[ 66 ] 
I am afhamed to be obliged to date fo many au- 
thorities ; but, as the proof entirely arifes from many 
fuch concurrent padages, I fhall now fupport the 
tedimony of Virgil by that of two naturalifts, who 
were either Italians, or redded in Italy. 
Pliny, in a chapter, De natura ccsli ad arbores , and 
fpeaking of Italian trees, fays, “ Alioqui arborum 
“ frugumque communia funt, nives diutinas Jedere 
Lib. XVII. cap. 2. 
But perhaps the dronged proof of that very re- 
markable faCt, the Italian rivers being condantly 
frozen over, is to be collected from a chapter in Ailian, 
which con fids entirely of indruCtions how to catch 
eels, whild the water is covered with ice : to this, 
without troubling you with a long citation, I (ball 
barely refer. (See Lib. XIV. de Animal, cap. 29.) 
Now, if we may believe the concurrent accounts of 
modern travellers, it would be almod as ridiculous to 
advife a method of catching fifh in the rivers of Italy, 
which depended entirely upon their commonly being 
frozen over, as it would be to give fuch directions 
to an inhabitant of Jamaica. 
I likewife cannot find that the precautions, which 
Virgil gives in his Georgies, againftthe damage which 
fheep and goats might receive from the fnow and 
froft, are now neceflary ; and both thefe animals 
are known to Hand the levered winters of the High- 
than its coolnefs, which is the circumftance moft attended to, 
ever, in our northern climate. 
He alfo mentions, that the fituation was not warm enough 
either for olives or mirtle ; and that the laurus (which, whether it 
be the bay or laurel , bears our climate, except in feafons of ex- 
traordinary feverity) would not then frequently Hand the whole 
vrinter, neither at Lauren tinum, nor near the town of Rome. 
lands 
