58
��THE GRANITE MONTHLY.
��out catching liold of the posts and pales that stood next them ; but the violence lasted not long. And about half an hour or less came another noise and shaking, but neither so loud nor strong as the former, but quickly passed over, and so ceased. It was not only on the seacoast, but the In- dians felt it within land ; and some ships that were upon the coast were shaken by it. So powerful is the mighty hand of the Lord as to make both the land and sea to shake, and the mountains to tremble before him when he pleases ; and who can stay his hand? It was obsei-ved that the summers, for divers years together, after this earthquake, were not so hot and seasonable for the ripening of corn and other fruits as formerly, but more cold and moist, and subject to untimely frosts, by which, many times, much Indian corn came not to matu- rity ; but whether this was any cause, I leave it to naturalists to judge."
Johnson, in his " Wonder-working Providence of Zion's Saviour in New England," as quoted by Mr. Brigham, says: "This year, 1638, the first day of the fourth month (June), about two o'clock in the afternoon, the Lord caused a great and terrible earthquake, which was general throughout the English Plantations ; the motion of the earth was such that it caused di- vers men (who had never heard of an earthquake before), being at work in the fields, to cast down their working tools, and run with ghastly, terrified looks to the next company they could meet withal ; it came from the west- ern and uninhabited parts of the wil- derness and went the direct course."
The year at that time began in March, which will explain why June is called the fourth month.
Dr. Dwight, in the first volume of his letters written in the beginning of the present century, speaks of the earthquakes of New England, and has knowledge of only nine having occur- red. Of this one (1638) he quotes Dr. Trumbull, the historian, who says : " This was a great and memorable
��earthquake. It came with a report like continued thunder, or the rattling of numerous coaches on a paved street. The shock was so great that in many places the tops of chimneys were thrown down, and the pewter fell from the shelves. It shook the waters and ships in the harbors, and adjacent islands. The duration of the sound and tremor was about four minutes. The earth at turns was un- quiet for nearly twenty days. The weather was clear, the wind westerly, and the course of the earthquake from west to east."
The second earthquake in New England occurred March 5, 1643. ■'At seven o'clock in the morning," says Gov. Winthrop, "being the Lord's day, there was a great earthquake. It came with a rumbling noise, like the former, but, through the Lord's mercy, it did no harm." The above is the only notice I can find of this earthquake. Mr. Brigham says that Gov. Winthrop seems to be the only one of our early historians who notices it, and that it is mentioned in neither Mallet's or Van Hoff's catalogue.
October 29, 1653, there was a slight shock of an earthquake, as mentioned in Coffin's History of Newbury, page
59-
In 1658 occurred what is usually
styled in the old histories " a great earthquake." Morton says this year there was a very great earthquake in New England ; but no account of the day, hour, or direction is given : per- liaps it was April 4. Van Hoff enu- merates this in his list, but gives no further particulars, referring simply to the " Philosophical Transactions " as his authority. Mallet does the same. See William T. Brigham's Historical Notes on the Earthquakes of New England, page 3.
Professor Williams is also authority for a great earthcjuake in New Eng- land, January 31, 1660 (February 10, 1661?).
January 26, 1663, there was an earth- (juake at the shutting in of the even- ing, one of the greatest in New Eng-
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