felt in England, November i8, 1 795. 369 
44 of this appeared to be the direction ; but all who attended 
44 to the circumstance of direction, attribute to it a southerly 
44 and northerly course ; and every person, whether within or 
44 out of doors, referred the noise to something above their 
44 own situation. I think the noise continued about three 
44 seconds, and was instantly succeeded by the shock ; which 
44 was so considerable and alarming as to give me the idea of 
44 an earthquake, from the moment of its commencement, and 
44 to make me imagine that I saw, as well as felt, an elevation 
44 of the hearth, on which my feet rested as I sat ; but which 
44 was not found to be displaced, in respect to surrounding ob- 
44 jects. That the walls of the room suffered a considerable con- 
44 cussion was evident, from the vibration of the window-shut- 
44 ters, pictures, and every other pendulous object in the room. 
44 I had guessed the duration of the shock itself to be four 
44 seconds; but a friend of mine (who had experienced similar 
44 shocks in Carolina) assured me that, after the first impulse, 
44 he had time to look at his watch, and to count four seconds 
44 before its termination : in his opinion, the duration of the 
44 shock could not be less than five seconds and a half. Such 
44 was the violence of it, that (though no material damage hap- 
44 pened to the buildings) most people in this town and neigh - 
44 bourhood, who were asleep, were awaked ; and many so 
44 suddenly and completely as to be conscious of having expe- 
44 rienced an earthquake. 
44 Nothing connected with this object has surprised me so 
44 much as the extreme disparity of the sensations communi- 
44 cated by the shock to different people, in the same room, 
44 and in all respects similarly circumstanced. Every person 
3B 2 
