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The following article is extracted from Brett's St. Leonards Gazette of Oct. 24th 1863 - "The great convulsions of nature have usually been regarded in quiet England as of foreign pertinence, and not in any way likely to inspire with dread the denizens of these realms. But the early morning of October 6th will be long and vividly remembered as the date of a rare phenomenon by those inhabitants of the British Isles who were then startled from their slumbers in so an unexpected manner. More than a fortnight has elapsed since the occurrence, and during that time, a vast deal has been said and written on the subject of earthquakes, both in reference to the one that has caused so great a sensation in England and to those of a more terrific character pertaining to other countries. As to the former, the statements of persons professing to have experienced the shock are extremely various and somewhat conflicting, both with regard to time and other conditions. Some have even asserted that there were two distinct shocks, whilst others have expressed a belief that the earth was more or less 'shaky' for some hours between midnight and sunrise. We do not learn that anything extraordinary was noticed in our own neighbourhood, although it was somewhat curious that at about the same hour on the following morning an unusual noise, as of a sudden gust of wind with thunder awoke three or more persons in St. Leonards from their sleep, and gave rise to wonderment of what the noise could proceed from. One of these persons was a Mrs. Thorpe, the second was a milkman and the third a tradesman, who mentioned the circumstances to his own family before the arrival of the morning papers which contained the intelligence of the earthquake, but who, after seeing that intelligence (quite unlooked for) was particular not to mention out of his own family circle what he had himself experienced until the testimony of others confirmed him in his impression. Our own notion of this affair on Wednesday morning is that it was an electrical discharge; that it was, in fact, just what it was described to be 'a gust of wind, with thunder!' But to return to the morning of the 6th, it appears certain, from the statements of several persons, that the counties of Sussex and Kent were not wholly free from the tremulous motion of the earth, although it was much more extensively felt throughout Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Herefordshire and Gloucestershire. Yet, if we are to believe subsequent reports, there have been one or two shocks experienced more recently. A person writing to the 'Standard' on the 16th instant says - 'Yesterday evening, at 6.52, while sitting by myself, reading in the drawing room, I felt the peculiar undulating wave of the shock of an earthquake. I put my book down instantly and paid particular attention to what had passed, thinking from late events that it might be fancy on my part, but this was soon dispelled by another undulating wave. I then sprang to my feet, and two or three seconds afterwards, I heard the windows of the room rattle and shake. An hour after the above occurrence, I called on some -