Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 9.djvu/470

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th s. ix. JUNE H, 1902.

this is now of sufficient interest to be re- published in full. It was as follows : London, July 5.

Letters from Passengers on board a Sloop, which sailed the 21st of March for Barbadoes, give us an Account, that on the 26 of the same Month, being about 5 Leagues to the Leeward of that Island, they met with a Calm, the Weather being very black till about Twelve a Clock at Night, when it looked very dismally all round the Horizon, as if it were on Fire, with a sulphurous Smell, and they heard prodigious Reports like Cannon, which were follow'd by continuous Showers of dry Dust or Ashes. About Six the next Morning, there was such a Darkness for three Quarters of an Hour, that they could not see one another without Candle Light. The Dust continued to fall upon them till seven at Night, when it lay 7 or 8 Inches thick upon the Deck. There being at that Time a little Wind, they bore up the Helm for Martinico, with a Design to get Bread and other Necessities they wanted. An Hour after, there fell Dust again, but not so violent. The Night look'd still terrible, but the Weather pretty moderate, and on the 30th they arrived at Guardaloupa, where they heard the surprizing News, that the Island of St. Vincent was blown up, and that they had an Account from Martinico, that from the Wednesday Night, being the 26 of March, to the Thursday Morning, they had heard above 1200 Reports like Cannon, and that St. Vincent was sunk. We hear since by other Advices, that the Governor of the Leeward Islands having received the like Informa- tion, sent a Sloop to see if they could discover that Island, but they could not see any Land, but where they expected to have seen the same, they saw the Sea in a Breach, so that jit seems nothing remain'd of that Island but a Rock. One of our Sloops coming from Barbadoes, met with the same Showers of Dust or Ashes, and brought some of it, which is like Sand in Hour-Glasses but the Colour is like that of Ink-Powder. The Island of St. Vincent was about 8 Leagues long and 6 broad, and inhabited by Indians.

The Island of St. Vincent is blown up, which occasion'd that Shower of Ashes so much spoken of by our Sailors, who were so terrify'd thereat, and at the prodigious Reports they heard at the same time, as if a thousand or twelve hundred great Guns had been discharged, that the Accounts we have received from them, are very imperfect. We hear that nothing of that Island is to be seen but only two small Rocks.

But it happened that there was a third weekly newspaper in London in that day, generally referred to as Read's, and that one missed this startling piece of news altogether. That in itself would have sufficed to arouse its anger ; but there was the greater reason in that the detailed Defoe narrative obviously caused a great sensation, and that this was particularly galling to the " Whigg- Writers ' : who had been attacked in the same number of Mist's in which that narrative appeared. Accordingly, the Weekly Journal, or British Gazetteer, ieincj the Freshest Advices Foreign and Domestick, of the following Saturday, contained a letter addressed to " Mr. Jour-

nalist," and signed "Truth and Daylight," oitterly attacking Mist's, on the ground that it had become "dull, dull, very dull."

' Two Pages which us'd to contain many bright Things in Scandal ; two precious Pages, nay, two of the most celebrated Pages in his Paper, for those 3ccasions, are thrown away, for want of other Matter, in pitiful, stupid, and nonsensical Remarks, on the blowing up of an Island, I thank God, a good way off it' true, and well worthy the grave, Learned, and reputable Authors employ'd by Mist. In the next Line but one (that follows this News, and at this time a Day when Europe is big with many great Events, insignificant Harangue, which 20 Lines would have told as well as 2 Pages) is the lucky Appellation of Whig- Writers again; if one could but strip him of that Ornament of Speech, the Fellow would be left naked, and not have wherewithal to furnish out his weekly Scandal, without being oblig'd to take up with such bombast Stuff as the two first Pages in his last are."

No reply was made to this invective ; but in Mist's of 19 July appeared among the ordi- nary news this paragraph :

" Our Merchants have an Account, that there hath been a great Irruption at Porto Pikoe near Fial, belonging to the Portuguese, like that which lately happen'd at the Island of St. Vincent, which has made Chasmes in the Island 100 Yards every way, destrov'd and damaged several Houses, spoil'd above 1000 Pipes of Wine, and other Goods, so that the Loss is extream great."

Thus the pith of the general statement was repeated, and further independent corrobora- tion came from Applebee's, which published on 26 July the following :

"By our Letters this Week from New-England,

we have the following News, viz., Boston,

May 16. We have received here a Confirmation of the Destruction of the Island of St. Vincent, by the mighty Hand of Providence."

A week afterwards, however, it added :

" Letters from Barbadoes mention the Eruption of a Volcano, or Burning Mountain, lately in the Island of St. Vincent ; which generally happens once in Fifty or Sixty Years. And this is the only Ground of the Story of that whole Island's being blown up, which was dress'd in such Formidable Figures, in some of our News-Papers, a while ago ; the said Island standing still where it ever did."

And it was to the latter paragraph that Mist's at once chaffingly replied :

" They pretend to tell us a strange Story, viz., that the island of St. Vincent is found again, and is turn'd into a Volcano or burning Mountain ; but we must acknowledge we do not believe one Word of it."

In face of all these facts, it should be im- possible henceforward to deny the authen- ticity of the main narrative given by Defoe ; even less should it be possible for any future biographer to follow the example of Mr. Thomas Wright, of Olney, and dismiss so brilliantly written an article merely as a "tomfoolery." ALFKED F. BOBBINS.