In the ensuing lines from Gay's first Pastoral are some curious but real omens of the weather, afterwards much mistaken : We learnt to read the skies, To know when hail will fall, or winds arise. He taught us erst the Heifer's Tail to view, When stuck aloft, that showers would straight ensue; He first that useful secret did explain, Why pricking corns foretold the gathering rain. The Heifer's Tail in the above lines signifies a species of Pray give an answer as profound: In Tottenham Court, a Comedy, Lond. 1638, we read, "I am sure I have foretold weather from the turning up of my Cowe's tayle." Coles, in his Introduction to the Knowledge of Plants, p. 38, says, "If the down flyeth off Coltsfoot, Dandelyon, and Thistles, when there is no winde, it is a signe of rain." Superstitions respecting thunder are as numerous as those of rain. Leonard Digges, gentleman, in his rare work entitled "A prognostication euerlasting of ryght good effecte," &c. 4to, Lond. 1556, fol. 6. b. tells us, "Thunders in the morning signifie wynde, about noone rayne, in the evening great tempest. Somme wryte (their ground I see not) that Sondayes thundre shoulde brynge the death of learned men, judges, and others; Mondaye's thundre, the death of women; Tuesdaye's thundre, plentie of graine; Wednesdaye's thundre, the deathe of harlottes, and other blodshede; Thursdaye's thundre, plentie of shepe and corne; Fridaie's thundre, the slaughter of a great man, and other horrible murders; Saturdaye's thundre, a generall pestilent plague and great deathe." Massey, in his Notes on Ovid's Fasti, p. 90, says, "The lefthand thunder was accounted a happy omen by the Romans, but by the Greeks and Barbarians it was thought otherwise:" so inconsistent are superstitious observations. See Tully de Divinatione, lib. ii. cap. 39. Lord Northampton, in the Defensative against the Poyson of supposed Prophecies, 4to, Lond. 1583, Signat, T. 2 b. writes, "It chaunceth sometimes to thunder about that time and season of the yeare when Swannes hatch their young; and yet no doubt it is a paradox of simple men to thinke that a Swanne cannot hatch without a cracke of thunder." From the following simile given by Bodenham in his "Belvedere, or the Garden of the Muses," p. 153, it should seem that our ancestors held somehow the Hedgehog as a prognostic of the weather. Willsford, in his Nature's Secrets, p. 136, tells us that "Trefoile or Clavergrasse, against stormy and tempestuous weather will seem rough, and the leaves of it stare and rise up, as if it were afraid of an assault. "Tezils or Fuller's Thistle, being gathered and hanged up in the house where the air may come freely to it, upon the alteration of cold and windy weather will grow smoother, and against rain will close up his prickles. Heliotropes and Marigolds do not only presage stormy weather, by closing or contracting together their leaves, but turn towards the Sun's rays all the day, and in the evening shut up shop. "Pine Apples hanging up in the house, where they freely may enjoy the air, will close themselves against wet and cold weather, and open against hot and dry times. "The leaves of trees and plants in general will shake and tremble against a tempest more than ordinary. "All tender buds, blossoms, and delicate flowers, against the incursion of a storm, do contract and withdraw themselves within their husks and leaves, whereby each may preserve itself from the injury of the weather." He says, ibid. p. 144, "Leaves in the wind, or down floating upon the water, are signs of tempests. In Autumn, some say, in the Gall or Oakapple, one of these three things will be found, if cut in pieces-a Flie, denoting want; a worm, plenty; but if a Spider, mortality." Lupton, in his book of Notable Things, edit. 8vo, 1660, p. 52, No. 7, says, If you take an Oakapple from an Oaktree, and on opening the same, you shall find a little Worm therein, it is a prognostic of fine weather. The Broom or the Walnut Tree, having plenty of blossoms, is a sign of a fruitful year of corn. Great store of Nuts and Almonds presage a plentiful year of corn, especially Filberts. When Roses and Violets flourish together in Autumn, it is an evil sign of an ensuing plague the year following, or some pestiferous disease. See Brand's Popular Antiquities, vol. ii. 559. We find in Smart's Hopgarden : And oft, alas! the long experienced wights (Oh! could they too prevent them!) Storms foresee, For, as the storm rides on the rising clouds, Heaves her huge legs along the narrow way: Next hark How the curst Raven, with her harmless voice To soak thy Hops and brew thy generous Beer. The following are some remarkable instances of the commixture of truth and fable in the account given of prognostics: Willsford, in his Nature's Secrets, tells us, "Spiders creep out of their holes and narrow receptacles against wind or rain; Minerva having made them sensible of an approaching storm." Hence it is vulgarly thought unlucky to kill Spiders by some persons. Small Spiders termed Money Spinners are held by many to prognosticate good luck, if they are not destroyed, or injured, or removed from the person on whom they are first observed. Others have thought themselves secure of receiving money, if by chance a little Spider fell upon their clothes. White, in his excellent Natural History of Selborne, vol. i. 326, tells us, "The remark that I shall make on the cobweblike appearance called Gossamer, is, that, strange and superstitious as the notions about them were formerly, nobody in these days doubts but that they are the real productions of small Spiders, which swarm in the fields in fine weather in Autumn, and have a power of shooting out webs from their tails, so as to render themselves buoyant and lighter than air." Bishop Hall observes of a superstitious man, "That if heard but a Raven croke from the next roofe he makes his will." And he adds, "If a Bittowrn fly over his head by night he makes his will." It is proverbially said by sailors: If peaceful Kingfishers are met together About the decks, then prophesy calm weather. This omen is founded on the fables of the Alcyon. See our December 11. Sounds being propagated farther off than usual before rain, the hearing them has led to many vulgar errors, as that of the omen derived from the Weather's Bell ringing spontaneously and in an unusual way. Gay mentions, among rustic omens, the Weather's Bell: For if perchance the well known Weather's Bell The croaking of Ravens was particularly unlucky; the Carrion Crow was also thought a bird of bad omen, especially if it happened to be seen on the left hand. "Saepe sinistra cava praedixit ab ilice Cornix." But Butler, in his Hudibras, assures us : Is it not ominous in all countries When Crows and Ravens croak upon trees? Gay, in his Pastoral called The Dirge, has noted this omen: The boding Raven on her cottage sat, And, with hoarse croakings, warned us of our fate. So in Shakespeare's Othello: O it comes o'er my memory, And again in Henry the Fourth : The Raven rooked her on the chimney's top, From Magpies, Geese, Peafowls, Daws, and Doves, many similar omens are drawn. Of the Owl we have taken particular notice in another place. The various real indications of weather which these birds, as well as many sea birds and water fowls afford, have led to these superstitions. Hence the ill luck of seeing Magpies, Jays, and other birds of this kind, a superstition as old as Horace, and probably much older. We wish the student of nature, well in his course through such a mass of superstitions to the end of his journey in search of truth. Quemque nec laevus vetat ire Picus The Great Ark is a sure indicator of soundings to seamen, never going far from them in sea; hence it is esteemed a lucky omen. Thus sailors now adays regard augury in the same way as Aristophanes tells us those of Greece did, above two thousand years ago. See Aves. 1. 597. Προερεῖ τις ἀεὶ των ὀρνίθων μαντευομένῳ περι τοῦ πλοῦ, From birds in sailing men instructions take, Now lye in port, now sail and profit make. Pennant farther observes, ibid. p. 554, that the Stormy Petrel presages bad weather, and cautions the seamen of the approach of a tempest, by collecting under the sterns of the ships. Having shown how truth degenerates into superstition, and in what manner the observance of natural things leads into error, from the misuse of our faculties, we shall amuse the reader, December 1, with a table of good and evil omens, which is exceeding curious, as a subject of popular antiquity. October 10. St. Francis Borgia Confessor. St. Paulinus Bishop and Confessor. St. John of Bridlington Confessor. rises VI. 29'. and sets at v. 31'. St. Francis Borgia was a Spanish grandee, and died in 1572. Butler's Lives, x. 181. Oschophoria. Ramalia.-Rom. Cal. It seems necessary to offer some account of the abovementioned Oschophoria, a festival observed by the Athenians. It receives its name ano тOU PEREIV TAS Oσxas, from carrying boughs hung up with grapes, called orxa. Its original institution is thus mentioned by Plut. in Thes. Theseus, at his return from Crete, forgot to hang out the white sail by which his father was to be apprised of his success. This neglect was fatal to Aegeus, who threw himself into the sea and perished. Theseus no sooner reached the land, than he sent a herald to inform his father of his safe return, and in the |