142 NATURAL HISTORY 



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 constitutions could 

 scarcely endure to face it. The Thames 

 was at once so frozen over both above and 

 below bridge that crowds ran about on the 

 ice. The streets were now strangely in- 

 cumbered with snow, which crumbled and 

 trod dusty; and, turning grey, 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 remem- 

 bered by the oldest housekeepers living. 

 According to all appearances we might now 

 have expected the continuance of this rigor- 

 ous weather for weeks to come, since every 

 night increased in severity ; but behold, 

 without any apparent cause, on the 1st 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 2nd of February 



