Star.
London, England, 1825-07-22 00:00:00

NATURAL PHENOMENA.

NAPLES, JUNE 21.
The 14th,, in the afternoon, during a thunder-
..
storm at Avigliano, in the province of Basilicata, the
lightning struck the house of one Antonio Somme.
lfaving killed the wife, who was at the door, the
lightning descended to the shop below, and struck
the owner and a friend, who were for a titre insensible.
They, however, soon tec,.vered, and had received no
injury; but all attempts to recover the wife were in
wait; the citcumstance WAS the more affecting, as she
held closely pressed to her breast, a female infant, who,
to the astonishment of everybody, was untouched by
the lightning, which had killed the mother.
BRUSSELS, JULY 19.
Sunday, the lOth instant, about noon, the lightning
strnck..with a dreadful explosion, the reformed Church,
at Almelo, just as the numerous congregation was going
to retire, alter Divine Service; but a heavy rain de-
tained them. The electric fluid penetrated in two places
through the very thick walls of the' Church, and disap-
peared in the ground. A bright flash and a smell of
sulphur were perceived in the Church, with a loud
detonation. Many persons were thrown down, and
others felt a shock, but nobody received any injury,
and the damage done to the building is trifling.
Nonwtet.—Tuesday evening las:, during a very se-
vere thundte.storm, which occurred at orstead, the
.electric fluid passel down the chimney of the house
of Mr. Chapman, a respectable farmer of that place,
who was so much injured and alarmed, that his life is
despaired of.
lie.tit...—The effect of the continued hot weather be-
grs to be severely felt by us; brooks and ponds are
become quite dry ; the cattle go back in their feeding,
ar.d veAetation is burnt up. The following state of the
t!neanornelcr is taken from an excellent one in the pos-
s.-ssion of Mr. Cowper, of Trowbridge, which has been
f r :30 years in the same situation—a northern aspect,
fe t from the ground, on Monday last.
Twelve o'clock, 89 Two o'clock as
One o'clock $9 Four o'clock
fix o'clock 116 the o'clock 78
Srren etlock 114 Tam o'clock 75,50
9.'acrturyou the morning et Tuesday, u belt-p st six, was
et 71.

c'n. the 9th June the thermometer at. Quebec was up
t, ?!. On the 10th it reached, in the shade.- 95 ; the
. same instrument pl seed in the. sun stood at 125. At
I iiicgara, on the same day, the thermometer was up to 90.
'LAW 07 MERCMANT AND' FACTOR.—By the new Act
it is enacted that after the sth July inst. any persons
taking goods from an agent or factor as a security for
pity 4.1-eniand (and not having notice from any document
• otherwitke, that such agent is not the bona idc owner
of the goods), acquires whatever right, tide, or interest
• was possessed by the agent entrusted with such goods ;
bettze enactment that a sale made in the ordinary
. course of business by an agent, and a payment to him,
shall be binding upon ant good against the owner of
the goods, unless the purchaser shall have notice that
the agent was not authorised to sell or receive payment,
does not take effect until the Ist October, 1826-
• • AL LION'S posthumous Treatise, which is writtert en
tire4y in Latin, is supposed to be in die hand-writing
of oee of :he roots daughters, of whom it is recordei
that he brought her up in the knowledge of Latin and
Greek. It is latunate for the literature of our country
that MILTON found an amanuensis in the domestic cir-
cle of his family; for, as this and others of his cele-
bi ated productions were composed after the loss of his
• the rich current of his thoughts might not other-
r!se have come down to .posterity. It appears evident
t!:at this work was intended by its author to be a post-
humous publication. The ill odour into which the late
l':otecior's Secretary naturally fell upon the restore-
t'..rn of Royalty, is sufficient to account for MILTON'S
t:it::taNCE CO bring himself into public notice by chal-
-1.7.--ving attention to a controversial work of this kind.
the State Paper Office it was found, tied up with a
prcel of affidavits and documents connected with the
I`..•piA Plot olOates, and the Rye-house Plot. It had
..• eoys been ea;d by the biographers of MILTON, that a
s srk upon the Christian Religion had been confided
h e Ii,LTON to aMr SKINNER, one of the bard's known
friends. Among the loose paperi found tied
it.; with the Treatise, or in immedia e contiguity
• it, was an original deposition of Titus Oates,
c:gued also by Sir EDMUND BURY GODFRLY, a few
days before his murder, containing amongst °Wets the
r :me of SKINNER, as one of those suspected of being
ec:...-.erned in the plot. The probability therefore is..
• that tl.is work was seized amongst the papers of the
Stirrraa whose name was here set down, and whom
possession of a secret manuscript of Ms r..r0:4
Light have led to his fall ng under the Lu:•picion 'of
Government.
• c•;nteeted the di4covcry of clic Ittistco. in such
c 41.1

lamft