•twenty-five degrees below froft •, in the morning fome 
little fnow fell, but the violence of the wind carried 
it off-, but cold ftill increafing, the waters were all 
, frozen over, and that day it was fo intenfe, as to 
freeze the water of the river, which was raifed by the 
force of the wind into ice, before it fell down again. 
The wind continued to blow with the lame force, and 
from the fame quarter, all the 30th day, the cold 
Hill increafing, fo that at this time the froft penetrated 
into moft of the green -houfrs in England, but efpe- 
cially into all thofe whofe fronts had the leaft incli- 
nation to the eaft and fuch of them as fronted the 
fouth-weft efcaped heft, where the back walls were of 
a fufficient thicknefs to keep out the froft the fpirits 
in the thermometer fell in the night of the 30th day 
to thirty-two degrees below the freezing point, which 
was lower than it had been known in England be- 
fore the violence of the wind made it very trouble- 
fome for perfons of the moft robuft conftitutions to 
be abroad, and this alfo caufed the froft to penetrate 
through thick walls, and in the fpace of two days, 
the Evergreen-trees and ftirubs appeared as if they had 
been fcorched by fire, fo that they feemed to have no 
life ; the only trees of all the forts of Evergreens 
which retained their verdure at this time, were the 
Portugal Laurel, Savin, and fhrubby Hartwood ; 
thefe in the midft of this fevere froft remained un- 
hurt, when all the others were as brown as if they 
had been dead a year ; and it was very late in the 
fpring, before any of them refumed their ufual ver- 
dure : during thefe fevere days there had but little 
fnow fallen, fo that the froft penetrated deep in the 
ground, and deftroyed the roots of great part of the 
vegetables* where they were not well fecured; the 
Artichoke roots were moft of them killed in all the 
kitchen-gardens* fome few only efcaped, thefe were 
fuch as were not intended to be preferved. A fingle 
row of thefe roots, which were growing in a place 
where a great quantity of dung had been wheeled 
over them, whereby the ground was rendered as hard 
as that of a common foot-way, though there was no 
covering upon thefe roots, yet they furvived the froft 
and did well another parcel which was growing near 
a tan-yard, where, by accident, fome tan had been 
thrown, were preferved, fo that from fome of thefe 
accidents we were fo lucky as to retrieve the good 
kind of Artichoke, which the Englilh gardens were 
fo famous for being ftocked with. 
By the fharp piercing winds the Grafs was almoft to- 
tally burned up, fo that there was not the leaft ver- 
dure to be feen in the fields, and in many places the 
fweeteft and belt kinds of the herbage were entirely 
killed* fo that there remained only the ftrong rough 
kinds of grafs, whereby the paftures were in general 
much damaged-, but on the 31ft day in the evening, 
the wind being much abated, the feverity of the froft 
was not fo great, and there feemed an appearance of 
a thaw on the firft and fecond of January, but on the 
third in the evening the froft fet in again with great 
violence; and on the fourth of January in the morn- 
ing, the thermometer was fallen one degree lower 
than it had been before. The fame morning there 
was the greateft hoary froft which had been feen, the 
woods, trees, and hedges, appeared as if they had 
been covered with fnow-, and although there was no 
wind ftirring, yet the air was fo fharp and penetrating, 
as to render it difficult to endure the cold, even with 
great exercife. 
The timber-trees fiiffered greatly that morning, ef- 
peciaily the Oaks, which were fplit with great vio- 
lence ; and the noife in the woods that morning, re- 
fembled that of great branches breaking down in 
every part of the woods, and when heard at a dif- 
tance, like the firing of guns. This was little at- 
tended to at the time, but the timber which has been 
fince fallen, fufficiently proves the great damage 
which the woods then fuftained ; nor was it here the 
calamity flopped, for the Oaks in general had re- 
ceived fo much injury from the froft, as to occafion 
fuch a weaknefs and di (temper among them, that the 
5 
following fpring they were infefted with in feels to 
fuch a degree, as that their leaves were eaten and en- 
tirely deftroyed by them \ fo that at Midfummer the 
trees were as naked as if it had been the beginning 
of April -, and this diflemper continued for two years 
after, almoft as bad as at firft, and has .leffened by 
degrees, as the trees have recovered their ftrength ; 
and where the trees were old and weak, they have 
not yet gotten the better of this diflemper. 
The herbage was alfo fo much weakened by the fe- 
verity of the froft, as not to be able to refill the at- 
tack made upon it by infefls, fo that innumerable 
quantities of them were difeovered in the paftures in 
many parts of Europe, beginning firft in the northern 
countries, and afterward fpreading to the fouth and 
thefe infedls in many places were fo numerous; as to 
deftroy the fward of Grafs, and it is to be feared the 
diflemper which fo long raged among the cattle may- 
have been owing to this caufe *, for wherever the dif- 
temper fpread, it has been obferved, that numbers of 
thefe infefts have harboured about the roots of the 
Grafs : and as a farther proof of this, it has con- 
ftantly been remarked, that, when thefe grubs ate 
changed into a fort of beetle, and take their flight 
(which is commonly about the beginning of May,) 
the diflemper ceafes -, and when thefe beetles have 
depofited their eggs in autumn, the diflemper has 
raged again. Another remark has been made, that 
thefe beetles always chufe to depofit their eggs not 
at a great diftance from rivers, or large pieces of 
water, and in fuch places the cattle have been moft 
attacked. There might be many other circumftances 
mentioned in favour of this opinion, as alfo the fe- 
veral experiments which have been made by fome of 
the members of the Academy of Sciences at Paris, 
which are fufficient to prove, that the diftemper was 
not infedious, nor can be communicated by the 
cattle, notwithftanding it has been treated as fuch in 
many countries, where has been an immenfe lofs to the 
public of fuch numbers of cattle and their hides ; but 
this may require a particular treatife, therefore I fhall 
not enlarge farther on this head at prefent. 
The froft ftill continued very hard till toward the 
end of January, but not fo violent as at the beginning j 
for had the wind continued to blow with fo much 
force as it had done the three firft days of the froft, 
for any confiderable time longer, there would have 
been few vegetables able to have refilled the cold, 
nor would the animal kingdom have fared much 
better ; for the cold was fo intenfe during thofe few 
days, as to kill feveral of the weaker fort of cattle, 
where they were much expofed to the wind. 
The Walnut-trees, Afh, and feveral other trees, had. 
moft of their fhoots of the former year deftroyed, 
which caufed them to be very late before they put out 
their new fhoots the following fpring, and thefe fhoots 
were produced from the two and three years branches. 
The Fig-trees in many places were killed almoft to 
the ground, efpecialiy thofe which were growing 
againft the beft afpeded walls, for thofe on the north 
and north-weft afpe&s, as alfo the old ftandard Fig- 
trees efcaped better ; but all thofe ftools and layers of 
thefe trees, which were growing in the nurfery-gar- 
dens, were fo much injured by the froft, as not to be 
recovered under three years, during which time there 
were fcarce any of thefe plants to be fold. The layers 
of Vines, as alfo of the Oriental Plane-tree, in the 
nurferies, were likewife killed to the ground, and the 
old ftools fo much. injured, that they had better have 
been dug up and thrown away, than to have con- 
tinued them;, for in ten years after they did not recover 
their former vigour, making their fhoots fo late in 
the fummer, that their wood had not time to harden, 
and the firft froft in autumn frequently killed them 
half way to the ground. 
Many other deciduous trees were equal fufferers by 
this fevere froft, and the Evergreens were more ge- 
nerally injured, and abundance of them killed. The 
Pine and Pinafter were fo much hurt, as to lofe all 
their verdure, and in fome places the young plants of 
the 
