re heard to strike.
Many persons, roused by this terrible visitation, started naked from
their beds, and ran to their doors and windows in distraction; yet no
life was lost, and no house overthrown by this concussion, though it was
so dreadful as to threaten an immediate dissolution of the globe. The
circumstance, however, did not fail to make a deep impression upon
ignorant, weak, and superstitious minds, which were the more affected by
the consideration that the two shocks were periodical; that the second,
which happened exactly one month after the first, had been the more
violent; and that the next, increasing in proportion, might be attended
with the most dismal consequences. This general notion was confirmed,
and indeed propagated, among all ranks of people, by the admonitions
of a fanatic soldier, who publicly preached up repentance, and boldly
prophesied that the next shock would happen on the same day of April,
and totally destroy the cities of London and Westminster. Considering
the infectious nature of fear and superstition, and the emphatic manner
in which the imagination had been prepared and prepossessed, it was no
wonder that the prediction of this illiterate enthusiast should have
contributed, in a great measure, to augment the general terror. The
churches were crowded with penitent sinners; the sons of riot and
profligacy were overawed into sobriety and decorum. The streets
no longer resounded with execrations, or the noise of brutal
licentiousness; and the iand of charity was liberally opened. Those whom
fortune had enabled to retire from the devoted city, fled to the country
with hurry and precipitation, insomuch that the highways were encumbered
with horses and carriages. Many who had in the beginning combated
these groundless fears with the weapons of reason and ridicule, began
insensibly to imbibe the contagion, and felt their hearts fail in
proportion as the hour of probation approached; even science and
philosophy were not proof against the unaccountable effects of this
communication. In after ages it will hardly be believed, that on the
evening of the eighth day of April, the open fields that skirt the
metropolis were filled with an incredible number of people assembled in
chairs, in chaises, and coaches, as well as on foot, who waited in the
most fearful suspense until morning, and the return of day disproved the
truth of the dreaded prophecy. Then their fears vanished; they returned
to their res