156 History of the Weather, 



der Zee was frozen over, and many thousand persons walked of 

 skaited on it. At Leyden, the thermometer fell ten degrees be- 

 lovv the zero of Fahrenheit's scale. All the lakes in England 

 froze ; and a whole ox was roasted on the Thames. Many trees 

 were killed by the frost; and postillions were benuml)ed in their 

 saddles. In both the years IJO!) and 1740, the General Assembly 

 of the Church of Scotland ordained a national fast to be held, on 

 account of the dearth which then prevailed. 



In 1744, the winter was again very cold. The Mayne was 

 covered seven weeks with ice ; and at Evora in Portugal peojile 

 could hardly creep out of their houses for heaps of snow. 



The winters during the five successive years, 17-45, 1746, 1747> 

 1748, and 1749, \vere all of them very cold. 



In 1754, and again in 175."), the winters were particularly cold. 

 At Paris, Fahrenheit's thermometer sunk to the beginning of the 

 scale; and in England, the strongest ale, exposed to the air iii 

 a glass, was covered, in less than a quarter of an hour, with ice 

 an eighth of an- inch thick. 



The winters of 1766, 1767, 1768, were very cold all over Eu- 

 rope. In France the thermometer fell six degrees below the zero 

 of Fahrenheit's scale. The large rivers and the most copious 

 sprii;gs in many parts were frozen. The thermometer laid on the 

 surface of the snow at Glasgow fell two degrees below zero. 



In 177 1, the snow lay very deep, and the Elbe was frozen to 

 the bottom. 



In 1776, much snow fell, and the cold was intense. The Da- 

 nube bore ice five feet thick iiclow Vienna. Wine froze in the 

 cellars, both in France and in Holland. Many people were frost- 

 bitten, and vast multitudes both of the feathered and finny tribes 

 perished. Yet the quantity of snow which lay on the ground had 

 c'.iccked the penetration of the frost. Van Swinden found in 

 Holland, that the earth was congealed to tlie depth of twenty-one 

 inches, on a spot of a garden which had been kept cleared, bat 

 only nine inches at another place near it, which was covered with 

 four inches of snow. 



The successive winters of 1784 and 1785 were uncommonly 

 severe, insomuch that she Little Belt was frozen over. 



In 1789, the cold was excessive, and again in 1/95, when the 

 republican armies overran Holland. 



The successive winters of 1799 and 1 800 were both very 

 cold. 



In 1809, and again in 1812, the winters were remarkably cold. 



The years which were extremely hot and dry, will be more 

 easily enumerated. 



In 



