of the Terrestrial Globe, 231 



1676-77. Continued intense frost from the 2d December till 13th January. 

 The Seine was frozen for 35 successive days. (Bouillaud.) 



1684. The Thames was frozen over at London, the ice 11 inches thick. 

 Carriages with company crossed it. 



1709. The Adriatic and Mediterranean, at Genoa, Marseilles, &c. were 

 frozen. 



17 16. The Thames frozen at London. A number of shops were esta- 

 blished on it. 



1726. Journeys were made from Copenhagen to Sweden in sledges. 



1740. The Seine frozen across, with a temperature of 7* Fahrenheit; 1742, 

 ditto, ditto, 14°; 1744, ditto, ditto, 16°; 1762, ditto, ditto, 16°; 

 1766, ditto, ditto, 16* ; 1767, ditto, ditto, 3° ; 1776, ditto, ditto, 

 10°; 1788, ditto, ditto, 8°; 1829, ditto, ditto, 6'. 



After studying this long table, no one probably will discover, 

 in the circumstance of the freezing of the rivers, as quoted by 

 the ancients, any thing like a proof that the climate of Europe 

 has deteriorated. 



Nor will it be necessary now, to say much on the testimonies 

 derived from the poets. Virgil, it is true, (Georg. III.) recom- 

 mends " to sprinkle, under the sheep, in the fold, straw or fern, 

 lest these delicate animals should be incommoded by the cold ;" 

 and, forthwith, there are authors who quote this passage, not 

 very important, as an unanswerable proof, that the winters of 

 ancient Italy were far more severe than we generally suppose. 

 These exaggerations are already met, in our having shown, that 

 in modern Italy, the Po, and the Adriatic, are frequently fro- 

 zen. And can any thing else be demanded .^^ We may add, 

 that at Padua, not far from VirgiPs Mantua, there fell, in Ja- 

 nuary 1604, such a quantity of snow, that the roofs of many of 

 the principal houses, being no longer able to support it, tum- 

 bled down ; and that there, too, the wine was frozen in the 

 cellars. At the side of these Jacts, well attested, what import- 

 ance are we to attach to such meteorological documents as the 

 litterings of straw or fern, recommended by the author of the 

 Georgics ? 



The same poet somewhere says, that it has happened that the 

 rivers of Calabria have frozen. How ! oppose, it is exclaimed, 

 such a fact as this ? How longer deny that the winters in the 

 south of Italy were formerly much colder than they are at pre- 

 sent? 



The objection is not so formidable as may be imagined. It 



