The Sun.
London, England, 1826-07-10 00:00:00

THUNDER-STOICNI IN THE HIGHLANDS

The long tract of dry weather, which maybe said to have
continued , from seed time, there having been, since only
some partial showers,-about the end of last month, has at
length been intempted. The heat still continues exces-
sive. The thermometer has for some time been above 80
in the shade, and during the past week has sometimes been
even so high as 86, with a northern - exposure. Tuesday
was very sultry, the clouds seemed highly charged with
electricity, distant thunder was heard from the south,a few
drops of rain fell, and expectation was on tiptoe ;. but
another day passed over without the much wished-for mois-
ture. On Wednesday forenoon thunder was heard in the
distance in a northerly direction; during the day it ap-
proached nearer, anti about six o'clock in the afternoon a
skirt of the cloud passed over this place; there were se-
verldloud claps of thunder, and vivid. flashes of lightning,
anti the ruin fell in such torrents, • that in• a few minutes
streats were running down the streets, which inundated
low-lying houses, and ploughed up the . roads where there
was any declivity. The rain did not last long, and did
not extend liir to the west. The cloud passed towards the
east, and we regret to learn that considerable damage was
caused by the lightning in the neighbourhood of Nairn ;
we subjoin a, letter, giving some. interesting Iwarticulars.—
At ,11loyhall the thunder, reverberated by the surround-
ing hills was tremendous; it was there accompanied
by showers of rain, hail, snow, and ice, which caused
much devastation,, breaking all the windows in the
mansion' and, cutting the stems of the corn and potatoes,
destroyed the crops. Yesterday and to-day distant thun-
der was again heardl :it traverses the country, distributing
the rain in its course. Harvest will be very early, and it
is hoped that there will be abundance for the food of man;
but, as . we formerly stated, hay and straw will be scarce.

Eitract of a letter' from -Nairn, dated yesterday
About three o'clock yesterday we had one of the moat
terrific thunder-storms ever remembered. The lightning
.struck a house at Newton, entered-by the roof, and did
great mischief. In the sitting parlour it hurled down
some of the pictures, forced open a desk, and smashed the.
glass of a hook-case and window ; one of the. chairs in a
• corner of the room was burnt to a cinder. In a bed-room
opposite, a great part of the ceiling was broken down, and
the boxing torn in splinters 1 the other side of the room
blackened, and the tables • and chairs were turned. topsy

turvy. In the kitchen a servant girl's gown was burnt on
her back, and a woman, who was sitting by the fire, was
scorched by the lightning. The whole house was filled
with smoke, and the inmates were nearly suffocated; the
gardener, who was entering the house with vegetables,
was thrown down; but though there were nineteen per-
sons in the house at the time, with the above exceptions,
providentially no person was touched. There were a
number of cattle killed in the neighbourhood, but I have
heard of no loss of human life."—lnverness Journal.

Mr. Cooper, the American Novelist, alias ,d Wal-
ter Scott," the author of the " Pilot," &c. is arrived in
England, together with his wife and family of five
children. He is on his way to Lyons, being appoint-
ed a Consul for America.

Viscount Northland, whose promotion to a British
Peerage was announced in our bat, is the representa-
tive of the ancient family of Knox, of Renfurlie or
Ratnphorlie, in Renfrewshire, of which John Knox,
the celebrated Scottish Reformer, was a cadet.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, on recei% i lig the
half-year's rents of his Lincolnshire tenanantry due at
Lady-day last, has made them a return of ten per cent
on their respective payments, in consequence of the
depression of agricultural produce, and the injury sus-
tained from the excessive drought.

MELANCHOLY ACCIDENT..OII Saturday morn-
ing, between nine and ten o'clock, a fine boy, apparently
about 13 or 14 years of age, was drowned, whilst
bathing in the Canal, in. St. James's-paek. About
three quarters of an hour elapsed before the body
could be found, which was carried to a public-house in
Westminster, where all means to restore animation
were tried ; but, from the length of time the body had
been under water, it proved ineffectual.
A WORD IN FAVOUR. OP THE DUMB CREA-
TION.--if you keep dogs, let them have free access
to water, and, if practicable, take them out occasion-
ally into the fields, and let them have the advantage
of swimming whenever there is an opportunity.. If
you keep birds, do not, as is too commonly practised,
expense them in their cages to a hot sun : it is a cruel
and fatal mistake. Birds, unconfined, seek the shel-
ter in sultry weather. If you
'do expose them out of
doors, cover the to of,
P their cages with, a piece of
carpeting, or, which ie better, a green sod, or abun-
dance of leaves. lime who have the care of horses
should be especially attentive, during the sultry wea-
ther, to give them water or to moisten their mouths.
We have been often shocked to see some of the
labouring horses, in sultry and dusty weather, foam-
, big at the mouth, and labouring under symptoms of
the intolerable torments of thirst.—Caledoman Mer-
-1 airy.