When maids grow modest, yᵉ dissenting crew
Become all loyal, the falsehearted true,
Then you may probably, and not till then,
Expect in England such a frost again.”
Printed for James Norris, at the King’s Armes, without Temple Barr.
1688-89
Timbs, in his “Curiosities of London,” records a great frost, lasting from 20th December to 6th February. Pools were frozen eighteen inches thick, and the Thames ice was covered with streets of shops, bull-baiting, shows and tricks; hackney coaches plied on the ice-roads, and a coach with six horses was driven from Whitehall almost to London Bridge; yet in two days all the ice disappeared.
1709
The Thames frozen over, and some persons crossed it on the ice. In the Crowle Pennant is a coarse bill, within a wood-cut border of rural subjects, bearing the inscription, “Mr. John Heaton, printed on the Thames at Westminster, January 7th, 1709.” The frost lasted three months. It is somewhat remarkable to find that there was very little frost this year in Scotland and Ireland.
1715-16