Extract of a Letter from the Rev. Samuel Kirkshaw, D. D. Vicar of Leeds, and Rector of Ripley, in the County of York, to William Mountaine, Esq; F. R. S. Communicated by William Watson, M. D. and F. R. S.

Received Nov. 12, 1772. XXIII. Extract of a Letter from the Rev. Samuel Kirkshaw, D. D. Vicar of Leeds, and Rector of Ripley, in the County of York, to William Mountaine, Esq; F. R. S. Communicated by William Watson, M. D. and F. R. S. Read Feb. 11, 1773. On the 29th of Sept. last, about two o'clock in the morning, were three remarkably loud claps of thunder, attended with proportionable lightning. Mr. Thomas Heartly, formerly Wine-merchant, of Leeds, but lately retired from business to Harrowgate, lived there in a hired house, the second northward from the Queen's-head. While he was in bed with his wife, she was awaked from sleep by the thunder, and went to the window; but not being afraid, she got to bed again, and fell asleep. About five she awaked; and, not perceiving her husband to breathe, though warm, endeavoured to awake him—in vain! She quickly sent for Mr. Hutchinson, a considerable apothecary at Knaresborough, who, upon sight of Mr. Heartly, and some experiments, declared him dead, though still very warm. At her request, request, however, he opened a vein; and Mr. Heartly bled freely, insomuch that the blood did not cease to ooze out of the orifice till the body was put in the coffin, which was on Thursday evening, the first instant, viz. October, and it was not even then cold. His hair, which he wore, was considerably burnt, or singed on the right side of his head, which was uppermost (for he lay then on his left side) and the inside of his night-cap, on the same side, was singed or browned, though nowhere on the outside marked at all. Within the cap was found a splinter from the bed-post next to his head, which post was torn and split into many splinters or shivers, from the top to the bottom, though a strong oaken post, and almost new. No wound, or mark of any sort, was discovered on any part of his body; but the lower part of his right cheek was swelled, and much hardened. So far I was told by Mrs. Heartly and her servants, but I saw the bed-post. In the chamber where this happened, there was a small chimney to the north, made up, but not quite close, by a chimney-board, upon which I could not discover any mark or hole, or other indication of the lightning's passing that way. Between that chimney and the west end of the room, stands the bed, in the north-west corner of the room, close to the west and north walls; the deceased lay next to the west wall, with his head near to the head bed-post, in the north-west corner abovesaid. There is only one window in the room, full east, consisting of three pretty large lights, separated rated by two stone mullions, each light supported by six strong iron bars across it, parallel to the floor, and the intermediate one, rather more than half of it, made into a casement, the frame of which is of iron, and the surrounding frame of the same. In the southermost light, which had three squares of glass in breadth, two of the lowest squares were perforated in or near the middle, about an inch square; but as some small parts of the glass were gone, I could only guess at the size of the holes, nor could distinctly estimate the shape of them, nor form the slightest conjecture, whether the lightning had made its ingress or egress through both, or either of them. The intermediate square of glass left perfectly sound—there was no other iron about the window, except the abovementioned—but the curtain-rods of the bed, which stood about ten feet from the window, I observed, were iron, stronger (larger) somewhat than usual. Mrs. Heartly lay on Mr. Heartly's left hand, when the thunder was, and felt not the least stroke from the lightning, or perceived any effects from it, except that her right arm, she found, when she awoke, was stunned and benumbed, and a little painful, which continued for a few days, but is now quite well. I took notice of a pump, which stood about ten or eleven feet from the house, in nearly a right line from the window abovementioned, whose handle (or freape, as it is called hereabout) is all of iron, very thick and long, and a strong iron ball for a head to it. Ripley, Oct. 12, 1772.