THE YEAR 1825. 201 



were burned up, and our fields parched, presenting deep 

 fissures in all parts. The heat Was unusually distressing 

 all day ; and evening brought us little or no relief, as 

 every wall radiated throughout the night the heat it 

 had imbibed from the torrid sun of the day. Our bed- 

 room windows were kept constantly open, all appre- 

 hension from damps and night airs, which at other times 

 were of the first consideration, being disregarded ; a 

 cooler temperature, however obtained, was alone re- 

 quired ; and we lingered below, unwilling to encounter 

 the tossings arid restlessness that our heated beds occa- 

 sioned. Our wainscots cracked, furniture contracted 

 and gaped with seams ; a sandal-wood box, which had 

 been in use for upwards of twenty years in dry rooms, 

 shrunk and warped out of all form ; a capsule of the 

 sandbox tree (hura crepitans), which had remained in 

 repose over a shelf above the fire-place for an unknown 

 length of time, now first experienced an excess of dry- 

 ness, and exploded in every direction ; door frames 

 contracted, window sashes became fixed and immova- 

 ble. These are trifles to relate, but yet they mark the 

 very unusual dryness of the atmosphere. 



Monday and Tuesday, July 18th and 19th, will long 

 be remembered as the acme of our suffering, the ther- 

 mometer standing in the shade of a passage communi- 

 cating immediately with the outer air, in an open situa- 

 tion, at 82 of Fahrenheit. A few yards nearer the air, 

 on which the sun shone, it rose to 93, without any in- 

 fluence from reflection or other causes. In towns, and 

 more confined places, it is said, the heat was much 

 greater. The current of air now felt like that near the 

 mouth of an oven, heavy and oppressive, arid occasion- 

 ing more unpleasant sensations than such a temperature 

 usually creates ; animals became distressed, the young 

 rooks of the season entered our gardens, and approached 

 our doors, as in severe frosts, with open bills, panting 

 for a cooler element ; horses dropped exhausted on the 

 roads ; many of the public conveyances, which usually 

 travelled by day, waited till night, to save the cattle 

 from the overpowering influence of the sun. The leaves 

 of our apple and filbert trees, in dry situations, withered 



