2.—A gale of unusual violence began in the night, and prevailed during the whole of the 3rd. There was hardly a street in Norwich in which the roofs of houses escaped damage. Many vessels were lost off the Norfolk coast. One hundred and forty-four men and boys were drowned, and 68 widows and 105 children were left destitute. A public subscription, to which the Queen contributed £100, was opened at Yarmouth to relieve their distress. 9.—A meeting of weavers was held at Norwich, to consider the rates of payment for work. It was stated that in 1846 a list of prices was agreed to by the manufacturers and operatives for all fabrics then made. These prices had, with few exceptions, been maintained in Norwich, but a great deal of work was sent into the country, where it was done at the reduced rate of 5½d. per dozen skeins, or considerably more than 50 per cent. difference. The weavers resolved that any departure from the list of prices would be alike injurious to employers and employed, and a deputation was appointed to wait upon the manufacturers to enforce this view. —Mr. David Fisher gave, at Noverre’s Rooms, Norwich, his entertainment, entitled, “Facts and Fancies,” with which he had achieved great success during the London season. Mr. Fisher was known in Norwich not only as an excellent actor and accomplished musician, but as a vocalist of much taste. 21.—At the Norwich Assizes, before Mr. Baron Martin, James Margatroyed Hubbard (24), described as a general dealer, and son of a Norwich brewer, was indicted for forging a bill of exchange for £45, and sentenced to 20 years’ penal servitude. 25.—The weather was very mild. A picotee bloom and rose were gathered in a garden at Norwich. 26.—Mr. H. J. Byron was the author of the pantomime produced at Norwich Theatre. It was entitled, “Ali Baba, or the Thirty-nine Thieves.” —A revolting performance was given at one of the shows at the Norwich Christmas Fair. “A man and woman, said to be Kaffirs, actually fed upon live rats, in the presence of continually succeeding audiences.” The details, as published in the newspaper, are too horrible to be quoted. The Mayor, on being informed of the proceedings, prohibited the exhibition, after which raw flesh was substituted for live rats. At Walsingham, a few days afterwards, the show was visited by many hundreds of country folk; at Wells the police expelled the performers from the town. 1864. JANUARY. 6.—The mild weather of Christmas week was succeeded by frost of great intensity. On this day the thermometer stood at 14 degrees, and the river above the New Mills at Norwich was frozen. Large numbers of golden plover made their appearance in the neighbourhood of Thetford, and an extraordinary quantity of wild fowl came within the bounds of Shadwell, where Sir Robert Buxton prohibited their being shot or molested.