(Ijy TH* great EASTHaUAKE OF l^SS. 155 
eftects of this earthquake, that along the whole 
‘"'lea "k P'”'*' hundred 
"’licre *'*^tnains of ruined towns and villages were every 
<lishp./j be seen, and the inliabitants, witlrout dwellings, 
fields. Father Kircher at length ter- 
distressful voyage, by reaching Naples, after 
S '^scaped a variety of perils both by sea and land. 
GRK.Vr EAimiaUAKK OF 
1755. 
* Hlj ,, 
tiVfr 'fy remarkable and destructive earthquake e.Ktended 
spjiijj of at least four millions of square miles. It 
’""ves t” originated beneath the Atlantic Ocean, the 
% laart '''b'ch received almost as violent a concussion as 
’hat) ’ effects were even extended to the waters, 
Plitces where the shocks were not perceptible. It 
eater portions of the continents of Europe, 
"'sed Q "*''1 America ; but its extreme violence was exer- 
btSB sotrth-western parts of the former. 
f Portuguese capital, had already suffered 
an earthquake in 1531 ; and, since the cala- 
be described, has had three such visitations, 
1765, ;md 1772, which were not, however, 
*®at ijj by equally disastrous consequences. In the pre- 
it had been remarked that, since the com- 
Sii ^®tit of the year 1750, less rain had fallen than had 
"‘tants hi the memory of the oldest of the inha- 
during the spring preceding the calamitous 
0 'her fi ^ summer had been unusually cool ; and the 
«? the fir ® ®ud clear for the last forty days. At length, 
u November, about forty minutes past nine in 
a most violent shock' of an earthquake was 
n't'^rfifi duration did not exceed six seconds; but so 
P>h a the concussion, that it overthrew eveiy 
and in the city, togetlier with the Royal 
^*hor’{ u the magnificent Opera House adjoining to it ; 
®uy building of consequence f scaped. About 
W *t a m dwelling-houses were thrown down 
M ^hed .Pl^'^fate computation, thir 
if ‘rbefi. '"operate computation, thirty thousand individuals 
t® %ht of the dead bodies, and the shrieks 
'vere half buried in the ruins, were terrible 
^®uptionj and so great was the eonsternation. 
