WEATHER. 315 



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 encum- 

 bered with snow, which crumbled and trode 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 remem- 

 bered 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 1st 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 of 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. 



Severe frosts seem to be partial, or to run in 

 currents ; for at the same juncture, as the author 

 was informed by accurate correspondents, at 

 Lyndon, in the county of Rutland, the thermo- 

 meter stood at 19; at Blackburn, in Lancashire, 

 at 19; and at Manchester, at 21, 20, and 18. 

 Thus does some unknown circumstance strangely 

 overbalance latitude, and render the cold some- 

 times much greater in the southern than the 

 northern parts of this kingdom. 



The consequences of this severity were, that 



