_Early Winters._--I heard it mentioned, when in St. Petersburg very
lately, that they have never had so early a commencement of winter as
this last year since the French were at Moscow.
I find in accounts of the war, that the winter _commenced_ then (1812)
on November 7, N. S., with deep snow. Last year (1852) it commenced at
St. Petersburg on October 16, N. S., as noted in my diary, with snow,
which has remained on the ground ever since, accompanied at times with
_very_ severe frost.
Query: Can November 7, N. S., be the correct date? If it is, this last
winter's commencement must be unprecedented; as I have always heard it
remarked, that the winter began unusually early the year the French were
at Moscow.
I may mention as a note, that by the last accounts from Russia, they say
the ice in the Gulf of Finland was four and a half feet thick.