158 NATURE NEAR LONDON 



Paul's, allow him three months to get accustomed to the 

 local appearances and the deceptive smoke clouds, and 

 he would then tell what the weather of the day was 

 going to be far more efficiently than the very best in- 

 strument ever yet invented. He would not always be 

 right ; but he would predict the local London weather 

 with far more accuracy than any one reading the returns 

 from the barometers at Valentia, Stornoway, Brest, or 

 Christiansand. 



The reason is this the barometer foretells the cloud 

 in the sky, but cannot tell where it will burst. The 

 practised eye can judge with very considerable accuracy 

 where the discharge will take place. Some idea of what 

 the local weather of London will be for the next few 

 hours may often be obtained by observation on either of 

 the bridges Westminster, Waterloo, or London Bridge : 

 there is on the bridges something like a horizon, the 

 best to be got in the City itself, and the changes an- 

 nounce themselves very clearly there. The difference 

 in the definition is really wonderful. 



From Waterloo Bridge the golden cross on St. Paul's 

 and the dome at one time stand out as if engraved upon 

 the sky, clear and with a white aspect. At the same 

 time, the brick of the old buildings at the back of the 

 Strand is red and bright. The structures of the bridges 

 appear light, and do not press upon their arches. The 

 yellow straw stacked on the barges is bright, the copper- 

 tinted sails bright, the white wall of the Embankment 

 clear, and the lions' heads distinct. Every trace of 

 colour, in short, is visible. 



At another time the dome is murky, the cross tar- 

 nished, the outline dim, the red brick dull, the whiteness 

 gone. In summer there is occasionally a bluish haze 

 about the distant buildings. These are the same changes 



