WEATHER RULES.
(Vol. viii., pp. 50. 535.)
St. Vincent's Day, Jan. 22.—In Brand's Popular Antiquities, Bohn's edition, vol. i. p. 38., is to be found the following notice of this day:
"Mr. Douce's manuscript notes say: 'Vincenti festo si Sol radiet, memor esto;' thus Englished by Abraham Fleming:
'Remember on St Vincent's Day,
If that the Sun his beams display.'
"[Dr. Foster is at a loss to account for the origin of this command, &c.]"
It is probable that the concluding part of the precept has been lost; but a curious old manuscript, which fell into my hands some years since, seems to supply the deficiency. The manuscript in question is a sort of household book, kept by a family of small landed proprietors in the island of Guernsey between the years 1505 and 1569. It contains memoranda, copies of wills, settlements of accounts, recipes, scraps of songs and parts of hymns and prayers; some Romanist, some Anglican, some of the Reformed Church in France. Among the scraps of poetry I find the following rhymes on St. Vincent's Day; the first three lines of which are evidently a translation of the Latin verse above quoted, the last containing the to be remembered:
"Prens garde au jour St. Vincent,
Car sy ce jour tu vois et sent
Que le soleil soiet cler et biau,
Nous érons du vin plus que d'eau."
These lines follow immediately after the rhymed prognostications to be drawn from the state of the weather on St. Paul's Day, Jan. 28. As these
verses differ from those quoted in Brand, from an Almanack printed at Basle in 1672, I here give the Guernsey copy:
"Je te donneray ugne doctryne
Qui te vauldra d'or ugne myne;
Et sordement sur moy te fonde,
Car je dure autant que ce monde:
Et sy te veulx byen advertir
Et que je ne veulx point mentir.
De mortaylle guerre ou chertey,
[A line appears to be lost here]
Si le jour St. Paul le convers
Se trouve byaucob descouvert,
L'on aura pour celle sayson
Du bled et du foyn à foyson;
Et sy se jour fait vant sur terre,
Ce nous synyfye guerre;
S'yl pleut ou nège sans fallir
Le chier tans nous doet asalir;
Si de nyelle faict, brunes ou brouillars,
Selon le dyt de nos vyellars,
Mortalitey nous est ouverte."
Another line appears to be omitted here; then follow immediately the lines on St. Vincent's Day.
Edgar MacCulloch.
Guernsey.
The following is copied from an old manuscript collection of curiosities in my possession. I should be glad to know the author's name, and that of the book[[3]] from which it is taken:—
"Observations on Remarkable Days, to know how the whole Year will succeed in Weather, Plenty, &c.
"If it be lowering or wet on Childermas or Innocence Day, it threatens scarcity and mortality among the weaker sort of young people; but if the day be very fair, it promiseth plenty.
"If New Year's Day, in the morning, open with dusky red clouds, it denotes strifes and debates among great ones, and many robberies to happen that year.
"It is remarkable on Shrove Tuesday, that as the sun shine little or much on that day, or as other weather happens, so shall every day participate more or less of such weather till the end of Lent.
"If the sun shines clear on Palm Sunday, or Easter Day, or either of them, there will be great store of fair weather, plenty of corn, and other fruits of the earth.
"If it rains on Ascension Day, though never so little, it foretells a scarcity to ensue that year, and sickness particularly among cattle; but if it be fair and pleasant, then to the contrary, and pleasant weather mostly till Michaelmas.
"If it happen to rain on Whitsunday, much thunder and lightning will follow, blasts, mildews, &c. But if it be fair, great plenty of corn.
"If Midsummer Day be never so little rainy, the hazel and walnut will be scarce, corn smitten in many places; but apples, pear and plums will not be hurt.
"If on St. Swithin's Day it proves fair, a temperate winter will follow; but if rainy, stormy, or windy, then the contrary.
"If St. Bartholomew Day be misty, the morning beginning with a hoar frost, then cold weather will soon ensue, and a sharp winter attended with many biting frosts.
"If Michaelmas Day be fair, the sun will shine much in the winter; though the wind at north-east will frequently reign long, and be very sharp, and nipping."
Ruby.
Footnote 3:[(return)]
The Shepherd's Kalendar, by Thomas Passenger. See "N. & Q." Vol. viii., p. 50., where many of his observations are quoted.—Ed.