Page:Account of several remarkable earthquakes which have happened in various quarters of the world (1).pdf/11

 undressed, for had I dressed myself, as I proposed, when I got out of bed, in order to breakfast with a friend, I should, in all probability, have run into the street at the beginning of the shock, as the rest of the people in the house did, and consequently have had my brains dashed out, as every one of them had; however, the imminent danger I was in did not hinder me from considering that my present dress, only a gown and slippers, would render my getting over the ruins almost impracticable: I had, therefore, still presence of mind enough left to put on a pair of shoes and a coat, the first that came in my way, which was every thing I saved, and in this dress I hurried down stairs, the woman with me, holding by my arm, and made directly to that end of the street that opens to the Tagus, but finding the passage this way entirely blocked up with the fallen houses to the height of their second stories, I turned back to the other end which led into the main street (the common thoroughfare to the palace) and having helped the woman over a vast heap of ruins, with no small hazard to my own life, just as we were going into the street, as there was one part I could not well climb over without the assistance of my hands, as well as feet, I desired her to let go her hold, which she did, remaining two or three feet behind me, at which time there fell a vast stone, from a tottering wall, and crushed both her and the child in pieces: so dismal a spectacle at any other time would have affected me in the highest degree, but the dread I was in of sharing the same fate myself, and the many instances of the same kind which presented themselves all around, were too shocking to make me dwell a moment on this single object.

'I had now a long narrow street to pass, with