Amidst the Arts which on the THAMES appear
To tell the wonders of this _icy_ year,
PRINTING claims prior place, which at one view
Erects a monument of THAT and YOU.
Printed upon the river Thames, Jan. 29th, in the thirteenth year
of the reign of King George the IId. Anno Dom. 1740.
“Some venturers in the Strand,” says Timbs, “bought a large ox in
Smithfield, to be roasted whole on the ice; and one, Hodgeson, claimed
the privilege of felling or knocking down the beast as a right inherent
in his family, his father having knocked down the one roasted on the
river in the Great Frost, 1684, near Hungerford Stairs: Hodgeson to wear
a laced cambric apron, a silver-handled steel, and a hat and feathers.”
At the thaw a number of persons fell victims to their rashness, amongst
those who lost their lives may be mentioned _Doll_, the noted pippin
woman. Gay, in his “Trivia,” book ii, thus alludes to her death:--
“Doll every day had walk’d these treacherous roads;
Her neck grew warp’d beneath autumnal loads
Of various fruit; she now a basket bore;
That head, alas! shall basket bear no more.
Each booth she frequent past, in quest of gain;
And boys with pleasure heard her thrilling strain.
Ah, Doll! all mortals must resign their breath,
And industry itself submit to death!
The cracking crystal yields: she sinks, she dies,--
Her head chopt from her lost shoulders, flies;
Pippins, she cried, but death her voice confounds,
And pip, pip, pip, along the ice resounds.”
Many of the houses which, at this period, stood on London Bridge, as well
as the bridge itself, sustained considerable damage.
Thomas Gent, the celebrated printer and historian, in his Life, relates
how he set up a printing press on the river Ouse at York during this
frost. “In January, 1739,” [1740 n.s.] he says, “the frost having been
extremely intense, the river became so frozen, that I printed names
upon the ice. It was a dangerous spot on the south side of the bridge,
where I first set up, as it were, a kind of press--only a roller wrapped
about with blankets. Whilst reading the verses I had made to follow
the names--wherein King George was most loyally inserted--some soldiers
round about made great acclamation, with other good people; but the ice
suddenly cracking, they almost as quickly ran away, whilst I, who did not
hear well, neither guessed the meaning, fell to work, and wondered at
them as much for retiring so precipitately as they did at me for staying;
but, taking courage, they shortly returned back, brought company, and I
took some pence amongst them. After this I moved my shop to and fro, to
the great satisfaction of young gentlemen and ladies, and others, who
were very liberal on the occasion.”
It will not, we think, be without interest to reproduce particulars of a
palace which was built solely of ice at this period. “In the year 1740,
the Empress Anne of Russia, caused a palace of ice to be erected upon
the banks of the Neva. This extraordinary edifice was fifty-two feet in
length, sixteen in breadth, and twenty feet high, and constructed of
large pieces of ice cut in the manner of freestone. The walls were three
feet thick. The several apartments were furnished with tables, chairs,
beds, and all kinds of household furniture of ice. In front of this
edifice, besides pyramids and statues, stood six cannon, carrying balls
of six pounds weight, and two mortars, entirely made of ice. As a trial
from one of the former, a cannon ball, with only a quarter of a pound of
powder, was fired off, the ball of which went through a two-inch board,
at sixty paces from the mouth of the piece, which remained completely
uninjured by the explosion. The illumination of this palace at night was
astonishingly grand.”
[Sidenote: 1741]
“All frost or rain from 15th September to 1st February.”
[Sidenote: 1742]
A severe frost for some weeks. It is recorded in the _Gentleman’s
Magazine_, 18 December, 1742: “The frost having continued near three
weeks, the streets in some parts of the city, though there had been no
snow, were rendered very incommodious, and several accidents happened.”
[Sidenote: 1754]
A very severe frost this year, especially at Bath and in the south-west
of England.
[Sidenote: 1763]
The frost lasted ninety-four days. According to the _Gentleman’s
Magazine_ it set in on Saturday, 25th December, 1762. It is thus
described: “A most intense frost with easterly wind, which has since
continued, with very little intermission, until the end of January. Some
experiments have been tried during the course of it, which prove that
on some days it was no less severe than that of 1740, though upon the
whole it has not been attended with the same calamitous circumstances.
On Friday, 31st December, a glass of water placed upon the table in the
open air, in six minutes froze so hard as to bear 5 shillings upon it; a
glass of red port wine placed upon the same table froze in two hours; and
a glass of brandy in six, both with hard ice.” It is mentioned that in
Cornwall, Wales, and Ireland, this frost was felt but slightly.
[Sidenote: 1767-68]
Both these years opened with severe frosts, which caused provisions to
increase greatly in price. Navigation on the Thames was suspended, and
great damage done to the small craft by the ice. It is chronicled that
“many persons perished by the severity of the weather, both on the water
and on the shore. During the latter frost, the price of butchers’ meat
grew so exorbitant that the Hon. Thomas Harley, Lord Mayor, proposed that
bounties should be given for bringing fish to Billingsgate market; and
this plan having been carried into effect, the distresses of the poor
were greatly alleviated, by the cheap rates at which the markets were
supplied.”
We read in White’s “Selborne,” under date of January, 1768: “We have had
very severe frost and deep snow this month; my thermometer was one day
14½ degrees below freezing point, within doors. The tender evergreens
were injured pretty much. It was very providential that the air was
still, and the ground well covered with snow, else vegetation in general
must have suffered prodigiously. There is reason to believe that some
days were more severe than any since the year 1739-40.” The frost this
year was very severe in Scotland.
[Sidenote: 1776]
The following “Icy Epitaph” is said to be from the graveyard of Bampton,
Devonshire:--
In memory of the Clerk’s son,
Bless my i, i, i, i, i, i,
Here I lies
In a sad pickle
Killed by an icicle,
In the year of Anno Domini 1776.
[Sidenote: 1782]
The Plymouth correspondent of the _Gentleman’s Magazine_ wrote under date
of 16th February, 1782: “The most intense frost ever known … The grass,
which on Friday was as green and flourishing as if it had been midsummer,
on Sunday morning seemed to be entirely killed. This is mentioned by our
correspondent as very unusual in that part of the country; and the snow
lay on the ground in many places.”
[Sidenote: 1783-84]
The frost lasted eighty-nine days. It commenced in December, continued
through January and February, and in March there was snow, and cold
cutting winds. We gather from the _Gentleman’s Magazine_ that it was
general. In the February number it is reported: “From different parts of
the country we have accounts of more persons having been found dead in
the roads, and others dug out of the snow, than ever was known in any
one year in the memory of man.” On January 6th, “Thames not quite frozen
over, but navigation stopped by ice.” The frost from the 10th to 20th
February was extremely severe. The Thames frozen and traffic crossed in
several places.
On the fifth bell of Tadcaster peal is recorded: “It is remarkable that
these bells were moulded in the great frost, 1783. C. and R. Dalton,
Fownders, York.”
[Sidenote: 1784]
In the _Gentleman’s Magazine_ for February the following appears: “From
10th December, 1783, to this day it has been 63 days’ frost; of these it
snowed nineteen, and twelve days’ thaw, whereof it rained nine. Had the
frost continued at 13 degrees as on the 31st December during the night,
it would have frozen over the Thames in twenty-four hours.”
[Sidenote: 1788-89]
On the 25th November, 1788, a frost set in which lasted seven weeks. It
is recorded that the thermometer stood at eleven degrees below freezing
point in the very midst of the city. The Thames was frozen below London
Bridge, and the ice on the river assumed all the appearance of a frost
fair. A variety of amusements were provided for the visitors, including
puppet-shows and the exhibition of wild beasts. In the _Gentleman’s
Magazine_ for 1789 the following diary of remarkable events which
transpired during this frost, is given:--
“Saturday, January 10, 1789--Thirteen men brought a waggon with a ton
of coals from Loughborough in Leicestershire, to Carlton House, as a
present to His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales. As soon as they were
emptied into the cellars, Mr. Weltjie, clerk of the cellars, gave them
four guineas, and as soon as the Prince was informed of it, his Highness
sent them twenty guineas, and ordered them a pot of beer each man. They
performed their journey, which is 111 miles, in 11 days, and drew it all
the way without any relief.
Monday 12.--A young bear was baited on the ice, opposite to Redriff,
which drew multitudes together, and fortunately no accident happened to
interrupt their sport.
Tuesday 13.--The Prince of Wales transmitted £1000 to the Chamberlain for
the benefit of the poor, during the severe frost.
Saturday 17.--The captain of a vessel lying off Rotherhithe, the better
to secure the ship’s cables, made an agreement with a publican for
fastening a cable to his premises; in consequence, a small anchor was
carried on shore and deposited in the cellar, while another cable was
fastened round a beam in another part of the house. In the night the ship
veered about, and the cables holding fast, carried away the beam and
levelled the house with the ground; by which accident five persons asleep
in their beds were killed.”
In the Common Place Notes for February, 1789, is the following:--“With
the new year, new entertainments commenced, or more properly speaking,
old sports were revived in the neighbourhood of London. The river Thames,
which at this season usually exhibits a dreary scene of languor and
indolence, was this year the stage on which there were all kinds of
diversions, bear-baiting, festivals, pigs and sheep roasted, booths,
turnabouts, and all the various amusements of Bartholomew fair multiplied
and improved; from Putney-bridge in Middlesex, down to Redriff, was one
continued scene of merriment and jollity; not a gloomy face to be seen,
nor a countenance expressive of want; but all cheerfulness, originating
apparently from business and bustle. From this description the reader
is not, however, to conclude that all was as it seemed. The miserable
inhabitants that dwelt in houses on both sides the river during these
thoughtless exhibitions, were many of them experiencing extreme misery;
destitute of employment, though industrious, they were with families of
helpless children, for want of employment, pining for want of bread; and
though in no country in the world the rich are more benevolent than in
England, yet their benefactions could bear no proportion to the wants of
numerous poor, who could not all partake of the common bounty. It may,
however, be truly said, that in no great city or country on the continent
of Europe, the poor suffered less from the rigour of the season, than
the inhabitants of Great Britain and London. Yet even in London, the
distresses of the poor were very great; and though liberal subscriptions
were raised for their relief, many perished through want and cold.
On this occasion, the City of London subscribed fifteen hundred pounds
towards supporting those persons who were not in the habit of receiving
alms.”
We cull from the _Public Advertiser_ of January 15th, 1789, the following
piece of drollery, in the shape of an inscription on a temporary
building on the Thames: “This Booth to Let. The present possessor of the
Premises is Mr. Frost. His affairs, however, not being on a permanent
footing, a dissolution, or bankruptcy may soon be expected, and a final
settlement of the whole entrusted to Mr. Thaw.”
The printing-press was again at work on the ice, and in Crowle’s
“Illustrated Pennant,” there is a bill, having a border of type flowers,
containing the following lines:--
“The silver Thames was frozen o’er,
No difference twixt the stream and shore;
The like no man hath seen before,
Except he lived in days of yore.”
“On the Ice, at the Thames Printing-Office, opposite St. Catherine’s
Stairs, in the severe Frost January, 1789. Printed by me, William Bailey.”
In the same collection is a stippled engraving entitled: “A View of the
Thames from Rotherhithe Stairs, during the frost in 1789. Painted by G.
Samuel, and engraved by W. Birch, enamel-painter.”
The end of the Fair we find thus described in the _London Chronicle_
of January 15th, 1789, “Perhaps the breaking up of the fair upon the
Thames last Tuesday night below bridge, exceeded every idea that could
be formed of it, as it was not until after the dusk of the evening that
the busy crowd was persuaded of the approach of a thaw. This, however,
with the crackling of some ice about eight o’clock, made the whole a
scene of the most perfect confusion; as men, beasts, booths, turnabouts,
puppet-shows, &c., &c., were all in motion, and pouring towards the shore
on each side. The confluence here was so sudden and impetuous, that the
watermen who had formed the toll-bars over the sides of the river, where
they had broken the ice for that purpose, not being able to maintain
their standard from the crowd, &c., pulled up the boards, by which a
number of persons who could not leap, or were borne down by the press,
were soused up to the middle.”
The next issue of the paper records that “on Thursday, January 15th, the
ice was so powerful as to cut the cables of two vessels lying at the old
Rose Chair, and drive them through the great arch of London bridge; when
their masts becoming entangled with the balustrades, both were broken and
many persons hurt.” The river remained frozen for some time after this.
[Sidenote: 1795-96]
The Antiquarian Society of Newcastle-on-Tyne recorded that the ice on the
river Tyne was twenty inches thick. The Thames frozen.
[Sidenote: 1809]
We find in “Frostiana” the following particulars of the curious effect
of cold on the feathered tribe:--“In February, 1809, a boy, in the
service of Mr. W. Newman, miller, at Leybourne, near Malling, went into
a field, called the Forty Acres, and saw a number of rooks on the ground
very close together. He made a noise to drive them away, but they did
not appear alarmed; he threw snow-balls to make them rise, still they
remained. Surprised at this apparent indifference, he went in among them,
and actually picked up twenty-seven rooks; and also in several parts of
the same field, ninety larks, a pheasant, and a buzzard hawk. The cause
of the inactivity of the birds, was a thing of rare occurrence in this
climate; a heavy rain fell on Thursday afternoon, which, freezing as it
came down, so completely glazed over the bodies of the birds, that they
were fettered in a coat of ice, and completely deprived of the power
of motion. Several of the larks were dead, having perished from the
intensity of the cold. The buzzard hawk being strong, struggled hard for
his liberty, broke his icy fetters and effected his escape.”
[Sidenote: 1811]