SUMMER OF 1783. 329 



the vast effluvia from our woodlands temper and 

 moderate our heats. 



LETTER CIX. 



TO THE SAME. 



THE summer of the year 1783, was an amazing 

 and portentous one, and full of horrible phenomena ; 

 for, besides the alarming meteors and tremendous 

 thunder storms that affrighted and distressed the dif- 

 ferent countries of this kingdom, the peculiar haze, 

 or smoky fog, that prevailed for many weeks in this 

 island, and in every part of Europe, and even beyond 

 its limits, was a most extraordinary appearance, 

 unlike any thing known within the memory of man. 

 By my journal, I find that I had noticed this strange 

 occurrence from June 23 to July 20, inclusive, during 

 which period, the wind varied to every quarter, with- 

 out making any alteration in the air. The sun, at 

 noon, looked as black as a clouded moon, and shed a 

 rust- coloured ferruginous light on the ground and 

 floors of rooms, but was particularly lurid and blood- 

 coloured at rising and setting. All the time, the 

 heat was so intense that butchers' meat could hardly 

 be eaten, the day after it was killed ; and the flies 

 swarmed so in the lanes and hedges, that they ren- 

 dered the horses half frantic, and riding irksome. 

 The country people began to look with a superstitious 

 awe at the red lowering aspect of the sun; and, 

 indeed, there was reason for the most enlightened 

 person to be apprehensive, for all the while, Calabria 

 and part of the isle of Sicily were torn and con- 

 vulsed with earthquakes ; and about that juncture, 

 a volcano sprung out of the sea on the coast of 

 Norway. On this occasion, Milton's noble simile of 



