MAGPIE FIELDS 



cyclone, London produces its own sky. Put a 

 shepherd on St. 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 instrument 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, Stornaway, 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 consider- 

 able 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 ob- 

 tained 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 announce 

 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 as- 

 pect. At the same time, the brick of the old 

 buildings at the back of the Strand is red and 



