OF SELBORXE. -2(>r> 



London: but the relentless heaps of snow were too bulky to 

 be removed ; and so the 18th passed over, leaving the com- 

 pany in very uncomfortable circumstances at the Castle and 

 other inns.* 



On the 20th the sun shone out for the first time since the 

 frost began ; a circumstance that has been remarked before 

 much in favour of vegetation. All this time the cold was not 

 very intense, for the thermometer stood at 29, 28, 25, and 

 thereabout ; but on the 21st it descended to 20. The birds 

 now began to be in a very pitiable and starving condition. 

 Tamed by the season, sky-larks settled in the streets of towns, 

 because they saw the ground was bare ; rooks frequented 

 dunghills close to houses ; and crows watched horses as they 

 passed, and greedily devoured what dropped from them ; hares 

 now came into men's gardens, and, scraping away the snow, 

 devoured such plants as they could find. 



On the 22d the author had occasion to go to London 

 through a sort of Laplandian-scene, very wild and grotesque 

 indeed. But the metropolis itself exhibited a still more sin- 

 gular appearance than the country ; for, being bedded deep in 

 snow, the pavement of the streets could not be touched by the 

 wheels or the horses' feet, so that the carriages ran about 

 without the least noise. Such an exemption from din and 

 clatter was strange, but not pleasant ; it seemed to convey an 

 uncomfortable idea of desolation : 



ipsa silentia terrent." 



On the 27th much snow fell all day, and in the evening the 

 frost became very intense. At South Lambeth, for the four 

 following nights, the thermometer fell to 11, 7, 6, 6 ; and at 



* [" Mrs. Colebrook invited her " [Caroline Herschel] " to go to London 

 on a visit. This visit was prolonged for several weeks owing to the deep 

 snow, which rendered the roads impassable. The Duchess of Ancaster is 

 said to have offered any sum to have a passage cut near Devizes, but with- 

 out success ; her Grace was in consequence unable to be present on the 

 18th January, when the Queen's birthday was kept." From 'Memoir 

 and Correspondence of Caroline Herschel,' by Mrs. John Herschel (Lon- 

 don, 187G, p. 34). Mrs. John Herschel places the event in 1774-1776, 

 which is most likely an error, as such a thing could hardly have happened 

 twice. A. N.] 



