220 The East Anglian Earthquake.
subsoil at Colchester, chiefly London Clay, did not manifest
itself in any conspicuous manner at the surface."
This is fully in accordance with the views which we have
already expressed (p. 183).
Through the kindness of Mr. G. J. Symons, F.E.S., we
have been enabled to see a proof copy of a 'Catalogue of
British Earthquakes,' compiled by Mr. William Roper,
F.R.Met.Soc, and printed in Lancaster (October, 1885).
This catalogue, which is very comprehensive, has enabled
me to add several more to our list of the earthquakes which
have caused structural damage (p. 3), and at the same time
it has served to confirm us in an opinion to which we came
when compiling our own catalogue, vix,, that the dates of
most of the earlier British earthquakes are very doubtful, and
require thorough revision. This task seems to have been
undertaken to a considerable extent in Mallet's catalogue,
and we have therefore in most cases given preference to his
dates, stating at the same time the dates of other authorities
when there was any discrepancy. As already stated, we
have not thought the compilation of such a completely-revised
catalogue essential for the present report, even if we could
have found time for the task. The chief difficulty surrounding
such an undertaking appears to be the discrepancies between
the dates given by different chroniclers for what is apparently
the same earthquake, and the consequent multiplication of
the records of the same event. The clearing-up of these
discrepancies would necessitate a large amount of biblio-
graphical labour, which, although in itself interesting and
important, belongs rather to the province of the archaeologist.
To give an illustration of the kind of difficulty which would
be met with, we may refer to the earthquake of 1275 (p. 5 of
this report), of which the date (September 11th) is given by
Mallet ou the authority of Matthew of Westminster, p. 364.
In Mr. Roper's Catalogue, under the date September 11th,
1268, the same earthquake (St. Michael's, Glastonbury, thrown
down) is recorded on the authority of Matthew of Westminster,
vol. ii., p. 469. Under September 11th, 1275, Mr. Roper
records:—"A great one felt in Newcastle, dreadful thunder
and lightning, blazing star, and a comet with the appearance
of a great dragon, which terrified the people." This is given
on the authority of John Sykes, Newcastle, 1866, vol. i., p. 29,
and Matthew of Westminster. In 1276 (same date) the same
earthquake (St. Michael's, Glastonbury, levelled) is again
recorded on the authority of Stone and of the author of the
'History of the Weather, &c.' (Dr. Short?), already referred
to (p, 2 of this report). It is of course possible that St.