514 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 



The years 1393 and 1394 were excessively hot and dry. 



In 1447 the summer was extremely hot. 



In the successive years 1473 and 1474 the whole earth seemed on fire. In Hungary, a 

 person might wade across the Danube. 



The four consecutive years 1538, 1539, 1540, and 1541 were excessively hot, and the 

 rivers dried up. 



In 1556 the drought was so great that the springs failed. In England, wheat rose from 

 8 shillings to 53 shillings a quarter. 



The years 1615 and 1616 were very dry all over Europe. 



In 1646 it was excessively hot. 



In 1652 the warmth was very great, the summer being the driest ever known in Scot- 

 land. A total eclipse of the sun had happened that year, on Monday the 24th of March, 

 which hence received the appellation of Mirk Monday. 



The summer of 1679 was extremely hot. It is related, that one of the minions of 

 tyranny, who in that calamitous period harassed the poor presbyterians in Scotland with 

 captious questions, having asked a shepherd in Fife, whether the killing of the notorious 

 Sharp, Archbishop of St. Andrew's, which had happened in May, was murder ; he 

 replied, that he could not tell, but there had been fine weather ever since. 



The year 1700 was excessively warm, and the two following years were of the same 

 description. 



In 1718 the weather was extremely hot and dry all over Europe. The air felt so 

 oppressive, that all the theatres were shut in Paris. Scarcely any rain fell for the space 

 of nine months, and the springs and rivers were dried up. The following year was 

 equally hot. The thermometer at Paris rose to 98 of Fahrenheit. The grass and corn 

 were quite parched. In some places the fruit trees blossomed two and three times. 



Both the years 1723 and 1724 were dry and hot. 



The year 1745 was remarkably warm and dry; but the following year was still hptter, 

 insomuch that the grass withered, and the leaves dropped from the trees. Neither rain 

 nor dew fell for several months ; and, on the continent, prayers were offered up in all the 

 churches to implore the bounty of refreshing showers. 



In 1748 the summer was again very warm. 



In 1754 it was likewise extremely warm. 



The years 1760 and 1761 were both of them remarkably hot, and so was the year 

 1763. 



In 1774 it was excessively hot and dry. 



Both the years 1778 and 1779 were warm and very dry. 



The year 1788 was also very hot and dry; and of the same character was 1811, 

 famous for its excellent vintage, and distinguished by the appearance of a brilliant 

 comet. 



It may be concluded from these notices, that the climate of Europe during the last 

 fourteen centuries has been gradually acquiring a more genial character, and that the 

 seasons of intense cold occur at more distant intervals than formerly. This effect is no 

 doubt due to the destruction of the immense forests that once overspread the face of 

 Gaul, Germany, and Britain ; to the extinction of bogs and morasses by drainage ; and 

 to the more careful and vastly extended cultivation of the soil. Capricious as the occur- 

 rence of great seasonal heat and cold appears in the preceding record, it has been 

 thought that we obtain a glimpse of those great cycles, which result from the varied 

 aspects of the sun, combined with the feebler influence of the moon, such as the inter- 

 mediate period of nine years, answering nearly to the semi-revolution of the lunar nodes 

 and apogee. " Thus,'' observes Leslie, " of the years remarkably cold, 1622 was sue- 



