A Letter from the Same to the Pr. R. S. Containing Further Particulars of the Same Earthquake

L. A Letter from the same to the Pr. R. S. containing further Particulars of the same Earthquake. Read Oct. 25. 1750. THE kind Favour of your last demands my Acknowledgments to be made in a better Manner than the continual Avocations in which I have been of late engaged will enable me to do; but I am persuaded the Deficiency of my Account of the Earthquake, which was some time ago felt in these Parts, will be abundantly supplied by that, which my worthy Friend the Rev. Dr. Doddridge tells me by Letter this Morning he has transmitted to you by the Hands of Mr. Baker. As to the Extent of this Phenomenon, with respect to the South and South-West (of which alone I am at present capable of giving you any Information), it seems not to have reach'd much further than Towcester: For it was not perceiv'd at Stony-Stratford, 8 Miles South of that Place on the London Road; nor at Newport-pagnel in Buckinghamshire, somewhat more to the East of that Town. I spent the Week before last at Mr. Blencow's, at Marston St. Laurence in the South-West Angle of our County; and found that it had not been perceiv'd there, nor in the other Towns on the Borders of Oxfordshire. We went from thence to Mr. Hulbeche's of Farnborough, 8 Miles Westward of Marston, on the Confines of Warwickshire, where we could hear nothing nothing of it; tho' it was felt at Stockton and Leamington, Villages lying more to the North in the same County, about 6 Miles from Warwick. It did not reach Warwick, but pass'd on to Rugby, and from thence enter'd Leicestershire. I lately sent Mr. Ward a Letter*, which I received from Sir Thomas Cave, Baronet, at Stanford, on the Borders of that County; whereby it appears, that the Shock and Explosion were felt in a very surprising Manner there. Wm. Hanbury Esq; of Kelmarsh, in the Road from Northampton to Market-Harborough, told me last Week, that it was felt so violently there, that the Minister and the Congregation went out of the Church; the Roof of which seem'd to be disjointed, and ready to fall: And his Lady, who was at home, leaning forwards to read, was shaken out of her Chair upon the Floor. I hear that several repeated Vibrations of the Shock were perceived at Peterborough; the Particulars of which I expect soon from a Gentleman who lives in that Place. In Answer to your second Query, I find different Accounts given by different Persons. Sir Thomas Samwell, Baronet, at Braddon, 3 Miles West of Towcester, being in his Garden with two of his Servants, heard nothing of the Explosion. Some of my Neighbours tell me they perceived it. Mr. Brookes, our Clerk of the Peace, informs me, that he was walking abroad, at a considerable Distance from any Buildings, at a Place call'd Oakly, 3 Miles from Kettering, and there heard the Noise as of a rising rustling Wind, during the Time that he walk'd 20 or 30 Yards. * See p.706. The Difference of these Accounts may, in my Opinion, be reconcil'd, by supposing, that the Explosion might have been heard abroad in such Places where it was more violent; and not in others where it was less so. As for any thing (I presume you meant lambent Flame, Vapour, &c.) being perceiv'd on the Surface of the Ground, before or during the Earthquake, nothing of this kind has as yet been mention'd to me from any Quarter. I find there has been a Report of a Meteor, like a Ball of Fire, appearing in the Morning before the Shock was felt; but it is, by the judicious Part of the World, rank'd among the other Mirabilia usually invented upon these Occasions to amuse the Vulgar. I am, Sir, Your most obedient, &c. J. Nixon. LI. A Letter from the Rev. P. Doddridge D.D. to Mr. Henry Baker F.R.S. containing some Account of the late Earthquake felt at Northampton. Northampton, October 17. 1750. Read Oct. 25. 1750. THE Shock of an Earthquake lately felt here, which has been so much talked of, and in some public Papers magnified far beyond the Truth, happened on Sunday the 30th of September;