But the
metropolis itself exhibited a still more singular appearance than the
country; for, being bedded deep in snow, the pavement of the
streets could not be touched by the wheels or the horses' feet, so
that the carriages ran about without the least noise. Such an
exception from din and clatter was strange, but not pleasant; it
seemed to convey an uncomfortable idea of desolation:
... ipsa silentia terrent.
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, 7, 6, 6; and at Selborne to 7, 6,
10; and on the 31st January, just before sunrise, with rime on the
trees and on the tube of the glass, the quicksilver sunk exactly to
zero, being 32 degrees below the freezing point; but by eleven in
the morning, though in the shade, it sprung up to 16.5 * -- 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 chambers and under beds; and in the day the wind was so
keen that persons of robust constitutions could scarcely endure to
face it.
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