The morning star and Catholic messenger., 1879-01-12

| scene or bonfires and diversions, elabo
rately described on later occasions b;
writer's whose passages are as familiar t
English readers of this day as the etoriel
OF the Great Plagu and Great Fire. Som,
Shakspearean commentators think tha
they have found in this unwonted scene o
hre upon ice the source of the inspiration
Of some of the Bard of Avon's images, and
would use this as evidence to settle the
| date OF the composition of q play. The
winter of 1884, was terribly cold. "Tbe
forest trees aud even the oaks split by the
| frost ; most of tho hollies were killed
| the Thames was covered with ice eleven
| inches thick, and nearly all the birds per-
ished." The frost," according to a citi.
zen's diary, "began in the middle of
| Thames as in fair till February A, 1854
About forty coaches daiv piled on the
Thames as on dry land. Bought this book
at shop upon the ice in the middle of the
Thames" In the winter of 1909 there
was three months frost with heavy snow,
ana In l7l6 q fair was held on the Thames
| and oxen were roasted whole upon the ice.
Coaches piled from Westmic SER to the
Temple, and from other stairs to and fro
as In the streets, 81 that it seemed to me a
Bacchanallan triumph, or carnival on the
water, while, It was severe judgmgut on
the land" ASain. in the famous "hard
winter OF l74D, there was another Frost
Fair on the TAames which lasted for nine
weeks, during which period coaches pli ed
regularly on the frozen surface and the
usual amusemeuts were enjoyed. II was
IN this winter that the famous ice palace
with all lts fornitGre of natures crystal
was built on the ice at st. PETERSBURG
December, 1876. was remarkably cold :;
on Christmas Day the thermometer in
London marked 16 degrees below zero,
the greatest cold registered up to that,time
% the thirteenth of~JAnuary, 1910, the
quicksilver was frozen solid at Moscow.
The winter of 1912, daring which n apole.
on's armv struggled home from Russia,
leaving 4oOO 600 dead men to mark the
track it had taken, was very cold one.
The soldiers were literally frOzen stiff in
circles as they lay or sat round their
bivouac fires. In 1914 England endured a
winter of exceptional severity. The por
treeve OF TavlssOck set out to take the
oath OF Office at the quarter sessions, thicty-
two miles away, and, as the "Annual
Register" records, was stnpoed by snow
and ice after proceeding twenty one miles
and imprisoned in q little hamlet for
twenty six days without communication
with the outer world. Soldiers marching
from town to town were frozen to death on
the road. The snow drifted in the streets
to such height that ali the shopa we're
closed |; by the middle of January London
Bridge was blocked, but that made no
difference, for the Thames was completely
frozen over few days later, when a Frost
Fair was opened on the river and q bull |
lock roasted whole. For many days there
were no mails, though the post office put
forth all its powers to compel oveeseers
and parochial authorities to clear the high |
ways, and sent agents down into The |
country to dig roads along which toiled |
mail coaches drawn by ten horses. No
coal could get to London, and when the |
householder's supply of fuel gave out there
was nothing for him to do but to shiver AID |
wait. 1t was difficult even to reach the |
butcher shop where there were neither
fowls nor vegetables to be had. In 1860
England experienced probably her coldest |
weather. From the 23l to the 30.h of |
December the cold was intense. At Tor
Iuay the mercury went down to 30 degrees
below zsro. Iu Hyde Park it was st II
legrees, and letter in the Times recorded
hat horse had been seen "with icicles at
lis nose three inches in length and as thick
q three fingers" q sight by no means
Uncommon in Lower Canada. The Thames
vas partially frozen in it's tidal reaches,
sd from Teddington Lock to it's most re-
0 ten or even twelve inches in thick ness.
katlng parties were arranged for journeys
rom Oxford to London and back, and the
ear IN question will always be memorable
mong skaters as the one in which round I
eeied irons finally supe-seded all others.
n the 91n OF January, 1861 there were
ontires and grand displays Of fireworks on
le ice in ST James'A and the other parks.
sDuAry, 1867, was another cold month,
Tow and ice practically suspending tr0ho J
; London for several days, though people t
fered cabmen fares Of Is and 90 shillings c
mile. 1t was on the 18Th that the ice 10 c
egent's Park gave way beneath some 500 &
,aters, of whom forty one were dro Wned. '
ill another cold season WAS the winter of #
7O-l, during which the Door peonle of
aris and the illy-eqnipped Republican
vies of Gambetta suffered SO severely S
7E DUc4TIoNAL LIBERTY OF IRE a