which the
shock was renewed, lasting about three minutes. The concussions were
so violent in both instances that nearly all the solid buildings were
dashed to the ground, and the principal part of the city almost
wholly ruined. The terror of the population, rushing through the
falling streets, gathered in the churches, or madly attempting to
escape into the fields, may be imagined; but the whole scene of
horror, death, and ruin, exceeds all description. The ground split
into chasms, into which the people were plunged in their fright.
Crowds fled to the water; but the Tagus, agitated like the land,
suddenly rose to an extraordinary height, burst upon the land, and
swept away all within its reach. It was said to have risen to the
height of five-and-twenty or thirty feet above its usual level, and
to have sunk again as much below it. And this phenomenon occurred
four times.

The despatch from the British consul stated, that the especial force
of the earthquake seemed to be directly under the city; for while
Lisbon was lifted from the ground, as if by the explosion of a
gunpowder mine, the damage either above or below was not so
considerable. One of the principal quays, to which it was said that
many people had crowded for safety, was plunged under the Tagus, and
totally disappeared. Ships were carried down by the shock on the
river, dashes to pieces against each other, or flung upon the shore.
To complete the catastrophe, fires broke out in the ruins, which
spread over the face of the city, burned for five or six days, and
reduced all the goods and property of the people to ashes. For forty
days the shocks continued with more or less violence, but they had
now nothing left to destroy. The people were thus kept in a constant
state of alarm, and forced to encamp in the open fields, though it
was now winter. The royal family were encamped in the gardens of the
palace; and, as in all the elements of society had been shaken
together, Lisbon and its vicinity became the place of gathering for
banditti from all quarters in the kingdom. A number of Spanish
deserters made their way to the city, and robberies and murders of
the most desperate kind were constantly perpetrated.

During this awful period, the whole weight of government fell upon
the shoulders of the minister; and he bore it well. He adopted the
most active measures for provisioning the city, for repressing
plunder and violence, and for enabling the population to sup