The Sun.
London, England, 1807-06-04 00:00:00

DREADFUL THUNDER STORM.

On "Monday last, alter a day unuFlotilly hot, Catite
on at this place, between eight and nine in the even-
lug the nioq continued and alarming thunder stopn
'ever retnembeeed by the oldest. inhabitant. The
tilshes of the electric fluid were indeed incessant; il-
luminatibg the whole atmosphere with their extreme
eflUlgetue, and accompanied with torrents of rain..
From the commencement of the storm, until near
Midnight, the thunder seemed but one continued
tremendous peal, without the least intermission,
which kept not only -the windoWs; bitt,eyen the
walls of the hotses, in constant vibration :'awful
deed—but to hint that could contemplate it with a
philosophic Mind, grand and magnificent
Considerablylouder than the rest was one peal,
which seemed to' burSt Upon 'the very roofs of the
houses ; when a ball. of tire entered the chimney of
a labouring- man, of the name of Scott, which it
threw down in every direction, broke a very strong
lintel which was over
,the fire place, (the:extretriities
of which, Where it was fraOured, in the Centre,
were fbrced into a direCtion, so as to point 'straight
into the room, like a crane turned upon its pivot)--
drove several bricks from the chimney upon a bed
where the poor man's wife lay 'with an infant in [n-
arms. The child, tor some time, appeared motion-
less, and the face of the mother was somewhat
scorched; but, happily, they are both TecOvered..
The elearic fluid then appears to have diretied
its course between the wall arid the cieling, forcing
it (Outwards) from its perpendicular, Until it reach,.
ed the door, •where it most probably directed its
course downwards,: the door being split from the
top to th? bottom, as if cut with a saw. Every pane
of glass was shivered to atoms, and the flame of the
windows throw.v-n into the streets, 'and broken to
pieces; scarcely one article of furniture was left in
its place. A tin lamp, a candlestick, and a pewter
pot, were all melted.

An adjacent house also suffered, but not to so
great an extent as the other. Part of the roof was
torn off, and the walls and cieling, with some fuy-
niture; considerably injured. A person who lives
immediately • under, (the injury being chiefly con:-
fined to the upper story) was struck
,to the ground,
and for some time remained speechless ; but he is
since recovered.

So great was the csinsternationof the--three
lies, that they can give no distinet account of the
matter. All, they can say is, that their houses ap-
peared enveloped in smoke, and that the smell of
sulphur was so powerful, they found th,t greatest
difficulty of respiration fol'a considerable time after
they had recovered their recolleolion. We hear Of
two nr three persons having been struck down by
the lightning, but, thank God ! no lives have been
lost in this place.
Same day the inhabitants of Shap, Westmorland,.
experienced the most dreadful thunthr storm that
has happened for-tnauy years, 'accompanied with -a
heavy tall ofshail-stones, many of which measured
in circumfctence three inches and a half. In one
house thirty-six pan of Mass were brbken by then),
—The same day O'K.ut..Ly's Thermometer, in the
open air, stood at 82.

Satre day came op at Dumfries, about eight P. M.
which continued until one next mornimr, the 'plait
tremendous storm of lightning and rain ever seen
there, but without thunder.

NEIP CASTLE.—The night of Monday se'nn ight was
one continued scene of lightning and thunder, but at
SO ()Teat a distance as not to cause any serious alarm
.to the inhabitants.of this town. On Tuesday morn-
ing, however, 'about eight o'clock, the storm ap.-
proached, and was accompanied by the most tre-
mendous shower of hail and rain ever witnessed
perhaps in this country. The rain fell in such
torrents, that in the short space of 'fifteen mi-
nutes the whole town was hi a. state of inuncla
tion---,When. it fortunately abated, or the con!.
sequence; would have been,' to. a great" num-
ber of, persons, beyond the power „of' language
dikressing. The uniting of the waters at the foot of
the side, from the more elevated streets, was particut-
lady awful, whence they flowed across the Saudhill
to the river with inicornmon rapidity, carrying away
every thing moveable that 'fell within their current.
Several low room”, shopt, and cellars,' were over-
flowed, and considerable damage/sustained by some
Two boys'were nearly carried over tlae
quay by the. force, of the water; but Were fortunately
saved, Two men' were struck down by the
ping, on Gateshead Fell,• but withdut receiving
much injury. At Braneepeth Castle the hot-houses
received some damage ; and, at East Ilitint6n; 54
pines of glass were broken in one window, and seve-
ral in others, by the had ; the rain also ran in such a
torrent, as to carry two carts standing by the road
side to a considerable distance. Several gooseberry
buslieS were turn up by the roots, and the blossom,
on many fruit trees entirely beaten off:-,--At Bradley.
Hall,: two oxen belonging to Mr. Jackson were struck
in a field by the lightning, one of which was killed,:
and the other much burned. One man was also:
severely hurt by the gable end of a house near that,
place being thrown down, and anothet by some of
the machinery qt an engine falling on,him.---The!
root ot. a Dove-cot, belonging to Henry Grey, ESo..
Of Bambnrgh, was partly thrown
_down, and the
door pOsts rent. One of the peals of thunder was
so loud as to make Bambtirgh Castle shake.

A curious circumstance 'occurred at the .White
Hart inn, at Guildford, at the close of the EleEtion.
Some of the swinish multitude, ntSt. content with
drinking as mtich as possible at the expence and
liberality of Mr. THORNTON (one of the successful
Candidates), pocketed several bottles of wine; which
being found to gO off remarkably fast, two Gentle-
men, suspe&ing some foul play was going forward,
placed themselves at the foot of the etairs, and in the
pockets Of whomsoever they discovered a bottle,
cur off the skirts of the coat, with the pocket and
bottle, and sent them the landlord. From shame,
or whatever cause, those who had thus their coats
Cut, made the best of their way Out of sight ; so
that no discovery was made, and the Gentlemen cut
off coat-skirts to the number of seventeen !

The timber of the beautiful demesne of Leixlip
has been disposed of by the Hon. GEORGE CAVEN-
DISII to atimber-merchant in Dublin, who has about
one hundred men now employed in, felling down
near 7000 venerable oak, Ash, and elm trees.