69 



CHAPTER V. 



JOHN JONSTON, quoting Robertus de Monte, re- 

 marks, that 'in the yeer 1125 the winter was so 

 violent, that innumerable eels in Brabant, by reason of 

 the ice, went forth of the lake, which is strange, and got 

 into hay-ricks, and lay hid there, till by extream cold 

 they rotted away. And the trees at last had scarce any 

 leaves put forth in May/ The eels might as well have 

 staid patiently in their lake waiting for better times, as 

 we must for milder weather. Whether the May of 1850 

 is to be like the May in 1125, is a problem yet to be 

 solved; but I write on the 28th March, after a bitter 

 easterly-wind-blowing month of it, with the snow on the 

 ground, the sun shining, and the searching, biting, blast- 

 ing wind in the old quarter. There was thick ice yester- 

 day on the water in St. James's Park. The dryness, for 

 weeks, has almost equalled that which afflicted Italy in 

 the 322nd year after the building of Rome, and we have 

 had dust more than enough to ransom a heptarchy of 

 kings. So pressed for food were the blackbirds, in con- 

 sequence of the drought, that they ate off the grass of 

 the pinks and carnations, making them look as if that 

 plant-cutting bird the Phytotoma* or the rodent rabbit, 



* Phytotoma rara. The Chilian Plant-cutter. It lives on 

 plants, which it cuts off close to the root, and often shears off 

 many more than it wants, leaving them on the ground, as if it did 

 the mischief from caprice. The peasants consequently employ every 

 method in their power for its destruction, and rewards are given to 

 children who take their eggs. Molina describes the bird as about 

 the size of a quail, with a rather large bill, half an inch in length, 

 conical, straight, a little pointed, and serrated. 



