ing, though in the shade, it sprang up to i6|^* — a 

 most unusual degree of cold this for the south of 

 England ! During these four nights the cold was so 

 penetrating, that it occasioned ice in warm cham- 

 bers, and under beds ; and in the day, the wind was 

 so keen, that persons of robust constitutions could 

 scarcely endure to face it. The Thames was at once 

 frozen over both above and below bridge, so that 

 crowds ran about on the ice. The streets were now 

 strangely incumbered with snow, which crumbled 

 and trod dusty; and soon turning grey, resembled 

 bay-salt : what had fallen on the roofs was perfectly 

 dry, that, from first to last, it lay twenty-six days on 

 the houses in the city ; a longer time than had been 

 remembered by the oldest housekeepers living. Ac- 

 cording to all appearances, we might now have ex- 

 pected the continuance of this rigorous weather for 

 weeks to come, since every night increased in sever- 

 ity ; 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, with- 

 out any gradual declension of cold. On the 2d of 

 February the thaw persisted ; and on the 3d swarms 



* At Selborne the cold was greater than at any other place that the 

 author could hear of with certainty : though it was reported at the time, 

 that at a village in Kent, the thermometer fell two degrees below zero, 

 viz. 34 degrees below the freezing-point. 



The thermometer used at Selborne was graduated by Benjamin 

 Martin. 



185 



