th this
world's goods, have been compelled to remain where they are, and to
anticipate the fearful event which was to engulf them in the bowels
of the earth. The frantic cries, the incessant appeals to Heaven for
deliverance, the invocations to the Virgin and the Saints for
mediation, the heartrending supplications for assistance, heard on
every side during the day, sufficiently evidenced the power with
which this popular delusion had seized the mind of these
superstitious people. Towards the end of the day, a large number of
them determined not to remain in London during the night, and, with
what few things they possessed, took their departure for what they
considered more favoured spots. Some violent contests arose between
the believers and the sceptics--contests, which in not a few cases,
were productive of serious results.

"The poor Irish, however, are not the only persons who have been
credulous in this matter; many persons from whom better things might
have been expected, were amongst the number who left London to avoid
the threatened catastrophe. To the Gravesend steamboat companies the
'earthquake' proved a source of immense gain; and the same may be
said with regard to the different railways. Long before the hour
appointed for the starting of steamboats from London Bridge Wharf,
Hungerford Market, and other places, the shore was thronged by crowds
of decently attired people of both sexes; and, in many instances,
whole families were to be seen with an amount of eatables and
drinkables which would have led one to suppose that they were going a
six-weeks' voyage. About 11 o'clock, the _Planet_ came alongside the
London Bridge Wharf, and the rush to get on board of her was
tremendous, and, in a few minutes, there was scarcely standing room
on board. The trains on the various railways were, during the whole
of Tuesday and yesterday morning, unusually busy in conveying
passengers without the proscribed limits of the Metropolitan
disaster. To those who had not the means of taking trips to
Gravesend, or by railway, other places which were supposed to be
exempted from the influence of the 'rude commotion' about to take
place, were resorted to. From an early hour in the morning, the
humbler classes from the east end of the Metropolis sought refuge in
the fields beyond t