The Weather
The Times, 1824-07-16T00:00:00

THE WEATHBER. lednestay night the metropolis was visited with one of the most severe storms of thunder and lightning we ever witnessed. [t commenced about nine o'clock, wheri the lightning s ashed every instant-the tbunder pealed, and the rain descended in torrents. The lightning wau peculiarly vivid, and many of the flashes had the appearance of a vast sheet of suiphureous flame. The storm conti. nued for upwards of three hours, though the rain had ceased for some time; but about twelve o'clock it fell in such torrents, that it resembled one continued stream of water. At Vauxhall Gardens, where the rain fell as heavy as in the city, when the water-spout like a torrent fell, several persons thought that bome pipe connected with the hydraulics had burst, and called out to that efbet. The broad cxpansive illumination of the lightning, when contrstwed whih the mimic blaze of the artificial lights and fireworks, was awfully uiut pressivc. In the east part of l,ondon much damage has-been done by the rain. The gratings of the sewers being stopped, caused many places to form a sheet of water a foot or more high; such was the state of Lower East Smithfield and rnany parts of' Wapping. in Goodman's-yard, Minories, the water was above two feet high. The difrerent wherries on the north side of the river, at break of day, were nearly full of water; so much so, that at Billinggate, not a boat could put off to the Dutch ships, for eels, &c., till dis- charged of their water freightage. W e have not heard of any parti. cular damage amongst the shipping in the lower part of the river, which we hope have escaped. 2 he arrivals inLondon yesterday morn. ing, by the mails, state it was one of the most awful thunder-storms remebered for a longtime. Its commencement at Portsmouth and Hastings was at alf.past seven in the evening, and continued, with little intermis,ion, all night, accompanied with heavy rain. The horses, in some instances, were almost ungovernable. We have not heard of any particular accident having occurred to any of them, and aU the mails arriyed in due time. At a place called Bin;ter, between Banbury and London, two cows and a bull were killed by the lightning, several houses were unthatched, chinmnies thrown dowB, and much mischief done. Mr. Vallace, a carman, of Dartford, in Kent, had one of his horseskilled by-lightning at the door of the Swan Inn, at Crayford. Oneof the leaders of a Cran- brookevan, on being brougbt from the btable, was discovered to be blind. Another horse was killed near the Green Alan, Shooter's Hill. A house at Pecklham had all the windows broken, anid the building otherwiie much injured. At Whitefriars, a young fellew, named Donant, narrowly escaped death-a horse he was unyoking from a waggon beneath a gateway taking fright at the instant the last fastening was loosed, he must otherwise have inevitably been crushed to death. The storm, which was so severe in the evening in London, began much earlier in the coun- trv. About one o'clock in the afternoon, Enfield, Wfaltbhm Cross, Chleshunt, and their vicinitv, felt the severest. It Wa1a aCVom-,Re& with lightning, thunder, and torrents of hail. The devastation oc. -asioned by the latter was very great, some of the stones beinf of re dim ensions of pigeons' eggs. The gvouads of H. Meux, Esq., of Theobald's, suffered considerably; nearly 100 panes of glass were destroyed. Two ducks were killed by the lightning, and a savyer was knockcd down by the elecuic filid having entered his hand,which it severely lacerated, and then passedoffthrough thesaw into the e rth, without doing farthermischiet. SeversalianeOf glass were broken at the Great Bull's Cross. The storm commenced in the neighbourhood of Broxbourne, in Hertfordshire, as early as between twelve and one o'clock in the day. The showers of hail were ex- cessively heavy, and hail-stones were picked up of extraordinary size. Some of them were one inch an,d a half in diameter,and almost every pane of glass was broken fiom the ten mile stone at Enfied- wash to Hoddisdon. Sir A. Hume, at Wormlnybury, has suffered considerably the Rev.- Pickthall, at Broxbourne Vicarage, and alr. V laer, of the Mill, have also sustained consider. able loss. A storm of thunder and lightning, accompanied by torrents of rain, was experienced in many parts of this COunty on Friday, though nct in the immediate neidhbourbOod Of this town. At Walsham two trees were shivered by lightning, and the Oellars were filled with vater to the depth of many feet. A fire-ball fel at Rickinghall, and the house of Xr. Sniith butcher, wus dlso struck by the electric fluid, which passed down tie chimney, and knocked down the man and two children in the room. Smith himself re- mained in a stzte of insensibilitv on Saturday, but the children, we believe, were not injured.-Bury Post. On disbanding the army at the conclusion of the Ame.. rican war, the Government, bdng unable to pay thessldirs in money, gave to each what was called a certificate of his debt,paya.. ble atsaume fature time. Those cefificatesaifcamet?f auchtedrned value, as to have been disposed of at the rate of half.a-etowwis the pound. At this deoreclation great numbers were ulaebased by on,. ldixidual,sho han been previously pay-nasterof the armny. I thcovera nt resolved to canoel t~boe eertiktts by, *ratS of latnid, of which the indiy.lduslaiuded to is sciaf llfe ie ed not iess-ti.'anzinillion of ace. Tihis immense terrltory, tOge,0er witbhlis elher~ g jo~s detcended toIiis twi? sliughtcriuvi.heiaF i of oae of whomlhas IateyuieWucqrtcffQt1 nW'ofl5tys