CVII.] OF SELBORNE. 285 



of the 9th, the air began to he so very sharp, that we thought 

 it would be curious to attend to the motions of a thermometer : 

 we therefore hung out two ; one made by Martin and one by 

 Dollond) which soon began to show us what we were to expect ; 

 for, by ten o'clock, they fell to 21, and at eleven, to 4, when we 

 went to bed. On the 10th, in the morning, the quicksilver of 

 Dollond's glass was down to half a degree below zero ; and that 

 of Martin's, which was absurdly graduated only to four degrees 

 above zero, sank quite into the brass guard of the ball ; so that 

 when the weather became most interesting, this was useless. 

 On the 10th, at eleven at night, though the air was perfectly 

 still, Dollond's glass went down to one degree below zero ! This 

 strange severity of the weather made me very desirous to know 

 what degree of cold there might be in such an exalted and 

 near situation as Newton. We had therefore, on the morning of 

 the 10th, written to Mr. - , and entreated him to hang out 

 his thermometer, made by Adams ; and to pay some attention 

 to it, morning and evening ; expecting wonderful phenomena, 

 in so elevated a region as two hundred feet or more above my 

 house. But, behold ! on the 10th, at eleven at night, it was 

 down only to 17, and the next morning at 22, when mine was 

 at 10! We were so disturbed at this unexpected reverse of 

 comparative local cold, that we sent one of my glasses up, 

 thinking that of Mr. - - must, somehow, be wrongly con- 

 structed. But, when the instruments came to be confronted, 

 they went exactly together : so that, for one night at least, the 

 cold at Newton was 18 less than at Selborne; and, through 

 the whole frost, 10 or 12 ; indeed, when we came to observe 

 the consequences, we could readily credit this ; for all my 

 laurustines, bays, ilexes, arbutuses, cypresses, and even my 

 Portugal laurels, and (which occasions more regret) my fine 

 sloping laurel-hedge, were scorched up ; while, at Newton, the 

 same trees had not lost a leaf ! 



We had steady frost on to the 25th, when the thermometer 

 in the morning was down to 10 with us, and at Newton only 

 to 21. Strong frost continued till the 31st, when some tendency 

 to thaw was observed ; and, by the 3rd of January, 1785, the 

 thaw was confirmed, and some rain fell. 



