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way and Jutland, so that travellers passed with ease; and in Germany, 600 peasants were employed to clear away the snow, for the advance of the Austrian army.

In 1305, the rivers in Germany were frozen; and much distress was occasioned by the scarcity of provisions and forage.

In 1316, the crops wholly failed in Germany. Wheat, which some years before sold in England at six shillings a quarter, now rose to two pounds.

In 1323, the winter was so severe, that both horse and foot passengers travelled over the ice from Denmark to Lübeck and Dantzig.

In 1339, the crops failed in Scotland; and such a famine ensued, that the poorer sort of people were reduced to feed on grass, and many of them perished miserably in the fields. Yet in England, wheat was at this time sold so low as three shillings and fourpence a quarter.

In 1344, it was clear frost from November to March, and all the rivers in Italy were frozen over.

In 1392, the vineyards and orchards were destroyed by the frost, and the trees torn to pieces.

The year 1408 had one of the coldest winters ever remembered:-Not only the Danube was frozen over, but the sea between Gothland and Oeland, and between Norway and Denmark; so that wolves, driven from their forests, came over the ice into Jutland. In France, the vineyards and orchards were destroyed.

In 1423, both the North Sea and the Baltic were frozen. Travellers passed on foot from Lübeck to Dantzig. In France, the frost penetrated into the very cellars. Corn and wine failed, and men and cattle perished for want of food. The successive winters of 1432, 1433, and 1434, were uncommonly severe. It snowed forty days without interruption. All the rivers in Germany were frozen; and the very birds took shelter in the towns. The price of wheat rose, in England, to 27 shillings a quarter, but was reduced to 5 shillings in the following year.

In 1460, the Baltic was frozen, and both foot and horse passengers crossed over the ice from Denmark to Sweden. The Danube likewise continued frozen two months; and the vineyards in Germany were destroyed.

In 1468 the winter was so severe in Flanders, that the wine distributed to the soldiers was cut in pieces with hatchets. In 1544 the same thing happened again, the wine being frozen into solid lumps.

In 1548, the winter was very cold and protracted. Between Denmark and Rostock, sledges drawn by horses or oxen travelled over the ice.

In 1564, and again in 1565, the winter was extremely severe over all Europe. The Scheldt froze so hard as to support loaded waggons for three months,

In 1571, the winter was severe and protracted. All the rivers in France were covered with hard and solid ice; and fruit trees even in Languedoc were killed by the frost. In 1594, the weather was so severe, that the Rhine and the Scheldt were frozen, and even the sea at Venice.

The year 1608 was uncommonly cold, and snow lay of immense depth even at Padua. Wheat rose, in the Windsor market, from 36 to 56 shillings a quarter.

In 1621 and 1622, all the rivers of Europe were frozen, and even the Zuyder Zee. A sheet of ice covered the Hellespont; and the Venetian fleet was choked up in the lagoons. of the Adriatic.

In 1655 the winter was very severe, especially in Sweden. The excessive quantities of snow and rain which fell did great injury in Scotland.

The winters of 1658, 1659, and 1660, were intensely cold. The rivers in Italy bore heavy carriages; and so much snow had not fallen at Rome for several centuries. It was in 1658 that Charles X. of Sweden crossed the Little Belt, over the ice, from Holstein to Denmark, with his whole army, foot and horse, followed by the train of baggage and artillery. During these years, the price of grain was nearly doubled in England; a circumstance which contributed, among other causes, to the Restoration.

In 1670, the frost was most intense in England and in Denmark, both the Little and Great Belt being frozen. In 1684, the winter was excessively cold. Many forest trees, and even the oaks in England, were split by the frost. Most of the hollies were killed. Coaches drove along the Thames, which was covered with ice eleven inches thick. Almost all the birds perished.

In 1691, the cold was so excessive, that the famished wolves entered Vienna, and attacked the cattle, and even men. The winter of 1695 was extremely severe and protracted. The frost in Germany began in October, and continued till April; and many people were frozen to death. The years 1697 and 1699 were nearly as bad. In England, the price of wheat, which, in preceding years, had seldom reached to 30 shillings a quarter, now mounted to 71s. In 1709, occurred that famous winter, called, by distinction,

es.

the cold winter. All the rivers and lakes were frozen, and even the seas, to the distance of several miles from the shore. The frost is said to have penetrated three yards into the ground. Birds and wild beasts were strewed dead in the fields, and men perished by thousands in their housThe more tender shrubs and vegetables in England were killed; and wheat rose in its price from two to four pounds a quarter. In the south of France, the olive plantations were almost entirely destroyed; nor have they yet recovered that fatal disaster. The Adriatic Sea was quite frozen over, and even the coast of the Mediterranean about Genoa; and the citron and orange groves suffered extremely in the finest parts of Italy.

In 1716, the winter was very cold. On the Thames, booths were erected and fairs held.

In 1726, the winter was so intense, that people travelled in sledges across the Strait, from Copenhagen to the province of Scania in Sweden.

In 1729, much injury was done by the frost, which lasted from October till May. In Scotland, multitudes of cattle and sheep were buried in the snow; and many of the forest trees in other parts of Europe were killed.

The successive winters of 1731 and 1732 were likewise extremely cold.

The cold of 1740 was scarcely inferior to that of 1709. The snow lay 8 or 10 feet deep in Spain and Portugal. The Zuyder Zee was frozen over, and many thousand persons walked or skated on it. At Leyden, the thermometer fell 10 degrees below the zero of Fahrenheit's scale. All the lakes in England froze; and a whole ox was roasted on the Thames. Many trees were killed by the frost; and postillions were benumbed on their saddles.-In both the years 1709 and 1740, the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland ordained a national fast to be held on account of the dearth which then prevailed.

In 1744, the winter was again very cold. The Mayne was covered seven weeks with ice; and at Evora in Portugal, people could hardly creep out of their houses for heaps of

snow.

The winters during the five successive years 1745, 1746, 1747, 1748 and 1749, were all of them very cold.

In 1754 and again in 1755, the winter was particularly cold. At Paris, Fahrenheit's thermometer sank to the beginning of the scale; and, in England, the strongest ale exposed to the air in a glass, was covered, in less than a quarter of an hour, with ice an eighth of an inch thick.

The winters of 1766, 1767, and 1768, were very cold all over Europe. In France, the thermometer fell six degrees below the zero of Fahrenheit's scale. The large rivers and the most copious springs in many parts were frozen. The thermometer laid on the surface of the snow at Glasgow, fell two degrees below zero.

In 1771, the snow lay very deep, and the Elbe was frozen to the bottom.

In 1776 much snow fell, and the cold was intense. The Danube bore ice five feet thick below Vienna. Wine froze in the cellars, both in France and in Holland. Many people were frostbitten; and vast multitudes, both of the feathered and of the finny tribes, perished. Yet the quantity of snow which lay on the ground had checked the penetration of the frost. Van Swinden found, in Holland, that the earth was congealed to the depth of 21 inches, on a spot of a garden which had been kept cleared, but only 9 inches at another place near it, which was covered with 4 inches of snow. The successive winters of 1784 and 1785 were uncommonly severe, insomuch, that the Little Belt was frozen over. In 1789, the cold was excessive; and again in 1795, when the Republican armies of France overran Holland.

The successive winters of 1799 and 1800 were both very cold.

In 1809, and again in 1812, the winters were remarkably cold.

The years which were extremely hot and dry, will be more easily enumerated.

In 763, the summer was so hot that the springs dried up. In 870, the heat was so intense that, near Worms, the reapers dropt dead in the field.

In 993, and again in 994, it was so hot that the corn and fruit were burnt up.

The year 1000 was so hot and dry, that in Germany the pools of water disappeared, and the fish, being left to stink in the mud, bred a pestilence.

In 1022, the heat was so excessive that both men and cattle were struck dead.

In 1130, the earth yawned with drought. Springs and rivers
disappeared, and even the Rhine was dried up in Alsace.
In 1159, not a drop of rain fell in Italy after the month of
May.

The year 1171 was extremely hot in Germany.

In 1232, the heat was so great, especially in Germany, that it is said that eggs were roasted in the sands.

In 1260, many of the Hungarian soldiers died of excessive heat at the famous battle fought near Bela.

The consecutive years 1276 and 1277, were so hot and dry as to occasion a great scarcity of fodder.

The years 1293 and 1294 were extremely hot; and so were likewise 1303 and 1304, both the Rhine and the Danube having dried up.

In 1333, the corn fields and vineyards were burnt up.

The years 1393 and 1394 were excessively hot and dry.
In 1447, the summer was extremely hot.

• In the successive years 1473 and 1474, the whole earth seemed on fire. In Hungary, one could wade across the Danube.

The four consecutive years 1538, 1539, 1540 and 1541 were excessively hot, and the rivers dried up.

In 1556, the drought was so great that the springs failed. In
England, wheat rose from 8 shillings to 53 shillings a quarter.
The years 1615 and 1616 were very dry over Europe.
In 1646, it was excessively hot.

In 1652, the warmth was very great, the summer being the driest ever known in Scotland; yet a total eclipse of the sun had happened that year, on Monday the 24th of March, which hence received the appellation of Mirk Monday. The summer of 1679 was remarkably hot. It is related, that one of the minions of tyranny, who in that calamitous pe riod harassed the poor presbyterians in Scotland with captious questions, having asked a shepherd in Fife, whether the killing of the notorious Sharp, Archbishop of St. An drews, (which had happened in May,) was murder; he replied, that he could not tell, but there had been fine weather ever since.

The first year of the eighteenth century was excessively warm, and the two following years were of the same description.

It is a singular coincidence, that in 1718, at the distance precisely of one hundred years from the present, the weather was extremely hot and dry all over Europe. The air felt so oppressive, that all the theatres were shut in Paris. Scarcely any rain fell for the space of nine months, and the springs and rivers were dried up. The following year was equally hot. The thermometer at Paris rose to 98 degrees by Fahrenheit's scale. The grass and corn were quite parched. In some places, the fruit trees blossomed two or three times.

Both the years 1723 and 1724 were dry and hot.

The year 1745 was remarkably warm and dry, but the following year was still hotter; insomuch, that the grass wither

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