sky-larks settled in the
streets of towns, because they saw the ground was bare; rooks frequented
dung-hills close to houses; hares now came into men's gardens, and
scraping away the snow, devoured such plants as they could find.

On the 22nd, the author had occasion to go to London; through a sort
of Laplandian scene very wild and grotesque indeed. But the metropolis
itself exhibited a still more singular appearance than the country; for,
being bedded deep in snow, the pavement could not be touched by the
wheels or the horses' feet, so that the carriages ran about without the
least noise. Such an exemption from din and clatter was strange, but not
pleasant; it seemed to convey an uncomfortable idea of desolation.

On the 27th, much snow fell all day, and in the evening the frost became
very intense. At South Lambeth, for the four following nights, the
thermometer fell to 11 deg., 7 deg., 0 deg., 6 deg.; and at Selborne to 7 deg., 6 deg., 10 deg.; and
on the 31st of January, just before sunrise, with rime on the trees, and
on the tube of the glass, the quicksilver sunk exactly to zero, being
32 deg. below freezing point; but by eleven in the morning, though in the
shade, it sprung up to 16-1/2 deg.--a most unusual degree of cold this
for the south of England. During these four nights the cold was so
penetrating that it occasioned ice in warm and protected chambers; and
in the day the wind was so keen that persons of robust constitutions
could scarcely endure to face it. The Thames was at once so frozen over,
both above and below the bridge, that crowds ran about on the ice. The
streets were now strangely encumbered with snow, which crumbled and trod
dusty, mid, turning gray, resembled bay-salt; what had fallen on the
roofs was so perfectly dry, that from first to last it lay twenty-six
days on the houses in the city--a longer time than had been remembered
by the oldest housekeepers living. According to all appearances, we
might now have expected the continuance of this rigorous weather for
weeks to come, since every night increased in severity; but behold,
without any apparent on the 1st of February a thaw took place, and some
rain followed before night; making good the observation, that frosts
often go off, as it were, at once, without any gradual declension of
cold. On the 2nd of February, the thaw persisted; and on the 3rd, swarms
of little insects were frisking and sporting in a court-yard at South
Lambeth, as if th