t did not make any grand squash down,
and then there were seen logs of wood rising, and a dense mass of
black mud, which spread gradually round till it occupied a very large
space. Fish were stunned by it: our boatmen picked up some. It was
said by all present that this was the best explosion which had been
seen: it was truly wonderful. Then we sailed to Portsmouth.......The
explosion was a thing worth going many miles to see. There were many
yachts and sailing boats out to see it (I counted 26 before they were
at the fullest), so that the scene was very gay.

* * * * *

Here are some notes on York Cathedral after the fire:

RED LION HOTEL, REDCAR,
_1840, Sept. 7_.

My first letter was closed after service at York Cathedral. As soon as
I had posted it, I walked sedately twice round the cathedral, and then
I found the sexton at the door, who commiserating me of my former vain
applications, and having the hope of lucre before his eyes, let me
in. I saw the burnt part, which looks not melancholy but
unfinished. Every bit of wood is carried away clean, with scarcely a
smoke-daub to mark where it has been: the building looks as if the
walls were just prepared for a roof, but there are some deep dints in
the pavement, shewing where large masses have fallen. The lower parts
of some of the columns (to the height of 8 or 10 feet) are much scaled
and cracked. The windows are scarcely touched. I also refreshed my
memory of the chapter-house, which is most beautiful, and which has
much of its old gilding reasonably bright, and some of its old paint
quite conspicuous. And I looked again at the old crypt with its late
Norman work, and at the still older crypt of the pre-existing church.

* * * * *

1841

"The routine work of the Observatory in its several departments was
carried on steadily during this year.--The Camera Obscura was removed
from the N.W. Turret of the Great Room, to make way for the
Anemometer.--In Magnetism and Meteorology the most important thing was
the great magnetic storm of Sept. 29th, which revealed a new class of
magnetic phenomena. It was very well observed by Mr Glaisher, and I
immediately printed and circulated an account of it.--In April I
reported that the Planetary Reductions were completed, and furnished