The most extraordinary instance of this kind perhaps on record, hap-pened in the island of Java, in the East Indies, in August, 1772. On the 11th of that month, at midnight, a bright cloud was observed covering: a mountain in the district called Che-ribou, and at the same time several reports were heard like those of a gun. The people who dwelt on the upper parts of the mountain, not being able to fly fast enough, a great part of the cloud, almost three leagues in circumference, detached itself under them, ar 1 was seen at a distance, rising and falling like the waves of t\\e sea, and emitting globes of file so luminous, that the night became as clear as day. The effects of it were astonishing: every thing was destroyed for seven leagues round; the houses were demolished; plantations were buried in the earth; and two thousand one hundred and forty people lost their lives, besides fifteen hundred head of cattle, and a vast number of horses, goats, etc.

Another instance of a very destructive cloud, the electric qualities of which at present can scarcely be doubted, is related by Mr. Brydone, in his Tour through Malta. It appeared on the 29th of October, 1757. "About three-quarters of an hour after midnight, there was seen, to the south-west of the city of Valetta, a great black cloud, which, as it approached, changed its colour, till at last it became like a flame of fire mixed with black smoke. A dreadful noise was heard on its approach, which alarmed the whole city. It passed over the port, and came first on an English ship, which in an instant was torn in pieces, and nothing left but the hull; part of the masts, sails, and cordage, were carried to a considerable distance with the cloud. The small boats and selloques, that fell in its way, were all broken to pieces and sunk. The noise increased, and became more frightful. A sentinel, terrified at its approach, ran into his box; but both he and it were lifted up and carried into the sea, where he perished. It then traversed a considerable part of the city, and laid in ruins almost every thing that stood in its way. Several houses were laid level with the ground, and it did not leave one steeple in its passage. The bells of some of them, together with the spires, were carried to a considerable distance; the roofs of the churches demolished and beat down, etc. It went off' at the norh-east point of the city, and, demolishing the lighthouse, is said to have mounted up into the air with a frightful noise, and passed over the sea to Sicily, where it tore up some trees, and did other inconsiderable damage; but nothing material, as its fury had been spent at Malta. The number of killed and wounded amounted to near two hundred; and the loss of shipping, etc. was very considerable." - The effects of thunder storms, and the vast quantity of electric matter formed in the clouds which produce these storms, are so well known, that it is superfluous to mention them. It appears, however, that even these clouds are not so highly electrified as to produce their fatal effects on those who are immersed in them. It is only the discharge of part of their electricity upon such bodies as are either not electrified at all, or not so highly electrified as the cloud, that does all the mischief. We have, however, only the following instance on record, of any persons' being immersed in the body of a thunder cloud. Professor Saussure. and young Mr. Jalabert, when travelling over one of the high

Alps, were caught among clouds of this kind; and, to their astonishment, found their bodies so full of electrical fire, that spontaneous flashes darted from their fingers with a crackling noise, and the same kind of sensation as when strongly electrified by art. ______

Among the awful phenomena of nature, none have excited more terror than lightning and thunder. Some of the profligate Roman emperors, of whom history records that they procured themselves to be deified, confessed, by their trembling and hiding themselves, when they heard the thunder, that there was a divine power greater than their own - Cala tonantem Jovem The greatest security against the terrors of a thunder-storm, although no certain one against its effects, is that life of piety and virtue, which is the best guardian of every earthly blessing. The good man, who knows that every event is under the direction of an overruling Providence, and that this life is only a part of his existence, introductory to the blissful scenes of immortality, will behold the terrors of the storm with un-shaken resolution: grateful to the Supreme Being, if permitted to escape from the danger; and acquiescing in the Divine Will, if thus to be conveyed, by an easy and instantaneous passage, to that heaven where his conversation had long been, and to that God with whom he delighted to walk.

These sentiments are beautifully expressed in the following lines, written in a midnight thunder-storm, by the celebrated Mrs. Carter, and addressed to a lady:Let coward guilt with pallid fear

To shelt'ring caverns fly, And justly dread the vengeful fate

That thunders thro' the sky:

Protected by that hand, whose law

The threat'ning storms obey, Intrepid virtue smiles secure.

As in the blaze of day.

In the thick cloud's tremendous gloom,

The lightning's lurid glare, It views the same All-gracious Pow'r,

That breathes the vernal air.

Thro' nature's ever-varying scene,

By diffrent ways pursu'd, The one eternal end of Heav'n

Is universal good.

The same unchanging mercy rules

When flaming ether glows, As when it tunes the linnet's voice

Or blushes in the rose.

By reason taught to scorn those fears

That vulgar minds molest, Let no fantastic terrors break

My dear Narcissa's rest.

Thy life may all the tend'rest caretc.opy;

Of Providence defend, And delegated angels round

Their guardian wings extend.

When thro' creation's vast expanse

The last dread thunders roll, Untune the concord of the spheres,

And shake the rising soul;

Unmov'd may'st thou the final storm

Of jarring worlds survey, That, ushers in the glad serene

Of everlasting day.

The following lines on the same subject were written by Mrs. Chapone:In gloomy pomp, whilst awful midnight reigns, And wide o'er earth her mournful mantle spreads; Whilst deep-voiced thunders threaten guilty heads, And rushing torrents drown the frighted plains; And quick-glanc'd lightnings, to my dazzled sight, Betray the double horrors of the night:

A solemn stillness creeps upon my soul,

And all its powers in deep attention die;

My heart forgets to beat; my stedfast eye

Catches the flying gleam; the distant roll,

Advancing gradual, swells upon my ear

With louder peals, more dreadful as more near.

Awake, my soul, from thy forgetful trance! The storm calls loud, and meditation wakes: How at the sound pale superstition shakes, Whilst all her train of frantic fears advance! Children of darkness, hence! fly far from me! And dwell with guilt and infidelity!

But come, with look compos'd and sober pace,

Calm Contemplation, come! and hither lead

Devotion, that on earth disdains to tread;

Her inward flame illumes her glowing face,

Her upcast eye, and spreading wings, prepare

Her flight for heaven, to find her treasure there.

She sees, enraptur'd through the thickest gloom, Celestial beauty beam, and 'midst the howl Of warring winds, sweet music charms her soul; She sees, while rifted oaks in flames consume, A Father God, that o'er the storm presides, Threatens to save, - and loves when most he chides.