‘Behold the Liquid THAMES now frozen o’er! That lately SHIPS of mighty Burden bore. Here You may PRINT your Name, tho’ cannot Write, ’Cause numb’d with Cold: ’Tis done with great Delight. And lay it by; That AGES yet to come May see what THINGS upon the ICE were done.’ “A copper-plate, representing a view of the Thames at Westminster, with the tents, sports, &c., and alphabetical references, entitled ‘_Ice Fair_.’ ‘_Printed on y^e River Thames, now frozen over, Jan^y 31, 1739-40_;’ 7-1/2 inches by 12-1/2. ‘Amidst y^e arts y^t on y^e Thames appear, To tell y^e Wonders of this frozen Year, Sculpture claims Prior place, since y^t alone Preserves y^e Image when y^e Prospect’s gone.’ “An altered copy of these verses was printed upon the Thames in the great Frost of 1814; and from an advertisement in the ‘_London Daily Post_’ of Thursday, January the 31st, 1739-40, we learn that this and the following print were originally sold for 6_d._ each. “A Copper-plate printed in red, 9-1/2 inches by 13-1/4, the view taken opposite St. Paul’s, with tents, sports, &c. in front, sixteen lines of verse beneath, with ‘_Frost and Ice Fair, shewing the diversions upon the River Thames, began the 26th of Decem^r 1739-40, ended Febru^{ry} the 17th_.’” “In the beginning of this Frost, the houses on London Bridge appear to have received considerable damage, from the many vessels which broke from their moorings, and lay beating against them; the notice of which, we derive from the two most celebrated newspapers of the time,--the ‘_Daily Post_,’ and Woodfall’s ‘_General Advertiser_.’ The latter of these, for Monday, December the 31st, 1739, states that ‘all the watermen above the Bridge have hauled their boats on shore, the Thames being very nigh frozen over:’ and in the same paper, for Wednesday, January 2nd, 1739-40, it is observed, that ‘several vintners in the Strand bought a large Ox in Smithfield on Monday last, which is to be roasted whole on the ice on the River of Thames, if the Frost continues. Mr. Hodgeson, a Butcher in St. James’s Market, claims the privilege of selling, or knocking down, the Beast, as a right inherent in his family, his Father having knocked down the Ox roasted on the River in the great Frost, 1684; as himself did that roasted in 1715, near Hungerford Stairs. The Beast is to be fixt to a stake in the open market, and Mr. Hodgeson comes dress’d in a rich lac’d cambric apron, a silver steel, and a Hat and Feathers, to perform the office.’ After the mention of numerous accidents near London Bridge, the repetition of which would occupy considerable time with but little gratification, the ‘_Daily Post_,’ of Tuesday, January the 22nd, 1740, thus notices the first breaking-up of this famous frost. ‘Yesterday morning, the inhabitants of the West prospect of the Bridge were presented with a very odd scene, for, on the opening of their windows, there appear’d