Villanius, the historian of Florence, gives an account of a pestilence which commenced in A.D. 1346 in Upper Asia: it first appeared in Cathay; it arose from a most filthy smelling vapour, supposed to have proceeded from a certain fiery body, which either fell down from the atmosphere, or was eructated from the earth. This vapour, like a fire, consumed all that stood in its way,--animals, horses, trees, &c., for the space of fifteen days’ journey all around; and some most filthy little beasts furnished with feet and tails, as also worms and a small kind of snake in numberless multitudes, fell at the same time from the atmosphere upon the earth; the stench and putrefaction from these infected the very air and all the circumjacent regions. A pestilence having arisen from them, spread around, depopulating the whole of Asia, and subsequently Egypt, Greece, and Italy; thence it spread into France, Spain, and England, and at length into Germany. In the city of Florence alone, says Villanius, there perished 60,000 persons, but St. Anthony computes the number to have been 100,000. There prevailed about this period, or at the commencement of the year 1347, epidemic pestilence, in the shape of pleurisies, quinsies, and spotted fevers, which at last terminated in the real Oriental plague, with buboes and carbuncles: it was reported that 50,000 were carried off in London in one week, and the deaths at Norwich were almost equally numerous. About this period, 100,000 persons perished from pestilence at Venice: Lubeck lost 90,000, while the deaths from similar disease were computed at 200,000 in the kingdom of Spain. This pestilence persisted in many parts during the following year. In the beginning of 1348 pestilence universally prevailed over Europe and in other quarters of the globe; it commenced in Syria, spread along the shores of the Pontic Sea, and of Greece and Illyria, passed into Italy and Sicily, and thence to the island of Mallorca: according to Zurita, it almost depopulated that island in less than a month, more than 5000 persons having been carried off by it. In the same year, continues Zurita, a general pestilence extended from the East to the ultimate boundaries of the West, comprising in its ravages the kingdom of Valencia and the principalities of Catalonia. In the month of June it broke out in the city of Valencia, and its virulence was such, especially in the maritime parts, that, as before noticed, scarcely any part of Europe escaped,--persons died suddenly; from Italy it passed into Sicily, Sardinia, and so on to Mallorca. So great was the mortality at Barcelona, that in the month of June, during the usual annual solemn procession, which caused a number of priests, &c., from Scio to be present, thousands died, and amongst them four magistrates and almost all the Council of Ciento. During this period, says another author, the signs of terrestrial commotions were exhibited in Europe.