Many of the old parish accounts contain items similar to the foregoing.
[Sidenote: 1607]
The following is an abstract from Drake’s “Eboracum; or, the History and
Antiquities of York;” “About Martinmass (1607) began an extream frost;
the river Ouze was wholly frozen up, so hard that you might have passed
with cart and carriage as well as upon firm ground. Many sports were
practised upon the ice, as shooting at eleven score, says my ancient
authority, bowling, playing at football, cudgels, &c. And a horse-race
was run from the tower at S. Mary[’s] Gate End along and under the great
arch of the bridge to the Crain at Skeldergate postern.”
[Sidenote: 1608]
This year a frost fair was held upon the Thames. Edmund Howes, in his
“Continuation of the Abridgement of Stow’s English Chronicle,” 1611, p.
481, gives the following curious account of it: “The 8th of December
began a hard frost, and continued untill the 15th of the same, and then
thawed; the 22nd of December it began againe to freeze violently, so as
divers persons went halfe way over the Thames upon the ice: and the 30th
of December, at every ebbe, for the flood removed the ice, and forced
the people daily to tread new paths, except only betweene Lambeth and
the ferry at Westminster, the which, by incessant treading, became very
firm, and free passage, untill the great thaw: and from Sunday, the tenth
of January, untill the fifteenth of the same, the frost grew so extreme,
as the ice became firme, and removed not, and then all sorts of men,
women, and children, went boldly upon the ice in most parts; some shot
at prickes, others bowled and danced, with other variable pastimes; by
reason of which concourse of people were many that set up boothes and
standings upon the ice, as fruit-sellers, victuallers, that sold beere
and wine, shoemakers, and a barber’s tent, etc.” It is also stated that
the tents &c. had fires in them. The artichokes in the gardens about
London were killed by the frost. The ice lasted until the afternoon of
the 2nd of February. Gough presented to the Bodleian Library, a rare
tract containing a wood-cut representation of the Thames in its frozen
state, with a view of London Bridge in the distance. It is entitled:
“Cold Doings in London, except it be at the Lottery, with Newes out
of the Country. A familliar talk between a Countryman and a Citizen,
touching this terrible Frost, and the Great Lottery, and the effect of
them.” London, 1608, quarto.
[Sidenote: 1609]
Great frost commenced in October, and lasted four months. The Thames
frozen, and heavy carriages driven over it.
[Sidenote: 1614]
It is recorded in Drake’s “Eboracum” as follows: “On the 16th of January
the same year [1614] it began to snow and freeze, and so by intervals
snowing without any thaw till the 7th of March following; at which time
was such a heavy snow upon the earth as was not remembered by any man
then living. It pleased God that at the thaw fell very little rain,
nevertheless the flood was so great, that the Ouze ran down North Street
and Skeldergate with such violence as to force all the inhabitants of
those streets to leave their houses. This inundation chanced to happen
in the Assize week, John Armitage, Esquire, being then High Sheriff
of Yorkshire. Business was hereby much obstructed; at Ouze bridge end
were four boats continually employed in carrying people [a]cross the
river; the like in Walmgate [a]cross the Foss. Ten days this inundation
continued at the height, and many bridges were driven down by it in the
country, and much land overflown. After this storm, says my manuscript,
followed such fair and dry weather, that in April the ground was as dusty
as in any time of summer. This drought continued till the 20th of August
following without any rain at all; and made such a scarcity of hay,
beans, and barley, that the former was sold at York for 30s. and 40s. a
wayne load, and at Leeds for four pounds.”
[Sidenote: 1615]
A severe frost from the 17th January to 7th March. In 1814 a tract was
republished entitled “The Cold Yeare: a Deep Snow in which Men and
Cattle perished; written in Dialogue between a London Shopkeeper and a
North-countryman.” 1615. 4to.
[Sidenote: 1620]
“This year a frost enabled the Londoners to carry on all manner of sports
and trades upon the river.” “Old and New London,” by E. Walford, M.A., v
3, p. 312.
[Sidenote: 1634]
Says a contributor to “Notes and Queries” in the _Nottingham Guardian_,
the following is an extract from Prynne’s “Divine Tragedie lately
acted,” 1636:--“On January the 25th, 1634, being the Lord’s Day, in the
time of the last great frost, fourteen young men, presuming to play at
football on the river Trent, near Gainsborough, coming altogether in a
scuffle, the ice suddenly broke, and there were eight of them drowned.”
The “Divine Tragedie,” like several other works of that period, was
written to show how judgments were overtaking the people because of the
recent order that the Book of Liberty should be read in churches, which
legalised sports on Sunday after service.
[Sidenote: 1648-49]
John Evelyn wrote in his “Diary;” “Now was the Thames frozen over, and
horrid tempests of wind.”
[Sidenote: 1663]
From the 28th January to 11th February, severe frost. Samuel Pepys
records in his “Diary,” “8th February being very hard frost; 28th August,
cold all night and this morning, and a very great frost they say, abroad;
which is much, having had no summer at all, almost.”
[Sidenote: 1664-65]
Severe frost from 28th December to 7th February. Pepys says, 6 February:
“One of the coldest days, they say, ever felt in England.”
[Illustration: FROST FAIR ON THE THAMES IN THE REIGN OF CHARLES II.]
[Sidenote: 1672]
In the December of 1672 occurred in the West of England, an uncommon
kind of shower of freezing rain, or raining ice. It is recorded that
this rain, as soon as it touched anything above ground, as a bough or
the like, immediately settled into ice; and by multiplying and enlarging
the icicles broke down with its weight. The rain that fell on the snow
immediately froze into ice, without sinking in the snow at all. It made
an incredible destruction of trees, beyond anything in all history.
“Had it concluded with some gust of wind” says a gentleman 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 of which weighed
sixteen pounds. Some were frighted with the noise of the air till they
discerned it was the clatter of icy boughs dashed against each other.”
Dr. Beale says, that there was no considerable frost observed on the
ground during the whole time; whence he concludes that a frost may be
very intense and dangerous on the tops of some hills and plains; while
in other places, it keeps at two, three or four feet distance above the
ground, rivers, lakes, &c. The frost was followed by a forwardness of
flowers and fruits.
The foregoing appears to have escaped the notice of the compiler of an
interesting and informing little book entitled “Odd Showers.” London,
1870.
[Sidenote: 1683-84]
From the beginning of December until the 5th of February, to use the
words of Maitland, frost “congealed the river Thames to that degree,
that another city, as it were, was erected thereon; where, by the great
number of streets and shops, with their rich furniture, it represented a
great fair, with a variety of carriages, and diversions of all sorts; and
near Whitehall a whole ox was roasted on the ice.” Evelyn gives perhaps
the best account of this’ great frost. Writing in his “Diary” under
date of January 24th, 1684, he observes, “the frost continuing more and
more severe, the Thames before London, was still planted with boothes
in formal streetes, all sorts of trades and shops furnish’d and full
of commodities, even to a printing presse, where the people and ladyes
tooke a fancy to have their names printed, and the day and yeare set down
when printed on the Thames: this humour tooke so universally, that ’twas
estimated the printer gain’d £5 a day, for printing a line onely, at
sixpence a name, besides what he got by ballads, etc. Coaches plied from
Westminster to the Temple, and from several other staires, to and fro,
as in the streetes, sleds, sliding with skeetes, a bull-baiting, horse
and coach races, puppet-plays, and interludes, cookes, tipling, and other
lewd places, so that it seem’d to be a bacchanalian triumph, or carnival
on the water.” Evelyn tells how the traffic and festivity were continued
until February the 5th, when he states that “it began to thaw, but froze
again. My coach crossed from Lambeth to the horse-ferry, at Milbank,
Westminster. The boothes were almost all taken downe, but there was just
a map, or landskip, cut in copper, representing all the manner of the
camp, and the several actions, sports, pastimes, thereon, in memory of so
signal a frost.”
King Charles visited the sports on the Thames, in company with members of
his family and of the royal household. They had their names printed on a
quarto sheet of Dutch paper, measuring three and a half inches by four.
The following is a copy of the interesting document:--
CHARLES, KING.
JAMES, DUKE.
KATHERINE, QUEEN.
MARY, DUTCHESS.
ANN, PRINCESSE.
GEORGE, PRINCE.
HANS IN KELDER.
_London_: Printed by G. Croom, on the ICE, on the River _Thames_,
_January 31, 1684_.
In the foregoing list of names we have Charles the Second; his brother
James, Duke of York, afterwards James the Second; Queen Catherine,
Infanta of Portugal; Mary D’Este, sister of Francis, Duke of Modena,
James’s second duchess; the Princess Anne, second daughter of the Duke
of York, afterwards Queen Anne; and her husband Prince George of Denmark.
It has been suggested that the last name displays a touch of the King’s
humour, and signifies “Jack in the Cellar,” alluding to the pregnant
situation of Anne of Denmark.
In some quaint lines, entitled “Thamasis’s Advice to the Painter, from
her frigid zone, etc.” “printed by G. Croom, on the river of Thames,”
occurs:
“To the print-house go,
Where Men the art of Printing soon do know,
Where for a Teaster, you may have your name
Printed, hereafter for to show the same:
And sure, in former Ages, ne’er was found
A Press to print, where men so oft were droun’d!”
Landskip, mentioned by Evelyn, is entitled “An exact and lively Mapp or
Representation of Boothes, and all the Varieties of Showes and Humours
upon the Ice, on the River of Thames by London, during that memorable
Frost, 35th yeare of the Reign of his Sacred Majesty King Charles the
Second. Anno Dni MDCLXXXIII. With an Alphabetical Explanation of the most
remarkable figures.” It consists of a whole-sheet copper-plate engraving,
the view extending from the Temple-stairs and Bankside to London-bridge.
In an oval cartouche at the top within the frame of the print, is the
title; and below the frame are the alphabetical references, with the
words “Printed and sold by William Warter, Stationer, at the signe of
the Talbott, under the Mitre Tavern in Fleete street, London.” In the
foreground of this representation of Frost Fair appear extensive circles
of spectators surrounding a bull-baiting, and the rapid revolution of a
whirling-chair or car, drawn by several men, by a long rope fastened to
a stake fixed in the ice. Large boats, covered with tilts, capable of
containing a considerable number of passengers, and decorated with flags
and streamers, are represented as being used for sledges, some being
drawn by horses, and others by watermen, lacking their usual employment.
Another sort of boat was mounted on wheels; and one vessel, called “the
drum boat,” was distinguished by a drummer placed at the prow. The
pastimes of throwing at a cock, sliding and skating, roasting an ox,
football, skittles, pigeon-holes, cups and balls, &c., are represented as
being carried on in various parts of the river; whilst a sliding-hutch,
propelled by a stick; a chariot, moved by a screw; and stately coaches
filled with visitors, appear to be rapidly moving in various directions,
and sledges with coals and wood are passing between London and Southwark
shores. An impression of this plate will be found in the Royal Collection
of Topographical Prints and Drawings, given by George the Fourth to the
British Museum, vol. xxvii., art. 39. There is also a variation of the
same engraving in the City Library at Guildhall, divided with common ink
into compartments, as if intended to be used as cards, and numbered in
the margin, in type with Roman numerals, in sets of ten each, with two
extra.
This famous frost gave rise to many pictures and poems. In the British
Museum is a broadside as follows:
“A TRUE DESCRIPTION OF BLANKET FAIR UPON THE RIVER THAMES, IN THE
TIME OF THE GREAT FROST IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD, 1683.”
How am I fill’d with wonder for to see
A flooding river now a road to be,
Where ships and barges used to frequent,
Now may you see a booth of fudling tent;
And those that us’d to ask where shall I land ye,
Now cry, what lack ye, sir, beer, ale, or brandy?
Here, here, walk in, and you shall surely find
Your entertainment good, my usage kind.
Booths they increased dayly, more and more,
People by thousands flocking from the shore;
And in such heaps they thither did repair,
As if they had been hasting to a fair.
And such a fair I never yet came near,
Where shop-rents were so cheap, and goods so dear.
Then might you have all kind of earthenware,
You can scarce name a thing but what was there.
There was to sell both French and Spanish wine,
And yet, perhaps, a dishclout for a signe;
In short, the like was never seen before,
Where coaches run as if upon the shore;
And men on horseback to and fro did ride,
Not minding either current, or the tide:
It was exceeding strange at first to see,
Both men and women so advent’rous be;
And yet at last it grew so very common,
’Twas not admir’d, it seemed strange to no man.
Then from the Temple there was built a street,
Made old and young, and all admire that see’t;
Which street to Southwark reached. There might you see
Wonders! if you did love variety,
There was roast beef, and gamon to be sold,
But at so dear a rate, I dare be bold
To say, ’twas never sold so on the shore,
Nor on the Thames, in haste, be any more.
There were Dutch whimsies turning swiftly round,
By which the owners cleared many a pound;
And coles and corn was there in sledges draw’d,
As if the Thames would never have been thaw’d.
All kinds of trades did to this market come,
Hoping to get more profit than at home:
And some whose purses were a little swel’d,
Would not have car’d how long the frost had held.
In several places there was nine-pins plaid,
And pidgeon holes for to beget a trade.
Dancing and fidling too there was great store,
As if they had not been from off the shore;
The art of printing there was to be seen,
Which in no former age had ever been;
And goldsmiths’ shops were furnished with plate,
But they must dearly pay for’t that would hav’t.
And coffee-houses in great numbers were,
Scattered about in this cold freezing fair,
There might you sit down by a char-cole fire,
And for your money have your heart’s desire,
A dish of coffee, chocalet or tea,
Could man desire more furnished to be?
No, no, if you the world should wander through,
No fair like this could pleasant seem to you.
There was the baiting of the ugly bear,
Which sport to see hundreds did repair,
And I believe since the world’s first creation,
The like was never seen in this our nation:
And football playing there was day by day,
Some broke their legs, and some their arms they say:
All striving to get credit, but some paid
Most dearly for it, I am half afraid.
Bull-baiting likewise there was known to be,
Which on the Thames before none ever see,
And never was poor dogs more bravely tost
Then they were, in this prodigious frost;
Th’ inraged bull perceiv’d his enemies,
And how to guard himself could not devise,
But with his horns did toss them too and fro,
As if their angry meaning he did know;
Besides all this a thing more strange and rare
Than all the things were seen in Freezland fair,
An ox was roasted whole, which thousands saw,
For ’twas not many dayes before the thaw;
The like by no man in this present age
Was ever seen upon this icy stage.
And this hard frost it did so long endure,
It pinch’d, and almost famish’d many poor.
But one thing more I needs to you must tell
The truth of which thousands do know full well,
There was fox-hunting on this frozen river
Which may a memorandum be for ever.
For I do think since Adam drew his breath
No Fox was hunted on the ice to death.
Thus have you heard what wonders there were seen,
How heaven and earth the people walk’d between.
And since the world at first had its creation,
The like was never seen in this our nation.
Yet was it hard and grievous to the poor,
Who many hungry bellies did endure.
Sad spectacles enough you might behold
Who felt th’ effect of this prodigious cold;
But God who is most righteous, good, and just,
Will them preserve who in him put their trust;
And when their dangers greatest seem to be,
Blest be his name, he then doth sit them free.
Then let us all, while we have time and breath,
Be still prepar’d to meet with pale-fac’d death.
That when he comes we need not be afraid,
Nor at his dart be frighted or dismaid;
If we on Jesus Christ wholly depend,
He’l prove to us an everlasting friend.
London: Printed by H. Brugis, in Green Arbor, Little Old Bayly.
1684.