so that the year may properly be said to be now turned.

January is the coldest month in this part of the world; and in England we seldom have much frost or snow before it. The weather is commonly either clear dry frost, or fog and snow, with rain now and then intermixed.

Nothing can be more wonderful than the effects of frost. To see the running stream stopped in its course; the lake, that was curled by every breeze, converted into a firm plain; the moist ground dried up and made as hard as rock; and all this done by an invisible power in the space of a single night; would be infinitely surprising to one unaccustomed to the sight. These effects are painted in a very lively manner by THOMSON, in his Seasons-

An icy gale, oft shifting, o'er the pool
Breathes a blue film, and in its mid career

Arrests the bickering stream.

Loud rings the frozen earth, and hard reflects
A double noise; while at his evening watch,
The village dog deters the nightly thief;

The heifer lows; the distant water-fall
Swells in the breeze; and with the hasty tread
Of traveller, the hollow-sounding plain

Shakes from afar.

It freezes on,

Till morn, late rising o'er the drooping world,
Lifts her pale eye unjoyous. Then appears
The various labour of the silent night:

Prone from the dripping eave, and dumb cascade,
Whose idle torrents only seem to roar,

The pendant icicle; the frost-work fair,
Where transient hues and fancy'd figures rise;
Wide spouted o'er the hill, the frozen brook,
A livid tract, cold-gleaming on the morn.

Water, when frozen, is expanded; that is, takes up more room than before; hence ice is lighter than water, and swims upon it. From this cause, if a bottle full of water, hard corked, be set to freeze, the bottle will be broken, for want of room for the expansion of the water. Water-pipes often burst from the same cause; and hoops fly off from barrels. Nay, even a gun-barrel or a cannon, filled with water, and screwed up at the muzzle, have been burst in an intense frost.

The same property produces a very beneficial effect to the husbandman; for the hard clods of the ploughed fields are loosened and broken to pieces by the swelling of the water within them, when frozen. Hence the earth is crumbled, and prepared for receiving the seed in Spring.

Snow is the water of clouds frozen. On a close examination it is found to be all composed of icy darts or stars. Its whiteness is owing to the small particles into which it is divided. Ice when pounded becomes equally white. Snow is very useful by covering the plants, and protecting them from the severity of the frost; for at a certain depth under the cold always continues the same. It is

the snow,

also thought to enrich the ground, and serve as a sort of manure; but some suppose it not at all different from rain in this respect. The beauty of a country all cloathed in a new-fallen snow is very striking

The cherish'd fields

Put on their Winter-robe of purest white.

'Tis brightness all; save where the new snow melts
Along the mazy current. Low, the woods

Bow their hoar head; and ere the languid sun,
Faint from the west, emits his evening ray,
Earth's universal face, deep hid, and chill,
Is one wild dazzling waste, that buries wide
The works of man.

THOMSON.

Hail-stones are drops of rain suddenly congealed into a hard mass, so as to preserve their figure. These often fall in warmer seasons of the year, as even then the upper regions of the atmosphere are very cold.

Hoar-frost is dew, or mist frozen. It adheres to every object on which it falls, and produces figures of incomparable beauty and elegance. Every twig and blade of grass is beset by it with innumerable glittering pearly drops, or silvery plumage, beyond the skill of any artist to imitate.

Sometimes it happens that a sudden shower of rain falls during a frost, and immediately turns to ice. A remarkable scene is then produced, which the following lines most beautifully describe

Ere yet the clouds let fall the treasur'd snow,
Or winds begun thro' hazy skies to blow,
At ev❜ning a keen eastern breeze arose,
And the descending rain unsullied froze.
Soon as the silent shades of night withdrew,
The ruddy morn disclos'd at once to view
The face of Nature in a rich disguise,
And brighten'd every object to my eyes:
For every shrub, and every blade of grass,

And every pointed thorn seem'd wrought in glass;
In pearls and rubies rich the hawthorns show,
While thro' the ice the crimson berries glow.
The thick-sprung reeds the wat'ry marshes yield,
Seem polish'd lances in a hostile field.

The stag, in limpid currents, with surprize,
Sees crystal branches on his forehead rise.

The spreading oak, the beech, and tow'ring pine
Glaz'd over, in the freezing ether shine.
The frighted birds the rattling branches shun,
That wave and glitter in the distant sun.
When, if a sudden gust of wind arise,
The brittle forest into atoms flies:

The cracking wood beneath the tempest bends,
And in a spangled show'r the prospect ends.

PHILIPS, Lett.from Copenhagen.

In such a case, prodigious mischief has been done in the woods, by the breaking down of vast arms of trees, which were overloaded by the weight of the ice encrusting them.

The inclemency of the season is shewn by its effects on animals, particularly on the numerous tribes of birds. As the cold advances, they collect in flocks, quit their retreats, and, rendered bold by want, approach the habitations of man. Larks and various other small birds shelter themselves in the

warm stubble. Sparrows, yellow-hammers, and chaffinches, crowd into the farm-yards, and attend the barn-doors, to pick their scanty fare from the chaff and straw. The red-breast ventures into the

house,

and pays to trusted man

His annual visit.

Fieldfares and thrushes in large flocks descend from the tops of trees, and frequent the warm manured fields in the neighbourhood of towns. Snipes, woodcocks, wild-ducks, and other water-fowl are forced from the frozen marshes, and obliged to seek their food about the rapid currents of streams which are yet unfrozen. As the cold grows more intense, various kinds of sea-fowl quit the bleak open shores, and come up the rivers, where they offer an unusual prey to the fowler.

The wild quadrupeds, too, are driven from their accustomed remote haunts. Hares enter the gardens to browze on the cultivated vegetables; and, leaving their tracks in the snow, are frequently hunted down, or caught in snares. The hen-roosts are pillaged by foxes, polecats, and other small beasts of prey which our country breeds; but we are happily unacquainted with the ravenous troop of wolves, bears, and other fierce creatures, which, urged by famine at this season, often terrify the villages in the mountainous and woody regions on the continent.