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Rh nius Mela, a geographer who wrote under Claudius, that by the success of Roman arms the island (Britain) and its savage inhabitants would soon be better known. It is amusing enough to peruse such passages in the midst of London." Perhaps what has least changed in the island since Tacitus commemorated the deeds of his father-in-law is the weather. "Severity of cold," he remarks, "is unknown, but their sky is obscured by continual rain and cloud." The historian's opinion, however unpalatable to ourselves, is still an article of faith in many European lands; and indeed we need not go further than Paris to be told that the sky which obscured the camp of Agricola still hangs over our shires and cities.