The Description of a Well, and Earth in Lanchashire, Taking Fire by a Candle Approached to It

Storm of Hail about the Coast. Towns of Suffolk, tracing along Seckford-Hall, Wood-bridge, Snape bridge, Aldborough, &c. more to the North-ward. The Hail was small near Yarmouth; but at Seckford-Hall, one Hail-stone was found by measure to be 9. Inches about. One of this Town (viz. Wood bridge) found one at Melton, 8. Inches about. At Snape-bridge a man affirm'd, that he lighted on one about 12. Inches about. A Lady of Friston-Hall, putting one of them into a Ballance, found it weigh 12 s. 6 d. Several persons of good credit in Aldborough affirm'd, some Hail-stones to have been full as bigg as Turkeys-Eggs; (an ordinary Hens Egg weighs but about 9 s.) J. Baker of Rumborough, driving a Cart on the Heath by Aldborough, had his head broken by the knocks of them through a stiff Country-felt: In some places his head bled; in others, bunnyes arose: The Horses were so pelted, that they hurried away his Cart beyond all command. They seem'd all white, smooth without, shining within. 'Tis somewhat strange, methinks, that their pillar of Air should keep them aloft, if they were not clapt together in the falling; especially at such a time of the year, when the Air is less thickned and its Spring weaker. Account of a great number of Stones, found in one Bladder, by the same. Mr. Goodrick Chirurgeon of Bury St. Edmunds affirm'd to me, that himself Cutting a Lad of the Stone (for which he hath a great name) took out thence, at one time, 96 small Stones, all of them of unlike shape, Size, Corners, Sides; some of which were so be-stow'd as to slide upon others, and had thereby worn their flats to a wonderfull slickness. He assur'd me also, that in the same place, another, when dead, had a Stone taken from him, almost as big as a new-born Child's head, and much of that Shape. The Description of a Well, and Earth in Lanchashire, taking Fire by a Candle approached to it. This was imparted by that Ingenious and Worthy Gentleman, Thomas Shirley Esq; an Eye-witness of the thing, now to be related in his own words; viz. About the later end of February 1659. returning from a Journey to my house in Wigan, I was entertained with the relation of an odd Spring, situated in one Mr. Hawkley's Ground (if I mi- stake not) about a mile from the Town, in that Road which leads to Warrington and Chester. The people of this Town did confidently affirm, that the Water of this Spring did burn like Oyle; into which Error they suffered themselves to fall for want of a due examination of the following particulars. For when we came to the said Spring (being five or six in company together) and applied a lighted Candle to the surface of the Water; 'tis true, there was suddenly a large flame produced, which burnt vigorously; at the sight of which they all began to laugh at me for denying, what they had positively asserted: But I, who did not think myself confuted by a laughter grounded upon inadvertency, began to examine what I saw; and observing, that this Spring had its eruption at the foot of a Tree, growing on the top of a neighbouring Bank, the Water of which Spring fill'd a Ditch that was there, and covered the burning place lately mention'd; I then applied the lighted Candle to divers parts of the Water, contained in the said Ditch, and found as I expected, that upon the touch of the Candle and the Water, the Flame was extinct. Again, having taken up a dishfull of Water at the flaming place, and held the lighted Candle to it, it went out. Yet I observed that the Water at the burning place did boil, and heave like Water in a Pot upon the Fire, though my hand put into it perceived it not so much as warm. This boiling I conceived to proceed from the Eruption of some bituminous or sulphurous Fumes; considering, this place was not above 30 or 40 yards distant from the mouth of a Coal-pit there. And indeed Wigan, Ashton, and the whole Country, for many miles compass, is underlaid with Coal. Then applying my hand to the surface of the Burning place of the Water, I found a strong breath, as it were a Wind, to bear against my hand. Then I caused a Dam to be made, and thereby hindering the recourse of fresh water to the Burning place; I caused that, which was already there, to be drained away; and then applying the burning Candle to the surface of the dry Earth at the same point, where the Water burned before; the Fumes took fire, and burn'd very bright and vigorous. The Cone of the Flame ascended a foot and a half from the Superficies of the Earth. The Basis of it was of the Compass of a Mans hat about the brims. I then caused a Bucket-full of Water to be poured on the fire, by which it was presently quenched, as well as my companions laughter was stopped, who then began to think, the Water did not burn. I did not perceive the Flame to be discolour'd, like that of sulphureous Bodies, nor to have any manifest scent with it. The Fumes, when they broke out of the Earth, and prest against my hand, were not, to my best remembrance, at all hot. Account of Athanasii Kircheri CHINA ILLUSTRATA. The Author by publishing this Volume, discharges the Promise, he had made some years ago, that he would do so. He acknowledges himself much obliged to Martinius, and his Atlas Sinicus; as also to Michael Boim, a Polonian; Philippo Marino, a Jesuit of Genoa; and two other of the same Society, viz., Henry Roth of Augsburg, and John Gruber, an Austrian; whereof the latter went A.D. 1656, over Land from Rome, through Anatolia, Armenia, Persia, Ormus, Cambaja, and India, to Macao, the famous Port of China, and thence to Pekin, the Court of that Empire; whence two years after, he came back to Rome, accompanied for a part of the way, by the Jesuit Albert Dorville; traversing by Land in a manner the whole breadth of China, and a great part of the confining Tartary, and so further, through the Moguls Dominions, to Agra, where the said Dorville dying, the above-mentioned Henry Roth supplied his place in accomplishing this Voyage. The Book itself, a large Folio, is divided into 6 Parts. The three first, and the last, being besides the design of these Tracts, we shall but glance at, taking only notice; First, That they pretend to persuade the Reader, that Christianity was spread over all Asia by St. Thomas the Apostle, and his Successors; and hath been there continued, though not without great Eclipses, to these very times. And here the Chino-Chaldean Monument, said to have been erected several hundred years since in China, and found out A.D. 1625, is with great labour asserted and interpreted. Next, That the Rise of the Idolatry, in those remote parts, and their different Ceremonies in Worship, is confronted with those Ancient ones of Egypt. Lastly, that a large Account is given of the Chinese Letters, their Figure, Power, &c. But we hasten to the Fourth Book, as belonging to our Sphere.