any time before. There appeared to be
quick flashes or coruscations, not unlike the aurora
borealis.... About half past four our company, which had passed
an unexpected night very cheerfully together, broke up."

Of the night following, this gentleman (then at Salem) wrote:

"Perhaps it never was darker since the children of Israel left
the house of bondage. This gross darkness held till about one
o'clock, although the moon had fulled but the day before."

The Boston _Independent Chronicle_ of June 8 quoted from Thomas's
_Massachusetts Spy_:

"During the whole time a sickly, melancholy gloom overcast the
face of nature. Nor was the darkness of the night less uncommon
and terrifying than that of the day; notwithstanding there was
almost a full moon, no object was discernible, but by the help
of some artificial light, which when seen from the neighboring
houses and other places at a distance, appeared through a kind
of Egyptian darkness, which seemed almost impervious to the
rays.

"This unusual phenomenon excited the fears and apprehensions of
many people. Some considered it as a portentous omen of the
wrath of Heaven in vengeance denounced against the land, others
as the immediate harbinger of the last day, when 'the sun shall
be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light.'"

Not only over the land, but out at sea also, the unnatural darkness of
the day and night of May 19, 1780, was observed. In the _Independent
Chronicle_ of June 15, 1780, a correspondent, telling of interviews with
various observers, said:

"I have also seen a very sensible captain of a vessel, who was
that morning about forty leagues southeast of Boston. He says
the cloud which appeared at the west was the blackest he ever
saw. About eleven o'clock there was a little rain, and it grew
dark. Between one and two he was obliged to light a large
candle to steer by.... Between nine and ten at night, he
ordered his men to take in some of the sails, but it was so
dark that they could not find the way from one mast to the
other."

Thoughts Turned to the Judgment

This writer commented as follows concerning the feelings awakened by the
event:

"Various have been the sentiments of people concerning the
designs of Providence in spreading the unusual darkness over
us. Some suppose it port