294 WINTER or 1776. 



evening the frost became very intense. At South Lambeth, 

 for the four following nights, the thermometer fell to 11, 7, 

 6, 6 ; and at Selborne to 7, 6, 10 ; and on the 31st of Ja- 

 nuary, just before sunrise, with rime on the trees, and on 

 the tube of the glass, the quicksilver sunk exactly to zero, 

 being 82 degrees below the freezing point ; but by eleven in 

 the morning, though in the shade, it sprung up to 16|* a 

 most unusual degree of cold this for the south of England ! 

 During these four nights, the cold was so penetrating, that 

 it occasioned ice in warm chambers, and under beds ; and in 

 the day the wind was so keen, that persons of robust consti- 

 tutions could scarcely endure to face it. The Thames was 

 at once so frozen over, both above and below the bridge, 

 that crowds ran about on the ice. The streets were now 

 strangely encumbered with snow, which crumbled and trode 

 dusty ; and, turning gray, resembled bay-salt ; what had 

 fallen on the roofs was so perfectly dry, that from first to 

 last it lay twenty-six days on the houses in the city ; a 

 longer time than had been remembered by the oldest house- 

 keepers living. According to all appearances, we might now 

 have expected the continuance of this rigorous weather for 

 weeks to come, since every night increased in severity ; but 

 behold, without any apparent cause, on the first of February, 

 a thaw took place, and some rain followed before night; 

 making good the observation above, that frosts often go off, 

 as it were at once, without any gradual declension of cold. 

 On the second of February, the thaw persisted ; and on the 

 third, swarms of little insects were frisking and sporting in 

 a court-yard at South Lambeth, as if they had felt no 

 frost. Why the juices in the small bodies and smaller limbs 

 of such minute beings are not frozen, is a matter of curious 

 inquiry.f 



* At Selborne, the cold was greater than at any other place that the author 

 could hear of with certainty ; though some reported at the time, that, at a 

 village at Kent, the thermometer fell two degrees below zero, viz. thirty-four 

 degrees below the freezing point. 



The thermometer used at Selborne was graduated by Benjamin Martin. 



f We have the best evidence to prove that both fish and molluscous animals 

 may he frozen without destroying their vitality. A gentleman at Camberwell 

 had an inflamed eye during the winter of 1829, and kept a leech which was 

 applied to the temple several times. It was put into water in a vial placed 

 near the fireplace of the parlour. The cold at that time was very severe, and 



