she appear with short and blunted horns, rain is rather expected.

Most of the foregoing rules are taken from the following beautiful passage of VIRGIL:

Observe the daily circle of the sun,

And the short year of each revolving moon:
By them thou shalt foresee the following day;
Nor shalt a starry night thy hopes betray.
When first the moon appears, if then she shrouds
Her silver crescent, tipp'd with sable clouds:
Concludes she bodes a tempest on the main,
And brews for fields impetuous floods of rain.
Or if her face with fiery flushings glow,
Expect the rattling winds aloft to blow.
But four nights old (for that's the surest sign)
With sharpen'd horns, if glorious then she shine,
Next day, not only that but all the moon,
'Till her revolving race be wholly run,
Are void of tempests both by sea and land.

*

*

Above the rest, the sun, who never lies,
Foretels the change of weather in the skies;
For if he rise unwilling to his race,

Clouds on his brow and spots upon his face;
Or if thro' mists he shoots his sullen beams,
Frugal of light, in loose and straggling streams;
Suspect a drizzling day with southern rain.

*

*

*

*

Or if Aurora, with half open'd eyes,

And a pale sickly cheek, salute the skies;
How shall the vine, her tender leaves defend
Her teeming clusters when the storms descend?

But more than all the setting-sun survey,

When down the steep of heav'n he drives the day :

For

For oft' we find him finishing his race,
With various colours erring on his face;
In fiery red his glowing globe descends,
High winds and furious tempests he portends;
But if his cheeks are swoln with livid blue,
He bodes wet weather by his wat'ry hue;
If dusky spots are varied on his brow,

And streaked with red, a troubled colour shew,
That sullen mixture shall at once declare
Winds, rain, and storms, and elemental war.

*

*

*

**

But if with purple rays he brings the light,
And a pure heav'n resigns to quiet night;
No rising winds, or falling storms are nigh.
More Prognostics, taken from the Clouds.

3d Rule. Clouds large, like rocks, great showers, 4th Rule. If small clouds increase, much rain.. 5th Rule. If large clouds decrease, fair weather. 6th Rule. In summer or harvest, when the wind has been south two or three days, and it grows very hot, and you see clouds rise with great white tops, like towers, as if one were on the top of another, and joined together with black on the nether side, there will be thunder and rain suddenly.

7th Rule. If two such clouds rise, one on either hand, it is time to make haste to shelter.

Mr Worlidge gives us the following Rules: "In a fair day, if the sky seems to be dappled with white clouds, (which is usually termed a mackarel sky) it generally predicts rain.'

This is confirmed by a very ingenious gentleman, who has constantly observed, that" in dry weather, so soon as clouds appear at a great height, striped

H 3

like

like the feathers in the breast of a hawk, rain may be expected in a day or so."

"In a clear evening, certain small black clouds appearing, are undoubted signs of rain to follow: or, if black or blue clouds appear near the sun, at any time of the day, or near the moon by night, rain usually follows."

"If small waterish clouds appear on the tops of hills, rain follows."

"If clouds grow, or appear suddenly, the air otherwise free from clouds, it denotes tempests at hand, especially if they appear to the south or west."

If many clouds, like fleeces of wool, are scattered from the east, they foretel rain within three days.

When clouds settle upon the tops of mountains, they indicate hard weather.

When the tops of mountains are clear, it is a sign of fair weather.

More Prognostics taken from Mist.

8th Rule. If mists rise in low grounds and soon vanish, fair weather.

9th Rule. If it rises up to the hill tops, rain in a day or two.

10th Rule. A general mist before the sun rises, near the full moon, fair weather.

More Prognostics taken from Rain.

11th Rule. Sudden rains never last long: but when the air grows thick by degrees, and the sun, moon, and stars, shine dimmer and dimmer, it is likely to rain six hours usually.

12th Rule. If it begins to rain from the south, with a high wind, for two or three hours, and the

wind falls, but the rain continues, it is likely to rain. twelve hours or more; and does usually rain till a strong north wind clears the air: these long rains seldom bold above twelve hours, or happen above once ayear. "In an inland country," says Mr. Mills, it may not rain for more than twelve hours successively; but I doubt this will not hold as a general rule, either of its duration or frequentcy, in all places; for, near the sea, rains happen often which last a whole day.

13th Rule. If it begins to rain an hour or two before sun-rising, it is likely to be fair before noon, and to continue so that day: but if the rain begins an hour or two after sun-rising, it is likely to rain all that day, except the rain-bow be seen before it rains.

Mr. Worlidge's signs of rain are the following:

"The audibility of sound are certain prognostics of the temper of the air in a still evening: for if the air is replete with moisture over us, it depresses sounds, so that they become audible to a greater distance than when the air is free from such moisture and vapours. From whence you may conclude, that in such nights, or other times, when you hear the sound of bells, noise of water, beasts, birds, or any other sounds or noises, more plainly than at other times, the air is inclinable to rain, which commonly succeeds."

"If the earth, or any moist or fenny places, yield any extraordinary scents, or smells, it presages rain."

"If dews lie long in the morning on the grass, &c. it signifies fair weather: but if they rise or va nish suddenly and early in the morning, it presages rain."

M 4

"There

"There is a small bird, of the size and nearly the shape of a marten, that at certain times flies very near the water, which is a most sure prognostic of tempestuous weather; never appearing but against such weather, as hath been constantly observed by the boatmen on the Severn and the channel, between the Isle of Wight and the main-land.” "Ducks and geese picking their wings, washing themselves much, or cackling much, denotes

rain.

"If after rain comes a cold wind, there will be more rain."

The nightly virgin, whilst her wheel she plies,
Foresees the storm impending in the skies,
When sparkling lamps their sputt'ring light ad-

vance,

And in their sockets oily bubbles dance.

DRYDEN'S VIRGIL.

More Prognostics from the Wind.

14th Rule. When the wind turns to north-east, and it continues there two days without rain, and does not turn south the third day, nor rain the third day, it is likely to continue north-east for eight or nine days all fuir, and then to come south again.

15th Rule. If it turn again out of the south to the north-east with rain, and continues in the northeast two days without rain, and neither turns south nor rains the third day, it is likely to continue northeast two or three months.

The wind will finish these turns in three weeks. 16th Rule. After a northerly wind, for the most part of two months or more, and then coming south, there are usually three or four fair days at first, and

then