( 189) 



damage to the shipping ; several vessels were sunk by the 

 ice, and a more dismal scene presented itself on the 

 Thames than had ever been beheld by the oldest man 

 living ( Walter Thornbury). 



January 4. Violent gale, with thunder, lightning, hail, 

 and rain. i4th. Dreadful gale in Scotland and Ireland. 

 March 18. Aurora borealis. May 20. Greatest storm 

 of thunder, hail, and rain ever known. September 10. 

 Most violent thunderstorm. nth. Much damage done 

 by gale and excessive rains, which swept away great quan- 

 tities of outstanding corn. 28th. Great damage done 

 to crops by excessive rain. Gales on October 30 and 

 November 21. Frost began December 24 (Lowe). 

 1740 Wheat, 50^. &d. per qr. of nine bushels (Smith). 



Wheat, 45 s. id. per qr. (Tovey). 



Dreadful winter. Cold north-east winds continued 

 through April and May. Fieldfares remained till June. 

 Dry summer (Gilbert White}. 



A year of extraordinary scarcity {A. Smith). 



Thousands of acres of turnips rotten (Ellis). 



November i. A dreadful hurricane. Labourers' wages, 

 lod. a day (F. A.). 



People dwelt on the Thames in tents for weeks ( ). 



A storm began in Eskdale in the middle of January 

 and lasted until the sun melted off the snow (Standard). 



An unheard of frost seized with extraordinary severity 

 on the world and the elements, so that it is scarcely 

 possible to number or relate the many strange occurrences 

 that took place through its violence. Men felt so op- 

 pressed that days passed by unheeded. One would and 

 could hardly speak ; one sat and thought, yet could not 

 think ; if any one spoke a word it was with a hard, set 

 face. Many hens and ducks, even the cattle in the stalls, 

 died of cold ; the trees split asunder. Not only beer, 

 but wine in cellars froze. Deeply sunken wells were 

 covered with impenetrable ice. Crows and other birds 



