OF 



SELBORNE. 



141 



was strange, but not pleasant ; it seemed 

 to convey an uncomfortable idea of deso- 

 lation: 



" ■ ipsa silentia terrent." 



On the 27th much snow fell all day, and 

 in the evening the frost became very in- 

 tense. At South Lamheth, for the four fol- 

 lowing nights, the thermometer fell to 11, 

 7, 6, 6 ; and at Selborne to 7, 6, 10 ; and 

 on the 31st of January, just before sun-rise, 

 with rime on the trees and on the tube of 

 the glass, the quicksilver sunk exactly to 

 zero, being 32 degrees below the freezing 

 point : but by eleven in the morning, 

 though in the shade, it sprung up to 16^* 

 — a most unusual degree of cold this for 

 the south of England! During these four 



* At Selhorne 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 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. 



