OF SELBORNF.. 



145 



cially when I promise to say no more about 

 the severities of Winter after I have finished 

 this letter* 



The first vv^eek in December was very wet, 

 with the barometer very low. On the 7th, 

 with the barometer at 28 — five tenths, 

 came on a vast snow, which continued all 

 that day and the next, and most part of 

 the following night ; so that by the morn- 

 ing of the 9th the works of men were quite 

 overwhelmed, the lanes filled so as to be 

 impassable, and the ground covered twelve 

 or fifteen inches without any drifting. In 

 the evening of the 9th the air began to be 

 so very sharp that we thought it would be 

 curious to attend to the motions of a ther- 

 mometer ; we therefore hung out two ; one 

 made by Martin and one by Dollond, which 

 soon began to show us what we were to 

 expect; for, by ten o'clock, they fell to 21, 

 and at eleven to 4, when we went to bed. 

 On the 10th, in the morning, the quick- 

 silver of Dollond'^ glass was down to half a 

 degree below zero; and that of Martm% 

 which was absurdly graduated only to four 



VOL. TI. L 



