60 A N EARTHQUAKE.
secure, being raised upon an older wall,
which had evidently yielded a little on one
side. The first noise and sensation of the
earthquake I attributed to the house giving
way, but I was soon undeceived by the
returning shock. The morning was calm
and cloudy ; I was standing in the saloon,
when I heard a sudden crash, as if a door
had been burst open violently, and a
mighty wind seemed rushing through the
passages, and every part of the house.
Mrs. B., who was in bed in the adjoining
room, feeling her bed move, enquired what
was the matter. I went into the room
and stood by the bed-side, attentively
listening to the noise, which grew deeper
and seemed to surround me. I then felt
myself and the whole house lifted up and
rocked by repeated oscillations, producing
a sensation like that felt when standing in
a boat, that is lifted up by a sudden swell of
water. This last shock continued five or
six seconds ; all the bells in the house,
and most of the bells in the city, were
set' a ringing by the motion, particularly
the public fire-bell. On opening the door,
I found all the family assembled in the
corridor in great alarm. Except the fall
A N EARTHQUAKE. 61
of one chimney, no damage was done
in the city ; but several of the neighbouring
towns and villages in Savoy and
France suffered considerably, particularly
Chamberry and Annecy, where many
chimneys were thrown down, and in the
former place, the wall o f a church was
much injured. At a village in France hear
Belley on the Rhone, every house was
more or less damaged, and several shocks
were felt there on the two following davs.
By referring to the journals afterwards, it
appears, that at the same time, viz. from
the 18th to the 21st of February, Vesuvius
was much agitated, and a new crater was
opened.
The shock evidently advanced by an un-
dulatory motion, but the arches of each
undulation could not have been of any
great extent, otherwise the surface of the
earth must have been fractured in various
parts. It should seem also, that between
each undulation and the progressive one
there was a line but little agitated, as some
of the houses in Geneva were scarcely
moved, while those on each side were
smartly shaken. Clocks that stood in a
direction at right angles to the line of