Part of Another Letter, Dated May 1. Giing a Larger Account of the Same Hail-Storm

midst of most of them, if not all; the force of their Fall argued them to fall from a great Height. These are the Circumstances have yet occur'd; next Week when I go to Snowdon, I may chance to find the beginning of this Hail, at least trace it as far as the Sea; and perhaps you may hear further of it out of York shire, beyond York, towards Burroughbrigg, and Rippon. What I take to be most extraordinary in this Phenomenon is, that such a sort of Vapours should continue undispers'd for so long a Tract, as above sixty Miles together, and in all the way of its Passage occasion so extraordinary a Coagulation and Congelation of the watry Clouds, as to encrease the Hail-stones to so vast a Bulk in so short a Space as that of their Fall. Yours, &c. V. Part of another Letter, Dated May r. giving a larger Account of the same Hail-Storm. Because you will shortly hear a Report of a prodigious Hail-Storm, that fell in our part of this Country on Thursday last, between Three and Four a Clock in the Afternoon, I will hastily hint something of the matter to you, lest your self and acquaintance should think it fabulous. We had only the extreme Skirt of the Shower here, and there fell not above a Hundred Hail-stones in our Court, but they were much larger and harder than the oldest of us had seen: A Gentlewoman sent for one into the House, and found it by Measure to be about about five Inches about. I was busied a while in my Study, to preserve some Papers from an expected Wet, one of the Stones having shiver'd a part of my West-Window, but no Rain succeeded the Fall of the Hail. Then I went down and viewed the Garden and Court, and found the Stones had fallen at good distances one from another, and that they were melting very fast, the Weather being very hot, scarce any of them was so little as a Musquet Bullet, but most of them far bigger, and of that Figure. In a little time comes my Servant from Bootle-Mill, wherein he was during the Shower, and tells us a dreadful Story, what a Noise the Hail made upon the States there; and how the Sea seem'd to be risen to an unwonted Height, and to bear the Appearance of a Wood. So they concluded that either the Mill would be beaten down upon their Heads, or the Sea overflow the Land and drown them; nor durst they leave their Covert, for fear of being wounded by the Hail. When the Storm was over, he said, he view'd the Hail-stones, and found them as big as Poot-Eggs. He told us many Sea-Fowl and Land-Fowl were killed; that he saw the one lie dead at a distance, the other in his return home; and as an Instance of it, he took up a Sea-Swallow on Bootle-Marsh, whose Wing was broken with an Icy Pellet, and brought her home. Considering that the Storm came from the North-West, and that it was just spent when those Stones fell here, I thought there was some Ground for my Servants Story; upon which I mounted and rid towards the Grounds which had shared more in it. When I came to Bootle, I saw Jane Mutche's Windows ill batter'd; and a little further at the Spings, Tho. Ascroft, who with a Maid was drawing Thatch, told me, the young Woman was knock'd down with a Hail-stone; she confirm'd his Word, and added, as she was running to the next House for for shelter, her Hat fell off, and a Hail-stone that hit her behind the Ear made her tumble. Thence I went to William Halfsals of Linaker, and found the Storm had been as violent there; William was in his Barn when it began, and told me, when he saw two or three of the first stones fall, he thought some young Wantons had been throwing Eggs. I saw what Breaches of Thatch it had made upon his Barn, what Boughs it had broke off from his Apple Trees; and what Wounds the Hail-Stones had made in the green Brow by his House; I measured several of the Holes, and found them generally an Inch deep, and some an Inch and Half. He told me, the great Stones fell so violently into the Marl-Pit besides his House, that Spout of Water rose a Yard and Half high. This unriddled my Man's Story, that the Sea appear'd like a Wood. I rested a full Hour at William Halfsal's, where some Neighbours came in and told doleful Stories of the Effects of the Hail; how sundry Teams of Horses ran Wood, as they term it, upon the Strokes of the Hail; and had broke Carts and Ploughs. I remember the Instance of James Williamson, who married Edw. Butler's Daughter. A little before I remounted, a Man calls there from Sephton, and among his Histories gives this Instance, That a certain Person was knock'd off his Horse by the Hail, over against the Brick-house (Darwin's) which is next to Brian Fleetwood's, but that he presently got up again, and pursued his Horse. When I came home late in the Evening, I heard more News, Dr. Tarleton brought Tidings from Ormskirk, that Four Pounds Damage was done to the Inn (Mr. Gleas of Liverpool owner) where he set up; and that he took up Hail-stones as big as Duck-Eggs upon Aughton Common in his return hither. And Mr. Shepherd our School-master happen'd then to be at Sephton to shoot young Rooks, and was with another another at the Ale-house on the side of the Church-yard; who professes to me, upon the Fall of the Hail, the Church-yard seem'd to them as strew'd with Duck-Eggs. He says, Darwin's Wife weighed a Hail-stone brought in by Mr. Letham, which amounted to full half a Pound: And that Mr. Peter Morton (Brother to the Bishop of Kildare) being a little way from the Hall of Sephton, where he and his Sisters dwell, pull'd down his Hat hard upon his Head to save his Face, and down comes a Stone and tears the Brim from the Crown, so far, that Mr. Shepherd could have put his whole Hand through the Hole. This Morning comes our constant Butcher, from Ormskirk, and tells Mr. Richmond and me, he would not undertake to repair the Glais broke by the Storm in that Town for Sixty Pounds; and that he was with Dr. Tarleton when Gleas's Windows were all to the West beaten in, and the Tiles off the House. He adds, that Mr. Barton the Apothecary there, and Mr. Ja. Farrer, weighed two Hail-stones, which came to Three Quarters of a Pound a piece. This Morning Rich. Taylour of Ince came to Mr. Richmond for his Taxes, and affirms, That William Fleetwood and Rich. Rose, had either of them a Horse knock'd down in the Plow, and Fleetwood's Man fell at the same time; the Hail being there part as big as Duck, and part as Goose-Eggs. In Crosby, some Beasts were knock'd down. One Jo. Holland was found dead in Skirmsdale after the Shower, but whether by the Hail or Lightning (for it came with Thunder and Lightning I have not yet heard). I now step back to a Domestick Concern forgot before, remembering my Servant had told me of the Slaughter of Sea-Fowl, I had a mind to send some People to the Seaside for trial of the matter; but they told me it had been full Water at Six a Clock, and that the little little Towns next the Sea would surely have pick’d them up; as we hear they did by Buthels; but they would be the first at the next Mornings Tide. They rid out early, and brought in seven sort of Fowls, as Curlew, Sea-Pye, Sea-Swallow, Gorre, and other we want Names for. And to give a rare Treat to some Friend, we have this Day put them up in Pots, and set them in the Oven. Mrs. Mary Clayton, coming this way with her Preston-Sister and Mrs. Langton, were a little while in the Shower before they got covert, and were so beaten by it, that they could hardly turn them in their Beds next Morning; they are now at Liverpool with their Bruises plastered. They could hardly pass the Lanes for Baskets, Panniers, Sacks, and People, which the Horses had thrown down in their return from Ormskirk Market. No Hail fell at Everton, Lowhill, or Liverpool, the Storm ending near Walton. But there was so thick a Darkness before the Storm, that in Liverpool many People ran out of their Houses into the Street to look at the Face of the Sky, and it was marvellous dark here: Sim. Smith faith, the Stones that fell in Ormskirk rebounded many of them two Yards high, such Force they fell with, and were so compact. Many a broken Head and bruised Body there were; I have seen many of them, hast forbids more. Yours, &c. VI. Part