ATTRACTIONS OF WINTER WEATHER 303 



very near to witnessing a repetition of those grand 

 historical fetes of the Ice-king, when fairs were held 

 on the frozen Thames, and oxen roasted whole were 

 washed down from flowing hogsheads. Had it not 

 been for the works of the Thames Embankment, the 

 brackish tide might have been bound in iron fetters. 

 We missed that stirring spectacle by a hair's-breadth ; 

 but before now we have seen skating on the Serpentine 

 by torch-light, when a London feast of lanterns seemed 

 in course of celebration between Albert Gate and 

 Kensington Gardens. The wolves and hyaenas were 

 disporting themselves with the lambs or, in other 

 words, the hordes of roughs from the east were ming- 

 ling amicably with shop-lads and decent artisans and 

 gay young gentlemen from the clubs of the west. The 

 police mustered strong in case of need, but what were 

 the scattered members of the blue-coated force among 

 so many ? There were noise and horse-play, and 

 boisterous merriment ; and we do not say that pockets 

 were not lightened here and there, or some differences 

 settled by hitting from the shoulder. But on the whole 

 it was a gay and a good-humoured mob ; and even the 

 ladies who ventured out upon the side-walks could 

 admire the humours of the night without much risk of 

 insult. A whole school of Rembrandts and Schalkens 

 would have found endless subjects for their brushes. 

 The bands of skaters skimming along in open order, 

 and the hockey-players, swaying blazing torches over- 

 head, leaving the splashes of flaming resin in waving 

 beauty-lines behind them, till the air and ice seemed to 



