ENGLAND. 



M::> : the summer months, June, July, mid August ; 

 ~~* .aid the autumn months, S.-pti i,i'.'< r, October, and N'o- 

 veiv.lvr; but it never happens that the sea -on ~ iv-pec- 

 liveK confine themselves to the-e month-: not unfrc- 

 (juentlv in the month of Januurv "r Erln-iiary. a fo- 

 i to iiur (limatr, w oulil imagine 



th;.t -pring was about to commence : the air is mild and 

 lulmy, the Imds In-gin to bur^t forth : tin- bird?, which 

 the rigour of winter had kept from sight, again make 

 their appe '.ranee ; and the whole face of nature seems to 

 rejoice This, perhaps, continues for the space of. i week 

 or two ; when suddenly a gloomy change takes place, 

 il winter resume-; it> power. Open and mild weather 

 > not unfreqoenUy Keen even in December, espe- 

 cially towards the beginning of that month ; indeed, in 

 all ports of England, little or no frost is expected be- 

 fore C hristmas ; this is almost the only circumstance 

 respecting an F.nglish winter that can be anticipated 

 \.ith tolerable confidence; the nature of the winter, 

 with respect to severity, and the duration of it, those 

 who have hail the longest experience of our climate, 

 and paid the greatest and most minute and particular 

 attention to its changes, and to the apparent or pro- 

 b.-sble signs of its changes, are totally unable to predict. 

 Winter. J n O ne respect, however, our winters (lifter even when 

 tl:.v are must severe, from the winters of countries 

 \vhich lie under the same latitude on the continent ; 

 for while the sea-ports of Holland and Germany are 

 every winter locked up with ice, those of England are 

 never known to suffer this inconvenience. 



Spring. \Ve have said that December, January, and February, 



are generally reckoned the winter months ; but as the 

 weather in the two latter is not unfrequently much 

 milder than proper and regular winter weather, so, on 

 the contrary, the weather of what are called the spring 

 months, March, April, and May, is very frequently the 

 reverse of spring weather. March is almost always a 

 wet and boisterous month, except in those few cases 

 in which the rigours of winter extend into it. Its 

 moisture is so great, as to have given rise to the Eng- 

 lish proverb, " a peck of March dust is worth a king's 

 ransom " The month of April is usually mild and 

 moist, and spring again, after having made a feeble ef- 

 fort to resume its authority in January or February, 

 attempts, but too frequently with as little success, to 

 establish its power ; for May, which on the continent 

 is a montli of uncommon blandness, and to which, 

 even in England, notwithstanding our almost uniform 

 disappointment, we ascribe the same quality, seldom 

 i.jipears, or at least advances far, before easterly winds 

 eet in, which, to the feelings, are as cold as the coldest 

 winds during the frosts of winter, and which most ef- 

 fectually in all cases check, and in many instances to- 

 tally blast, the fruit vegetation. 



Hence it appears, that, in England, the season of 

 spring can scarcely be said to exist ; certainly, not to 

 go forward, increasing in beauty and interest, till it 

 expands into the season of summer. But though an 

 English spring is thus uncertain, interrupted, and short, 

 it has charms of its own, to which, in a great degree, 

 the same season on the continent is a stranger; for 

 there arc almost every year, and nearly over the whole 

 of England, days, and sometimes weeks, during which 

 vegetation proceeds regularly, and without check, and 

 when the air possesses all the balminess and mildness 

 of summer, without its oppressive heat Indeed, with 

 respect both to the spring and summer of England, it 

 may justly be observed, that, amidst all their uncer- 

 tainty and interruption, they favour us with weather, 



3 



..iich as, (it mny be, perhaps, from the relish and con- S>t.v 

 trast which that uncertainty and hiterruption create,) ^^"V^ 

 even at the period of their highest perfection, the\ <!o 

 \hibit on the continent. 



The summer of England scarcely ever makes its ;l p. SumnuT. 

 pea ranee before the middle or end of June. The first 

 part of this month, though occasionally mild, too often 

 partakes of the cold easterly winds of May ; so that, 

 strictly speaking, May and the beginning of June fall 

 under no division of the year. The weather, during 

 the prevalence of the easterly winds, is a- cold ; s that 

 of w inter; but it is not winter; and assuredly there 

 are no signs of spring, while these winds continue. 

 Generally, therefore, vegetation makes little advance 

 towards the luxuriance of summer, till the middle or 

 end of June. At this period, in the south of England, 

 the country is uncommonly beautiful ; but in the north- 

 ern counties, the weather is still very often cold and 

 ungenial. July, August, and September, may be said 

 to be real summer months over the whole kingdom ; 

 but slight frosts sometimes occur during the nights of 

 September, even in the south ; while, on the other ^ utuma( 

 hand, the month of October, in this part of England, 

 is often mild, dry, and settled. In the northern comi- 

 ties, this month may be said to be the beginning of 

 winter ; or, more properly speaking, of that raw, un- 

 settled, wet weather, which always precedes winter in 

 this island. November seldom advances far, before it 

 brings the same kind of weather to the southern coun- 

 ties, attended in London and its vicinity, with thick 

 fogs and mists. 



Such is the climate of England, generally speaking; Difference 

 but it will be necessary to be more particular, and to of climate 

 describe the difference of climate in the different parts i " ar '|j fibrcDt 

 of the kingdom. It is sufficiently obvious, that in the '"' 

 north of England, the spring, summer, and autumn 

 will be more backward, less certain, and of shorter du- 

 ration, than in the southern parts of the kingdom. The 

 temperature there is not only colder, but it is also mois- 

 ter. The winters are likewise more severe, and of 

 longer duration ; so that, to the north of the Mersey 

 and the Humber, the seasons of spring and summer 

 may be reckoned to be nearly a fortnight later in their 

 commencement, than they are in the south and south- 

 western counties, while the autumn is shorter, and 

 more frequently interrupted with frosts during the 

 night. It may be doubted, however, whether the win- jnthenorUi 

 ter in the north of England is more severe, when com- am! ninth . 

 pared with the winter in the south of England, in the 

 same proportion as the spring and summer are longer 

 and warmer ; at least, in the southern counties, parti- 

 cularly in those which lie in the vicinity of London, the 

 winters are nearly equal in severity, though perhaps 

 not in length, to the winters of the counties to the north 

 of the Mersey and the Humber. 



Besides the difference between the climate of the ] nl ] leea5 . 

 north and south of England, there is also a difference ^a wes t 

 between the climate of the eastern and western coun- 

 ties. The climate of the latter is much more moist, 

 and at the same time milder than the climate of the 

 eastern counties. This circumstance arises from three, 

 causes: the vicinity of the western counties to the great 

 Atlantic Ocean, the extreme prevalence of westerly 

 winds, and the ridge of hills, already described, which 

 runs along the western side of the kingdom. The At- 

 lantic Ocean saturates the westerly winds with im- 

 mense quantities of vapours, which being intercepted 

 in their passage by the range of hills, fall in rain. The 

 eastern side of the kingdom, not receiving these winds, 



