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hundred decrees, all bearing the stamp of a master-mind, Troops from the provinces were summoned in all haste, and concentrated round the capital, which no one was allowed to leave without permission, so that the robbers, who had enriched themselves with the plunder of palaces and churches, were unable to escape with their spoils.

In all his numerous ordinances Carvalho neglected none of the details necessary for insuring their practical utility, writing many of them on his knees with a pencil, and sending them, without loss of time, to the various officers charged with their execution. His wise regulations for ensuring a speedy supply and a regular distribution of provisions averted famine. Great fears were entertained of pestilential disorders, in consequence of the putrid exhalations of so many corpses, which it was impossible to bury. To prevent this additional misfortune, Carvalho induced the Patriarch to give orders that the bodies of the dead should be cast into the sea, with only such religious ceremonies as circumstances permitted.

But the Jesuits, the mortal enemies of the enlightened minister, did not lose this opportunity of intriguing against him, and openly ascribed the catastrophe to the wrath of God against an impious Government. Thus Pombal had not only to cope with the disastrous effects of the earthquake, but also with the venomous attacks of hypocritical bigots, in spite of whose clamours he interdicted all public processions and devotional exercises that were calculated still further to inflame the excited minds of the populace.

Though Lisbon was the chief sufferer from the great earthquake of 1755, the shocks which destroyed the capital of Portugal proved disastrous in many other places, and vibrated far and wide over a considerable portion of the globe. St. Ubes was nearly swallowed up by the sudden rising of the sea. At Cadiz the shocks were so violent that the water in the cisterns washed backwards and forwards so as to make a great froth upon it. No damage was done, on account of the excessive strength of the buildings; but, about an hour after, an immense wave, at least 60 feet higher than common, was seen approaching from the sea. It broke against the west part of the town, which is very rocky, and

where, fortunately, the cliffs abated a great deal of its force. At last it burst upon the walls, destroyed part of the fortifications, and swept away huge pieces of cannon. The strong causeway which connects the town with the Island of Leon, was utterly destroyed, and more than fifty people drowned that were on it at the time.

In Seville a number of houses were thrown down, and the bells were set a-ringing in Malaga. In Italy, Germany, and France, in Holland and in Sweden, in Great Britain and in Ireland, the lakes and rivers were violently agitated. The water in Loch Lomond rose suddenly and violently against its banks, so that a large stone lying at some distance from the shore, in shallow water, was moved from its place, and carried to dry land, leaving a deep furrow in the ground along which it had moved. At Kinsale, in Ireland, a great body of water suddenly burst into the harbour, and with such violence that it broke the cables of two vessels, each moored with two anchors, and of several boats which lay near the town. The vessels were whirled round several times by an eddy formed in the water, and then hurried back again with the same rapidity as before. London was shaken, the midland counties disturbed, and one high cliff in Yorkshire threw down its half-separated rocks. At Töplitz, in Bohemia, between eleven and twelve o'clock, the mineral waters increased so much in quantity that all the baths ran over. About half an hour before, the spring grew turbid and flowed muddy, and, having stopped entirely for nearly a minute, broke forth again with prodigious violence, driving before it a considerable quantity of reddish ochre. After this, it became clear, and flowed as pure as before, but supplying more water than usual, and that hotter and more impregnated with its medicinal substances.

In Barbary, the earthquake was felt nearly as severely as in Portugal. Great part of the city of Algiers was destroyed; at Fez, Mequinez, and Morocco many houses were thrown down, and numbers of persons were buried in the ruins. At Tangiers and Sallee the waters rushed into the streets with great violence, and when they retired they left behind them a great quantity of fish.

Ships sailing on the distant Atlantic received such violent

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concussions that it seemed as if they had struck upon a rock, and even America was disturbed.

At the Island of Antigua the sea rose to such a height as had never been known before, and at Barbadoes a tremendous wave overflowed the wharfs and rushed into the streets. The remote Canadian lakes were seen to ebb and flow in an extraordinary manner, and the Red Indian hunter felt the last expiring pulsations of the great terrestrial shock which a few hours before had overthrown the distant capital of Portugal.

Such were the extraordinary effects of this terrible earthquake, which extended over a space of not less than four millions of square miles! Of the enormous sensation it produced over all Europe, as well as of the deep impression it made upon his own youthful mind, Goethe, then about six years old, has given us a masterly account in his autobiography (Dichtung und Wahrheit ').

For the first time,' says the illustrious poet, 'the boy's peace of mind was disturbed by an extraordinary event. On November 1, 1755, the earthquake of Lisbon took place, and spread consternation over a world which had long been accustomed to tranquillity and peace. A large and splendid capital, the seat of wealth and commerce, suddenly falls a prey to the most terrible disaster. The earth shakes, the sea rises, ships are dashed against each other, houses, churches, and towers fall in; the king's palace is partly engulfed by the waves; the bursting earth seems to vomit flames, for smoke and fire appear everywhere among the ruins. Sixty thousand persons, but a moment before in the enjoyment of a comfortable existence, are swept away, and they are the most fortunate who no longer feel or remember their misery. The flames continue to rage, along with a host of criminals whom the catastrophe has set at liberty. The unfortunate survivors are exposed to robbery, to murder, to every act of violence; and thus on all sides Nature replaces law by the reign of unfettered anarchy. Swifter than the news could travel, the effects of the earthquake had already spread over a wide extent of land; in many places slighter commotions had been felt; mineral springs had suddenly ceased to flow; and all these circumstances increased

the general alarm when the terrible details of the catastrophe became known. The pious were now not sparing of moral reflexions, the philosophers of consolations, the clergy of admonitions. Thus the attention of the world was for some time concentrated upon this single topic, and the public, excited by the misfortunes of strangers, began to feel an increasing anxiety for its personal safety, as from all sides intelligence came pouring in of the widely-extended effects of the earthquake. The demon of fear has indeed, perhaps, never spread terror so rapidly and so powerfully over the earth. The boy who heard the subject frequently discussed was not a little perplexed. God, the Creator and Preserver of Heaven and Earth, whom the first article of faith represented as supremely wise and merciful, appeared by no means paternal while thus enveloping the just and the unjust in indiscriminate ruin. It was in vain that his youthful mind endeavoured to shake off these impressions, nor can this be wondered at, as even the wise and the learned did not agree in their opinions on the subject.'

CHAPTER XI.

LANDSLIPS.

Igneous and Aqueous Causes of Landslips-Fall of the Diablerets in 1714 and 1749-Escape of a Peasant from his living Tomb-Vitaliano Donati on the Fall of a Mountain near Sallenches-The Destruction of Goldau in 1806--Wonderful Preservation of a Child-Burial of Velleja and Tauretunum, of Plürs and Scilano-Landslip near Axmouth in Dorsetshire-Falling in of Cavern-roofsDollinas and Jamas in Carniola and Dalmatia-Bursting of Bogs-Crateriform Hollows in the Eifel.

LANDSLIPS, or sudden subsidences and displacements of

portions of land, result both from igneous and aqueous

causes.

Wherever cavities have been formed beneath the surface of the earth, whether in consequence of volcanic eruptions or by the erosive and dissolving action of subterranean waters, the shock of an earthquake or the mere weight of the superincumbent mass may cause the roof to fall in, or the superficial ground, no longer sustained by its undermined foundations, to slide away and sink to a lower level.

In mountainous regions it frequently occurs that the foundations of a rock, undermined by filtering waters, give way, and that huge masses of stone and earth, now no longer reposing on a solid basis, are precipitated into the valley below. More than once, the slipping or falling in of a mountain has brought death and destruction upon the humble dwellings of the Alpine peasants, and added many a mournful page to their simple annals. Thus, in the years 1714 and 1749, large beds of stone were detached from the Diablerets, a mountain stock between the cantons of Vaux and Valais, and burying the meadows of Cheville and Leytron under a mound of rubbish 300 feet deep, killed many herds and shepherds.

In the first of these catastrophes, the life of a peasant was