CORRESPONDENCE WITH HIS FAMILY. 121 



believe on such burning chalk and flint as the South Downs 

 and Ambresbury* plains the scorching S.W. sun does more 

 damage than the wind. This agrees with what your brother 

 H. says, that wherever they can keep the ground moist the 

 trees always thrive. So at Eingmer the trees and hedges 

 toward the Downs are all cut ; but as soon as you have 

 passed Ringmer going towards Norlington you soon lose 

 sight of any cutting by the sea-winds, which probably injure 

 the plants as far as they blow the spray of the sea. 



I do not know what rivers of Italy Mr. Heathcote spoke of 

 as having been frozen this winter. I find his information 

 came from Mr. Taylor, a clergyman whom I believe you 

 formerly knew at Oriel College. He is now in Italy. His 

 letter is dated at Rome, and says, " We have had colder 

 weather here than in England. The river Arno at Florence 

 has been frozen over, which it has not been these 13 years, 

 and a pond 5 miles over, made by Augustus near Ostium, 

 14 miles from hence, which has not happened in the memory 

 of man." The 13 years since the Arno was frozen will reach 

 back just to the 5 weeks frost of January 1763, when there 

 was that most remarkable rime, a most settled frost without 

 breath of wind or glimpse of sun. 



Your sister and nieces join in compliments to yourself and 

 all friends, I being, dear brother, 



Your humble servant, 



T. BARKER. 



LETTER XIX. 



FROM SAMUEL BARKER TO GILBERT WHITE. 



Lyndon, Eeb. 13, 1776. 

 Dear Sir, 

 If Linnseus's murmur be nothing more than the rushing of 

 the wind among the poles of a hop-garden, it is wonderful, as 



* [An old, perhaps the more correct, way of spelling what is now 

 Amesbury ?] 



