The Sun.
London, England, 1825-08-13 00:00:00

AWFUL THUNDER STORM.

LIVERPOOL.—On Friday morning last, about•two o'clock,
this town was visited by one of the most awful thunder storms
ever experienced here. Two claps, in particular, were most
terrific, and made the stoutest heart tremble. The first oc-
curred at a quarter before two o'clock.
—"• When mankind were wrapt in sleep,
And worldly Fancy fed on golden dreams,"
the thunder burst forth with the most sublime, yet terrific
grandeur. The clap was so loud, that it awoke almost every
inhabitant. We have heard the peal compared to the sudden
crash of falling houses; but it resembled more the discharge of
a heavy piece, or rather pieces, of ordnance immediately un-
der your window. The lightning which preceded the second
peal was so vivid as to deprive of sight, for a few moments,
any one who had the temerity to gaze upon its dazzling and
appaling brightness. It was just as if a glowing sheet of flame
had been passed before the eye of the beholder. The whole
town was seen as in the blaze of the meridian sun. The Town
of Liverpool steam-packet was on her passage from Dublin at
the moment; and the Captain describes the lightning as hav-
ing been the most awful and terrific he
,ever beheld.—
The thunder immediately broke forth, not with a rumbling
noise, as during ordinary thunder storms, but in one loud,
tremendous clap, shaking the very buildings to their founda-
tions, and striking terror and dismay into all who heard it.—
The rain, during this time, descended in torrents. The lightn-
ing which succeeded the second terrific clap was but weak ,
compared with the sublime grandeur of the flash by which it
was preceded. The thunder also became feeble, and aeon mut-
tered and died away in the distance. As is usual after any aw-
ful visitation of nature, a variety of rumours or the damage pro-
duced by this storm of thunder and lightning were in circula-
tion ; but we have not learnt that any very serious injury, es
respects either person or property, has been sustained in the
town or neighbourhood. A respectable man, who lives in a
street leading from Saint James's-street to Wapping, states
that he was awake before and during the storm. His bed-
room window commands a rather extensive view to the .
north and northwest. He says, that the window-blind
being drawn up, he saw, the instant the second terrific
flash. took place, something resembling a ball of fire, about
as large as a foot-ball, come over Sparling-street, in the di. '
rection of his house. He trembled with afright, conceiving that
he could not escape the swift destruction which was approach-
ing. The house, which stands alone, slightly, but perceptibly
vibrated as the electric fluid passed by, and the bed on which
he lay moved as if violently shaken. This awful phenomenon
was also beheld by a person, who lives on the opposite side of
the street, and whose bed-room window commands a view in the
same direction as the house of his neighbour. He had- given
the inmates up for lost, so convinced was he that the electric fluid
from the direction in which he saw it approaching, Would strike .
and destroy the opposite house. Fortunately, however, it.passed
over the building, without causing any injury, and continued
its course towards the south-east.—The Town-hall is, we be-
lieve, the only building that experienced even a slight injury.
It must, apparently, have been enveloped in the electric fluid,
which appears to have made the circuit of the dome within the
stone balustrade, where there are four lead pipes at intervals
to convey the water from the dome down upon the footwalk of
the balustrade. About six inches from the bottom adds walk
the fluid appears to have gone wholly round close to the'dome, .•
and flattened each of the lead pipes, leaving the appearance of
a bullet, two inches diameter, having been forced between each
pipe and the dome, then passed inside the lantern, and came
out through the upper part of the window (breaking seven
panes of glass) into Castle-street. The sign of a public-house,
in Great Crosshall-street, has been discoloured, by the action,
it is imagined, of the electric fluid. The iron-work, to which
an artificial bunch of grapes, is suspended, was supposed to have
been bent by the same powerful agency ; but this appears a mis-
take, the bend having, it is evident, been made by the blnek-
smith who manufactured it.

The Theatre Royal, Weymouth, commenced
its season on Monday last, under the ahl-e ma-
nagement of Mr. HARVEY, with a new Company
of Comedians from the London and provinCal
•
Theatres.
The Countess of Morley, whaler, which arriv-
ed in this port last week, has brought home a boy about 13
yeais old, a native of Owhyhee, at which island the vessel
touched. He is a -fine muscular, acute-looking youth, of a •
dark olive complexion. He came ashore at Mount Wise,
on Sunday, and excited great attention among the prime•
naders from the astonishment with which he viewed • the
scene around him, so different from any thing he had before
witnessed. He seemed particularly amused by the numerous
crowds of well-dressed people on the Parade, and listened to the
band of the 24th regiment, regarding the costume of the soldiers
with mute wonder. We understand he is an orphan, having
in early years been deprived of his parents, and was presented
to one of the seamen of the Countess of Morley by a• Chief
of Owhyhce. Like all the natives of the South Sea Islands,
he is a most expert swimmer, and dives to the bottom
with the greatest ease in seven or eight fathoms water. His
name is Carlalolar, but the sailors have christened him Thos.
Valentine. Being extremely expert at handicraft employincits,
it is intended. to apprentice him to some mechanical trade,
should he not himself decide on again going to sea.—( Plymouth
Journal.) •

BIRTH.
On Thursday, the Ilth inst., at Upper Tooting, Mrs. John
Rew, of a daughter.

MARRIED.
On Monday, the Ist of August, by the Lord Bishop of Nor:
with, George Heald, Esq., of Lincoln's-inn, to Emma, daugh-
ter Of S. Trafford Southwell,. Esq., of Wroxham-hal, in the
county of Norfolk.
On the 9th inst., at St. Andrew's Church, Newcastle-upon=
Tyne, John Rennie, Esq., of Linton-house, East Lothian,
eldest son of George Rennie, Esq., of Phantassie, to ,Sarah
Elizabeth Amelia, eldest daughter of Edward Hall Caniphell,:
Esq., of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
On the 11th inst., - the Rev. Stephen Langston, minister of
St. George's Church, Sheffield, and late Fellow of Wadham
College, Oxford, to Maria, daughter of the late Stephen Catt-
ley, Esq., of Camberwell.
On the 12th inst., at St. Margaret's, Westminster, Mr. James
Griffiths, to Miss S. Breeze.
On Friday, the 12th inst., at St. Margaret's, Westminster,
Frederick Dixon, Esq., of reat Coram-street, Russell-square,
son of the late Rev. Joseph Dixon, of Sullington, Sussex, to
Miss Maria Grant, daughter of Richard Grant, Esq., of Dean's-
yard, Westminster.
On Thursday, the 11th inst., at Camberwell, Mr. Horatio
Beeching, banker, of Tonbridge, Kent, to Susanna, daughter
pof Cruttall Pierce, Esq., Bath-place, Peckham.
On Tuesday, the 9th inst., Thomas Hartley, Esq., of Ros-
crow, Cornwall, to Miss Harriot Lorking, of Cavendish,
Suffolk.