154 NATURAL HISTORY 



LETTER LXV. 



TO THE SAME. 



THE Summer of the year 1783 was an 

 amazing and portentous one, and full of 

 horrible phenomena ; for, besides the 

 alarming meteors and tremendous thunder- 

 storms that affrighted and distressed the 

 different counties of this kingdom, the 

 peculiar haze, or smokey fog, that prevailed 

 for many weeks in this island, and in every 

 part of Europe, and even beyond its limits, 

 was a most extraordinary appearance, un- 

 like any thing known within the memory 

 of man. By my journal I find that I had 

 noticed this strange occurrence from June 

 23 to July 20 inclusive, during which pe- 

 riod the wind varied to every quarter with- 

 out making any alteration in the air. The 

 sun, at noon, looked as blank as a clouded 

 moon, and shed a rust-coloured ferruginous 

 light on the ground, and floors of rooms ; 



