B74 LON 
yielding'a furplus of i,ooi,oool. over the receipts of the 
con'efpor.ding quarter of 1813. The property-taxes have 
produced near 200,000k more. The cuftoms have fallen 
off to the amount of 355.000I. but, on the other hand, the 
excife has experienced an increafe of near 700,000. 
1814.—The lad year concluded, and this year began, 
yrith fuch a fog as had been known in the memory of few. 
The denfity of the atmofphere during the day, and the 
heavy fog at night, during a whole week, in London and 
many miles round, were very remarkable, and occafioned 
feveral accidents. On Monday evening, the 27th, his 
royal bighnefs the prince-regent left town, intending to 
proceed to Hatfield, on his way to Belvoir Caftle, to (land 
godfather to the duke of Rutland’s infant fon and heir; 
the fog, however, was fo denfe in the metropolis, and for 
feveral miles round, that he was obliged to return. Lord 
Lowther was in one carriage with the prince, and Gen. 
.Turner ir. a fecond: they had not got further than about 
a mile from Tottenham-court-road, when an outrider was 
thrown off into a ditch. The fame night, the mails and 
other coaches were delayed unufually long, and proceeded 
on their way with great difficulty and danger. Many 
coaches were overturned ; the York mail twice, near Ware, 
irotwithlfanding the guard and paffengers walked to keep 
it in the road. The Maidenhead coach, on its return 
from town, milTed the road, and was alfo overturned. 
The daughter of Mr. Griffiths, a publican in Deptford, 
fell into the Surry canal, and was drowned. On Tuefday 
night, Dec. 28, a watchman in the pariffi of Marybone 
fell down an area, and was found dead the next morning ; 
and on Thurfday night, the 30th, a ferjeant of the Welt 
Kent militia garrifoned in the Tower, fell into the liver, 
and was drowned. There had been no inftance of fuch 
a fog as now pervaded the metropolis, extending many 
miles round, fince the earthquake at Lifbon, 1755, when 
this country was vifited by a fog which had not been 
equalled for a century before, lafting eight days. On 
Saturday afternoon, Jan. 1, between two and four, the 
obfeurity was greater than it had been during the day¬ 
time fince the commencement, and the evening was equally 
bad with any that had preceded. On Sunday, however, 
the fog difappeared, in confequence of a change of the 
wind 5 and a froft then fet in, alrnoft as unexampled in 
its duration and feverity as the fog had been for its den¬ 
fity. 
The froft, which fet in on Monday the 3d of January, 
continued with great intenfity till Wednefday the 26th, 
when a partial thaw commenced, which however did not 
continue longer than the Saturday following, when its 
progrefs was arrefted by a fharp froft which fet in on that 
night. The thaw had fent fuch a quantity of ice down 
the river as completely to choke up the Thames be¬ 
tween Blackfriars and London bridges, and the renewed 
froft fo united the vaft mafles as- to render it immoveable 
by the tide. On Monday the 31ft feveral adventurous 
perfons of light weight croiled the river ; and their exam¬ 
ple was followed by a multitude of boys, many of whom, 
from the rottennefs of the connecting ice, particularly near 
Blackfriars’Bridge, did not efcape without an unwelcome 
immerfion. After that period, the ice between the two 
bridges prefented the novel feene of thoufands of perfons 
moving on it in ali directions. Midway between the two 
bridges, and nearly oppoiite Queenhithe, above thirty 
booths were ereCted, for the fale of porter, fpirits, ginger¬ 
bread, &c. Skittles were played by feveral parties, and 
the drinking-tents filled by females and their companions, 
dancing reels, while others fat round large fires, drinking 
rum, grog, and other fpirits. Several tradefmen alfo at¬ 
tended, felling books, toys, and trinkets, of every deferip- 
tion. Several printers, having brought their prerfes, pulled 
eft’ various impreffions, which they fold for a trifle. Among 
the paths for the convenience of perambulation, the prin¬ 
cipal was dignified with the appellation of the City Road ; 
and an infeription lfated, “Ground to be let on a build- 
ing-leafe; enquire of Mr. Froft.” The booths extended 
D O N. 
down to London Bridge, under the centre-arches of which 
numerous fpeCtators were to be feen. The watermen and 
coal-heavers did not fail to benefit by this curiofity, as the 
progrefs of the vifitors was much facilitated by their Am¬ 
ple inventions at the different flairs and elfewhere, and 
they were at much trouble to beat footways in different 
directions. On Thurfday, Feb. 3, a flieep was roafted, or 
rather burnt, over a charcoal fire, in a large iron pan. The 
admiffion to the booth where this culinary (kill was dif- 
played, was 6d. a-head. The ice, from its roughnefs and 
inequalities, having been in many places covered fe- 
veral feet with fnow, was totally unfit for fkaiting or Aid¬ 
ing.—-The tide, from the obftruCfion at London-Bridge, 
did not ebb for fome days more than half the ufual marks. 
On Thurfday the 3d, a plumber, named Davis, attempt¬ 
ing to crofs near Blackfriars’ Bridge with fome lead in his 
hand, funk between two mafles of ice, and rofe no more. 
—On the 5th, a thaw again took place; and Kingfton- 
bridge, which had been built upwards of 300 years, gave 
way by the confequent preffure of the ice. Between high 
and low pier it funk near three feet, which rendered it im- 
paffable for carriages.—In the night, or rather morning,an 
accident happened on the Thames, which threatened fe- 
rious confequences. A booth, which had been ereCted op- 
polite Brookes’s Wharf, for the accommodation of the cu¬ 
rious, was left in the care of two men. At two o’clock on 
Sunday morning, the 6th, the tide began to flow at London 
Bridge with great rapidity, affifted by the thaw, and the 
booth was hurried along, with the quicknefs of lightning, 
towards Blackfriars’Bridge. There were nine men in the 
booth ; and in their alarm at the violence of their progrefs 
they neglected the fire and candles, which, communicat¬ 
ing with the covering, fet it inftantly in a flame. They 
fucceeded in getting into a lighter which had been broken 
from its moorings; but immediately afterwards it was 
dallied to pieces againft the arches of Blackfriars’ Bridge. 
The poor fellows, nearly exhaufted, at length got hold of 
the baluftrades, and fo efcaped.—The froft fet in again on 
the nth, and continued till the morning of the 28th, when 
a thaw again commenced, and continued till the ad of 
March ; after which the froft again fet in fliarply, and on 
the 10th the fnow again fell copiouily, and continued fo 
to do till the 13th. The froft continued till the 19th of 
March, when the wind fliifted fuddenly from north-ealt 
to fouth-eaft; and on the 20th the temperature was ten 
degrees warmer. 
So long a continuance of very cold weather has feldom 
been experienced in our climate; but greater degrees of 
cold have been known often. The average height of the 
thermometer for Jan. and Feb. 1814 was 17°. On the 31ft 
of January, 176S, Fahrenheit’s thermometer at Glafgow 
was 2 degrees below o; or 34 0 below the freezing point; 
on the 24th of January 1795, the thermometer is noticed 
in Rees’s Cyclopaedia to have fallen 6° below o, but in 
what part of Great Britain, or what fituation, is not ftated 
In London, during this winter (1814), the thermometer 
does not appear to have been fo low as o ; on the 9th of 
January it was but 3 0 above o, and on the 15th, 4 0 , in a 
louthern expofed afpeCt, fifteen feet from the ground: the 
average height about 17 0 . There was not much piercing 
wind ; but the great quantity of fnow was the means of 
coni'olidating the mafles of ice on the Thames. 
The fnow accumulated in the midland counties, parti¬ 
cularly on the borders of Northamptonfliire and Warwick- 
Ihire, to a height altogether unprecedented. In the neigh¬ 
bourhood of Dunchurch, (a imall village on the road to 
Birmingham through Coventry,) and fora few miles round 
that place, in all directions, the drifts exceeded the height 
of feur-and-twenty feet.—At Newcaltle tiie froft was I'o 
intenfe, that Fahrenheit’s thermometer, on the town-moor, 
was 14 degrees below the freezing point; and in a garden 
at Ravenfworth it was at 18. At York it was 28 degrees 
below the freezing point. The River Tyne was long fro¬ 
zen both above and below the bridge. It will be a me¬ 
morable circumftance, that I'o large and rapid a river Ihould 
3 hay* 
