ra THE NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 243 
were somewhat damaged, but only in hot aspects. No ever- 
greens were quite destroyed; and not half the damage sustained 
that befell in January, 1768. Those laurels that were a little 
scorched on the south sides were perfectly untouched on their 
north sides. The care taken to shake the snow day by day 
from the branches seemed greatly to avail the author’s ever- 
greens. A neighbor’s laurel-hedge, in a high situation, and 
facing to the north, was perfectly green and vigorous; and the 
Portugal laurels remained unhurt. 
As to the birds, the thrushes and blackbirds were mostly 
destroyed ; and the partridges, by the weather and poachers, 
were so thinned that few remained to breed the following year. 
LETTER LVIII. 
_ As the frost in December, 1784, was very extraordinary, you, 
I trust, will not be displeased to hear the particulars; and 
especially when I promise to say no more about the severities 
of winter after I have finished this letter. 
The first week in December was very wet, with the barometer 
very low. On the 7th, with the barometer at 28.5°, came on 
a vast snow, which continued all that day and the next, and 
mosf part of the following night; so that by the morning 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 gth 
the air began to be so very sharp that we thought it would be 
curious to attend to the motions of a thermometer; we there- 
fore 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 roth, in the morning, the quicksilver of 
