St. Barnabas Day. (Old Style. June 21st.)
Barnaby bright, Barnaby bright,
The longest day and the shortest night.
The ignorant believe that any person fasting on Midsummer eve, and sitting in the church porch, will, at midnight, see the spirits of the persons of that parish who will die that year, come and knock at the church door, in the order and succession in which they will die.
Hone.
When mack'rel ceaseth from the seas,
John Baptist brings grass-beef and pease.
Tusser.