294 WINTEB OF 1776. 



evening fclie frost became very intense. At Soutli Lambeth, 

 for the four following nights, the thermometer fell to 11, 7, 

 6, 6 ; and at Selborne to 7, 6, 10 ; and on the 31st of Ja- 

 nuary, just before sunrise, .with rime on the trees, and on 

 the tube of the glass, the quicksilver sunk exactly to zero, 

 being 32 degrees below the freezing poiut ; but by eleven in 

 the morning, though iu the shade, it sprung up to 16J* — 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 iu warm chambers, and under beds ; and in 

 the day the wind was so keen, that persons of robust consti- 

 tutions could scarcely endure to face it. The Thames was 

 at once so frozen over, both above and below the bridge, 

 , that crowds ran about on the ice. The streets were now 

 strangely encumbered with snow, which crumbled and trode 

 dusty ; and, turning gray, resembled bay-salt ; what had 

 feJlen on the roofs was so 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 house- 

 keepers living. According to all appearances, we might now 

 have expected the continuance of this rigorous weather for 

 weeks to come, since every night increased in severity ; but 

 behold, without any apparent cause, on the first of Pebruary, 

 a thaw took place, and some raia followed before night ; 

 making good the observation above, that frosts often go off, 

 as it were at once, without any gradual declension of cold. 

 On the second of February, the thaw persisted ; and on the 

 third, swarms of little insects were frisking and sporting in 

 a court-yard at South Lambeth, as if they had felt no 

 frost. Why the juices in the small bodies and smaller limbs 

 of such minute beings are not frozen, is a matter of curious 

 inquiry.t 



* At Selbome, the cold was greater than at any other place that the author 

 could hear of with, certainty ; though some reported at the time, that, at a 

 village at Kent, the thermometer fell two degrees below zero, viz. thirty-four 

 degrees below the freezing point. 



The thermometer used at Selborne was graduated by Benjamin Martin. 



•)■ "We have the best evidence to prove that both fish and molluscous animals 

 may be frozen without destroying their vitality. A gentleman at Camberwell 

 had an inHamed eye during the w;inter of 1829, and kept a leech which was 

 applied to the temple several times. It was put into water in a vial placed 

 near the fireplace 'ef the parlour. The cold at that time was very severe, and 



