Whatever else may be said of our English climate, it cannot be accused of monotony.  You are not sure of seeing the same sky every morning you arise, than which there is no greater source of ennui.  Those of us who have lived long abroad know how tired we got of a cloudless blue sky.  We can sympathise with the sailor who, on returning to London from the Mediterranean, joyfully exclaimed—­“Here’s a jolly old fog, and no more of your confounded blue skies!” Certainly we could do with a little more sunshine in England than we get.  It is not true that while we have much weather we have no sunshine, but we have not as much of it as many of us would like.  Still England is not as bad as some places; for instance, Halifax, Nova Scotia, where they have nine months’ winter and three months’ bad weather.  Indeed, the English takes rather a good place amongst the climates of the world.  It is free from extremes, and allows us to go out every day and at all hours.

However, judging from the way we grumble, it would seem that we are anything but satisfied with our climate.

Scene—­Drawing-room at Scarborough.  Melissa (writing):  “Aunty, darling, how do you spell damnable?” “Good gracious, darling, never use such a word.  I am surprised.”  “Well, but, auntie, I am writing to papa, to tell him about the weather.”  “Oh, well, my darling, I suppose I may tell you.  D-a-m-n-a-b-l-e; but remember that you must not use the word except to describe the weather.”

I suppose the clerk of the weather office has long ago ceased trying to satisfy us in this matter.  What seems wretched weather to one person makes another happy.  Cold, that the young enjoy because it makes them feel their vitality to the tips of their fingers, is death to the old.  Those who are fond of skating look out of the windows of their bedrooms, hoping to see a good hard frost.  The man who has three or four hunters “eating their heads off” in the stable wishes for open weather, so that he and they may have a run.  The farmer says that frost is good for his land; the sportsman, who has hired an expensive shooting, does not like it.  A young lady enjoys her walk and looks her best on a fine frosty morning; but she should not forget that the weather which is so pleasant to her puts thousands of people out of work.

Idle people feel changes of weather most.  A man who lives a busy life in a hot climate once said to me:  “I do not know why people growl about the heat; for my part, I have no time to be hot.”  And if the energetic feel heat less than do the indolent, they certainly feel cold less.  They are too active to be cold; and perhaps it is easier to make oneself warm in a cold climate than cool in a hot one.