, an event 'most incident to maids'. The
lady went into the kitchen, when plates began to fall from the
dresser 'while she was there and nobody near them'. Then a clock
tumbled down, so did a lantern, a pan of salt beef cracked, and a
carpenter, Rowlidge, suggested that a recent addition of a room
above had shaken the foundation of the house. Mrs. Golding rushed
into the house of Mr. Gresham, her next neighbour, and fainted.
Meanwhile Ann Robinson was 'mistress of herself, though china fall,'
and seemed in no hurry to leave the threatened dwelling. The niece
of Mrs. Golding, Mrs. Pain, was sent for to Mr. Gresham's, Mrs.
Golding was bled, when, lo, 'the blood sprang out of the basin upon
the floor, and the basin broke to pieces!' A bottle of rum, of
sympathetic character, also burst. Many of Mrs. Golding's more
fragile effects had been carried into Mr. Gresham's: the glasses
and china first danced, and then fell off the side-board and broke.
Mrs. Golding, 'her mind one confused chaos,' next sought refuge at
Mr. Mayling's for three-quarters of an hour. Here nothing unusual
occurred, but, at Mr. Gresham's (where Ann Robinson was packing the
remains of her mistress's portable property) a 'mahogany waiter,' a
quadrille box, a jar of pickles and a pot of raspberry jam shared
the common doom. 'Their end was pieces.' Mrs. Pain now hospitably
conveyed her aunt to her house at Rush Common, 'hoping all was
over'. This was about two in the afternoon.

At eight in the evening, the whole row of pewter dishes, bar one,
fell from a shelf, rolled about a little, and 'as soon as they were
quiet, turned upside down; they were then put upon the dresser, and
went through the same a second time'. Then of two eggs, one 'flew
off, crossed the kitchen, struck a cat on the head, and then burst
in pieces'. A pestle and a mortar presently 'jumped six feet from
the floor'. The glass and crockery were now put on the floor, 'he
that is down need fear no fall,' but the objects began to dance, and
tumble about, and then broke to pieces. A china bowl jumped eight
feet but was not broken. However it tried again, and succeeded.
Candlesticks, tea-kettles, a tumbler of rum and water, two hams, and
a flitch of bacon joined in the corroboree. 'Most of the genteel
families around were continually sending to inquire after them, and
whether all was over or not.' All this while, Ann was 'walking
backwards and forwards', nor could they get her