Within two miles of this place, there runs a small river along a very narrow and fruitful valley, which in some places admits of high cataracts, through the great inequality of the channel, By the shake of the eleventh, there is a bill thrown over, or rather athwart one of these cataracts, for about twenty paces breadth, so that in that place, the river is not to be seen, but creeps under the hill, and comes out again in its own ordinary channel below. The same accident has happened to several rivulets in Sicily; the earth being torn from the brink, and thrown over the rivulet, as it were, in form of a vault, or natural bridge.

The village Bisenti felt all the shakes that happened, but received no other damage than the fall of some of the houses, and the bruising to death of about a hundred persons.

Francofonte, a very pretty town, and well inhabited, but built most of timber, received little damage by the earthquake, though it shook down some houses; but what the earthquake did not, the lightning and thunder did: for never was there seen so terrible a storm of both these last, than Francofonte felt for three days together. The spire of the steeple, which was built of wood, and covered with lead, was burnt down, and the nunnery of the Carmelites was almost utterly destroyed, and that so suddenly, that five of the nuns were stifled to death in their beds. If the wind had been high, as it was not, certainly the whole town had been burnt to ashes; but by reason of the calmness of the wind, and the care of the inhabitants, there were not above twelve or fourteen houses burnt.

Carlontini, a town of good trade, and very well inhabited, was greatly shaken on the ninth, several houses being thrown down, and the people buried in their ruins. On the tenth, the bishop and magistrates exhorted the inhabitants to remove out of the town to the fields, for even then were some small tremblings of the earth felt almost every half hour. The people began to get out of town on the tenth, about four o'clock in the afternoon, and most were gone with the best things they could carry with them; when the shake of the eleventh overturned the whole town in a moment, with what remained of the inhabitants. The place might contain about four thousand people, and, it is thought, about a sixth part have perished in the earthquake.

There scarce can be found in any part of the world a more beautiful town than Ragusa: its situation, buildings, churches, monasteries, and territories about it, combine to make it a sort of terrestrial paradise. It felt a great many small shakings on the eighth, with a mighty tempest of lightning and thunder. The shake of the ninth did some, but no great hurt; but that of the eleventh overturned the town-house, a very superb edifice, two churches, and a great many houses. One street, the biggest of the town, and inhabited by the best merchants and tradesmen of the place, was overwhelmed in less than the second of a minute, the earth sinking down, and leaving a vast chasm where the street was. One of the churches sunk after the manner the street had done, but the other

fell down. It is not yet known how many people perished in Ragusa; but the least calculation that has been made of them, amounts to eight thousand souls, of whom the citizens of the best quality make up a great part of the number. There are to be seen from the brink of the chasm I mentioned, the tops of some of the houses, a great way below the superfice of the ground; and out of this cavity there comes a sulphureous smell, like to choak any body that comes near it. One of the churches that are ruined was that of Sancta Barbara, famous through all Sicily, for the miracles done at the shrine of that saint, and in which was some of the best sculpture, especially that of the altar-piece, that could be seen in any place of the christian world.

The town of Scodia felt the shakes of the ninth and eleventh, as fiercely as any. Yet, which was strange, the town itself received no damage; but the bishop's palace, a very beautiful and new building, was overturned on the ninth, and about twenty-four persons perished in its ruins. The bishop had not gone out but an hour before, having held a meeting of his diocese in the chapel of his palace in the morning, so that he and they were all saved.

Specafurno, a town of a considerable bigness, lying on the south side of a hill, all planted with vineyards, and very well inhabited, fell under the common calamity. The shake of the ninth did it but little hurt, only the convent of the Capuchins was destroyed; but all the tenth, from morning till night, there never was heard so violent a storm of thunder and lightning, as if heaven and earth had been mixing together. By the lightning, the town-house, a very regular building, was burnt down to the ground, with several other houses. Some few of the inhabitants fled out of the town on the tenth at night, and so escaped the destruction that befel the rest upon the eleventh. That shake brought over the whole town in a moment's time; and there now remains nothing but vast heaps of rubbish where Specafurno stood. To the south side of the town, about a mile, there lies a very pleasant fresh water lake, abounding with fish, which now is almost all dry land; only what water remains in one end of it, is of a brinish taste, and of a black colour, the fish being all dead on the shore. It is remarked by the peasants that live on the hills about this town, that the thunder and lightning which happened on the tenth, has so far burnt all the vines, that they expect no grapes to grow on them next year: not only so, but they smell a sort of sulphureous smell, and feel a kind of a bituminous dew upon the ground all thereabout. The people that perished in Specafurno, are computed to amount to three thousand five hundred at least, there being about three hundred only that saved themselves by a timely flight the day before.

Sicily could not brag of a better built town, and a place of better trade, considering its distance from the sea, than the town of Scichilo was. This place seemed to be designed by nature to fall by an earthquake, for within these fifty years, it has been in hazard eight times. Five years ago it had a very considerable shake, which damaged several of the houses, and overturned a

church dedicated to St. Roch. But all this was nothing to what befel it in this last earthquake. The trembling of the earth began to be felt on the eighth at night, and within twenty-four hours time, there succeeded above twenty shakes one after another, the last still exceeding the first in violence. At last, the shake of the eleventh, instead of overturning the town, as in most other places, the earth here sunk down, and in less than two moments, the town vanished out of sight. In its room, there is now a stinking pool of water, where the dome of the church of St. Stephen, with a part of the steeple of St. Salvator, stands above the water. It is thought there was no one saved of all the inhabitants of this pleasant town; and they were calculated to be about the number of six or seven thousand souls.

There stood a very strong castle, built after the Gothick fashion, on the east side of the town, belonging to the family of Cantelmi; it is now all in heaps, and about thirty people buried alive in them.

Cefamero, a village, containing about two hundred houses, and seated on a rising ground, was much shaken on the eighth, ninth, and tenth; but the shake of the eleventh overturned the church, whither most of the people had fled for shelter, and to implore the aid of St. Catharine of Sienna, whose chapel there was held in the greatest reverence; they were all crushed to death with the fall of the roof, being of lead, and little other damage done in the village itself. It is thought there were near two hundred people perished in the church, and about twenty in the village.

Sainto Croce, another village, something bigger than Cefamero, was as ill shaken as the other, though there were not so many people killed. The church here stands intire, and only the houses that were made of timber have suffered, and, in them, near a hundred of the inhabitants, the rest having fled to the fields without the town.

The little town of Giamontano was greatly shaken on the ele venth, that whole quarter, that lay nearest the river, being quite overturned, and all the people killed; the rest of the town escaped, only a small hospital, near the south gate, was sunk into the ground, with the people in it, which might amount to forty. Those that perished in the quarter nearest the river, were about three hundred and fifty souls.

The tower of Licodia underwent very near the same fate. All the houses of timber were overwhelmed by the shake of the eleventh, and in them about three hundred of the inhabitants. The houses of stone stand yet, though much shattered, and the dome of the church was burnt down by lightning the day before. There is one thing more remarkable fallen out near this town: about a mile and a half from it, there is a pretty high steep hill, famous for pine trees of a vast bigness, that grow upon it: the lightning and thunder has burnt down and scorched most of those trees, and on the top of the hill there is a vulcano opened, out of which there ascends constantly a very thick smoke, which is the more strange, in that there was no such thing heard of in that part of Sicily before.

Jaci, a very big town, was greatly shattered, especially in the fall of two churches on the ninth, the time of divine service. Many of the houses of the town were overturned on the eleventh, together with two convents; and particularly that of the Minims, where was kept St. Peter's net, in which he took that vast quantity of fish mentioned in the gospel. By the fall of the houses and churches, there perished in all about two thousand people, whereof more than the half died by the fall of the two churches.

La Motta, a village, the most famous of the whole island, and the ordinary retirement in the summer time of the citizens of Palermo, was totally overturned on the ninth, and now there remains no vestige of it, a salt pool succeeding in its place. The inhabitants were reckoned to be about two hundred people.

The last place of Sicily I shall name, that felt this earthquake, was Messina, a city of great trade, superb buildings, and great riches. The shake of the ninth was here felt so sensibly, that it struck a terror into the inhabitants, and more than half of them forsook the city, and betook themselves to the fields. Those that remained betook themselves to their devotions, and all the churches were thronged with the multitudes of people, young and old, that flocked to them. The archbishop of Messina had ordered fortyeight hours prayers to be said through the whole city, and several relicks to be carried in procession, to appease the wrath of Heaven. On the eleventh, the whole city was so terribly shaken, that twentysix palaces were overturned, and a great many of the timber houses. Every body expected immediate death, and, in vast multitudes, run to the cathedral, where the archbishop of Messina preached, and said mass, and thereafter gave absolution, as did all the priests through the rest of the city by the archbishop's command. After absolution given, every body made the best of the way they could to escape from the common danger, and betook themselves to the fields, where they were not out of hazard through the violence of the thunder, lightning, and rain, that continued three days together. The archbishop retired with the rest, and, at last, the people did set up tents to protect them from the injuries of the weather. There are but few people killed in Messina, but most of the churches are shattered more or less, and the chapel of the archbishop's palace overturned.

This mighty stroke of God was not only on the land, but was felt also on the sea. For several ships and smaller vessels were drowned all along the coast of the island, and even in harbours, by the violent agitation of the water. Neither was there ever seen so high, and so impetuous a tide as that of the tenth, being above three feet higher in most parts, than ever was heard of before.

In short, a more astonishing, a more universal, or a more swift destruction, was never known. And Sicily, that was one of the beautifullest, richest, and fruitfullest islands in the world, is now a heap of rubbish, and a continued desolation.

It is impossible to make a computation of the immense losses of money, merchandise, houses, and lands. It may modestly be com

puted to at least six millions of ducats; and it will take an age to repair the damages it has made. The number of the inhabitants that perished in this affrightful calamity, may be safely reckoned to come to one hundred and twenty thousand souls, over and above a vast number bruised by the fall of churches and houses, whereof many are dead since, and some continue yet in hazard, which may amount to twenty thousand more.

This terrible earthquake has communicated itself to the island of Maltha on the one side, and to Calabria on the other; and the desolations it has made, in both those places, are very great.

A

COMPENDIOUS HISTORY OF THE TAXES OF FRANCE,

AN

OPPRESSIVE METHODS OF RAISING THEM.

London, printed by J. M. and B B. for Richard Baldwin, near the Oxford Arms, in Warwick Lane, 1694. Quarto, containing forty Pages.

To the Right Honourable Thomas Earl of Stamford, Lord Gray of Grooby, &c.

MY LORD,

THE

HE design of this treatise being only to inspire the English nation with a greater love of their liberties, by representing, in its true colours, the miserable slavery to which France is reduced, it could not properly be addressed to any other, than to a publick assertor of the publick liberty. But, amongst the several competitors for that glorious title, I think I may with justice say, no person has so good a claim to it as your lordship: your being committed to the Tower, and a scaffold erected for your tryal, are demonstrations that they, who then conspired the ruin of England, looked upon your lordship as a principal bulwark that obstructed their design; and therefore did their utmost to remove you, in order to their farther progress. Your lordship's sufferings, for the nation's safety, intitled you to the general thanks of the kingdom; though, I must not say, your lordship was the only nobleman that was struck at by the persecution (not to say tyranny) of those times.

But whosoever recalls to mind the transactions of 1688, must, withal, remember the important services wherewith you signalised yourself, for the rescue of this nation. You, my lord, amongst the illustrious undertakers, durst shew a good example, by appearing the first in arms, and displaying, in open field, the colours of liberty, thereby giving life to that famous, but languishing, association, when it had been almost cast away in a storm at sea.