GREAT FOG AND FROST.

The Thames, from London Bridge to Blackfriars, was, for nearly a fortnight, completely blocked up at ebb tide.

On the 20th of January, in consequence of the great accumulation of snow heaped upon the ground, it became necessary to relieve the roofs of the houses by throwing off the load collected on them; and by these means the carriage-ways in the middle of the streets were rendered scarcely passable for man or horse; and great inconveniences were the consequence. The streams constantly flowing from the open plugs, added to the general mass of ice. An enormous increase took place in the price of coals, as the river-navigation and other means of conveyance were entirely obstructed.

The continuation of the frost and snow induced many coach proprietors, particularly on the northern and western roads, not to continue running their coaches until a change of weather should take place. In many parts where the roads lie low, the snow had drifted higher than the London coaches, which was the case as near as Finchley Common. The snow had drifted into the road in the course of one night, a depth of sixteen feet, and it was impassable at first even to oxen. On Bagshot Heath there was a complete stoppage, and accidents occurred by vehicles getting off the road. About Esher and Cobham again the road was completely choaked up.

With the exception of the Kent and Essex roads, no others were passable but a few miles out of London. The coaches on the western road remained stationary at different parts. The Windsor coach got through the snow at Colnbrook, which was sixteen feet deep, by employing about fifty labourers. Lower down, at Maidenhead-lane, the snow drifted to a great depth; and between Twyford and Reading it assumed quite a mountainous appearance. On parts of Bagshot Heath, it is impossible to convey an adequate idea of its accumulation. The Newcastle coach went off the road into a pit upwards of eight feet deep, but without doing mischief to either man or horse. The middle north road was impassable as near as Highgate-hill. Among the extraordinary aspects and appearances of the late severe weather, the state of the river Thames was not the least singular. Vast quantities of pieces of floating ice, laden generally with heaps of snow, were seen almost everywhere on the surface; and being carried up and down by the tide or the stream, and collected when the projecting banks or the bridges made a resistance to the flow, and a support to the accumula

GREAT FOG AND FROST.

tion-sometimes forming a chain of glaciers, united one moment, at another clashing and cracking and dashing in a singular and awful manner; again, when the flood beneath was not sufficiently elevated to support the mass, and when the current passed strongly, the ice islands floated away, clashing and cracking as they went, rising one over another, and then receding, covered with angry foam, as the violence of the winds or waves impelled them.

In passing through the arches of the bridges the crash was tremendous; for, near the bridges, the floating pieces collected about midwater, or while the current was less forcible, and ranged themselves regularly one line upon another, the stream forming them into order as it passed, where it made its way in force, till the increasing confinement of the channel added such violence to the conflict, that a disruption took place, and the broken ice, with a crash, burst away again, and was carried up or down with the tide or the stream. The river was entirely frozen over for the space of a week, and a Frost Fair held upon it.

Among other curious things done was the ceremony of roasting a small sheep, which was toasted, or rather burnt, over a coal fire, placed in a large iron pan. For a view of this extraordinary spectacle sixpence was demanded, and willingly paid. The delicate meat, when done, was sold at a shilling a slice, and termed Lapland mutton. Of booths there were a great number, which were ornamented with streamers, flags, and signs, and in which there was a plentiful store of favourite luxuries.

But all parts of the river were not equally safe; one young man, a plumber, named Davis, having imprudently ventured to cross with some lead in his hands; he sank between two masses of ice to rise no more. Two young women nearly shared a similar fate, but were happily rescued from their perilous situation by the prompt efforts of two watermen.

Eight or ten printing presses were erected, and numerous pieces, commemorative of the great frost, were actually printed on the ice. Some of these frosty typographers displayed considerable taste in their specimens.

One of the papers printed and sold contained the following lines:

Behold, the river Thames is frozen o'er,
Which lately ships of mighty burden bore;
Now different arts and pastimes here you see,
But printing claims superiority.

GREAT FOG AND FROST.

Another addressed the spectators in the following terms:Friends, now is your time to support the freedom of the press. Can the press have greater liberty? Here you find it working in the middle of the Thames; and if you encourage us by buying our impressions, we will keep it going in the true spirit of liberty during the frost."

Besides the above, the Lord's-prayer, and several other pieces, were issued from the icy printing offices, and were bought with the greatest avidity.

Every day brought a fresh accession of pedlars, to sell their wares; and the greatest rubbish of all sorts were raked up, and sold at double and treble the original cost. Books and toys, labelled" Bought on the Thames," were seen in profusion. The watermen profited exceedingly; for each person paid a toll of twopence or threepence before he was admitted to Frost Fair; some gift, also, was expected on your return. These men are

said to have taken £6 each in the course of a day.

Three persons, an old man and two lads, having ventured on a piece of ice above London Bridge, it suddenly detached itself from the main body, and was carried by the tide through one of the arches. The persons on the ice, who laid themselves down for safety, were observed by the boatmen at Billingsgate, who, with laudable activity, put off to their assistance, and rescued them from impending danger,

Many persons were seen on the ice till late at night, and the effect by moonlight was singularly picturesque and beautiful. With a little stretch of imagination we might have transported ourselves to the frozen climes of the north,-to Lapland, Sweden, or Holland.

Towards the evening of Feb. 7, the concourse became thinned; rain fell in some quantity. The ice gave some loud cracks, and floated with the printing presses, booths, &c., to the no small dismay of publicans, printers, and pedlars. In short, this fairy frost work was soon to be dissolved, and doomed to vanish, like the baseless fabric of a vision," but not without leaving some wrecks behind.

The above is a somewhat humorous account; but we hope our readers will bear in mind that such visitations are froin Him who "giveth snow like wool: he scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes. He casteth forth his ice like morsels: who can stand before his cold ?"

ANECDOTES AND SELECTIONS.

Anecdotes and Selections.

LOOK AT THE LORD JESUS, and you will see in Him at once God and Man, without relinquishing any part of His Deity as God, without alienating any part of His humanity as Man. At His birth you will see a Man persecuted by Herod, and a God adored by the wise men of the east: at His baptism, a Man in the river Jordan, and a God proclaimed from heaven as the beloved Son of the Eternal Father: in the vessel a Man who sleeps, and a God who calms the wind and the sea. At the tomb of Lazarus, a Man who weeps at the death of His friend, and a God who raises him by a word. At the well of Sychar, a Man who thirsts, and a God who gives water, springing up into life eternal. Upon the cross, a Man who dies, and a God who astonishes all nature so much that the earth trembles to its centre, and the sun itself loses its light. All these are so many indications that the Incarnate word was equally God and Man; God eternal, and man born in time; God omnipotent, and Man weak and infirm; God immortal, and Man subject to death!

ROWLAND HILL'S PREACHING.-It is said that he preserved a memorandum of the sermons he delivered, "from which it appears that up to June 10, 1831, he had preached 22,291." This, of course, does not include all the sermons Mr. Hill preached during an active and laborious ministry of sixty-six years. He died April 11, 1833, in the eighty-ninth year of his age, having been born, August 23, 1744. "Never," said a minister, who preached a funeral sermon for him, "never was there a finer illustration of falling asleep in Jesus. There was no groan, no struggle, no sigh. He laid his head on his Saviour's bosom, and sweetly breathed away his life."

WHEN ROWLAND HILL was in Scotland, he was introduced to an aged minister, somewhat resembling himself in piety and eccentricity. The old man looked at him for some time very earnestly, and at length said, "Weel, I ha been looking for some teem at the leens o' your face"- -"And what do you think of my face ?" said Mr. Hill-"Why, I am thinking that if the grace of God had na changed your heart, you would ha been a most tremendous rogue." Mr. Hill laughed heartily, and said, “Well, you have just hit the nail on the head."

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DREAMING AND ACTING. A man once applied to be admitted to the Lord's table at Surrey Chapel, and stated that his religious feelings originated in a dream. Well, that may be," said Rowland Hill, but we'll tell you what we think of your dreams, when we have seen how you act now you are awake."

THE FIRESIDE.

BAD BARGAINS.- A Teacher in a Sunday School once remarked, that he who buys the truth makes a good bargain: and inquired if any scholar recollected an instance in Scripture of a bad bargain. "I do," replied a boy, "Esau made a bad bargain, when he sold his birth-right for a mess of pottage." A second said, “Judas made a bad bargain, when he sold his Lord for thirty pieces of silsilver." A third boy observed, "Our Lord tells us, that he makes a bad bargain, who to gain the whole world, loses his own soul." Dont you make it.

OLD BISHOP LATIMER.-Preaching one day before Henry VIII., he stood up in the pulpit, and seeing the King, addressed himself in a kind of soliloquy, thus-"Latimer, Latimer, Latimer, take care what you say, for the great King Henry VIII. is here"—he paused, and proceeded "Latimer, Latimer, Latimer, take care what you say, for the great King of kings is here."

WHEN JOHN WESLEY was once preaching in the open air, a strong muscular butcher endeavoured to annoy him, but in vain : at last he went up to him, with the intention of striking him on the head, and raised his arm for the purpose; but he merely stroked his hand down it, saying, “What soft hair he has!

APOLOGY FOR A LONG SERMON.-A minister one day was so engrossed with his subject, that he exceeded his usual time, and the clock struck one. After pausing a moment he exclaimed, "Time reproves me, but Eternity commends me."

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MOSES BROWN was a pious minister; a friend once said to him, "Sir, you have just as many children as the patriarch Jacob.' True," said he, "and I have Jacob's God to provide for them."

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The Fireside.

PLEASURE AT HOME.

FOR pleasure man seeks all around,
And after it far will he roam,

Forgetting it is to be found,

With wife and with children at home.

For pleasure some fly to the pot,

Fill'd up to the brim with its foam,

But there they will sure find it not;
True pleasure is best found at home.

Some think it belongeth to wealth,

And found in a mansion or throne,
But the peasant may have it himself,

With his wife and his children at home.