FROST of extreme intensity prevailed throughout the northern counties at the commencement of the year 1838, and was succeeded on the 6th of January by falls of snow, the wind blowing keen from the north-east, the storm prevailing with great severity till the end of the month, though slight intermissions were experienced. The roads in the district were not entirely obstructed, but considerable delay was experienced in the arrival of the coaches-the long-stage coaches especially. On Saturday, the 21st, at Newcastle, the frost was more intense than ever remembered there; at two o'clock in the afternoon the thermometer was at 18°, at eight o'clock, at 12°, and from ten to twelve o'clock at night, as low as 9° 30', or 22 degrees below the freezing point; whilst in more exposed places in the neighbourhood it was still lower, being down to 5° at Prudhoe; and at Ryton even below 3,-29 degrees below freezing! The drift of snow both on Saturday night and Sunday was considerable, and some of the coaches did not start as usual on Monday. All passage on the river Tyne was stopped, it being frozen for upwards of five miles below Newcastle, and several skating parties were seen exercising on the

ice. On Monday and Tuesday the 22nd and 23rd, a partial thaw was experienced, and great damage being apprehended to the shipping from the breaking up of the ice, precautionary measures were resorted to, but on the morning of the 24th the frost was again intense, in which state it remained till Monday the 29th, when a gradual but continued thaw commenced, and it was fortunate that the ice went away so gently as it did, as the harbour was much crowded with loaded ships, many of which received partial injury, owing to the haste with which it was attempted to get them out to sea, to avoid the consequences apprehended from the breaking up of the ice. In this attempt seven vessels got upon the in-sand, but none of them received any damage except the loss or breaking of bowsprits, and other external and trifling injury. In no year since the celebrated frost of 1814 had one occurred like the present; in proof of this it may be mentioned that loaded carts crossed the Tyne, the Coquet, the Tweed, and other rivers in the north, upon the ice at various points.-Local Papers.

1838 (Jan. 3.)—This day, Wednesday, was published in Sunderland, the first number of a new Conservative journal, entituled "The Sunderland Beacon." The paper was printed by Mr. Thomas Hodge, for Mr. John Kitchen, the sole proprietor.-Ibid.

January 8.-A fire occurred in Blyth's nook, Newcastle. The bed and bed clothes of an Irish family, occupying a room in a tenemented house there, had taken fire; the flames however were subdued with little other damage than the destruction of the bed, and a few other articles of furniture.—Ibid.

January 10.-W. D. Anderson, esq., was appointed resident engineer to the corporation of Newcastle. There were 21 applicants for the office.-Ibid.

January 13.-Died at his house in Hamilton place, London, John Scott Earl of Eldon, High Steward of the University of Oxford, a Governor of the Charterhouse, and a Member of the Privy Council, D. C. L., F. R. S., and F. S. A. Lord Eldon was born at his father's house in Love lane, Newcastle, 1751, June 4th, a day that was the anniversary of the birth of king George III. His father was a coal-fitter and merchant, a person in a respectable walk of life* John, who was the youngest of the family, like his brother William, was educated at the grammar school of Newcastle, but at an early age he quitted it for the university of Oxford. He

It appears by the books of the Hostman's Company of Newcastle, that he had been apprenticed in 1716 to Thomas Brumell of Newcastle for seven years, and that in 1724 he was admitted to the freedom of the company.

was matriculated at University college Oxford, May 15, 1766, being then but fifteen years of age, there he received the assistance of his brother's private and public tuition, and to such good account was it turned that in July 11, 1767, he was elected fellow of University. In February, 1770, he took his batchelors degree and in the following year gained the chancellors prize of twenty guineas for an English essay "On the Advantages and Disadvantages of Foreign Travel." Shortly after this he married. His wife was Elizabeth, daughter of Aubone Surtees, esq., a banker at Newcastle. The match was a runaway one, and the lady was carried off from one of the upper windows of her father's house on the Sandhill, Newcastle; yet unlike most matches so imprudently formed, it was productive of the greatest connubial happiness during a period of many years. Lady Eldon was extremely beautiful, but "the qualities of the heart surpassed even her personal attractions, she would sit up with her husband cheering his midnight studies as a lawyer, watching him with silent affection, and moving about on tiptoe that she might not disturb the connection of his thoughts." She died in 1831. In 1773, January 28, Scott was admitted a student of the middle temple, but as yet he resided chiefly at Oxford. In order to add to his income at that time he took a part in the tuition of University college with his brother and Mr. Fisher, afterwards master of the Charterhouse. He

also read lectures as deputy of the Vinerian professor of common law in the years 1774-1776. For this service he had the use of the professor's house and £60 a year. But the time came when the study of the law was to be his main occupation and never perhaps did student burn the midnight lamp with greater ardour or perseverance. In the diligence of his studies he must have equalled Sir Matthew Hale, like him, ultimately, success was his reward. He was called to the bar in February, 1776, and within seven years after received a silk gown. His success for the first three or four years was probably small, still he was not less fortunate than most young members of his profession. He occasionally received business from the corporation of Newcastle. Gradually, however, business came thicker, and as the reward of his abilities, eminence followed. In 1781 he has been alleged to have refused a mastership in chancery with £2000 a year, and, in 1783 he obtained a seat in parliament, through the chancellor's (lord Thurlow) interest with lord Weymouth, for Weobly. By a singular coincidence he took his seat the same night as Erskine, afterwards lord Erskine, and was present at the introduction of the famous East India bill. Like Erskine he spoke on the subject, and like him too, his reputation as an orator was not sustained at St. Stephens. His advocacy, however, of Mr. Pitt's East India measure gained that minister's warmest friendship, and as his general reputation increased, his abilities and judgment became better known to the cabinet. In 1788 he was made solicitor general and knighted. Shortly after this he drew the regency bill, on the occasion of the king's illness, and in opposition to lord Loughborough's opinion, enabled Pitt by his advice to gain a victory over his rival in the subsequent discussions. In consequence of this, his intimacy with Mr. Pitt was increased greatly. Mr. Wilberforce thus writes of his conduct in his diary, "I saw much of sir John Scott, and it is no more than his due to say that when he was solicitor and attorney general under Pitt, he never fawned or flattered as some did, but always assumed the tone and station of a man who was conscious that he must show he respected himself if he wished to be respected by others." In February, 1793, on the promotion of sir Archibald Macdonald to the office of chief baron of the exchequer, sir John Scott was made attorney general, and soon afterwards commenced those state prosecutions so important in the page of history of these the cases of Horne Tooke and Hardy deserve the perusal of even the general reader. In the latter the opening speech of

In 1788, August 16, he was admitted to the freedom of the Hoastmans Company, Newcastle.