878 



" ' London, Sept. 2, 1762. — We have had a delightful warm sum- 

 mer ; all the fruits of the earth very good, and in great plenty ; and 

 what crowns all, the blessing of peace is like to be added.' 



" * London, Sept. 15, 1763. — Almost every day rain since the mid- 

 dle of July, the spring and summer very dry to that time. Very great 

 plenty of grass and all sorts of corn, but the weather unkindly for the 

 harvest.' 



" ' London, Sept. 17th, 1765. — You, my dear friend, surprize me, 

 with telling me of your cool and wet summer ; whereas our summer 

 has been as much in the extreme the other way. For all May, June, 

 and July, were excessively hot and dry ; but six or seven rainy days 

 in three months, so that all our grass fields look like the sun-burnt 

 countries of Spain and Africa. Our Fahrenheit's Thermometer fre- 

 quently 84 and 85 in the shade in the open air, but in my parlour fre- 

 quently at 95. I do assure you I have had little pleasure of my life 

 this summer, for I cannot bear heat. I have longed to be on Lapland 

 mountains. The beginning of August we had some fine rains, but 

 they did not recover our usual verdure. Since, to this present writing, 

 hot and dry weather, not a drop of rain for fourteen days past. Our 

 hay is very short, and oats and barley but a middling crop ; but of 

 wheat, which we most wanted, good Providence has favoured us with 

 a plentiful crop, and a good harvest, which began two weeks sooner 

 than in common years. Peaches, Nectarines, Figs, Grapes, Pears, 

 &c. are early ripened, and are richly flavoured, and many exotic 

 shrubs and plants flower finely this year. My garden is now a para- 

 dise of delight, with the variety of flowers and plenty of roses now in 

 bloom, as if in May or June. But to obtain all this pleasure, great 

 pains have been taken to keep the garden continually watered every 

 evening.' 



" ' London, Sept. 25th, 1766. — We have had a most uncommon 

 rainy summer, which was no way propitious to the growth of the 

 wheat ; but it pleased Good Providence to send us the finest hot and 

 dry harvest ever known, yet the warm constant rains drew up the 

 wheat so much to stalk, that the ears are very light. I hope there 

 will be sufficient to support the nation, now we have prudently stopped 

 the exportation ; for so great are the wants, and the demand for foreign 

 markets was so great and so pressing, that it advanced the price so 

 considerably as to occasion insurrections in many parts of the king- 

 dom, to stop by force the corn from being exported ; but now a pro- 

 clamation is come out to prevent it, I hope all will be quiet again. 

 Much wet has made great crops of grass ; so that every where we have 

 had second crops of hay almost as large as the first, and a glorious 



