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 thirty shillings a quarter, now amounted to seventy-one shillings.

In 1709, occurred that famous winter, called, by distinction, 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 houses. The more tender shrubs and vegetables in England were killed; and wheat rose in price from two pounds 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 coasts of the Mediterranean about Genoa; and the citron and orange trees 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 eight or ten 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 ten 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 posulions were benumbed on their

saddles. In both the years 1709, and 1740, the Genera. Assembly of the Church of Scotland ordained a national fast to be held, on account of the dearth which then prewailed.

In 1744, the winter was again very cold. The Mayne was covered seven weeks with ice; and at Evora, in Portugal, people could not 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 winters were particularly cold. At Paris, Fahrenheit's thermometer sunk 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 most copious springs in many parts, were frozen to the bottom. The thermometer laid on the surface of the snow at Glasgow, fell two degrees below Zero.

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 frost-bitten, 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 twentyone inches, on a spot of garden which had been kept cleared, but only nine inches at another place near it, which was covered with four inches of snow.

The successive winters of 1784, and 1785, were uncommonly severe, inasmuch, that the Little Belt was frozen over.

In 1789, the cold was excessive; and again in 1795, when the Republican armies of France over-ran 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

dried up.

so hot, that the springs

In 870, the heat was so intense, that near Worms, the reapers dropt dead in the fields.

In 993, and 994, it 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 exces sive 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 excessively 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 eight shillings to fifty-three shillings a quarter.

The years 1615, and 1616, were very dry over Europe. In 1646 it was extremely hot.

In 1652 the warmth was very great, the summer being the dryest ever known in Scotland; yet a total eclipse of

he 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, one of the minions of tyranny, who, in that calamitous period harassed the poor presbyterians in Scotland

'th captious questions, having asked a shepherd in Fife, whether the killing of the notorious Sharp, archbishop of St. Andrews, (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 circumstance, that in 1718, at the distance precisely of 100 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 dry and hot, but the following year was still hotter, insomuch, that the grass withered, and the leaves dropt from the trees. Neither rain nor dew fell for several months; and, on the Continent prayers were offered up in the churches, to implore the bounty of refreshing showers.

In 1748 the summer was again very warm.

In 1754 it was likewise extremely warm.

The year 1760 and 1761, were both of them remarkably hot; and so was the year 1763.

In 1774, it was excessively hot and dry.

Both the years 1778, and 1779, were warm and very dry.

The year 1788 was also very hot and dry; and of the same character was 1811, famous for its excellent vintage, and distinguished by the appearance of a brilliant comet.

HOLY LAND.

JERUSALEM, according to Josephus, was the capital of Melchisedek's dominions, called Salem in the book of Genesis; and the Arabs assert, that it was built in honour of Melchisedek by twelve neighbouring princes.

satisfactory account is given of it, however, till the time of King David, who wrested it from the Jebusites, and made it the capital of his kingdom.

From this time it flourished under the peculiar blessing of the Deity, till the iniquity and ingratitude of the Jews provoked their Divine Patron to pour out his judgments upon them, and to give his holy city into the hands of the heathen. It was first reduced, in the days of Joash, by Hazael, king of Syria, who massacred all the nobility, but did not destroy the city. It was afterwards taken by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, who destroyed it, and carried the inhabitants into captivity. Seventy years after this event, it was rebuilt by permission of Cyrus, king of Persia; and it continued to be the capital of Judea (though frequently suffering from the monarchs of Syria and Egypt) till the time of Vespasian, emperor of Rome, when our Saviour's awful predictions were accomplished in its utter destruction.

It was rebuilt by Adrian, and seemed likely to have recovered something of its former grandeur; being surrounded with walls, and adorned with several handsome buildings. But this appears to have been a short-lived change; for when the Empress Helena, mother of Constantine the Great, visited the city, she found it in a most ruinous condition. Having formed a design of restoring it to its pristine lustre, she ordered all the rubbish that had been thrown upon Mount Calvary to be removed, and caused a magnificent church to be built, which enclosed several of the scenes of our Redeemer's sufferings.

The vile apostate Julian formed a design of re-building the temple of Jerusalem, and of restoring the Jewish worship, in order to give the lie to the prophecies of our