THE General Remarks that are made of those two Elements Fire and Water, that they are good Sevants, but bad Masters, may in a great measure be said of that Grand Compound Powder; for tho' it be a good Servant, in all times of necessity, for to serve as a Defence against the Assaults and De­signs of our Enemies; yet when it be­comes an Instrument of Destruction to Humane kind, when at its own Conduct, nothing is more Detrimental to its Pro­prie [...]ors. A most Dreadful and Lamen­table Example of which you have in this following Relation.

In Hackney-Marsh on the Brinks of the said River, distant three Miles and a half from London, lately stood three Mills, two whereof were for the use of making of Gun-powder, and the other for grind­ing of Bark for Dying, &c. On Satur­day the Nineteenth of this Instant April, 1690. about the Hour of Seven in the Evening, one of the two above-mention­ed Gun-Powder-Mills took Fire, and in an instant blew up it self, and tearing up the Trees and Earth, reached the other, which likewise blew-up, with several lit­tle Weavering Rooms, all which it laid level with the Ground in a moment; it gave but two Reports, but of so extra­ordinary a nature, that it amazed not only Hackney and other adjacent Towns, but even the whole City of London, a [...]d Liberties of the same; the [...]e being scarce­ly a House, but more or less felt the ef­fects of its shaking them even to that d [...]gree, that it has occasioned matter of much Dispute and Observation among the Curious; for tho' the Naturalist do give diverse Reasons for Earth-quakes, and their strange shaking the Earth for a great circumference, the Chief of which, is its being ledged for a time in the grand Caverns and Channels of the Earth, &c. Yet this last Example is a Matter of more Novelty, and no less dreadful consequence to the poor Inhabitants.

The Reasons assigned for its taking Fire is variously said, some say, the over-cove­tousness of the Work-men, in working a longer time than (by their Rules) they ought, to get Money for their Extraor­dinary Expences the Week following; but the more considerate Neighbours adjacent do believe, That they were mistaken in their Time about an hour, through their neglect in counting, and forgetting to Turn up their Hour Glasses, by which their Punns, that their Powders beat into over heated, and occasioned the Gun-Powder to take Fire, as them Skilled in those Affairs affirm it will.

There is Six poor Souls killed, Four Men kind, and Two Women, one of which is the Master of the Powder Mills, who lies upon the Earth, another a Minister that Lodged there, whose Head is beaten clear off, and his Intrails hangs out of his Body, a Boys Face and Breast visible, his other parts being buried in the Earth, an Antient Woman lying with the upper part of her body above, and her lower part under the Ground; another blown into the River, they all lying there to be viewed by the Beholders, as miserable Spectacles of humane misery; several o­thers escaped by leaping into the Ri­ver.

There was (in the Store-house, which was adjoyning to the Mills) Two hundred and Sixty Barrels of Gun-Powder, the loss of which, with the two Mills, a Dwelling House, two small Houses for weaving of Cloath, being wholly Ruined; also two other large Houses adjoyning, with the Dying Mill; all which, though they are still standing, yet miserably Shattered, with other Damage; in all valued at Four Thousand Pounds Sterling.