OF SELBORNE. 137 



LETTER LXII. 



TO THE SAME. 



There were some circumstances attend- 

 ing the remarkable frost in January 1776 

 so singular and striking, that a short detail 

 of them may not be unacceptable. 



The most certain way to be exact will 

 be to copy the passages from my journal, 

 which were taken from time to time as 

 things occurred. But it may be proper 

 previously to remark, that the first week in 

 January was uncommonly wet, and drown- 

 ed with vast rains from every quarter : from 

 whence may be inferred, as there is great 

 reason to believe is the case, that intense 

 frosts seldom take place till the earth is per- 

 fectly glutted and chilled with water;* 



* The Autumn preceding January I768 was very 

 wet, and particularly the month of September , during 

 which there fell at Lyndon, in the county of Rutland, 

 six inches and an half of rain. And the terrible long 

 frost in 1739-40 set in after a rainy season, and when 

 the springs were very high, 



