34 



1 



On the change of CLIMATE 



I^ 



It is not to be diffembkd that their winters in Italy were 

 extremely cold about feventeen hundred years ago. Vir- 

 gil has carefully defcribed the manner in which cattle are 

 to be flickered in the winter, left they fhould be deftroyed 

 by the froft and fnow; he alfo fpeaks of wine being fro- 

 zen in the cafks^ and feveral other proofs of fuch extreme 

 cold, as would furprize us in this province. Though it 

 is alfo clear, that the Italians are now as great ftrangers to 

 cold and froft, as thofe of Georgia or South-Carolina. 

 To account for this remarkable change, we muft go be- 

 yond the narrow limits of Italy; we muft traverfe the 

 face of Hungary, Poland and Germany, thofe vaft regions 

 to the northward of Rome. The Germans have certainly 

 made immenfe progrefs in population and agriculture, 

 fince Julius C^far with a few legions ovejran that coun- 

 try; for notwithftanding the elegance with which Caefar 

 defcribes his vidories, he certainly had to contend with a 

 fett of barbarians and favages, whofe country was rude 

 and uncultivated as their minds. The general face of thofe 

 kingdoms was covered with wild extenfive forrefts, a few 

 of which remain to this day. The fmall fcattered tribes 

 who occupied them, had done very little towards the per- 

 fedion of agriculture. From thefe uncultivated deferts 

 piercing North-Winds ufed to defcend in torrents on the 



flxivering Italian, thovigh his own little commonwealth 



were finely cultivated. No perfon need be informed how 

 numerous the nations are, who now inhabit Hungary, 

 Poland and Germany, or how generally thofe regions 

 are now cultivated, even to the very edge of the Baltic and 

 German Ocean, fo that if the cold is greatly moderated in 

 Germany, and the adjacent Northern ftates, which I be- 

 lieve is generally allowed, we may eafily perceive how It 

 fliould be moderated to a much greater degree in Italy, 

 which being in a low latitude was only annoyed by the 

 cold winds from the Northern kingdoms. For the air was 

 at that time fo cold over thofe uncultivated regions, that it 

 could e{fe£luaUy dcftroy the balance in the warmer atmof- 

 phere of Italy, which at prcfent is not the cafe. As 







J 



/ 



-^ 



