Page:Account of a dreadful hurricane which happened in the island of Jamaica, in the month of October, 1780.pdf/9

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(illegible text) moments of ſuſpence, and when almoſt ſunk by despair, we prayed for more frequent lightning to (illegible text) the walls, for more heavy thunder to out-roar the blafſ, in the philoſophic conſolation that they (illegible text)ght purge the atmoſphere, and diſperſe the storm: but alas! they were but ſeldom ſeen, or (illegible text)ly heard, as if afraid of combining the influence (illegible text)ight with the deſtruction of ſound, and of raiſ(illegible text) upon the ground of terror, the ſuperſtructure of deſpair!

When the night was paſt, and our minds hung suspended between the danger we had eſcaped, and the anticipation of what we might expect to enſue; when the dawn appeared as if unwilling to diſcloſe the devaſtation that the night had cauſed; when the sun beams peeped above the hills, and illuminated the ſcene around—juſt God! what a contraſt was here exhibited between that morning and the day before! a day which ſeemed to ſmile upon Nature, and to take delight in the proſpects of plenty that (illegible text)ed around, and which produced, wherever the eye could gaze, the charms of cultivation, and the promiſe of abundance; but which fallacious appearances, alas! were to be at once annihilated by (illegible text) extenſive and melancholy view of deſolation and deſpair, in which the expectations of the mo(illegible text)ate, and the wiſhes of the ſanguine, were to be (illegible text)oon ingulphed. The horrors of the day were much augmented by the melancholy exclamation of every voice, and the energetic expreſſion of every (illegible text)d: ſome of which were uplifted in acts of execration; ſome wiped the tears that were flowing from (illegible text) eye: while ſome, considering from whence the (illegible text)tation came, were ſeen to ſtrike their breaſts, as if to chide the groans which it was impoſſible to refrain. An uncommon ſilence reigned around: it was the pauſe of conſternation; it was a dumb ora-