These people in the evening, which was very
dark and tempestuous, observed that the brick floors of their
kitchens began to heave and part; and that the walls seemed to
open, and the roofs to crack: but they all agree that no tremor of the
ground, indicating an earthquake, was ever felt; only that the wind
continued to make a most tremendous roaring in the woods and
hangers. The miserable inhabitants, not daring to go to bed,
remained in the utmost solicitude and confusion, expecting every
moment to be buried under the ruins of their shattered edifices.
When day-light came they were at leisure to contemplate the
devastations of the night: they then found that a deep rift, or chasm,
had opened under their houses, and torn them, as it were, in two;
and that one end of the barn had suffered in a similar manner; that
a pond near the cottage had undergone a strange reverse, becoming
deep at the shallow end, and so vice versa; that many large oaks
were removed out of their perpendicular, some thrown down, and
some fallen into the heads of neighbouring trees; and that a gate
was thrust forward, with its hedge, full six feet, so as to require a
new track to be made to it.
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