CHAPTER X.

THE GREAT EARTHQUAKE OF LISBON.

A dreadful All Saints' Day-The Victims of a Minute-Report of an Eye-witness --Conflagration-Banditti-Pombal brings Order into Chaos-Intrigues of the Jesuits-Damages caused by the Earthquake in other Places-at Cadiz-in Barbary-Widespread Alarm-Remarks of Goethe on the Earthquake.

H

ISTORY exhibits few catastrophes more terrible than that which was caused by the great earthquake which, on November 1, 1755, levelled the town of Lisbon to the dust. On other occasions, such as that of a siege, a famine, or a plague, calamity approaches by degrees, giving its victims time to measure its growth, and preparing them, as it were, to sustain an increasing weight of misery; but here destruction fell upon the devoted city with the rapidity of a flash of lightning.

A bright sun shone over Lisbon on that fatal morning. The weather was as mild and beautiful as on a fine summer's day in England, when, about forty minutes past nine, in the morning, an earthquake shock, followed almost immediately by another and another, brought down convents, churches, palaces, and houses in one common ruin, and, at a very moderate computation, occasioned the loss of thirty thousand lives. The shocking sight of the dead bodies,' says an eyewitness of the scene, together with the shrieks and cries of those who were half buried in the ruins, exceeds all description; for the fear and consternation were so great that the most resolute person durst not stay a moment to remove a few stones off the friend he loved most, though many might have been saved by so doing; but nothing was thought of but self-preservation. Getting into open places, and into the middle of streets, was the most probable security. Such as were in the upper storeys of houses were, in general, more

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fortunate than those who attempted to escape by the doors; for they were buried under the ruins with the greatest part of the foot-passengers; such as were in equipages escaped best, though their cattle and drivers suffered severely; but those lost in houses and the streets are very unequal in number to those that were buried in the ruins of churches; for as it was a day of great devotion, and the time of celebrating mass, all the churches in the city were vastly crowded; and the number of churches here exceeds that of both London and Westminster; and as the steeples are built high, they mostly fell with the roof of the church, and the stones are so large that few escaped.'*

Many of those who were not crushed or disabled by the falling buildings fled to the Tagus, vainly hoping that they might find there the safety which they had lost on land. For, soon after the shock, the sea also came rushing in like a torrent, though against wind and tide, and rising in an enormous wave, overflowed its banks, devouring all it met on its destructive path. Many large vessels sank at once; others, torn from their anchors, disappeared in the vortex, or, striking against each other, were shattered to pieces. A fine new stone quay, where about three thousand persons had assembled for safety, slipped into the river, and every one was lost; nor did so much as a single body appear afterwards.

Had the misery ended here, it might in some degree have admitted of redress; for, though lives could not be restored, yet a great part of the immense riches that were in the ruins might have been recovered; but a new calamity soon put an end to such hopes, for, in about two hours after the shock, fires broke out in three different parts of the city, caused by the goods and the kitchen fires being all jumbled together. About this time also, a fresh gale suddenly springing up, made the fire rage with such violence that, at the end of three days, the greatest part of the city was reduced to ashes. What the earthquake had spared fell a prey to the fire, and the flames consumed thousands of mutilated victims, who, incapable of flight, lay half-buried in the ruins. According to a popular report, which, true or not, shows * Philosophical Transactions, vol. xlix. part i. p. 404.

the hatred in which the Holy Office was held, the Inquisition was the first building that fell down, and probably more than one inquisitor, who, in his life-time, had sent scores of Jews or heretics to the stake, was now, in his turn, burnt alive.

As if the unshackled elements were not sufficient agents of destruction, the prisons also cast forth their lawless denizens, and a host of malefactors, rejoicing in the public calamity which paralysed the arm of justice, added rapine and murder to the miseries of the city.

More than 60,000 persons are supposed to have perished in Lisbon from all these various causes. The total loss of property was estimated at fifty millions of dollars, an enormous sum for a small country, and in times when money was far more valuable than at present. A few shocks sufficed to destroy the treasures accumulated by the savings of many generations.

The royal family was at this time residing in the small palace of Belem, about a league out of town, and thus escaped being buried among the ruins of the capital-a fortunate occurrence in the midst of so many misfortunes; for the anarchy that must have ensued from the destruction of all authority would have filled the cup of misery to the brim. As it was, Government seemed utterly incapable of contending with a disaster of such colossal proportions. 'What is to be done?' said the helpless king to his minister Carvalho, Marquis of Pombal, who, on entering the councilchamber, found his sovereign vainly seeking for advice among his weeping and irresolute courtiers: how can we alleviate the chastisement which Divine justice has imposed upon us?' 'Sire! by burying the dead and taking care of the living,' was the ready answer of the great statesman, whose noble bearing and confident mien at once restored the king's courage. From that moment José bestowed a boundless confidence upon Pombal. Without losing a single moment, the minister, invested with full powers, threw himself into a carriage, and hastened with all speed to the scene of destruction. Wherever his presence was most needed, there was he sure to be found. For several days and nights he never left his carriage, whence, incessantly active in his efforts to reduce chaos to order, he issued no less than two