OF SELBORNE 227 



pleasant ; it seemed to convey an uncomfortable idea of desola- 

 tion : 



ipsa silentia terrent." 



On the 27th much snow fell all day, and in the evening the 

 frost became very intense. At South Lambeth, for the four 

 following nights, the thermometer fell to 11, 7, 6, 6; and at 

 Selborne to 7, 6', 10; and on the 31st of January, just before 

 sun-rise, with rime on the trees and on the tube of the glass, the 

 quicksilver sunk exactly to zero, being 32 degrees below the 

 freezing point: but by eleven in the morning, though in the 

 shade, it sprung up to 1 6|- 2 a most unusual degree of cold this 

 for the south of England ! During these four nights the cold 

 was so penetrating that it occasioned ice in warm chambers and 

 under beds ; and in the day the wind was so keen that persons 

 of robust constitutions could scarcely endure to face it. The 

 Thames was at once so frozen over both above and below bridge 

 that crowds ran about on the ice. The streets were now strangely 

 incumbered with snow, which crumbled and trod dusty ; and, 

 turning grey, resembled bay-salt : what had fallen on the roofs 

 was so perfectly dry that, from first to last, it lay twenty-six 

 days on the houses in the city ; a longer time than had been 

 remembered by the oldest housekeepers living. According to 

 all appearances we might now have expected the continuance 

 of this rigorous weather for weeks to come, since every night 

 increased in severity ; but behold, without any apparent cause, 

 on the 1 st of February a thaw took place, and some rain followed 

 before night ; making good the observation above, that frosts 

 often go off as it were at once, without any gradual declension 

 of cold. On the 2d of February the thaw persisted ; and on 

 the 3d swarms of little insects were frisking and sporting in a 

 court-yard at South Lambeth, as if they had felt no frost. Why 

 the juices in the small bodies and smaller limbs of such minute 

 beings are not frozen is a matter of curious inquiry. 3 



Severe frosts seem to be partial, or to run in currents ; for, at 



2 At Selborne the cold was greater than at any other place that the author could 

 hear of with certainty : though some reported at the time that at a village in Kent 

 the thermometer fell two degrees below zero, vis. 34 degrees below the freezing 

 point. 



The thermometer used at Selborne was graduated by Benjamin Martin. 



3 [It seems paradoxical, but it is experimentally ascertained, that it is extremely 

 difficult to freeze fluids in capillary tubes.] 



