ANNUAL REGISTER, 1814. 



posed in a north eastern aspect, 

 stood at 13 degrees, which is 19 

 below the freezing point. On the 

 eastern coast it stood as low as 

 9 and 10 ; a degree of cold very 

 unusual in this country. 



Upwards of a hundred bags 

 of letters had not arrived at 

 the General Post-office on Satur- 

 day evening, owing to the ob- 

 structions occasioned on all the 

 roads by the snow. The mail 

 coaches from Glasgow, Portpa- 

 trick, and Edinburgh, had not 

 reached Carlisle when the letters 

 from thence were dispatched on 

 Thursday, nor had the mail from 

 Edinburgh to Newcastle arrived at 

 the same period. All the mails 

 were due from below Exeter. 

 The Holyhead mail arrived in the 

 course of Saturday, by dint of the 

 most vigorous and uncommon ex- 

 ertions on the part of the guards 

 and superintendants, but most of 

 the cross post bags in that direc- 

 tion are still due. The drifted 

 snow between Bridport and Dor- 

 chester presented such a formida- 

 ble barrier, that notwithstanding 

 every possible endeavour was made 

 by the guard and the assistants, 

 no passage could be gained through 

 itj and after four hours labour, the 

 coach was obliged to return to 

 Bridport. The inconvenience aris- 

 ing from these delays in the re- 

 ceipt of letters begins to be very 

 seriously felt by merchants and 

 traders, who have remittances in 

 transitu, to take up bills and exe- 

 cute orders. 



Liverpool. — We have now had 

 three weeks of the most rigorous 

 frost which has bean remembered 

 in this country for a great number 

 of years. On Friday, Fahren- 

 heit's thermometer stood at 1§ 

 degrees (17 below the freezing 



point), at the Athenaeum; in the 

 country it was no doubt much 

 lower. Such a quantity of ice has 

 been accumulated in the Mersey, 

 that boats could not pass over. 

 Almost every kind of labour per- 

 formed without doors is nearly at 

 a stand. 



18. Bristol. — The frost con- 

 tinues in this city and neighbour- 

 hood with unusual severity. Our 

 Floating Harbour now exhibits 

 quite a novel scene : from Cum- 

 berland Basin to the Feeder, at 

 the bottom of Avon-street, it is 

 one continued sheet of ice : and, 

 for the first time in the memory 

 of man, the skaiter made his ap- 

 pearance under Bristol bridge. 

 The river Severn is also frozen 

 over at various points, so as to 

 bear the weight of passengers. 



19. All communications from 

 Huntingdon to Buntingford ceased 

 on this day, and it was impossible 

 to pass beyond the town of God- 

 manchester, owing to the snow, 

 which covered the road from six 

 to ten feet in depth. The conse- 

 quence was, that there had not 

 been any mails down for several 

 days, to the very great inconve- 

 nience of the large towns and 

 populous neighbourhood in that 

 district, and it was particularly felt 

 northwards, as this is the principal 

 road to Scotland. Anxiety was 

 not relieved until Sunday last, 

 when the mail coach arrived, 

 drawn by ten horses. The coach 

 was attended by a gentleman from 

 the Post-office, who had gone 

 down from London for the pur- 

 pose of getting forward so im- 

 portant and accumulated a cor- 

 respondence. The bags were so 

 very numerous that the coach was 

 completely filled with them. The 

 great north road may again be 



