charter 
and adjustment of their rights, by stat. 9 and 
1 0 W. Ilf. c. 44. s. 6l . “ trading into and from 
the East Indies, in the countries and ports of 
Asia and Africa, and into and from the 
islands, ports, havens, cities, creeks, towns, 
and places of Asia, Africa, and America, or 
any of them, beyond the Cape of Good 
Hope, to the straights of Magellan, where 
any trade or traffic of merchandize is or may 
be used and had, to and from every of them.” 
The temporary rights of the company 
consist of, 1st, the sole and exclusive trade 
with India, and other parts within the limits 
already described; so that no other of the 
king’s subjects can go thither or trade there, 
but by permission of the company, or pursu- 
ant to the directions of stat. 33 Geo. III. c. 52. 
2dly, They have the administration of the 
government and revenues of the territories 
in India, acquired by their conquests during 
their term in the. exclusive trade, subject ne- 
vertheless to the various checks and restric- 
tions contained in the several statutes, which 
vest that administration in them. 
The rights in perpetuity are, to be a body 
corporate and politic, with perpetual succes- 
sion; to purchase, acquire, and dispose at 
will of lands and tenements in Great Britain, 
so that the value therein do not exceed 
10,000/. per annum; to make settlements to 
any extent within the limits of their exclu- 
sive trade ; build forts and fortifications ; ap- 
point governors ; erect courts of judicature ; 
coin money ; raise, train, and muster, forces 
at sea and land; repel wrongs and injuries; 
make reprisals on the invaders or disturbers 
