The weather has been dreadful all the week, rain falling
in the South almost continuously, while in Scotland gales and snow- storms have produced an unusual amount of injury. On Sunday a gale broke over Wick and wrecked five vessels, and the destruc- tion extended to the Aberdeenshire coast, where nine vessels were destroyed, eight of' them with all hands, while eight more at least were lost among the Orkneys. At least 250 lives are reported lost, while the interruptions to traffic have been endless. In England, the rain and snow have swollen all the .rivers, till in some places, like the valleys of the Ouse and of the Lea, the people communicate by boats ; and though the loss of money is not so great as in summer or autumn floods, the injury to pro- perty must be considerable. In London the chief annoyance from the weather has been the weary drizzle, the depressing absence of sunlight, and the unusual badness of the gas, which has burned as if composed of fog.
