JANUARY. 39 



rable continuance. So far in the last edition ; and 

 the winters of 1836-7 and 1837-8 amply fulfilled 

 the rigorous promises then given. The chill which 

 is said to follow the appearance of a comet, cer- 

 tainly has followed the appearance of that of Halley 

 in 1835. The winter of 1836-7, with its truly old- 

 fashioned snows, will long be remembered by those 

 who witnessed it. The stoppage of mails, and the 

 burial of numbers of them for many days in differ- 

 ent parts of the kingdom, excited too much interest 

 to be readily forgotten. It was curious to see them 

 coming into London, covered with frozen snow, and 

 bearing every evidence of having been dug out of 

 the drifts ; and to see the running of the eager 

 crowds to learn the particulars. But if the winter 

 of 1836-7 was excessively snowy, that of 1837-8 

 was fiercely cold and miserably long. The Thames, 

 and the other principal rivers of England, once more 

 presented the phenomenon of being frozen over. A 

 wilder scene cannot be imagined than was shown 

 on the Thames at the breaking up of this long frost, 

 immense blocks of ice being driven one upon an- 

 other above the bridges, and exhibiting a desolate 

 and frozen chaos more consonant to our ideas of 

 the polar regions than of the English climate. The 

 suddenness of the setting in of this great frost, also, 

 was as startling to our fancies and destructive to 

 vegetable life. From Christmas to the opening of 

 January, 1838, the weather was deliciously mild. 

 It was like the opening of May rather than the depth 

 of winter. The birds were singing ; the bees at 



