Shower of Ice.—A very uncommon kind of shower fell in the west of England, in December 1672, whereof we have various accounts in the Philos. Trans.—“This rain, as soon as it touched any thing above ground, as a bough or the like, immediately settled into ice; and, by multiplying and enlarging the icicles, broke every thing down by its weight. The rain that fell on the ground immediately became frozen, without sinking into the snow at all. It made an incredible destruction of trees, beyond any thing mentioned in history. Had it concluded with a gust of wind, (says a gentleman who was on the spot,) it might have been of terrible consequence. I weighed the sprig of an ash tree, of just three-quarters of a pound, the ice on which weighed sixteen pounds. Some were frightened with the noise in the air, till they discerned that it was the clatter of icy boughs, dashed against each other.”
Dr. Beale remarks, that there was no considerable frost observed on the ground during the above: whence he concludes, that a frost may be very intense and dangerous on the tops of some hills and plains; while at other places it keeps at two, three, or four feet distance above the ground, rivers, lakes, &c. and may wander about very furiously in some places, and be mild in others not far off. The frost was followed by glowing heats, and a wonderful forwardness of flowers and fruits.
We close this division with an account of Remarkable Frosts.—In the year 220, a frost in Britain lasted five months.—In 250, The Thames was frozen nine weeks.—291, Most rivers in Britain frozen six weeks.—359. Severe frost in Scotland for fourteen weeks.—508, The rivers in Britain frozen for two months.—558, Danube quite frozen over.—695, Thames frozen six weeks, and booths built on it.—759, Frost from Oct. 1 till Feb. 26 following.—827, Frost in England for nine weeks.—859, Carriages used on the Adriatic.—908, Most rivers in England frozen two months.—923, The Thames frozen thirteen weeks.—987, Frost lasted 130 days; begun Dec. 22.—998, Thames frozen five weeks.—1035, Severe frost on June 24: the corn and fruits destroyed.—1063, The Thames frozen fourteen weeks.—1076, Frost in England from Nov. till April.—1114, Several wooden bridges carried away by ice.—1205, Frost from Jan. 15 till March 22.—1407, Frost that lasted fifteen weeks.—1434, From Nov. 24 till Feb. 10, Thames frozen down to Gravesend.—1683, Frost for thirteen weeks.—1708-9, An extraordinary frost throughout the most parts of Europe, though scarcely felt in Scotland or Ireland.—1715, Severe frost for many weeks.—1739, One for nine weeks; begun Dec. 14.—1742, Severe frost for many weeks.—1747, Severe frost in Russia.—1754, Severe one in England.—1760, The same in Germany.—1776, The same in England.—1788, The Thames frozen below London bridge; and booths erected on it.—1795, The Zuyder Zee frozen over, and the rivers of Holland passed by the French.
CHAP. LII.
CURIOSITIES RESPECTING RUINS.
Ruin at Siwa, in Egypt—Ruins of Palmyra—Ruins of Herculaneum, and Pompeii—Ancient Ruins of Balbec—Ruins of Agrigentum, in Sicily—Ancient Grandeur of Carthage.
| The cloud-capt towers, the gorgeous palaces, The solemn temples, the great globe itself, Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve. Shakspeare. |
Ruin at Siwa, in Egypt.—A great curiosity about Siwa, is a ruin, of undoubted antiquity, which, according to Mr. Browne, resembles exactly those of Upper Egypt, and was erected and adorned by the same intelligent race of men. The figures of Isis and Anubis are conspicuous among the sculptures; and the proportions are those of the Egyptian temples, though in miniature. What remains of it, is a single apartment, built of massy stones, of the same kind as those of which the pyramids consist. The length is thirty-two feet, the height eighteen, the width fifteen. A gate at one end forms the principal entrance; and two doors open opposite to each other. The other end is quite ruinous. In the interior are three rows of emblematical figures, representing a procession; and the space between them is filled with hieroglyphic characters. It has been supposed, with some degree of probability, that Siwa is the Siropum of Pliny, and that this building was coeval with the famous temple of Jupiter Ammon, and a dependency on it.
Ruins of Palmyra.—These celebrated ruins consist of temples, palaces, and porticos, of Grecian architecture; and lie scattered over an extent of several miles. They were accidentally discovered by some English travellers from Aleppo, above a century ago. The most remarkable of them is the temple of the sun, of which the ruins are spread over a square of 220 yards. It was encompassed with a stately wall, built of large square stones, and adorned with pilasters within and without, to the number of sixty-two on a side. Within the court are the remains of two rows of noble marble pillars, thirty-seven feet high, with their capitals, of most exquisite workmanship. Of these, only fifty-eight remain entire, but they appear to have gone round the whole court, and to have supported a double piazza. The walks opposite the castle appear to have been spacious. At each end of this line are two niches for statues, with their pedestals, borders, supporters, and canopies, carved with the utmost propriety and elegance. The space within this inclosure seems to have been an open court, in the middle of which stood the temple, encompassed with another row of pillars of a different order and much taller, being fifty feet high; but of these, sixteen only remain. The whole space contained within these pillars is fifty-nine yards in length, and near twenty-eight in breadth.