Chap. 1.] Jo t'BNAL.— December, 21 



17. Ahardish frost. 



18. Open weather again. 



19. Fine mild dav; but began freezing at night- 

 fall. 



20. Hard frost. 



21. Very sharp indeed. Thermometer down to 10 

 degrees ; that is to say, 22 degrees colder than barely 

 freezing. 



22. Same weather. Makes us run, where we used 

 to walk in the fall, and to saunter in the summer. It is 

 no new thing to mc ; but it makes our other English peo- 

 ple shrug up their shoulders. 



23. Frost greatly abated. Stones show for wet. 

 It will come, in spite of all the fine serene sky, which 

 Me now see. 



24. A thaw. Servants made a lot of candles from 

 mutton and beef fat, reserving the coarser parts to make 

 soap. 



25. Rain. Had some English friends. Sirloin of 

 o^Mi beef. Spent the evening in light of oxen candles, 

 as handsome as I ever saw, and, I think, the very best 

 I ever saw. The reason is, that the tallow h fresh, and 

 that it is unmixed with grease, which, and staleness, is 

 the cause, I beheve, of candles running, and plaguing 

 us while we are using them. "What an injury is it to 

 the farmers in England, that they dare not, in this way, 

 use their own produce : Is it not a ynnckerg to call a man 

 free, who no more dares turn out his tallow into can- 

 dles for his own use, than he dares rob upon the high- 

 way ? Yet, it is only by means of tyranny and extor- 

 tion like this, that the helhsh system of Funding and of 

 Seat-selling can be upheld. 



26. Fine warm day. 52 degrees in shade. 



27. Cold, but little frost. 



28. Same weather. Fair and pleasant. The late 

 sharp frost has changed to a complete yelloic every leaf 

 of some Swedish Turnips (Ruta Baga), left to take 

 their chance. It is a poor chance, I believe I 



29. Same weather. 



30. Rain all day. 



31. Mild and clear. Xo frost. 



