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Yes, those were the days. I remember Morris Zapp in David Lodge's Changing Places thinking he is on fire because he sees his breath condensing in the frozen air of a Rummidge bedroom. I recall one Birmingham house that was so cold that it was actually warmer to stand outside. There may have been a little ice age in the seventeenth century but even today England can be penetratingly cold thanks to the Damp (for which low-lying Oxford is notorious). Best wishes, Richard Ramsey > Brrr! I suspect Coleridge was romancing (in the non-sexual sense). Down > quilts notwithstanding, the memory of going to bed in pre-central > heating England and Scotland still makes me shiver. I bet people piled > on everything they could manage so as to keep warm. You might want to > ask this one on the Victorian list! Germaine. > > -- > *********************************************************************** > Germaine Warkentin // English (Emeritus) > VC 205, Victoria College (University of Toronto), > 73 Queen's Park Crescent East, Toronto, Ont. M5S 1K7, CANADA > [log in to unmask] (fax number on request) > *********************************************************************** >