Distant lightening. We had but little rain, only the skirts of the storm. The dry weather, which was of infinite service to the country after so wet a summer, might fairly be said to last eight weeks: three of which had no rain at all, & much sun-shine.
The walks begin to be strewed with leaves. Vivid Northern Aurora.
Some corn abroad: a vast burden of straw, & many ricks.
Ring-ousels on the downs on their autumnal visit. Lapwings about on the downs attended by starlings: few stone-curlews. Sweet Italian skies. The foliage of the beeches remarkably decayed & rusty.
The sky this evening, being what they call a mackerel sky, was most beautiful, & much admired in many parts of the country. * As the beautiful mackerel sky was remarked & admired at Ringmer, near Lewes, London, & Selborne at the same time; it is a plain proof that those fleecy clouds were very high in ye atmosphere. These places lie in a triangle whose shortest base is more than 50 miles. Italian skies! Full moon. The creeping fogs in the pastures are very picturesque & amusing & represent arms of the sea, rivers, & lakes.
Black cluster-grapes begin to turn colur. A trenendous & awful earthquake at Manchester, & the district round. The earthquake happened a little before eleven o’ the clock in the forenoon, when many of the inhabitants were gathered in their respective places of worship.
Mrs Snooke’s tortoise devours kidney-beans & cucumbers in a most voracious manner: swallows it’s food almost whole. * Timothy the tortoise weighed six pounds 3 quarters, 2 oz. & a half: so he is not at all encreased in weight since this time last year. The scales were not very exact.
Swallows & house-martins dip much in ponds. Vast Northern Aurora.
Wheatears (birds) continue to be taken: are esteemed an elegant dish. Horse-ants travel home to their nests laden with flies, which they have caught; & the aureliae of smaller ants, which they seize by violence.
Theme Ported to