31 JANUARY 1880, Page 3

The weather in London during the week has been among

the -worst we can remember. Between Saturday and Friday, the -thermometer frequently registered fifteen degrees of frost; while a permanent yellow fog, deepening at intervals to a pale brown ROA Ming over the Metropolis, stopping traffic, depressing energy, and making all men feel as if a gale, or a storm of rain, or even a heavy snow-fall, would be a relief. The old have died in the "cold snap" like flies, till even the obituary in the Times, which records only the deaths of those comfortably off, has invaded the neighbouring columns, and general practitioners in all districts complain of continuous over-work. There is no epidemic abroad, but bronchitis is terribly prevalent, and persons of low vitality Rave found themselves all more or less ill. The absence of light by itself has been a serious affliction, actually stopping certain

trades, and reducing all men with eyes which need daylight to a kind of despair. Per contra, the manufacturers of skates, who very seldom get a turn, have made fortunes ; and the drivers of four-wheel cabs, when able to keep alive, have been content with their gains.