the monks resolved to remove his body into the choir of the church. According to tradition, this was to have been done on the 15th of July; but it rained so violently for forty days that the design was abandoned. Mr. Howard remarks, that the tradition is so far valuable, as it proves that the summers in the southern part of our island were subject, a thousand years ago, to occasional heavy rains, in the same way as at present. This accurate observer has endeavoured to ascertain how far the popular notion is borne out by the fact. In 1807 and 1808, it rained on St. Swithin’s-day, and a dry season followed. In 1818 and 1819, it was dry on the 15th, and a very dry season followed. The other summers, occurring between 1807 and 1819, seem to show, “that in a majority of our summers, a showery period which, with some latitude as to time and local circumstances, may be admitted to constitute daily rain for forty days, does come on about the time indicated by the tradition of St. Swithin.”
But in these calculations, it is necessary to bear in mind that the change of style has very much interfered with St. Swithin. With the day allowed in the closing year of the last century, St. Swithin’s
day is how thirteen days earlier in the calendar than it would have been by the old style. Thus the true St. Swithin’s-day, according to the tradition, is about the 28th of July, and not the 15th, as set down in the present calendar. There must, therefore, be a considerable difference as to the rains and this day.
We now proceed to collect a number of prognostics connected with the appearances of the heavenly bodies and of the sky; they are the result of long experience, but at the same time it is necessary to caution our readers against attaching much importance to them.
When the sun rises red, wind and rain may be expected during the day; but when he rises unclouded, attended by a scorching heat, cloudiness and perhaps rain will ensue before mid-day. When he rises clouded, with a few grey clouds, they will soon dissipate, and a fine day will follow. When his light is dim, vapour exists in the upper regions of the air, and may be expected to descend shortly after in the form of dense clouds. When his light, after rain, is of a transparent watery hue, rain will soon fall again. When his direct rays have a scorching and weakening effect on the body
throughout the greater part of the day, the next day will be cloudy, and perhaps rainy. When the sun is more or less obscured by a thicker or thinner cirro-stratus cloud, and when he is said to be wading in the cloud, rain may come—if the cloud indicates rain it will come. A halo surrounding the disc of the sun is almost always sure to precede rain. A red sunset without clouds indicates a doubt of fair weather; but a fine day may be expected after a red sunset in clouds. A watery sunset, diverging rays of light, either direct from the sun or from behind a cloud, is indicative of rain. After a dull black sunset rain may be expected.
It is a common saying among country people,—
“An evening red, or a morning grey,
Doth betoken a bonnie day;
In an evening grey and a morning red,
Put on your hat, or yell weet your head.”
There are not many prognostics connected with the appearances of the moon. The changes of the moon produce greater effects than at any other period. With a clear silvery aspect fair weather may be expected. A pale moon always indicates rain, and a red one wind. Seeing the “old moon
in the new one’s arms,” is a sign of stormy weather. Seeing the new moon very young, “like the paring of a nail,” also indicates wet; but when the horns of the new moon are blunt, they indicate rain, and fair weather when sharp. It is truly said: