in the Tempei'ature of JF'mter. 11- 



rature oT an -open country, and the artificial one of a city. 

 The same difference >will not run through the observa- 

 tions of the whole year, but it will amount to two or 

 three degrees. I am inclined to believe this to be the 

 source of great errors, in comparing meteorological ob- 

 servations in different countries. 



If the ordinary winter temperature at Rome is near the 

 freezing point, w^e are at no loss to account for the snow 

 and ice of Italy in ancient times. In all countries, and 

 in every latituile, hills and mountains are cooler than 

 plains. This difference is according to the difference of 

 altitude ; but between Rome, in a plain, near the sea, 

 and the Appenines, it cannot be less than from six to ten 

 degrees. Thus while at Rome and in Campania gene- 

 rally, the weather is mild, and exhibits little or no ice, 

 the whole ridge of mountains between Tuscany and Na- 

 ples, that region of Italy which furnished the pasturage, 

 .and for which the directions in Virgil's Georgics were 

 intended, is covered v/ith snow, and experiences severe 

 frosts. This was not only the fact in Virgil's time, but 

 is so at this day. Mr. Arthur Young, a distinguished 

 agriculturist, travelled in Italy in November and De- 

 cember 1789. In passing the Appenines, between Flor- 

 ence and Bologna, the first days of December, he found 

 the hills almost covered with snow ; and the roads, on 

 some decli\'ities, a sheet of ice. On the 26th of No- 

 vember, the w^eather w^as so severe as to freeze Cyprus 

 wine, and milk burst the vessels that contained it. In 

 Lombardy, he found the peasantry at night, sitting in a 

 passage between their cattle, in the stables, to keep 

 themselves w^arm ; a practice resembling that in Pales- 

 tine, already mentioned.* 



It is well known also that the higher regions of mount 

 Etna in Sicily, a far milder climate than that of Italy, 

 are perpetually covered with snow. 



That the descriptions of ice and snow, in the Augus- 

 tan age, allude principally to the hilly countr}", is very 

 obvious from the writings of Virgil, Horace, and Pliny. 



* Young's Tour, Vol. i. p. 5L6. Dub. 1793. 



