Ce nous synyfye guerre;

S’yl pleut ou nège, sans fallir,

Le chier tans nous doet asalir;

Sy de nyelle faict, brumes ou brouillars,

Selon le dyt de nos vyellars,

Mortalitey nous est ouverte.”

Similar sayings are to be found in Latin, English, German, Italian, and other languages.

February, as every one knows, is the shortest month in the year; but few know why. This is how it is accounted for by old people in Guernsey:—Février dit à Janvier:—‘Si j’étais à votre pièche (place) je f’rais gelaïr (geler) les pots sus le faeu (feu) et les p’tits éfàns (enfants) aux seins de leurs mères’—et pour son ìmpudence i’ fut raccourchi (raccourci) de daeux jours, et Janvier fut aloigni (alongé).‘” February said to January:—If I were in your place I would cause the pots to freeze on the fire, and babes at their mothers’ breasts, and for his insolence he was shortened of two days, and January was lengthened.

The most intense cold in the year generally sets in with February; and this saying reminds me of what is told in Scotland, and in many parts of the north of England, of the borrowing days, the three last days of March (See Brand’s Popular Antiquities, Bohn’s edition, Vol. II., p. 41-44). It appears, however, according to this authority, that in the Highlands of Scotland the borrowing days are the three first days of February, reckoned according to the old style, that is, the days between the eleventh and the fifteenth.

February 2nd, Candlemas Day. Fine weather on this day is supposed to prognosticate a return of cold. The following lines were communicated by a country gentleman, but they have not quite the same antique ring as those relating to St. Paul’s and St. Vincent’s Days, and may, possibly, be a more recent importation from France.