Area History: Chapters 14 - 16: Part II, Vol II - Watson's Annals of Philadelphia And Pennsylvania, 1857 Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by EVC. USGENWEB NOTICE: Printing this file by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged, as long as all notices and submitter information is included. Any other use, including copying files to other sites requires permission from the submitters PRIOR to uploading to any other sites. We encourage links to the state and county table of contents. ____________________________________________________________ ANNALS of PHILADELPHIA AND PENNSYLVANIA, VOL. II ______________________________________________ Chapter 14. ALLIANCE FRIGATE As Philadelphians, we are entitled to some pre-eminence for our connexion with this peculiar frigate. After the close of the war of Independence she was owned in our city, and employed as a merchant ship. When no longer seaworthy, she has been stretched upon the margin of Petty's island, to remain for a century to come, a spectacle to many river passengers, and qualified to raise numerous associations of the past, connected with her eventful history in the revolution. She was the only one of our first navy of the class of frigates, which was so successful as to escape capture or destruction during the war ! In the year 1781, she and the Deane frigate were the only two of our former frigates then left to our service. She was in many engagements and always victorious -- she was a fortunate ship -- was a remarkably fast sailer -- could always choose her combat -- she could either fight or run away -- beating her adversary either by fight or flight ! Twice she bore the fortunes of La Fayette across the ocean; De Noailles was also along at one time. When I presented the former with a relic of her timber, he was delighted with it for the mental associations it afforded him. Another relic, which I had given to one of our naval officers, was formed into a miniature ship, held a place at the president's palace, and now rests with General Jackson. When coming out of the Havanna with the specie intended for founding the Bank of North America, and having for her companion the Lausanne of twenty-eight guns under Captain Green, they were encountered by three British frigates. Captain Barry, who commanded her, chose the smallest first and put her to flight, he having orders to avoid an engagement for the sake of the specie. He then pursued his way. He soon left his consort far behind. He then came up with a French sixty-four which promised him aid, when he again made back just in time to save the Lausanne by engaging the frigate near her under the command of Captain Vaschan. He killed thirty-eight and wounded fifty men, as was afterwards ascertained. The Frenchman not joining them, he then went back to her and got a renewed promise, then they both bore down together, and all the British frigates filled their sails and fled. The Frenchman, as his excuse, said he had a million of dollars on board and was instructed to avoid an engagement. Captain Brown, who was in the Lausanne as a lieutenant at the time, told me of these facts, and said nothing could surpass the sailing of the Alliance. Once, when she was in the West Indies, she was pursued all day by one of the fastest seventy-fours in the British navy, and from which she effected her escape by changing her trim. She was once pursued by the Chatham ship of war, out of the mouth of the Delaware, and made her way to Rhode Island at the rate of fourteen knots an hour. In so escaping, she was intercepted by the Speedwell sloop of war, which she succeeded to run down. When arrived off Boston, she there encountered another foe in two sloops of war, both of which Commodore Barry succeeded to capture and to get into Boston. Barry himself was wounded. She was the favourite ship of Commodore Barry, who began his career in her by taking Colonel Laurens and suite to France; after which she made a successful cruise in the British channel, and took five or six valuable prizes. The widow of Commodore Barry, remembering with what esteem her husband regarded this ship, had a tea-caddy made out of her wood, as a memento : and I have a picture of the ship, framed with wood from her timbers after she was laid ashore. She was the second vessel from Philadelphia to Canton; the Canton, Captain Truxtan, being the first. The Alliance sailed in June, 1787 to Canton under the command of Captain Thomas Reed, making her voyage by an unusual route outside of New Holland, and discovering several new islands, returned to Philadelphia on the 17th September 1788, when she was much visited for inspection by many of our citizens still alive to speak of their recollections of that fortunate vessel. Benjamin Eyre, ship carpenter of Kensington, purchased the Alliance in 1785, then sold her to Robert Morris; and after making her repairs, she went to Norfolk to load with tobacco for Bordeaux. She returned in the spring of 1787 -- sailed for Canton under Capt. Reed in June, and returned to Philadelphia in Sept. 1788. In the spring of 1789 she sailed for Cadiz with flour -- returned same year -- was laid up, and in the spring of 1790 was sold, broken up, &c., and her remains laid upon Petty's island, after having run twelve years of service. Such a vessel deserves some commemoration and some memorial to revive her fame. She is still a relic visibly uniting the present to the former navy, and in her single remains preserving alone the solitary link of union. She led those naval heroes of the infant navy, of which some remained to join their destinies with the present. Sailors, who are fond of the marvellous, and like to be supported in their perils by the mysteries of luck and charms, should be indulged to have a relic of the fortunate Alliance chiseled into the future Philadelphia war vessels in which they may place their destinies. The magic security will be surely as good as that now attached to "Old Ironsides". Men who can "whistle for wind" love to indulge themselves in such fancies. A more sober part of the story is, to say a few words respecting her construction &c., which may possibly lead to useful imitation. She was 125 feet keel payable, and about 37 feet beam -- making her about 900 tons. She was thought to be long, narrow, shoal, and sharp, and to be over-sparred. Her main topmast was 18 inches diameter in the cap; main yard 84 feet long, 18 inches in the slings; her topsail yard was 18 inches in the slings. As she was built up the river Merrimack, at Salisbury, Massachuseetts, which had a bar at the mouth, it perhaps accounts for a part of her construction as a shoal vessel. She was first sailed in the spring of 1778, soon after her being launched, and was then commanded by a Captain Landais, a Frenchman, who was preferred to the command as a compliment to his nation and the alliance made with us, a new people. -- She was two years in building -- built by John and William Hacket. Six of the persons who built her were alive at Salisbury ten years ago, and all above seventy years of age. All these facts may be deemed very minute; but we have our motives. Every nation forms its imaginary legends, and puts itself under the auspices of tutelary beings. We also are of an age now to construct our heroic age, and such a case as the Alliance presents a part of the material. As Philadelphians, we are entitled to the peculiar distinction of forming the fastest sailing vessel in the world, viz : the frigate United States, built by Col. Humphreys. With such a model we might have gone on to perfection in the art of ship construction; but our navy rulers have strangely retrograded, until we now have scarcely a good sailer to boast of. The United States frigate has outrun the fastest Baltimore clippers two miles an hour, when running nine and ten knots; but the frigate wanted ten feet more of beam to have been perfect. More beam is wanted by all our fast sailers, and they would have it, were it not to avoid the increase of tonnage duty ! It is bad policy which thus induces the hazard of losing ships and lives to save a little money. Give more beam and they will not upset, and will be better sea vessels. OUR NAVY -- It occurs to us to say a few words concerning the public marine of the revolution, a branch of the service which has been but little considered and known by the mass of our citizens. Like "the poor Indians" the poor sailors have had no chroniclers to preserve any adequate account of their perils, darings, and devoted-ness, not even among those who professedly write our naval histories. Then, those who entered the marine service took freely all the risks, without any provision by law for themselves in case of being wounded, or for their families in case of their deaths. In this they wholly differed from the land service, although there were double chances against the adventurers in the sea service; for generally, they had to make "their way in the deep" with fearful odds against them. It is a part of our history, that it was not till fifty years after the revolution that any provision was made of that day; and then it was only as an incidental measure connected with the land service, and came so late as to find few or none to benefit. Who ever heard of any mariners, officers or men of the revolution, on our pension list ? IT DOESN'T EXIST !! Of the three hundred and fifty men blown up in the Randolph frigate, only one of the families ever received any public grant ! Even those who had thus perilled their lives in a peculiarly desperate service, when they had gained prizes and brought them in numbers to New London and Newport, and others to the West Indies, never came to any valuable distribution. We could hear of the prize-agents getting enriched, but never the hardy combatants themselves. Such have never been told or heard of. My own father turned all of the little he got of prize-money into sets of silver spoons, still in the family. This he did, he said, to break the proverb that prize-money COULD NOT LAST. Before sales and settlements could be made of prize cases, the men were again off to sea to seek more adventures. Some, more or less of them, were captured and put to swell the masses in the prison ships of New York; and from suffering and sickness, finally died by thousands, and were whelmed in the Wallabout. That was the great channel house of our revolutionary mariners. {Note : whelm = to pass over something so as to bury or submerge it.} To those who would wish an insight into the perils and doings of our sea service, we commend the reading of the Memoirs of Lieut. Nathaniel Fanning, late of the United States' navy. He had been commander of several American private armed vessels in the British channel, sailing out of France. He presents a real picture of sea-peril, and cheerful enterprise and daring. Every two or three days they had a brush with something. We see, in his facts, how they had to work their way through heavy odds, always with a buoyant spirit, and always glorying in the soubriquet of "Yankee boys" and showing their "Yankee daring". He was brother to that Captain Edmund Fanning who projected our late voyages of discovery to the South pole by Lieutenant Wilkes. Both of the brothers were residents of New York, and Connecticut-born Yankees. Colonel Fanning, their uncle, who had been secretary to Governor Tryon, was on the British side. For more concerning our navy, see Appendix : The Revolutionary Navy. Chapter 15. THE FEDERAL PROCESSION " 'Twere worth ten years of peaceful life -- One glance at their array." This great procession took place at Philadelphia for the purpose of celebrating the adoption of the Constitution, and it was appointed on Friday, the fourth of July 1788, for the double purpose of commemorating the Declaration of Independence of the fourth of July 1776. Although we have had several processions since, none have ever equalled it in the pomp and expense of the materials engaged in the pageantry. The soldiery were then not so numerous as in the late entry of La Fayette, but the citizens were more numerous, and their attire more decorative. It was computed that five thousand walked in the procession; and that as many as seven thousand were assembled on the "Union Green" where the procession ended, in front of Bush-hill. [This was then Hamilton's elegant country seat.] The whole expense was borne by the voluntary contributions of the tradesmen, &c., enrolled in the display; and what was very remarkable, the whole of the pageantry was got up in four days ! The parties to the procession all met at and about the intersection of Cedar and Third streets, and began their march by nine o'clock in the morning. They went up Third street to Callowhill; up that street to Fourth street; down Fourth to High street; and thence out that street, across the commons, to the lawn before Bush-hill, where they arrived in three hours. The length of the whole line was about one mile and a half. On this lawn were constructed circular tables, leaving an area for its diameter of about five hundred feet. The tables were covered with awnings, and the centre was occupied by the "Grand Federal Edifice" drawn there by ten white horses -- and by the ship Union, drawn there also by ten horses. There an oration, on the occasion was delivered by James Wilson, Esq., to upwards of twenty thousand people; after which the whole members of the procession sat down to the tables to dinner. The supplies were abundant; no wine or ardent spirits were present; but porter, beer, and cider flowed for all who would receive them; and of these liquors, the casks lined all the inner circles of the tables. They drank ten toasts in honour of the ten confederated states. As the cannon announced these, they were responded from the ship Rising Sun, laying in the Delaware off High street, decorated with numerous flags. This same ship, at night, was highly illuminated. [Besides this ship, ten other ships lay off the several streets, highly decorated, and each bearing a large flag with the name thereon of the State of the Union which each thus represented.] This great company withdrew to their homes by six o'clock in the evening, all sober, but all joyful. The occasion was the strongest which could exercise the feelings of the heart in an affecting manner. It was to celebrate a nation's freedom, and a people's system of self-government -- a people recently made free by their desperate efforts, the remembrance of which then powerfully possessed every mind. They then all felt the deep importance of the experiment of self-government, to which their hearts and voices were then so imposingly pledged. The scene ought not to be forgotten. We should impress the recollections of that day, and of the imposing pageantries, upon the minds of our children, and of our children's children. This has been already too much neglected; so that even now, while I endeavour to recapitulate some of the most striking incidents of the day, I find it is like reviving the circumstances of an almost obliterated dream. I did not see the spectacle, but it was the talk of my youthful days for years after the event. The Procession was thus, to wit : 1. Twelve axe-men in white frocks, preceded as pioneers. 2. Captain Miles' company of dragoons. 3. John Nixon, Esq., on horseback, bearing a liberty cap, and under it a flag, with the words thereon, "4th of July, 1776". 4. A train of artillery -- Claypole's corps of infantry -- Bingham's dragoons. 5. Several single gentlemen on horseback bore silk flags highly ornamented; one had the words "New Era", another "17th of September, 1787" -- that being the day the Convention adopted the Constitution. 6. A car called the Constitution, in the form of a large eagle drawn by six white horses, in which were Judges M'Keane, Atlee, and Rush, in their robes. M'Kean bore a splendid flag. 7. Ten gentlemen, preceded by Haysham's infantry, bore each a silk flag, bearing the name of each state. 8. All the consols of foreign states, in a car drawn by four horses, and each bearing his nation's flag. 9. A carriage bearing P. Baynton, Esq. and Colonel I. Melchor; the latter magnificently habited as an Indian sachem, and both smoking the calumet of peace. 10. The Montgomery and Bucks county troops of dragoons. 11. The "New Roof, or Grand Federal Edifice", was a most splendid spectacle. It was a dome sustained by thirteen columns; but three of these columns were purposely left unfinished. The name of each state appeared on the pedestals; a cupola rose above the dome, on which was a figure of plenty. The carriage and superstructure made thirty-six feet of height. The words, "In union the fabric stands firm" were very conspicuous around the pedestal of the edifice. Ten white horses drew this elegant pageant. * *This was afterwards placed in front of the State-house, and it is really strange that none of the numerous, elegant silken flags should have been preserved to this time. If some of them still exist, they would be very interesting in processions now. As many of them as now exist should be collected and preserved by the Penn Association, which is in effect, our Antiquarian Society. 12. After this edifice followed the architects and house-carpenters. 13. The Cincinnati and militia officers, followed by Rose's company of infantry. 14. The Agriculture Society, bearing a flag, followed by farmers; these had two ploughs; one, drawn by four oxen, was directed by Richard Willing, Esq. A sower followed, sowing seed. 15. The Manufacturing Society, with their spinning and carding machines, looms, jennies &c., bearing a flag. The carriage which bore these, was thirty feet long, and was drawn by ten bay horses; on this weavers were at work, and Mr. Hewson was printing muslin. The weavers marched behind this, and bore a flag of silk. 16. Robinson's company of light infantry. 17. The Marine Society, carrying a flag, trumpets, spy-glasses &c. They preceded the "Federal Ship Union". This elegant, small ship was a spectacle of great interest : she was perfect in every respect, and finely decorated with carvings, gildings &c. Such a ship, completed in less than four days, was a very surprising circumstance. She was thirty-three feet in length, had been the barge of the Alliance frigate, and had been captured by Paul Jones, as the barge of the Serapis.* [I had the pleasure to see this ship at anchor, in the Schuylkill, at Gray's ferry, where she was long preserved as an attraction to that celebrated garden and inn, and was at last sunk, in deep water, off the mouth of Maryland's creek, a little above the ferry.] This ship was commanded by Captain John Green, and had a crew of twenty-five men and officers. They flung the lead, and cried the soundings, and trimmed the sails to the wind as they changed their courses. She was drawn by ten horses, and under her bottom painted canvass representing the sea, hung over and concealed the wheels of the carriage; another vessel followed her as a pilot, and all was followed by all the pilots. 18. A frame drawn by four horses, eighteen feet long, contained the frame of the Union's barge, and men at work at the same. The boatbuilders followed, with a flag. 19. The sailmakers, bearing a silk flag, on which was painted the inside of a sail-loft. 20. The ship-carpenters -- their silk flag representing a ship on the stocks. To shorten this article, I briefly state, that the following professions, decorated and bearing emblematic flags, succeeded to wit : Shipjoiners, ropemakers, merchants and traders -- one carrying a ledger; cordwainers had a shop, drawn by four horses -- and six men in it at work; coachpainters, cabinet and chairmakers, brickmakers, painters, draymen, clock and watchmakers, bricklayers, tailors, carvers and gilders -- those had an elegant car, and men therein at work; coopers, planemakers, whip and canemakers -- these had a carriage, and lads at work therein; blacksmiths had a shop, drawn by nine horses, and men therein at work, making plough-irons out of old swords; coachmakers had a shop drawn by four horses, and men at work therein; potters -- a shop and men at work; hatters, wheelwrights, had a stage and men at work; tinplate workers, glovers, tallowchandlers, victuallers with two fat oxen; printers and bookbinders had a stage, and executed printing, and cast out an ode among the people. Ten of these odes to the States, were despatched by carrier habitated as Mercury. Fourteen different trades then followed; then lawyers, physicians, clergy, and a troop of dragoons, concluded the whole. I have in my possession, from the papers of the late Tench Francis, Esq., the bills and expenses of the procession and entertainment from which I select the following items, to wit : Federal car cost £37; triumphal car, £15; six awnings, or tents, cost £3 10s. to £4, severally; seven thousand feet of scantling, for frames -- putting up booths, £32; Indian plate ornaments, £9; six musicians, £6 15s.; one hundred rockets used on board the Rising Sun in the Delaware, £12 10s.; sixteen flags, £25; materials for the Federal ship, £55 7s.-- workmanship gratis. For the good cheer of the multitude at Bush-hill, to which the procession went, there were provided -- four thousand pounds of beef at 4d. and 5d.; two thousand six hundred pounds of gammon at 6d.; thirty barrels of flour at 31s., and baking the same at 7s. 6d.; five hundred pounds of cheese at 6d.; 13 hogsheads of cider at 60s., and one hundred barrels of strong beer at 30s. No spirituous liquors were furnished, and the whole expense was defrayed by private subscription -- all this to show the joy of the public at a settled constitution, produced amicably, after the toils and expenses of a long and ruinous war for liberty and self government. {Note : scantling - building material used for uprights. gammon = ham or bacon.} F. Hopkinson, Esq., has preserved in his works, a minute detail of all these things, he having been much engaged in the direction of the same. Similar processions were had in New York, Boston, and other cities. The following song has been attributed to Dr. Franklin. It is said he wrote it for the Procession of Trades in Philadelphia, at the adoption of the constitution, on which occasion a press was drawn along the streets, and copies of it distributed to the multitude. Ye merry MECHANICS, come join my song, And let the brisk chorus go bounding along; Though some may be poor, and some rich there may be, Yet all are contented, and happy, and free. Ye TAILORS ! of ancient and noble renown, Who clothe all the people in country or town, Remember that Adam, your father and head, The lord of the world, was a tailor by trade. Ye MASONS ! who work in stone, mortar, and brick, And lay the foundation deep, solid, and thick, Though hard be your labour, yet lasting your fame; Both Egypt and China your wonders proclaim. Ye SMITHS ! who forge tools for all trades here below, You have nothing to fear while you smite and you blow; All things may you conquer, so happy your lot, If you're careful to STRIKE WHILE YOUR IRON IS HOT. Ye SHOEMAKERS ! noble from ages long past, Have defended your rights with your all to the last, And COBBLERS all merry, not only stop holes, But work night and day for the good of our soles. Ye CABINETMAKERS ! brave workers in wood, As you work for the ladies, your work must be good And JOINERS and CARPENTERS, far off and near, Stick close to your trades, and you've nothing to fear. Ye HATTERS ! who oft with hands not very fair, Fix hats on a block for a blockhead to war; Though charity covers a sin now and then, You cover the heads and the sins of all men. Ye, COACHMAKERS, must not by tax be controll'd, But ship off your coaches, and fetch us home gold; The roll of your coach made Copernicus reel, And fancy the world to turn round like a wheel. And CARDERS, and SPINNERS, and WEAVERS attend, And take the advice of POOR RICHARD, your friend; Stick close to your looms, your wheels, and your card, And you never need fear of the times being hard. Ye PRINTERS! who give us our learning and news, And impartially print for Turks, Christians, and Jews, Let your favourite toasts ever bound in the streets, The freedom of speech and a volume in sheets. Ye COOPERS ! who rattle with drivers and adze, A lecture each day upon hoops and on heads, The famous old ballad of "Love in a Tub", You may sing to the tune of your rub a dub dub. Ye SHIPBUILDERS ! RIGGERS ! and MAKERS OF SAILS ! Already the new constitution prevails ! And soon you shall see o'er the proud swelling tide, The ships of Columbia triumphantly ride. Each TRADESMAN turn out with his tools in his hand, To cherish the arts and keep peace through the land; Each 'PRENTICE and JOURNEYMAN join in my song, And let the brisk chorus go bounding along. Chapter 16. SEASONS AND CLIMATE "I sing the varying seasons and their change." It is intended to include in the present chapter only such notable changes of the temperature in the extremes of heat and cold, as was matter of surprise or remark at the time of the occurrence, and therefore most likely to arrest our attention in the present day -- as a wonder of the past ! As early as the year 1683, William Penn, in his letter to Lord North, of 24th 5th month, says -- "The weather often changeth without notice, and is constant almost in its inconstancy !" Thus giving us, at a very slender acquaintance, the name of a coquettish clime ! An old-fashioned snow storm, such as we had lately on the 20th and 21st of February 1829, is the best thing in our country to bring to recollection olden time, when our fathers browbeat larger snow-drifts than have encumbered our fields and roads since honesty and leather aprons were in vogue ! It is cheering to see the towering bank, in a sunny morning, gemmed like the crown of a monarch with jewels that receive their splendour from the sun's rays, and reflect them back to ornament the cold white hillock which the clouds have bestowed upon us, to awaken recollections dear and sensations as cutting as the winter. It tells you of log fires which cheered them in the wilderness, and warmed the pottage which gave them the very hue of health. In short, as said the Literary Cadet, "a snow-storm in its severest form is a mirror, to reflect back olden time, in all its colouring, to the present !" Nor is it less grateful as a winter scene, to behold the occasional magnificent effulgence of an ice-rain, embossing in crystal glory as if by magic hands, the whole surface of the surrounding works of nature and art. "For every shrub and every blade of grass, And every pointed thorn, seems wrought in glass; In pearls and rubies rich the hawthorns show, While through the ice the crimson berries glow. The spreading oak, the beech and towering pine, Glazed over, in the freezing ether shine -- The frighted birds the rattling branches shun, That wave and glitter in the glowing sun." It is probable that the winter of 1682, being the first which Penn saw here, must have been peculiarly mild, for he says he scarcely saw any ice at all, and in the next year, the winter of 1683, which he calls the severest before known, froze up for a few days our great river Delaware ! He must certainly have been too favourably impressed by wrong information, for often the river has continued ice-bound for three months at a time. It was, however, grateful intelligence to the colonists then, and must have been a most welcome incident, ill-sheltered as they were, to have such favourable winters. In his letter of August 1683, to the Free Society of Traders, he thus speaks of the climate, to wit : "I have lived over the hottest and coldest seasons of the year that the oldest inhabitants remember. From the 24th of October to the beginning of December he found it like an English mild spring. From December to the beginning of March they had sharp frosts with a clear sky as in summer, and the air dry, cold and piercing. This cold is caused by the great lakes that are fed by the fountains of Canada. The air, already sweet and clear, rarely overcast, will refine as the woods are cleared off". Thus the reason of our former colder winters was then well understood. He has another shrewd remark : -- "It is rare to want a north-wester; and whatever mists, fogs or vapours foul the heavens by easterly or southerly winds, in two hours time are blown away -- the one is followed by the other -- a remedy that seems to have a peculiar providence in it. The winter before this (last) was mild. From March to June they enjoyed a sweet spring, with gentle showers and a fine sky. From June to August, which endeth the summer, they had extraordinary heats". Thomas Makin's Latin description of Pennsylvania, thus describes our climate as he knew it down to the year 1729, to wit : "Nay, oft so quick the change -- so great is pow'r -- As summer's heat and winter in an hour !" Sometimes the ice so strong and firm, we know That loaded wagons on the river go ! But yet so temp'rate are some winters here, That in the streams no bars of ice appear !" Professor Kalm, the Swedish traveller, who visited us in 1748-9, has left several facts descriptive of our climate, which he derived from the aged Swedes and by his own observation, to wit : It snowed much more formerly in winter than in the time of 1748. The weather then was more constant and uniform, and when the cold set in it continued to the end of February or till March, old style; after which it commonly began to grow warm. But in 1748 and thereabouts, it would be warm even the very next day after a severe cold -- and sometimes the weather would change several times a day ! Most of the old people told Mr. Kalm that spring came much later then formerly, and that it was much colder in the latter end of February and the whole month of May, than when they were young. Formerly the fields were as green and the air as warm about the end of February, as it was then in March or the beginning of April, old style. Their proverb then was "We have always grass at Easter". The lessening of vapours by cultivation, &c., was supposed to have changed the seasons. The winters, he understood, came sooner formerly than since. The first Mr. Norris used to say that the Delaware was usually covered with ice about the middle of November, old style, so that merchants always hurried their vessels for sea before that time. But about the year 1748 the river seldom froze over before the middle of December, old style. An old Swede of ninety-one years of age, told him he thought he had never witnessed any winter so cold as that of the year 1697-8; at which time he had passed the Delaware at Christiana several times with his wagons loaded with hay. He did not agree to the idea of others, that the waters had generally diminished. Isaac Norris' letter of the 8th of October 1702, says "We have had a snow, and now the north-west blows very hard. The cold is great, so that at the falling of the wind the river (at Philadelphia) was filled with ice". On the 10th, he adds, "there is a sign of a thaw, and he hopes vessels may yet get out". The severity of the winter 1704-5, is thus expressed by Isaac Norris, Senr., to wit : "We have had the deepest snow this winter that has been known by the longest English liver here. No travelling; all avenues shut; the post has not gone these six week; the river fast; and the people bring loads over it as they did seven years ago -- [as in 1697-8 aforementioned]. Many creatures ate like to perish". Kalm says, "many stags, birds, and other animals died, and that the snow was nearly a yard deep". Early ice was thus noticed the 23d of November 1732, saying, it has been so very cold this week past, that our river is full of driving ice, and no vessel can go up or down -- a thing rarely happening so early. Many persons have violent colds. The winter of 1740-1, a great snow. This winter was very severe during the continuance of "the great snow". It was in general more than three feet deep. The back settlers (says the Gazette) subsisted chiefly on the carcasses of the deer found dead, or lying around them. Great part of "the gangs" of horses and cows in the woods died. Ten and twelve deer are found in the compass of a few acres, near to springs. The chief severity was in February. [It was in February of the year 1717, that the greatest recorded "snow-storm" of Massachusetts occurred; it being from ten to twenty feet deep -- compelling many to go abroad on its frozen crust from their chamber windows.] Many deer came to the plantations, and fed on hay with the other creatures. Squirrels and birds were found frozen to death. By the 19th of March the river becomes quite open. Old Mrs. Shoemaker, whom I knew, told me of her recollection of that severe winter, to the above effect. Her words were, that all the tops of the fences were so covered, that sleighs and sleds passed over them in every direction. James Logan's letter of 1748, calls it "the hard winter of 1741" -- as a proverbial name, saying "it was one of remarkable severity -- the most rigorous that has ever been known here". Kalm says it began the 10th December, and continued to the 13th of March, old style, and that some of the stags which came then to the barns to eat with the cattle, became domesticated thereby. The 1st of November, 1745, is recorded by John Smith, in his journal, as the cold day -- the river having frozen over at Burlington, and many boys skating on the Schuylkill. The 17th of March 1760, Franklin's Gazette records "the greatest fall of snow ever known in Philadelphia since the settlement !" This is certainly saying much of such a snow so late in March ! [as marking the contrast the day I write this -- on the 12th of March, 1829, it is mild and thundered several times !] The wind in the snow storm was from north-east, and snow fell incessantly for eighteen hours. The minutes of Assembly show that the snow in some places gathered seven feet deep, and prevented the speaker and many members to get to town -- so the house was adjourned. The same winter another singular circumstance occurred -- told to me by old Isaac Parish, to wit : The day he was married, the weather was so soft and open that the wedding guests had to walk on boards to the meeting to keep them out of the soft mire; but that night the cold became so intense that the river Delaware froze up so firmly that his friend William Cooper, married at the same time with himself, walked over to Jersey on the ice bridge on the next morning. No ice was previously in the river. Mrs. Shoemaker, who died at the age of ninety-five, told me she had seen the deep snows of 1740 and `80; and from her recollections she said the winter of 1780 was probably as deep as that of 1740, and withal was remarkably cold, so much so as to be called the hard winter of 1780. The winter of 1784 was also long remembered for its severity and long continuance. The 17th April 1797, was a severe snow-storm -- when it fell two feet deep -- none like it occurred again in April, till the north-east snow-storm of 12th April 1841, when it fell fifteen or sixteen inches. MILD WINTERS. The following are instances of mild winters, occurring in the years 1790, 1802, 1810, 1824, and 1828, and here severally stated in their detail for the purpose of comparison, to wit : Extract from A. H.'s Diary, for 1789 and 1790. 12th mo. 1789 -- The weather moderate during the early part of this month. 25th, (Christmas) a pleasant day -- no ice in the Delaware. Three light snows this month. Rains from the 28th to the 31st, but the weather moderate. 1st mo. 1, 1790 -- A charming day -- no ice in the river, and no frost in the ground. 2. This day as pleasant as yesterday -- boys swam in the Delaware, and ships sail as in summer -- flies common in houses. 12th. Cold -- skating on the pavement this morning. 15th. Cold -- snow on the ground this morning -- continued snowing until 9 A.M. -- wind N. E. 2d mo. 7 -- Navigation stopped for the first time this winter -- morning cold, with a strong wind from south. 13th. Delaware river froze very hard -- weather clear and cold -- morning cold, with a strong wind from south. 16th. Delaware river broke up -- weather foggy, very damp and warm, with a thaw -- wind south-west -- heavy rain at night, with thunder and lightning. 3d. mo. 11 -- The deepest snow on the ground we have had this winter -- some ice in the Delaware. An ancient female Friend informed me she remembered a similar moderate winter sixty years ago, in which the Delaware was not frozen; and that the ensuing summer was healthy and very plentiful as were the years 1790, 1802 and 1810. Extract from A. H.'s Diary, for 1802. 1st mo. 12th -- Morning very cold -- wind high, with flying clouds -- this day the most like winter of any this season. 15th -- Remarkably pleasant, wind south south-west -- no skating for the boys this winter -- not one cake of ice in the Delaware, and even the ponds are not frozen hard enough to bear for two days together -- prevalent winds south-west. 19th -- A very great white frost this morning. 2d mo. 5th -- And sixth of the week -- by far the coldest morning this season -- froze very hard last night -- wind west and a very clear horizon. 6th -- Very cold -- water froze in chambers first time this season -- some ice about the pumps in the street -- Schuylkill froze over. 19th -- Weather moderate -- a fine shad in our market this morning -- this is remarkable; but what is more so, I find recorded, 1st mo. 19th, 1793, the extreme temperature of the weather exceeds all winters I have known -- this day and others preceding may be compared to part of April, as one day this week a shad was caught in the Delaware. Extract from A. H's. Diary, for January, 1810 1st mo. 18th. -- And fifth of the week -- sun rose clear -- a heavy white frost -- wind south -- soon clouded -- wind south-west -- some rain before noon, and some sunshine -- cleared towards evening -- wind shifted to north-west, with a heavy gale all night. Jack Frost has opened his pipes to some purpose -- many people seemed to think we should have no winter, but now it appears to have begun in earnest. The season of 1824 has been called very mild. The year 1828. This winter of 1827-8 is remarkable for its mildness -- no snow, or frost, and the plough enabled to cut the furrows ! mild rains every where instead of snows. The gazettes every where teem with notices of the unusual mild weather. Even boats, in January, are descending the Susquehanna from as far as the Bald Eagle ! Even as late as the 7th of February, it is stated from the Juniata that arks were still passing down that river, and that this is the first winter ever known that the river has continued clear of ice ! On the 9th of February a shad, caught near Bombay hook, was bought in the Philadelphia market for the Mansion-house hotel. This, so far, has been the rainy winter. The mildness of the winter prevented the usual storing of ice for the fish markets, &c. -- a thing unprecedented. One person laid in his ice in one day in November. On the 13th and 14th of April 1828, came a snow storm ! -- much snow -- not cold. An elderly gentleman remarks on this season, that "the winter of 1827-28 is past, and such a one precisely has never occurred during sixty years of my observations. There were two events differing from any mild winters I ever remember, viz.: so much absence of the sun -- but one day in December clear all day -- January 20th, and 21st, clear all day -- February 9th, sun rose clear and continued so all as mild as the month of May -- 12th, 13th, 14th, 16th, 17th, 19th, 22d, 23d -- all these days were clear, the sun shining all day -- in one or two days the sun made its appearance nearly all day, and a number of days one, two or three hours -- add these to the whole days and it would scarcely amount to seventeen days clear sun -- this is one singular trait ". The winter of 1830-1 became just such another rainy winter -- remarkable for its numerous mild rains. The following are instances of Irregularity -- to wit : The 8th of May, 1803, was a remarkable day. It snowed so heavily as to make a wonderful breaking of the limbs of trees then in full leaf. The streets in the city were filled with broken limbs thereby -- most strangely showing -- "winter lingering in the lap of spring". On the 13th and 14th of April 1828, was a snow storm in which much snow fell, but not being cold, it soon disappeared. The winter of 1817 was remarkable for displaying some very vivid lightning in the month of January ! No snow had fallen before this occurrence. The day preceding snow fell a little, but melted the same day. At night it grew warm and rained, accompanied by vivid lightning. During the same night it blew up quite cold, and snowed about half an inch. Very cold weather immediately set in. The papers at Albany and New Hampshire spoke of vivid lightnings also on the night of the 17th of January. Good sleighing occurred at Philadelphia on the 23d of January. On the 25th of October 1823, was the dark day. There was great darkness at 9 o'clock A.M., so as to make candlelight desirable. At Norristown they were obliged to use candles. The darkness at New York came at about 11 o'clock, and compelled the printers to print by candlelight. It was stormy there at an earlier hour. At Philadelphia there was thunder and some rain. At Albany, at 8 A.M. same day, it snowed fast all day, forming a fall of twelve inches, but melted very fast. It thundered there at 12 and at 2 o'clock while snowing ! The heavy snow broke the limbs of trees still in leaf, very much. At Newark it lightened and thundered severely, and hailed, and was very dark. On the whole, it was a widespread darkness for one and the same storm. On the 11th of April 1824, it thundered and lightened considerably for the first time this spring. Old people tell me they never used to see this occurrence until warm weather. But of late years it has occurred several times in the cold season, and sometimes in March. The Christmas days of 1824 and 1829 were remarkable for their coincidence of singular warmth. The thermometer in the shade at 7 o'clock A.M., stood at 33¼, and at 2 o'clock P.M., at 63¼ -- both days exactly alike, and on both periods having a gentle wind from the south-west. There were in olden time two memorable "hot summers" so called, and referred to in many years afterwards -- the years 1727 and 1734. I describe the latter from the gazette of the time, to wit : July 1734 -- The weather has been so hot for a week past, as has not been known in the memory of man in this country, excepting the "hot summer" about seven years since. Many of the harvest people faint or fall into convulsions in the fields, and 'tis said in some places a multitude of birds were found dead. The names of five inhabitants dying of the heat are given. Subsequent papers confirm the extreme heat in the country, and the deaths thereby. I ought to have mentioned too, that as early as the year 1699 Isaac Norris, Sen. [Vide Logan MSS.] speaks then of the "hottest harvest season he had ever before experienced. Several persons died in the field with the violence of the heat". An elderly gentleman tells me that on the 1st of October 1770, memorable as the then election day, was well remembered as a snowy day ! From that time to this he has never witnessed it so early again. Since then, he thinks the earliest snows have not fallen earlier than the 1st of November. The middle of November has been regarded as an early snow. Often he has seen "green Christmas" -- that is -- no snow till after Christmas, at least not such as to lay on the earth. The night of the 11th April 1826, was remarkably cold. It froze so hard as to bear a wagon loaded with flour on a muddy road. Some snow on the ground at same time. On the 12th of April at sunrise the mercury stood at 24. Old people say they never saw it so cold at that season. One remembers a deeper snow on the 10th of April, about forty years ago, when he went abroad in a sled. I am indebted to the investigation and diligence of my friend Samuel Hazard, Esq., for sundry notices hereinafter given, respecting our winters, from 1681 to the year 1800. Besides the surprise which some of the facts will excite, they may prove useful as data for comparison with years to come. Mr. Hazard's larger collection of facts on the same subject may be found in his published book, the Register. Winters at and near Philadelphia, from 1681 to 1800. 1681 December 11. The river froze over that night. The Bristol factor, Roger Drew, arrived at Chester from England, with settlers for Pennsylvania, where they lay all winter. 1704 Snow fell one yard deep. 1714 February. Flowers seen in the woods. 1720 February 23. The river is now clear of ice. November 11. "My ink freezes, which obliges me to conclude." Close of a merchant's letter, dated Philadelphia. December 20. Our river is full of ice, and the ship Prince of Orange, which is going with a flag of truce and Spanish prisoners to St. Augustine, is in great danger. December 27. The river being now clear of ice, vessels are falling down. 1721 December 19. No vessels arrived since our last, the river being full of ice. December 26. do. do. do. locked up. 1722 January 2. River still locked up. ----------- 6. Vessels get up to New Castle. ----------- 9, 16, 22. River still locked up. February 6. Vessels cleared and entered. 1723 January 1. Weather is yet very moderate, and our river open. ------------ 6. Weather is yet very moderate, and river free from ice. December. Vessels enter and clear through the month. 1724 January 18. River very free from ice. December 15. On Thursday last a violent storm of wind and rain; tide overflowed the wharves. Two outward bound vessels returned for fear of ice, of which our river is very full. December 22. River full of ice. -------- 29. Some driving ice, but not so as to prevent vessels going up or down. 1725 March 3. Snow fell near two feet deep last night and yesterday, which has not been known for some years. December 21. River is very full of ice, though several vessels came up with it; no arrivals or clearances mentioned till 18th July. 1727 March 30. Weather and floods prevented the legislature from meeting at the time to which they stood adjourned. 1728 January 23. We have had very hard weather here for nearly two weeks; so that it has frozen our river up to such a degree that people go over daily, and they have set up two booths on the ice about the middle of the river. January 30. River still fast. {Note : fast = tightly shut (frozen)} February 7. Some say the ice is driving near Bombay hook. River here still fast. No clearance mentioned till March 5 December 31. 36 vessels, besides small craft, frozen up at docks, viz.: large ships 14; snows 3; brigs 8; sloops 9; schrs. 2. 1730 January 20. We had here such a deep snow, the like not known these several years. River full of ice; no vessels can pass. 1733 January 18. Great snow at Lewes; ice driven ashore by a north-east storm. 1734 January 1. River continues open, and weather very moderate; winter hitherto as moderate as for many years past. 1736 January 6. River is fast and full of ice. February 25. Two whales killed at Cape May. 1737 January 20. Weather very cold; persons frozen to death; a vessel below cannot come up on account of the ice. 1740 March 15. Ice broke up in the Delaware. December 19. River unnavigable from this to 13th March. 1741 January 8. Our river has been fast some time, and we heard from Lewes that 'tis all ice towards the sea as far as the eye can reach. Tuesday and Wednesday are thought to have been the coldest days for many years. 1741 March 5. The severity of the winter complained of through-out the country. Cattle dying for want of fodder; many deer found dead in the woods, and some came timely to the plantations, and fed on hay with other creatures. March 13. River navigable. The winter extremely long and severe. April 19. We hear from Lancaster county, that during the great snow, which in general, was more then three feet deep, the back inhabitants suffered much for want of bread; that many families of new settlers had little else to subsist upon but the carcasses of deer they found dead, or dying, in the swamps or runs about their houses. The Indians fear a scarcity of deer and turkeys, &c. 1742 January 22. Comet visible for some time. February and March. Entries and clearances -- no mention of ice. December. Entries and clearances -- no mention of ice. 1748 January 26. A vessel ashore on Reedy island, cut through with the ice -- no entries or clearances -- severe weather -- a man frozen to death on a flat in Mantua creek. 1754 January 15. Our river is now, and has been for several days quite clear of ice. 1755 January 14. There is so much ice at present in the river, that our navigation is stopped. January 21. Clearances from this date forward. 1756 January and February. Clearances through the month. March 18. On Friday night we had a violent N.E. snowstorm, which did considerable damage to the vessels at the wharves, and probably on the coast. This is the first mention of snow. Arrivals and clearances continue through the month. There is no intimation that the navigation was interrupted this winter. 1759 January 4. Our river is so full of ice that no vessel can stir. 1760 March 20. On Sunday last, we had a violent N.E. snowstorm, when considering the season of the year and the time it lasted, (18 hours) there was the greatest fall of snow that has been known, it is said, since the settlement of the province. 1761 December 24. Navigation quite stopped -- measures for relief of the poor. 1764 December 31. Delaware frozen over in one night -- passable next morning. 1765 February 7. On Tuesday last, an ox was roasted whole on the river Delaware, which, from the novelty of the thing drew together a great number of people. 1765 February 28. Our navigation is now quite clear, and several vessels have come up. March 28. On Saturday night last, came on here a very severe snow-storm, which continued all night and next day, when, it is believed, the greatest quantity of snow fell that has been known (considering the advanced state of the season) for many years past, it being said to lie about 2, or 2 1/2 feet on a level, and in some places deeper. A great number of trees are destroyed; some torn up by the roots, others broken off; and the roads so bad that there is scarcely any travelling. 1766 January 9. River quite fast since Friday last -- weather very severe. 1767 January 1. Our river is so full of ice that navigation is at a stand. Thermometer, 6¼; on 2d, 5¼. December 24. The cold weather of Saturday night filled the river so full of ice that vessels could not depart; but on Tuesday there was a fine thaw accompanied with rain, and the weather is now moderate, and we hope the navigation will soon open again. 1768 February 11. Our river is now so clear of ice, that vessels get up and down. March 24. On Saturday night last, we had a most violent snow-storm from N.E. 1769 January. Arrivals and clearances through the month. February 23. Since our last, have had a fine thaw, warm sun and some rain, by which our navigation is now clear. 1771 December 26. The cold has been so intense for three days past that navigation is at a stand -- river full of ice. 1772 March 16. During the last week there fell large quantities of snow, in many places two feet deep -- a good deal of ice in the river. 1773 January 20. River full of ice -- navigation stopped. ------- 21. Thermometer in open air, on east side of the city at 2 P.M., 8¼ above 0; at 4 P.M., 7¼ ; at 6 P.M., 5¼ ; at 10 P.M., 4¼ 1779 February. Leaves of willow, blossoms of peach, and dandelion flowers were seen. 1780 January. On Sunday morning last, at a fire at the French consul's the weather was so severe that many of the engines were rendered useless by the intense cold. During this month, the mercury, excepting one day, never rose so high in the city as to the freezing point. March 4. The Delaware became navigable after having been frozen nearly three months. This is denominated "the hard winter". Ice 16 to 19 inches thick -- frost penetrated the ground from four to five feet. During this winter the ears of horned cattle, and the feet of hogs, exposed to the air, were frost-bitten. Squirrels perished in their holes, and partridges were often found dead. 1781 January 27. The winter, thus far, hath been remarkably mild, so that the earth has scarcely been frozen half an inch deep, or the smallest ponds covered with ice strong enough to bear a dog. 1782 February 6. About a week since, the extremity of cold was felt here. On Tuesday afternoon the thermometer felt very low. This day the mercury was within the bulb, and in some instances it fell 4¼ below 0, being the greatest excess of cold experienced here for many years. It is needless to say, the Delaware, opposite the city and for several miles downward, is covered with a fixed and strong floor is ice. 1783 December 26. The navigation stopped, and in a few days the river was frozen over opposite the city, and continued so till 18th of March. 29, snow. 1784 January 13. On Tuesday and Wednesday a most remarkable thaw, attended with a warm, disagreeable, unwholesome vapour, which in the evening was succeeded by a sharp N.W. wind and clear sky, so that within a few hours, we have experienced a transition from heat to cold of at least 53 degrees. The suddenness and severity of the frost has entirely bound up the navigation. 1785 January 3. Vessels attempt to go down, the moderate weather having so far cleared the ice; but on the evening of the 4th, the harbour was entirely frozen across. January 20. Frozen from side to side : broke up in four or five days, and was entirely free from ice; all vessels from below came up. 1786 January 21. Our weather has been remarkably mild for the greater part of the winter, until Friday (17th) last, when it grew cold and froze the river in a few days, from side to side at the lower part of the city. 1789 January 3. Owing to moderate weather, the navigation is again restored, and many vessels have departed. The three lower bridges on Schuylkill were carried away by the breaking up of the ice, and one of them nearly destroyed. 1790 January 2. Such an open winter as the present has not been known in this city since it was founded -- boys bathing in the river as if it were summer -- wharves crowded with wood -- oak 15 shillings -- hickory 25 shillings. March 10. The only considerable snow this winter -- only remained on the ground three days. Yesterday morning, thermometer at 4¼ December 18. River frozen over and stands -- boys skating -- continued closed till 18th January. 1793 January 14. Hail. ----------- 18. The extreme temperateness of this season exceeds every winter remembered by the oldest inhabitants of Philadelphia, for now we have April weather. 1795 January 21. The sky has continued almost invariably without a single cloud, for a long time past. Flies were seen a few days ago. Indeed, there was an expectation with many people, that there would be no ice during the present season -- about the middle of last week, however, a frost came. On Monday morning January 19th, at 7 o'clock, the thermometer in the open air, was so low as 12¼ -- a great part of the river was frozen over. 1796 February 9. Navigation interrupted by driving ice for about a week past : yesterday a vessel came up. The winter to this time the most moderate I ever remember for forty-five years -- very little interruption by floating ice. Schuylkill is frozen so as to bear people on it, but not very safe for many in a place. December 6. Within ten days we have had very cold weather. The Susquehanna has closed -- men and horses cross daily. It is not within man's memory to have seen the river so low of water, or to have closed so early. Snow, in Philadelphia, two inches deep. December 24. Severe cold as remembered for forty years -- snow two feet deep at the westward. 1797 January 10. River still closed -- loaded wagons come over on the ice -- weather as cold as remembered these fifty years. 1799 January 1. Snow -- more snow in the last six weeks than remembered for several winters in the same time and season, and very cold weather most of the time. January 3. Snow. 4th, Delaware full of ice. 5th, snow. 6th, ice in the Delaware stopped, and boys skating on it -- snow on the ground about three inches deep. 9th, snow. February 9. Delaware clear of ice. -------- 25. Extremely cold. Skating on the Schuylkill, and the ice in the Delaware stopped. March 12. Deep snow on the ground. a very long and severe winter this has been. 1800 January 1. The winter, thus far, has been remarkably open, there having been very little ice in the Delaware, and that very thin. January 29. Last night coldest this season -- the Delaware being frozen from side to side, though very little ice in it last evening. March 8. Snow without intermission for twenty-five hours -- near two feet upon a level. December 23. The weather, except some cold nights, has been remarkably open. No ice in the Delaware -- this day being remarkably warm for the season -- the like not remembered since the British army were here in 1777 and `78. Those who are curious to examine later years, may find the record in Hazard's Register. The Climate of Philadelphia and adjacent country. Has been much investigated by Dr. Benjamin Rush, in 1789, and revised in 1805. The facts of which may be consulted at large in Hazard's Register of Pennsylvania, vol. i, p.151. Among his facts are these, to wit : The climate has undergone a material change since the days of the founders -- thunder and lightning are less frequent; cold of winters and heat of summers less uniform than they were forty or fifty years before. The springs are much colder, and the autumns more temperate. He thinks the mean temperature may not have changed, but that the climate is altered by heat and cold being less confined than formerly to their natural seasons. He thinks no facts warrant a belief that the winters were colder before the year 1740, than since that time. He observes, that there are seldom more than twenty or thirty days in summer or winter in which the mercury rises above 80¼ in the former, or falls below 30¼ in the latter season. The higher the mercury rises in hot days, the lower it usually falls in the night. Thus, when at 80¼ by day, it falls to 66¼ at night; or when at only 60¼ by day, it only falls to 56¼ at night. The greater disproportion is most apparent in August. The warmest weather is generally in July; but intense warm days are often felt in May, June, August, and September. The variableness of weather in our state, he observes, lies south of 41¼, and beyond that the winters are steady, and in character with the eastern and northern states. Our intense cold seldom sets in till about the 20th or 25th of December -- "as the day lengthens the cold strengthens" -- so that the coldest weather is commonly in January. The greatest cold he has known at Philadelphia was 5¼ below zero, and the greatest heat 95¼. The standard temperature of the city is 52 1/2¼. The month of June is the only month which resembles a spring month in the south countries of Europe. The autumn he deems our most agreeable season. The rains in October are the harbingers of the winter, so that as the Indians also say, the degrees of cold in winter can be foreknown by the measure of rain preceding it in the autumn. The moisture of the air is greater now than formerly, owing probably to its now falling in rain, where it before fell in snow. Finally, he says, "We have no two successive years alike. Even the same successive seasons and months differ from each other every year. There is but one steady trait, and that is, it is uniformly variable." Spring and Summer Occurrences, Being such notices of facts as were deemed rare for the season at the times affixed in the following memoranda, to wit : 1736 April 22. Hailstorm near the city; hail as large as pigeons' eggs. 1750 May. This is the coldest May ever known. Several frosts, and some snow. 1772 April 2. Fell in several places six inches snow. 1783 May. A heavy hailstorm, believed the heaviest ever known here -- did not extend far in width -- stones fell of half an ounce -- many windows were broken. 1786 May. Remarkable for the absence of the sun for two weeks, and a constantly damp or rainy weather. It continued for forty-two days, being all the time a cold north-east storm, and no sight of the sun. 1788 August 18th and 19th. There fell seven inches of rain. 1789 This spring remarkably backward -- peaches failed -- no cherries or strawberries -- quite uncomfortable to sit without fires until June. In July. Very hot weather -- by 10 o'clock A.M., the meats in the market putrefy, and the city mayor orders them cast into the river -- merchants shut up their stores -- thermometer at 96¼ for several days -- in August fires became agreeable. 1793 April 1. Blossoms on fruit trees are universal in the city -- birds appeared two weeks earlier than usual. May 22. To the end of the month a continuance of wet and cloudy weather -- wind mostly at north-east, and so cool that fire was necessary most of the time -- the summer of this year was the "yellow fever" calamity. 1795 The latter end of June and beginning of July were remarkable for the continuous daily raining -- perpetually interrupting the hay harvest -- and then came a great flood. 1796 July 26. The most plentiful harvest remembered. 1797 April 7. The peaches and apricots in blossom. 1799 April 3. Frost last night. 11th- Some ice in the gutters. 20th- Some ice in the morning. 1801 May 28. Hay harvest near the city. 1802 April. Several frosts this month and in May -- fires agreeable. 1803 May 7. Ice -- on the 8th a snow which broke down the poplars and other trees in leaf -- on the 15th a fire was necessary. 1805 Summer -- no rain after the middle of June, all through July -- heat 90 to 96 degrees -- pastures burnt up and summer vegetables failed. 1807 April 3. Snow. June 13. Fire necessary. August and September. The influenza prevailed. 1809 April 13. The houses covered with snow like winter. " 26. Ice thick as a dollar. May 6. Ice. 13th - Grass frozen. 30th - Frost -- the coolest May remembered for many years. 1810 April 1. Snow on the ground. 3d - Spits of snow. 1811 July 3. Warm dry weather for some time -- Indian corn suffers -- a finer dry hay harvest not remembered -- between 3d and 9th, hot weather continued from 94 to 97¼. 1812 April 13. Snow and rain. May 4. Rain and snow. 8th - Frost. 22d. - The spring very backward - fires necessary. In July the grain harvest was daily interrupted by rain, and was so long deluged that it grew and sprouted while standing. 1816 June 5. Frost. 10th - So severe as to kill beans. 11th - Severe frosts at Downingtown -- destroyed whole fields of corn. 1818 July 22. Monday last rain fell four inches. 1824 July 20. Storm of rain and hail at Chester. " 28. Unprecedented fall of rain near Philadelphia -- did much damage to bridges, &c. 1825 June 11. Severe heat at 2 o'clock -- thermometer at 96¼ in the shade. 1827 July 20. Peaches, pears and plums to market. 1836 June. The first three weeks were cloudy and rainy every day. 1842 June. The whole month and into July -- very rainy and cool. A glance at such collected instances of remarkable irregularities may well serve to repress the oft-repeated exclamations of those who cry, "Who ever saw the like before !" or, "An unprecedented occurrence !" For, at undefined periods, the whole circle of remarkables may be found but a repetition of "the thing that hath been". Indian Summer This was a short season of very fine mild weather, which was formerly much more manifest than of later years. It was expected to occur in the last days of November. It was a bland and genial time, in which the birds, the insects, and the plants, felt a new creation, and sported a short-lived summer, ere they shrunk finally from the rigour of the winter's blast. The sky, in the mean time, was always thinly veiled in a murky haze -- intercepting the direct rays of the sun, yet passing enough of light and heat to prevent sensations of gloom or chill. The aged have given it as their tradition, that the Indians, long aware of such an annual return of pleasant days, were accustomed to say "they always had a second summer of nine days just before the winter set in". From this cause, it was said, the white inhabitants, in early times, called it the "Indian summer". It was the favourite time, it was said, of the Indian harvest, when they looked to gather their corn. The known amenity of such a season was fixed upon, in olden time, as the fittest time for the great fair at Philadelphia, which opened on the last Wednesday in November and continued three days; thus insuring, as they conceived, as many good days before and after the term, for good travelling to and from the same. The fair in the last week of May was also chosen for its known settled weather. Weather Prognostics. A curious old almanac of our country, of the year 1700, gives the following rules for prognosticating the weather, to wit : The resounding of the sea upon the shore, and the murmur of winds in the woods without apparent wind, show wind is to follow. A murmur out of caves portendeth the same. The obscuring of the smaller stars is a sign of tempest. Also, if the stars seem to shoot, winds will come from that quarter the star came from. The often changing of the wind showeth tempests. If two rainbows appear, it will rain. A rainbow presently after rain, denotes fair weather. If the sky be red in the morning, it is a sure token of winds or rain, or both, because those vapours which cause the redness will presently be resolved. If the sun or moon look pale, then look for rain. If fair and bright, expect fair weather. If red, winds will come. If a dark cloud be at sunrising, in which the sun is soon after hidden, it will dissolve it, and rain will follow. If there appear a cloud, and after vapours are seen to ascend upon it, that portendeth rain. If the sun seem greater in the east than common, it is a sign of rain. If in the west about sunsetting there appear a black cloud, it will rain that night or the day following, because that cloud will want heat to disperse it. If mists come down from the hills, or descend from the heavens and settle in the valleys, it promiseth fair hot weather. Mists in the evening show a hot day on the morrow; the like when white mists arise from the waters in the evening. The circles that appear about the sun, if they be red and broken, it portendeth wind. If thick and dark, it shows winds, snow or rain -- which are also presaged by the circles about the moon. White and ragged clouds appearing like horses' manes and tails, fortelleth great winds -- even as the sailors long have said, viz.: "Shagged clouds -- like an old mare's tail, Make lofty ships -- to carry low sail." Thunder in the morning, if it be to the south-westward, and the wind be there, denotes, many times, a tempestuous day; also, a rainbow or water gall in the west, denotes a stormy wet day. The "sun dogs" appearing in the morning or evening, is a sign of cold wet, windy weather -- especially in winter time. To the foregoing we might add, as a weather proverb of long standing and observation in our country, that the 17th and 18th of March have always been periods of memorable time. On the 17th, being St. Patrick's day, "he turns up the warm side of the stone" -- indicating warm weather must soon follow; and on the 18th, "Shelah comes draggle-tailed" i.e. brings a wet day. In 1760, however, they concerted to bring together a most tremendous snowstorm. We add the following modern rule as a Weather Denoter. A wet summer is always followed by a frosty winter, but it happens occasionally that the cold extends no farther. Two remarkable instances of this occurred in 1807-8 and 1813-14. With these exceptions every frosty winter has been followed by a cold summer. The true cause of cold, or rather the direct cause, is to be found in the winter excess of west wind; every winter with excess of west wind being followed by a cold summer; and if there is no cold before, or during first excess, then a second excess of west wind in winter occasions a still colder summer than the first. It also appears, by repeated experience, that cold does not extend to more than two years at a time. Again, if the winter excess of the east wind be great, in the first instance, the winters will be mild, and followed by mild summers; while summer excess of east wind is itself, in the first instance, always mild; but uniformly followed by cold winters and cold summers, which continue, more or less, for one or two years, according to circumstances. RARE FLOODS AND EBBS -- In 1687, Phineas Pemberton in his letter, speaks of the great land flood and rupture, at or near the Falls of Delaware. It occasioned much mortality afterwards. In 1692, 27th of 2d mo., he speaks of the great flood at the Delaware Falls, which rose twelve feet above usual high water mark, owing to the sudden melting of the snow. The water reached the upper stories of some of the houses, built on low lands. 1731, February 16 -- Last week we had the greatest fresh in the Delaware, ever known since the great flood at Delaware falls, thirty-nine years ago, in 1692. In 1733, month of February "the ice in Schuylkill broke up with a fresh, and came down in cakes of great thickness, in a terrible manner, breaking great trees where the flood came near the low land. It carried off the flats of two ferries, and the water was two and a half feet high on the ground floor of Joseph Gray's middle ferry, which is much higher than any fresh is known to have been before in that river". 1737, February 3 -- Sunday night last the ice, thick and strong, broke up with the fresh occasioned by rains and melting of the snow. The water rose near six feet on the floor of Joseph Gray's house at the middle ferry, which is three feet higher than before in 1733. March 17 -- On Wednesday and Thursday last a south-east storm raised the tide higher than known for many years, which did great damage. 1738, April 6, a great storm, at east and north-east, damaged the wharves and much raised the creeks. 1754, January 22, an unusually low tide, owing to a gale from north-west. 1767, January 8 -- From the great and unexpected thaw since Saturday last, the ice on Monday broke up, and at the middle ferry carried away all the boats, broke the ropes, tore the wharf, swept off some of the out-houses, &c. 1769, March 16 -- Saturday last, a remarkably low tide, owing to the north-west winds. It is said to be two and a half feet lower than common low-water mark in the Delaware; and in the Schuylkill it was so low that the ferry boats could not get to the fast land on either side. 1775, September 3 -- The highest tide ever known. 1784, January 13 -- Great damage was done by the sudden and extraordinary rise of water occasioned by the thaw and great rain of Thursday last. March 15 -- This morning (Sunday) about two o'clock the ice in the Schuylkill gave way, but soon after it lodged, and formed a dam, which overflowed suddenly the grounds about the middle ferry, and carried off every thing but the brick house -- drowning several horses and cattle, and forced the family to secure themselves in the second story till daylight, whither they were followed by a horse, that had sought refuge in the house. The waters did not subside till four o'clock on Monday afternoon. [There were 21 persons in the house at the time, of whom only two are now living.] In the Pennsylvania Gazette of the 27th of March, 1784, the particulars of this event are related in the form of two chapters in Chronicles -- in Scripture style. 1796, March 18 -- A lower tide than recollected for many years -- [say since the 26th of December, 1759, when it was lower] owing to a hard gale the night of the 16th instant, and since continued at north-west. The flood tide was two feet lower than a common ebb -- the bar visible nearly across -- several chimneys blown down. 1804, April 22 and 23 -- A very great fresh in the Delaware and Schuylkill, attended with very high tides, occasioned by very heavy rains. 1804, March 20 -- The ice gorged above the city, on coming down Schuylkill in a heavy fresh, which occasioned the water to rise to so great a height, that a man on horseback with a common riding whip, from the Market street wharf on this side of the river, could but just reach the top of the ice piled on said wharf. The ice and water found its way round the Permanent bridge on the west side, overflowing the causeway between the road and the bridge, in a depth that required boating for passengers for some hours. 1810, January 19 -- Lowest tide for fourteen years. 1822, February 21 -- The ice and water came over Fairmount dam to a depth of nine feet, and brought with it the Falls bridge entire, which passed over the dam without injuring it, and went between the piers of the Market-street bridge. At this fresh, the general body of water far exceeded the fresh in 1804; as the rising so much then was owing to the ice gorging above. The fresh of 1822, from Reading down, is considered to have possessed the greatest body of water and ice ever known; at that place the river rose twelve feet high. 1824, April 7 -- During the last four months twenty freshets have occurred in Schuylkill. In 1824, the 29th of July, a very great and sudden land flood was experienced in and around Philadelphia -- the effect of a great discharge of rain to wit :-- It commenced with light showers about nine o'clock, and from that time there were some intermissions until half after eleven, when the rain recommenced, and continued with thunder and lightning for the period of three hours, to pour down such powerful torrents of water as to deluge all the low lands in the city and neighbouring districts. In these situations many cellars were filled, in some of which sugars and other perishable articles were destroyed, and other goods were damaged. The embanked meadows on the borders of the Delaware and Schuylkill were much injured, and some of the cattle were drowned. Two bridges between Holmesburg and Frankford, and the floating bridge at Gray's ferry, on Schuylkill, were carried away. The bridge at the Flat rock on Schuylkill, and Poole's bridge in Front street, were considerable damaged, and several mill-dams, and bridges across turnpike and other roads, were either carried away or considerably injured. A large quantity of lumber and drift wood was carried down the stream from the borders of the Schuylkill, and a man who was endeavouring to collect a portion of it was unfortunately drowned yesterday morning, below Fairmont dam. The loss to the county of Philadelphia, and to individuals, must be considerable. The rain which fell, measured by the gauge, four and a quarter inches. In Germantown, it fell eleven inches. The water rose in Cohocksink creek, four feet higher than is recollected by the oldest inhabitants in the neighbourhood. It was nine inches deep on the lower floor of a house occupied by a Mr. White, and his family was apprized of the circumstance by the neighbours early in the morning, having rested in confidence of their being secured from the flood. The house is an ancient one, having been built before the war of the revolution, and during the conflict was fired by the English; it was afterwards repaired, as many others in the vicinity of our city have been, which were burnt by order of the British. We measured the height of the water mark left on the wall in the lower room of Messrs. Craig & Co's. cotton factory, and found it four feet above the floor. The machinery was nearly covered with it, and about forty bales of cotton goods were damaged; the dye-house belonging to the factory was inundated, and most of the dye-stuffs destroyed; much of the fencing along the creek was swept away. At the bridge over the creek on Second street the water rose to about four feet above the crown of the arch, and from a hasty view, there appeared to be about eight or ten cart-loads of lumber across the stream at that point. It is generally believed, that the insufficiency of the tunnel of that bridge to discharge the water was the principal cause of the damage sustained; and from our own knowledge, within the last thirty-five years, the bed of the creek at Second street has been raised five or six feet, thereby lessening the tunnel nearly one-half of its capacity. At the bridge over St. John street there were fifteen or twenty loads of lumber, casks, privies, &c., together with the plank work of the bridge, swept from its pier at Beaver street. A family residing in a small brick house near Beaver and Third streets were taken from the window of their bedchamber at about two o'clock in the morning, at which time the fresh was at its height. When the extreme lowest tides have occurred in the Delaware, at the city, there have been some rocks exposed near Cooper's upper ferry, which are never seen, even in part, at other times. They were first observed bare in 1769 -- then again in 1796 -- and at last, again in 1810, generally on the 17th of March. These low ebbs have usually occurred in March, and have been much promoted by strong and continued north-west winds. Those rocks have been seen as much as seven or eight feet out of the water; on such occasions they have always been permanently marked with the initials and dates of visiters &c. The rocks, in 1810, were but two feet out of the water. 1827, October -- Unusually high tides about full moon. -----November 14. -- Lowest tide recollected for many years -- rocks on Jersey channel exposed to view. 1829, March 6 -- The ice and fresh came over Fairmount dam five feet six inches in depth, with a very powerful flow of water, and perhaps owing to the addition of a very strong north-west wind, the awful rushing of the waters over the dam appeared, to an observer of both freshes, much more terrifically sublime than that in 1822, although at that time the depth was three feet six inches more than the recent one flowing over the dam. It is most gratifying to know that the Schuylkill navigation and canals, and the Union canal, with their locks and dams, sustained both these freshes, which have occurred since these valuable works were formed, without any injury of importance. STORMS -- 1745, March 26 -- Friday last a violent gust occurred which damaged houses and cast down trees. 1747, April 30 -- A violent north-east storm did much damage. 1750, December 25 -- A violent north-east storm last Thursday; it damaged the wharves and sunk some small craft. 1753, November 14 -- A violent gale from the east overflowed the wharves, and water lodged in most of the stores. 1770 was "the great September gale" in which was a great loss of vessels all along our coast. 1786, April 1 -- A north-east gale, with hail and snow, did much damage. 1788, November 10th and 11th -- A violent storm from south-east caused a heavy swell in the river; many vessels were injured. 1796, January 7 -- A violent storm last night did considerable damage. 1805, December 28th and 29th -- A great storm -- "a mere hurricane" by which several vessels were sunk at the wharves, and others broke loose and went to pieces. 1819, September 28 -- The meadows below the city were overflowed by the great rise of the river in the late gale. 1821, September 3 -- A great storm of rain and wind from the north-east destroyed many trees, blew down chimneys, and unroofed the bridge at the Upper ferry. The Schuylkill dam rose much. The "old fashioned snow storm", (so called) of the 20th and 21st of February, 1829, the liveliest and best picture I have seen of late years of the olden-time snow scenes of my youth, came on the 14th and 15th January 1831, to be far eclipsed by "the deep snow" of this last memorable time. It was really cheering and delightful, to rise in the snow-stillness of the Sunday morning of the 16th January, when, "Earth robed in white, a peaceful sabbath held ----" in a double sense -- to witness such towering pyramids and deeply piled banks of glistening snow, all resting after the subsidence of the storm, in calm repose. It cheered the men of olden days, to be thus able to show to the young of the rising generation, the unexpected, and welcome a living picture of scenes oft told, but difficult to be conceived or credited by those youngsters who had never seen them. Hardly expecting to see such another storm in my future life, I determined at the time to preserve sundry notices of its effect &c. throughout the country, not now needful to relate. It laid upon the country, and was used upon the roads till the middle of February, actually exhausting all the pleasures of sleighing by its long continuance. There was a very remarkable storm of rain at Philadelphia, at midnight of the 25th of June 1835, and continued till three o'clock in the morning. It being at time of high tide, the water sewer in Dock street filled, and the street overflowed and filled all the cellars, and even the ground floors of the houses, with water. A similar heavy rain occurred on the night of the 1st of July 1842, again over-flowing the sewer, and filling the cellars. METEORS -- 1737, May 7 was seen an aurora borealis. 1743, December 8 a comet visible for five or six nights. 1748, April 21 a comet visible for eight or ten nights past. 1750, February 16 a very bright aurora borealis. 1756, December 30 people much surprised with the sight of two mock suns. 1807, October 7 a comet visible. 1814, in November and December a comet is seen. In 1749, 17th of 12mo. -- There was last evening an extraordinary appearance of the aurora borealis, which moved from north-east to north-west, and back again. In 1764, 21st of July -- There was seen at Philadelphia, at seven in the evening, a great fiery meteor, about fifty degrees above the horizon, of bigger apparent diameter than the sun, which exploded in sight of the city with a report like springing of a mine, when were seen thousands of pieces of fire to diverge. The meteors of the 13th of November, 1833, were the most remarkable ever witnessed. A beholder says, he was sitting alone in a well lighted apartment at 4 AM., when he suddenly saw through the window a shower of sparks falling past it on the outside. He supposed the house was on fire, and rushing to the door, to his extreme amazement, he found the entire atmosphere filled with flakes of fire, (for they fully resembled flakes of snow of a stellated or radiated form) of a pale rose red, seemingly of an inch diameter, falling in a vertical direction, as thick as he ever saw snow ! Intermingled with the smaller stars, were a larger kind, equal to one in a hundred of the others, of an intense sapphire blue, seemingly of three to four inches diameter. This shower continued up to broad day light. They were seen all over the United States, and have been variously described, but all agreeing that they surpassed all other known cases. Next : Medical Subjects.