( 9 )
the circle of Westphalia, and have received their names from their two principal cities.
The temperature of the air is nearly the same in the greatest part of these provinces, and, except in the north of Jutland, is much milder than their situation would incline one to believe, being rarely subject to very long or rigorous cold. To comprehend this, it will be sufficient to remind the reader, of this general observation, that countries surrounded with the sea, have their atmosphere loaded with vapours continually exhaling from it, which break and blunt the nitrous particles of the air, and soften its rigours. When the straits and gulphs, which surround the Danish islands, become frozen in very sharp winters, it is less owing to the prevalence of the frost there, than to the large flakes of ice, which are driven by the winds out of the northern seas, and are there assembled and united. The summer season commonly begins with the month of May, and continues till October: and during its continuance, the beauty of the country, the freshness and shortness of the nights, and the convenience of navigation in a country surrounded and crossed by the sea, easily repair and make the inhabitants forget the languors and interruptions, which winter causes in their business and amusements.
