323 NATURAL HISTORY 
were too bulky to be removed, and so the 18th 
passed over, leaving the company in very uncom. 
fortable circumstances at the Castle and other inns. 
On the 20th the sun shone out for the first time 
since the frost began ; a circumstance that has been 
remarked before much in favour of vegetation. 
All this time the cold was not very intense, for the 
thermometer stood at 29°, 28°, 25°, and there- 
about, but on the 21st it descended to 20°. The 
birds now began to be in a very pitiable and starv. 
‘ing condition. ‘Tamed by the season, skylarks 
settled in the streets of towns, because they saw 
the ground was bare; rooks frequented dunghills 
close to houses ; and crows watched horses as they 
passed, and greedily devoured what dropped from 
them ; hares now came into men’s gardens, and, 
scraping away the snow, devoured such plants as 
they could find. 
On the 22d the author had occasion to go to 
London through a sort of Laplandian scene, very 
wild and grotesque indeed. But the metropolis 
itself exhibited a still more singular appearance 
than the country ; for, being bedded deep in snow, 
‘the pavement of the streets could not be touched by 
the wheels or the horses’ feet, so that the carriages 
ran about without the least noise. Such an ex- 
emption from din and clatter was strange, but not 
pleasant; it seemed to convey an uncomfortable 
idea of desolation. 
‘‘ Tpsa silentia terrent.” 
On the 27th, much snow fell all day, and in the 
evening the frost became very intense. At South 
Lambeth, for the four following nights, the ther. 
