was ploughed up, and torn by a fire ball, which they said had fallen there. I obferved there were many holes in the ground; one in the middle, about as large as a man's head, and five or fix fmaller ones round it, about the fize of his fift; and fo deep, especially the largeft, as not to be fathomed by the longest sticks they had at hand. The grafs was entirely burnt up about the holes; and a strong fmell of fulphur remained for fome time afterward. There had been a very terrible rainy night before this happened, with much lightening, and great claps of thunder." In the Philofophical Tranfactions, No. 341, p. 159, Dr. Halley defcribes a meteor of this kind that was feen in England on the 31st of July, 1708, O. S. between nine and ten o'clock at night. It was feen at London, moving horizontally from E. by N. to E. by S. at least 50° high; and alfo at Redgrave in Suffolk, which is at least 40 miles to the eastward of London, a little to the weftward of the fouth, and about 30° high, fliding obliquely downwards. From these two obfervations, Dr. Halley computes that this meteor was about 40 miles above the furface of the earth; and almoft vertical to the buoy of the Nore.

In the 331ft number of the fame publication we meet with a defcription of another of thefe meteors, by the Rev. Mr. Thoresby of Leeds in Yorkfhire, where it was feen. His words are nearly as follow: On Holy Thurfday, 1710 (which happened that year on the 18th of May, O. S.) about a quarter past ten at night, a very strange meteor was seen at this place. The common people called it a flaming fword. It was not feen in the neighbouring towns only, but a great way north; as well as above 50 miles to the fouth of this place. It was broad at one end, and small at the other, and was thought by fome to refemble a trumpet. It moved with the broad end firft, and directed its courfe from fouth to north. The light was fo ftrong that people faw their own fhadows. It is very remarkable that every one who faw it, though they were many miles diftant from each other,

thought that it fell within three or four furlongs from them; and that it went out with bright sparklings at the small end. A very ingenious clergyman affured me, that it was the ftrangest deceptio vifus he was ever fenfible of, if it was not abfolutely extinguished within a very few paces of him; and yet it was feen many miles to the north of the place where he faw it.

This meteor was feen in many parts of the counties of Derby and Nottingham, as well as Lancafter and York.

But of all the meteors that I can find recorded, that which passed over England, and fome parts of France, on the 19th of March 1719, about eight o'clock in the evening, and defcribed by Dr. Halley, in the 360th number of the Philofophical Transactions, is the most remarkable. The late Sir Hans Sloane was paffing eastward, by the N. E. corner of Southampton-ftreet, Bloomf bury Square, London, and was fuddenly furprized by a ftrong light, much greater than that of the moon, which then fhone very bright; and turning round to the weftward, from whence the light came, he faw fomething, which he at first mistook for rockets. He faw it first about, or rather to the northward of the Pleiades; from whence it moved after the manner, but much flower than a falling ftar. Its motion was apparently in a right line, defcending a little beyond, and withal below the stars in Orion's belt, which were then in the S. W. As it proceeded along, it changed its fhape, from a long stream of light, to be pearfafhioned, tapering upwards; and the lower end became at last to be bigger, and fpherical; though not fo big as the full moon. 'The colour of the light was whitish, with an eye of blue in it, of a most vivid and dazzling luftre; nearly refembling, if not furpaffing, the brightnefs of the fun at noon day. It femed to move, in about half a minute, or lefs, over an are of about 20°; and to difappear about as much above the horizon. It left behind it, as it paffed, a track of a cloudy, or faint reddifh yellow colour, fuch as red-hot iron, or glowing coals have; which remained more than a 3 M 2

minu

minute, feemed to fparkle, and kept its place. This track was interrupted, or had a chaẩm in it, about one third of its length from the upper end. He did not hear that it made any noife. The time when this happened, though faid by Sir Hans to be about a quarter paft eight, was by the more accurate account of the Kev. Mr. Pound, at 8h 8, apparent time at London. And this agrees with that fent from the Royal Cbfervatory at Paris. By calcul tion, it will appear that the track of the meteor made an angle of 27° with the horizon; and cut it at S. S. W. nearly.

Mr. John Whitefide, keeper of the Afbmole Museum, at Oxford, did not fee the meteor, being too late; but he faw the track, which he traced carefully amongst the fixed ftars; and, by that means, found that the meteor had paffed about 14 above the preceding houlder of Crion, and about 31 above the middle ftar in his belt; where there appeared a luminous nubecula, of a reddith light, being a delatation of the track in that part, which feemed to have been occafioned by fome explofion that had happened there; and by all the accounts he could meet with, it was fomewhere thereabouts where it burit out in fuch refulgent fplendour as to efface the ftars. From hence it proceeded, as to fenfe, in the arch of a great circle, and paffing in the middie between in the tail of Lupus, and in the fore foot of Canis Major, it terminated about in the breaft of the fame conftellation; that is, in about 95 of right afcenfion, and 23° of fouth declination; at which place alfo there remained a large whitish nebula, much broader, and of a ftronger light, than the rest of the track. The time of this obfervation was 8" 3'; and, from thence, it will be found that the track of the meteor made an angle with the horizon of Oxford of about 40°, and would have interfected it due S. S. W. that the place of its extinction was about 9° above the horizon, in the azimuth of S. 329 W. and that the altitude of the above-mentioned reddish nubecula was 261.

At Worcester, Mr. Nicholas Facio

From thefe obfervations Dr. Halley computed the height of this meteor was 73 ftatute miles; and that it was directly over Preitain, a village on the confines of Hereford and Radnorfhires, when they were made. Granting this, the meteor, it is evident, might have been feen all over Great Britain, Ireland, and Holland; and alfo in confiderable parts of France, Spain, and Germany, at the fame infant of time; for this height, added to the radius of the earth, forms the fecant of an arch of about 11 of a great circle of the earth: the meteor was, therefore, visible to all places within 220 leagues, or 660 miles of the place it was vertical to. That the meteor was really at this most amazing height, is, in fome measure, confirmed by other obfervations. Samuel Cruwys, Efq. of Tiverton, in Devonshire, which is about 115 geographical miles from Oxford, faw the firft explofion of this meteor exactly in his zenith. Now, fuppofing the reddish nubecula feen at Oxford was really the place where it firft exploded, as Mr. Whitefide fufpected, it will follow from an eafy calculation, that the height of this meteor, when it exploded directly over Tiverton, was 60 geographical miles, or about 70 ftatute miles. Again, the Rev. Mr. Derham faw the above mentioned nubecula about 2° above the meft foutherly ftar of the feven in the field of Orion, at 8" 6' apparent time, at Windfor. Windfor is about 130 geographical miles from Tiverton; and, hence, the meteor was 594 geographical miles, or about 69 flatute miles high when it exploded.

This meteor was alfo feen at Kirkby Stevens, on the borders of Wettinorland and Yorkshire, which lies under a meridian very little to the west of Worcester, but about 2° to the north

of

of it; where it was feen to break out, as from a dufky cloud, directly under the moon, which was then about S. by W. and near 50° high. It was alfo feen by the Rev. Mr. Ella, between Gainsborough and Redford, at 8h 5' He fays it paffed between Sirius, and the forefoot of Canis Major, in a line which feemed to proceed from the middle point between the two fhoulders of Orion. The latitude of the place where he faw it being about 53° 20' N. and longitude o° 45' W. of London. It was, moreover, feen at Aberdeen, in Scotland, 5 high; and nearly as much at Peterhead; all which obfervations tend ftrongly to confirm the prodigious height this meteor was from the earth. Laftly, this meteor was alfo feen at Paris, at 8h 17, on the W. by N. point of the compafs; according to fome 5 or 6 degrees high; but, according to others, about 11 high.

Q

All the relations agree that the light and fplendour of this meteor was little, if at all, inferior to that of the fun at noon; that within doors the candles gave no light; and that, in the ftreets, the ftars wholly difappeared; and the moon, which was nine days old, and a great height, with a very clear fky, was fo effaced as fcarce to be feen; at leaft to caft no manner of shadow, even when the beams of the meteor were intercepted by the houfes; fo that for fome feconds of time it refembled perfect day-light. Though no noife was heard at London, all the accounts from Devon and Cornwall, as well as the neighbouring counties, agree that they heard a very great report, like that of a large cannon, or rather of a broadfide at a distance, which was followed by a rattling noife, like that of many mufkets fired promifcuoufly. They alfo agree that this noife was attended with an uncommon tremor of the air, which fhook in a very fenfible manner the glafs windows and doors of the houfes, and, according to fome, the houfes themfelves. Several declared they heard a kind of hiling noife, as it went along; others, that they felt the warmth of its beams; nay, fome thought, or at leaft wrote, that they were fcalded by it! But I fhall not

repeat the many ridiculous, and fuperftitious imaginations and conceits, which were propagated by the terrified multitude on this occafion.

After this very remarkable one, I meet with no accounts of any of those meteors until Auguft 1733, in which month the late Dr. Short, of Sheffield, telis us, "A frightful glade of fire, or Draco Volans paffed over this ifiand from E. to W. after a clear, calm, and exceffive hot day, about nine o'clock at night." He does not fay what day it happened on, which is no way furprizing, as he was a very odd mortal!

In the fame year, and on the 8th of December, 1733, O. S. another meteor was feen at Fleet, in Dorsetshire, between the hours of 11 and 12 in the morning. It is thus defcribed by Mr. Crocker, who faw it:" The fun fhining bright, the weather warm, and the wind at S. E. fome fmall clouds paffing, I faw fomething which refembled a boy's paper kite. It appeared in the north, and foon vanished from my fight, being hid behind the trees which were near the valley where I was ftanding. The colour of it was of a pale brightnefs, like that of burnifhed filver. It darted out of my fight with a feeming corufcation, like that of a ftar fhooting in the night; but it had a body much larger, and a train much longer than any thing of that kind I had ever feen before. On my coming home, a neighbour informed me he had feen the fame thing for the fpace of a minute; and that the body and train appeared to him to be about 20 feet long. He, moreover, informed me that it feemed to him to fall to the ground in fome gardens, which he named; and thither we went, in expectation of finding fome of thofe jellies which are fuppofed to owe their being to fuch meteors; but we might have fought long enough, as I underflood next day; for Mr. Edgcumbe informed me that he and another gentleman had feen the fame appearance, at the fame time, about 15 miles from us, fteering the fame courfe it did with us; namely, from E. to W. and that it vanished from them between Walkhampton, and Oakhampton.

They

gave the fame account of its figure, length, and colour." This meteor is the more remarkable, as it fhews that thefe phenomena happen in the day time, as well as in the night; but are not fo frequently feen, on account of their light being obfcured by the greater light of the fun. We may also gather from hence, that notwithstanding many perfons, even of good fenfe and judgement, have defcribed the light of them to be nearly, if not entirely, as bright as the fun at noon-day, yet they are in fome meafure deceived in this refpect, by the fudden tranfition from darknefs to light. For it is highly probable that this must have been one of the brighteft that ufually appear, from its being taken notice of, by fo many perfons, at that time of the day. Ifhall produce other well-authenticated inftances of fuch meteors being feen in the day-time by and by.

In the 459th number of the Philofophical Tranfactions, Dr. Short gives an account of feveral uncommon meteors that happened between the years 1733 and 1742. He fays that "on the ift of October, 1736, after a cloudy day, the evening being then clear, and the wind at S. W. about fix o'clock a ball of fire fell from the air to the earth. There had been no rain for fifteen days before."

After defcribing a very remarkable Aurora Borealis, which was feen in many parts of England, on the 5th day of December, 1737, about five o'clock in the evening, he adds, "This meteor was feen at Venice; and over Kilkenny in Ireland it appeared like a great ball of fire, which burft with an explosion that hook great part of the island, and Jet the whole hemisphere on fire, and burnt moft furiously, till the fulphureous matter was spent."

On the 19th of November, in the fame year, about fun-fet, many people faw a fiery meteor at Philadelphia in America. It was large and bright, and appeared to be directly in the zenith, as it alfo appeared to be to fome people who lived feveral miles diftant from that place. It was obferved to be higher than the lower clouds.

August 28th, 1738, about five in

the afternoon, the wind S. W. the fky clear, and the fun fhining bright (Dr. Short tells us) a fiery meteor was feen N. E. which ran N. like a spear of fire, with a great round head, that burft like a rocket, fpread about in a large fire, and vanifhed fuddenly. This was in the time of a great drought, which lafted till September the 7th.

"Oct. 22, 1739, at night, wind N. and the fky cloudy, there appeared a frightful fiery dragon, which was feen all over England. This month, from the 6th day to the end, was the only good weather we had that harvest.— The next meteor was Dec. 2, 1739, at fix in the evening, wind N. fky clear, a white froft, and a halo round the moon. It appeared like a large, round body of fire, of about a foot and a half diameter; feemed very low; and therefore could not be seen very far, though it went all over this country from N. to S. pretty fharply; but not near fo quick as a glade of lightening. It was fucceeded inftantly by a moft difmal found in the air, like carts, drums, and groans mixed. The found kept the track of the meteor, but in an oppofite direction; namely, from S. to N. This was a most frightful time of rains, fnow, ftorms, &c."

On the 11th of December, 1741, a very remarkable meteor, of the fort under confideration, was feen at many places in the fouth-east parts of England, about one o'clock in the afternoon. It is thus defcribed by Dr. Milner, who faw it at Peckham, about four miles S. E. of London: "About feven minutes paît one o'clock in the afternoon, by the common clocks, a globe of light, fomewhat larger than the horizontal full-moon, and as bright as the moon ever is when the fun is up, appeared fuddenly in a blue sky, about S. S. E. and zo high, moving towards the eaft, with a continued equal velocity, about half that which falling ftars generally move with. It was vifible about three or at moft four feconds; grew lefs as it proceeded, and in the end venifhed fuddenly. It left behind it, throughout its whole course, a narrow freak of light, whiter than that of the globe, which remained for

fome

fome time after the globe had disappeared. This luminous path feemed to be a right line, inclining a little to the horizon, and highest towards the eaft. It was at firft very narrow, and pointed at each extremity; but foon grew broader, and in about 20' ap. peared like a long, bright, thin cloud, difcontinued in two places, and it was then more inclined to the horizon than it was when first left by the globe."

The Right Hon. Lord Beauchamp faw this meteor from the Mount in Kenfington-Gardens, at about a quarter past one o'clock: at the time, the fky was ferene, and the fun fhone very bright. He "faw, towards the fouth, a ball of fire, of about eight inches diameter, and fomewhat oval, which grew to the fize of a yard and a half diameter. It seemed to defcend from above; and, at the diftance of about half a mile from the earth, took its course towards the east, and feemed to drop over Westminster. In its courfe it affumed a tail of eighty yards in length; and, before it difappeared, it divided into two heads. It left a train of smoke all the way, as it went; and from the place where it feemed to drop there arofe a fmoke, which continued afcending for 20', and at length formed itself into a cloud, which affumed different colours."

The fame meteor was feen about one o'clock by Captain Gordon, who was in a boat on the Thames, near Hungerford-ftairs. He fays a body of fire, which appeared to be between Vauxhall and Lambeth, fprung directly upwards, till its altitude, as near as he could guess, was about 35°. This was in a few feconds; and it had the form then of a large paper kite, projecting a long tail towards the N. W. not unlike flips of paper fet on fire. In this ftate it continued ftill afcending, but inclining a little to the N. E. and expanding itfelf, for the fpace of two minutes, till its altitude was 45°, and its extreme breadth equal to that of the full moon, when rifing from a dufky horizon. Then fuddenly quitting its tail, which vanifhed, colouring the neighbouring clouds with yellow, it formed itself into a ball of fire; and

fhooting forth fwiftly towards the fouth-eaft, in a ftream of light, it dif appeared, making a noife like a clap of thunder at fome diftance, and leaving behind it a fmoaky fubftance in its track: it continued in his fight above five minutes. The weather was moderate and cloudy: wind W. S. W."

This meteor was feen alfo by fome country people near Canterbury; where, according to their defcription of the places that it paffed over, it made its courfe from N. W. by W. to S. E. by S. but the report which it made at its explosion was both heard and felt in many parts of Kent and Suffex. By fome it was supposed to be the report of many cannon fired nearly together, Some fuppofed the explosion to be caufed by the blowing up of fome powder mills; and there were others, who felt it fo feverely, that they concluded an earthquake had happened. Some perfons heard two diftinct reports; and Lord Cowper, who was then hunting not far from Canterbury, heard one very large one, which feemed to be within a few rods of him. The ball of fire was feen alfo near Warbleton, in Suffex, running nearly east, and leaving behind it a long train of light, which continued for fome time. It was alfo feen, and the report heard very loud, at Sompting near Shoreham; and by a gentleman who happened to be on a hill, about three miles weit of Newport, in the Ifle of Wight. He faid, that at the time of its appearance the fun was a little obfcured by thin clouds; that it paffed by him to the eastward, about a quarter of a mile diftant, and about thirty feet above the level of the place where he flood. Its colour was that of a burning coal, and its figure a cone, the length of which might be about eight feet, and the diameter of its bafe eighteen inches. From its apex, which was its hinder part, iflued feveral bright streams, fparkling with fiery drops, to the length of four or five feet. Its motion was nearly parallel to the horizon, and the direction of it, as was found afterwards, was from S. W. by S. to N. E. by N. No noife, wind, or motion of the earth was perceived to attend it.

The